People of the Thunder (North America's Forgotten Past) (57 page)

He turned, meeting the chiefs’ eyes one by one. Finally he nodded to Flying Hawk. “Many of you don’t know me. I am Green Snake Mankiller, son of Clear Crow, who was daughter of Midnight Woman. I am of the Chief Clan of the Hickory Moiety. It has been more than ten winters now since I lost my temper and struck down my brother.”

He turned, pacing, talking to each of the chiefs in order. “I was in a rage, not even having finished my initiation into the Men’s House. I struck my brother down. Gave him that scar you see on the side of his face.” He paused. “And I hated myself for that. In shame, I left. For more than ten winters, I have traveled the rivers under the Power of Trade. All that time I lived with the terrible knowledge that I had killed my
brother. But when Power thought I had been punished enough, it called me to return. Now, I find him alive.”

“You should have stayed far away, coward,” Smoke Shield hissed.

Green Snake ignored it. “So, now I have returned.” He glanced at Smoke Shield. “But apparently not at the head of a Yuchi army. And, I assure you, I have not come back to step in and have myself declared high minko should my uncle pass.”

“Then why are you here?” Smoke Shield demanded.

“To make restitution. As I have said. And to balance Power.”

“You?” Smoke Shield cried in amazement. “You who couldn’t even kill a Yuchi prisoner?”

Green Snake’s eyes narrowed. “Why don’t you tell them the truth, Brother? Or do you want me to tell the Kala Hi’ki’s story? Do you want to explain how you came to the Men’s House that night? How you told me you had coupled with the woman I wished to marry? How you said that she had been lying with other men down by the river? Do you want to tell the chiefs all the things you did to drive me into such a rage that I gave you that scar?”

“If you are so brave, why didn’t
you
stay and tell them, then?”

The corner of Green Snake’s lip twitched. “Because the most terrible part of that night was that I had acted just like you, Rattle.”

Smoke Shield rocked on his toes. Flying Hawk recognized that stance: Smoke Shield struggled to keep himself from lunging at Green Snake.

“Now, I wonder,” Smoke Shield said, finding his control. “Who really did kill the White Arrow prisoners?”

“I thought you said it was the Albaamaha?” Green Snake countered. “That’s why you went after Red Awl.”

Smoke Shield threw his head back, and laughter rolled from his throat. “So, you’ve heard those lies, too?”

Green Snake turned. “High Minko, on behalf of Panther and Raccoon Clans, we ask that the woman known as Lotus Root be allowed to address this Council. She was witness to the actions of the war chief in that hut above Clay Bank Crossing. She escaped, carrying off the war chief’s bow and arrows. Later, the Albaamaha discovered a warrior named Fast Legs stalking her. She was witness when Sky Hand warriors—dressed as Chahta—murdered twenty-three Albaamaha men, women, and children.”

Flying Hawk gaped. “How do
you
know this?”

“She was hidden in the forest when the supposed Chahta chopped the bodies apart. She watched the war chief’s men bury the scalps beside the hut where they were holding Fast Legs. She is just outside. She possesses the war chief’s bow, the bag of scalps, and the bones of her murdered husband. Hear her story, High Minko.”

Grunts of assent came from Raccoon and Panther Clans.

“I will
not
!” Flying Hawk snapped.

Green Snake nodded. “If that is the high minko’s wish.” He looked around at the stunned chiefs, at Amber Bead in the back, who now, for the first time, smiled and nodded.

“That was Smoke Shield’s plan,” Green Snake said. “His way of covering both his crimes, and his—”

“Enough!”
Flying Hawk growled, stepping forward. “You are dismissed.”

Green Snake inclined his head. “As my high minko wishes. But it is too late. The truth is set free. Lotus Root waits outside, ready to show anyone the evidence. However, before I leave, I have restitution to make.” He turned.
“Hopaye?”

Fuming, desperately aware of how close he had just come to disaster, Flying Hawk couldn’t help but feel a rising curiosity as the
Hopaye
struggled forward, bearing a heavy fabric-wrapped pack. This, Green Snake helped him place before the fire.

