Black Skull ate the last piece of fish from his bowl, which magically seemed to be refilled. Green Spider still Sang, clapping his hands as he watched the Dancers with sparkling eyes.
“This Star Shell,” Black Skull asked, turning to Tall Fisher.
“She’s known as an evil woman?”
, The old woman sighed and plucked at one of the wattles on her neck.’ ”m not sure what to tell you, Trader. We’d barely heard of her until all this trouble with the Mask began. According to the stories, Star Shell is a beautiful young woman of the Starsky Clans.
She married a man of the Sun Mounds, this Mica Bird … and it was he who used the Mask to terrorize the clans. In the end, he hung himself. Sun Mounds burned the clan house where he died and then placed posts up as wards to keep the angry ghost hidden deep within. Star Shell fled with the Mask … and in the company of the Magician. She’s being pursued by Robin, a war leader of the Blue Duck Clan.”
“And what do you know of him?” Black Skull finished yet another serving of meat and fish, aware that a lovely young woman was ladling more into his bowl. When he smiled, she gasped—and only then did he remember what he looked like when he smiled. Instead, he winked, and she shot him an em668 Kathleen O’Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear
barrassed grin before handing him the water gourd again.
Shinbone spoke. “Robin is an ambitious and respected man.
I have met him before. He lives only for the increase of his own authority and influence, I think he hopes to become one of the most Powerful men among the Serpent Clans.” Bitterness twisted the chief’s lips. “I do not think he cares how he gets to this end, either. He has quite a collection of skulls, all polished and painted, on the walls of his society house.”
“And Tall Man?” Black Skull asked. “This Magician?”
Green Spider stopped Singing in mid-sentence and turned to Black Skull. “He’s dead. Robin slit him open like a fish and roasted his guts. Pop and sizzle, sizzle and pop.” He shook-his head morosely. “You should hear his ghost plead for forgiveness.” “Dead?” Shinbone asked.
“Or alive?” Black Skull asked. “Are you talking forward or backward, fool?”
Green Spider grinned and reached up, trying to wiggle a finger into Black Skull’s flaring nostril. The warrior pinned him in place with an armlock. Green Spider, unfazed, told him, “As I speak, a warrior carries the Magician’s skull south to rest on the wall of Blue Duck clan’s Warrior Society house. Pity the Magician’s ghost. No place to go. Hounded, chased, even as pretty Star Shell is chased by Robin.”
Black Skull let him loose, frowning.
“Contrary, how do you know this?” Shinbone asked as he took his wife’s hand. They seemed to share the sudden tension.
Green Spider bowed his head and let out a weary breath.
“Fear not, great Shinbone. You and your people are safe. Tomorrow we will be gone and you will have fine goods and memories of our stay. Tonight is important only for us. Here in your village, we will each find our way.”
“And what way will I find, fool?” Black Skull asked.
“A way,” Green Spider whispered. “That’s all I know.”
The Contrary drew a circle in the dirt, and beside it, a spiral with little points jutting off from the last whorl. He stood, throwing back his head. From his lips burst a perfect howl, that of a lonely old wolf abandoned by its pack.
Surprised, the Dancers stopped to stare.
In the awkward silence, an answering wolf’s howl echoed through the trees. Green Spider grinned and clapped his hands, shouting, “Dance! Dance! Lift your souls and hearts to the beat of your hands and feet!” The Dance started again, right where it had paused, and people laughed as Green Spider Danced backward through the crowd, making four circles—only to disappear between the houses.
“He is a frightening man,” Shinbone observed. “You have had a most interesting time with him, I would say.”
“Indeed,” Black Skull said, staring at the drawing the fool had made. The circle was the people’s sign for a star–the spiral with the outer spikes, the design of a conch. Black Skull could read it with crystal clarity.
Star Shell. The woman fleeing with the Mask. But why would that matter to Black Skull?
Pearl danced in the radiance of the smiles that Otter cast in her direction. After days within Wave Dancer’s confines, the ability to move, to feel her soul Dancing, sent a burst of sheer bliss to charge her muscles. She clasped Otter’s hand, unaware of anything except him and the graceful steps that they shared—a blending of souls and Songs and weaving bodies.