People of the Lightning(8)

“We shall see.”

Power nested in Lightning Boys like turtles in sand. When a bolt of lightning penetrated a woman’s womb, the flash burned all the color from the child, and left it as pale as a comb jellyfish. The coloring varied, so that the last Lightning Boy in Windy Cove Clan, born more than ten tens of summers ago, had been called the Blue Lightning Boy. He’d had the characteristic white hair and pink skin, but his eyes had been the color of Brother Sky. Pondwader was called the White Lightning Boy. The fiery flash in his mother’s womb had burned every shred of color from him, leaving even his eyes so translucent you could see the tiny blood vessels pulsing beneath.

Tens of legends revolved around Lightning Boys and their role in the creation and destruction of worlds. Pondwader, Seedpod had heard, was greatly feared by his clan.

“Did that nasty woman tell you about this Lightning Boy?” Thorny Boy asked.

“Yes. Her name is Dark Rain. That nasty woman was Pondwader’s mother.”

Thorny Boy blinked in surprise. “I hope Pondwader is nothing like Dark Rain. She was a mean woman. She slapped little Lizard Girl. Did you hear about that?”

Seedpod frowned. Dark Rain’s reputation for wickedness and cunning spanned the world. She had been known to lure men into her lair, wring every bit of pleasure from them that she could, then, when she tired of them, slit their throats … or so the Traders said. Every summer they brought new and thrilling stories about her exploits.

“What did Lizard Girl do to deserve the slap?”

“Nothing!” Thorny Boy insisted. “She just crouched down beside Dark Rain during a dice game, and Dark Rain struck her right in the back of the head, and yelled at her to go away!” He plucked a bone out of his fish and dragged it to the side of his bowl. “I hope Pondwader isn’t mean.”

“Even if he is, he won’t be for long. Not if he marries your mother. He wouldn’t dare.”

Summers ago Seedpod had given up on making an alliance with Heartwood Clan. They had too much wealth and power to be interested in any of the available women from Windy Cove. Then, two nights before, Dark Rain had abruptly appeared in Seedpod’s shelter and made the offer: Pondwader had not yet taken a wife. Would Musselwhite be interested in him?

Seedpod could not believe his ears. Everyone for three tens of days distance had heard of Pondwader.

“Can you, an Outcast woman, accomplish this?” he’d asked.

Dark Rain had smiled. “I can—for a price. You see, I have some gambling debts … .”

More to himself than Thorny Boy, Seedpod murmured. “I wouldn’t have to think about this marriage if Cottonmouth had any souls. But—”

“What?” Thorny Boy slid around to stare up at Seedpod. A bit of catfish skin hung from his nose. “Do you really think Cottonmouth has no souls?”

“Oh, he’s soulless, all right. And as heartless as that dead fish in your bowl.”

Thorny Boy looked into his bowl, then returned his gaze to Seedpod. “How long has he been soulless?”

“How long?”

“Yes. When did his souls fly away?”

The rain had slowed to a misty shower again, pattering on the roof, and drenching the palmetto floor mats when the wind gusted. Seedpod tucked the hem of his tunic around his hips for warmth.

“Well,” Seedpod said, “your mother would tell you that Cottonmouth has never had any souls. But I think it happened two summers ago. Do you recall that Dream Cottonmouth had? No, maybe not. You were very young. It happened just before Sun Mother’s Celebration Day. Since then he’s acted like a rabid panther, snapping at anything in sight. But I don’t think his souls just up and flew away like sparrows. No, indeed.”

Thorny Boy set down his bowl, stretched out on the mat, and put his head in Seedpod’s lap. Sleep tugged at his eyelids. “Then what happened to them?”

Seedpod whispered, “I think the Lightning Birds soared down and blasted his souls clean out of his body.”

“Why? As punishment?”

“Certainly. If you had created the world, what would you do to a puny human who claimed he knew the day it would end? It’s like … well, claiming you have the Power of the Creators.”

Thorny Boy yawned deeply, said, “I hate Cottonmouth,” and leaned back against Seedpod’s arm. Seedpod bent over to arrange the boy’s hood around his face to shelter it from the chilling wind.

Cottonmouth’s Dream … Traders had spread the story.

In the Time Before the World, only Hurricane Breather and the Lightning Birds existed. Then, one day, the female Lightning Bird laid a thunderegg in Hurricane Breather’s eye, and sneaked away with her husband to the edge of the great winds to watch. When the thunderegg hatched, a blue world spun out, and it scared Hurricane Breather half to death. He was furious! He tried to dash the world to bits. Both of the Lightning Birds got together and talked it over, deciding whether they ought to try to save the world. The male didn’t want to, but the female did. Finally, they created Four Shining Eagles, stationed them at the four corners of the sky, and ordered them to hold down Hurricane Breather’s arms and legs, so he couldn’t move. Now and then, Hurricane Breather would manage to sit up and a great hurricane would blast the coasts, snapping whole forests into kindling, and killing tens of people, but nothing like the devastation which would occur when the Eagles died.