All eyes were on the oblong shape.

“Uncle,” Green Snake said. “Power sent me here. I only begin to know the ways and means of it, but I offer this to my people in restitution for my actions the night I struck down my brother.”

He bent, lifting one side and slipping the fabric from a carved wooden box. When he stood clear, the thing lay bathed in the firelight. As if on cue, the shaft of sunlight caught the edge of the wood, shooting its rays across the Sky Hand design with its inlaid pearls, shell, and copper.

“What is that?” Smoke Shield asked sourly. He’d been watching Green Snake like a hunting cougar. Death lay behind his eyes, curled and prepared to spring. Flying Hawk chuckled to himself. No matter what, Green Snake was now a walking corpse.

“The Sky Hand war medicine,” Green Snake said. “The medicine High Minko Makes War carried when he was captured by the Yuchi. Power has seen fit to return it to our people.”

“And you would consider this restitution?” Flying Hawk asked. “Leave it. And be gone from this place by nightfall.”

“What?” Green Snake stared, disbelieving.

Flying Hawk looked around. “This should be clan business, but all may hear. You have been gone, Green Snake, fled because of cowardice. Perhaps it was fitting. You have just said that you meant to kill your brother. But for Power, he would have died. No, I think there was a reason you were made to leave us. As clan leader, I order you to leave our lands. Go back to your Yuchi friends. Work your poison elsewhere.”

“After bringing you the Sky Hand war medicine, you would order me away?” Green Snake asked.

“By my authority as clan elder, I order you banished, Nephew. If you do not go, warriors will take you to the borders. And this time make sure you never return.”

A sad smile hovered at the corners of Green Snake’s lips. “That is your final word?”

“As leader of the Chief Clan, it is.” He turned. “War Chief, escort this man to the canoe landing.”

“You will
not
touch him!” a vibrant voice called.

Old White stepped forward, fixing Smoke Shield with hard eyes. “You are an abomination.” He turned his attention to Flying Hawk. “And you, High Minko, are a disappointment.”

“Beware, old man.” Smoke Shield smiled in anticipation as Old White stopped before him.

“Wipe that smirk off your face.” He glared at him.

Flying Hawk said, “You, whoever you are, have no right to speak here. War Chief, remove this irritation from my Council.”

Old White grinned as Smoke Shield stepped forward. “I wouldn’t do that, Grape. You are already Dancing on the thin edge of Power. There are grave consequences when you ignore your debt to the man who once saved your life. But then, you are already complicit in killing a man under protection of the white arrow. What would you care about a blood debt, when you agreed to the murder of innocent Albaamaha?”

Flying Hawk raised a hand, stopping Smoke Shield. “I don’t know you. And, trust me, I’d remember any man who saved my life.”

Old White turned, pacing out toward the black drink
and the Eagle Pipe. He looked back. “I will drink and smoke, as is my right.”

Smoke Shield started forward, only to have Green Snake step in his way. The two men locked gazes, violence literally crackling between them. Then Flying Hawk pulled his nephew back. The room was as quiet as a log tomb. Better to let this madness play out, then pick apart the lies.

Old White lifted the cup and took a deep swig of the bitter tea. Then he bent, pulling on the Eagle Pipe. He straightened, blowing smoke into the shaft of sunlight that now gleamed full on the medicine box.

“Breath Giver, I have heard your call. From the
Katsina
’s message, until now, I have followed the path you laid out for me. I will now tell the tale I have had locked in my souls for fifty hard summers and winters.”

He turned, facing the Council. “
Makatok!
It all began when Makes War, high minko of the Sky Hand, went north to war with the Yuchi. I was but a little boy when he marched out at the head of a line of warriors.” He pointed. “That war medicine was carried on his back. Days passed, but no word of the war party was heard. And then several of our bloody and wounded warriors returned telling of a terrible Yuchi ambush. Our high minko, and the war medicine, were lost.”

