“You all right?” Fire Cat asked.
“Piasa is stirring.”
“Of course.” He sounded bored. “Your brother’s a god and you’ve got a Spirit panther in your belly.”
“A fact for which you should be glad.”
“Oh, really?”
“It was at Piasa’s insistence that I had to forego the pleasure of holding a torch between your legs for as long as it took to cook your penis and testicles into charcoal. I wanted to hear you scream as I burned them from your body.” A pause. “Instead he told me to cut you down.”
“Charming.”
The sound of heavy rain beating on the roof preceded the musical patter of runoff as it sluiced from the thatch. Thunder banged just overhead.
She heard him shuffling around before he said, “Here’s a bench. We might as well sit. There’s no sense for us to be stumbling about in here and bothering the dead more than we have to.”
She felt the plank-top and seated herself, testing it. It seemed solid enough. Then she took a weary breath, a spear of grief lancing her heart. “Did you happen to see how badly Field Green was wounded?”
“No. But from the sound, it was a chest shot.”
“You can tell?”
“Having heard enough arrows strike home? Yes. Anything going into the lungs makes a hollow thump. Muscle gives off a meaty slap, and striking bone makes a snapping sound.”
“The reality is just sinking in, Red Wing.”
“And that is?”
“Uncertainty is the worst part, isn’t it?”
She could feel his gaze through the darkness. “They want you terrified, Lady.”
“From here on I’ll never know, will I? The only warning I’ll get is the whistle of an arrow before it spears my heart. I’ll be afraid to sleep knowing he could be creeping over my bed. I won’t feel anything before the sting of the knife. Then I’ll be choking on my blood, blowing it out in a hot red spray from my severed windpipe.”
“You must have some clue about who’s doing this?”
She rubbed her face as hard rain hammered down onto the roof. Thunder banged and boomed, rolling away in the storm. The smell of the dead seemed more acute in the damp air.
“When you’re Four Winds Clan and as influential as we are? The list of potential enemies is endless.” She paused. “Why don’t they want us to know? Why not give us at least a clue?”
“Because it adds to the terror. If he succeeds you’ll die without even knowing who did this to you.” He paused, then muttered to himself. “Oh, I see…”
“See what?”
He chuckled humorlessly. “Just putting it into perspective is all. I have no love for the Four Winds Clan myself. I’d love nothing better than to be in the position to destroy you all. Like I said at the tonka’tzi’s that night. There would be a big red wing on that wall so you knew I was taking my revenge. I’d want you feeling helpless in the face of Red Wing retribution. You know, so you’d have time to regret your destruction of my clan.”
“I should have driven my knife into your heart that night.”
She felt, rather than saw his answering shrug.
“I wish you had. I’d have been free of my oath, and my souls would have gleefully watched Piasa suck yours down into whatever finality the Water Panther inflicts on those he owns. Because, Lady, but for me, they’d have killed you tonight. And the terror would have grown. That’s what I was getting at. This isn’t just vengeance. More than wanting you and your family dead, they want you terrified.”
She shivered in the deadly darkness.
Thirty
Crouched against the wall on Blue Heron’s veranda, Seven Skull Shield watched morning begin to brighten the stormy skies. The pink-gray light was finally bringing an end to what had been a sleepless night. Through it all, a constant string of messengers had been coming and going as communications were carried back and forth from the Morning Star, Matron Wind, and Sun Wing.
After the meeting Seven Skull Shield had been lost in thought. It wasn’t just every day that a thief and rascal like Seven Skull Shield participated in a conversation with the Morning Star. Let alone addressed him in his palace!
In a sort of daze, he had followed Blue Heron down the long stairs from the Morning Star’s palace. He’d paced beside her litter as they made their way west through the dark toward the Clan Keeper’s palace. Only to stop short as screams and chaos had erupted at the foot of Night Shadow Star’s palace stairs.
Thinking about it afterward, it had been dumb to just rush into the line of fire where, but moments before, Field Green, the guards, and porters had been shot full of arrows. The realization had slowly sunken in that he and Blue Heron had made excellent targets in the flickering light of wind-batted torches brought down from Night Shadow Star’s palace. Fortunately, enough of the guardian warriors had charged off into the surroundings to rout the attackers. So complete had the confusion been that two of Night Shadow Star’s guards had spent a couple tens of heartbeats shooting at each other. Only sheepishly did they discover the mistake as they cursed each other vehemently—and recognized each other’s voices.