People of the Owl(119)

“Hey,” Sour Mouth, another of the Alligator Clan youths called. “Come on! He’s made it into the channels!”

Salamander smiled as they turned, trotting for their canoes.

“Why didn’t you fight them?” Anhinga asked. The paddle was clutched in her hands, ready to be swung at the nearest foe. Her eyes were on the two canoes lancing out into the lake, hot in pursuit of her uncle.

“We couldn’t have won.” Salamander shrugged. “All we needed to do was give Jaguar Hide time to get off the lake. He’s in the channels now. In a finger’s time, it will be dark. Long before Saw Back and his warriors could possibly catch up.” He paused. “Sometimes the best way to win is by not starting a fight in the first place.”

She gave him the same disbelieving look she’d been giving him all day. “How did this happen to me?”

“I cut you free one night and started it all,” he reminded.

“But why did you offer to marry me? It wasn’t your place.”

“Because, I think he wanted me to.”

“Who? Who wanted you to?”

He turned again, looking at her. She stood half a head taller than he did, her body a slim silhouette against the darkening sky. Her long legs, the curve of her hips under the kirtle, and her round pointed breasts were softly bathed by the twilight.

“Has anyone ever told you that you are the most beautiful woman in the world?”

She just stared at him in wonder.





Twenty-nine

“Does it make any sense that your people could drag me right up to the front of your Men’s House the last time I was here, but this time I have to be cleansed?” Anhinga demanded, her hands clenched in her lap as she stared at Salamander’s lean form across the fire.

“I have never thought of it that way,” he answered, a puzzled frown on his forehead.

The fire burned before a low hut made of woven palmetto leaves. It stood beneath the sweetgum, having sheltered countless travelers and Traders. This, Anhinga had learned, was to be her bridal home during the cleansing of her souls.

Around them a halo of insects insisted on swirling, most of them to be eventually sucked into the flames. In the night sky, a thin sliver of Father Moon shone between the clouds and cast patterns of silver across the blackness.

“I could have brought all kinds of evil into Sun Town. Believe me, for all the terrible things I wished on your people, they should have died of a terrible wasting disease, their muscles turning to pus, their skin becoming a mass of boils.” She glared her hatred at him.

His large dark eyes seemed to swell, and her souls stumbled. What was it about him? His people considered him some sort of comic fool, but when she looked into those eyes, it was as if they drew her souls down into their brown depths. He made her skin shiver with a curious excitement that she couldn’t understand. Was it because she was destined to kill him? Is that what made him such a novelty?

“If you hate us so, why are you here?” he asked softly. The fire popped, sparks rising between them.

“My uncle wants peace.” She could see he didn’t believe her so she countered, “Why, in Panther’s name, did you cut me loose that night? I was your brother’s property.”

He took a deep breath. “For the same reason that you came back. We are tied by Power. You and I.”

She bit off a bitter smile before it could touch her lips. Yes, bound by Power! It has brought me here to destroy you, fool! Aloud she said, “You took a great risk setting me free.”

“Yes.” He shrugged, looking curiously vulnerable as he eyed the fire. “The vision isn’t clear yet, but you should know that you’re not the only one trying to destroy me.”

By Panther, does he hear my thoughts?

“I don’t know where Masked Owl is taking us, or how it is supposed to end. All I have is my wits, but everyone else has theirs, too.” His smile went crooked. “However, until they destroy me, I shall do my best to care for you. I don’t understand the balance of it, but for all that White Bird would have done to hurt you and demean you, I shall do everything the opposite.”

She frowned, unable to see the sense in that, but willing to accept its oddity given the alternatives. “I still don’t understand why you spoke out. You could have let the others find a husband for me. Perhaps Deep Hunter, or that Mud Stalker.”

“I told you.” His eyes had become passive again. “We are tied. When I recognized you, I knew that was why he asked me to free you. So that you could come back. You came here to marry White Bird, the man who captured you and hurt you. You were meant for me. I realized that in a flash of understanding.”