"Not yet," the Wolf Dreamer rebuked through the golden haze of the illuminated Spirals, "You live in the Now. Look beyond. What we have gained with Little Dancer we have lost with Heavy Beaver. He plans to move on the Red Hand. As his authority consolidates, he looks to the mountains.''
"You gambled that the rains would lessen his need!"
"I didn 't understand his driving hunger for domination."
"What else have you misjudged? Things become more precarious. Another mistake ..."
Chapter 15
Packs lay ready in the pink morning light. Blue wreaths of smoke rose from the shelter hangings to trace up the irregular gray wall of the limestone cliff. Chill lay heavy on the ground, breath condensing as people attended to last-minute preparations.
Little Dancer stood to one side, watching, curiously detached. Sleep hadn't come. Mostly he'd lain awake, tortured by fragments of Dreams when he did doze off. Once more his world had changed—and he didn't know how, or why.
White Calf ducked out of the flap and walked painfully across to where he stood. She seemed to huddle over her walking stick, eyes on the dirt before him.
She worked her toothless gums and looked up, meeting his eyes. The previous day seemed to have aged her even more.
"I was wrong," she said gently. "I thought you were my responsibility." She shook her head slightly, eyes never leaving his. "I knew you had so much to learn. I didn't think I had much time left. You see? I thought I might die before I could teach you."
Of everything she could say, he hadn't expected this. Words wouldn't come.
She looked up at the Starweb above and laughed. "He's the one, the Sun Man, the Wolf Dreamer. He'll train you, Little Dancer.'' She laughed brittlely, half turning away to glance at the others. "Foolish of me, boy. But then, that's the way of humans. We tend toward pride, toward thinking we're more than we are. No wonder we messed up the First World."
"I don't understand."
She sniffed in the cool air. "I didn't either. I thought my part was greater than it was. Huh! Took seeing the vision yesterday. It all came clear. Oh, I had my part, all right. I was the key to your conception and safety. You know your real mother was Clear Water—my daughter. I bore Hungry Bull's father, to spawn him, to marry Sage Root, to care for you. I was called to take you from Heavy Beaver at just the right moment. I was here to provide a safe haven for you to grow in. I have another couple of things to do, but they'll come in time."
He reached out for her, surprised at the ache in his heart. “I’ll be back."
She nodded. "Oh, we'll see each other again. I think by the time winter's about over, you'll appear at my hearth. We're still tied, boy. But remember this. It's the Spirals that are the most important of all—more important than those you love, or even yourself. He'll guide you to them. They're the places of Power where his Dreams are strongest."
"I don't understand what you mean. The spirals?"
She pointed to her shelter. "Like the one back of the fire pit in the shelter. The ones pecked into the rock. The old ones in the high places."
"Circles within Circles."
"That's the world, boy. That's all of the Wise One Above's creation."
"Will you be all right here? I mean Blood Bear might come back."
She waved it away. "I'll be fine. Oh, I've seen a bit of the future. Blood Bear won't bother me. I've got enough food laid in and there's firewood aplenty around here." She cocked her head, sighing. "It was always the Power, you see. That's what you've got to remember about White Calf. I left Big Fox and my son, Seven Foxes, to chase the Power to the high places. Then, when I established myself here, I met Cut Feather. Power brought us together—in more ways than one.”
She scratched back of her ear, and he could see the memories spinning in her head. "We lost ourselves for a while. He and I, that is. Something about love and coupling under the robes that lessens the way Power works within you. Lessens the thirst for Dreaming. Ah, he was good! One passion to weaken another. Coupling does that, rushes your head with delight and leaves you floating like a dream. But human love weakens the Power. I bore him Clear Water, and another child. That one was stillborn. Maybe I should have understood then, but it took a while longer. Cut Feather understood. He let me go . . . took care of your mother.
"It was always the high places." She clucked to herself. "Power's stronger there. Like firelight will draw a moth to its death, so the Power drew me. It sucks you up, possesses you, and you lose yourself in the wonder of touching that other place."
She hesitated, lost in some private vision in her mind.