ABSTRACT
He ran across the ice, as fast as his great paws would carry him; close on his heels was Cartier the torturer. Cartier was determined to catch Nukard and make him fight. But Nukard did not want to fight Cartier. As far as Nukard was concerned, Cartier was no longer a polar bear; he had become something else – he had become human! Cartier lunged with great speed behind the Wind Watcher, calling out to him. ‘Stop, stop! Fight me you fool! What are you scared of?’ he yelled as he tried to gain on the Wind Watcher. But as he knew full well that it would not be long before the wind would begin to blow and slow him down. Whoosh! A great gust of wind hit Cartier in the side and sent him sliding across the ice. ‘Damn you trickster, that’s not fair! You coward! Fight me!’ he yelled again as he tried to regain his footing on the slippery ice. But Nukard was not listening; he was now moving like the wind, becoming the great Wind Watcher and disappearing, as though caught up in a tempest of ice, which dissolved his form into a shadowy reflection of something off in the distance – a distance too far for Cartier to reach. Cartier relented and slowed down, then turned and grunted with a deep guttural noise. He moved heavily, showing his further annoyance, as the gust of wind now seemed to be taking pleasure in belting against his thick white coat. ‘Piss off, Wind! You and that coward Nukard have won, so leave me alone’, he growled again, and swung his paw in the air, trying to hit what could not be hit. But the wind had no intention of leaving him alone; if anything, it appeared to delight in torturing him with its razor-sharp icicles that were wrapped up in its ferocity. The wind tore at him so viciously that droplets of blood began to appear on his facial fur. This was not the first time Cartier had been tormented by this particular wind. It had come many times since he had begun to hang around the great ship that had intruded into their icy paradise.
