“It’s all right,” she told him, trying to reach out. “I see your soul.”
And then he was gone, vanished into the glow of the fire.
“Wait!” she cried, rising to her feet. “Come back!”
But the fire only snapped and popped, and the surf rolled and pounded, and whispered down the shore.
Pale Snake sat with his head down. He returned the Mask to its pack. Silver Water stared wide-eyed into the fire.
“I think I have the answers I needed,” Pale Snake said, looking up with numb eyes. “Star Shell, we must go. We must leave here now. I’m twice a fool, and maybe three times so. I should have guessed that they would follow.” “Robin?” she said dully.
“Yes, we must leave. Now.” He seemed broken. “I’ll get you as far as the island. I need to drop my packs, and then you’ll be on your own.”
“My own?” She frowned. “Pale Snake?”
“You were meant to destroy me, Star Shell.”
“Destroy you? How?”
He rose to his feet, stepping close to run trembling fingers along her cheek. She almost cried out at the pain in his eyes.
“I’ll tell you as we travel. I don’t know all the facts. You’ll have to help me piece it together. Come, let’s pack. We can make the river by tomorrow night. This wind will help us along.
It will be hard paddling, but if we don’t work like dogs, Robin and his cutthroats will have us first.”
His expression went grim. “I saw a Vision of your skull, neatly cleaned and polished, hanging from Robin’s wall, right beside my father’s.”
“What … what else did you see? … Pale Snake?”
“You were meant to love, Star Shell. The greedy demon understood that.”
And with that, he began loading the packs into the canoe.
The image faded into swirling flames, sparks and smoke whipping around as searing heat forced Black Skull to duck behind the hard hickory of his war club for protection.
He cried out and jerked awake. Wave Dancer rode the swells, powered by the wind trap and the fierce gusts that drove out of the west to push them across the black waters.
“Are you all right?” Pearl called from where she held one side of the wind trap, her form barely visible in the blackness.
“Dream,” he called back and shook his head. He could see Green Spider struggling with a corner of the wind trap. Those knowing eyes were fastened on the warrior.
Black Skull fought to regain the image, and, yes, there she was, reaching out to him through the firelight.
When he blinked, though, it was to see only night. Wind roared off the whitecaps, and the bow splashed whitely into the black water as the canoe dipped and rose.
Black Skull crawled back onto the packs, staring up into Green Spider’s owlish face. “What was that?” “The Mask,” the Contrary told him in a curiously pained voice. “Its Power was unleashed tonight, drawing on the wind and water, twinkling with the stars. Didn’t you hear it calling?”
“I was Dreaming,” Black Skull admitted. “Funny thing. I’ve never Dreamed of being a bird before, but there I was, soaring, flying high over the lake, and I saw these canoes paddling along.
Naturally, I dropped down to see if they were Khota, but no, a different group of warriors, angry men, blood on their minds and clothing.
“But what were they pursuing? I let the wind carry me, ever eastward along the southern shore. And there I saw a camp with a man, a woman, and a little girl. The man was Dreaming, locked with Power, Dancing around and around as they Sang and chanted, and the woman looked up at me with fright in her eyes as I landed.
“I knew all of a sudden that the warriors were chasing her.
Just having flown over them, I knew how closely they pursued.
Just as I was going to warn them, I really saw her … ” He paused, slowly shaking his head. “The most beautiful woman in the world. Right there, holding the child’s hand and looking up at me.”
“Star Shell,” Green Spider told him. “The little girl is Silver Water. Her daughter.”
“And the man?”
“A medicine man of some sort. I’ve never seen him before tonight.”
“Her husband?” Black Skull’s heart fell.
“No. Though he would like to be. I can sense that he loves her, and she … she doesn’t know how to feel about him.”
“I must save her, Green Spider.” And so he would. For this other man, no doubt. “Your Vision at Wenshare village was wrong, Contrary.” Black Skull lowered his voice so that Pearl couldn’t hear. “I will die for her, too. I will fight these Khota, and these other warriors who pursue Star Shell and Silver Water.