The young men nodded, a growing murmur of voices in the crowd. Their tones rang with righteous anger. The young women looked to them, teeth flashing proudly in the firelight.
Only the older people glanced nervously back and forth, whispering hesitantly.
Crow Caller raised callused hands, palms out to still them. Face tight, he looked around. "This . . . this I would not have had happen." He turned, meeting Raven Hunter's eyes. "But something must be done."
"Not war with the Others," the old man in the crowd wailed. "What next? More raids? No, this is not the way!"
"Neither is death!" Raven Hunter lifted his chin, calling out powerfully as he extended a finger, "There lies the Big Ice, just to the east of us. More ice chokes the high mountains. No game in the ice, Grandfather—only starvation. And we know that to the south lie hills, piled rocks, dry land, and finally more ice! Think of what we've let the Others take from us! The bounty of the salt water—the game of the grassy plains. Only by driving the Others back can we find a way to live in peace."
Singing Wolf walked out from the line of the dancers. "Runs In Light said there was a way through the Big Ice to a land bursting with game and—"
"And you're here," Raven Hunter pointed out smugly. "So much for the Wolf Dream."
Singing Wolf shook his head, sighing. "I. . .1 don't know. We didn't die." He turned, gaining courage. "You hear?.We didn't die!"
"And where is my brother?"
"He stayed with old Heron." Singing Wolf's mouth hardened in the silence.
"Stayed with a witch." Raven Hunter laughed derisively. "He's probably conjuring evil spirits to kill us all for shunning him and his false Dreams!"
Singing Wolf's brows lowered. "He's a good boy! He'd never—"
"Then why isn't he here telling us of the way through the ice?"
' 'I don't know,'' Singing Wolf murmured humbly.
"Our fate is in our own hands, the hands of young men with straight darts!"
"And the Others?" another old man demanded, gesturing. "You think they'll just let us kill them? You think they won't kill us back?"
Raven Hunter shook his head. "Jumping Hare? How many of us died yesterday?"
Jumping Hare shifted, clearly bothered. "None."
"How many darts were loosed at us?"
"None."
"Oh, someone may die," Raven Hunter continued. "I may die!" He paced slowly back and forth before his bloody dart. "But I won't die like a trapped caribou, to be clubbed to death at will. Have the People lost their honor?"
Strikes Lightning sidled up beside Raven Hunter, narrow face gleaming orange in the firelight. "If we just sit by and let the Others kill us, there'll be no one left to sing our souls to the Blessed Star People! Father Sun will force our souls to spiral downward in darkness."
"Eternal darkness, because we were cowards," Raven Hunter added ominously.
A ripple of assent stirred the People. The old people, and some of the mothers with children in tow, looked uneasily back and forth. The children watched, wide-eyed, the tots sucking thumbs while they held to the hands of their brothers and sisters.
At the fringes, Raven Hunter could see Dancing Fox, her beautiful face somber. Even in this moment of greatest peril, he smiled at her, seeing her lower her eyes. So, she'd returned. Later. . .
"That's the future, my People." Raven Hunter stroked the blood-encrusted dart. "We must save ourselves. For four days, I will fast. Then, on the fifth, I will go and drive more of the Others from our lands. I'll take any who will go with me." He surveyed the faces of the young men. "But if no one else has the courage, I'll go alone!"
He caught sight of Dancing Fox as she slipped carefully to the rear, winding quickly away.
He turned, following slowly into the darkness. Behind him a babble of voices erupted. Like a man gambling with caribou toe-bone dice, he'd made his best cast.
"It's not good, this." Green Water shook her head, ducking into the blackness of her tent. "Raven Hunter's done it this time."
"I just want to hunt," One Who Cries protested, ducking to follow her. "That's not so much to ask, eh?"
"And the Others? They're . . . Hey! There's a foot in my robes!"
"Afoot?"
"It's Dancing Fox," a soft voice whispered. "Please, I had to go somewhere.''
Green Water caught One Who Cries shifting uneasily. "Had to—"
"Raven Hunter," Dancing Fox whispered desperately. "He'll be looking for me. He'll want to ... to ..."
"I don't care what he wants," One Who Cries began. "You can't just crawl into my—"