People of the Wolf(45)

Wind Woman playfully tousled the ties on her parka, setting them to flapping across her chest. She chanced another look at Heron. A slow smile crept over her former enemy's face, a twinkle in her eyes.

"Come on," the Dreamer said gruffly. "I got just the thing for your joints."

"What? You gonna do a spirit healing? For me?"

Heron shook her head. "No, I got something much more powerful."

' 'What could be more ..."

Heron went into a fit of hysterics as Broken Branch's eyes jerked wide and her jaw gaped. "You're not gonna cut them off, are you?"

"I might," Heron said with a slight smile. Turning, she waved for Broken Branch to follow as she strode across the white windswept plain toward Runs In Light. People were crawling out of the ice cave to gather in weary joy around him. They were hugging him, and gratefully shouting that they'd never doubted him.

Broken Branch pursed her lips and lowered her eyes to stare at the wispy tendrils of snow creeping around her legs like ghostly fingers.

"Curse you," she whispered to herself, squinting at Heron's back. "You're the only Dreamer I ever believed had Power." Hearing the odd words, she quickly amended, "You and Runs In Light."

Over the whistling wind, she heard Heron's voice shouting: "Yeah, I found her. That old bitch never could leave well enough alone."

A faint chuckle escaped Broken Branch's withered throat. She inhaled a deep soothing breath, the first in days, and let her gaze drift over the joyful faces emerging from the snow caves. Around them, the icy plains gleamed with a pearlescent sheen. Drifting clouds seemed to glow brighter, their edges gilded with shimmering gold.

"Grandmother?" Red Star called. "I saved you some. But you'd better eat it fast before my stomach growls again."

She turned to see the girl weakly handing out a loop of stuffed intestine. Broken Branch knelt and took the blessed food. "Thank you, baby. You're a good girl."

Red Star cocked her head against the brilliant sun, squinting up. "Grandmother? Does this mean Light's Dream was real?"

"Of course, it does. Didn't I tell you he was coming back?"

"So, no bears are going to eat us? We're going to be all right now?"

Broken Branch took a bite of the delicately flavored meat and gazed back at Heron. The old Spirit Woman was waving her arms expressively, bullying everybody to get them organized. Her muffled words seemed to blend with Wind Woman's, becoming one plaintive and powerful voice in the wilderness.

"We're saved, baby," Broken Branch said. A few tears had frozen on her lower lashes, glimmering like crystals. She wiped them away with the back of her sleeve. "Our souls are in the hands of a master Dreamer now—the most powerful Dreamer our People have had since Father Sun himself walked the earth." She turned and patted Red Star's gaunt cheek. "Yes, don't you worry, baby. We're saved."





Chapter 17



The People rested and ate and rested through another stretch of darkness, reviving. When the storm finally abated, Heron led them off in the new snow, webbed snowshoes crunching while she followed Black, who drove his nose deep into the powder, sniffing for the trail.

By sunset, Green Water stood at the top of the ridge, staring in awe at Heron's shelter; it was a marvel. For a brief moment, Wind Woman stilled her constant howl to provide a glimpse of the little valley. White water bubbled from the ground through a rent in the rocks, cascading down to a deep aquamarine pool. Beyond, the water ran open and foggy as far as the eye could see. Tall stands of willow lay buried deep under the snow; nearby, depressions lined by living grass could be seen. Below them, the snow had melted away.

"How long have you been here?" she called timidly to the Spirit Woman.

"Awhile," Heron shouted from the front of the procession. "Now, to me, it looks like the ground broke here and all this hot water come up. A couple of years back . . . let's see. Well, maybe twenty or so, the ground shook. Scared me to death. Till then, that hot spring just dribbled. Afterward, it started shooting water up way high. Like something broke loose down there in the rock. Scares me what might happen if the ground breaks again. Don't get near that geyser. It'll cook you. I mean it. I boil meat in that."

Green Water shook her head. There'd been stories. Old Geyser—dead now—had talked of such things. Had he been here? Slowly, trying to take it all in, Green Water followed them down toward the smoking waters. Unsure, she remembered the stories told around the fires. Stories of how Heron had left the People. Stories of how she bartered with the spirits of the Long Dark. Hesitantly, she looked over her shoulder, staring out into the white wastes. Well, perhaps there were worse fates.