People of the Morning Star(83)

“Why have I never heard of this?” Sun Wing demanded, stamping her foot.

“Because you live above it,” Blue Heron replied, keeping a wary eye on the Morning Star. His gaze had gone vacant again, as if his souls were digesting this new information. To Seven Skull Shield, she added, “You were making a point?”

“Yes, Keeper.” He, too, was keeping a wary eye on the Morning Star. Smart man, this Seven Skull Shield. He instinctively knew where the danger lay. “If one of the Houses, or one of the Earth Clans, was behind the plot, one of my sources would know. A slave or servant would have overheard something. In return for news this big, a trinket would have been exchanged for the information, and it would have passed along.”

“They monitor the houses and Earth Clans that closely?” Night Shadow Star asked in surprise.

“Of course, Lady,” Seven Skull Shield gave her a knowing grin. “Information, like a good whelk-shell cup, can be sold for as many sacks of corn as the market will bear. Think about it. By knowing the very night a marriage is brokered between Hawk Clan and Bear Clan, a clever man can move a supply of face paints, lotus-root bread, smoked cuts of deer haunch, dried fish, corn, and hickory oil to the aforementioned clan’s plaza. The next morning when the matrons walk out to obtain those very things with brimming pots of Trade, who will maximize his profits?”

“And what does this have to do with assassins?” Sun Wing demanded coldly.

Fire Cat fought a sneer of disgust, turning his loathing glare from Morning Star to the younger woman.

Seven Skull Shield gave Sun Wing a slit-eyed stare of his own. “I just told you. If the clans or one of the houses were involved, someone would say something. Too much profit is at stake. One of my people would have heard something. To my surprise, they didn’t even know the tonka’tzi had been murdered. That’s how efficient the assassins are, and a measure of your own success.”

Blue Heron added, “Much of which we owe to you, thief, for your quick response.”

She could see that he was conscious of every change of the Morning Star’s expression, keeping track at the corner of his vision as he made a dismissive gesture. “You don’t think in the same terms I do, Clan Keeper.”

“Thank the stars for that,” Sun Wing muttered naively.

“Yes,” Night Shadow Star’s thoughtful expression turned on Seven Skull Shield, as if she saw him for the first time. “But if our sources know nothing of the assassins, and yours don’t, someone must.”

Blue Heron admitted, “I thought it might have been Evening Star House. Columella is the canniest of the House Matrons, and that cunning little dwarf of hers has a network almost as good as mine when it comes to information. While she was hiding something, she was clearly shocked at the extent of the plot.”

Morning Star leaned his head back, watching curls of blue smoke rise from the leaping tongues of flame. “Hunga Ahuito? Do you throw your heads back, laughing from both of your mouths?”

Blue Heron almost winced, wondering why the Morning Star would implore the great Sky Eagle now, in the middle of the night. It hinted, oddly, of sacrilege.

“Lord,” she asked cautiously, “do you have anything for us? Perhaps some intuition from the Sky World?”

He lowered his head, eyes narrowed in thought. Moments later he smiled, first at her, and then at Sun Wing. Then his gaze met Night Shadow Star’s. For moments they stared at each other, the sensation like cold rain upon the souls. Finally he said, “Like the worlds themselves, layers of treachery are laid one upon the other.”

Then Morning Star stood, at which time Blue Heron and the others bowed their heads. She reached out with a questing right arm, wound it into the clueless Seven Skull Shield’s hair, and dragged his head down toward the mat. From the corner of her eye she saw that Fire Cat had barely bowed. Given his expression, he might have had something more sour than a green chokecherry in his gut.

They all waited until Morning Star walked silently back to his personal quarters.

“Sorry,” the thief muttered as she let him up. “Didn’t know which steps to take in the dance.”

“So, what have we learned?” Night Shadow Star asked.

Blue Heron glanced at where Sun Wing sat thoughtfully, her eyes fixed on the doorway through which the Morning Star had left. Under her breath, Blue Heron whispered, “We’re in deeper waters than we thought. Let’s just hope your Piasa doesn’t drag us all down into the depths.”





Twenty-eight

Clouds had moved in to cover the night sky. Fire Cat followed Night Shadow Star’s finger as she stopped on the steps just below the Morning Star’s high palisade gate and pointed. “Look. Blue Heron’s witches are burning.”