He held up the record strings. “I had forgotten the signs on the night of your birth. Twenty years you’ve been alive, Lady. All that was prophesied from the constellations. I myself counted the falling stars that night. Twenty.”
“Am I to die soon?”
“That, I cannot tell.” He laid a fragile hand on her arm. “Nor can I tell if those twenty years referred to the length of time you had before your wandering soul was devoured by Piasa in the Underworld. If so, you now manifest yourself only as an element of his Power. Night Shadow Star is gone. Piasa’s creature remains. Think of Piasa’s presence inside you like a shadow cast from afar. And drawing from its Power, you might live for decades more. It could also be that from the moment you fell under the spell of Underworld Power, your auspices could no longer be read among the stars.”
Her laughter was bitter and self-mocking. “For the greatest Sky Flier to have ever lived, your ability to prophesy seems to consist of picking and choosing possibilities.”
He laughed in return, making a tsking with his lips. “I am sorry to disappoint you, Lady. Nevertheless, since Power now surrounds you like a cloak, I will share a secret with you. After a lifetime of dedicated study, I can tell you that the more I learn, the more I am disheartened to discover that even more mysteries lie beyond the horizon of my comprehension. Some prophesy is easy. Some, like yours, impossible to scry.” He paused. “You are at the center of a whirlwind, Night Shadow Star. One I cannot see through.”
She took a deep breath. “When I danced with Sister Datura and sent myself into the Underworld, it was with the intention of joining my husband’s life-soul. I was tired of the pain, of the heartbreak. I can’t even sleep without nightmares.… They fill my souls, so explicit, disgusting. They shame me.” She rubbed her face. “No wonder Piasa devoured my soul.”
“I hear you have taken the Red Wing war chief.”
“Pus and blood! Why did the Water Panther demand that of me? Saving the Morning Star, allying with the living god against the assassin, yes. But the Red Wing?” Her fists knotted. “He killed my husband. The very sight of him sickens me. Having him close? It’s torture. All I want to do is drive a stake through his heart and burn his corpse.” Her voice broke. “Were my misdeeds as a youth so atrocious that I should suffer so, Sky Flier? Is that the meaning of your prophecy?”
“I do not mean to dissemble, Lady. But what we read in the sky the night of your birth is an enigma. Power obscures any prophesy beyond twenty years.”
“I am so weary and confused, Sky Flier. And yes, I’m afraid. No matter what disguise I adopt, down deep, my bones are trembling with fear. Sometimes I’m so scared I want to throw up.”
She sniffed. “I don’t want to be Night Shadow Star. I just want to stop hurting all the time. Is that too much to ask?”
“Power wouldn’t have called upon you if it didn’t think you possessed the necessary strength. Whatever the evils you and your brothers committed before you became a woman, and in spite of the grief you bear for your husband’s death, you are born of Morning Star House, of the Four Winds Clan.”
“Brave words Sky Flier. Why is it that all I want to do is flee?” She wiggled her fingers in a running gesture. “Escape. Run away.”
“The greatest among us live in constant fear. You won’t flee.”
“You know that?”
“I know that you’ll reach down inside yourself and pull up whatever strength you need for the situation at hand.” He smiled in the midday sun. “I think Piasa knows that, too. And this darkness descending upon us? I think you had better beware.”
Seventeen
Columella’s body ceased to pulse with the explosions of ecstasy. She lay on her back, fingers knotted in the buffalo-hide pillow above her head. Panting for breath she waited as the flush faded from her breasts and the tingling delight in her pelvis became a warm sensation of contentment.
She rotated her hips and straightened her legs as Flat Stone Pipe crawled up her torso. The dwarf slipped down into the hollow of her arm as she laid it along his back. A shiver ran through her as he reached out with his small hand to finger her nipple.
“What is it about you?” she asked. “All these years, and it’s as if my very bones explode.”
“Caught your breath yet?” he asked.
“Mostly.”
“Good.” He shifted enough to study her. “We need to talk.”
She raised her head just enough to pull the buffalo pillow down behind her. “What have you heard?”