“Turn around.”
Her legs almost gave way as she turned, eyes wide. Her lips moved, but no words came.
“What? I can’t hear you!”
“You … you weren’t there! I just.. just…”
“Yes, yes, you looked, but you didn’t see. Now, did you come here to kill me?”
Sun Conch shook her head so hard it might have snapped her neck.
Panther gauged the glazed fear in her eyes, the way she shook, and gratefully released the tension on his fragile bow. Every muscle sighed with relief. Then what do you want?”
Sun Conch gulped like a fish on the bank. “To find you, Elder.”
“For what? Come on, girl, how many times do I have to ask?”
“I… we need your help!”
As night descended and the air grew cold, Panther hunched over the fire. Sun Conch crouched opposite him, her rabbit like eyes taking in every movement. The first stars were burning through the haze.
Night was peaceful here, except during the times when the great storms rolled in off the ocean. Panther’s house sat just high enough that the storm surge didn’t wash it away, but the little stream that drained the freshwater marsh would be brackish for days afterward.
Firelight flickered on his house, the two shrines, and the overhanging branches of the oak. Panther fished around in his turtle-shell bowl for another clam, used a wooden sliver to pry the shell open, and sucked out the meat. Since his molars had fallen out years ago, clams were just right. They could be gummed enough to be swallowed.
“Now, then”—Panther wiped his lips—“just what sort of help did you have in mind?” He raised an eyebrow. “Some foolish spell or something?”
Sun Conch winced. “No, Elder. It’s my friend, High Fox. He’s from Sun Shell Clan. His father is Black Spike, Weroance of Three Myrtle Village. High Fox is in trouble. Terrible trouble.” “And what might this be? He can’t get a woman?”
Her round face went very pale, “N-No, Elder. They think he killed her … I mean, well, she wasn’t really his woman, but she would have been.”
Panther’s expression soured. “Youngster, you’re flustered. I decided not to kill you, and until you give me reason to change my mind, I won’t. All right? Now, why don’t you start at the beginning.”
Sun Conch nodded and pulled her feathered cloak closed around her throat. “Her name was Red Knot. Of the Greenstone Clan. She was the daughter of Shell Comb, and the granddaughter of Hunting Hawk, of Flat Pearl Village.”
“Yes, yes, I know of Hunting Hawk. Go on.” Blessed Ohona, how many years had it been since he’d seen her? How the sun had gleamed in her sleek black hair. He could remember the warmth of her smile, the way her doeskin dress had hugged those saucy hips. They’d been enemies then. Actually, he supposed, by definition, they still were.
“Elder, High Fox loved Red Knot. They wanted to marry. But Hunting Hawk promised Red Knot to Copper Thunder, the Great Tayac.”
Panther straightened, his interest perked. “He’s the upstart from somewhere over the mountains, isn’t he? Pipe stone Clan, I’ve heard.” Could it be? But no, that was years ago, and far from here. “Yes, he is, Elder. His power and influence have been growing. He’s allied the upriver villages, defeated Water Snake and Stone Frog’s warriors. Some say he’s not completely human.”
“Gull dung, girl. They say that about me.”
“Uh, yes, I—I’ve heard that.” Sun Conch looked as if her stomach hurt.
“You were saying?”
“I was saying that Red Knot was made a woman a few days past, and Copper Thunder came to Flat Pearl Village to claim her. But she didn’t want him. Red Knot and High Fox were desperate, Elder, and High Fox made this plan. He would meet her at Oyster Shell Landing, and they would run off together.”
Panther caught the tightness in her voice, and saw the pain that glistened in her eyes. “That disturbed you?”
She lifted a shoulder and shook her head. “It doesn’t matter now. I—”
“You love this High Fox, too.”
She sat completely still.
“Answer me!”
“… Yes, Elder.”
“All right. Go on.”
Heaving a breath, she said, “Anyway, High Fox left the final dance early and paddled around the neck of land to Oyster Shell Landing. Red Knot was supposed to sneak away before dawn and meet him there. She never made it. High Fox got nervous and climbed the ridge. He found her. Dead. Her head was crushed and she’d been left there. Now they … I mean, everyone at Flat Pearl Village believes he did it.”