Jenos lifted his chin and met Badgertail's gaze. "So," he whispered, "you've killed my people, robbed my food reserves, and now you want to steal the only strength that River Mounds has left. We won't tell you, Badgertail. None of us. When Nightshade returns and finds what you've done you'll wish you'd gutted yourself."
A puff of wind penetrated the chamber, and the firebowls hissed, wavering so badly that they almost went out. Where had the draft come from? A door-hanging being pulled back?
Locust cautiously drew her bow, nocking an arrow before she dropped to one knee. The tawny light danced over her short locks. The other warriors warily nocked arrows and glanced around, muttering uncomfortably to each other. High overhead, something rustled in the thatch.
Badgertail strained his ears, listening for footsteps or voices. An eerie prickle fluttered up his back, as if Nightshade had just stepped into the room and the hem of her robe had swept the winds before her.
Jenos pressed a fist to his thin lips. "We won't tell you." Pure loathing quavered in his voice. "If you kill us. Nightshade will find you. She'll avenge us."
Badgertail returned his gaze to Goldenrod. She clamped her hands over her folded arms so tightly that her knuckles went white, as if she knew the final moment had come.
"I don't want to kill any of you, Goldenrod, but I must find Nightshade. And if it takes killing all of you, one by one, I will do it." Badgertail lifted a hand to Locust. "See that priest on the far left?"
The white chert point on the tip of Locust's arrow sparked as she shifted her aim. "I do."
Badgertail let his hand hover while he pinned Goldenrod with his eyes. "Tell me now, Goldenrod. I've no time for more games."
She wrung her hands and sobbed, "I don't know! I don't—"
Badgertail sliced the air with his fist, and Locust let fly. A wrenching shriek echoed through the temple as the arrow pierced the man's chest. Goldenrod covered her face as the priest stumbled forward, dropping to his knees before he crashed face-first onto the floor, writhing like a skewered bug. Screams and shouts erupted, the Starbom shoving each other to get farther away. The dying priest tried to speak, to call out to Badgertail, but blood clogged his throat. He choked on it, his eyes growing wider until he collapsed into a pile of tousled red robes.
Jenos' elderly face had gone pale.
Badgertail raised his hand again, and Locust nocked another arrow. "Moon Chief? How many more would you have me kill?"
Jenos turned his head against the question.
The posture galled Badgertail like a cactus thorn in his palm. "Moon Chief, you're a fool! We'll find Nightshade anyway! She can't be far, and as soon as we've collected our tribute and disarmed the prisoners here, we'll go hunting for her. Fifty warriors combing the hills—"
"Will find nothing," Jenos said miserably. "She'll turn herself into a cougar and tear your men to pieces."
Nervous murmurs broke out behind Badgertail. He turned sharply to glare at his warriors. They shifted from foot to foot, as terrified as if Father Sun had just swooped out of the sky to scorch them all. "No one has that Power!" he shouted at them. "Not even Nightshade!"
At their expressions of disbelief, Badgertail whirled and commanded, "Locust, aim at Goldenrod."
The young priestess shrilled and fell to her hands and knees, crawling toward Jenos, crying, "Oh, no, no, no! Please, I've done nothing!"
Badgertail lifted his hand.
Goldenrod grabbed Jenos' ankles and buried her face in the hem of his robe, sobbing wildly. Jenos flinched.
"Moon Chief?" Badgertail let the question dangle for a few seconds, then started the downward plunge of his hand.
Jenos yelled, "Wait! . . . Wait."
Locust held her fire but kept her aim fixed on Goldenrod's narrow back. The priestess's wails came muted now, muffled by Jenos' robe.
"Where?" Badgertail demanded.
"I . . . I'm not . . . somewhere up in the western bluffs on the other side of the Father Water. I don't know exactly where. It's a secret Power place that she goes to for privacy. No one knows its exact location." Once the words had been uttered, Jenos seemed to deflate like a porcupine bladder pricked with a quill. His shoulders sagged in defeat as tears welled in his eyes. He reached down to rest a soothing hand on Goldenrod's hair. "That's all we know."
"Locust," Badgertail ordered, "give me your ax. Bring ..." His voice cracked as his self-loathing rose to a crescendo. He could order one of his warriors to complete this final duty. It would make it easier ... but he couldn't condemn someone else to the memory. He's a relative! Kin! We . . . we're family . . . family. "Bring me the Moon Chief."