People of the Raven(139)

“Someone like me.”

Rain Bear and Rides-the-Wind turned to Pitch, asking in unison, “You?”

“I’m perfect for it.”

Rain Bear placed a hand on Pitch’s shoulder. “What about your wound?”

“It’s healed enough. The swelling has gone down. I can do this. And, given my wound, I’m surely not intimidating to them.”

Rain Bear mused, “Roe isn’t going to like this, but if I’m stuck with this lunacy, you’re the best choice. Not only that, you’re my son-in-law—married to Astcat’s granddaughter, for what that’s worth.”

Rides-the-Wind smoothed his hand over his gray beard. “By sending you, they will know the value we place on Tsauz’s vision.”

Pitch muttered, “Tell that to the assassins who speared me on the trail home from Antler Spoon’s village.”

“Yes,” Rides-the-Wind said softly. “I’ve been thinking about that.”

Pitch frowned and looked back and forth between them. “But I thought we’d decided Coyote hired them, and Coyote was Ecan.”

Rides-the-Wind’s eyes glimmered. “If Coyote were Ecan, Evening Star would have recognized him the other night. No, this is someone who can play many roles. Someone smart enough to let other people believe him harmless.”

“If Dzoo was right, and he’s obsessed with her, why isn’t he trying to get her out of Fire Village?”

The old Soul Keeper’s smile was anything but friendly. “Oh, he hasn’t forgotten her. You see, when I say he’s clever, I mean it. How patient he must be, seeing her every day, waiting, knowing that the entire world is about to explode in warfare.”

“And in the chaos …”

“Exactly.”

Rain Bear pinched the bridge of his nose. “We must warn her.”

Rides-the-Wind was watching him from the corner of his eye. “Do not worry about Dzoo, Great Chief. She and Coyote are already Dancing and darting. They have locked themselves in a duel. What happens between them is out of your control.”

Rain Bear shot him a mistrustful look.

Rides-the-Wind replied, “Why do you think she let Ecan take her to Fire Village in the first place?”

Pitch rose. His red ritual cape swung around his long legs. “Let me get my pack. I’ll be ready in moments.”

Rides-the-Wind gripped Pitch’s free hand as the Singer walked past, and whispered, “Take the obsidian amulets to Dzoo. She may need them.”

“Yes, I will.” He sprinted away.

Rain Bear studied Tsauz. The boy had his chin up, bravely facing them, but his fingers had twined in his cape and hardened to fists.

What had Tsauz really experienced last night? Had he truly flown with the god, or was he just a very imaginative child? One touched by Power, to be sure, but the boy had been desperate to get a message to his father. And now I have given him a way to do just that.

Would the message actually stop the war?

Or start it?

His gaze returned to Rides-the-Wind, and he found the elder staring at him with dark penetrating eyes.

“Quite the unsettling decision, isn’t it?” the Soul Keeper asked.

“I was just wishing I was the only one I had to trust.”

A grim smile curled the old man’s lips. “Then you’d be in real trouble.”





Forty-seven

Ecan ducked out of his lodge, his prayer bag in hand, and looked across the mountain. The gleam of dawn painted the belly of Brother Sky, turning it into an iridescent lavender bowl. At least twenty people already stood on the high points around Fire Village, facing east, toward the mountain peak.

He nodded to the young woman who knelt on a woven sea-grass mat ten paces away and proceeded up the trail toward the eastern palisade gate. Wind Woman blew his long black hair and stirred the wolf tails on his knee-high moccasins. They made a pleasant swishing sound.

North Wind People rarely appeared to offer morning prayers, which he thought foolish. Of course it meant associating with the unwashed rabble, but it was also a powerful symbol. If Matron Astcat were any sort of leader, she would order everyone except North Wind People to stay in at dawn, so that the sun shed its newborn light on North Wind People alone.

As he passed a lodge he glimpsed the knot of slaves bent over a still form. Wind Scorpion stood there, his grizzled face stern, arms crossed resolutely. Ecan had never really liked the man. He was taciturn, quiet, and watched the world through predatory eyes. Cimmis placed a great deal of credence in his skills, sending him constantly on scouting chores.

Ecan stepped over, stopping at his side to see what the commotion was.

“Good morning to you, Starwatcher.” Wind Scorpion didn’t raise his eyes to Ecan’s, but continued to stare suspiciously at the proceedings.