Hammer of the Gods

Chapter 13

ATUNGITOK

Chapter 8

A little clumsy he’s said to be

But all enjoy his company

A bit forgetful he can be at times

A more loyal friend could one not find

Invisible he can become at will

For angelic blood is in him still

He likes to play and joke near town

Don’t mention dwarves when he’s around

In distant past he made new friends

With two young chiefs of angelic kin

Little did the young men know

Angelic grandmother from long ago

Good for nothing some do say

But great deeds he will do one day

Angelica stared a long time at the ring before finally putting it on. She expected to feel something different about it, but she didn’t notice anything unusual. She thought about waking up Jonah and telling him what had happened, but morning would be here soon and they had a long journey ahead of them. There would be plenty of time to tell him later. She lay awake for a long time, but must have fallen asleep as there was a knock on the door as a tired eyed Jonah told her it was time to get up. It was 5:00 am.

Angelica felt like she had been run over by a truck. They ate a small bowl of the Eskimo Ice Crème, and then tried on clothes that Lorne brought to them. Angelica found some coveralls that fit her pretty well, but apparently Konosak’s son Nanuk was built more like his father, so Jonah looked like the Michelin man in his Carharts and bunny boots. Konosak and Lorne both had large caliber pistols strapped to their waists. They loaded hunting rifles and back packs full of supplies into a small trailer attached to one of the four wheelers.

Jonah and Angelica doubled up with their hosts on the four wheelers and traveled to the Nome to Teller Highway which runs about 76 miles between the two small towns. Denali trotted alongside, excitedly as they traveled.

Yesterday’s snow was melting, which was leaving some nice muddy pot holes that would make for slow, rough travel. The air was still cold, in the upper 30’s. In years past, Konosak would have been out hunting in early September, but his injured leg ached in the cold, particularly if it involved sleeping on the hard, frozen, tundra in a tent.

“We will go as far as we can by four wheeler, then we will have to walk a couple of miles to my brother’s cabin. My brother, Awamurtok, is 3rd chief of Nome. I have contacted the 2nd chief to tell him we will be out hunting for a week or two,” Konosak said when they stopped briefly near the river.

“What does Awamurtok mean?” Jonah asked Lorne.

“It means ‘Vagabond.’ I love him, but he is the town drunk and if we are lucky he will be at the cabin and not in some bushes off the side of the road somewhere.” Lorne answered.

***

Konosak told them a quick story about his brother, the 3rd chief;

“Last spring the river had eroded the river bank almost to my brother’s cabin, so on one of his good days, he came to our house and asked for help moving his small house back away from the encroaching waterway. Awarumtok had never taken the time to build an outhouse. He had always just gone outside to do his business. When people arrived to move the cabin, they started calling him the ‘Turd Chief’ after seeing the mess that was thawing out in the snow!” Konosak chuckled with a large toothy grin.

***

When the road crossed the Sinrock River, it was time to start hiking. The chief sent Denali ahead, he would warn them if there were any bears on the trail. After traveling a short distance, the four wheelers were parked out of sight and each of them shouldered their packs. Konosak and Lorne held their hunting rifles at the ready. They were now on the north side of the river and traveled easterly. The mountains were to the north. Chief Konosak explained that their destination would take them north-east up-river and then north from there into the mountains.

It was a long, slow, walk due to Konosak’s bad leg, but eventually they approached a fork in the trail that led down to the river and the ‘Turd Chief’s’ cabin. A large aluminum boat was tied up near the house with a pair of old tree logs acting as a ramp down to the water. A 90 horse Suzuki 4 stroke motor was on the back of the boat. The cabin was raised off the ground by a combination of stacks of old pallets and cinder blocks. After knocking, Konosak opened the door revealing his brother, Awamurtok, passed out on the floor on top of a grizzly bear rug.

The fire place still had embers glowing weakly within, so Konosak threw on a log and kicked an empty bottle out of the way. His brother only moaned when Konosak tried to wake him. Konosak went outside and got a bucket of the melting snow, came back in with a mischievous look in his eyes and dumped the cold, wet, snow on Awamurtok’s head. The sounds of screaming and colorful cursing from Awarumtok filled the air. Konosak laughed and laughed.

“Wake up ‘Turd Chief’ it is time to use that boat of yours!” Konosak bellowed mockingly.

Awamurtok was thinner and shorter than Konosak. He had a thin mustache and some sparse hairs on his chin. He looked to be a few years younger than his brother. His hair was longer and disheveled. He had the appearance of some Eskimo mad scientist. As he sat up, some dirt, twigs, and snow fell out of his hair upon the floor. He looked around the dimly lit room and shielded his eyes from the sunlight that streamed through the doorway as he struggled to see who stood outside.

“You will pay for that Konosak!” Awamurtok suddenly yelled.

He jumped up and tackled his brother as the other 3 watched warily from the safety of the front porch. The brothers rolled and tussled across the floor and knocked over the end table. A few punches, curses and bruises later, they both lay breathing heavily sweating. Suddenly they both started laughing loudly.

