People of the Mist(43)

“I was going to take her away. After the dance. She was supposed to meet me at Oyster Shell Landing at dawn.”

“When did you tell her to do this?”

“I didn’t… it was her idea.”

Panther pointed with a hard finger. “You’re a liar, boy. I won’t be lied to.” He glanced at Sun Conch, who sat watching with her whole heart in her eyes. “I’ve given him a hearing. He had his chance.”

“No! Wait!” High Fox started forward, arms spread. “All right. It was me. I told her to meet me at Oyster Shell Landing.”

Panther picked at his fish for a moment, allowing the boy’s tension to rise. “Then why did you lie to me?”

“Because.” High Fox slapped his legs. “It looks bad. As if I put her up to it in the first place. If a warrior would tempt a young woman to ignore her responsibilities, what else might he do? At least, that’s how Hunting Hawk would look at it.” “Boy, tell me everything. I don’t want any lies, you hear?”

When High Fox’s shoulders slumped, Sun Conch reached out to lay a reassuring hand on his arm. They gazed at each other for a long moment; then she whispered, “Are you all right? You look ill.”

“Tired,” he whispered. “I’m so tired. I’ve barely slept since you left.”

She squeezed his arm and turned back to Panther. “He’s worn out, Elder. Perhaps we could hurry this along. High Fox—”

“Has to answer my questions, girl. First, he has to tell me how this was supposed to work.”

High Fox let out a halting breath. “Red Knot was finishing the last of her dances, and saw me slip away from the fire. It took awhile, but then she came to our place and—”

“Your place?”

“On the sandy beach, just down from the canoe landing. We met there a lot.”

“And that’s when you asked her to run off with you?”

“Yes. We didn’t have much time, you see. I told her I’d paddle around the neck, meet her at dawn at Oyster Shell Landing. We’d have a good solid day’s head start, and even then, Nine Killer’s warriors wouldn’t know which direction to look.”

“And she agreed to this? Just like that?”

“She was desperate. I swear it. Anything to keep from marrying Copper Thunder. She told me she’d be there, right at dawn. Or as soon as she could slip away. She hugged me, and then she ran back toward the village. That was the last time I saw her alive.” High Fox rubbed his face with a nervous hand, staring back at that time and place. Sun Conch shivered, wiping at a trickle of cold water that seeped out of her soaked cape.

Panther said, “What did you do next?”

High Fox straightened. “I made my way back to the canoe landing, found my boat, and shoved it out into the water. After that I paddled all night, making my way around the neck. I landed at Oyster Shell Landing just before dawn. I guess I was tired… fell asleep until sometime just after dawn.”

“Did you tell anyone you were doing this? Even contemplating it?”

“No, Elder, I…” He paused and glanced at Sun Conch. “I told Sun Conch. But she’s the only one. And I don’t think Red Knot would have said anything. She wasn’t that kind.” “But if she had told someone, could you guess who?”

“Maybe Quick Fawn. They were best friends. She’s a little younger than Red Knot was.”

“A chatter mouth?”

“No. Not really.” He shrugged. “I don’t know. If she was, I never knew it. I just thought she was sort of-well, you know, a pest. Always following us around when we wanted to be alone.”,

“I see. Very well, so you’re at the landing, asleep in the boat…”

“That’s right. I woke up and, um, I don’t know, maybe the sun was a hand or two above the horizon. It was cloudy, so I couldn’t really tell. The fog had risen, I know that. I was cold, so I paced up and down the landing, waiting, being nervous. I mean, I’d never done anything like this before, and a person starts thinking, you know, about what you’re doing, and just where you will go and how you’ll live. It’s one thing to run off, another to find a place where you can survive.”

Panther cocked an eyebrow. “Did you think about backing out?”

High Fox shook his head resolutely. “I was Red Knot’s last chance. Copper Thunder was there, in Flat Pearl Village. She was supposed to leave with him that day. We had to go.”

“And when did Red Knot arrive?”

“She didn’t.” High Fox ground his teeth, a hardness in his eyes. “It was getting late and I couldn’t help it, I started up the ridge, just to see if she was coming. I had this bad feeling, like we were in trouble. If she’d been seen, followed, I had to know, so I could fix it, you understand?” “Yes.” “Well, I climbed up that high ridge, and almost walked past her. She’d … she’d been dragged off to one side, and just left there in a hollow behind this old hickory tree.” He hesitated, his breathing strained. “As Okeus hears my words, she was just sprawled there. Broken . my pretty girl … all broken. Like… like something discarded.”