“Twenty. Maybe.” Spotted Frog looked up at Pup Woman. “Is Big Red Foot well yet? He had a nasty—”
“Spotted Frog! Listen to yourself. You are speaking of twenty warriors if you pull the sick from their blankets. Your clan is no match for a Walksalong war party!”
“Not alone,” Pup Woman said and squared her shoulders. “But if we send out runners asking for help—”
“From where?” Cornhusk shouted, overcome with dread. If this pathetic village got slaughtered, the blame would be on his head, and enough people already wanted him dead. “Who is brave enough to offer warriors when Jumping Badger might attack them next? Eh? Think about this. Paint Rock is gone. They can’t offer anyone. Sleeping Mist has been decimated. They won’t offer anyone. Earth Thunderer—”
“That’s it!” Spotted Frog waved his hands wildly. “We’ll send for old Silver Sparrow! We know he’s a demented fool, but people in the Bear Nation fear him. We’ll get him to curse Jumping Badger, maybe all of Walksalong Village. That should throw terror into—”
“Oh, please!” Cornhusk groaned and dropped his head in his hands. “This is howling at the moon, Spotted Frog. Save your strength for your own people. There is no telling who Jumping Badger wishes to hurt after he captures Blue Raven and the children. What if you are next?”
Pup Woman’s eyes narrowed and Cornhusk felt his spine prickle.
“Er, Matron,” he said, “forgive my impudence. I did not mean to sound as if I were casting my voice against your proposal. I have no such right, and I know it. I ask only that you consider this carefully. I enjoy coming here. I would hate to see Silent Crow Village turned into a pile of cinders and rotting corpses. You know as well as I that if Jumping Badger were to get news of what you said this night, he would fly here faster than a shooting star and”—he threw up his hands—“your people would be charred corpses!”
“The brave do not fear death,” Spotted Frog said, and reached for Pup Woman’s hand. He brought it down to his flushed cheek. “We will risk our lives gladly to save the heroes. If we do not, who will?”
Cornhusk slumped over his cup. The fumes from the sour-corn drink made his eyes water. Through tears, he said, “Well, if you are determined to do this thing, at least let me tell you the rest of the story.”
“There’s more?”
He nodded glumly. “Yes. Much more. You see, it was I who saved the lives of Silver Sparrow and Matron Dust Moon.” When he heard the words that came out of his mouth, panic surged through him. Why on earth had he said that!
Spotted Frog clutched Pup Woman’s hand more tightly. “Go on. How did it happen?”
Cornhusk morosely tipped up his cup and drained it dry. Well, this was a Turtle Nation village, perhaps it would not get back to a Bear Nation village. “They came to Walksalong to rescue the False Face Child, but Blue Raven and Little Wren had already run off with the boy, and Jumping Badger was out looking for them. At great risk to myself, I sneaked away and ran up the trail to warn Silver Sparrow and Matron Dust Moon that they should flee before anyone from Walksalong Village saw them, or they would surely be killed. Silver Sparrow exploded in anger!” Cornhusk lifted his fists and swung them around his head. “I ran back to Walksalong Village, but soon thereafter, the storm struck. It blasted Walksalong Village and all that surrounded it. Trees ripped from the ground and flew about like cloth dolls. The longhouses burst wide open and the bark coverings flew to pieces. Roof poles somersaulted across the plaza.”
“Did anyone survive?” Spotted Frog asked in a tremulous voice. “Or were they all destroyed?”
Cornhusk whispered, “Not a longhouse stood. Most of the elders were killed. Children dashed about the ruins screaming for parents, aunts, and uncles. I have never seen anything so terrifying, Spotted Frog. Matron Starflower was cut in half by flying debris. Bogbean and old Beadfern died when their longhouses collapsed. I know that the Turtle Nation does not believe in Silver Sparrow’s Powers, but what else could have caused such devastation?” He shook his head. “You would have believed. If you had been there. If you had seen what I saw. You would have believed that Silver Sparrow is capable of destroying the whole world!”
“Wren?” Rumbler called. “The trail ends up here. Be careful!”
“I will.” Her voice echoed as she braced her back against the steeply tilted slab of granite and slid along it. The narrow trail, no more than two hands wide, ran just at the base of the granite cliff. Below, a badly eroded talus slope of crumbling rock angled downward to a small green pond. Mist curled over the pond. Grandfather Day Maker remained hidden, but crimson spikes of light shot over the horizon and turned the mist a soft rosy hue.