Broken Rock Bay (Clan of the Ice Mountains Book 3) by Bills C. S

Author:Bills, C. S. [Bills, C. S.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: mystery thrillers
Publisher: Highest Hope Publishing
Published: 2015-05-09T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

“Suanu has the milk fever,” Rika said. She placed a wet hide on Suanu’s forehead, then rubbed her arms with another wet hide, freshly rung from the bowl of cool water at her side. “I’ve given her what potions I can, but I must be careful because whatever I give her will affect her milk, and Brovik will receive at least some of the potion as well.”

“Is that why he’s been sleeping since he ate?” Attu glanced at Kinak’s son, bundled and sleeping peacefully. He didn’t look at all like the angry poolik of just a short while ago.

“Partly. I gave Suanu something to help her rest. It won’t hurt the little one. But I think he was also exhausted from all his struggling and nearly drowning.” She shivered and dipped the hide into the bowl again, wringing it out and moving to moisten Suanu’s legs. “This will help her fight the fever spirits,” she said, although she knew Attu understood what she was doing and why.

Attu continued to watch Rika work. Something was still wrong with her. Rika was going through all the healing motions, but she was acting detached from the Here and Now. It reminded Attu of how he’d felt for a while after experiencing a Remembering. “What happened back there, when you were holding Brovik?”

“What do you mean?” Rika asked, avoiding his eyes as she continued her work.

“You know what I’m talking about. You were just standing there with Brovik in your arms. He wasn’t breathing, and yet you were doing nothing. I’ve never seen you like that before.”

“I...” Rika hesitated. She dropped the hide back into the bowl and turned to Attu. Tears filled her eyes, and he could see she was struggling to talk. Part of him wanted to reach out and hold her, tell her it was all right, he hadn’t meant to upset her by asking, but a bigger part of him knew she needed to talk about it. A healer who hesitated, who froze in an emergency, was not the kind of healer his people needed. And it was unlike Rika. She was a woman of action and decisiveness. He wanted to know what had happened to cause that reaction in her, and she needed to understand it as well. Attu waited. Finally, Rika met his gaze.

“When I held him in my arms, so still, so lifeless, as if his spirit had already gone Between, all I could see was the baby in my dream, the one where Vanreda stood, her dead child in her arms.” Rika shuddered and reached for the hide again, her movement desperate, as if she had to have something to do with her hands to dispel the images in her mind.

“What were you thinking?” Attu prompted.

“I wasn’t thinking anything... I was...” Rika paused, her brows furrowed in thought. “No, I was thinking something... I was thinking it could be my child, as I had thought for so long before Ashukat explained to us about Vanreda. Remember, I had thought it was my child in the dream back then.

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