People of the Fire(176)

Yet through his resentment, the bliss of the One permeated, drawing him like an aster drew a bee. No matter what, he'd have to taste that nectar. He'd have to immerse himself in the sweetness. And therein lay the pain, knowing he couldn't back away from the colors of the flower and the rich feast it contained. No, not even love could make him retreat.

Power had pulled him with an addiction stronger than Hungry Bull's adoration of the hunt. To seek the One had become his single purpose.

He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, stilling his thoughts. Again he tried to cross the threshold, searching for the One. Bit by bit, he channeled his mind, seeking the silver touch of it just beyond his reach. Harder and harder, he tried, forcing himself.

Finally, in futility, he opened pained eyes, glaring angrily up at the night. "How? Tomorrow is the day . . . and I can't."

A rustling in the night breeze whispered through the brush around him, ruffling the dry grasses.

He cocked his head, listening, the sound that of a rattlesnake. A rattlesnake?

A swell of Power pressed the air around him. The strange voice chanted in his imagination:

Monster Creatures on bellies crawl. Legless, armless, hair of scale. Shakes a rattle on his tail. Teeth of poison, hollow flail, Makes the blood black and frail.

The threshold.





Chapter 27




Tanager cried, "Here!"

Two Smokes turned from where he peered under the sagebrush to see Fire Dancer rushing over. As he hobbled closer, he watched Fire Dancer bend down on his knees, facing the buzzing reptile.

"So now we catch it?" Tanager asked uncertain

Fire Dancer wet his lips and looked up. An unfamiliar expression, part awe, part worry, met Two Smokes' questioning look.

"Yes, we catch it."

"Wait!" Tanager started forward, too late, m extended his open palm. His hand trembled as he gritted his teeth, determination on his face.

Two Smokes cried out, watching as the coiled rattlesnake drove fangs into Fire Dancer's hand.

"No!" Tanager reached for him, stricken, only to have Fire Dancer shrug her off, reaching around to grasp the snake behind the head.

Fire Dancer inspected the wounds. Meanwhile, the snake twisted around his arm, straining, the shishhh of its angry rattle loud in the air.

"What?" Tanager drew back, shaking her head. "You're out of your mind!" She turned away, staring back up at the smoke-capped mountain. Already, ash fell from the still air like some perverted snow.

Two Smokes stared, undone at the two beads of blood that formed where the fangs had sunk into Fire Dancer's living flesh.

"This is it," Tanager added firmly. "I'm going back."

"You can't," Two Smokes pleaded.

She whirled, sparks in her eyes. "I didn't come down here to walk into Heavy Beaver's camp of warriors with a delirious madman!"

Out of the jumble of confusion, Two Smokes tried to form some argument. "But . . . you said—"

"White Calf told me to trust the Dreamer, to set aside my anger for the Red Hand. She didn't tell me to ... to take care of a crazy fool!"

"The threshold," Fire Dancer murmured to himself. "It stings, burns ... all illusion. Seek the gray mist, feel it swirl . . . illusion."

Tanager shook her head and stared. "A mad fool!"

"Come with us. I don't know why, but we need you. I can feel it."

Tanager stamped back and forth. "Need me? For what? To carry him when he starts falling over?"

Two Smokes raised his hands in a soothing motion. "Trust him. He knows what he's doing."

"What he's doing? He just stuck his hand in a rattlesnake's mouth!"

Two Smokes gestured frantically. "Yes . . . yes, he's done it before. I don't know why. He's the Dreamer! Trust me. I can feel the Power of it!"

"The Power of lunacy." She gripped her darts and started back the way she'd come, shaking her head.

"Wait!" Two Smokes pleaded. "Didn't you say you'd promised? That you'd been to the place we renewed the Wolf Bundle?"

She stopped short and lowered her head, hesitating for a moment before nodding. Wind tugged at her braid, her fine dress looking shabby in the smoke-filtered sunlight. She stared up at the streaked sky, seeing where the light shone evilly through the shadows of a flaming world. She turned, glaring at him from the corner of her eye.

"I guess I'm committed. One way or another."

Two Smokes took a deep breath, the odor of smoke in his nostrils. "Yes, I guess we all are. This is the road of Power. All we can do is walk it."

Tanager turned. "And pray like mad we know what « doing."

Fire Dancer had raised his eyes to the turbid sky. "The threshold. Please make this be the threshold. Where is the gray mist? The mist of illusion?"