“I recommend that we keep paddling,” Black Skull said. He stood in the bow to stare at the wooded shore. “It’s one thing to meet canoes on the water in daylight. It’s a whole different matter to find yourself ambushed on land in the middle of the night.”
“Oh, no!” Green Spider stuck his skinny arms out in protest.
“No one would dare ambush us! We’re Powerful heroes headed into the Unknown.”
. Black Skull gave the Contrary a disgusted look. “Don’t call me a hero, fool. I know from experience. Heroes are the easiest men of all to kill. They run around fearlessly, acting like squawking grouse because they’ve convinced themselves Power is protecting them. One smack in the side of the head, that’s all it takes to prove otherwise.”
“I think we’ll continue on.” Otter took a close look at the handle of his oar. Long ago, the wood had turned a rich, dark brown, dyed by his sweat and body oils. How justly fitting, for in many ways, it wax part of his body. He’d crafted the pointed paddle from the finest of hickory, and with it, he’d traversed ing to circumnavigate the great projection of land that Trout had drawn in the sand.
They all pitched in, paddling hard as the last of the sun dipped into the western waters. The section of shore screening the fire was left far behind them.
What are you going to do now? Otter was right back where he’d started. He’d have cut off his arm to keep Pearl in the canoe … and now he didn’t know what to say to her.
She’d thrown in with them, Trading everything that Trout offered—safety, caring—for more days of sleeping on the packs. For having to hang her bottom overboard every time nature called. As well as for eating cold food from jars and suffering aching muscles from paddling. What did a man say?
Thank you?
“Same order?” Black Skull asked. “The fool and I by day, you and Pearl by night?”
“I have a lot of stars to learn,” Otter answered. “And in the daytime, you can’t get too seriously lost. Just stay out far enough from shore that we can’t be seen easily,”
“Black Skull and I are never lost! We both live inside our bones,” Green Spider insisted as he jabbed his paddle down into the water and watched it bob up again.
“Fool,” Black Skull muttered. “The only thing that lives in your bones is idiocy.”
Otter dropped his voice for Pearl’s ears alone, his eyes on the dark and ominous shore. “You can still live to regret this.”
“We can all live to regret a great number of things.” She turned, those lustrous eyes wide. “Will I always have to walk in Red Moccasins’ shadow?” “Is that why you thought about staying with Trout?”
“I couldn’t stand the thought of loving a man who loved another woman—one out of his reach. Such loves become almost magical. The living can never live up to the legend. I guess I … well, the story about the wedding bowl struck too closely to home. That, and Trout was handsome, fun-loving, and kind.
Had I met him instead of you, I would have been very happy with him. We understood each other.”
“Pearl … about Red Moccasins.” Otter searched for the right words. “Sorry, I guess it’s a little difficult. I—I’ll always love her, Pearl. I can’t help that, any more than I can help but love Four Kills.”
She arched one of those delicate eyebrows. “You never slept with your brother.”
“Of course I did! We shared cradleboards and blankets until we were—”
She slapped her paddle in the water and sprayed him. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”
“What’s wrong back there?” Black Skull called as the canoe rocked.
Green Spider answered, “I liked it better when they were afraid of each other.”
“We’re still afraid of each other. Now shut up, turn around, and paddle,” Otter ordered.
Green Spider dropped his paddle to clatter in the bottom of the canoe, clambered back on the packs, and sat with his hands cupped to his ears to hear better.
“Contraries!” Otter yelled, while Pearl grinned despite herself.
“Very well, Green Spider, listen closely because Pearl and I want you to hear every word and be engrossed by our entire conversation. We really Want you to hear our most private thoughts.”
Green Spider vented a sigh of resignation before returning to his spot and retrieving his paddle. To Otter’s amazement, the Contrary held on to the blade, this time stroking with the handle in the water. Otter opened his mouth, then thought better of it.
He couldn’t be sure of what kind of lesson the Contrary might be trying to teach this time.