People of the Raven(186)

Banded Eagle’s eyes glowed. He whirled around and shouted, “Follow me! For the matron! Let’s teach these fools a lesson they’ll never forget!”

“Prepare!” Kaska shouted as she took a position beside Banded Eagle. She would live or die with her warriors.

“Kaska!” someone shouted.

“Kaska! Kaska! Kaska!” her warriors began to shout. She raised her arms in time to rhythm. “Kaska! Kaska! Kaska!”

White Stone was staring, astonishment writ large on his face. One by one his warriors began to shift behind him, some almost dancing away as they realized the seriousness of their situation.

“Come on,” Kaska growled under her breath. “Give up. Can’t you see? It’s over.”

White Stone stood rigid, his back arched. Then he sagged and made a weak gesture to his warriors, calling, “It’s over. They have won.”

Kaska stood tall and straight, trembling, praying, wondering if she had just saved her people, or condemned them.





Sixty-nine

From his position in the Council Lodge, Rain Bear studied Great Chief Cimmis. The North Wind chief lay under a blanket, breath wheezing in and out of his crushed chest. A double strand of rope had been tied around his hips to keep the compress over the spear wound. Firelight flickered like burnished copper on his sagging cheeks. The old man’s eyes were fevered, pain-bright, but he was alert, knowing full well what was happening.

Behind him, the Four Old Women sat silent, owl-eyed, still stunned as the realization of their captivity sank in.

“What’s to talk about?” Talon thrust out his arm and looked one by one at the occupants of the Council Lodge. The place was huge, but when the old women had ordered it built, they’d had no idea what its first use would be.

“Kill them,” Sleeper agreed. “For the pain they have caused our people, I say that we boil them alive and leave their corpses on the beach for the gulls and crabs to pick at.”

“Yes!” Goldenrod agreed.

“Death.” Black Mountain slapped a hand to his thigh in agreement.

Rain Bear glanced at Evening Star and Kaska, who watched with uneasy eyes.

Rides-the-Wind eased back from where he’d been inspecting Cimmis’s wound. “You may kill them most gruesomely if you wish, but I would ask you, is that the message you want to send to the rest of the North Wind People?”

“The time of the North Wind People is over,” Black Mountain growled. He looked at the two matrons. “Besides, Evening Star and Kaska have served us well.”

Kaska flared, “I do not serve the Raven People, Chief. My goals are not yours.”

“We’ll remember that,” Black Mountain said darkly, “later.”

Rain Bear interjected wearily, “This isn’t about peoples.”

“Then what is it about?” Goldenrod asked bitterly. “For years we have served the—”

“And they have served us!” Rain Bear thundered. “Like I said, this isn’t about peoples; it’s about them!” He pointed at Cimmis and the Council. “It’s about the decisions they made that led to the murder of tens of tens of people, Raven and North Wind alike!” He rose painfully to his feet, glaring. “What we do here will affect everyone. Don’t you understand? It’s our families that we’re talking about. If we choose the wrong path here today our sons and daughters will continue to kill each other until we are all so weak the Cougar People or the Buffalo People will move into our lands, and we will be their slaves.”

“He is right,” Evening Star said. “We must confine our punishment to the Council and the great chief alone.” Images of her dying family flickered in the back of her mind. “Death.”

“Death,” the others assented.

“Life!” a sharp voice barked.

All eyes turned to see Matron Astcat standing in the doorway. She held Tsauz’s hand. Carefully, she walked into the Council Lodge and braced herself. She shot a fond look at Cimmis. “Hello, my husband.”

He couldn’t seem to find words, but nodded a faint greeting as he labored for air.

Astcat turned, taking in the chiefs. Rain Bear felt the Power in her as their eyes met. She gave him the briefest of nods.

“Oh, yes,” Astcat said wearily, “something must be done to atone for the Wolf Tails, and the raids, and the fear.” She narrowed her eyes, staring at the Four Old Women. “You have ruined the Council. You have brought us to the teetering edge of destruction. Because of you, our time is done.”

“You don’t—” Old Woman North began.

“Quiet!” Astcat cried.