People of the Nightland(10)
“Maybe nine. All far to the south and west.”
“Nashat is a clever old wolf,” Kakala muttered. “He made sure the Lame Bull People knew we just wished to pass in peace. Now we have destroyed most of the Sunpath villages, scattered their people, and left a whole countryside empty.” He smiled. “All but a band of Lame Bull People here in the spruce lands. The Lame Bull People have talked themselves into believing our quarrel was with the Sunpath.”
She raised her eyes. “You think it is not?”
Kakala chuckled softly to himself. “I think this was most cunningly done. Nashat knew the Sunpath People, understood how independent and disorganized they were. So, what would you do, Keresa? Tackle a large traditionally fragmented enemy? Or take on an easily united, but smaller foe?”
“The Lame Bull People would have been a tougher nut to crack, but they’d have fallen.”
Kakala nodded. “And what effect would that have had on the Sunpath People to the south?”
She nodded, already knowing where he was going. “Seeing what we did to the Lame Bull, they’d have overlooked their differences and united with Windwolf to fight us, wishing to avoid the same fate as the Lame Bull.”
Kakala gestured with his pipe. “But now they are no threat, and the Lame Bull have come to believe we are invincible. As I said, Nashat is a cunning and devious one.”
Keresa rubbed her shins. “So, you think the Lame Bull are next?”
“You know the Guide’s words. We are the chosen people. Those who follow the ways of Wolf Dreamer must not follow our path. They are not to bring their pollution into our world.”
She glanced out at the slaves, seeing the bowed heads of the women and older children. These had been taken from the Nine Pipes band. For some reason, the Guide had sent them specifically to take the camp. The orders were to bring back all of the women. Nashat had insisted that the Guide wanted a Nine Pipes woman. Kakala had ensured that they captured every female in the camp.
Normally they only took those who could work.
After a raid, the warriors withdrew with their captives, traveling far enough to ensure that Windwolf’s ragged warriors were not in pursuit. Then they went hunting. The slaves carried the kill back to the Nightland caverns along with precious wood.
What had been surprising was the amount of game that had moved into the territories abandoned by the nomadic Sunpath bands. Hunting had definitely improved over the last two winters.
Her people relied on the ice caves. There they carried the summer’s catch, placing it on ice to freeze for the winter. Since the beginning of the war, bellies had been full like they’d never been in the past. Back when she was little, summer had been spent hunting the snow geese, ducks, and loons. In hide-covered boats her people netted fish from among the floating bergs in the Thunder Sea. They hunted seals, walrus, and occasional pilot whales and narwhals, rendering the meat and blubber. Throughout the summer, the largess was carried back for freezing in the ice caves, stored for winter. Now her people had grown lazy, letting the slaves carry their burden for them.
“You’d think Raven Hunter really does smile on us.” She watched a branch break in the fire.
Kakala was watching her curiously. “What do you really believe? Do you think the Idiot actually had a vision?”
She cocked her head. “Have you looked into his eyes?”
Kakala nodded. “He believes it.” He knocked the dottle out of his pipe. “But then, he always believed something. I remember when he was a boy.” He studied the end of his pipe. “How does a onetime fool become a sacred Guide?”
“When people believe.” She took a deep breath, drawing in the clean scent of the trees. “In answer to your question, I don’t know what I believe anymore. I’m lost, Kakala. Nothing has turned out to be what I thought it was.”
He grunted. “The Council is swollen with itself. They act like gods themselves.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Is that doubt I hear in your voice?”
His great shoulders gave a slight shrug. “I serve my people. No more, no less.”
“If you were a Karigi, I would have nothing to do with you.”
He barely smiled. “Karigi serves only himself.”
“And his passions,” she added.
“I noticed he had his eye on you last time we had Council.”
“I would rather be Windwolf’s prisoner for the rest of my life than Karigi’s for a single night.” She paused. “He hates you, you know.”
“I know.” Kakala barely smiled. “It even goes back to before Walking Seal Village. I remember him parading before my cage when I was disgraced. His souls ooze at the notion that I am the high war chief.”