“I sent my answer with Red Dog. It was for Astcat alone. But you’ll know it soon enough. I’m sure the news will run through Fire Village like a molten wave.”
His face screwed up, but his eyes resembled little knives, cutting away at her, seeking to slice down to her heart. Somehow, he read the tracks of her soul. “So that’s the way of it?” He chuckled softly. “I don’t need to kill you, Evening Star. You’ll be dead before Sister Moon rises.”
He ducked out, and the hanging waffled, letting a cold gust of wind in. Evening Star sat frozen in fear, the length of wood tight in her aching hands. Not until she heard him walk away did she dare breathe.
Her heart jumped again when she heard him speak softly with another man.
Who?
Their voices dwindled as they walked away.
Evening Star got her shaking legs under her and prepared to burst from her lodge to run like a scared rabbit.
A shout split the silence; then feet pounded past her lodge, and enraged screams broke out.
Rain Bear shouted, “No! Don’t kill them! We need them alive!”
At the sound of his voice, such relief rushed through her that her knees buckled. She sat down hard. The entire camp must have roused. Tens of voices lifted and blended into an indecipherable din. People raced up the trail, shouting, screaming questions.
Rain Bear threw the lodge flap back, his war club in his hand. His dark eyes blazed. “Are you all right?”
“How did he get so close?”
“Evidently by working with Wolf Spider. They killed Hornet. His body is out in the trees at the end of a blood trail. Who was he? What did he want?”
“An assassin. A Wolf Tail. He wanted Ecan’s son,” she answered in a shaky rush. “Did you catch him?”
“Dogrib’s gone after them. They took the trail that leads up toward War Gods Village. We’ll get them.”
As the reality of how close she’d come to doom sank in, her entire body started to quake.
Rain Bear knelt and touched her hand. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
“I’m alive.” Blood started to rush through her veins like an incoming tide.
His voice came out so soft and tender, she almost didn’t recognize it. “Two guards was a mistake. I should have known better.”
“Two, ten, it doesn’t matter! He was dressed like a slave! He could go anywhere.” She balled her fists, muscles tense against the trembling. “You’ve got to understand. I tried to buy him off. He didn’t even look twice when I offered my dress for Tsauz’s life.”
Rain Bear glanced at the decorated dress. “Interesting.”
“And another thing: It was eerie but I’ve never seen anyone so calm and self-confident. It was as if …”
“Yes?”
She glanced at him, puzzled. “He wasn’t afraid in the slightest that he’d be caught.” She shivered. “Something about him frightens me in a way I’ve never been frightened before.”
“Great Chief?” Dogrib called from outside.
Still shaking, Evening Star followed Rain Bear out into the dusk. In the gray light Dogrib’s white hair seemed to glow. She could see his puzzled expression. Behind him, two warriors came dragging a limp body by the armpits, the head lolling, the feet trailing in the mud.
“What’s happened, War Chief?” Rain Bear asked, stepping forward.
“You’re not going to believe this,” Dogrib muttered uneasily. “When it became apparent that we were going to cut them off, the stranger killed Wolf Spider. Split his skull. Then he dove into a patch of bushes beneath the cliff.”
Evening Star watched as Rain Bear stepped to where the body hung between the warriors’ grip. He bent, caught up a handful of the blood-soaked hair, and lifted the head so that Wolf Spider’s face could be seen. The wide eyes, slack features, and gaping mouth looked stunned in death.
“I take it that you surrounded him?” Rain Bear asked.
Dogrib was shifting uneasily from foot to foot, his expression a mix of anguish and disbelief. “A coyote ran out, my Chief. A single, huge coyote. It was so quick we couldn’t react, wouldn’t have anyway. We thrashed those bushes, sorted through them by hand.”
“And?”
“Nothing!” Dogrib cried. “There was nothing there but this!” He held up a small thong from which dangled a perfectly chipped obsidian effigy in the shape of a coyote’s head.
Forty
Word of the Wolf Tail spread in ripples through the camps surrounding Sandy Point Village. Although full dark had fallen, people began to collect around the large central fire across from Pitch and Roe’s lodge.