Windwolf’s breath came in short gasps as he fixed on her body. “He does?”
“So,” she asked brazenly, “do we do this with you on your back … or me on mine?”
As the fire burned low, they lay twined in each other’s arms beneath his hides. Her forehead pressed against his chin, while her long hair flowed over his chest and arm. He stroked her naked back slowly, letting the silken texture of her skin soothe him.
“You asked about freedom,” he murmured. “I think it means being free to fight with all your heart without ever expecting—”
“You mean being free to die for your people, don’t you?”
She lifted her head, and he gazed into her eyes. They shone now with a strange warm light.
“There is no greater freedom than that.”
She lay her head back down and nuzzled her cheek against his shoulder. “Hallowed Ancestors, I think I’m beginning to understand the Sunpath nation.”
She’d said it with such a tone of reluctance, his breathing went shallow. “Sorry you stayed?”
“Not at all. I’ve never been so comfortable with a man.You weren’t even timid when it came time to touch me.”
“Where’s the stiletto?”
“Within easy reach.”
“Maybe that’s why I dared not disappoint you.”
“You didn’t.” She snuggled closer, resting her long thigh over his belly. “Assuming you can get the people out before Karigi comes, what are you going to do with my warriors?”
“Honestly, I don’t know. Your Council doesn’t give me many options. Kakala can’t go back without a victory to clear his name. I can’t let him have one because it means having my people killed. We can’t take them with us. Too many people hate them. They’d be rushed with sticks, stones, anything at hand to repay them for dead relatives and the pain they’ve caused.”
“Why do you care?” She ran her fingers down his chest. “We did terrible things.”
He smiled thinly. “Because I was headed down that same trail. That was the lesson Goodeagle tried to teach me. His betrayal brought me back … but it took longer than it should have.”
He felt her tense. “If we are serious about trusting each other, you have to know. Kakala and I were there. We saw what Karigi did to Bramble.”
“I know.”
She shifted, raising up to look at him in the dim light. Her eyes were shadowed in the spill of her hair. “I will not have what happened to Bramble lie between us like a thorn that slowly festers. In the end, Windwolf, it was our fault, Kakala’s and mine. We trusted Karigi, and we should have known better.”
He reached up, cupping her shoulder with his palm. “You said Kakala would have killed him?”
“Oh, yes.” She hesitated. “I should have done it myself. But sometimes things happen so fast we can’t understand the implications.”
“No. We can’t.”
“And what are the implications of you and me, together?”
“Difficult.” He slid his hand down to envelop her breast. “But if this night is all that we have, I’m going to fill it with you.”
Dislocation
He won’t come in the day anymore. But at night, he touches me, his ghostly fingers gliding like fox fur over my flesh to wake me. I think … but I shouldn’t … if he could hear my thoughts … no, he doesn’t care as long as I keep making plans to take our people back to the Long Dark. I … I’m safe. I’m sure of it. And my thoughts are my only refuge.
I’m not sure he’s Raven Hunter. He may be an evil Spirit hiding behind the name. Though, Ancestors help me, he’s so persuasive. The horror stories he tells about Wolf Dreamer seem true. When I look around me, all I see is suffering.
If I only knew for certain that he was Raven Hunter, I’d go out and challenge Wolf Dreamer myself. I’d ask him why, if he truly could save his people, he hasn’t already done it.
Raven Hunter tells me that the only way I can speak to Wolf Dreamer is if I have the Wolf Bundle. It’s the door to Wolf Dreamer’s Spirit lodge. He says a little Lame Bull boy has the bundle, and tells me that I should send warriors to get it and destroy it.
I don’t know. I just don’t know what to do … .
Fifty-four
“They know you’re here.”
The voice seemed to seep from the ice walls and echo around her chamber.
Skimmer sat up in her hides and stared at the utter darkness. It had started to press in upon her like black smothering smoke. If she hadn’t experienced it, she would never have believed that mere darkness could become the enemy: a living ominous creature that stalked her. It moved and breathed. It spoke to her in a soft muted voice that rang in her ears.