Hunter stalked to the door. “Deer Killer?”
A pathetic voice answered, “In here, Hunter.”
Hunter ducked beneath the flap and had to push himself between five warriors crowded near the door. One held a guttering torch that cast a dim light over the dark interior. Deer Killer looked like a whipped puppy. Meeting Hunter’s eyes he swallowed hard.
With a glance, Hunter reassured himself that the figure standing in the back was Dzoo. Her clothes were still on, she was obviously alive, so why was Deer Hunter looking as if his guts had gone to water? “Is there a problem?”
The other warriors faded away—except Deer Killer, who stood with his jaw clenched and his spear clutched in a death grip. Damp strands of long black hair framed his thin face.
“Hunter”—he wet his lips—“I don’t know how this could have happened. I swear we have been here every moment! No one passed us!”
“What’s wrong?”
Deer Killer gestured toward the far side of the lodge. “See for yourself.”
Hunter shoved him out of the way. “Give me that torch.”
Deer Killer pulled it away from the man who held it and thrust it into Hunter’s hand.
In the flickering light Dzoo had her head tipped back, as though studying something on the domed roof. Her long red braid hung down the back of her rumpled dress. In the torch’s glean, her beautiful face looked eerie, inhuman, as though carved from translucent chalcedony.
“Witch?” Hunter lifted the torch higher. To his right, he saw her pack and cape, and a small bowl sitting on the floor.
She turned so slowly it was hard to see her move. Then she whispered in sibilant and totally incomprehensible words.
“Witch, I don’t understand. If that’s the language of the Striped Dart People, I don’t know it. Speak to me like a human being!”
Her black gaze drifted aimlessly over the bare walls, then came to rest on Hunter. As her gaze sucked at his, he swore his heart tried to scramble out of his chest.
Deer Killer whispered, “I give you my oath, Hunter, I did not abandon my post, not even for an instant!”
Hunter swung around. “I don’t see the problem. Dzoo’s here, she’s alive, and—”
“Her ropes, Hunter. They’re gone!”
Hunter whirled to look. He hadn’t even noticed. He’d bound her himself, but she stood with her hands free at her sides. Bloody wounds encircled her ankles and wrists.
“Who untied her?” Hunter demanded.
Deer Killer shook his head, and the warriors behind him began to mutter, “Not me.” “I didn’t do it.” “I wouldn’t touch her for all the—”
Deer Killer said, “I stood right here all night!”
“You stupid fool!” Hunter gestured to two of the milling warriors. “Get in there and retie her. Do it right!”
“But, Hunter, she’s a witch. What if she uses her Powers to change me into a woman, or a wolf spider or—”
“Get over there, or by the Blessed Ones, you’ll rue the day you were made a man!” Hunter stuffed the torch into Thunder Boy’s hand. “Go on!”
Deer Killer edged across the lodge as though walking through a sea of rattlesnakes.
Hunter muttered, “I tied her up like I’ve never tied anyone before. I pulled the ropes so tightly her ankles and wrists bled. Then I used a third rope to tie her ankles and wrists together behind her back. She was trussed up like a dog over a spit! If she got loose, it was because you were as negligent as a—What’s the matter?”
Deer Killer looked around the bare beaten floor. “Where are the ropes?”
Hunter’s brows lowered. “They must be here. Where else could they be?”
“I tell you, there are no ropes here. And I don’t see any loose dirt where she might have buried them.”
One of the warriors snickered, and Hunter glared at him. “The rest of you, go gather your things! We will be on the road to Fire Village shortly.”
Hunter turned back to glare at Deer Killer. “Am I the only one here with wits? Give me that torch!”
Thunder Boy held it out in a trembling fist.
Hunter tugged it away. “I’m surrounded by idiots!”
“She hasn’t blinked since we got here,” Deer Killer said. “I’ve heard people say she looks into that bowl to send her souls flying.”
“Just find the ropes!” Hunter walked across the lodge, hit her pack with a fist, then lifted and threw her buffalo cape against the wall. Finally, he leaned over the bowl. He froze when he saw someone looking back, then realized it was his own reflection. He dumped it out onto the dirt. “It’s just water, you brainless rabbit.”