People of the Masks(176)
“A—a what?” Hungry Owl scoffed. “An alliance with your people? We can’t trust anyone from the Bear Nation! You are all murderers and thieves!”
Wren lowered her eyes, and blinked at the ground. Her heart had started to pound.
Rumbler shouted, “No they aren’t! They are just people. Like us. Can’t we talk with them?”
Spotted Frog looked at Wren and Rumbler with a strange respect.
Wren had never had an adult look at her that way, and it scared her a little. She groped for Rumbler’s hand. His good finger went tight around her thumb.
Silver Sparrow and Hungry Owl followed Spotted Frog across the plaza. They stopped a pace away, and Spotted Frog said, “Do you truly believe this might work?”
Rumbler nodded with a lot more certainty than Wren felt. “Yes,” he said. “It might.”
Wren added, “My uncle … he always wanted to establish an alliance between the Turtle Nation and the Bear Nation. He said that if we agreed to stop raiding, and to help each other, that we would all be better off.”
Spotted Frog fingered his triple chin. “If it worked, yes, but—”
“How can we ever trust them?” Hungry Owl demanded to know. “After what they have done to us?”
Silver Sparrow’s bushy brows lowered over his beak nose. “Well, let’s ask what would happen if we could. Trade would definitely benefit. And if we agreed, as Wren suggests, to help defend each other’s villages, our alliance would be virtually invincible.”
“It would certainly make the Flicker Clans think twice about attacking us, wouldn’t it?” Spotted Frog asked.
Hungry Owl scowled down at Wren. “The Bears might agree to an alliance, and then turn around and attack us when our defenses are down.”
“Yes, it’s possible. I agree,” Spotted Frog said, “but if Little Wren and Rumbler think it might work—”
“It will work,” Elk Ivory called. She lay curled on her side, and squinted at Spotted Frog through one eye.
The village went quiet as people turned to peer at her.
Spotted Frog said, “And what makes you so sure?”
Elk Ivory squeezed her eyes closed, and weakly sat up. “I am not war leader yet, Patron,” she said. “But I think I will be when I arrive home. If you allow me and my warriors to return to Walksalong Village, and if my people cast their voices for me … I give you my pledge that I will talk with my matrons about this alliance. I have always believed, as Blue Raven did, that it would mean greater safety and prosperity for all of us.”
Spotted Frog scanned the faces of his warriors, and said, “It cannot hurt us to try.”
Elk Ivory nodded, and eased to the ground again. Her mouth pursed as if nausea tweaked her. She said, “Let us go, Patron. Give us the chance to work for this alliance together.”
Spotted Frog appeared to be considering, then he looked at Silver Sparrow, and Hungry Owl, and saw each of them nod in turn, though Hungry Owl did it reluctantly.
Spotted Frog waddled toward Wren and Rumbler. He peered down at their twined hands, knelt, and put his over the top of theirs. A light shone in his eyes as he smiled. “You two children may have just changed our world forever.”