“That’s a mask.”
“I see.” Hazel Fire glanced suspiciously at Mud Puppy, then back at the alligator where it hid in the duckweed. “Along with alligators, do you talk with Masked Owls?”
Mud Puppy considered the question. Did he dare trust these outsiders? Men from a place he could barely conceive of?
“Do not worry,” Two Wolves said, reading his unease. “Your brother is our kinsman. Among our people, that binds us. What you tell us, remains among the three of us, and only among us.” He indicated the gleaming stone owl in Hazel Fire’s hand. “Our trust is even bound by a gift. There is Power in that.”
“Masked Owl comes to me in my Dreams. He is helping me to find a Spirit Helper. There is a chance that Salamander might come to me.”
“Salamander?” Two Wolves asked curiously, but there was no derision behind his question.
“He has special Powers, including the ability to make himself unseen.”
Hazel Fire resettled himself in his canoe, laying his atlatl and darts to the side. “Why do I have the suspicion that your brother isn’t the only outstanding member of your family?”
“What are you talking about?” Two Wolves asked his friend.
“Mud Puppy, here”—he indicated with a casual hand—“is more than I think most people understand. It was his vision that sent us south to meet the Swamp Panther raiders. Now we find him talking to an alligator and making Power alliances.” He held up the Masked Owl charm to emphasize his point. “Yet his own people do not take him seriously.”
The talk, along with Hazel Fire’s intense scrutiny, made Mud Puppy’s gut feel like ants were crawling around his insides.
“Two brothers,” Two Wolves mused, “two different strengths. But we are outsiders.”
“And perhaps less blinded by our prejudices,” Hazel Fire agreed, raising the little carved owl. “Mud Puppy, consider us your friends, no, more than that, your kin.”
A sudden idea slipped into Mud Puppy’s souls. “Will you do something for me?”
“If it is within our ability, Mud Puppy.” Hazel Fire studied the little red owl thoughtfully.
“Tell my brother that he must not plant his seeds.”
A wry smile crossed Two Wolves’s lips. “I think, married as he is to two new women, he is already planting his seed, young kinsman.”
“I don’t mean that. I mean the goosefoot seeds he brought down from the north. Tell him not to plant those seeds.”
Hazel Fire cocked his head. “Why? He has told us his plan for them. We, ourselves, plant the seeds. Among my people it provides another source of food for the winter. Ask your brother, he ate enough of it last winter to know the advantages.”
“It’s not me.” Mud Puppy hesitated, cringing. Did he dare share this secret?
“If it is not you, then who, Mud Puppy?” Hazel Fire’s expression sharpened. “White Bird is a relative through marriage, a member of my family, stranger though he might be. We have shared many things over the last year. His child lives in my sister. If there is some threat to White Bird, I would know of it.”
“It came from a Dream,” he hedged. “Someone in the Dream told me that my brother would be killed if he planted those seeds. That it is not a thing for my people. Power doesn’t want it to happen here.”
“Want what to happen here?” Two Wolves looked confused.
“People to grow their own plants.” Mud Puppy made a helpless gesture. “I tried to tell White Bird. He thinks I’m being a silly child and won’t listen. He has turned blind; his ability to see is overcome by his new status and all the attention people are heaping upon him. He thinks he cannot be defeated.”
“Defeated by whom?” Two Wolves asked. “If there is a threat, we will protect him. He has earned our loyalty through his service to us, our clans, and our people, let alone to yours.”
“By Power,” Mud Puppy said miserably. “Masked Owl has told me that he mustn’t plant those seeds. If he does, he will change the world. Masked Owl doesn’t want that to happen. He wants us to stay …” Mud Puppy clamped his mouth, miserably aware that he’d just said too much.
Hazel Fire’s thoughtful eyes had narrowed, his face pensive.
“All this came out of a Dream?” Two Wolves asked incredulously. “Why should White Bird believe your Dream, and not his own?”
Mud Puppy felt a sinking in his chest. He must have been suntouched to have confided in these strangers from the far north.
“Wait,” Hazel Fire’s low voice intruded. Then he spoke in the Wolf People’s tongue, the alien words hammering on Mud Puppy’s ears like hail. Whatever it was, it must have been so demeaning they didn’t dare talk in a language he would understand.