The Broken Land(31)

“He did it out of concern—”

“Concern? Don’t be ridiculous. He has never cared for this nation. Has he ever added to your clan? No. By all rights, he should be forced to bring home twice as many captives as a warrior with children. Your son doesn’t even know what that hard shaft between his legs is for!”

Grandmother’s contemptuous voice shocked like a hammerstone to the skull. If the blood in Taya’s veins stung, she could only imagine how Sky Messenger must be feeling.

“He realizes his failure in that regard and with your permission is willing to …”

Koracoo, Speaker for the Women of Yellowtail Village, murmured something else, but Taya couldn’t hear it at all. She picked up her pace. She needed to get closer, to hear better. When in council, Koracoo always spoke in soft tones, which made it hard to hear her if a person stood more than a few hands distant.

Taya stopped just outside Grandmother Kittle’s compartment, glanced through the tiny slit between the bark slabs that made up the wall, and surveyed the chamber. Grandmother must have ordered the area around her chamber cleared, because Taya couldn’t see any of her Deer Clan relatives standing close by. Speaker Koracoo sat across the fire from Grandmother, while Sky Messenger stood in the rear. He was tall, and his shoulder-length black hair was longer than was proper for a warrior, given the constant state of mourning in Bur Oak and Yellowtail villages. He’d clenched his teeth so hard his jaw was off center. He clearly did not wish to be here.

Carefully, Taya pressed her ear to the wall. The damp elm had a sweet tangy scent.

Grandmother said, “Your son is guilty of treason. I don’t care what story he invented to cover his cowardice. How dare you even suggest a marriage between Sky Messenger and Taya? It’s ludicrous. I would never consent to such a thing!”

Taya’s heart thumped so loudly it drowned out the voices in the longhouse. She’d been a woman for four moons. She’d had many suitors, all of them very high status, as befitted the granddaughter of the high matron, but no one, including grandmother, had yet suggested a mate to her. Sky Messenger was much older than Taya, twenty-three summers. Not only that, since he’d been back a flurry of activity had ensued—council meetings, arguments, violent clashes in the plaza, more council meetings. He was an Outcast! Taya’s thoughts raced, trying to figure out what she might have done to so offend Grandmother that she would consider marrying her to a traitor?

Speaker Koracoo responded, “Sky Messenger is not a coward. He freed the captives and left the war party because the Spirits of the dead demanded it of him. After the captives were free, his Spirit Helper came to him and led him out into the wilderness, where he was tested and afflicted with Spirit Dreams. Dreams of our future, Kittle. And believe me, his visions were not pleasant, his sojourn not easy. There is a great darkness coming. We must heed his visions, or we will all be destro—”

“Your son, a Dreamer? Ha! But then, Odion was never a normal boy.”

Taya quickly ducked to look through the slit. The sight of Grandmother’s beautiful oval face, her dark eyes glittering savagely, made her go cold inside. Many summers ago, before the birth of Taya’s mother, Grandmother Kittle was renowned as the most beautiful woman in the entire Standing Stone nation. Though she had now seen forty-four summers pass, men still cast admiring glances at her, and she brought many of these men to her bed. Grandmother’s indiscretions were wonderfully legendary.

Sky Messenger said something she couldn’t hear. His tone of voice, however, was insolent.

Grandmother laughed. “Finally, the deputy war chief shows his face again. I must say, I like this much better than the holy man charade.”

“I never claimed to be a holy—”

“Enough!” Koracoo sharply turned to Sky Messenger and ordered, “You will not use that tone with the high matron of our nation. Do you understand?”

Sky Messenger didn’t reply for a time; then his head dipped in a nod.

Speaker Koracoo continued, “Besides, there is no fault here. Any man who refuses to answer his Spirit Helper’s call endangers not only himself, but his people.”

“Well, you have the right to your sad opinion, Koracoo. He is, after all, of your clan and your village. But it is extremely unlikely that he will ever regain the respect of this village.” Grandmother paused for effect before she added, “It would take a miracle. He would have to distinguish himself in war as no other man has ever done in the entire history of our people! Then, and only then, would he be worthy of siring children for the Deer Clan. Though I’m not certain your son even knows how to accomplish that.”