People of the Lakes(48)
Robin had removed the wet blanket and stood illuminated by the fire. His crossed arms emphasized their slabs of muscle. The thick fabric shin didn’t disguise his deep chest and broad shoulders.
Copper ear spools gleamed, and he wore his hair in a tight bun at the back of his head. Thick wraps of fabric covered his legs above high moccasins. His only other ornamentation was a breastplate made of split human jawbones that created chevrons on either side of a gray slate gorget.
. Star Shell could see no sympathy in those reptilian eyes. He’d been different once, years ago, when he made the journey to Starsky specifically to court her. At the time, she wouldn’t consider his suit. He’d been little more than a farmer’s son, and she, the beautiful Star Shell.
How arrogant I was then. He is right to hate me. But the man who watched her with such seething anger was driven by more than a once-spurned courtship.
Tall Man tottered forward on his short legs, the exertion of the journey plain on his weary face. “Winter is not the time for an old man like me to be floundering. about in hip-deep snow.” He smiled at the fire as people cleared a path for him.
In obvious relief, the dwarf extended his hands toward the blaze and sighed.
For her part, Star Shell stood stupidly, desperately unsure of what to do next.
“Come,” Robin beckoned. “We don’t have to like having you here, but if so respected an Elder as Tall Man speaks for you, we will hear you out.”
Torn between a desire to run and a yearning for the fire, Star Shell inched forward.
For long moments, no one spoke. The Magician, looking like a happy child, grinned into the fire. Star Shell couldn’t help but be aware of the snow melting and dripping off of her. What she must look like! A miserable camp dog, soaked to the skin.
Tall Man turned around to warm his backside, oddly oblivious to the pulsing animosity that radiated from the Blue Duck people.
They stared woodenly—as hard as the sooty posts that supported the clan house. The only sound came from the snapping of the fires.
Star Shell managed to find her voice as she cataloged the implacable faces. “Where is Catfish? And Woodpecker? And Broken Pipe? I don’t see Old Tree, or Warm Soil.”
“Catfish is dead,” Robin said curtly. “Ask your husband why.”
“Ah,” Tall Man said evenly. “And the others whom Star Shell notes are missing … they have no doubt gone to talk to the other clans. Am I correct?”
Smoldering glares provided the answer. Star Shell closed her eyes; a new sense of desolation invaded the pit of her stomach.
Woodpecker, Broken Pipe, and Warm Soil were members of the Warrior Society. They would be the ones sent to formulate alliances with the other clans. The Blue Duck must have been discussing warfare when she and Tall Man arrived, unbidden and unwelcome, out of the storm.
“Don’t do this,” she whispered. “No.”
At a gesture from Robin, two of the young men moved to block the doorway. They stood with arms crossed, anger on their faces.
“Going to war would do more harm than good,” Tall Man said, apparently unaware of the growing danger. “You will need to organize yourselves, call in the warriors from the outlying farmsteads in the foothills up and down your territory. The other clans, those who would join you, must do the same. You can’t strike for another moon yet, and by that time, Mica Bird will have rallied the Shining Bird Clan. Not only that, but you must consider that some clans won’t join you and that others will side with Mica Bird.”
“Honorable Elder, Mica Bird isn’t going to find out,” Robin asserted, his eyes gone to slits as he studied Star Shell.
Her heart had risen, pounding. Involuntarily, her hand rose to her throat, as if she could ward away fear’s suffocation.
Blessed Spirits, would she be the first to pay for Catfish’s death?
“He already knows.” The Magician cocked his head, his eyes thoughtful as he looked up at Robin. ‘ ‘, or he will as soon as he dons the Mask. It will tell him.”
“That’s how he killed Catfish!” Robin roared. “And we’re going to make sure it will never happen again! Don’t you understand, Elder? Mica Bird has gone too far! And this isn’t the only clan he has enraged! People up and down the valley are thirsting for his blood! We want to stop this madness! Blood can only be repaid with blood!”
Star Shell’s voice caught in her throat. “What happened?”
Loathing soured Robin’s face as he stared at her. “Your husband beat Catfish’s son. Used a digging stick to gouge one of his eyes out. Then he tried to castrate the boy. He would have done it, too, if Old Slate hadn’t heard the boy’s shrieks and stopped it. And why? Because the boy was caught coupling with Mica Bird’s sister.