He shot a glance at Flying Hawk. “Midnight Woman blamed herself for the disaster. You see, she had teased her husband, goaded him to war with the Yuchi when there was nothing to be gained from it. When news came that he had died hanging in a Yuchi square . . . something changed inside her. She became different, as if her souls had withdrawn and hidden deep inside her. Not even her young son could coax a smile from her.

“As one of the leaders of the Chief Clan, it was mandatory that she remarry. In seeking a husband to replace
the man she loved, she chose Bear Tooth. Not because she loved him, but because he was a cunning warrior. And in those next few years, Bear Tooth made a new war medicine. His raids drove the Yuchi back from the central Tenasee Valley. By him, Midnight Woman had two sons, twins. Grape here, and Acorn.”

“We know all this,” Flying Hawk complained.

“And you know about the night of the fire, too, don’t you?” Old White turned. “Do you remember how Bear Tooth used to fly into fits of rage?”

“Of course. He terrified us. Why Mother ever put up with it is beyond my understanding.”

“She did it because every time he beat her, she was punishing herself for her role in Makes War’s death. Don’t you understand? She
loved
that man, and blamed herself for his death.”

“Death is part of war.”

“Oh, to be sure.” Old White nodded. “But love has a Power all its own. Midnight Woman accepted Bear Tooth’s abuse because she believed deep down in her souls that she deserved it.”

“This is an old, old story. Who are you?”

“I am Old White, the man they call the Seeker. I have traveled from one end of our world to the other. Some say I’m a legend.” He could see a sharpening of interest among the chiefs. “But that distracts me from my story. The night of the great fire, a terrible wind was blowing—one even more fierce than the one that savaged this city at equinox. But in the palace, a greater storm was brewing. That night, Bear Tooth was enraged. Midnight Woman had told him that even she had finally had enough. She was moving her belongings to her sister’s. That would be Rose Bloom, wife of Tishu Minko Fighting Hawk, of the Raccoon Clan.”

He grinned at Flying Hawk’s growing skepticism. “Bear Tooth couldn’t stand the thought of it. The humiliation was too much for him. He’d known from the beginning
that she was in love with a dead man—that every time he lay with her, she made love to Makes War’s ghost. That night the full wrath of his anger broke free.”

Old White looked down at the medicine box. “He beat her something fierce. Then he ripped the clothes from her body and took her on the matting. He slapped her, struck her, and finally choked the very air out of her lungs. That’s when Hickory stepped into the room. He could no longer stand seeing his mother treated that way.” He glanced at Flying Hawk. “Just after that he went to send you and Acorn away.”

“How do you know all this?” Flying Hawk asked. “Did you piece this all together from bits and pieces? Is this something you learned among the Traders?”

Smoke Shield pointed with a finger. “I’ve heard enough. The high minko has
ordered
you and this coward to leave Sky Hand country.”

“He can’t,” Old White said reasonably. “He has no authority over me.”

“You are sadly mistaken, Seeker,” Flying Hawk declared, a slow anger brewing behind the twitching muscles in his face. “If—of course—you’re really the man of legend.”

“Oh, I am indeed.” Old White paused, staring into Flying Hawk’s eyes. “But before that, I was known as Hickory, son of Midnight Woman of the Chief Clan. I was the one who went to your room that night, Grape. Don’t you remember when I pulled back the hanging and told you to run to Kosi Fighting Hawk’s?”

“Hickory is dead!” Flying Hawk gritted in a strangled voice.

“Did you find his body?” Old White asked calmly.

“There were bones everywhere! War trophies. Who could tell whose bones were whose?”

“You have no proof of any of this!” Smoke Shield bellowed as he paced belligerently back and forth.

Old White shook his head. “Such a sorry state of
affairs you’ve led our people to.” His hand slipped into the heavy fabric sack hanging at his side. “You don’t even honor the return of your Ancestors’ war medicine. For that alone Power will condemn you.” From the sack, he withdrew a beautifully polished stone war club. It was a ceremonial piece, carved from solid rock; the handle was engraved with winged serpents; the Seeing Hand had been rendered on both sides of the monolith’s blade. “Wasn’t this missing from the burned wreckage, Grape?”