People of the Black Sun(78)
She paused to swallow and study their expressions. She couldn’t tell whether they believed her or not.
Adusha’s voice was low. “How did you think he could accomplish such a thing? Our Ruling Council would surely have refused—”
“Don’t you see? If he could, the People of the Hills would become the most powerful nation in the world. Think of what we could do! We could send out armies to conquer the Algonquin and Cherokee to the south, and the Islander’s Confederacy to the north. Our armies could sweep westward like locusts, taking whatever we wished. We would be wealthy beyond our wildest dreams! Our children would never be hungry or frightened again.” And I would become a legend. The greatest High Matron in the history of the People. She extended a translucent parchment-like hand to Adusha. “Isn’t that worth allowing him to retain his position? Of course, if he’d failed, we would have been forced to replace him with someone else, but I felt certain—”
“Certain?” Adusha’s voice was terse. “Are you telling me that you betrayed us so our nation could make war on distant Peoples we don’t even know?”
War Chief Tajan had his gaze on her. Curiosity filled his dark eyes. Hikatoo’s mouth had tightened into a white bloodless line.
“Betrayed who? The Wolf Clan? I didn’t betray them. Atotarho assured me that our former high matron had named me to replace her.”
Adusha stared at Kelek for a long time. “Please tell your story, Hikatoo.”
Kelek’s panicked gaze jerked to the Snipe Clan warrior, and her heart thundered.
“I only heard a few words of the chief’s conversation with Matron Kelek. As she says, he did go to her. One hand of time earlier, however, I was standing right outside the Wolf Clan longhouse, barely three paces from where the Chief spoke with the former High Matron in her chamber. Though the longhouse wall hid many of their words, all of his personal guards, me included, heard the former High Matron when she raised her voice to tell the Chief, ‘You are unfit to rule this nation, but the council cannot afford to remove you on the eve of battle.’” He paused to take a deep breath, and glared at Kelek. “One hand of time later, he ordered us to accompany him to the Bear Clan longhouse so he could speak with Matron Kelek. He stood under the porch until she appeared. The chief began their conversation by saying, ‘I have a proposition I think you will appreciate.’ After that, I only caught certain words. But we were all worried by what had happened that day, so later that night we discussed what each of us had heard. Between the five of us, we filled in much of the conversation.”
Kelek felt slightly faint. She gritted her teeth and lifted her chin, trying to glower. “You were standing twenty paces away. What could you have heard?”
Hikatoo’s dark gaze did not waver. “You told the chief that in exchange for his saying the former high matron had named you to succeed her, you would marry him to your granddaughter, and you assured him that he would retain his position as Chief.”
Adusha’s head tilted in an unpleasant accusatory manner. After ten heartbeats of waiting for Kelek to deny it, she lifted her arm and pointed a finger at Kelek’s chest. “When I said you had betrayed us, I didn’t mean the Wolf Clan, Kelek. I meant the nation. Your own words make it clear that you conspired with Atotarho to circumvent the wisdom of the Ruling Council. That alone is treason, High Matron.” She said the words with contempt. “And once the rest of the story has spread across the entire nation, the Bear Clan will be spat upon and hunted down like dogs. Our clan will be extinct.”
Kelek rose to her feet, shaking with a combination of indignation and fear. “Tell your village councils that I demand they appear before me to discuss this issue in person. This ‘pieced-together’ conversation is pure fabrication! I refuse to stand here any longer being maligned by a cowardly warrior and an insignificant Little Matron!”
A cold smile came to Adusha’s thin lips. “I will tell them. In the meantime, we have heard that Atotarho requested you to send two thousand warriors to join him in the destruction of the Standing Stone nation.”
“Yes. I’d planned to bring the issue before the Ruling Council tomor—”
“Take no action until you’ve heard from our village councils.”
Kelek stiffened. “But he needs those warriors.”
Adusha didn’t deign to respond. She turned on her heel and stalked toward the door with her guards behind her.
When they’d gone, Kelek stared at the wind-whipped curtain. The sacred False Faces on the walls rattled and hooted shrilly, crying out to each other. Her shaking knees finally gave way. She sank down to the bench and dropped her head in her hands.