People of the Weeping Eye(133)
Gods, the old man has lost his souls to madness! Don’t anger them more!
The warrior continued to hesitate. Trader’s heart skipped as he glanced sidelong at the ring of warriors. What couldn’t have been more than a couple of breaths’ duration seemed like half of his life.
The warrior turned, barked an order, and a young man spun on his heel, leaving at a high run. “Very well, you will get your wish. The Kala Hi’ki will decide what to do with you.” A hard smile curled the man’s lips. “But if you are wrong about this, you might end up longing for a quick death here in the forest, rather than what awaits foreign witches in our captivity.”
“You are a wise man,” Old White said with relief.
One of the warriors off to Trader’s left gasped, pointing at the medicine box. The war leader glanced, squinted, and paled. He spoke in Yuchi, and the rest of the warriors replied in awe.
“Where did you get that?” he asked.
“In Trade from the Kaskinampo.”
The war leader’s eyes narrowed. “We know that medicine. Once it was ours, and then stolen. Now it seems to have come back to us.”
Trader felt his gut sink. The copper, the box—all of it was gone. He considered his bow where it lay just out of reach. “The box is mine,” he said through gritted teeth.
“All in time, Trader,” Old White remarked sternly. “Let this wise war leader take us to his Prophet. If the man is as Powerful as they believe, he will understand the reason why we have to take it south.”
“Oh, I am a very wise war chief,” the burly warrior assured him. “We will watch as you load your possessions into your canoes. You will wear only your clothing, with no pouches, bundles, or fetishes with which to curse us. At the first sign of witchcraft, we will kill you and throw your bodies into the river. There, your pollution will wash down to bedevil the Kaskinampo.”
Old White turned to Two Petals. “Do you understand what he is saying? You must be very careful. Your life, and ours, will depend upon it.”
Two Petals’ voice carried a deadly calm. “Power Dances—but ever so carefully—to see what will happen.”
“Move,” the war chief ordered. “And please, make a mistake. I am already regretting this decision to carry you and your pollution any farther into our lands.”
“Well,” Old White mused, “that wasn’t so bad.”
He watched the Yuchi archers watching him. He could have given a halfhearted toss of a pebble and landed it in their canoe. The war chief had taken no chances, having them load their packs into the rear of the canoe, leaving only enough room for Trader, Two Petals, and himself in the front of Trader’s birch-bark vessel. Ahead of them, at the end of a rope, the Yuchi warriors bent their backs to the paddles, heading south along the backwaters.
“My copper,” Trader sighed as he stared listlessly at the gray forest passing slowly past. “I have searched all my life for a piece like that. Then I find the medicine box, and lose them both.” He paused. “I didn’t even put up a fight.”
“Breathing has something to be said for it.” Old White glanced at the canoe full of warriors paralleling them. “Like the joy of being able to continue doing it.”
“We’re moving so slowly,” Two Petals added where she perched on a pack.
“They don’t even trust Swimmer,” Trader noted, reaching back to scratch his dog’s ears.
“I wouldn’t refer to him as Demon Dog,” Old White said dryly.
“There’s a reason I called him Swimmer.”
“And to think I considered you slow-witted.”
“Well, if it were up to my wits, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
“I didn’t notice you coming up with anything back there.”
Trader gave him a scowl.
Old White turned to Two Petals. “I would know about this blind man.”
“He appeared in the Dream,” she said absently. “He only wore Power. Shimmering and shining. He looked up through his blindness and saw me. He watched me all the way upriver.”
“A blind man watched you?” Trader mused. “Let’s see, in Contrary talk, that means a man with sight didn’t see you, correct?”
Two Petals glanced at him. “You know everything.”
Trader sighed, his gaze fastening on his canoe where his precious copper rode.
Old White allowed his own attention to focus there. What was Power’s purpose to give them the medicine box, only to take it away again? None of it made sense.
“Two Petals, describe this blind man.”
She looked down at her hands. “He lives in the light; it shines in his eyes. He has come through fire and water, his flesh alive. I could feel his gaze from a great distance.”