“Good.” Rides-the-Wind picked up the cup of Cloud People blood. “While you’re doing that, I’ll prepare Tsauz.”
Tsauz sat up, eyes huge. His black-and-white shirt coiled around his feet. “Is it time?”
“Almost.”
Rides-the-Wind got down on one knee beside the boy and looked him straight in the eyes, as though the boy could look back. “Now listen to me, Tsauz. No matter what happens, you must be strong and brave. Thunderbird values these things. And more importantly, if you show weakness, he might kill you.”
“My Spirit Helper might kill me?” Tsauz was rubbing his hands together.
“Oh, generally he doesn’t do it on purpose. Thunderbird gets annoyed with you, flips over in midair, and you fall off his back and die.”
Pitch was in the process of tying different lengths of rope to the ceiling pole. Since his son-in-law had only one usable hand, Rain Bear shifted far enough to help him with the knots. Once hung, the short sections of rope swung around like dead snakes.
“H-have you ever known anyone who fell and survived?” Tsauz asked.
“One. A girl … many cycles ago. She accidentally screamed when Thunderbird dove after a particularly succulent Cloud Person—she said she just couldn’t help it—but it scared Thunderbird. He flew right into a mountain peak and exploded. She lived only because she jumped off at the last instant. The scars from the tree branches she hit on the way down never really healed.” Rides-the-Wind put the cup in Tsauz’s hand and clamped his fingers around it. “There’s one more thing.”
Tsauz croaked, “What?”
“You must call out to Thunderbird in his own language. Buffalo do this naturally, but it’s harder for humans. Here’s what the word ‘come’ sounds like.” Rides-the-Wind formed his mouth in a circle and made a rumbling sound deep in his throat. “Try it.”
Tsauz nervously smelled the contents of the cup, appeared to be thinking about it, then attempted to say “come” in Thunderbird. A high-pitched rumble-shriek vibrated his throat.
While he helped loop another knot, Rain Bear’s gaze returned to Pitch. He’d started threading feathers into the ropes, pushing the quills through the twining. Vulture feathers. They bobbed and twisted.
Rides-the-Wind looked skeptical. “That was good, Tsauz, but try to make it sound deeper, more like thunder.”
Tsauz swallowed hard, lifted his chin, and rumbled again, deeper this time.
It didn’t sound like thunder to Rain Bear. It sounded like they both had something stuck in their throats, which perhaps explained why Tsauz looked like he wanted to throw up.
Rides-the-Wind slapped him on the back. “Excellent. Pitch, are you ready?”
Pitch softly answered, “I’m ready, Soul Keeper,” and backed away from the ropes. He had a reverent, slightly frightened expression on his thin face. He wore his hair in a bun at the base of his skull, but black strands had come loose and tangled with his eyelashes.
Rain Bear noticed the beads of perspiration on Pitch’s skin, the wary dart of his eyes. It wasn’t the temperature in the cold lodge, nor was it any lingering fever. Blessed Spirits, if this is bad enough to make Pitch sweat when I’m freezing half to death …
“Follow me, Tsauz,” Rides-the-Wind instructed, and started for the ropes.
Tsauz crawled after him.
“Sit right here on the hide.”
Tsauz knelt in front of the dangling ropes. Rides-the-Wind pulled the boy’s left hand from the cup of Cloud People blood and let Tsauz touch the different lengths of ropes.
“What are they?” Tsauz asked.
Rides-the-Wind leaned close to Tsauz’s ear and whispered, “They are feathered serpents.”
Tsauz jerked his hand back. “Why do I have to touch them?”
“Because they form a spiral ladder that soars into the Above Worlds like Grandfather Vulture. In a little while, you will need to climb them.”
“But I—I thought Thunderbird would come to get me, and I would climb onto his back and we’d fly away?”
“You must demonstrate your worthiness first. That means you have to climb these ropes into the Above World where he lives. Climb as high as you can. His home is beyond the Cloud People’s—almost to the Star People. Thunderbird will be watching. If Thunderbird admires your courage, he’ll meet you and take you flying.”
“What if I can’t climb high enough?”
Rides-the-Wind and Pitch exchanged a doomed look that Tsauz couldn’t see, but Rain Bear did, and it shivered his very soul.
“Elder?” Tsauz asked, and wet his lips. “How can I speak with Thunderbird if I only know how to say ‘come’ in his language?”