“I was thinking of the future,” Morning Dew replied happily. Like water running downhill, her eyes were drawn to the Men’s House, barely visible beyond the palace mound. She could also see the plaza. There, before the stair-clad ramp that led to the mound top, several wooden squares had been erected side by side. Within each hung one of the miserable bodies of the rulers of Alligator Town. They might have been dead the way their heads lolled over their chests. They had been tied with wrists and ankles bound to the four corners of the square. Though none of the captives moved, she knew they still clung to life. Several townsfolk stood, inspecting them and talking.
Behind them, in the plaza, the tall pole representing the World Tree with its red and white spirals seemed to shine in the sunlight.
“Ah,” Sweet Smoke added, following her gaze. “Screaming Falcon. He still has four days left.”
“Why does purification take so long?”
“Because war is pollution.”
Morning Dew was used to her mother’s sharp tone.
“You still don’t think the attack on Alligator Town was right?”
Sweet Smoke gave a wistful shrug. “That was the decision of the Council. Your brother is high minko now. He and the rest of the men were persuaded by Screaming Falcon’s plan.” A pause. “Who knows? Perhaps they are right. Perhaps Power has abandoned the Sky Hand People.”
Morning Dew turned her attention to the captives. A band of little boys had charged into view; laughing and calling, each carried a stick. As if in a game, they ran past the captives, slashing at them with their flails. Their attack elicited a response as the captives writhed under the blows. The adults who had been watching joined in the laughter.
“Do you see, Mother? That’s what’s become of the Chikosi rulers. One day, Smoke Shield will hang there, and I will take just as much pleasure whipping his defeated body.”
Her mother kept her own counsel, but returned her attention to her daughter. “How is the hominy coming?”
“The kernels are swelling and cracking. I added some water.”
“Good.” She stepped closer. “And what about you? Are you getting ready for the big day?”
Morning Dew laughed. “Of course. This morning I studied the route I will run. I think I’ll take a path from the Sun Stairs around the House of the Dead, then head straight for the palisade. If I run between the big storehouses, he won’t know if I’m turning right or left when I reach the palisade. He can’t cut the corner and catch me. He’ll have no choice but to follow.”
“Screaming Falcon is fast on his feet. We’ll give you enough of a head start so that he won’t be close by the time you reach the storehouses.” Sweet Smoke smiled wryly. “As much as you might want to be caught, you’ve got to make it look good. His friends will be following. They’ll tell him which way you’ve turned.”
“And my friends will be ready,” she countered. “I’m going to tell them to look to the right once I’m hidden by the storehouses. It might be enough of a hint that he cuts to the right of the storehouses.”
“And you’ll turn to the left.”
Morning Dew laughed. “Pretty smart, don’t you think?”
The bridal chase had a long history, going back to the beginning times, just after the Chahta had emerged from their ancestral earth: a great mountain far to the west. For generations, they had traveled the world, each night making camp and erecting the World Tree pole that they carried with them. The next morning, they would awaken to find the pole leaning in the direction they were to travel that day. Finally, one day they had camped in the Horned Serpent Valley, and when the Ancestors awakened that next morning, the pole had been straight, indicating that here, at last, they had reached their home.
The bridal chase had started, it was said, when a young woman wished to know if the handsome man she wanted to marry was lazy, or if he would be ambitious, hardworking, and a dedicated hunter. To find out, she had waited until the moment before they were married, and broken away, leading him on a merry chase. Since that day, it had become custom; if a young woman could outrun her man, the marriage was off. It was also said that the longer and harder the chase, the greater their love and commitment would be to each other after a successful capture had been made. Morning Dew planned to make Screaming Falcon’s chase the thing of legends.
“People have already begun to arrive. Two camps were set up last night outside of town. Rumor has it that some are coming from as far away as the Natchez lands to the west.” She sighed. “News of Screaming Falcon’s victory over Alligator Town has traveled like the wind. As much as people wish to see this union , they are just as interested in Screaming Falcon, and what his plans are for the future.”