"About like this, huh?" He waved in a sweeping gesture.
"About." Black Crow shook his head. "I don't know how we'll find them up here. We could walk around for weeks.”
"If we don't stumble into a camp of the Anit'ah in the meantime."
"There's that, all right. After that raid Heavy Beaver made on their camps last year, I don't think they'd smile at us and wave as we went by."
Three Toes nodded, hearing sighs of relief behind him as Meadowlark, his wife, bent down to help his youngest daughter with some problem. Makes Fun had sagged onto a rock. A haggard look lined her face as she Stared anxiously up at her husband. Black Crow's oldest boy lifted his flap to urinate. His water spattered on the hard ground.
"Nothing Heavy Beaver ever does leads to any good. Raiding the Anit'ah will come back to haunt us in the end like geese through the seasons."
A slight shiver played along Three Toes' spine. He smiled without humor. "I kind of started to wonder if maybe this wasn't such a good idea."
Black Crow propped hands on his lean hips, shifting uneasily on tired feet as he looked down the obscured trail they'd just traversed. "What other choice did we have? What was left? The Cut Hair don't want anything to do with us. No matter where we go, we're moving into someone's hunting grounds and people are mad and hungry. It's not a good time for intruders."
"And the Anit'ah hate us more than anyone," Three Toes reminded him, wishing he could recall his words uttered in council long months back. However, words, like the wind, couldn't be captured and brought back. All the People had gone crazy. Heavy Beaver's power had continued to grow, pulling together the splintered bands. Two Stones, Elk Whistle, White Foot, all had joined with Heavy Beaver, dancing his new Dance of Renewal. And when Seven Suns had decided to join with Heavy Beaver, Three Toes had stood, drawing all eyes toward him.
"I cannot be part of this. If you go to Heavy Beaver's camp, my wife and I will be Cursed. I know Heavy Beaver. I grew up with him. I know his hate. I'll leave the People before I'll share a camp with Heavy Beaver."
He'd been outvoted.
"Remember, you can always come to my camp. I'll protect you. Feed you.' ' White Calf's words echoed in his head as they had the day they'd parted company four years ago. "Follow Clear River west through the red rock wall and take the Spirit Trail up the mountain. Stay to the south of the canyon and you '11 find a trail. You '11 know it by the rock piles. Follow that over the ridge top and you '11 find my camp in the valley bottom beyond. You’ll be safe there.''
Three Toes sucked his lip. Safe? He'd bet his life, and that of his family and friends, on that illusive promise. Only how would they know the right trail in this dense fog? Up here in the land of the Anit'ah the clouds caught on the peaks, hiding everything.
A misty rain began to fall.
“It's getting colder."
Three Toes grunted. "All that time we wanted rain and we get it now."
“The whole world's gone crazy. Maybe the Wise One Above is tired of men." Black Crow lifted a bony shoulder in a shrug and rubbed his sagging belly. “Maybe the end of the world is coming like Heavy Beaver says."
Three Toes searched the somber grayness with anxious eyes. 44 I hope you're joking when you say that."
Fire filled the world, roaring like thunder mated to wind. Yellow red, raging, it burned up from below, beating at Little Dancer in loud fury. Crackling and snapping, the fire engulfed him. He blinked against the painful heat, trying to raise his arms in an effort to shield his face from the searing.
The fire mocked him, walls of flame moving in retaliation, wavering this way and that in a frightening dance. He tried to turn away, only to have flames swirl in a countermove, roaring and hissing to each of his movements. Little Dancer's breath caught in his throat. If he tried to breathe, the fire would dart in to char his lungs and consume his very soul.
"We're One." Words formed in the roaring thunder of the endless flames. "All the world is One. We're all a Dream. Be with me . . . Dance with me. We're One . . . One.
He clamped his eyes shut, futilely shaking his head in denial. Tears formed in his eyes, hissing and popping into steam as they started from his cheeks.
“No!" he screamed. "No!"
The pressure in his lungs burned as feverishly as the inferno outside.
“Free yourself, boy. Dance with me. Become One with me. 'c i your fear. Trust yourself "
He jerked back as the flames twirled around him like impossible whirlwind. As the winds drew him up, his flesh sizzled like fat dripped on white-ashed coals
He squealed in fear—and snapped awake, heart battering at his ribs
"Hey? You all right?" Two Smokes halt stalled from his bedding, blinking owlishly.