The Broken Land(58)
She grabbed her oar and violently stabbed it into the water.
Sky Messenger’s brow furrowed. “Don’t chop at the water. Dip and pull. It’s a smooth motion. Has no one ever taught you how to use an oar?”
She shouted back at him, “Leave me alone! I’m rowing the best I can!”
The canoe plunged into a series of rough waves, and Sky Messenger instantly slid back to the middle of the canoe. To keep from being overturned, he was rowing as though he were the only occupant of the canoe.
If that’s the way he wanted it, that was fine with her! Taya threw her oar onto the packs and folded her arms, glaring at his broad back. If it weren’t for him and his foul Dream, she wouldn’t be here.
When the river swept them downstream and she lost sight of the villages, a new emotion rose. It was like a hungry wolf chewing on her bones. She had no idea what dangers lay ahead. Every nerve in her body cried out for her to jump overboard and swim for home.
Grandmother will just drag me to another canoe and order some warrior to return me to Sky Messenger.
The angry sobs started deep down in her chest. She kept the sounds locked behind her gritted teeth and watched the trees pass.
Twenty-four
The scent of hickory dinner fires was strong, carried on the cold breeze that eddied through Yellowtail Village. Snow had been falling all day, but now, as dusk approached, it had slowed to a few flakes. The three longhouses inside the triple palisade appeared to be coated with pearl dust.
Koracoo gripped CorpseEye in her right fist and strode past the Turtle Clan longhouse toward the inner palisade gate. War Chief Deru strode beside her, his red cape flaring with each long step. When anyone came forward, as though to stop and speak with them, Deru’s crushed face went hard, and they backed away, understanding that this was not a time for casual conversation.
“Who else knows he’s here?” Koracoo asked softly.
“Just my son and I. He was very smart. He waited until he saw Heswe leave the village and walk down to the river. He approached Heswe while he was filling pots with water. My son brought me the message that Hiyawento wished to meet with you in private outside the village.”
“Good. Tutelo is with Matron Jigonsaseh. Please have her meet me in the chestnut grove. Don’t tell her why. As soon as I know his mission, I’ll call for you. Is that agreeable?”
“Ordinarily I would insist that guards accompany you, Speaker, but I’ll make an exception in your case. I warred with you long enough to know that if it comes to a fight, Hiyawento is in far more trouble than you are. However, I will be watching you from the catwalk with my bow nocked.”
“That is acceptable, but just you, Deru. I don’t want the word getting round.”
“Understood.”
As she approached, the guards shoved open the inner gate. There were gates at each of the three palisades. As she walked through the first, the locking planks clunked into position behind her—standard procedure these dangerous days, when leaving anything to chance might get your family killed. She marched through the second gate, and finally, at the third palisade, the men checked the trails outside before opening the gate, then slammed it closed behind her.
As she turned left and hurried down the narrow trail that ran along the palisade, Wind Mother flipped her short, graying-black hair around her face. She followed the trail out to the chestnut grove. The giant trees, almost leafless now, sheltered a small boulder-filled meadow. As she neared the meadow, she saw a tall man seated upon a rock with a white painted arrow. He kept fidgeting with the arrow. He’d grown up. He was a tall, broad-shouldered man now, but his eagle-like face was mostly the same.
She slowed to a walk, and just before she entered the clearing, she called, “I don’t know how you managed to get this close to Yellowtail Village without our scouts seeing you. I’ll have to speak with War Chief Deru about that.”
A smile warmed Hiyawento’s lean face. He’d tied his shoulder-length black hair back with a cord, and the style made his beaked nose seem longer. As he rose, his buckskin cape, painted with gray images of running wolves, fell into soft folds around him. He placed the arrow on the rock and lifted his empty hands, showing her he had no weapons. “It’s Speaker Koracoo now, isn’t it?”
“It is.” Koracoo walked directly to him and spread her feet two paces away.
He smiled. “It’s so good to see you.”
“You were very foolish to come here, but it gladdens my heart to see you, as well. Is everything all right in Coldspring Village?”
He lowered his hands and propped them on his hips. His brow lined. “As well as it can be, given the insane world we live in.”