When Gonda caught up with Odion, he grabbed the back of his shirt and shouted, “Odion, stop! We’ll find Wrass. Just not tonight. Not tonight!”
Odion burst into tears and fought against Gonda’s iron grip. “Let me go, Father! I have to find him now. You don’t know. Y-You don’t know what they’ll d-do to him! I know. Ask Tutelo. Ask Baji and Hehaka!”
Gonda dropped to his knees and forcibly pulled Odion into his arms. Odion slammed his fists into his father’s face and shoulders. “Let me go! Father, I have to find him!”
Gonda lifted his son off the ground and carried him back toward the fire.
Odion writhed and kicked, shouting, “Wrass needs me! Let me go!”
“Stop it. Odion, stop!”
Three paces from the fire, Gonda set Odion on the ground, grabbed his son’s frantic fists, and held them against his chest. “Listen to me. We can’t just charge into a camp filled with hundreds of warriors. None of us, including Wrass, will live through it. We need to think about it, to plan. You’re a warrior now. Think! We’ll go after Wrass in the morning.”
Odion wailed, “You’re lying! You’re going to take us far away!”
“I am not lying! Tell me when I’ve ever lied to you?”
Odion’s thin body was trembling. He swallowed hard and whispered, “ … Never.”
Gonda ripped open his cape and tucked his hand into his shirt over his heart. “I give you my oath as a Standing Stone warrior that I will never, never abandon another Standing Stone warrior being held in an enemy camp. I will find him and bring him home, even at the cost of my own life.”
Sindak’s gaze shifted to Koracoo. Her eyes had narrowed at Gonda’s words, as though she disagreed.
Sobs shook Odion. In a choking voice, he said, “Oh, Father. Wrass saved me. If they find out what he d-did, they’ll kill him!”
Gonda gripped his son by the shoulders and held him at arm’s length. He solemnly stared into Odion’s brimming eyes. “Then his name will be counted among the bravest warriors of our People, and I will honor him for the rest of my life. But I am not going to risk all of our lives foolishly. Do you think I should?”
Odion squeezed his eyes closed for several agonizing moments, then said, “No.”
Gonda hugged the boy tightly. “We just need time, Odion. Time to consider how to—”
“Father, I—I understand, and I won’t endanger anyone else, but I’m going after Wrass and the other children at first light.”
Gonda shoved back to look into Odion’s brimming eyes. “Alone?”
“Yes.”
The bold confident tone of the boy’s voice filled Sindak with awe. He had no idea what the child had been through, but it could not have been pleasant, and yet Odion was willing to charge back into the mouth of the beast to rescue his friend.
Gonda’s eyes narrowed with pride. He softly said, “Sometime while I was away, you became a man, my son.”
Baji stood up. “You’re not going alone, Odion. I’m going with you.”
“Me, too.” Tutelo shot up beside Baji and clenched her jaw as though daring anyone to tell her she couldn’t go.
Hehaka just hung his head and stared at the ground.
Gonda turned to Koracoo. “What do you say, War Chief?”
Koracoo’s gaze lingered on the determined young faces around the fire. “There are many things we must discuss first. Both of you, come and sit down.”
Gonda held Odion’s hand and led him back to crouch before the flames. Odion waited with wide eyes for his mother’s next words.
Koracoo gently smoothed her hand over CorpseEye and said, “Sindak? Towa? I was going to wait to make plans until tomorrow when we were rested, but apparently we need to do it tonight. You must have many questions for the children. Why don’t you start?”
Towa marched forward, as though he’d been eager for this moment. “Thank you, War Chief.”
Towa knelt beside Sindak, and his long black braid fell over his right shoulder. He studied the children one by one and said, “We’re looking for a girl who was captured in a raid fifteen days ago. Was there another little girl among you? She has seen ten summers, and has long black hair that hangs to her waist.” The children frowned at each other and shook their heads. Towa continued, “Her front teeth stick out like a squir—”
“Zateri!” Tutelo cried, and Odion and Baji nodded.
“Yes, Zateri.” The elation in his voice was obvious. “So she was with you?”
“Yes,” Baji said. “But her hair is not long. It’s cut short in mourning.” She drew a line across her own hair to show how short, just below her chin.