Northwind Episode 11

Northwind © Christoffer Petersen 2022 (Now available for pre-order from Amazon)

December 11

Luui missed the claw-like teeth. She avoided the rasp of Aassik’s tongue against her cheek. But twist and turn as she might, she found no purchase for the pick of her ice axe of the heels of her boots. Luui tumbled down the long throat of the great ice worm, down into the depths of the beast’s body, only to lurch up again as Aassik continued to snake up and down, crashing through the ice before bursting once more into the chill winter air. Luui bounced. She tumbled, and for brief moments when gravity was paused, she hung suspended within the gullet of the worm, a brief reprieve before tumbling again towards its belly.

But Luui was not alone.

Naalanngitsoq brushed her cheeks with a breath of something almost pure when compared to the rancid, cold air trapped inside the worm’s body. The cheeky wind had followed the shaman’s daughter into the great maw of Aassik and Luui – mid tumble – was glad of the company. Naalanngitsoq was most welcome, and the tickle of fresh air the wind spun around Luui’s face even more so. But as she looked down, or up, and then down again, Luui blinked at the blank emptiness below her, coming up fast, until she slammed into something not quite soft, not too hard, but still unyielding. Luui crumpled upon it and then, finally, with a last swing of her axe, she found purchase and stayed her fall as she buried the pick into the lining of Aassik’s stomach. Naalanngitsoq flurried around Luui’s nose allowing her to breath and staving off the dank, cold scent of death that filled the black cavity.

“Well,” Luui said, once she had recovered. “I’m not sure this was what I had in mind, but I’m not dead. Not yet.”

“You are not dead,” said a voice, a familiar whisper, and Luui turned her head to find the speaker. “But you can’t stay here, child.”

“Ataata?”

“Aap,” said the voice. “You have been looking for me. And now I am here.”

A blue light sparked in the distance and Luui felt her eyes drawn to it. She smiled as she recognised the glow of a spectral cigarette, hand rolled, as her father, Tuukula Angakkuarneq walked towards her. Aassik continued its tumultuous journey from one mountain ridge to another, but just as it helps to stare at a fixed point when suffering from motion sickness, Luui imagined she was on solid and steady ground as she fixed her eyes on the glow of the shaman’s cigarette.

“You’re going the wrong way, of course,” Tuukula said as he sat cross-legged in front of his daughter. He turned to point, corrected his aim, and then flicked a finger to the right of Luui. “Qaqqaq is that way.”

“I know,” Luui said. “But how do you know I’m heading for Qaqqaq?”

“You have made a deal with Northwind.”

“Aap.”

“To bring your friend safely home from the north.”

“I have,” Luui said. “Northwind wants something from the summit of the ever-growing mountain.”

“She wants Pujoralak.”

“She does.”

“And…” The tip of Tuukula’s cigarette glowed as he sucked at it. “You are going to get it for her?”

“Are you asking me, Ataata?”

“I am.”

“But you know that I am.”

Tuukula nodded. “But do you know what happens if you give it to her?”

“She brings Aunix home on favourable winds,” Luui said. “That’s the deal.”

“And after that?”

Tuukula waited for Luui to answer.

“Naamik,” she said. “I don’t.”

Tuukula’s cigarette flared as Naalanngitsoq twirled around it and Luui gasped as she saw her father’s face in the blue hue of spectral light.

“You look old, Ataata.”

“I am old.” He shrugged. “Old and weak. Soon I will not be able to visit.”

“You haven’t visited for a whole year.”

“I was…” Tuukula sighed, and said, “Saving my energy. I knew there would be a day when you might need me, perhaps one last time. I wanted to come, truly I did.” Tuukula reached for Luui’s hand and she clasped it, careful not to close her hand around his for fear of his body dissipating into dust. She smiled at his touch, like a cold tingle against her skin. “I’ve missed you,” he said.

“And I have missed you…” The black walls of Aassik’s belly absorbed her words as her voice tailed off at the sight of her father, old, wizened, and frail. Even the tuft of hair tied at the top of his head had lost its jaunty spring. “You’re old, Ataata.”

