Old White smiled wistfully.
“Let me guess,” Trader said. “Another old friend?”
“You’re quick for someone so young.”
“And, it seems to me, you’ve survived a lot of frightening women for a man of your age.”
“Must be my charm.”
“Or you’re just as Powerful a witch as they are.” Was that it? Was the Seeker a witch, too? Trader tightened his grip on his war club. He could well imagine what a witch might want with a wealth of copper.
“A witch?” The old man shook his head. “No, but I’ve been rightly called a sorcerer. I have some knowledge of magic and plants. I’ve learned sleight of hand, and how to make things like hides move and jump. I’m a fair Healer, but through medicines, not Spirit Power. Though, I have to tell you, with the help of the plants, I’ve sent my souls to the Spirit World. Scary place, that.”
Trader fought a shiver.
“How did she know of Split Sky City?” Trader nodded toward Two Petals.
Old White rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “She knows I’m headed there.” He glanced at Trader. “That, you, too, are from there is something entirely unexpected. She struck you square last night when she mentioned it.”
Trader looked down at his war club. “I killed a man there.”
“And you fled.”
Trader ground his jaws.
“Interesting,” Old White said absently.
“What? That I killed a man?” Trader said hotly.
“No. Only that coincidence has amazed me more often than not in my life.” His expression sharpened. “But this, I suppose, is more than coincidence.”
“Meaning?”
“That you are destined to go with us.”
“My path lies south. To the Natchez … perhaps to the gulf itself.”
“Where you will Trade your copper? For what?”
“I don’t know. Some favor from a chief.” He glanced at the copper. “For that, I can spend a delightful and lazy winter. Eat all I want of delicacies, have a warm and compliant companion in my bed every night, and fill my canoe with the best the south has to offer for my next trip north.”
“You could buy a town with that. More, a chieftainship. Do you plan to be a chief, and rule over several towns?”
Trader shot him a scowl. “What would I do with a chieftainship? Especially one full of strangers. And who’s to say any clan would sell such a thing?”
“For such wealth,” Old White mused, “believe me, they would.”
“So there I’d be. Stuck with all the inconsequential troubles of clan politics, petty jealousies, and all the interminable little squabbles that people insist on occupying their time with.”
“Not to mention your neighbors. You’d have to defend your boundaries, plan raids in retaliation for theirs. You would never be bored.”
Old White watched the expression on Trader’s face, reading his thoughts as clearly as if he’d spoken. “What?” the old man asked. “Doesn’t appeal?”
“I’ll stick with my original plan.” Trader had become aware that Two Petals had finally turned her penetrating stare from the dog to him.
Old White slapped his knees. “So, there it is. You’d squander a fortune that would have humbled a lord of Cahokia for a winter’s worth of pleasure, just to paddle back up the river with a pittance—extravagant though it might be—and do what? Fritter it away for a few skins here, a couple of medicine plants there, a couple of carved shells, some fancy fabrics?”
“It’s what I do.”
“And what if you capsize? Snags and sunken trees, floating rafts of tangled driftwood washed loose in the spring floods—all these things make a Trader’s life hazardous.” He lifted an eyebrow. “Not to mention the petty chieftains that have sprung up in the dead shadow of Cahokia. As it is, the Michigamea may take it all.”
“The Power of the Trade will protect me.”
“Will it?” Old White wondered. “Last night you were ready to kill us both. Great wealth, as you have discovered, tempts men to ignore the laws of Power.”
“Chiefs who disregard the rules of Trade get bypassed by other Traders.”
“Somehow, I fear those days are passing.” He nodded. “There will be more like Black Tooth.”
“I don’t have to pass through Cahokia.”
“No, but his kind are gaining prestige and authority. Not that Black Tooth will be a problem any longer.” Old White pointed a finger. “If you are determined to head south to the Natchez, my advice is that you buy a chieftainship.”
“I told you, I’m not interested in being a chief.”