People of the Silence(57)

Sandals creaked on the plastered floor. Ironwood turned to his left and saw Sternlight standing over the sleeping Night Sun. Rolled in a single black blanket with white diamonds woven around the edges, she looked frail and thin, her beautiful face serene in the red light cast by the bowls of glowing coals.

Sternlight adjusted her blanket so it covered her exposed right arm, then rose and went to his mats in the southwestern corner. His white ritual shirt swayed about his legs as he picked up his red blanket and swung it around his shoulders. He gave Ironwood a sympathetic glance before he sat down, propped his forehead on his knees, and tried to rest. Waist-length hair draped around him.

The great priest could sleep, but the great warrior had to remain on guard.

Ironwood’s gaze drifted over the magnificent thlatsinas painted on the walls. Larger than life, they wore bright feathered masks and carried rattles in their hands. Four terraces of black thunder clouds adorned their chests, and red streaks of falling rain striped their kirtles. As heat rose from the bowls of coals brought in to warm the dying Chief, the gods blurred and wavered.… Dancing. Subtly, but Ironwood could see it. The thlatsinas seemed to spin, kirtles billowing, their hallowed feet pounding out the rhythm that had created the universe. If he concentrated, he could hear their voices.…

Ironwood shook himself. Sleep taunted him at the edges of his soul, beckoning like a lover’s arms.

He pushed away from the wall and walked toward the low doorway in the corner. Before he’d fallen asleep, Crow Beard had ordered the curtain lifted, so that his soul might wander about the canyon, saying good-bye. Ironwood crouched in the entry, shivering in the icy breeze.

A light dusting of snow had fallen. The roofs and plaza of the huge town shone silver. Talon Town contained eight hundred rooms, but most of them served as storage. Crow Beard and Night Sun always strove to have a three-cycle supply of food stored, in case of crop failure.

Many other rooms became guest quarters during solstice ceremonials, when the population of Straight Path Canyon swelled to tens of thousands. A few rooms had been built for ghosts. Talon Town—like the other great towns in the canyon—was holy ground, and clan elders and priests from distant places occasionally wished to be buried here, so that they might be close to the gods.

The practice provided a third kind of afterlife. Made People followed the north road to the blessed sipapu and traveled to the underworlds to live with their ancestors, while the First People became thlatsinas, but elders of the Made People who could afford to be buried in Talon Town continued to live in this world. Their souls walked about, mingling with other ghosts, speaking to all of the gods who regularly visited here.

Ironwood shook his head. He could imagine no more dismal an afterlife. What would a man talk to a god about? He would run out of topics in a matter of days and be stuck in the company of divine beings for eternity. A horrifying thought.

What had rich Made People with such aspirations done before Talon Town became sacred ground?

Legends said that many cycles ago the fourteen towns in the canyon had been occupied only seasonally. People came and went for ceremonials, but they didn’t stay—alive or dead—except perhaps by accident. Only in the past few generations had a constant small population of chiefs, priests, clan elders, and slaves lived here, caring for the ghosts, maintaining the sacred shrines and producing the magnificent turquoise figurines used for trade with outlying villages.

Because the First People had emerged from the underworlds, they possessed secret knowledge of those worlds that the Made People did not. Stories had been passed down from generation to generation, describing the trip through the underworlds, the traps laid by wicked monsters, the landmarks which guided traveling souls on the right path. For a price, the First People shared their stories, and might even provide the seeker with a turquoise wolf Spirit Helper to guide him on the journey.

The First People at Talon Town traded their knowledge for almost everything. Their beautiful black-on-white pottery came from the Green Mesa villages in the north, their hides and meat from plains hunters, their turquoise from Fourth Night House to the east. They grew some of their own crops through extensive water control projects—canals, reservoirs, dams, and the careful maintenance of farming terraces—but most food came to Talon Town as gifts from the faithful villages of Made People.

Each Made People clan had a specific role. Ironwood’s clan, the Bear Clan, provided warriors to manage the labor force, guard food reserves, and conduct offensive and defensive warfare when necessary. Buffalo Clan controlled agricultural activities. They were responsible for planting, harvesting, designing irrigation projects, and preparing food for storage. Ant Clan did all of the building. They cut trees, quarried stone, built the irrigation projects designed by Buffalo Clan, and constructed the multistoried towns. The majestic stonework of Ant Clan masons was esteemed even by the Fire Dogs. Coyote Clan provided hunters and Traders.