“I did what I had to,” she hissed at them. “It was my duty to increase the Power of the Bear Clan! Any matron would have…”
The flapping door curtain was shoved aside and, as Adusha entered the council house, her plain moosehide cape whipped about her red leggings. Sweat plastered her short black hair to her round face, accentuating the width of her flat nose and thinness of her lips. A short woman, she had a husky voice. “I apologize for being late, High Matron.”
She strode forward with her guards. The man to her left was tall and muscular. Kelek didn’t know him, but he was Wolf Clan. Yi’s lineage. Red paw prints encircled the bottom of his black cape. The man to Adusha’s right was Hikatoo. Of average height, handsome in a boyish way, he had seen thirty summers. Kelek knew his grandmother well. Snipe Clan. For several summers, Hikatoo had been one of Atotarho’s personal guards.
“Your messenger said to expect you at noon,” Kelek called irritably.
“Yes, well, I’ve never seen Hadui this violent. He’s ripping whole trees from the ground and casting them across the trails that lead into Atotarho Village. It’s as though he’s trying to block off the village to isolate you, High Matron. We were forced to veer around many such obstacles.”
Kelek stiffened, frowning at the comment.
Adusha stopped less than a pace from Kelek. “I assume you know Hikatoo.” She extended a hand to the guard on her left. “This is War Chief Tajan from Hilltop Village.”
Kelek’s gaze slowly examined the man. “Yi’s lineage.”
“I am, yes.” The man’s dark eyes had an eerie gleam.
This isn’t right. Adusha is a Bear Clan matron from Turtleback Village. She should have Bear Clan guards.
“I hope things are well in Hilltop Village, War Chief. It is not usual for—”
“No, but nothing is ‘usual’ is it?” Adusha folded her arms tightly beneath her heavy moose-hide cape. “Things are not well in the world outside Atotarho Village, Kelek.”
“I assume you’re referring to the war.”
“I’m referring to the fact that Hilltop and Turtleback villages are buzzing with the news that on her deathbed our former High Matron told Zateri’s daughter she planned to name Zateri to replace her when she was gone.”
Kelek lifted her chin to stare down her nose in disdain. “It’s a rumor, nothing more.”
Tajan’s piercing gaze was like a hot lance thrust into Kelek’s vitals.
Kelek waved a hand. “Come, come, you don’t believe it, do you? Zateri probably told her daughter to say it in the hopes of ousting the Bear Clan.”
Adusha shook her head gravely, and the War Chief shifted to prop his hand on his belted war club. At the strange threatening gesture, Kelek bristled and straightened.
“Your behavior is outrageous. What is the meaning of this?”
Adusha softly said, “Turtleback Village and Hilltop Village received messengers. Both villages called council meetings so everyone could hear the story from the messenger himself. The man who came to Turtleback Village repeated the girl’s story perfectly and it was filled with so many small details that no child could have made them up. They could only have come from our former High Matron.”
Kelek swallowed hard. No messenger had come to her, but she knew the story. Already four separate versions were circulating around Atotarho Village. “So … Turtleback Village believes it?”
“Every person outside of the Bear Clan believes it.”
She glanced at the guards who nodded slightly. “And the Bear Clan? What’s being said by our own relatives?”
Adusha’s folded arms tightened, bulging beneath her cape. After Coldspring, Riverbank, and Canassatego villages split away, there were only three villages left in the true Hills nation: Turtleback Village, Hilltop Village, and Atotarho Village. No matter the cost, they had to remain united.
“I think most of our relatives believe it, too.”
Kelek started pacing again to release some of her anxiety. “War Chief Tajan? What is the opinion of Hilltop Village?”
“Our village council believes Zateri is the rightful High Matron,” he responded bluntly.
Kelek snorted. “And just how do they speculate that I became High Matron if not through the words of our former High Matron? Is the Bear Clan being accused of wrongdoing?”
Adusha unfolded her arms and lowered them to her sides where she clenched her fists. “Not the Bear Clan. Just you, Kelek. It is being whispered that you conspired with Chief Atotarho to deny Zateri her rightful place—”
“Other than a child’s word, what evidence is there to support this claim?”