People of the River(19)

Bravely she shoved her robe down a little to look the Stone Wolf straight in the face. "Do you know who called me?" she asked. "Do you know anything about that Dream I had two days ago?"

The sensation of Power grew. Lichen thought she could hear something, like the faint rumble of a flash flood before it wiped the face of the land clean. Fear gripped her. She swallowed hard and dove beneath her robe, shivering.

From the blackness, she heard her mother stir. An elbow thudded against the wall. Sleepily, she heard her mother's voice. "Lichen? Did you say something?"

"Yes!" She threw off her robe and flew across the room as fast as she could. The hard-packed dirt floor stung her feet with cold. "I'm scared!"

Meadow Vole sat up in bed, her black hair falling about her shoulders, and opened her robes for Lichen to crawl in. Her daughter scooted back against her as tightly as the narrow platform would permit before heaving a sigh of relief.

"What scared you, Lichen?"

"The Stone Wolf. It was looking at me."

"Well, don't worry. It's quiet this morning."

Lichen frowned as she twisted to gaze up at her mother's round face, full lips, and slightly hooked nose. "Didn't you feel the Power?"

"No. I didn't feel anything. Maybe you were dreaming."

Lichen kept silent. She still felt it, all around, like a noose being pulled tight.

"Lichen?" Her mother's voice changed. "Did you go up to see Wanderer yesterday? Flycatcher's mother said he came home as white as clay and hid in a comer until she coaxed him out for dinner. Do you know anything about that?"

"No," she answered truthfully. She hadn't seen Flycatcher since they'd come back, but she couldn't believe he would have tattled on her. Except for Wanderer, Flycatcher was her best friend.

"Did you go up to see Wanderer?"

"Well . . . Mother, he gets lonely. He needs people to come see him every now and then."

Vole sighed and rested her chin on top of Lichen's head. "How many times have I told you that he's dangerous? You never know what Wanderer will do. His moods change as fast as Grandfather Brown Bear's. I wish you wouldn't—"

"Was he as odd when you studied with him?"

Lichen felt Vole's muscles tighten for an instant before she nodded against Lichen's hair. "He's always been strange. He taught Nightshade for many cycles before he taught me. I think she cast some spell on him that knotted up his soul. That's why I wish you'd stay away from him."

A shaft of light climbed the wall, glaring in the face of one of the spiders. "But I like him. Mother. Didn't you ever like him?"

"Oh, yes, but that was a long time ago, before . . . well, before a lot of things happened."

"Before my father died?"

Her mother hesitated for so long that it made Lichen fidget. She rolled over in bed and gazed up into Vole's troubled eyes. "How come you never tell me very much about my father?"

"There isn't much to tell. We were married for only a cycle, and he was gone most of that time."

"To go on battle-walks." People in Red weed Village told stories on long winter nights about how great a warrior her father had been. She beamed up at her mother in pride, but found Vole's eyes focused somewhere far away and unpleasant.

"Yes, battle-walks. He was always fighting." Vole turned away. "Why don't you try to sleep some more? We'll have to get up soon."

Worried by her mother's sudden coolness. Lichen tried to think of something else to talk about to make her happy again. "Is that when you studied with Wanderer, Mother? When my father was gone raiding?"

"Yes. Wanderer taught me many things. He—"

"Why did you stop studying with him? He has great Power. I'll bet he could have taught you a lot more."

Her mother's eyes sought out the Stone Wolf. "Yes, I'm sure. I just didn't know how to deal with his soul being an eagle one day and a pack rat the next." She laughed softly and playfully tugged Lichen's nose. "Now, let's sleep for another two fingers of time. We've a long day ahead of us. I have to start making preparations for the Beauty Way Ceremony, and you have to help me."

Lichen wiggled closer to her mother and buried her face against Vole's soft breasts, where she felt safe. She tried to force herself to sleep, but her mind kept drifting to the frantic sound of the unknown woman's voice.





Four


"Badgertail?" Locust called.

Where he lay in the glare of the Inner Chamber's fire-bowls, he could hear the fear in her voice. Shrieks and pleas for mercy reverberated through the temple.

"Badgertail! Can you hear me?"

Then she was bending over him, her frantic fingers lifting an eyelid to see if he lived. Badgertail scratched at the dirt floor with trembling fingers. The pungent tang of blood mixed miserably with his throbbing headache. "Help . . . help me up."