The Reindeer People

Tillu was a healer, her magic bright and pure, working always for the good of others. No man had owned her since the one who left her heavy with Kerlew, her strange, slow, dreamy child..Living on the outskirts of the tribe Tillu was happy enough communing with the spirits to heal the sick and bring blessing on new births..But now there was Carp. Carp the Shaman, a wizened old man whose magic smelled fetid, slinking and foul to Tillu. Carp had no woman, and no apprentice. Tillu was attractive and still young, and Kerlew—Kerlew was gifted with a strangeness that allowed him to enter the spirit world. Carp wanted both of them, and he would use his dark powers to bind them to him..Tillu knew Carps' magic would steal her son and her soul. Death waited in the snows of the tundra. Tilly knew which she would prefer. . . ..Cover illustration by Susan Seddon Boulet