“I didn’t know you had a wife.”
“I didn’t. Not after Brookwood Village. They killed her here. In the cages. Where they’ll finally kill me.”
He felt the cage shake, and blinked his rheumy eyes.
The images eluded him for a moment: Night. The star-shot sky overhead. When had the sun set? How had he missed it?
A thin shape hunched as it fingered the thick knots that imprisoned him.
Kakala blinked. “What are you, phantom? Can’t you get inside to whisper to me?”
“These knots … they’re difficult.”
“They’re tied with wet sinew … so that it dries hard. They wouldn’t want me to pick them apart.”
“I have to get you out, War Chief.You have to find Skimmer for me.”
Kakala made a face, shook his head, shifted, and cried out at the pain of movement. He drew a deep breath of the cold night air. As it escaped from his lungs he saw it fog in the starlight.
Kakala reached out, feeling the cold reality of the bars as his fingers wrapped around them. The thin phantom hadn’t vanished as he’d expected, but continued to worry the knots.
No, this was real: an actual human being plucking ineffectively at the sinew.
“I don’t know who you are, but if some warrior comes along, they’ll put you in with me because of what you’re doing.”
“I don’t think so,” the soft voice said. “He wouldn’t let it happen.”
“He?”
“Raven Hunter.”
“Of course.” He slowly tried to straighten his back. “Raven Hunter talks to you, does he?”
“Not as much as I’d like.”
“Me, either,” he added dryly. “Look, friend. I was serious. If they catch you trying to let me out, they’ll make you wish you’d never been born.”
The dark form hesitated, and Kakala could see the shadowy face staring in at him. The gentle voice said, “I’ve wished that before. Back before Raven Hunter came to me. I didn’t understand. All of those terrible things, they were necessary. I had to know hunger, loneliness, and despair before I could understand that they were distractions. Raven Hunter didn’t come to me until I had lost all of myself.”
“Guide?” Kakala whispered incredulously. “Is that you?”
“I’m sorry, War Chief. I just learned about what happened to you. I came as quickly as I could.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because we need you.”
“We?”
“You have to bring Skimmer to me.”
“I already did. She was among the captives I took from the Nine Pipes band. Just as you ordered. I turned her and the rest of the women over to Nashat.”
The Guide stopped short. “Nashat never brought her to me. He brought a woman called Blue Wing. I never could understand why.”
Kakala cursed under his breath. “I remember Blue Wing. Tall, attractive, with long hair. Goodeagle couldn’t get enough of her on the trail.”
“He never listens to me.”
“You talk to Goodeagle?” Kakala made a face. “Why?”
“I don’t know Goodeagle.”
“Lucky you.”
“I meant Nashat. He never listens.”
“Noticed that, have you?”
The Guide sighed, pulling his hands back from the knots. “I have to go and find something to cut this.”
A familiar voice from the darkness said, “No, you don’t.”
“Keresa?” Kakala’s heart leapt. He watched as her dark form emerged from the shadows; behind her, other men slipped through the night to stare warily around.
“War Chief,” she said severely. “It figures I’d find you in a mess like this.”
“And what were you going to do?”
“Chop you out of there,” she said firmly, shooting the Guide wary looks.
The Guide asked fearfully, “You can free him, Deputy Keresa?”
“Of course, Guide.” Keresa stepped forward.
Kakala heard the whistle, followed by a snap, and the cage shivered under the impact. She took three more whacks at the bottom binding, and then turned her attention to the top. Finished, she laid a woodworking adz to the side. Keresa’s strong hands wrapped around the bars, tugged, and one side came free.
Helping hands reached in to pull Kakala from the cage. He groaned, toppling onto his side, legs like fire as he extended them.
Keresa bent over him, her hands running down his spine. “It’s going to hurt for a while.”
Kakala laughed, panic barely masked. “I’ll bear it.”
He saw Keresa straighten. “Guide, what are you doing here?”
“I came to free the war chief.”