People of the Raven(105)
“Get out of the Starwatcher’s house, now!” White Stone extended a finger toward the door. “This is no place for little imps like you to be playing.”
To White Stone’s surprise, the little girl bolted from the covers, naked as a seal pup, and shot through the door out into the rain.
“What the … ?” Red Dog cried.
“A child was hiding in here.”
“You forget where you are,” Red Dog replied meaningfully.
White Stone stiffened, understanding crawling through him.
“Greetings, Starwatcher!” Red Dog’s coarse voice barked outside. “The war chief is waiting for you.”
White Stone made a face and looked toward the door in time to see Red Dog bow as he pulled the lodge flap aside.
Ecan entered like one of the gods. His hair fell in long black waves over his broad shoulders. He hadn’t even bothered to put on a rain cape. Walking directly to White Stone, he demanded, “Where is my son?”
“Rain Bear has him.”
Color drained from the Starwatcher’s face; a quiver pulled at his lip.
White Stone frowned and looked away. He hated weakness in another man, especially someone as brutal as Ecan. “They used the boy’s dying dog to lure him out.” White Stone turned back. “Did you spear the dog?”
“Of course I did!”
Fatigue made him careless. “Next time you do something that stupid, make sure you kill it.”
Ecan’s eyes had taken on a weird light; his voice dropped to a hiss. “If I’d let it live Tsauz would have insisted upon taking it with him. I couldn’t take the chance that the miserable little cur would give away his hiding place.”
“Well, in the end, it worked out just that way.”
Ecan ignored the tone in White Stone’s voice. “Where did Rain Bear take my son?”
“The last we saw, they were fussing over Tsauz in the plaza during the Moon Ceremonial. We were surrounded by tens of people. We had to leave.”
Ecan took a deep breath. Dark blue smudged the flesh beneath his eyes. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days.
“How did Tsauz look?”
White Stone lifted a shoulder. “He had scratches and bruises. Most of all, he looked frightened half out of his mind. He kept clutching that whimpering puppy so hard he was squeezing the guts out through the wound in its …”
A tremor, the sort icy fingers made on the spine, ran through Ecan. Then he said, “Fear can be endured. Bruises heal.”
“Yes.”
A frightening glitter filled Ecan’s eyes. He glared at White Stone for several heartbeats, maintaining control by sheer force of will.
White Stone, fatigued past good sense, just glared back.
Ecan’s dark brows lowered. “What do you think we should do next?”
White Stone shifted in confusion. “Don’t you understand what I’ve been saying? There’s nothing more any of us can do. If Rain Bear took him to Sandy Point Village, the boy is surrounded by tens of tens of warriors. They’d swat us like flies if we tried to rescue the boy. Unless you can talk the Council into approving a prisoner exchange, there’s no hope.” He could see by Ecan’s eyes that that wasn’t about to happen.
“Thank you, War Chief.” Ecan turned away. “Please go and report to Cimmis. He’s waiting for you.”
White Stone stared. “I’ll do that; then I must see the families of the warriors who were killed or captured. I’m sure they’re—”
“One last thing.” Ecan gracefully walked toward him. “I told Cimmis that you stayed behind because of Rain Bear.”
The rest remained unspoken.
White Stone picked up his rain cape. As he swung it around his shoulders, he woodenly said, “I did stay behind because of Rain Bear. I needed to judge the effects of our strike on War Gods Village. I needed to study his camps and count his warriors. How can we ever hope to crush him if we don’t know his weaknesses?”
“I agree, War Chief.”
White Stone walked by Ecan and pulled the lodge flap aside, but didn’t exit. “Ecan, I share the responsibility for what happened to the boy. Let me know if I—”
“Yes, War Chief,” Ecan interrupted. “I will.”
White Stone hesitated. “Um, you should know. I heard someone in here. There was a little girl …” He indicated the rumpled bedding.
“What?” Ecan glanced up, confused; then his eyes cleared. “Oh, yes. That. Never Mind. Cimmis is waiting in the Council Lodge for your report to him.”
White Stone stepped out into the rain. Red Dog met his gaze, and White Stone tilted his head, cueing Red Dog to watch Ecan. “I’ll be back soon, Red Dog.”