“What does this gain us?” Blue Heron asked.
Nodding to the translator, Takes Horn bent down over the squirming Tula and spoke in Caddo, the translator repeating, “We’re going to drill a hole in his head. And with the spindle whorl, we’re going to use ancient Cahokian magic to draw his life and body souls out of his head the way a root is pulled out of moist dirt. Then we’re going to place his terrified souls in an enchanted well pot, and bury it beneath the corpses of four decapitated snakes. Locked away, imprisoned so, the souls will wail in terror and blackness forever.”
The Tula’s eye was flicking back and forth, a panicked whimper tore from his throat. Seven Skull Shield clamped the man’s head between his knees. Takes Horn leaned forward and placed the drill tip against the Tula’s forehead. The captive tried to swallow, but choked on his fear. He coughed, blowing clots of coagulated blood from his nose and tearing part of his lip loose. The howl in his throat sounded like a wounded dog’s.
“You can stop this,” Takes Horn said reasonably. “Who is the sorcerer? What is his name?”
The Tula gasped for breath. The translator filled in when Bleeding Hawk finally spoke. “He is called the Two-Footed Smoke. He came to us demonstrating great Power.”
“Came from where?”
The Tula narrowed his eye. “He is Cahokian, but lived among the Yellow Star for a time.”
“And that’s why he had you kill the amayxoya? Because the war chief knew him?”
The Tula tried to sneer, but it pulled at his bleeding and ruined lip. “My master’s arrow killed the Yellow Star pollution. So great is his Power he walks among you like a winter mist. But you do not see him. He hears your words, though you do not speak to him. Your hearts are like fresh tracks in the forest to him. Laughing, he will destroy you all.”
“Tell me about this knife.” Blue Heron held the slim and delicate blade before the Tula’s eye. He averted his gaze, tried to clench his jaws, despite the pain.
Takes Horn pressed against the drill and began to turn.
“It was Bobcat’s!” came the translation.
“And do you have a blade like this?”
He nodded, glanced at the spindle whorl, closed his eye in defeat. “I gave it to the Deer Chief.”
“What Deer Chief?”
“The one up on the bluffs. The one with the wounded hand. Two-Footed Smoke, the great sorcerer, owns that one’s souls. What the Deer Chief did with my blade, I do not know.”
Blue Heron felt her heart skip. “The wounded hand? It is his right? And he has a scar here, on his chin?” She pointed.
“That is him.”
“Was a woman with him? Older, with snakes tattooed on her back, arms, and chest?”
“Yes.” The translator gave her a sidelong glance.
Blue Heron sank to the bench beside Seven Skull Shield’s half-chewed ear of corn. She should have suspected, but over the years Right Hand had never given so much as a hint of his resentment.
“What’s this about?” Seven Skull Shield asked, reading her shock and dismay.
“Nothing that concerns you.” She gestured. “Go ahead, Takes Horn. Keep him talking. Ask him where they’ve taken Lace.”
Takes Horn lifted the drill to the Tula’s head again, preparing to spin it. As he did he asked something in Caddo.
“I do not know where the Two-Footed Smoke has taken your woman!” the Tula cried. “This I swear upon my umbilical cord! And my father’s umbilical cord! We only serve! And then only at his orders!”
“Umbilical cords?” Seven Skull Shield asked.
“Tula believe it is the most Powerful talisman,” Takes Horn told him. “They think it controls the length and quality of their lives. Each warrior takes his cord and hides it in a secret place, knowing that as long as it remains hidden, his souls are safe.”
“Until you drill a hole in his head and draw them out with a spindle whorl?” Blue Heron countered, still stunned at the Tula’s revelation.
Right Hand? I never would have guessed.
“Ask him if he has any idea why Lace was taken.”
The answer translated as, “The sorcerer needs her for the ceremony. Like the one he conducted in the Deer Chief’s land on the bluff. The final ceremony. The one where he unleashes the greatest of Powers. That will be the day he brings devastation to Cahokia. He has told us that even First Woman will tremble at his feet.”
“Bah!” Seven Skull Shield growled, “As if anyone could conjure that!”
“Where are the rest of the Tula?” Takes Horn asked.
“You do not want to find them. They will kill you, Yellow Star.”