Red Knot’s body lay supine on its mat, as it had the last time Panther had seen it, but now only a skeleton remained, the flesh having been carefully cut from the bones. The joints remained attached; bound by wraps of brown ligament that had dried hard in the heat of the fire. That was as it should be. Red Knot’s skeleton would serve as the framework for the reconstructioti of her body as soon as the skin was tanned. Grass straw would fill out her body where once muscle and viscera had been.
Panther stopped short, glancing at her skull. Something about the girl’s irregular rictus bothered him, prickling uneasily at his soul, as if familiar.
“Panther?” Green Serpent asked, rising from a large round-bottomed pot that he oversaw. “You have come back?”
“Yes, Kwiokos. I was wondering … But, what are you doing there?”
Green Serpent glanced back at his pot. “Tanning her skin, of course. I was just attending to the mixture, seeing that the juices were right. I had a pot spoil once. Terrible thing to have happen to one’s kin. In that case I was able to dry the skin before mold discolored it. But now, in the dead of winter, that would be impossible.” “Indeed it would, and worse, it’s snowing outside.” Panther jerked a thumb back at the door. “I’m afraid your work would freeze solid.”
“You’re not supposed to be here,” Green Serpent said, bending down to wash his hands in yet another pot. “The Weroansqua said that we were not to help you anymore. Apparently, you angered her.”
Panther gave the old man a disarming smile. “Apparently she didn’t tell you the rest.”
“The rest?” Green Serpent’s forehead wrinkled. The action made his mousy white eyebrows lower. “What rest?”
“Ah, well, I had no choice but to hint that she might have benefited from Red Knot’s death. I have my reasons, you see. The killer must think that everyone is suspect. Even the Weroansqjua. How else can I smoke him out?”
Green Serpent’s frown deepened. “Well, I’m not sure. But I do know that the Weroansqua was infuriated. Is that what you did? Accused her of murdering her granddaughter?” ‘
“Do you think she could have had the girl killed? After all, it was a way to avoid having the Great Tayac marry into Greenstone Clan. She might have figured out just what a cold-blooded spider he really is.”
Green Serpent raised his hands helplessly. “I’ve known her for years, since she was a little girl and I was an even littler boy. She was always smart. Like a crafty bobcat. It wasn’t just her birthright. I knew she would be Weroansqua one day. Everything she did was right. No mistakes like so many of us make. When her uncle, the old Weroance, died, and he had no brother, leadership fell to Hunting Hawk as the heir of Greenstone Clan. She accepted the duty and became Weroansqua. At the time, some among the Independent villages scoffed at her. She was so young, you see. Barely out of the Women’s House after her first menstruation.” “It must have been difficult for you,” Panther agreed.
“Oh, yes, but Hunting Hawk, she wasn’t like most women. Not at all like that daughter of hers.” Green Serpent touched his forehead with an index finger. “She was centered, Panther. Here. Her soul knew what it was about, what it wanted, where it was going, and how to get there. Before we could even get the skin off of her father’s body, she sent out war parties. That was under old Blood Heron. He was War Chief then. He spread the word that Hunting Hawk was in charge—and then he raided the Mamanatowick.”
Green Serpent grinned, seeing back through the years. “Yes, she was something. There wasn’t anyone who thought that little girl was anything but Weroansqua, clear down through her blood and muscle to her bones.” The Kwiokos shook his head. “Blood Heron brought back prisoners from his raid on the Mamanatowick. Two warriors, cousins of the Mamanatowick’s. Hunting Hawk called everybody together and walked up to those two warriors. They stood there, being brave, and sneering down at her. They called her names, told her that no little girl could kill the likes of them.”
Panther glanced away. “But she had them burned, didn’t she? Thrown on the fire out there in the plaza. I
‘heard they screamed and writhed, and one actually got up on his feet before his hair burst into flames and he fell kicking and screaming in the coals.”
“Yes. It was just like that. Were you there?”
“No. I just heard about it. That’s all.” Panther indicated Red Knot. “What about her? Do you think Hunting Hawk would have had the girl killed to stop the alliance with Copper Thunder?”