“Old and dead, Luui,” he said. “But…” Luui reached for Tuukula’s hand as he pulled it away, only to smile as he tugged a second cigarette from behind his ear as the light of the first extinguished. She held her breath as he lit the second, and then settled at the sound of his voice as he started to talk. “You remember the shaman’s journey to Sassuma Arnaa, Mother of the Sea?”

“Aap,” Luui said. She frowned. “But we are in the mountains.”

“We are. But you,” he said with a nod, “are in the belly of the beast.”

“Aassik,” Luui said. “Not a bear. At least, not yet.”

“Same belly, different beast.” Tuukula gave another shrug. He eyes twinkled in the blue light of his cigarette as Naalanngitsoq whipped it into a fierce glow. “I like your friend,” he said.”

“She is a good companion.”

“And your friends at the cabin? Are they well?”

“Kalaagi and Naaluk?” Luui nodded. “They are. And I’m guessing they are safe and warm in the cabin. Unlike me. Stuck in the belly of the beast.” Luui laughed and twisted her head at the echo of her voice until Aassik swallowed it. “But why did you want to talk about Sassuma Arnaa?”

“Because,” Tuukula said. “The shaman on his way to visit Sassuma Arnaa must be eaten.”

“I’ve been eaten.”

“Aap.”

Luui gestured at the black walls just visible in the glow of the cigarette. “Different beast, like you said.”

“A vessel,” Tuukula said. “That’s what I wanted to say. The beast is a vessel, and you are on a journey.”

“But I am going to Qaqqaq,” Luui said. “Up the mountain, not down to the bottom of the sea.”

“You will have to turn the worm,” Tuukula said. “Drive it up the mountain.”

“And how do I do that?”

Tuukula shrugged and said, “I do not know. This is my first time inside a worm.”

Luui flexed her fingers around the shaft of the ice axe. The cord was still looped around her wrist and she tightened it. She had held to it this long; she didn’t want to lose it.

“It might be useful,” she said.

“It might.”

“I could stick it somewhere.”

“You could.”

“Maybe I could convince Aassik to turn around.”

“He is a big beast,” Tuukula said. “You will need help. Perhaps, with the ice in one side, and something sharp in the other, you could turn it left and right – a tug here and a jerk there.” Tuukula held out his arms, hands gripping imaginary reins as if he was steering the worm towards the mountain. “It might work,” he said.

“If I had a friend.” Luui looked at her father. “Any ideas?”

“There is someone you could call, but…”

Luui waited for Tuukula to finish talking, only to sigh when he didn’t. He was weaker than she remembered.

And forgetful, she thought, as Tuukula’s mind seemed to drift in other directions.

And then she remembered the story of the shaman on his way to Sassuma Arnaa. Luui shuddered as she realised what it was she must do to escape the worm.

“If I can turn it,” she said.

“You will need help,” Tuukula said. “There is someone you could call, but…”

“I know who to call, Ataata,” Luui said, reaching for Tuukula’s hand. She closed her fingers around his, wondering how much longer he could stay. “That’s not what worries me.”

“But you are worried?”

“Aap,” Luui said. She took a breath, intending to say it, as if saying it out loud might make the unthinkable somewhat less repulsive. “The shaman on his way to Sassuma Arnaa,” she said.

“Aap?”

“First he is killed by the bear.”

Tuukula nodded.

“Then eaten. Ground into bits.”

Naalanngitsoq wrapped cold fingers around Luui as if to protect her.

“That’s right, daughter,” Tuukula said. “And then?”

“Then the bear dumps the shaman’s bits out of its anus,” Luui said, lips curling. “the bear swims down to Sassuma Arnaa and shits the shaman onto the seabed.”

“Aap,” Tuukula said. “That is the only way.”

“The only way, Ataata?”

Tuukula smiled and then pointed over his shoulder. “That way, once you have turned the worm.”

“Right,” Luui said as she stared past her father, following the path of his finger as he pointed at the sphincter at the end of Aassik’s anus. “Qujanaq.”

“You’re welcome,” Tuukula said.

 

To be continued on December 12

Northwind © Christoffer Petersen 2022

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