The sharp thumps of a woodpecker began, and Hailcloud turned to see the red-crested bird excavating a hole in an old maple stump. When it had dug it deep enough, the wood-pecker thrust its enormously long, sticky tongue through the opening and probed the ant burrows within. A swarm of ants rushed out and scrambled over the stump in a mad horde. The woodpecker seemed undisturbed by the multitude that climbed through its bright feathers. It used its beak to widen the hole and continued to feed.
Hailcloud heard Petaga's footsteps before he saw the young Moon Chief stepping down from the terrace above. The hem of Petaga's brown-and-yellow robe caught on the mint that covered the shoreline. "They're gone."
"And what did the woman want?"
Hailcloud leaned back and looked at Petaga. The black braid hanging over Petaga's shoulder had been freshly combed, but because he'd had no time for bathing, it appeared stringy. His triangular face showed the strain of too many sleepless nights. Purple circles darkened the flesh around his eyes, making them seem wizened, and more deeply set than usual.
"She's the new leader of the Horn Spoon Clan." Petaga dropped down on the sand beside Hailcloud and folded his hands in his lap. "Her name is Currant. Tharon murdered her mother for treason."
"Treason?"
Petaga nodded. "Yes. She dared to suggest in a clan council that perhaps the Cahokia clans should join us, Tickseed was a smart old woman. She knew that the system must be changed or our people will cease to exist." He hung his head and stared at the sand that glimmered with an indigo hue. "Tharon killed her for it."
"And all of the people who came up around Marsh Elder Lake yesterday?"
"Currant talked it over with the Horn Spoon Clan. They decided they would seek us out. She offered over one hundred warriors."
Hailcloud lifted a shoulder. "We don't need them, Petaga."
"No, I—I know. But we must let them do something.
They've risked everything to join us, and we can't just turn them away."
"If we put them in the first wave to burst through the palisades, we might take fewer casualties. We can assume that roughly one out of four of Tharon's warriors will have kinship ties."
Petaga gave Hailcloud a sidelong look and snorted his disgust. "You think that kinship ties would keep Badgertail's warriors from killing them?"
Quietly, Hailcloud responded, "They're human, Moon Chief. Just like us."
"Barely human," Petaga corrected. "Don't worry about the Horn Spoon people. I'll think of something for them. I'd rather not have them fight unless it's necessary."
Hailcloud inclined his head agreeably while his eyes turned southward to the palisades of Cahokia. They gleamed white and lustrous against the sable background of night. Warriors strode around anxiously on the shooting platforms. Hailcloud had been counting them off and on from the moment he could make out their shadows. Three hundred—at most. He had over one thousand, and that was without the additional warriors promised by the Horn Spoon Clan. Most of the men and women he had lost had been spent in the poorly planned attack launched by Gopher. Over one hundred of those who had fallen were Red Star warriors. With Gopher's death, the remaining forces had lost their arrogance and started obeying the orders of more prudent leaders.
"Have you figured out our battle strategy?" Petaga asked.
"Yes." Hailcloud used his finger to draw in the moist sand. "Cahokia Creek runs like this past the palisades. We have no quarrel with the people living in the surrounding village. I don't think we even want to enter the village, except as necessary for cover when we're surrounding the palisades."
Petaga's dark brows drew together. "Yes, i agree. I'm surprised that my cousin Tharon hasn't already burned the closest houses just to prevent us from having cover."
"Don't say that too loudly. He still might do it."
Hailcloud drew an arc around the northern edge of the pahsades, which fronted Cahokia Creek. "This is where we want to position the majority of our forces, my Chief. Our first goal will be to take the creek drainage. With the drought, there's so little water that it should be only a minor annoyance. Once we've established our warriors in the drainage, we'll have shelter for our best archers. While our front lines fire at the guards on the platforms to keep them down, ax crews will be working at the base of the palisade. We'll have a hole chopped through in no time. Once we're inside, it will be over quickly."
Hailcloud sat back and looked at Petaga. The young chief's eyes gleamed as he gazed southward. Moonlight drenched the Temple Mound like an opaque sheet of silver and blazed from the pounded copper ornaments on the walls. "And Badgertail will be mine. I want my father's murderer, Hailcloud. Tell our warriors not to kill him, but to bring him to me."