The boy obviously longed to shout or cry, but did neither. He sat straight, his young face rigid. “Will you tell me the truth about Cimmis? There’s something I must know.”
“If I can, I will.”
“Why would he order the Wolf Tails to kill me?” His voice broke. “I—I don’t understand that part.”
Rain Bear leaned forward and propped his elbows on his knees. “Cimmis will rightly fear that I may be able to use you to get to your father, Tsauz. And if I can force your father to help me, I may be able to kill Cimmis.”
Astonished, he whispered, “Is that what you wish to do? Kill Chief Cimmis?”
“I do.”
“Why?”
Rain Bear picked up the stick and turned over the lengths of pemmican. Fat sizzled inside the gut wrapping. “Cimmis has ordered many of our people tortured and killed. At War Gods Village you learned firsthand what he does. You heard the screams; smelled the death of elders, women, and children like you on the wind. He has done this to more villages than you have fingers. It must stop, Tsauz. We just want to live in peace with the North Wind People.”
“But we need you to bring us food.”
“We can’t find enough food to feed our own villages. You heard the people last night along the trail.”
“You’re hungry?”
The boy seemed surprised by that. Had his father told him they were withholding tribute out of spite?
“Many of our children and elders died last cycle. Pitch and Dzoo tried to Heal them, but they couldn’t. No one really knows why the fevers came, but the fact that they were hungry couldn’t have helped.”
“Cimmis says you are just hoarding food so you can starve us. Because—because we are better than you! And you hate us!”
Rain Bear tossed his stick into the fire and watched the flames eat into the bark. “Some Raven People hate you. And some of the North Wind hate us. I don’t. My wife was one of the North Wind People, and I loved her very much. Roe is one of the North Wind People, as is Evening Star. So was Matron Weedis and so many others that the Council has ordered Cimmis and your father to kill.”
The boy just sat on the log, breathing hard.
Rides-the-Wind stepped out of his lodge. The bright afternoon light glinted in his thick gray hair and beard. He wore a knee-length tan shirt beneath his deerhide cape. “Pleasant afternoon to you, Chief.”
“And to you, Elder. Are you feeling rested today?”
Rides-the-Wind picked up the worn walking stick propped against his lodge. “Much better.”
Rain Bear gestured to the woven bark mat beside the fire. “Please join us. Tea is almost ready.”
As Rides-the-Wind walked toward the fire, he noticed the concentric circles of warriors. His gaze took in the wide variety of clan markers on their capes, and his steps faltered for a brief instant. Then his gray brows lowered, and he continued toward the fire.
When he got close, Rain Bear rose and took his arm, gently supporting Rides-the-Wind while he sat down on the mat next to Tsauz.
Rides-the-Wind quietly observed, “It appears that you’re surrounded, Chief. What do you plan to do about it?”
Rain Bear smiled. “Have lunch. As soon as Evening Star returns. She went to Roe’s lodge to exchange our pemmican for some of Roe’s seaweed cakes.”
Rides-the-Wind gave him a knowing look. “Is it safe for her to wander the village like that?”
“She is well guarded.”
“If you say so.” Rides-the-Wind tugged his cape over his moccasins to keep his feet warm, and shivered.
“Cold?” Rain Bear rushed to take off his cape to give to the old man.
“Keep your cape. It’s not the weather. It’s their faces.” He gestured to the warriors.
“Don’t let them concern you, Rides-the-Wind.”
“Rides-the-Wind!” Tsauz shouted. He swung around, and his mouth fell open. “Rides-the-Wind, the Soul Keeper?”
The old man’s eyes glinted. “The same. Do you remember me?”
Tsauz stammered, “Yes, I—I do. You used to come to Fire Village often. You trained the greatest Dreamers and Healers who have ever walked among our people.” Awe filled Tsauz’s voice. “My father told me that he would have given anything to have been trained by you!”
Rides-the-Wind’s skeletal fingers groped to close an opening that Wind Woman had teased open in his cape. “I don’t recall your father asking for me.”
“His grandmother wouldn’t allow it. She said you were too dangerous.”
“Well, I’m sorry to hear that. I would have enjoyed training your father.”
Tsauz’s face lit up. “You would?”