“And what is his purpose?” the woman asked, hard eyes fixing on Paunch.
“Well, we needed to find you, it seems. So we Traded a gorget for him from Great Cougar,” Old White explained. “You see, if he’d hung Paunch and Whippoorwill on his squares, we’d never have been led here to interrupt your suppers. So please, be seated. The food is getting cold.”
“If you are just Traders then I am the high minko,” Amber Bead muttered.
“Might as well lie down and go to sleep,” Two Petals said, her eyes fixed on the woman. “This is going to be a most boring night.”
Trader looked up at the faint light graying the eastern horizon. The air was cool as they stepped out of Amber Bead’s house. He kept glancing behind him, anxious lest one of the distrusting young Albaamaha men sneak up and brain them from behind. Two Petals, however, seemed oblivious. With her foresight, she’d warn them, wouldn’t she?
“Smoke Shield, Smoke Shield, Smoke Shield,” Old White mused. “That’s all you hear about. He must be a madman. And to think, he’d actually dress his warriors as Chahta? What a cunning war chief he is. Twisted, evil, but cunning.”
“One thing’s sure, he’s got the Sky Hand fooled. How could he do it, Seeker? It seems like every lie and plot can be laid at his door. To hear the Albaamaha tell it, he’s an evil Spirit in human form.”
“I have potions, powders, poisons. We could send him food laced with a concoction of water hemlock, night-shade, sacred datura, and death camas. And then there are the mushrooms. I have some green fungus scrapings. The slightest inhalation will make a man vomit his guts out. You name it, I have it . . . concentrated.” Old White patted his pack. “Of course, if he is guarded by some malignant Power, it might warn him.”
“My heart aches for Lotus Root. She has suffered so much. Now she’s running, unsure of which course to take.” Trader frowned. “On top of everything else, she has to wonder who we really are, and how we found them.”
“It must have been something of a shock,” Old White agreed. “One minute, you’re plotting a meeting with the mikkos, the next, three strangers walk in the door and want to know everything.”
Trader glanced at Two Petals. “You know, Seeker, if you hadn’t Traded that gorget for Paunch, we would have known none of this. He’s been like a thorn in a blanket on the river; but he led us to just the right people, at just the right time.”
“Next time the Contrary suggests buying slaves, I won’t haggle for so long.” Old White made a sucking sound with his lips. “This is a prickly knot to pick. It makes me even more suspicious about that Yuchi messenger’s death. There has to be someone . . .”
“Yes?” Trader glanced at him.
“If the Albaamaha are organizing an uprising, they can’t be the only ones.”
“Then who else?”
“Surely you know enough of politics to realize that there’s always an opposition. It’s the nature of men, be they Sky Hand, Azteca, Zuni, or Kaskinampo.”
“You’re right. Someone must be against Smoke Shield.”
“And don’t forget, he could do none of this without Flying Hawk’s approval.”
Trader nodded. “Don’t I know? He raised me. I’ll never forget his rages and poor judgments. In my later years, I have come to believe that killing his brother changed something in him. You wouldn’t believe the fits he’d fly into over the smallest things. We were jumpy as grasshoppers around him.”
“It goes back to his youth.” Old White glanced at him. “Did he ever speak of his boyhood?”
“Rarely. I think it was too painful. Everything led back to the fire. Something terrible happened that night. Both of us were smart enough to never ask. Even at the mention of it, his face would cloud; if the subject wasn’t changed, there would be a storm.”
“He had a very difficult childhood.”
“You knew him?”
“Oh, yes. He and Acorn both. My memory is of frightened, dead-eyed boys. Bear Tooth used to beat them unmercifully. I think their souls were both broken during those days.”
Trader frowned; then his eyes widened. “Breath Giver take me, you’re Kosi Fighting Hawk!”
“Who? Oh, the boys’ uncle. No. He was Raccoon Clan, the tishu minko married to Midnight Woman’s sister, Rose Bloom. He was a good man, but never up to facing down Bear Tooth. After Makes War’s capture and death, Midnight Woman married Bear Tooth because he was an able warrior. You must understand: The people were stunned. Their high minko had been captured and tortured to death—the war medicine had been lost. Bear Tooth brought a new Spirit to a wounded people. He restored the Power, but by the Horned Serpent, he was a brutal and abusive man.”