People of the Weeping Eye(74)

How happy I would be to hear that he is hanging in a square in front of the White Arrow palace! If only the other mikkos didn’t object!

He crossed the last of the fields and entered the trees. Here the bank above the Black Warrior wasn’t as high as at Split Sky City. He followed the trail down where it cut through the brush and into the forest. Through the trees, vines, and deadfall, he could see glimpses of the river.

The smell of smoke led him the rest of the way down the gentle slope. On a flat just above the shore, a crackling fire had been built. There, Whippoorwill used a stick to prop burning wood over the bowls she was firing.

Paunch sat on a fallen log to one side. He wore a fabric cape, worn and frayed about the edges. His coarsely woven shirt hung from his bony frame. The man turned a fish trap in his hands. The thing looked like a long, pointed basket. He turned it slowly as he wove a pliant willow stem through the lattice.

“Greetings!” Amber Bead called. “I heard that you would be here.”

“Hello, Mikko,” Paunch greeted, but without the enthusiasm Amber Bead had expected.

Whippoorwill looked up from her fire. Two stacks of wood lay to one side. The first—mostly oak and hickory—were used to make a hot fire that burned down to a bed of coals. The second stack, consisting of poplar, burned cooler. A sack of corncobs lay beside Whippoorwill’s feet.

“Your pots are among the finest made by the people,” Amber Bead told the young woman as he stopped and peered at the vessels nestled in the white ash. “Got your corncobs, I see.”

“I’m just ready to drop them in.” She bent, picking one of the cobs from the sack. She pulled her hair back with one hand and deftly reached out with the other, neatly dropping the cob into one of the bowls. Then, using her stick, she teased some of the burning brands up into a tripod over the bowl. The corncob smoldered, blackened, and burst into flame.

“Quite a trick, that,” he murmured.

Whippoorwill stepped back from the heat, letting her long hair fall naturally. “Nothing burns as hot as corncobs,” she told him. “It will seal the interior of the pot, Mikko. I wouldn’t want you grinding grit between your teeth if you should end up with one.”

“I’ve never had grit between my teeth when eating from one of your pots.” Amber Bead had noticed that Paunch seemed unusually interested in his fish trap. “What word from you, old friend?”

“No word,” Paunch said wearily, laying the fish trap to the side and looking up. Something lay behind his eyes, a deep reluctance.

“Did you send the runner to the Chahta?”

Paunch sighed, looked out at the river. “I did.”

“Tell me you really didn’t.” Amber Bead closed his eyes, a hollow feeling growing in his heart. “You were supposed to wait for my word.”

“But Crabapple was ready to go. Time is of the essence.” Paunch cocked his head, seeing the dismay in Amber Bead’s expression. “But … is something wrong?”

“I fear so. Is there any way to recall him?”

“Of course not! He’s in the forest.” Paunch was looking at him as though appraising a lunatic. “Explain this to me.”

Amber Bead raised his hands unhappily. “I sent runners to the other mikkos telling them of our plan. Some sent runners back to me. For the most part I was given emphatic orders not to do this thing.”

“But, surely you explained the opportunities to them!”

“I did.” Amber Bead looked up from under raised brows. “The consensus was not to act at this time.”

“In Abba Mikko’s name, why not?” Paunch stared in disbelief, a hand going to his stomach as though easing a sudden pain.

“They say yes, there’s a chance that Smoke Shield’s raid will weaken the Chikosi. They understand that if we send a messenger, the Chahta will destroy the war party and capture the war medicine. On the other hand, the mikkos believe that will probably happen without intervention. If it does, we have achieved the same result. The Chikosi will be weakened.”

“Then why would they object to making sure?”

“Because the mikkos don’t want to take the chance that somehow, some way, the story will get back to the Council. The thought is that if the Chikosi find out, they will take out their wrath on us.”

“Gods!” Paunch stomped back and forth. “We outnumber them!”

“But we are not warriors. The mikkos know this.”

“We can learn! We have weapons. When the time comes—”

“The elders think it will.” Amber Bead tried to assume a reasonable expression. “But they think the time to act is after the Chikosi have been fighting their enemies.” He clasped his hands together. “This has to be done very carefully. Think this through.”