Lowering his face, he gently blew, and the embers ignited the twigs and frayed grasses.
The stew was built on a stock of goosefoot seeds, fish netted that day, five ducks, and what was left of last night’s deer. Pearl ate as she worked, filling herself before she surreptitiously added the final ingredient: the spurge root.
As the fire crackled and the stew steamed, Grizzly Tooth watched her. “You’re thinking about running off. Trying to escape —to make your way back down river.” She met his thoughtful glance, then turned her attention to her prayer mat. As her cold fingers worked another of the knots and pulled it tight, she said, “Why would I do that? If I did, I would dishonor my people.”
Doing so would dishonor her family and people. It bothered her that she cared so little about the consequences of her proposed action. She should care. Her people had made a promise.
And if she slipped away from these captors, the shame would be theirs forever.
And what if they are shamed? So what? I didn’t want to be married in the first place.
“I would not run away,” Grizzly Tooth said casually as he fed sticks to the fire. “We have forty warriors here. Many of these men are excellent trackers, excellent swimmers.”
He nodded at the crackling fire, satisfied with the way it climbed the water-smoothed sticks. Then he moved back, settling himself casually beside her. “There is something you should know about the -Khota. We have many failings, as do all peoples. Sometimes we fight amongst ourselves. Other times we travel long distances to raid and steal from other peoples. We have even robbed Traders, and sometimes killed them.”
“I’ve heard the rumors.”
Grizzly Tooth shrugged, his eyes still on the fire. “Maybe these things are good for us … or maybe not. But you must understand that we are vigorous, strong. A kind of fire burns in our hearts that does not burn in the hearts of other people.”
Warriors were starting to trickle into the camp as night fell.
Some carried wood. Others brought poles for shelters. They drove the pole ends into the Sand and unrolled cattail matting from the canoes to provide a covering in case it should rain. As they prepared their own fire pits, they came, nodded to Grizzly Tooth, and lit brands with which to light their fires.
“I would tell you a story to make my point,” Grizzly Tooth continued. “In the time of my great-great-greatgrandfather, a marriage was made between one of our leaders, Strong Wind, and the people who lived at the mouth of the Ilini River.
“The woman was brought to our camp in the north, in the Land of Many Lakes, where we were hunters. The ceremonies were held and the vows exchanged between our people and hers. Then, that night, when he took her, she went inexplicably crazy. She drove a deer-bone dagger into his side and broke a good, oak war club over his head. Then she slipped away into the night. She stole a canoe and traveled down the Father Water, heading for her people, who lived at the mouth of the Ilini River.
“Miraculously, Strong Wind lived. His relatives held a big feast, and for four days and nights, they Danced, calling upon the ghosts of the ancestors to heal Strong Wind, and upon the other clans of the Khota to join them in avenging the insult to Strong Wind.”
“Maybe he deserved what he got?”
“Maybe he did, but the Spirit World heard the call for help.
With news of Strong Wind’s recovery, all the clans of the Khota sent warriors.” Grizzly Tooth gave her a cool stare. “Ten tens of canoes were assembled. Together, they paddled rapidly downstream to repay the Ilini woman and her relatives. Everyone, young, old, they were all killed. Today, in that place where the Ilini woman once lived, lie the clan territories to which you are being carried.”
She stared down at her fingers, slim and brown where they gripped the tan grasses of the prayer mat, which contrasted to the buff-colored fabric of her nettle-and-milkweed-fiber skirt.
The chilly air lanced through the thin dress as the breeze on the river changed.
In her entire life, she’d never been as cold as during the two moons she’d been on the river. Now she huddled closer to the fire, and Grizzly Tooth, with a nod of his head, signaled one of the warriors who lurked around the peripheries to find her a blanket.
“Why do you think I would escape?”
“I’ve seen the look in your eyes. We have come a long way from your lands. If I were you, I might want to run away also.”
“I would not dishonor my people.”
Grizzly Tooth tossed a stick into the fire. “I got the feeling they didn’t think much of you as it was. They said you made men uncomfortable. That it was better for you to go north. Establish a Trading relationship with the Khota. That no one would marry you at home. That you would be better—”