Yahal grew closer with every step they took.

At some point while they had been trapped beneath the ice, smoke had started to pour from the mouth of the peak, as if from a giant bonfire. Anyu couldn't shake the feeling that it was a message for them from Siku herself: Take your time. I am waiting.

The moon shone down upon them from a clear sky, showing them the way. But even without Mother Moon's glow they would have been able to see easily; lights moved across the night sky like ripples in water, creating swirling patterns of blue and green. They were a comfort, even as Anyu's entire body tensed in fear.

They all walked on foot this time. Yahal's slope was significantly easier to climb than the first mountain they'd crossed, and Shesh deserved a slight reprieve from carrying them on his back. Anyu stayed by the reindeer's side, patting him every so often. She didn't know if it was more for his comfort or her own.

Tavra and Kano kept to the back, also walking side by side. They didn't look happy about it, but Anyu could at least feel gratified that they weren't at each other's throats.

"Okay," Anyu said, breaking the heavy silence between them. "I think it's time you tell me exactly how this is going to work." Her right hand rose to clench tightly around the tamga hanging from her neck. "How do I use the tamga to free the summer indwellers?"

Kano and Tavra glanced at each other briefly. Tavra just shook his head, and Kano shrugged.

"I would've told you by now if we knew," Kano replied.

"You mean... You don't know?" Anyu tried to keep herself from hyperventilating.

"Not precisely," Kano said. His words were about as vague as Anyu was used to at this point. For once, she wished there could be a straight answer to a question. "Tamga are almost as mysterious to us as they are to you. They're a bit unpredictable."

"But..." Anyu tightened her grip around her own tamga. "But then how do you know it will work at all?"

"Remember when you broke my chains?" Kano asked as they moved around a boulder blocking their path. She nodded.

"Those were similar to what Siku's using to imprison the summer indwellers, though on a much smaller scale." Anyu recalled the hundreds of chains that had kept Kano imprisoned, and how long it had taken to cut through them all; that had been on a small scale? Anyu's hope of them succeeding was growing smaller and smaller by the minute.

She shook her head. Shesh nudged her back with his nose, and she pat his head with a sigh.

"Where do they come from?" Anyu asked. "And why doesn't everyone try to get one if they're so all powerful?"

Kano was silent, continuing to trek forward without looking up.

"Because only humans can create a tamga."

Anyu turned, surprised to hear Tavra speak up on the subject. He was currently in the form of a young boy again, his black hair such a mess that Anyu had to restrain herself from trying to comb it out.

"It's the real reason why Siku shut all contact with the human realm in the first place," Tavra continued. "She was too scared of the possibilities."

Anyu opened her palm and brought the tamga up to her face. It was clearly a piece of bone, but someone had meticulously carved it into a beautiful shape. She examined the dulled edges, the off-white color. Naither Kano nor Tavra had told her explicitly, but she had come to understand that a tamga had to be a part of an indweller's very body- whether that be a bone, antlers, a lock of hair... Whatever form it took, it was sure to be a painful experience for the indweller.

She could only imagine a time when humans had been free to hunt indwellers for that very power. She hated to do so, but she could almost understand why Siku would have wanted to separate Adlivun from the human world.

Anyu tucked the tamga back under her coat, and patted Shesh's side. She could smell the smoke coming from the mountaintop now and see the rim of the flat peak. They had reached the edge of the mountain's plateau. Whether they were prepared or not, they would be faced with their task.

Taking a deep breath and sending a quick prayer to whatever spirits were listening, Anyu hefted herself up and crested the rim of the mountain.

As soon as she stood up, she was immediately on guard, squinting to see through the hazy surroundings. Nothing was there. The smoke was thick here, acting like a film of mist and obscuring Anyu's vision of anything more than ten feet ahead of her. She couldn't see any prison guards or minions, let alone any prison.

"A little help here," Kano called from behind her, struggling to climb the last bit. Anyu turned back to help him over as Tavra, in wolf form, scrambled up the side and landed with his hackles raised and teeth bared.

"No one's here, as far as I can tell," Anyu told him. "But we should keep our guard up. They could be hiding in this mist."

Tavra released his tense stance and turned back into a boy. He looked around at the smoke, and sniffed the air, like- well, like a wolf sniffing out its prey.

He finished sniffing as Anyu and Kano helped Shesh climb over, and ran back to them with his brows furrowed.

"I can't smell anything," He said, a strong current of fear running behind his voice. "Something must be wrong."

