Oath Breaker by Michelle Paver, Geoff Taylor

which was cooked when the basket was nearly burned through. There were also delicious flatcakes of crushed hazelnuts and pine pollen, and a big pail of honey to ladle over everything, with steaming spruce-needle tea to wash it all down.
It was wonderful to roast by a fire again, but apart from a brief prayer to the Forest, the Red Deer ate in silence. Renn thought with a pang of the Ravens' noisy nightmeals, with everyone swapping hunting stories.
     
131 As soon as they'd finished, Durrain began to question Torak. Surprisingly, she showed no interest in why they had come; she only wanted to know what it was like to spirit walk in a tree.
    Torak struggled to explain. "I--I was a yew. Then I was in tree after tree. Too many voices ... I couldn't bear it."
"Ah," sighed the whole clan.
Even Durrain betrayed a flicker of emotion. "What you heard was the Voice of the Forest. All the trees that are, or have ever been. It's too vast for men to bear. If you'd heard it for more than a heartbeat, your souls would have been torn apart. And yet--how I envy you."
    Torak swallowed. "My mother ... You said you knew her. Tell me about her?"
Durrain dismissed that with a wave of her hand. "She chose to leave. I can tell you nothing." "Nothing?" Torak was aghast. Renn felt angry for him. "Surely you tried to find her?" Durrain gave her a chilly smile. "But--she and Torak's father were fighting the Soul-Eaters. They needed your help."
"The Red Deer never fight," said Durrain. Her eyes were a vivid beechnut brown, and they pierced Renn's souls. "I see that you have some small skill at Magecraft. In the Deep Forest you're out of your depth. You are no Mage."
    132 She was right. It was Renn's turn to be crushed. Beside her, Torak stirred. "You don't know anything about Renn. Last summer, her visions warned us of the flood. She saved whole clans." "Indeed," said Durrain. Torak lifted his chin. "We're wasting time. You said our search is at an end. Do you know where the Oak Mage is?"
"There is no Oak Mage in the Deep Forest," declared Durrain.
"You're wrong," said Torak. "We tracked him here. The trail leads south."
"If there was a Soul-Eater in the Deep Forest, the Red Deer would know it."
"You didn't before," said Renn. "The crippled wanderer lived with you for a whole summer and you never knew who he was."
That drew angry murmurs from the others, and Durrain's lips thinned. "Your search is at an end. Tonight we will pray. Tomorrow we'll take you back to the Open Forest." "No!" cried Renn and Torak together.
"You don't understand what you've blundered into," said Durrain. "The Deep Forest is at war!"
"But you never fight," retorted Renn, "so why should that affect you?"
"It affects us all," said Durrain. "It keeps the World
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Spirit away, which blights the Forest. Surely even in the Open Forest you know of this?"
"No, we're much too ignorant," said Renn. "Why don't you enlighten us?"
Durrain flashed her an angry look. "In winter the World Spirit haunts the fells as a willow-haired woman. In summer it walks the deep woods as a tall man with the antlers of a stag. This much you know?"
     
Renn made a huge effort to hold on to her temper.
     
"In spring, at the moment of turning, the Great Oak in the sacred grove bursts into leaf. Not this spring. The buds have been eaten by demons. The Spirit hasn't come." She paused. "We've tried everything."
     
"The red branches," said Torak.
     
Durrain nodded. "Each clan beseeches the Spirit in its own way. The Aurochs paint branches. Lynx and Bat make sacrifices. The Forest Horses also paint branches, and their new Mage fasts alone in the sacred grove, seeking a sign."
    Renn felt Torak stiffen. "The Forest Horse Mage," he said. "Is that a man or a woman?"
"A man," said Durrain.
Renn's heart began to race. "What does he look like?"
"No one sees his face. At all times, he wears a mask of wood, to be one with the trees."
"Where is the sacred grove?" said Torak.
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"In the valley of the horses," said Durrain.