Badgertail nodded solemnly. He could feel it. He had been gone for two days, but the pall hadn't lifted. The city huddled under a smothering blanket of quiet. No one walked the winding paths through the eighteen mounds inside the palisades, though he could see the orange gleams of firebowls lighting the houses on the crests of the mounds. Occasionally a human voice penetrated the soft noises of the crickets hidden in the grass, or rose above the distant barking of dogs—^but not often.
"Where's the Sun Chief?"
"In the temple," Nightshade whispered.
South wind paled, and his hand crept to his knife. "In the . . . the temple, Badgertail. We thought he would have his guards carry him down here on his litter, but he's been waiting there for you all day."
Badgertail gave Southwind a confident nod. "Thank you, my friend. Go back to your platform. We'll talk more in the morning." He turned back to Nightshade. She stood glaring at the stairs that rose up the front of the Temple Mound. Made of polished cedar logs, they shone with a reddish tinge in the fading light.
Badgertail shifted uneasily, giving her time to sort through what must have been a haunting mixture of memories. Little had changed in the time she had been gone. A few more mounds had been completed; three more ponds had welled in the holes excavated to fill the necessary baskets of dirt. But not much else was different . . . except that Badgertail now had a house on a small mound on the east side of the temple. Involuntarily he tried to peer through the earthen wall to see it. Oh, how he would love to be coming home with Bobcat to sit before the fire and sip anise tea while they discussed the insanity of the past cycle. Who could he talk to now? Who could he ever confide in again?
He squinted at the sky. The most Powerful of the Star Ogres had awakened. Wolf Pup's long nose dipped down to sniff at the peak of the temple, while his tail brushed the noose around Hanged Woman's neck.
"The cage is locked, Badgertail. Can you untie me now?" Nightshade asked in that startling, beautiful voice of hers.
"Of course." He slipped a flake of pale chert from a pouch on his belt and cut the cord that bound her hands. Nightshade winced as she rubbed her wrists. When she had the blood going again, she rested her palms on the painted Bundle tied to her belt, touching it almost apologetically.
"You remember the way?" He gestured openhandedly, an eyebrow raised.
"I've walked this path a thousand times in my nightmares. I don't think I'll ever be able to forget it."
She strode purposefully along the dirt trail that led to the base of the stairs. There she paused for the briefest of instants to wet her lips before climbing. Her deerhide boots shished on the sand that had blown into the crevices in the logs. Badgertail silently followed her.
As they ascended, the magnificence of the city emerged. One hundred and twenty mounds rose from the flat river bottom, speckling the land like gigantic anthills. Wide plazas and small, thatched-roof houses filled the spaces in between, interrupted only by the winding traces of creeks and the glistening dots of ponds. Everywhere, fires glowed.
They passed the first terrace, and Badgertail glanced at the small temple on the southwest comer. The structure rested on a platform, and from the center, a man could look out over the city at morning or at night and tell what day of the cycle it was, for the entire Cahokia complex had been laid out as a three-hundred-and-sixty-five-day calendar.
When they reached the highest terrace of the mound—^two hundred hands above the floodplain—and stood before the door in the final palisade, Nightshade was gasping for breath, though Badgertail could not be sure how much of her effort came from exhaustion.
A call rang out. "Who comes?"
"War Leader Badgertail! I come according to the Sun Chief's orders, and I bear him good news. All that I was ordered, I have done!"
The heavy gate swung open on thick leather hinges.
From the comer of Badgertail's eye, he noticed a shiver wrack Nightshade as she stepped inside the final courtyard.
The giant temple rose before them, blotting away the night sky. For the first time, a tendril of anxiety crept into Badgertail's soul. What was it? Where did this sense of rot and corruption come from?
You're uneasy. It comes from the presence of Nightshade so soon after Bobcat's death. That's all.
To one side, the huge effigy pole of Bird-Man rested like an arrow pointed into the sky. Around the base of the giant shaft was placed a ring of offerings. Several lengths of colored cloth had been tied around the girth, each bearing a message to Bird-Man.
Badgertail averted his eyes as he grabbed Nightshade's hand and hurried forward, almost pulling her off her feet. At the doorway to the temple. Nightshade jerked loose and stopped. Badgertail could see her knees trembling beneath the red fabric of her dress.