The Barren Grounds

Morgan tells Arik and Eli to duck while she eases Ochek down and applies pressure to his wound. Eli tries to paddle again but Arik stops him, insisting on risking paddling alone. The arrows continue to fly, but the farther away the canoe gets, the less accurate the man’s aim is. When they are out of range, Eli joins Arik paddling while Morgan rests Ochek’s head on her lap.

They reach the shore, and Arik breaks the shaft of the arrow off from Ochek’s shoulder while the group stuffs the wound. Arik and Eli grab their gear, and Morgan carries the bag of summer birds while Arik supports Ochek in running away. They can’t see the man and don’t know if he is following them. They walk up to the summit where their hut is but find it abandoned, the wolf gone. Ochek lays down where the wolf was, Eli starts a fire, and Arik tends to Ochek’s wounds. Arik tells Morgan to take firewood and hold it to the wound when she pulls the arrow out. Eli holds Ochek down while Morgan cauterizes the wound. Morgan cries while Arik covers Ochek’s wounds.

Ochek starts to feel a little better, but then an arrow comes through the tent. Everyone ducks but Ochek, who grabs the bag of birds. The group follows him outside. Ochek runs to the giant sequoia tree and starts climbing up with the birds. Morgan starts to follow him, but an arrow hits a branch by her head and she falls to the ground. Ochek continues up the tree as the man shoots at him. When Ochek reaches the top, he starts to open the bag. The man notches another arrow in his bow, and though Morgan screams and charges him, the arrow hits Ochek’s tail, which he was using to hold onto the tree. Ochek plummets toward the ground while the birds streak into the sky, heading east toward Misewa.

Arik runs toward the tree to try to catch Ochek but can’t get there in time. She falls to her knees, but Ochek’s body is suspended in midair. Light forms between him and the ground, starting as a small ball and expanding into a cloud. Eight tendrils of light encircle Ochek and lift him into the sky, where the stars welcome him. Ochek’s body erupts and seven stars take his place, four in the shape of a square and three trailing the square in a jagged line. The voice of the Creator says that Ochek completed a great task and sacrificed his life for others, so he will stay in the sky forever to remind all the beings on Askí of their past and the consequences of disrespecting the land. Ochek’s constellation is named “Ochekatchakosuk.” After the Creator’s voice disappears, the man yells that the land is his and that Morgan, Eli, and Arik took everything from him. Arik, Morgan, and Eli run as the man shoots arrows at them.

Morgan, Eli, and Arik flee from the man as he chases them with arrows and threats. Soon they reach the canyon and find the ice bridge has melted. The man catches up with them and aims an arrow at Morgan. Arik steps in front of Morgan and tells her name to the man, trying to talk him out of shooting them. Morgan steps in front of Arik and asks the man’s name, which he says is Mason. Morgan realizes Mason is starving and tries to reason with him after she realizes that he wants to kill and eat them. Mason says he deserves 12 months of warmth, and Morgan realizes that all she wants is to be with her family. Eli steps in front of her, and then Arik steps in front of him, saying she should be shot because she has lived the longest. Mason asks why they care about this place, and Morgan wonders how Mason got to Askí.

When Mason draws his arrow back to kill them, Mahihkan comes growling from the woods. Mason lowers his bow and tells Mahihkan to kill them. Eli pleads with the wolf. The wolf hesitates, so Mason raises his bow and aims at Morgan. Mahihkan roars and knocks Mason down as the arrow flies into the canyon. Wolf and man roll toward the edge of the canyon and over the side. Morgan and Eli rush to the canyon. Mason disappears into the river while the wolf grasps at the edge with one paw. Morgan and Eli try to pull the wolf up but can’t, and Mahihkan can’t get his other leg up. Arik joins the effort, but it is too late: The wolf slips, and Morgan looks away before he hits the water.