People of the Black Sun(13)
Sindak gave her a tight smile as he approached. He had seen thirty-one summers pass, and had a lean face with deeply sunken brown eyes. Short black hair clung to his cheeks. His tan cape swayed, flashing the white geometric designs that decorated the bottom.
As he leaned against the palisade beside her, he bluntly said, “You’ve forgotten that I know that look. You think we’re spies, don’t you?”
“The possibility has occurred to me.”
Wind fanned the central bonfire and a fog of blue wood smoke blew around them. Sindak waited for it to pass, before he said, “We’re not.”
“That’s good to hear. However, your word is just not good enough, War Chief. You and your people worry me.”
His lips pressed into a hard line. “Until yesterday, I had never led an attack against Yellowtail Village. No matter how hard I had to argue in war councils, or what I had to do to bribe warriors to side with me, I did it. The last thing in the world that I wanted was to—”
“‘Until yesterday,’ those are the important words. Just a few hands of time ago you led warriors in an attempt to destroy the Standing Stone nation.” Jigonsaseh extended her palm to the dead bodies stacked along the base of the palisade, then moved it across the decimated villages. The predawn shadows devoured the horrors, but he understood.
Sindak expelled a breath. “I was overruled in council and given specific orders from High Matron Tila herself. If your Ruling Council had ordered an attack upon my village, Atotarho Village, would you have followed those orders?”
“I would. Without an instant’s hesitation.”
Sindak’s muscular shoulders relaxed a little, though his face retained its taut expression. “We are warriors. We all do our duty, Matron.”
She watched him flip up his hood against the falling snow, and tried to fathom what he must be thinking. If their positions had been reversed, she’d be desperately worried whether or not she’d made the right decision. “Statements about duty sound curious coming from a War Chief who abandoned his army and fled to the enemy.”
Sindak seemed to freeze for a heartbeat, then he turned and gave her a level stare. “Our duties changed when our nation split in two and three Hills villages joined your side. We had to choose where our allegiance lay. We did.”
Jigonsaseh grunted softly and let her gaze roam the snowy hillside to the west. Dark forms slinked across the white background—wolves feasting upon her relatives. Snarls and growls carried as they competed for corpses.
“Tomorrow, if you allow it,” Sindak said, “my warriors and I will help gather the dead bodies of your people, and Sing them to the afterlife. Perhaps that will forge some trust.”
“Trust is not so easily purchased, Sindak. Hundreds of the refugees in the plaza below are from your most recent attack on White Dog Village. They hate you, War Chief.”
“I understand that. I only pray they give us a chance to prove…”
His voice faded when he noticed Jigonsaseh’s grip tighten on the shaft of her belted war club. CorpseEye was cold tonight. Stone cold. As though the Spirit of the club had sailed far away, to another place and time.
Anxiety widened Sindak’s dark eyes. “What’s he telling you?” He pointed to CorpseEye.
“Nothing. We’re safe. For now.”
In relief, Sindak sagged against the palisade and exhaled hard. “Don’t do that to me. If my good friend Towa had been here, he would have run screaming.”
A half-smile turned her lips. “I’d forgotten you once held CorpseEye.” The night you saved my life by throwing me my club. The night you and your best friend fought on my side with great bravery. “How is Towa?”
“He is well. He married eight summers ago and moved to Riverbank Village. He’s spent most of the past twelve summers off on some wild Trading expedition. In fact, a Flint Trader came through Atotarho Village two moons ago, and said he’d seen Towa carrying a pack of buffalo horn sheaths he’d gotten in the far west. He was headed to the Mountain People villages to Trade them for corn.” He paused and his brows knitted. “However, about one-half moon ago, when the violence intensified, Towa returned home to Riverbank Village.”
“I doubt he found much corn in the Mountain villages, but if he did, he’s a wealthy man now. Most villages have already eaten their seed corn, which means they have nothing to plant next spring.”
Desperation and despair seemed everywhere. She briefly closed her tired eyes and rubbed them. When she opened her eyes, she found Sindak looking at her solemnly.
“We are not spies, Matron,” he repeated. “I give you my oath.”