“Why are you here? What do you want?”
Panther ran his fingers along the stem of his pipe. “I have told you.” “You came to find out who murdered my granddaughter. Yes, so you’ve said. Why should I believe you? Why shouldn’t I believe Copper Thunder? He says you committed all sorts of mayhem.”
“I did.” Through the smoke from Panther’s pipe, they stared at each other. “I’ll not engage in sneaky little games with you, Weroansqua. I have no need of them anymore. Across the mountains, to the west, along the mighty rivers and down toward the south, are great chieftainships. Tribes who raise mountains of earth and still greater temples atop them. They trade, make war, and conduct their affairs with a passion and dedication we can barely understand. A long time ago, I left this country and traveled among them. I served some of their leaders, traded, and even gained some fame as a War Chief. The kind of authority they wield is an intoxicant, heady and wondrous. For a time, I fell under the sway of that giddy Power. In the end, I found it hollow, for it devours the soul.”
He glanced at Nine Killer. “When I became aware of what I had become, of how much I had lost of myself, I left. Alone in the night, I walked away from the great wealth and the authority I had accumulated. That was when I escaped to my little island. And there I would have stayed had not Sun Conch come to me and asked me to speak for her friend. Had she offered me wealth, or status, or slaves, or lands, I would have turned her down. Instead, she offered herself. She did that because she thought a man was being blamed for something he didn’t do.”
“You want me to believe that you no longer crave these things?” Hunting Hawk asked suspiciously. “That you are here because this girl asked you on behalf of her friend?”
Panther shrugged. “Believe what you will, Weroans qua. I have told you the truth.” He chuckled. “Curious. Once I spun lies the way a spider spins a web, and now I offer truth and find it less palatable to people than a good lie. What does it tell us, Weroansqua, when complex lies are easier to accept than simple truth?”
“You don’t deny Copper Thunder’s accusations?” “Why should I? A story is like a corn plant. It grows over time, rises tall and sprouts new leaves, but at the root, there was a kernel to start it. Grass Mat saw only a few of the seeds I sowed.”
“Grass Mat?” She cocked her head.
“He was called that once. I take it that he doesn’t announce his humble beginnings these days. Great Tayac does have a better sound to it, doesn’t it?”
Nine Killer shifted uncomfortably, glancing back and forth between them. Rosebud had slipped away, increasing the distance between them. Only Sun Conch seemed unafraid. She sat with her war club across her lap, and her young face expressionless.
“Enough of the past,” Panther said. “I have survived a long time, and done a great many things that I must live with. Those things, good and bad, made me who I am, Weroansqua. Just as the things you have done have made you who and what you are today. It is the present we must deal with.”
“And you are that concerned with the present?” She seemed unconvinced.
“I dislike chaos. A disagreement between Okeus and me.” He realized his pipe had gone cold and knocked the dottle into the fire. “Here you sit, Hunting Hawk, squarely mired in the present, and around you, a great tempest is gathering. Isn’t this correct? You’re an old woman and death is reaching out to caress your soul. Throughout your life you’ve worked, schemed, and sacrificed for the security of your family, clan, and friends. But now, of a sudden, everything is about to come apart. You fear that your life’s work will be for nothing—that your world won’t survive your death.
“Your most terrible fear is that your ghost will have to watch the dissolution of your dreams. You couldn’t bear that thought, so you sought an alliance with Copper Thunder, figuring that was the last great gift you could give your people. A chance to survive the growing influence of the Mamanatowick. You would marry your granddaughter to Copper Thunder, because he was the most promising counterbalance to Water Snake.”
Hunting Hawk swallowed hard, her eyes vacant, but she listened to Panther.
“And then, just when it seemed that everything was going to work out, Red Knot is murdered, and the situation is worse than if you had done nothing. You are desperate, teetering on the edge of a black pit, clawing for balance in one last desperate chance to save yourself.” “So you sent me against Three Myrtle Village,” Nine Killer whispered. “How do you know?” Hunting Hawk demanded.