Satisfied, he trotted along the trail to where Keresa, Kakala, and his two warriors waited with Skimmer. They crouched in the lee of a boulder pile, out of the worst of the wind.
“That’s it,” Windwolf told them as he approached. “Karigi should find the trail confusing from here on out.”
“Then we should go,” Keresa added. “Silvertip was specific about crossing Lake River by the fourth day.”
“Silvertip,” Skimmer mused, a hardness in her expression, “Wolf Dreamer’s tool.” Then she sighed. “But he sees clearly. We’re in a race with the end of the world.”
Kakala ordered, “Kishkat, Tapa, take scouting positions. Ewin might still be out here someplace. We don’t want to run right down his throat and have to make uncomfortable conversation with the man.”
Windwolf gestured for the others to take the trail ahead of him and then matched his pace to Skimmer’s. They hadn’t made two tens of paces before she asked, “Questions, War Chief?” and turned her eerie eyes on him. The effect was like cold water dribbling on his soul.
“You haven’t asked about Ashes,” he said.
She smiled slightly, not even breaking her confident stride. “She is fine.”
“You know this for a fact?”
“Raven Hunter told me. Though I am a little disappointed about her attachment to this Silvertip.”
“I thought you no longer believed.”
An ironic smile bent her lips, and the too-large eyes narrowed. “Let us just say that I serve a different Power now.”
The hair at the back of Windwolf’s neck prickled. He glanced down at the leather-covered bundle at her waist. The premonition of danger worsened. “I didn’t think you had it in you to kill the Prophet.”
“He was innocent,” she said simply.
“What about the lives you could have saved?”
“Do you question the thunder, War Chief?”
“Of course not.”
“Then do not question the ways of Power.”
He gave her a thin stare. “But I do question, especially when it involves the lives of my people.”
“Then you have your answer, War Chief.” She laughed, the sound like something echoing from a deep cavern. “Perhaps, in a way, I did kill Ti-Bish. But it’s a complicated give-and-take … something in the very balance of the Spiral itself.”
He shot a sidelong glance at her, aware of her finely formed face, the skin smooth, her lips full and sensual. Rich black hair hung in long and glossy luster. She walked with a light grace that swung her hips, and the cloak she wore couldn’t hide the swell of her high breasts.
Was she this beautiful last time I saw her? He remembered her as an attractive woman, but this magnetic allure puzzled him.
“Yes, War Chief?” she asked, shooting him a knowing glance. Her dark eyes seemed to swell, as if drawing on his very soul.
“Nothing.”
“Good. You would hate yourself if your thoughts strayed too far from Keresa.”
He frowned. “I don’t know you anymore.”
“You never knew me, War Chief.” Then she relented. “I shouldn’t be so harsh. You don’t know Raven Hunter’s Dream; none of us did. Not even poor Ti-Bish.”
“And just what is Raven Hunter’s Dream? Death and war?”
She smiled slightly, as if in the presence of a naïve boy. “It’s life, War Chief. All of it right down to the last spurt of blood in your veins. It’s seizing life and savoring it, milking it of every last drop of bliss.” She lifted her hand, watching her slim fingers curl into a fist. “The goal is to struggle and win, and enjoy the fight with every step you take. In the process, we are to love and hate with all of our hearts. Don’t you understand? Life is creation, fertility, change, and curiosity. I didn’t begin to understand until I was locked away in the bowels of the Ice Giants.” She shook her head. “Only then did the terror I’d survived make sense.”
“That’s what the Nightland Prophet taught you?” He asked skeptically.
“Ti-Bish wasn’t a Prophet, Windwolf. He was a Dreamer with only half the Dream. No, he taught me just how deeply rooted love was in the soul. My days with Hookmaker were passionate, and I did love him. But not with the complete dedication of being that Ti-Bish loved. It was elemental to him, as much a part of who he was as the beating of his heart. He gave all of himself in the attempt to save our world, right down to his last dying breath.”
“But he couldn’t?” Windwolf guessed.
A wistful smile died on her lips. “Ti-Bish lacked the courage. He was only the final step along the trail to save Raven Hunter’s Dream.”