That Mountain Over There

The Coldpeak tribe has no name for it. Broken Tusk explained why: “You name a thing, and it knows you said its name.” Tribe members refer to it by direction — east of the spring, beyond the stones. They prefer not to think about it at all.

It does not appear on any map. Broken Tusk said it shouldn’t be there.

Hunters who go within a mile of the base begin to feel it — not words, just the sensation of something vast registering that they are there. Something that has waited a long time recognizing their approach. Every hunter who has broken the tribe’s rule and gone closer has come back wrong. Most haven’t come back at all.

Clod guarded it briefly, by prior arrangement with Dr. Medicine. He returned with a report: a gap in the stone face of the mountain behind them, darkness inside that was warmer than it should have been. He did not go inside. He prefered to return the responsibility of guarding to Dr. Medicine.

Broken Tusk’s final word on the subject: “The more it is thought about, the more present it becomes.”