“Of course. Silly of me not to have figured that out.” Seven Skull Shield inclined his head in mock salute. “But then I’m just as dumb as that crowd out there. I’ll never make a connection between full squadrons of warriors surrounding the ever-so-exalted Four Winds palaces and the tonka’tzi’s burning palace over yonder. Let alone the bodies being de-fleshed up in that charnel house. And I certainly would never begin to spin lurid tales about why Cahokia’s lords were suddenly surrounded by armed ranks of warriors. Or for what purpose the Morning Star ordered it.”
Sun Wing cried, “He is the Morning Star! Who cares what the ignorant crowds think? He exists above us all.”
“It’s a wonder they haven’t stormed the great mound and pulled you all down,” Seven Skull Shield muttered, ignoring Sun Wing’s fury. He couldn’t help it, her attitude just begged to have someone slap her down.
“Watch your mouth,” Blue Heron warned. Evidently her memory of why she was still alive and breathing had grown foggy.
Seven Skull Shield noticed Fire Cat watching from beside the door, his arms crossed, head cocked in amusement. Ignoring him, Seven Skull Shield calmly said, “I don’t understand you people. Moments ago you were all relieved that you’d fooled the crowd—that they didn’t have a clue that the tonka’tzi had been murdered. Now you’re dismissing that crowd out there as insignificant? Going to throw away what advantage you’ve gained by posting squadrons of warriors? And remember, Morning Star exists for them, they don’t exist for him. You do understand that part, don’t you?”
Matron Wind and Sun Wing were giving him a look that communicated a promise of immediate flaying. Night Shadow Star, however, was watching him with large, predatory eyes.
“Why are we listening to this … this putrid thing?” Matron Wind slapped her hands on her legs. “I say we hang him in a square, and let him learn a little respect for his betters.”
Sun Wing’s voice strained with anger as she said, “Just because he saved the Clan Keeper’s life he thinks he’s one of us? As good as us? Hang him!”
Seven Skull Shield experienced that familiar warning tickle down in his gizzard. Instinctively he considered his way out. He’d have to kick broken-jaw before the old warrior could grab him. Fire Cat was at the door, and a couple of other warriors could block the exit if he wasn’t fast enough. But once he was outside, and assuming he could keep his feet sprinting down the side of the steep mound—and not break a leg at the bottom—that huge crowd would swallow him like …
“Enough!” Night Shadow Star clapped her hands with a bang. “Power chose him. And I begin to see why.”
“To insult us?” Sun Wing cried. “It’s like being pawed at by a dirt farmer!”
“Quiet!” Night Shadow Star thundered. Rising from her litter chair she crouched eye-to-eye with her little sister. “Learn this, young lady!” The voice, oddly, didn’t sound like Night Shadow Star’s, but had deepened, almost hollow. “Our world is about to be torn apart. This isn’t about your pride, or our status. Someone out there wants to destroy us. If they do, you are going to be among the dead. And Cahokia, with all of its magic and wonder, will be a burned and gutted corpse upon which your pitiful fleshly remains will fall unnoticed and unmourned. Humanity will be despised and discarded. The Powers will be unleashed. The Morning Star will flee back to the Sky World in despair.”
Sun Wing swallowed hard, face pale. “Why are you doing that to your voice?”
“Do you begin to understand, young lady? Fingers of chaos and blood are reaching out for us. And if they manage to grasp hold, they will crush us all in misery and death.”
Five Fists took a deep breath, saying into the ensuing silence. “A small squad of picked warriors will be placed on guard. Inside. And out of sight.” He glanced at Seven Skull Shield. “Nothing that will alarm the people.”
“Now you’re thinking,” Seven Skull Shield told him. A cold understanding began to flow through his souls. “I think … think…”
“What?” Blue Heron barked.
He chewed at his lips for a moment, letting his souls gnaw on the revelation he’d just had. When she opened her mouth to demand more of him, he raised a hand, saying only, “Let me check on some things, Keeper. Just a hunch.”
“Go,” she told him.
“Wait!” Sun Wing stared at Blue Heron in disbelief. “You mean you trust him? Once he’s out that door, your precious thief is going to vanish like summer mist.”