Looking frantically to the north, she noted yet another plume of smoke. She had to hurry.
* * *
Fire At Night trotted down the trail, careful of turning an ankle on a rock. Curious how that worked—going up was so hard, but going down proved ever so much more dangerous
Behind him, Throws Stones slid on unstable footing.
"Hey, watch that. You fall and break a leg and you'll miss the Blessing. I sure won't carry you."
"Uh-huh, and I'll tell Heavy Beaver you left on your own and I was chasing you."
"We've been through that."
Throws Stones grunted. "I know. He can't do much to his two best warriors. Beats hanging around up there, waiting for an Anit'ah dart. I don't know, I've been spooked ever since Straight Wood told us that witch tale."
"So, we stick with the story that we came down to check and see if the meat made it safe. I don't trust those boys who carried it down."
"You think Heavy Beaver will swallow that
"If your courage was going to fail, it should have done it up there." Fire At Night jerked a thumb back over his shoulder at the bulk of the mountain. "This was your idea."
Throws Stones gave a laugh he didn't feel. "So, how long have we been up here chasing through the trees, huh? Two moons, maybe three? And what's happened? We raided a couple of camps, killed a couple of people, and took -women. Then the Anit'ah disappeared. I think Let! I right. They ran over on the west side of the mount
"I sleep better at night knowing we chased them m and wonder why we Sing over more of our friends every day."
"We keep learning the trails."
"But we can't hold them. I don't know. This isn't like the plains. You can't get them to stand up, fight one-on-one. They don't have a warrior's honor. They're like coyotes sneaking around everywhere. You never know when on get brave and sneak in to nip your butt."
"They can't last this winter. When have we given them time to cache their stupid seeds? They don't even have time to hunt. All we have to do is keep the pressure on them, then let them starve this winter.”
"Then where are the old men and women? Gathering food, I'll bet." Fire At Night slowed to a stop, muscular chest heaving. "I don't know, I tell you. I think that old stories about mad dogs and larkspur-eating fools being the only ones to fight Anit'ah is right."
"Their cousins, the White Crane, weren't so much."
"Their cousins didn't have that Wolf Bundle. And they didn't have that she-bitch of a warrior either! You can say what you want about them in a stand-up fight, but that last time I cast three darts at her, and I'd swear they bent out of the way each time."
"Heavy Beaver will kill her with his Power one of these days."
"Like Two Blue Moons thought he would? I almost didn't get away last time I fought her. Fortunately, I was near the trail. The rest got chased into the trees and you know what happens then."
Throws Stones lifted his lip. "Maybe she gets her strength from men, huh? Milks their semen before a fight? You know what Heavy Beaver says about women, how they rob a man's strength, drain him."
Fire At Night chuckled. "I could be drained like that more often. That's one of the reasons I decided to come. Three moons without my wives is too long."
"You know, the more I think about this, the less I like the excuse about the meat."
"So?"
"So we tell him we need to talk about strategy, about how to beat this woman. What's a tanager anyway?"
"That red, yellow, and black bird that lives up in the tops of the trees." Throws Stones thought about it and grinned. "Yes, I like that. A war strategy. Heavy Beaver will go for that. If we stroke that fat ego he keeps in that fat body, he'll do a special Sing for us, Bless us so we can kill that woman. After that, the Anit'ah will fall apart like a cattail tuft in the late fall."
"Then we'd better quit standing here like perching ravens and get down there."
"A change of heart?"
"No, just a better story for Heavy Beaver. After all these years, I still don't underestimate him. I remember what he did to Sage Root and the others. I don't mess with a man like that/'
“I think it's this way."
Fire Dancer looked down the steep trail. "I don't know. What if it's a dead end? We'd have to climb back up that."
Two Smokes puffed out his cheeks and exhaled. "I don't know either. It's been a long long time. I was young then."
“How's your knee doing?"
Two Smokes smiled. “I don't think it's ever felt this good since the buffalo stepped on it."
Fire Dancer rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't know. When you almost passed out, I thought . . . well. I'm lost. I don't trust myself."