He looked down. “Ever since that incident at the salt mine, rochai have been randomly attackin’ the settler villages. Just the other day, a little Zolian boy was bitten while out collectin’ wood on the south side of Mikula Forest. I happened to be visitin’ a nearby town when his parents came to fetch me. I hurried to him as fast as I could, but it was already too late.”
Suohl rubbed a hand over his face slowly. “I knew that boy,” he said with anguish in his voice. “He was a naughty lil’ rascal, but a sweet kid nonetheless. He and his family moved here from the south. They were hardworkin’ farmers. Good people, real helpful. They always shared what they grew with the reindeer herders for a fair price. Broke my heart to see ’em lose their son like that. How I wished I coulda helped.”
The Echo Master buried his face in his hands and did not speak for some time. Eventually, he took a deep breath, lifted his head, and fixed his red-rimmed eyes on Van. “That night, when I saw you runnin’ with the dogs, I thought that if you could turn inside out like that, maybe you could see what’s inside your own body. If so, then you mighta seen the face of the livin’ spirits of that disease.”
Van’s eyes narrowed, and Suohl added hastily, “Course, when I talk about its face, I don’t mean that literally.”
“I know. I understand that, but…”
“Tell me anythin’ you can. Don’t matter how small. What’s it like when you’re inside out? Anythin’ might give me a clue for how to deal with it.”
Van looked down at his arm. Hohsalle had extracted blood from a vein in that limb, hoping to identify the disease and find a way to kill it. Now Suohl was asking Van for help to the same end.
Did I see its face?
When he was inside out, Van’s sense of smell grew sharp, and the world he saw transformed. But he never saw the sickness. He just felt an acute affinity with the pyuika and the rochai. Hohsalle had told him that pyuika harbored the disease agents, too, but they kept them in check by eating ashimi.
Which means lots of tiny organisms must live inside the pyuika, too. And in Van, who was raised on their milk, and in the Kinma dogs as well. Perhaps the sensations he experienced when inside out were caused by something those organisms produced when they fought or collaborated with the disease agents inside him. At the same time, however, they seemed to be part of him, of his loosely formed self in which all these things were pulled together.
Still pondering, Van said slowly, “When I’m inside out, I think what I see must be the same as what you saw when riding on Granny Crow. Perhaps it’s the shape of the disease, but to me, they just look like particles of light.”
Suohl’s shoulders drooped. “I see.”
Van glanced at Sae, who gazed back at him steadily. Suohl was worried about the settlers to the north, but with Kenoi dead and no one left to lead the Kinma dogs, there wouldn’t be any more attacks. Should I tell him he doesn’t need to worry anymore? Without someone to lead them, the dogs would no longer target the settlers. With this thought, Van thought back to what he’d been about to say before.
His eyes narrowed. “Once, when I was inside out,” he said, “I had a powerful urge to bite anything within reach. I think that impulse came from what you call the living spirits of the disease. But I didn’t bite anything.”
Suohl’s eyes widened. “Eh?”
“I think that even when I was inside out, my soul didn’t completely disappear.”
Suohl knit his brow in consternation. “But the rochai,” he replied, “they bite. Is it because they’re dogs?”
Van looked down at his hand. No, that’s not why. He was sure of it. When he was inside out, he was one with the dogs. Their feelings and actions were connected to his, as though joined by the same thread. They all felt the urge to bite. However, the dogs didn’t lose themselves to it entirely, either.
They bite because… A light flashed through Van’s brain.
“No, it’s not because they’re dogs. They bite when another impulse reinforces their urge to bite.”
“Another impulse?”
Van nodded. “When I was inside out, the urge to bite was overwhelming. But even so, my soul didn’t completely vanish. It resisted the spirits of the disease, maintaining a delicate balance, like spiders wrestling on a thin thread.” He clasped his hands together in front of his chest. “They grappled together like this, keeping an even tension. But that balance was lost when another force hit them from outside.” He slammed his knee up into his hands and broke them apart.
Suohl frowned. “I’m not sure I follow.”
Van searched for another example. “If you ordered a trained dog to wait for its food, it would wait, right? Even if you placed some food right in front of it, it might sit there drooling and trembling all over, but it would still wait. Even little pups try to control their bodily urges. But as soon as you say ‘Go!’ the dam breaks.”
Suohl’s eyes widened. “You mean when the urge to bite and the will to resist are wrestlin’ each other and keepin’ an even balance, someone else says, ‘Bite’?”
Van nodded. “Yes. And when I’m inside out, it’s very hard to resist that command. My body responds automatically.”
“Hmm. Must take a lotta energy for your soul to battle the spirits of the disease. Maybe that’s why your body gives in to an extra push from outside.”
That could be it, Van thought. Maybe it had been hard to resist Kenoi’s orders because his body was already urging him in that direction.
“But if so,” Suohl said, his face tense, “someone musta told you to bite. Who could that be?”
Van just stared at him. After a moment, Suohl understood. “Ah, I see. That’s one of them tangled pieces you were talkin’ ’bout, is it?”
Without answering this question, Van said quietly, “Whatever the case, I don’t think you need to worry anymore. The disease is bound to die out soon.”
“What makes you so sure?” Suohl asked, puzzled.
“The person who controlled those dogs is dead.”
Suohl blinked several times. “Dead?”
“Yes.”
“When did he die?” Suohl asked with a frown.
Van glanced at Sae. “About half a month ago,” she said.
Suohl’s face froze. “But that can’t be.”
“Why?”
Suohl’s voice trembled. “That settler boy from Mikula Forest was attacked just ten days ago.”