His men, their bellies full, had turned somber, wondering, as he now did, what they had become.
We have changed our world here, tonight, in this accursed place.
Leather Hand turned, barely able to pick out the shadowy form that lay beside the middle pit house. Black Rabbit’s body looked like no more than a broken beast where it sprawled lifeless on the ground.
“Not me!” The warrior’s words rang in Leather Hand’s memory. He could still see the revulsion on the man’s face, the way he shook his head, hands spread before him in denial.
A war chief must command the obedience of his men.
Black Rabbit had seen it in his eyes, had chosen the horror of sudden unjust death over that of eating another human being.
Of all the men Leather Hand had killed, Black Rabbit’s execution would cling to him, haunting his nightmares. Over and over, he would relive the whiplike snap of his arm, the cracking of the man’s skull. He would see the body pitch sideways, broken brain and blood spilling as Black Rabbit fell headlong to the ground.
The rest of his warriors had watched, owl-eyed, disbelieving. Only then had they followed his orders, casting unsure glances at each other as they bluffly proceeded with the audacious task of chopping through bone and sinew, stripping meat, then breaking the long bones for stewing. How sick they’d looked as they dropped bloody chunks of human muscle onto the coals to roast.
What kind of monster have I become?
Leather Hand rubbed his fingers over the palms of his hands, feeling the callused skin. It remained warm, familiar in a body now grown foreign.
We are a new breed of monsters, not unlike those that walked the earth in the days of old.
How had he ever let Turquoise Fox talk him into this madness?
You had no choice! People without hope have to know that beyond losing just their lives, they can still lose their souls.
The worst part had been the cooking, smelling the curious new odor as the meat boiled. It was knowing what they were about to do that dragged at the souls and sent shivers through a man’s stomach. Butchering the men hadn’t been so bad. They had been the guilty culprits. It was the memory of the pretty young girl’s eyes, of how he had crushed her face with a war club in an effort to prevent the memory. Her slight flesh had yielded stubbornly from the bone as his obsidian knife sliced it free. He recalled that fluttery feeling of setting her head in the coals to roast, and later, after the hair and scalp had burned off, how her brain had sizzled and popped behind her ruined face.
How did one come to grips with what he’d done to the woman? He had taken a turn with her—the long-haired one with the large frightened eyes. He had lain atop her, slid his hard rod into her warm sheath. Her skin had been smooth and firm, her breasts soft against his chest. He had pressed against the unyielding arch of her pubis as his pulsing orgasm shot seed into her and had looked down into her terrified brown eyes. He had seen her souls in that instant. Touched her, knew her.
Then, less than a hand of time later, he had helped chop her up into pieces fit for roasting.
She is part of me now as no other woman has ever been. His hand pressed over his stomach, as if to fix her in place. Will her souls mix with mine? Are we joined as no man and woman have ever been before? Will she live within me?
“Gods, what does it mean?” He stared up at the glittering Evening People, desperate for an answer, afraid of what it might be.
“War Chief?” Turquoise Fox called from behind.
Leather Hand turned, seeing his second-in-command approach. “Any trouble?”
Turquoise Fox came to stand beside him, bending his head back to look up at the stars. “No trouble. They are just oddly quiet.”
“It isn’t every day that men become monsters.”
Turquoise Fox sighed. “Now you know why the monsters inspired such terror among the First People when they first emerged into this world.”
Leather Hand lowered his voice. “So, tell me, do you think Spider Woman will help the Yamuhakto to hunt us down?”
“Maybe. Doesn’t matter. We are expendable, War Chief. As the Blessed Sun’s warriors, we do his bidding. Our lives are his. Remember that. We are nothing more than his strong arm, sweeping away those who stand in his way.”
Leather Hand grunted neutrally. “No one has thrown up?”
“One or two.” Turquoise Fox looked back at the pit houses. “But they will hold fast. We are bound now, all of us, together. We share a brotherhood that few warriors ever have. They know what this means, how it will change their lives.”
“They are ready to become shunned among men?”
“From this day forward people will look at us differently. They won’t see us as men.”