To her right, Shell Comb wove a section of cloth at her small loom. She had dyed the fibers different colors, red from puccoon, black from squid ink, yellow from woodland sunflower, and purple from black cherries. Her nimble fingers worked each thread through the warp before she packed it tightly with a fine-tooth bone comb. Hunting Hawk was more than aware of the sidelong glances Shell Comb and Copper Thunder kept casting toward each other.
“So, the old man went to see where the girl was killed today.” Copper Thunder chuckled. “Tell me, what has he found, poking under rocks here and there? Any delightful morsels?” “He found my wrath,” Hunting Hawk snorted. “He had the nerve to say that I would have benefited from Red Knot’s death! Me, her grandmother!”
“Surely, Weroansqua, you shouldn’t have to put up with that kind of insolence.”
Hunting Hawk bit off a hot retort, needled by the Great Tayac’s voice. A hint of mockery lay just below the point of perception. As a result, it took her a moment to recognize the odd look in Shell Comb’s eyes.
“Don’t stare at me with those wide eyes, girl,” Hunting Hawk growled. “I won’t have it. I had nothing to do with the girl’s death.”
Shell Comb’s expression cleared. “I—I know that, Mother. I’m just surprised, that’s all.”
“I’ll tell you what I’d do.” Copper Thunder squinted at the gleaming spike on his war club. “I’d have him removed from my village. He was always trouble.”
Hunting Hawk sighed. “As a witch, he could cause me more than a few problems. Especially if he shouted out a curse as we were shoving him out the gate.”
Copper Thunder cocked his head as he ran his hand along the smooth wood of his war club. “He could indeed if you shoved him out the gate. There are other ways. He could be carried out. Feet first.”
Hunting Hawk considered that. “Odd as it may seem, the man I usually depend on for such things appears to be unwilling to take such a step.” “War Chiefs can always be replaced. Especially if their loyalty is compromised.”
Hunting Hawk stared into the crackling fire. Had the old buzzard truly blinded Nine Killer to his duty to clan and family? If he had, should she replace her War Chief? Or try to talk him out of his delusion?
“If you allow the old man to stay,” Copper Thunder continued, “he will slowly poison your people. Turn them against you. He can’t help it. It’s just the way he is. The way Okeus made him.”
She worked her hand again, remembering his advice. “What did he do for the Serpent Chiefs?”
“War Chief, and advisor, among other things. Mostly he skulked around their councils sowing discord. The thing I remember about him the most was how his enemies always seemed to come up dead. Sometimes without a mark on them.” Copper Thunder tapped his fingers on his war club. “It was said that he knew plants, and their properties. I heard once that he was particularly fond of water hemlock. But he knew the uses of other plants as well. Some that killed instantly.”
“I don’t think I’ll share a meal with him.” Hunting Hawk ran her tongue over toothless gums as she remembered his words. “But poison comes from more than plants.”
“He has a way about him,” Shell Comb declared. “But I don’t think he’s that dangerous.”
Copper Thunder chuckled. “Never underrate him.”
“If he is so dangerous, what’s he doing here?” Shell Comb asked, an eyebrow arched. “Why isn’t he a chief somewhere?”
“Probably fled for his life when one of his little plots was uncovered.” Copper Thunder shrugged. “It wouldn’t be the first time a man fled just ahead of a Serpent Chief’s wrath. And one thing about my old friend Raven, he was always clever enough to save his own skin, no matter how many of his friends lost theirs.”
Hunting Hawk propped her chin on her hand and frowned. “He did save us from a war with Three Myrtle. Like it or not, that would have been a disaster.”
“But, at what price, Weroansqua?” Copper Thunder smiled at her, the action automatic and humorless. “So you lose an old ally? You have other options now. Different strengths to look toward.” She kept her face straight. “I am always open to new alliances, Great Tayac. At the same time, why ruin old ones? The future is a perilous place at best, especially these days.”
Then she saw the look traded between Shell Comb and Copper Thunder. Ah! He’d taken the bait. And suddenly, the old plan had new life blown into it. Maybe, just maybe, she could salvage something for Greenstone Clan—and the future.