People of the Thunder(91)

“I agree.” Two Poisons, chief of the Deer Clan, stepped forward, his face passionate. “This is an affront not only to us, but to Power!” He looked around. “Chiefs, all eyes are on us! Not just here among our people—who look to us for leadership—but Power, too, waits, watching, looking to us for a response. We are Power’s strong right arm. This must be avenged. Power must be brought back into balance.”

Voices of approbation called out, feet stamping. The chiefs nodded, including Night Star. Pale Cat looked down at his diminutive aunt.

The Old Camp minko, Vinegaroon, took the floor. “Skunk Clan votes for war.” He looked around. “Two Poisons is right. There can be no other alternative. We have done nothing to deserve this foul and treacherous attack on our high minko. The Yuchi have grown too arrogant, too vile for us to take any other course.”

The tishu minko, Seven Dead, stepped forward. “Raccoon Clan votes for war. If this Council agrees, I will make the call for warriors.” Behind him, Blood Skull, too, was nodding, but there was hesitation behind his hooded eyes.

Yes, you smell it, too, don’t you, old friend?

Again feet stamped in assent.

Pale Cat laid his hand on Night Star’s shoulder and stepped out. He looked around at the familiar faces, read their anger and disbelief. “I am Hopaye. No one knows the ways of Power better than I do. No one knows the risks of offending Power—let alone in so blatant and outrageous a manner. A man bearing a white arrow has tried to kill, and then been killed himself.” He paused, letting that knowledge sink in. “What remains unanswered here is why.”

He met their eyes, pair by pair. “We must respond to his atrocity. On that we all agree, but the question still remains: Why? Why would the Yuchi high chief—like lightning from a blue sky—purposefully abuse Power in a manner that will surely turn many of his own people against him? This action will lead to the deaths of many of his people. Why?”

Even Smoke Shield seemed at a loss for words.

“This question must be answered.” Pale Cat stepped back to his place, eyes on Flying Hawk.

For a moment, no one spoke; then Smoke Shield stepped forward, stating, “There is no why. These are Yuchi dogs! They have no regard for Power and its ways! Think! How often in the past have they raided us for no apparent reason? How many times have they stolen our relatives, hung them in their squares or burned them as offerings to the sun and sent their screaming ghosts wailing into the darkness? How many of our daughters have they taken away, and corrupted with their evil seed? These people have no truth as we do. This latest atrocity is just another example of why we must finally, and forever, teach them to behave as Power has decreed for all men!”

Again the applause, but Pale Cat kept his face expressionless. Throughout the tirade, not once did Flying Hawk look up, or nod his approval. Instead, he seemed removed, oblivious, as though some more important consideration preoccupied his souls.

But what?

Then Blood Skull stepped forward and raised a knotted fist. “I, too, call for war.” He glanced at Smoke Shield, nodding slightly. “I have served the war chief as second on many raids. I will be happy to do so again, but I would have us ponder this: Before we go to war, we do need to know why. If this is truly the act of some rot-infested souls, we need to stamp it out, make an end of it. If, on the other hand, this is some tragic mistake, we must know that, too.”

Blood Skull glanced around, avoiding the glowering Smoke Shield’s eyes. “What if this is not what it seems? What if this Bullfrog Pipe acted alone? For the purposes of revenge? What if, in fact, it was his idea alone to perpetrate this foul deed?” Blood Skull spread his hands. “What if our reaction here tonight is to serve some schemer’s purpose, and the Yuchi chief, like us, is being lured into a bloody conflict that will blind us to some other person’s plans?”

Growls of discontent rose from among the spectators.

Blood Skull finished, saying, “If the Yuchi chief did this thing the way we are currently led to believe, we have no choice but to drive a fiery lance through his heart. I will drive that lance myself. But I want to do so knowing that it wasn’t just some lone demented Yuchi, driven by his own twisted Spirits, who plunged us into this.”

In the uproar that followed, Pale Cat saw the look Smoke Shield gave his second. It burned with undisguised loathing and hatred.

Flying Hawk, however, finally raised his eyes and focused his attention on Smoke Shield. A look of premonition and misery lay behind them.

Now that is most interesting.

Lightning flashed, its hot light lancing through the smoke hole in a strobe of blinding white. People started, smiled uncomfortably, and then the deafening crack of it shook the building around them.