People of the Raven(188)

Could he? The very thought of feeling that long shaft sliding through his guts sickened him.

Fear coupled with shock and sent a feverish heat through him. Sweat prickled on his skin just before his body jerked, and he threw up great gouts of clotted blood.

Whimpering, he lay back, the stench of his wound rising to tease his nostrils. Tears leaked from his eyes and turned the world silver.

Movement! Something creeping through the branches. He blinked to clear the glassy sheen from his eyes. Then blinked again.

Yes, it was a puppy! A little black dog with a white face.

“Runner?” he gasped. The puppy was watching him intently, studying him.

But if Runner was here, was Tsauz close by? His heart leapt. Tsauz! Yes, his son had come for him!

“Tsauz?” he tried to cry, having a hard time finding the breath.

The world seemed to shimmer and float in a way that was watery and liquid. A warm haze began to gray Ecan’s vision. Only Runner remained in focus as he stepped ever closer, his black shiny nose sniffing warily.

“Take me to Tsauz,” Ecan gasped, fighting to keep the world in focus. All he could see was the puppy. It was smiling now, wagging its tail in anticipation.

Then he remembered War Gods Village, recalled driving the spear into the little puppy’s side, hearing the shriek of pain and fear. Gods, was that why Runner was here? To claim him?

As if in answer, the little dog threw its head back and yipped in delight.

As his soul loosened from his body, Ecan knew the true taste of fear.





Seventy

“What are you feeling?” Rides-the-Wind asked as he crouched next to Cimmis. The great chief lay on his litter, a blanket covering all but his head and arms. Around them, people passed. They shot uneasy looks in Cimmis’s direction, whispering behind their hands. Two guards ensured the old man’s safety.

Cimmis managed a bare whisper. “Rage.” Blood caked his lips. When blood from his punctured lungs built up, racking coughs expelled clotted phlegm. The pain had to be excruciating.

Rides-the-Wind looked down into the old man’s pain-glazed eyes and felt, what? Sympathy? No, more curiosity than anything else. “I have often wondered if for every good there is an evil. A balance in the way the world was first Sung.”

“There is only suffering,” Cimmis whispered dryly. “If I could stand, only for a moment …”

“You would do what?”

“I would choke the life from her body!” He winced with the vehemence of his words.

“Do you have so little love for her?”

“No,” the old man whispered. “It’s because I still love her that I want so badly to make her pay.” He turned his head away, tears leaking from the corners of his eyes.

“Do you wish to tell me anything, Cimmis?” Rides-the-Wind considered the old man. “You will be standing before Gutginsa’s spear soon. I am curious as to how you will be judged.”

“I’ll live,” he swore. “Just wait and see! From exile, I’ll come back, and when I do …”

“Yes?”

“I will see them scream in agony.”

“Have you no room in your heart for anything but anger?”

He reached up, gasping from the pain in his crushed chest, and wiped his eyes. “I loved … her … .”

“Then,” the old Soul Keeper mused, “perhaps there is hope.”

“Hope … is a myth.”





Rain Bear stepped around the edges of the Joining ceremony, heading to where Rides-the-Wind knelt beside Cimmis. He’d been there all day, right at the edge of the palisade, talking with the captive chief. A hard-eyed guard of Kaska’s warriors ensured his safety.

Pitch’s voice carried in the clear morning air. “And will you, Astcat, matron of the North Wind People, accept this man Tsauz as your husband, to become great chief of the North Wind People?”

Astcat took Tsauz’s hand and called in a loud voice, “I accept Tsauz.”

Over ten tens of people had come, including many from the once slave village. They watched with wary but curious eyes. Tsauz stood to Astcat’s right, a tall boy with his chin up, wearing Pitch’s red ritual cape.

“So, it is done,” Evening Star said as she walked up and took Rain Bear’s hand. “And now, I have a question for you.”

“Yes?”

“Will you, Rain Bear, great chief of the Raven People, join with me, Evening Star, of the North Wind People, to be my husband, and to eventually become the great chief of the North Wind People?”

He studied her for a moment. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

Her steady blue eyes seemed to bore into his soul. “If I have to build a new world for my people, I want to do it with the man I love. My people will trust you.”