Konosak and Lorne took turns explaining to Awarumtok who Angelica and Jonah were and that they had been sent by Gabriel. Awarumtok’s eyes grew wide as he looked upon Angelica and Jonah with wonder. Then Konosak explained in Inupiaq about Aternerk Sangliak at which Awarumtok made a few replies in his native tongue. Although Jonah and Angelica could not speak the language, they had recognized the name of the Gnome Chief and got the gist of the conversation.

“So, will he come with us?” Jonah asked.

“Of course I will be coming. You could not stop me from joining you on such a quest!” Awarumtok exclaimed.

After making some coffee and packing his supplies in the boat along with their equipment and packs they headed upriver.

After several hours in a cold, aluminum boat passing beaver and caribou, they saw a huge polar bear eating salmon that it had caught. The bear stood up on its hind legs to get a better look at the boat and its occupants. Jonah and Angelica were both awed and intimidated.

Jonah had heard news reports of people being hunted by polar bears and that these predators of the far north were good swimmers. The river was not too wide in this area and images of being mauled by the monsterous bruin flashed in Jonah and Angelica’s minds.

Angelica and Jonah noticed however, that Konosak, Lorne and Awamurok seemed unconcerned as they held their right hands in a fist over their hearts and bowed their heads as they passed the huge predator. The polar bear made a loud roar and then dropped back on all fours as it trotted back up the river bank heading over a rise and out of sight.

A short while later they rounded a bend and saw Nanuk’s hunting cabin on the north side of the river. Angelica was worrying about the bear which had run off in the same general direction. Another boat was tied to a tree near the cabin. Some fresh caribou quarters were hanging to dry off to one side, lashed to an A-frame type structure. The cabin was raised several feet off the ground as was a large oil tank on one side. The cabin used the oil for its heater and stove. The wooden structure was made from 2x6’s and plywood that they brought in by snow machines and sleds during the winter. The windows could be shuttered with large boards for the times when no one was around, lest the bears break in. An artic entry was built onto the front of the cabin with a porch. This type of entrance helped to keep the colder air out and the warm air inside. It is in this area where winter coats and boots would be hung to dry. The tin roof had a steep pitch which helped keep the snow from piling up too deep and heavy.

A pair of large wooden snow-shoes hung crossed on the side of the building and a large moose skull with wide antlers hung over the doorway. Stacks of caribou antlers lay to one side of the cabin. They noticed there were claw marks on the side of the cabin as they approached. A tall food cache was built a ways off. Two snow machines with pull-sleds were parked under tarps.

There was no sign of Nanuk, but his jacket, shirt, beaver fur hat and boots were lying in a pile near a stone circle. The fire looked to have been out for a couple of days. Konosak figured the caribou had been hanging for about that long as it had started getting a good crust on the meat underneath the mesh game bags. There were some large bear prints near the clothing and cabin, which followed along the river bank down stream. Suddenly, Nanuk appeared from behind the cabin wearing only his camouflaged pants which seemed odd considering how cold it was.

He was big and looked very much like his father only he was lean and muscled. Jonah and Angelica imagined that Konosak must have looked very similar when he was younger. Nanuk greeted his family in their native tongue. The two chiefs made some gestures towards Jonah and Angelica as they spoke a few guttural words in Inupiat.

Nanuk looked at them suspiciously as he reached for his shirt. Angelica tried to avert her eyes, but it was difficult. As he dressed, Angelica and Lorne excused themselves to go into the cabin and get a fire going. Jonah briefly caught a glimpse of an odd birth mark on the left side of Nanuk’s chest as he put his shirt on. It reminded Jonah of something, but he was unable to place what it was after only a brief look.

Lunch consisted of caribou, some cheese, and crackers. After some discussion, they determined that Konosak would remain behind due to his bad leg. Awamurtok seemed to have recovered from his hang over and agreed to lead them to the area where he and Konosak had met the gnomes many years before.

Konosak said, “Do not take any gold from the streams in the gnome kingdom. The gnomes lay a curse upon their treasure. The curse can take various forms to those foolish enough to try.”

“I went against the decree of Aternerk Sangliak’s father on my first encounter with the gnomes and took some of the yellow metal from the streams within their underground kingdom. When I made it back to Nome I pulled the tennis ball container full of gold nuggets from my jacket to show a couple of friends and ended up in a fight over it with a stranger from Bethel. I cut two fingers off the man’s hand who tried to take my gold, but the thief reached across the table for his hunting rifle and shot me in the hip.”

“The villian grabbed the small container, scooped up my treasure and raced to the airport booking a hasty flight to Bethel. The plane he chartered crashed just out of town, killing the thief and the pilot. The investigators believed the plane crashed due to icing on the wings. This is how I got my name, Gold Chief.”

Jonah commented to Konosak with a smile on his face, “Perhaps the curse only applies to natives?”

“You will come back dead if you take the gnomes gold!” Konosak said seriously.

Jonah, Angelica, Lorne, Nanuk and their uncle Awarumtok, who they had now nick named “Tok” for short, loaded Nanuk’s boat full of food and supplies. They took with them a pair of hunting rifles, a trio of hand guns and extra gas. Denali stayed with Konosak at the cabin.