People of the Wolf(25)

She struggled as he undid the lacings of her parka and jerked it open, exposing her body to the light. His pained look deepened when he saw the bruises left by Crow Caller. "I told you I'd never hurt you," he whispered. His knee forced her legs apart.

She gritted her teeth, turning her head away, eyes clamped , shut, waiting for the hurt. But he did something new. Unlike Crow Caller, he slid in, filling her easily. There was no pain.





Chapter 8



Wan gray afternoon light splashed the drifts, shadows stretching like long fingers to stroke the pinched faces of the People. Smoke curled from the mouth of a snow shelter. Someone had scavenged moss or dwarf birch from the drain-

ages. The split bones of a winter-killed buffalo littered the ice, mixing with the scattered feathers of a hapless crow. Children hugged the white walls, bouncing as they curiously watched the two people approach. Crow Caller stood with his chin high, black eye flaring.

"Raven Hunter," Dancing Fox pleaded softly. "Don't do this. You know what he'll—"

"I already told you. I have to."

Crow Caller strode arrogantly out to meet them, withered face stretched tight in anticipation. He cocked his head at the rawhide straps that bound her hands. "What is this?" he asked unsteadily.

"I found her fleeing to Runs In Light," Raven Hunter said somberly as he shoved Dancing Fox to her husband's feet.

"I . . . I wasn't," she denied, gasping deep breaths, her fear so strong she felt like vomiting. People crowded around, eyes wide and worried. She searched their faces, silently begging help. Gray Rock started to reach out to her, but pulled back. She didn't dare.

The old shaman's jaw quivered in rage. He stabbed a gnarled finger at Fox, shouting, ' 'You would shame your clan by abandoning me?"

"No, no, I got lost. The storm ..." Why do I lie? Why don't I just face him? Let him do his worst. Shame him worse than he shames me?

Raven Hunter's face blanched, his expression that of a man forced into an unbearable situation. "Hardly. I found her running back over the path the People had just walked."

She grimaced, memories of the nights they'd shared filling her mind. "I was lost! I didn't know where I was! I couldn't—"

"She was on your own tracks, Crow Caller," Raven Hunter said, "following them back to Mammoth Camp."

"Liar!" Defiantly, she met his eyes, seeing the ironic sympathy there. He looked away.

"She can't help it," he added in a low voice. "She must protest. She has nothing left. But I ... I ask you, Crow Caller. Take her back. She's not a bad woman, just confused and foolish—"

"I won't go back!" she cried. "I hate him!"

The People gasped, staring in fear at Crow Caller. The old

man's good eye blazed while the white one branded her with unseeing malice. The shaman flexed and unflexed his fists, then violently kicked her in the side where she lay. A small wretched cry of agony rose in her throat. Getting to her knees, she retched over and over, her empty stomach writhing in frenzied cramps.

She looked up at Raven Hunter, pleading soundlessly with him. And if she accused him of rape? No, it had gone too far. Who'd believe her? She bent her head.

"She tried to escape to my worthless brother," he said softly, as though it distressed him greatly to discuss it. "I brought her back to her rightful place beside her husband."

"Get up!" Crow Caller ordered, grabbing her chin and twisting her neck to stare into her tear-filled eyes. She tried to stumble to her feet, but weakness overcame her and she fell back to the ice.

"From this moment forward," her husband raged into the howling of Wind Woman, "I condemn this woman's spirit to spiral downward away from the Blessed Star People. When she dies, her body will be buried. Her soul will remain locked in the ground forever with the roots and mold and rot. She has shamed our clan!"

Fox saw old friends shake their heads and walk toward the shelters. Some of the young women stood awkwardly a moment, staring at her before they, too, shunned her. Only Gray Rock remained, hunched old and frail beneath her furs.

"Crow Caller," the old woman said timidly. "Don't hurt her. She's just young—"

"Get away from here!" he screamed, slashing the air with his arm. "Do you want me to curse your legs so they lose their strength and you can't keep up with the clan?"

Gray Rock cringed. "No, but you—"

"Then go!"

She cast a glance of regret and sorrow at Fox before turning to hobble away toward the shelter.

Crow Caller knelt, horny fingers gouging into her arm as

he probed her eyes threateningly. "People will laugh behind