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a Soul-Eater."Nef leaned closer, engulfing him in the acrid smell of bat. "First we
must find the Door," she said. "The place where the skin is thinnest. Then we must
make156the charm to protect us from what will come forth.Last"--her voice sank to
a whisper--"in the dark of the moon--we must open the Door."Torak swallowed.
Once again he heard the voice of the Walker. They are going to open the Door!
"But--why?" he breathed. "Why do you--" "No more questions!" snarled Nef.
"We've got work to do!"They hurried on, emerging after a time into the stinking
cavern where Torak had heard the wolverine. He saw a stream that he'd missed
before, pooling in a hollow before vanishing down a crevice. Beside it stood a
birchbark pail and a wovenbark sack of dried cod.Nef told him to take them both
and follow her. Shambling to the first of the hollows, she shifted the slab that
blocked it by a hand's width. She tossed in a scrap of cod, drew out a small
birchwood bowl, filled it, and pushed it in again.Torak caught a gleam of eyes. An
otter: the one whose joyful snow-slide he'd tracked in the Forest. Her sleek coat
was matted, and she shrank from them. His pity for Nef drained away. If she could
do this ...The Bat Mage pushed back the slab, leaving a narrow gap for air, and
limped to the next hollow. Slowly they made their way through the cavern. Torak
glimpsed a white fox curled in exhausted slumber. An eagle: all ruffled feathers and
glaring yellow rage. A lynx157so cramped that it couldn't turn around. The spitting
fury of a wolverine.Finally, in a deep pit almost completely sealed by an enormous
slab of stone, he glimpsed the awesome, unmistakable bulk of an ice bear."That one
gets only water," said Nef, taking the pail and splashing some into the hole. "We
need to keep it starved, or it'll be too strong."The bear gave a thunderous growl, and
hurled itself against the slab. The slab held firm. Not even the power of an ice bear
could move it."How did you catch it?" said Torak.Nef snorted. "Seshru has some
skill with sleeping-potions. Thiazzi's strength has its uses."Torak turned, and took
in the length of the cavern. He'd begun to realize that what the Soul-Eaters were
doing went far beyond threatening Wolf. "Hunters," he said. "They're all
hunters.""Yes," said the Bat Mage."Where's the wolf?"Nef went still. "How do you
know there is one?"He thought quickly. "I heard it. A howl.'*The Bat Mage lurched
back the way they'd come. "The wolf will be brought in tomorrow, in the dark of
the moon. When it's time."Covertly, Torak glanced about him to see if some hollow
remained unexplored.158Again Nef seemed to read his mind. "He isn't here. We're
keeping him apart from the others." "Why?"That earned him a sharp glance. "You
ask a lot of questions.""I want to learn."The bat on Nef's shoulder squirmed, and
she watched it lift off and flit away into the darkness. "Because of Seshru," she
said. "Last summer she received a strange message from our brother across the Sea.
'The Wolf lives.' We don't know what it means. But that's why we keep the wolf
separate."Torak's thoughts whirled. Did they know something? Maybe not enough
to suspect that he was a spirit walker, but something....He realized that Nef was
watching him keenly; so he asked the question to which he thought he already
knew the answer. "All these creatures. What are you going to do to them?""What
do you think we're going to do?""Kill them," he said.The Bat Mage nodded. "The
blood of the nine hunters is the most dreadful--the most potent of sacrifices."His
temples pounded. The cave walls pressed in on him."You say you want to be one of
us," said Nef. "Well,159that begins now." She raised her torch, and Torak saw that
she'd brought him full circle, back to the forest of stone. It was deserted. The other
Soul-Eaters had gone. On the ledge at his shoulder, the owl in the pouch lay still.
Awaiting sacrifice.The breath caught in his throat. "But--you said tomorrow. In the
dark of the moon.""For the full charm, yes. But first we have the finding of the
Door--and for that, too, we must protect ourselves. The blood of the owl will do
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