People of the Wolf(152)

"Yes, Elder," the warrior muttered gratefully.

"I don't like dealing with the Enemy," Red Flint insisted. "Taking anything from them—even a life—makes me feel shamed!"

"Remember that we've hunted them, pushed them, driven them from the last of their lands over the years. Hmm? Put yourselves in their place. Would you have spared the lives of Smoke, Broken Shaft, and Black Claw?"

"But they're not human beings!" Red Flint cried. "They don't have the Great Mystery! They don't have the clans!' Their dead don't go to the Camp of Souls beneath the sea! They aren't like us! They're animals! Less than animals!"

Ice Fire paced slowly back and forth. He searched each of the faces in the silence following Red Flint's outburst. "Blueberry was one of your wives, Sheep's Tail. Was she an animal?"

The young warrior looked quickly around, seeing all eyes on him, and swallowed, lips moving. "Well, she wasn't a very good wife. I had to beat her all the time to keep her civil."

"But she did bear you a strong son." Ice Fire cocked his head, eyes throwing the challenge to Red Flint.

The Singer walked to stand directly in front of him, jaw clamped tightly. "I won't stand more of this Enemy diluting our ways!" he shouted finally. "I won't! We're losing ourselves!"

"Do you want the robe of Most Respected Elder?" He gently unslung the snow white fox hide from his shoulders, caressing it lovingly for a moment before handing it to his old friend. He waited, seeing unease replace anger on Red

Flint's face. "I'm waiting, Singer. If you want the robe, I'll surrender it willingly."

A hush draped over the spectators.

Red Flint's eyes dropped and he licked his lips. "Things have changed, is all," he added lamely, ignoring the fox hide before him.

"The whole world's changing," Ice Fire murmured understandingly, withdrawing the white cloak and swirling it around his shoulders again. "We're changing, too. Many things are different. That's why it's time for careful thought instead of brash action."

"And what are you going to do about the Enemy? How are you going to get the White Hide back?" Red Flint asked.

Ice Fire turned to Broken Shaft. "This woman, did she have a name?"

"Dancing Fox."

"Dancing Fox." He nodded, Raven Hunter's words fresh in his memory. "A very powerful woman," he added as if to himself.

"You know of this woman?" Red Flint asked skeptically, off balance from the recent confrontation.

"I know of her. She may be the key to getting the White Hide back.' *

"An Enemy woman?" Red Flint exploded scornfully. "A ... a woman!"

"She trapped us," Black Claw added soberly. "And she commanded the men in her war party. They listened and they obeyed."

"So she has some foolish young men whose rods she's sliding up and down, that doesn't—"

"One of the 'foolish young men' was Eagle Cries. Remember him? I do. I remember him leading raids through our camps not so long ago at Raven Hunter's side. He's no foolish young man." Broken Shaft waited for rebuttal. None came.

Ice Fire fingered his chin, brow furrowed.

"Then what do we do?" Walrus asked uncertainly, still hurting from the stigma of being the man who lost the White Hide. "All this talk isn't getting us closer to the White Hide:"

Ice Fire turned on his heel, keen eyes on Broken Shaft. "You can find this ambush place again?"

"Of course."

"I've been trying to forget it," Smoke growled.

Ice Fire smiled faintly, eyeing the man askance. "I want you to take the whole camp there."

"The whole camp?" Red Flint cried, shocked. "Are you crazy?"

"No, and I'm wagering Dancing Fox isn't either. When we march up the trail, we march with our women and children first."

Red Flint gasped. "You're out of your mind! They'll ambush—"

"Either trust me, Singer," Ice Fire whispered painfully, "or take my robe and outcast me from the clan."

Red Flint's jaw trembled as he met Ice Fire's hard eyes.





Chapter 61



Raven Hunter beat his way up the slope, hunger tormenting his belly. At the top of the ridge, he looked down, crestfallen to see the empty valley below. Not even the obscuring steam of Heron's geyser could hide the reality of an empty camp. From where he stood, he could see the rings where the shelters had been.

He puffed a heavy sigh and lowered the weight of the Hide from his shoulders. He looked out over the plain he'd crossed. From his pack, he took the last of the berries he'd found clinging to a snow-packed bush. One by one, he ate them, legs trembling.

Snow whipped out of the heavy sky, flakes drifting past, borne on Wind Woman's chilling breath. A thin brown line marked the Big River to the east. Where would . . . The hole in the ice. They'd left for the south, following his foolish brother.