People of the Lightning(119)
“In a moment,” Spotted Paw responded, and shouted, “Stop, Lightning Boy! Do not come any closer! I don’t wish to kill you. You are much more valuable alive, but I will kill you, if necessary.”
Pondwader halted, trembling, staring in terror at Musselwhite. She lay on her stomach, her face hidden in the leaves, blood matting her black hair to the back of her head. Had the blow crushed her skull?
“Let me go to my wife,” he begged. “Please. I need to—”
“She’s dead,” Spotted Paw declared proudly. “Forget her. Come over here!” He pointed to his friend, who was still writhing on the ground, tugging pitifully at the dart in his back. “Pull that dart from Batfish’s back.”
Pondwader walked forward, and knelt between Batfish and Musselwhite, close enough to touch her. But he didn’t. Instead, his gaze glanced over the dart that had fallen from her atlatl. It rested no more than ten hands away. Then he scrutinized Batfish’s wound.
“The dart,” Pondwader said, “is embedded in your friend’s spine. If I pull it out, it may slice all the way through.”
Batfish gaped in horror. “I’d be paralyzed for the rest of my life! Great Shining People, no. Not that!” He reached out to Spotted Paw. “Get me to Bright Feather! You’re my wife’s brother! Help me! If you can get me to Bright Feather, he might be able to—”
“I don’t have time for that!” Spotted Paw shouted. “I have to get back to tell Cottonmouth what happened at Windy Cove! And boast of how I killed his greatest enemy! The woman he could never catch!”
“You can’t just leave me here!” Batfish shrieked and reached pleadingly to Spotted Paw. “The lions and wolves will find me long before you can return! You must take me—”
“Lightning Boy,” Spotted Paw ordered, “pick up that dart over there. Kill Batfish. Make it quick. I do not wish my brother-in-law to suffer.”
Pondwader’s knees quaked. “Kill … kill him?”
“That’s what I said. Do it! Hurry!”
“You can’t!” Batfish shrieked. “You’re my relative. How will you ever face my sister?”
“Why don’t you do it?” Pondwader shouted. “Why do I have to?”
Spotted Paw lifted his warclub and waved it threateningly. “Do it, Boy! Do it now.”
Pondwader turned, forced himself to walk by Musselwhite and pick up the dart, then he walked back and stood over Batfish. The man’s fat, ugly face was drenched with sweat. As Pondwader lifted the dart, Batfish screamed, and threw himself at Spotted Paw’s legs, trying to grab hold of his brother-in-law.
Surprised, Spotted Paw stumbled sideways, and Pondwader reacted without thinking. He swung around, the dart in his right hand, and drove the chert point deep into Spotted Paw’s chest.
Spotted Paw gasped, blinked disbelievingly. His warclub clattered to the ground and he gripped the dart with both hands. He ran his fingers down the smooth wooden shaft in an almost loving gesture. “Look what you’ve done to me!” Spotted Paw raged as he staggered, fighting to stay on his feet. He collapsed in a clawing heap beside Batfish.
Pondwader backed away. Dazed, in shock.
Batfish dragged himself forward, examining the dart in his relative’s heart, then lunged for the club.
Pondwader leaped forward, jerked it from his hands, and stood there holding the club, though he barely realized it.
Batfish roared in rage, yanked the dart from Spotted Paw’s chest, then reared back and aimed it at Pondwader. Pondwader’s arms swung without any conscious awareness. The club whistled as it sliced the air and connected with Batfish’s temple. A loud crack! pierced the afternoon. Batfish smashed into the pine, then sank to the ground.
Pondwader froze.
The—the blood!
He could not believe how much blood there was …
The warclub fell from his nerveless hands.
He stumbled backward, tripped over a stone, and crashed to the ground. Rolling over, he crawled on all fours to Musselwhite’s side. His hand shook so badly, he had trouble guiding it to her bloody head. Red coated his fingers.
“Oh, my wife,” he whimpered.
Pondwader sat down and gathered her into his arms, kissing her face, pulling leaves from her long hair. “I did this, didn’t I? This is my fault. My fault!”
Awareness came, slow and gray, seeping through a throbbing sea of pain, and she glimpsed starlight falling through trees she had never seen before. She blinked. She dared not try to move for fear her head would rupture into a glittering mass of bone fragments. The place, the trees, the smells of swamp and darkness were unfamiliar, but the hooded robe, she knew. And the boyish face within it, white as moonlight. Tears glittered on his cheeks.