He frowned slightly, sighting down the shaft of his new dart . . . and right into the menstrual lodge. Despite the morning shadows, he could tell no one sat within.
Perplexed, he wandered slowly up the path, eyes on the ground as he shaved a knot flush to the shaft. The long years of hunting and tracking stood him in good stead. Here Rattling Hooves had walked up the path and returned. As he neared the entrance, he found a fainter imprint half-scuffed in the dry grass. Elk Charm! It had to be.
Frowning slightly, he continued his perambulations, slowly circling the camp, checking for tracks. Curious. Usually a newly made woman finished her bleeding and came to camp surrounded in the glow of her bashful pride. Saucy Elk Charm should have done exactly that, basking in her glory at this most auspicious of occasions.
Another track. He whistled to himself, walking along, mind racing while he studiously worked on his dart shaft. Elk Charm had taken the trail south. No doubt of that.
He paused, staring down the trail, knowing the way it ran along the upper reaches of Clear River before it turned east to drop into the canyon and finally tumble out through the Red Wall and into the plains beyond where it ran into Mud River in the land of the Short Buffalo People.
So what was down there? Why would a freshly made woman miss all the celebrating in her honor? Why would she miss the chance to hear everyone compliment her and receive the gifts that would come her way?
Blood Bear sucked at his lip and backtracked to his lodge. He checked, as he always did, to see the Wolf Bundle on the tripod at the rear of the lodge. Silly thing. For all the time he'd been forced to listen to Cut Feather talk about the bundle's Power, he'd never experienced it. During the last four years since he'd walked into the main Red Hand camp, the Wolf Bundle held high over his head in triumph, he'd never felt the slightest tingle of Power.
"Cut Feather was a fool," he grumbled. "My people are as great a bunch of fools for believing such nonsense."
He reached over, thumping the Wolf Bundle with a thick forefinger. "Take that, Wolf Bundle. I found you and brought you back. Me, Blood Bear! And without any Power!" He lifted his lip and snorted. "And what good did you do the berdache? Huh? For all the time he had you, he's a cripple now, living on the charity of White Calf, an outcast Short Buffalo hunter, and my goodwill!" He shook his head. "Fool!"
He opened one of the packs laid against the rear wall and found what he'd been searching for, bringing forth a small pouch. He undid the knot at the top and poured out the contents: six beautiful elk ivories extracted from the upper jaws of young bulls.
He poured them back into the pouch and ducked out of his lodge, strolling lazily across the camp.
"Is anyone home in the lodge of One Cast?" he called pleasantly. "Blood Bear comes on this special morning with a gift for a new woman."
"Just a minute." He recognized Rattling Hooves and heard the shifting about inside. Too bad about her. If only he'd been around when her first husband stepped out on that unstable snow and triggered the avalanche that killed him. She would have been worthy of him. Not even a fool could wonder where her daughter came by her beauty and charm.
Rattling Hooves ducked through the flap. He caught the sleepless look in her eyes, noting the tight lines around her mouth.
“I would offer a gift to the daughter of One Cast. I hear she is a new woman among us.”
Rattling Hooves smiled uneasily. "Shed be honored, but she's not here. It's Wet Rain. . . . Well, maybe she ate too much yesterday. In the middle of the night she woke up complaining about her stomach. A fever and chills followed." Rattling Hooves ran a nervous hand through her hair, expression pinching with worry. "I don't know. In the dark of night, maybe I panicked. Anyhow, I sent Elk Charm off to White Calf's for something to help her stomach."
"I have the Wolf Bundle." He crossed his arms, considering. Elk Charm would be on the trail to White Calf's? She'd be alone, anxious to try her womanhood out on the first man to come along. "I had planned to go hunting today. Perhaps if I left the Wolf Bundle here, it might help. You must care for it while I'm gone, however."
A gleam grew in Rattling Hooves' eyes, her lips parting slightly.
Blood Bear managed to keep his features under control. Idiot woman; she, too, insisted on believing the old bag contained Power. Who knew, maybe that would work to his advantage in the future. And if Elk Charm delighted him as much as he hoped she would, maybe that lure of power would lead Rattling Hooves to favor a marriage?
"We'd appreciate that. We'll take very good care of it and honor it the whole time it's within our lodge."
He smiled, mind already on the trail to White Calf's. "Good, I'll fetch it."