People of the Wolf(143)

"Why?" Raven Hunter croaked.

"Time to talk." Ice Fire moved to squat to one side. "I wanted to find out who you are. Why you do what you do." He cocked his head. "Heron told me you were born in blood."

"Heron." Raven Hunter closed his eyes. "The Dreamer." He sighed and shook his head. "I suppose Runs In Light let you know I was coming."

"Your brother?"

Raven Hunter nodded miserably.

"No."

"Then—"

"Why did you come? Just to kill me?"

Raven Hunter moved his tongue. "They'd have laughed. Joked about me. I ... I had to show them. Let them see that Raven Hunter could die as he'd lived. Unbowed, a leader worthy of their respect."

"Doesn't look like it will be that way." Ice Fire casually twisted one of his long gray braids. "But then, why did you drive the People to fight us? What did you gain from that?"

Raven Hunter smiled grimly. "I made them warriors. Until Runs In Light stole them with his tricks, I was the man who led them. I led the People! You hear? And I would have remade them, strong, powerful. Then we would have come and faced you, and pushed you back. That's what I offered them. I gave them my strength, my visions."

Ice Fire nodded seriously. "Power."

"Of course," Raven Hunter rasped. "What else is there? Respect? Another word for Power. Wives? A powerful man has as many wives as he needs—and his children have more than any others. Power is life! It's control of that which is about you. And I saw! Understand? Unlike my weak broth-

er's foolish Dreams of holes in the ice, I saw the People saved! Saved!"

"Why cut up our warriors when you caught them?"

Raven Hunter twisted against the bonds, lips tightly pressed. "Because I wanted your heart and soul to fear us. Fear me! That's why I came here. I came to kill you, their greatest Dreamer. Then, even in death, they'd fear me! I'd have them!"

Ice Fire leaned back, brow furrowed. "You know what the coming four days will be like? Do I have to tell you?"

Raven Hunter filled his lungs, battling for sanity as his imagination pulled up details of the tortures of his captives. "I ... I could probably teach your people a thing or two about pain. Yes, I know what they will do."

Ice Fire nodded soberly. "All things considered, I guess you do." He paused. "But suppose there were another way?"

Raven Hunter stiffened, a frantic leaping of hope in his chest.

Ice Fire resettled himself. "What would it be worth to you if I gave you the 'heart and soul' of the Mammoth People?" -

Raven Hunter narrowed his eyes, sensing a trap. "I . . .It doesn't make . . . Why? Why would you do such a thing?"

Ice Fire smiled. "You're cunning. You don't leap at the chance."

Raven Hunter chewed his lip as he considered. How long until morning? "You'd let me kill you?"

Ice Fire spread his hands wide. "I'm not the heart and soul of the Mammoth People. I'm only the healer for the White Tusk Clan. No, the heart and soul is the White Hide. A mammoth calf who came to us and gave us Power. Each year one clan or another earns the honor of holding the Hide. Without it, the Mammoth People would be less than nothing. Forsaken by the Great Mystery."

Raven Hunter shook his head slowly. "No, this is a trap. Some way to make me foolish, or to dishonor me. You wouldn't do this to your people."

Ice Fire studied him from slitted lids, chin propped on steepled fingers. "Wouldn't I? What if by the Mammoth People losing the Power of the White Hide . . . my Power became more? Hmm? What if I could fill that gap?"

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Raven Hunter smiled as it came clear. "And of course, you'd get no blame." Raven Hunter nodded.

"And your visions?" Ice Fire lifted an eyebrow. "If you returned among your people bearing the White Hide, wouldn't it make you a man of status again? Wouldn't the young warriors look up to you? This Wolf Dreamer would be discredited. What's a Dream compared to deeds? What's a Dream compared to a warrior who has escaped the Others—with their sacred Hide?"

"And you gain what?"

"I become the most powerful man among the Mammoth People. All I need is for you to take the White Hide beyond the Big Ice. No, don't look at me that way. I know Wolf Dreamer found a way. But do you think my people would pass through such a hole?" He shook his head, a grim smile on his lips. "Like our Singer said, we're not ground squirrels. No, I want the White Hide gone. I don't want any party of warriors stealing it back again, returning triumphantly with it over their shoulders. That would be ... well, a definite embarrassment."

"You've got this all thought out?"