“I’m not Sky Fire, War Chief. I turned my back on them long ago. When I leave here, and return to my island, I shall be clan less again.”
“You are Sky Fire! Leave it at that for now, Elder.” Nine Killer shook his head. “Honestly, you can be as stubborn as a spring bear on a patch of grass. If Copper Thunder kills you, Water Snake will be obligated to retaliate. After all, you’re the clan elder, even if you’re way out in the bay on your little island. If you leave him alone, he’ll leave you alone. That’s a fair trade.”
Panther smiled. “I see. I sense your hand in this. Very well, I suppose it is a fair trade.”
Nine Killer studied him from the corner of his eye. “And, also in fair trade, I can’t seem to remember a single thing you said to the Mamanatowick this morning.”
“About Warm Fall?”
“Who?” Nine Killer asked mildly. “Never heard of her.”
“Thank you, Nine Killer.”
“Yes, well”—he glanced around—“I’m going to keep visiting, just to insure that no one forgets that we’re all being friendly while we celebrate solstice together.” He paused. “It won’t last. Maybe not even for the promised two Comings of the Leaves.”
“That can be a long enough time.” Panther nodded to himself. “And … one never knows.”
“Indeed, one never knows.” Nine Killer walked on, nodding to warriors here and there.
Panther rearranged his old blanket, patted the Guardian affectionately, and ducked into the House of the Dead. The grimness—ameliorated briefly by Nine Killer’s presence —resettled around his heart.
As he passed down the narrow hallway, he touched each of the Guardians. In the god’s sanctuary, he found her. She was sitting, looking up at the newest of the mat covered bundles that rested on the platform over Okeus’ empty seat.
Despite the removal of the god, Panther could feel him there in the shadows, watching. Those shell eyes gleamed in the imagination. The war club, with strands of Red Knot’s hair still stuck in the stone settings, was gripped menacingly in his right hand. Hollow laughter echoed just beyond human hearing.
“Here you are, in Okeus’ place. The two of you are a great deal alike,” Panther said quietly. “Each of you is dark and chaotic. A matched pair if I ever saw one.”
She never turned, but watched the bundled corpse as if seeing through the wrapping to the girl who had once embodied those carefully cleaned bones.
Panther stepped forward and eased himself down beside her. “Why didn’t you stop him? You needed but to speak.”
Shell Comb barely shrugged. “I couldn’t.”
“I’m not very bright about such things, but a man who loved you that much deserved better.”
Again, Shell Comb barely shrugged. “He was braver than I was. He was always braver. I was the coward. I was the one who always panicked and did crazy things.”
“What happened between you and Monster Bone?”
“An injury.”
“Did Black Spike sire all of your children?”
Her mouth worked. “My oldest boy, I think he was Monster Bone’s. And Grebe, I’m sure he was. Then Monster Bone was hit during a battle. His penis wouldn’t stiffen. It drove him half mad to lie with me at night and nothing would happen. The first time Black Spike planted a child inside me, I tricked Monster Bone into believing he’d actually done it. The child was stillborn. That’s when we started fighting all the time. I think … well, I drove him to it. I mocked him when I shouldn’t have.”
“And then you realized you were pregnant with High Fox?”
She gave him the briefest of nods. “So Black Spike took me north. His wife suspected. Insisted on going with us. I used a leather sack to smother her. Not a mark on her. Black Spike thought she’d just died. I don’t think be suspected my hand in it. I gave birth to High Fox, but I couldn’t give him up and leave him with those horrible people. I couldn’t stand the thought that he’d be raised Susquehannock. That someday he might come paddling down the bay at the head of a group of warriors and make war on me, his own mother.”
“So you hid your arrival and burned Monster Bone to death in your long house She nodded. “He was better off dead. It was the easy way, don’t you see? Had I divorced him, people would have learned that his manhood was broken.” Her eyes flashed then. “I did him a favor!”
Panther sighed wearily. “All that time, Black Spike covered it up. Or, did he help you set his brother on fire?”
“No. I did that. He couldn’t… wouldn’t.” She shrugged again. “I was just waiting, you see. As soon as Mother died, I would be Weroansqua and I would marry him. But Mother just lived, and lived, and lived…” Shell Comb knotted a fist. “Sometimes I think she will never die!”