Rides-the-Wind turned. His gray hair and long beard blew around his oblong face. “Are you feeling well, Chief?”
“I didn’t wake you, did I?”
“All those despairing sighs and deep exhalations … Why would they wake anyone?”
Gods! How many of his Dreams had the old man been able to interpret? Rain Bear sheepishly knelt beside the firepit and used a stick to scrape away the wet ash as he crouched over the smoldering coal. “Forgive me. I’ve been thinking about the next two days.”
“Ah, that explains it,” Rides-the-Wind murmured.
Rain Bear arranged the dry kindling over the coal and blew. It didn’t take long for the wood to catch. Flames crackled up. Rain Bear gradually added larger branches until he had enough fire to beat the drizzle.
“How many warriors did Sleeper take to track Dzoo?” Rides-the-Wind asked.
“Ten.”
“Will that be enough?”
“Ten is all we could spare, Elder. Our hands were full at War Gods Village.”
Rides-the-Wind’s expression turned somber. “Well, you will probably be able to recruit from the people who come for the Moon Ceremonial.”
“Possibly.” I’d better.
The rain eased a little, falling in a light mist around them. Rain Bear gazed out at Mother Ocean. Through gaps in the trees he could see waves crashing upon the shore and gulls running before the surf.
The old man extended his bony hands to the flames. “People should start arriving this morning. That will give you a full day to gather forces before the Moon Ceremonial.”
“If they stay long enough, Elder. We have nothing to feed them. We sent all of our stored food to Cimmis to pay the tribute we owed. Since the refugees started pouring in, we’ve been eating half rations.”
Rain Bear wiped his wet hands on his black leggings and stood. Elder Rides-the-Wind stood a good head taller than he, but was half as wide. He resembled an ancient wind-gnarled stick with thick gray hair.
“May I offer you some advice?” Rides-the-Wind peered curiously at Rain Bear.
“Your counsel is welcome anytime, Elder.”
“Have you thought about what motivates Ecan?”
Rain Bear smiled humorlessly. “I’ve thought of little else. He seems intent upon destroying our people. Some of the things he did to the bodies of the dead before he ordered them bound to the pillars …” He shook his head. “Well, unbelievable.”
“I suspect they were no more terrible than what the Raven People did to his parents when he’d seen six summers. I understand that the sight of their bodies was most hideous. As I recall, the Raven People justified the mutilations by saying his parents were witches.”
Rain Bear’s mouth tightened. “One hurt does not heal another.”
“Yes, true, but those who are hurting rarely understand that.” Rides-the-Wind gestured to the lodges that filled the meadow. Somewhere, far out in the trees, a man wept. “Not only that, Ecan is just following orders.”
“I know.” Rain Bear bowed his head.
A gust of wind almost blew off Rides-the-Wind’s hat. He clamped it to his head, and said, “The Four Old Women can look into the future as well as you can, Rain Bear. What do you see ahead?”
“More hatred.”
“Perhaps they do, too. Perhaps they think if they can make you fear them enough, hate them enough, you will hesitate to strike out at North Wind villages. Brutality now might win them some breathing space.”
Rain Bear blinked against the rain. “Do you believe that?”
Rides-the-Wind gazed at the fir branches that dipped and swayed. “I believe we are all one, Rain Bear. Your life, the lives of tens of creatures unseen, living beneath the rocks, or in the highest treetops, is One Life. When we kill the other, we kill ourselves. There is only Life.”
Rain Bear pulled the brim of his hat down over his eyes. “Was that a yes or a no?”
The old man smiled. “A no. I don’t believe that murdering Raven People will make you hesitate. But my beliefs won’t help you much, I’m afraid.”
A stick broke in the fire, and sparks exploded. As they whirled upward into the rain, they winked out like tiny torches snuffed in the ocean.
Rain Bear tossed another branch onto the flames. “Well, I agree with you.”
Rain dripped into the old man’s long gray beard, forming a glistening net of drops. It shimmered when he turned to squarely face Rain Bear.
“Do you know why I’m here?” Rides-the-Wind asked.
Rain Bear gestured uncertainly. “No. Not really.”
“Power brought me.” He nodded to Evening Star’s lodge. “As it brought her.”