"Siku," Kano said immediately, and Anyu straightened her back. "She must be here somewhere, shifting the mountain's inua around."

Anyu felt a strong urge to turn back around and never return, but she fought it down. She was determined to see this through to the end. They started forward, Anyu and Kano leading the way with Tavra and Shesh trailing behind.

"Does she know we're here?" Anyu kept her voice to a whisper. She imagined that Siku had ears and eyes all around them, watching their every cautious step. The mist swirled softly, giving nothing away.

"I can't say for sure," Kano replied, "But I wouldn't be surprised."

Anyu nodded and took another step forward. A sound suddenly reverberated out to them through the mist. It was almost too faint to hear, but Anyu could feel the vibration in her bones.

"Can you hear that?" Anyu asked, taking a few steps forward. She grabbed her spear from its place slung across her back, ready to attack. They all paused, waiting and listening. Less then a minute later, it was there again. A deep, booming sound echoing out from the mist.

Before Anyu could think it through, she was running forward, towards the direction the noise was coming from.

"Anyu, wait!" Kano called out. But he was soon lost behind her in the mist. Anyu ran forward, not knowing what she was running towards, but feeling an indescribable pull towards it.

She stopped after a minute, catching her breath. The mist seemed thicker here, as if it were as tangible as the rock beneath her feet. She took a step forward.

For a moment her stomach swooped in sudden panic as she tipped forward, but she was stopped from tumbling from the sheer cliff just in time: Kano gripped her shoulder, pulling her back from the ledge as Anyu's heart rate slowly returned to normal.

She looked back. Tavra and Shesh were right behind them as well, both stiff and nervous. Anyu glanced back towards the cliff that she had almost unwittingly fallen into.

It wasn't a cliff in fact, but a pit. An enormous chasm hollowed out of the mountain, leading into the unfathomable depths below. Anyu didn't know how she had missed the edge before; it was clear to her now that she began to think clearly once more.

"I-I'm sorry," Anyu said when she found her voice, her words shaky. "I don't know what I was thinking."

Kano shook his head. "It's not your fault." Anyu didn't know what he meant, but then he nodded towards the pit. "You sensed them- they were subconsciously pulling you in."

Taking very careful steps, Anyu leaned forward to peer down into the pit. The mist clung to the edge of the chasm like a skin, forming a hazy barrier between whatever was inside the pit and the world above. It was impossible to see through the smoke to what lay below, although lights and shadows danced across the surface; something was definitely moving down there. As she watched, Anyu noticed the mist pulse every few seconds. She imagined someone pushing and kicking at it from the other side- the source of the booming noises from before.

Anyu brought out her tamga. It seemed to grow hotter in her hand, as if it too sensed the summer indwellers nearby. Anyu scanned the misty chasm. She didn't know what she was looking for or what she'd even been expecting- a magic lock floating in the air, some more chains to cut through? It all seemed fairly ridiculous to her now.

"How do I..?"

"There should be something here," Kano said, his eyes scanning the mist. "Look for some kind of sign."

Cautiously, Anyu began to walk along the edge of the pit, her eyes searching through the mist for something to show her the way. It didn't take her long. There, close to the center of the pit but near enough for her to make out, was a gap in the smoky barrier, a small hole leading to the chasm below. Anyu craned her neck, but it was too far for her to get a view of what was inside.

She removed the tamga from around her neck, gripping it tightly. She realized now, at least, what she was supposed to do. The hole was small and a fair distance away, but if her aim was true, she should be able to send the tamga through it. Anyu lifted her arm, then lowered it in hesitation.She would only have one shot. She didn't want to be reckless with it.

"I see it," She said. "But how do I- Kano?"

He wasn't beside her, as she'd assumed, but a few strides away. He faced away from the chasm, listening and watching the mist with a tense stance. Tavra was on guard as well, his teeth bared at something she couldn't see, while taking a defensive position in front of Shesh.

All at once, the mist around them dissipated, revealing two figures standing just beyond it. One was familiar to her already: the sharp but beautiful Sakari, her eyes narrowed and calculating. Her lips stretched into a gleeful little smirk, one that Anyu did not like at all.

And beside her, another woman. She was a stranger, of that Anyu was certain, yet there was something painfully familiar about her as well, something that Anyu could feel deep in her bones.

The woman smiled, and Anyu felt a chill run through her body. At last, they were face to face with Siku.