The air roared and rushed to feed the tremendous inferno. Entire trees cracked like thunder as the trunks split, steaming and whooshing into the wall of racing flame.
The heat of it beat into him like a fist, crushing him into the parched soil, grinding him down flat as the world burned around him.
"Mother?"
In the heart of the roaring incineration a figure moved, stalking the white ash like a shadow.
Heart pounding, Heavy Beaver watched as Little Dancer walked through the flames, tongues of it licking around him.
“Why don't you burn? What are you?"
“I’m the Dreamer of the People." And the figure blurred as a wall of flame swept past, searing an afterimage on the back of Heavy Beaver's eyes.
Shielding his gaze with an uplifted arm. Heavy Beaver squinted, expecting Little Dancer to have been charn sizzling grease and blackened bone. Instead, he stood t: tall, handsome, the gaudy light of the burning world R ing on his smooth skin.
“What . . . who are you?"
“I'm you, Heavy Beaver . . . and not you. I'm the Dream and the reality. I've led you here. I'm that which is . . . and is not. I'm the Dream you denied!”
Heavy Beaver blinked, feeling his skin blister. In hoi he watched fire swirling around Little Dancer, watched him Dance with it. Little Dancer reached down to sear Heavy Beaver's fat flesh.
Panicked, Heavy Beaver jumped to his feet, charging headlong into the fire, feeling his flesh sear. His lungs scorched as he drew a breath to scream He beat at his burning hair, stumbling, rolling in the fire as pain crackled his charring skin.
A final gust from the Wolf Bundle scattered the bits of his soul.
* * *
"The Spiral is glowing, changing,” the Wolf Dreamer called from the golden mist.
"We have our Dreamer," the Wolf Bundle Sang, its voice echoing the stars.
"And we are One." Fire Dancer whirled in the Dance.
By ones and twos they came down the trails. Some limped, some carried others burned too badly to walk on their own. As they came in to the camp, Two Smokes bandaged them, sending women and children for specific plants to make a poultice. Warriors sat stunned, vacant looks on their faces. Soot-grimed, with hair singed here and there, they stared at the smoldering mountain with empty eyes.
Tanager watched, impassive, as she guarded the Dreamer's lodge.
Two Smokes finally hitched his way over and settled next to Tanager. "I've asked many people. They say that as the fire began, the Anit'ah disappeared like a raindrop on a hot rock."
She nodded, a grim smile on her lips. "We are the Red Hand. The mountains are ours."
"Yes, the mountains are ours."
"I've been keeping my guard up for Heavy Beaver. What's happened to him?"
Two Smokes studied his callused hands. "They found him over there. Where the fire burned up the juniper. I still don't know why it didn't take the whole camp."
"Many things happened that night."
"But why did he run into the middle of the fire? Why?"
She gave him a hard glance. "He abused the Wolf Bundle once, didn't he?"
Two Smokes averted his eyes and nodded.
"You'd better be very careful of it."
"How's Fire Dancer?"
"He woke up a while ago."
"And you could bring me food," a weak voice called from within. Fire Dancer crawled from the lodge, gazing up at the mountain. He looked wasted, thin, but his eyes glittered as though not of this world.
Two Smokes sighed. "I thought hunger was only illusion."
"It is. Only I must live this illusion a while longer You and I, my friend, together we must teach these people a new way. They must learn the secret of the grass from I must Dream for them, and you must be the bridge."
Two Smokes nodded, knowing the way of it. "And where will you do this?"
"I've been thinking of the Warm Wind Basin. There are no people who live there. And your grass grows everywhere. At least, that's what Three Rattles said last time he through."
"And that will take the pressure off the buffalo for a while."
"Like men," Tanager said, pointing to the exhauster warriors, "buffalo need time to recover."
Two Smokes laughed. "It could be more difficult than that. One of the warriors started to beat his wife. She I him with his own war darts. When he threatened to kill her, she told him Tanager would get him. You should hear it. There are arguments all over. One of the women insists on sitting in council. Seven Suns and Elk Whistle think the warriors have missed the women."
Fire Dancer smiled weakly. "It hurts to miss a woman." He looked away.
"Your time will come. The People are quick, the
Fire Dancer shook his head. “You’ve Danced with the One. You can’t go back, Two Smokes. It would well, hurt worse. She'd never understand. I'd only make her miserable. My way is different now. You're berdaehe, you understand