"Am I? I don't think so."
"I don't like killing either," he muttered. "But we have to have a way of gaining honor or we'll lose the Hide again. And these Enemy and their disgusting ways are the best..." He stopped, shielding his eyes against the sun as he scrutinized the distant hills.
A muffled war cry rose on the breeze. The warriors in camp leapt to their feet, grabbing up their darts.
"I don't believe it," Red Flint murmured. "Look!"
Ice Fire turned, seeing the man trotting toward the camp. Even over the distance, he couldn't mistake the long parka of the Enemy. Shouts raised all around the camp.
The man continued to run as warriors boiled out of shelters, knocking darts.
"Careful!" Ice Fire called, quickly getting to his feet. "Keep watch! This could be a diversion, something to take our attention away from the rear.''
Young men sprinted for the surrounding hilltops, heeding his orders.
No more than two dart throws away, the Enemy stopped, shucking off his parka, dropping his pack. Naked, he picked .. up his weapons and walked forward.
"Wait!" Ice Fire commanded as his young men raised their weapons, grinning as they moved to meet him, a blood glow in their eyes. At his words, they stopped, milling, uncertain at what the Most Respected Elder could want when prey presented itself so easily.
Ice Fire walked forward, snatches of the visions floating in his mind. An angry young man. Defiant. His heart began , to pound.
"Respected Elder?" Walrus asked as he passed the foremost of the warriors. "No farther, he can hit you from there."
Ice Fire shook his head, absently aware of the looks they cast his way. His eyes remained locked with the Enemy warrior's. So close, yet so far away. As if they stared at each other through time as well as space. A tunnel darkened around him, hazy and fluttering. Ice Fire walked forward in a dream. His heart beat strongly, blood coursing in his veins as he went to stand before the young man, aware of his warriors closing around them, nervous, anxious for his safety—held back by respect for his Power.
The Enemy stood tall, straight, well muscled. The features of his face were finely formed, the chin strong, nose long and broad. High cheekbones cast shadows to either side of his firm lips. The forehead rose smoothly over emotionally charged black eyes. Like a bent willow, he stood, poised, chest rising and falling, belly tight, balanced for conflict. Not once did his eyes flicker from Ice Fire's.
"Who are you?" Ice Fire asked, standing no more than a body length from the Enemy.
"Raven Hunter," the man panted. "I've come to kill you."
Ice Fire flinched. "Why?"
Raven Hunter lifted his chin, the rolling tones of his voice clear in the still air. ' 'I have come to take the heart and soul of the Others. By doing so, I'll destroy you—and save my people."
A stir came from the hawk-eyed warriors circling them.
Ice Fire nodded. "Wolf Dreamer has driven you out."
This time the Enemy flinched, jaw muscles leaping like mice on coals.
Ice Fire filled his lungs and blew it out. Turning, he raised his hands. "There will be no death here today." He looked harshly back at Raven Hunter. "Come to my shelter. We must talk, you and I."
' 'Why? What have you to say to me? I am here to kill you and die! My visions have betrayed me! My people have betrayed me. What's left?"
"I am," Ice Fire murmured.
"Then die!" Raven Hunter's hand whipped back, the dart nocked in his intricately carved atlatl.
With uncommon agility for his age, Ice Fire moved, leaping to grasp the stone tip of the dart as Raven Hunter threw his weight into the throw. Ice Fire's arm knotted, muscles cording and bulging. They stood for a second, face-to-face, struggling. Some wildness roiled in the warrior's eyes, terrified and angry. The wooden shaft bowed and split with a splintering crack.
As quickly, Walrus closed from behind, wiry arms clamping around Raven Hunter's chest. Other warriors rushed in, driving him to the ground, pummeling him with fists and elbows.
"I want him alive," Ice Fire ordered, gripping the dart meant for his heart in one knotted fist, a faint tracing of blood sliding down the meaty part of his palm where the keen edge had cut.
"Why?" Raven Hunter demanded, straining against his captors.
Ice Fire's eyes narrowed as an ache built in his chest. "I owe it to your brother.''
Chapter 56
The mammoth-hide lodge stretched thirty feet long and twenty wide; a fire burned dimly in the center, crackling in the heavy silence. People crowded in, anxious to see what would happen to the crazy captive.
Yellow Leaf, a bent old woman with long gray braids, edged forward, eyes squinted. "I say we cut him apart just like he did our sons!'' she cried, working her toothless mouth as she glared around the gathering. "Send his foul soul out to wander forever with my grandson's. That's justice! That's honor, to pay back in kind!"