“I don’t think so, but I can’t be cer—”
“Tell no one. Do you understand? No one! When you’ve finished your count, report to me.”
“Yes, War Chief.”
Negano released him and Yekonis trotted back to join Tarha. Their faint upset voices carried through the moonlight. A short while later they returned to kicking over empty blankets.
Dear gods, I should have known. After I put down the food riot yesterday, the disgruntled warriors gathered into a knot and talked long into the night. They planned this well.…
Negano lifted his eyes heavenward for several stunned moments. As the blue of dawn seeped across the sky, the campfires of the dead began to fade to soft twinkles, and the Path of Souls dimmed.
Gods, this was too terrible to think about. He felt light-headed as he turned and plodded down the hill.
Before he entered Atotarho’s circle, he heard Nesi say, “Blessed Ancestors, is that the Mountain army?”
Negano swung around. As he squinted, trying to make out the movements he saw along the tree line, a premonition of calamity filled him. From three sides, Mountain warriors with nocked bows slid from the trees and slowly started forward, hemming in Atotarho’s camp. The only side left open was the eastern edge of their camp which stretched along a wavy line just out of bow range of the warriors on the Bur Oak catwalks.
Blood surged in Negano’s veins as the Mountain warriors closed in. He shouted, “Rise and grab your weapons! We are surrounded! Get up! But loose no arrows!”
All across the meadow a flurry of shouts, groans, and breathless grunts erupted as men and women lunged for weapons and struggled to their feet to face the enemy. Negano repeated, “Loose no arrows! We don’t know their intentions yet!”
They’re supposed to be our new friends … but why would Wenisa surround us if he planned to honor our agreement?
A group of ten or so warriors detached from the line to the east and marched down the slope. Two men dragged an unconscious warrior between them. They had his arms stretched over their shoulders. His head flopped while his feet dragged behind him, generating a scraping sound.
“Negano?” Chief Atotarho called. “Join us.”
Negano broke into a trot, hurrying to stand in Atotarho’s circle. The mad chief glanced at him, then his gaze slid back to the man walking out front of the ten Mountain warriors. He might have been dressed in thin rags, but he wore a magnificent wolfhide headdress with the ears pricked. Negano had heard that Wenisa’s long-dead evil brother, Manidos, had favored similar wear during battle. For much of Negano’s childhood the two men had terrorized the world. Stories of their merciless cruelty had plagued his nightmares until he’d finally become a man and somewhat outgrown them.
“Chief Wenisa,” Atotarho greeted when the man arrived.
Negano studied him. Grisly scars sliced Wenisa’s face and his right eye was missing. Whoever had sewn it up had done a poor job. The big irregular stitches had created a shrunken pucker in his repulsive face.
“Chief Atotarho. My messenger says you doubted my word.” Wenisa flicked his hand, gesturing to the warriors hauling the unconscious man between them. “Bring him here and drop him.”
The warriors dragged the man forward and let his limp body fall on the ground at Atotarho’s feet. “Take a good look. This is the dreaded Standing Stone Prophet.”
Atotarho scoffed. “It can’t be. I sent two warriors to kill him in case one failed.” The Chief squinted down at the limp form. The man was unusually tall, broad-shouldered, but his face was so battered it was impossible in the moonlight to identify him. One of his eyes had swollen closed. His jaw bulged, as though several teeth had been knocked out. Atotarho used his walking stick to prod the man, trying to wake him. “What makes you think this is Sky Messenger?”
Wenisa’s mouth twisted into a smile that could at best be described as a ghastly grimace. “I saw him before my warriors got to him. It’s definitely Sky Messenger.”
“Well, I can’t verify that claim in this light.”
As though to taunt Atotarho, Wenisa lifted both fists into the air and shouted to his warriors, “The great and powerful Standing Stone Prophet who terrifies every warrior on this field lies at my feet with barely the strength to keep breathing. He has not called a storm from the sky! None of the Faces of the Forest have slipped from the trees to free him! Elder Brother Sun has not come to his aid! He is a pathetic fool. I could swat him like a fly because my Power is greater than his!” To emphasize his point, Wenisa leveled a bone-breaking kick at Sky Messenger’s ribs. The man didn’t even groan.