Tsauz tucked the stone to his breast. “Was the lightning bolt frozen in the monster’s blood when he was turned to stone?”
“Very good,” Rides-the-Wind said in a perfectly normal voice. “That stone is a drop of monster blood with a fragment of lightning bolt inside.”
Tsauz’s blind eyes riveted on the rock. “Why did you give it to me?” he asked.
Rides-the-Wind pointed a crooked finger at Tsauz’s hand. “It’s very Powerful. Remember that. Pitch, I want you to take Tsauz out into the forest and have him kill one of those Cloud People floating in the trees.”
“Kill one of the Cloud People?” Tsauz asked incredulously. “How do I do that?”
“Tsauz, you must throw that stone as hard as you can, or the Cloud Person will live and turn on you.” He waggled a crooked finger. “You don’t want that to happen. He might kill you … and Pitch, too.”
Tsauz swallowed hard. “But, Holy Hermit, I don’t want to kill one of the Cloud People.”
“Do you wish to talk with Thunderbird?”
“Well … yes.”
“It’s the only way you can prove to Thunderbird that you are worthy of speaking with him. After all, Thunderbirds kill Cloud People for breakfast every morning. They think it’s easy. You must earn their respect.”
The look of terror on Tsauz’s face sent a shiver through Pitch. What if the boy failed? If he didn’t pass this test, he surely wouldn’t survive climbing the Ladder to the Sky.
Rides-the-Wind flicked a hand.
“Now, go on, you two. Go into the forest and start hunting. You must return with a cup of Cloud People blood.”
“Blood?” Tsauz wondered. “Cloud People have blood?”
Pitch took Tsauz’s hand. “Are you ready to go hunting?”
The boy looked like he longed to run back to the village, but he glumly answered, “I guess I have to.”
The guards moved through the trees around them as Pitch led the way forward along the path.
When they’d walked five tens of paces, Tsauz tugged on his hand and hissed, “Wait!”
Pitch stopped. “You don’t want to disappoint the North Wind People’s most Powerful Soul Keeper, do you?”
Tsauz wet his lips. “No, but … I’m scared.”
“Well, so am I. If you miss and the Cloud Person turns on us, he’ll probably eat me first. I’m bigger.”
“Yes, but you can see to run. I can’t!”
The boy needed reassurance more than anything. “I’ll warn you. I promise.”
Clouds twined among the branches like gauzy dreams. “There are a lot of Cloud People hovering around us. I don’t think this is going to be too hard. Is the rock ready?”
Grudgingly, Tsauz lifted it.
“Good. Let’s sneak into the trees and find a Cloud Person who’s looking the other way.”
Tsauz whispered, “How will we know he’s looking the other way? Have you ever seen a Cloud Person’s face?”
“Yes, I have.” Pitch smiled. “I’ve killed one myself.”
“You did? Was it hard?”
“It’s always hard to kill.” Pitch considered the filaments of mist hanging in the air. “One of the great truths is that life and death live within each other. They are like male and female: different, but necessary to each other. They lay intertwined like lovers, forever together, but separate.”
Tsauz considered that. “When you killed the Cloud Person, were you afraid?”
“Oh, yes.” He knelt before the boy. “Tsauz, listen to me. If you do this thing today, you are going to face the most difficult trial of your life, but I want to ask you a question, something that I think might help.”
“All right.”
“When you were hiding during the attack on War Gods Village, were you afraid?”
Tsauz swallowed hard, clutching the stone as if it were the most precious possession on earth. He jerked a short nod, his expression betraying shame and reluctance. “I didn’t like it,” he whispered.
“I’m sure you didn’t.” Pitch patted his shoulder. “But you know what fear is in a way that few other boys of your age do. As unpleasant as it was, you lived through it, didn’t you?”
Tsauz nodded.
“I want you to remember that in the coming days. You will be judged by your courage, and by the way you face your fear. If you can overcome it, you can speak with the Thunderbirds.” He patted the boy again. “So, come on. Let’s go hunting.”
Pitch led Tsauz to a thick copse of leafless alders where tens of sleeping Cloud People clung to the trees like bats. “Cloud People,” Pitch whispered. “They’re thick in the trees ahead of us. We’ll have to approach carefully. Sneak up on them.”