Across the plaza, Dzoo’s maroon dress waffled in the wind as she walked toward the four guards who stood near the central fire. They went rigid before shoving each other to see who could get away the quickest. Deer Killer tripped over his own feet and almost fell into the coals before he righted himself. The other guards laughed and scrambled around him.
Ecan called, “Deer Killer?”
The young warrior nearly twisted his neck off spinning around to look toward the palisade gate.
Ecan strode purposefully toward him. “When is your guard duty over?”
“At dusk, Starwatcher!”
“Not tonight,” Ecan shouted. “I think you should be standing your post until dawn. From the clouds out to the west, we should have rain again. I wouldn’t want you to miss it.”
“Yes, Starwatcher.” At Deer Killer’s miserable look, the other guards chuckled.
Dzoo walked straight up to Deer Killer.
The young warrior bravely pulled his shoulders back and faced her, but his knees trembled.
She said something to him.
Deer Killer looked mesmerized, like a rabbit who’s just realized he stepped into a snare.
Dzoo leaned closer and spoke again; then she smiled and walked past him. The watching guards scattered, and Deer Killer’s hand twined in the fabric over his heart. He looked like he might faint.
Angry, Ecan closed the last of the distance, eyes blazing.
When he got to within ten paces, a powerful gust of wind blasted the mountain, and a tiny tornado of dirt and gravel spun into existence over Fire Village.
The whirlwind descended, gathering speed as it plunged out of the sky. It touched down, whirling coals from the fire, sucking up baskets and mats.
“Run!” someone shouted.
Ecan bellowed, “Halt! Man your posts!”
Deer Killer flinched when the first stone smacked his shoulder. Another banged across a lodge roof and sailed over the edge. Someone down below yipped.
Deer Killer spun around to greet Ecan, but before he could speak, a basket bounced off his arm with a painful crack, and Deer Killer yelled, “What the … !”
A split-cedar mat hit him in the back, then a rash of gravel and hot ash almost knocked him senseless.
Deer Killer, an arm up to fend off the wind, shrieked, “It’s her! It’s her!”
Ecan shouted, “Warrior! I order you to halt!”
Deer Killer bellowed, “Make her stop! She’s trying to kill me!”
The whirlwind flipped back and forth over the plaza, dust and debris in its wake. Then it careened away down the mountain slope, kicking up dust and detritus as it went.
Dzoo seemed untouched where she stood by one of the lodges, watching with large dark eyes. Not even her dress was rippling as the blow passed.
A breathless silence settled over the village.
Ecan focused on the guards who’d fled the wind’s wrath. Falling Cedar pawed at a hot coal that burned in a fold of his war shirt. The others cowered, staring wide-eyed up at the sky, and then back at Dzoo.
“If you are not back to your posts by the time I’ve finished calling out your names, I will assign you as the witch’s personal guards, never to leave her side! … Black Cod!” Men lunged to obey. “Thunder Boy!”
The warriors assembled in front of him, forming a line with their chests thrown out, their gazes focused anywhere but on Ecan. The wind had left them with eyes slitted, hair whipped around their faces. Falling Cedar’s shirt still smoldered.
“I have never witnessed a more cowardly display in my life!” Ecan marched back and forth in front of them. “Deer Killer!”
The young warrior might have been on the point of tears. “Yes, Starwatcher?”
A nasty lump had already risen where the stone had bashed his temple. He seemed a little unsteady on his feet.
“What did the witch tell you before the whirlwind formed?”
Deer Killer squinted in disbelief. “She—she asked me if she knew me!”
“Knew you? Does she?”
“I’ve been her guard. She should know me.”
Ecan’s eyes narrowed. “Then she spoke to you again, didn’t she?”
“Yes, but she just asked me the same question.” Deer Killer’s arms flapped helplessly against his sides.
Soft laughter drifted from somewhere high above him.
Ecan turned in time to see Dzoo make a sweeping gesture with her arm, a graceful winglike motion.
The remaining wind stopped. Just stopped. The air might have gone suddenly dead.
Deer Killer gasped, expression ashen. Nor was he alone. The other guards were bug-eyed, jaws locked, throats working as they swallowed dryly.
Ecan slapped Deer Killer with all the force he could manage. The young warrior staggered, stunned, and wiped at his mouth. Blood leaked onto his lips.