People of the Wolf (19 page)

"Maybe one of the Monster Children came down and crawled in there, huh?"

Red Star laughed weakly, incredulous. "You know they never come out of the sky.''

"Don't they?"

- The girl shook her head. "No. That's why we don't have to be afraid of them. They're trapped in the rainbow lights, locked there for all time."

Broken Branch patted her frigid cheek, smiling. "You remember the old stories pretty good, don't you?"

"You told me I had to. 'Member?"

"Did I?"

"Uh-huh. When I was little. You told me you'd beat my butt if I forgot any of them."

"Good for me. It worked."

Red Star nuzzled her cheek against the old woman's furs, something else clearly on her mind. Broken Branch lifted a -mittened hand to trace the furrows in the young forehead.

"What are these? You trying to look like me?"

The girl glanced up timidly, eyes dark and brooding inside her gray fur hood. "Grandmother, what's death like?"

A tight band constricted around her heart. She spewed an exhale and hugged the child fiercely. She'd wondered that herself a time or two. "Oh, it's not so bad. Unless some old—"

"But what if a bear comes and swallows me while I'm still alive?"

Broken Branch took the stone knife from her belt, twisting it so the obsidian blade glinted menacingly in the dim light. "If a bear did that, I'd slice his gut wide open to get you back."

"But, what would it feel like ... if ... if the bear ran away and you couldn't find me?"

"Well," Broken Branch whispered, contemplating the cold blue shadows clinging to the irregular patches in the ceiling. "It feels like going to sleep. You know how you kind of drift off. One minute you're awake and the next you're not?"

Red Star nodded. "It doesn't hurt real bad?"

"No, child, not for long."

"Maybe it just lasts a minute?"

"Oh, less than that even. You'd hardly know."

Red Star heaved a small breath of relief, sucking her finger again as she rubbed the painted muskrat fur of her doll's face against her itching nose. "I was worried about it."

"I could tell."

"Salmon Tail said it hurt for a long time, that you screamed and screamed until the Soul Eaters came to get you."

"He's only seven," she growled. "What does he know?"

"Throws Bones was his uncle. He said he could hear him groaning for days after the bear got him."

"Bah! Throws Bones was such a pain he probably gave

old Grandfather White Bear indigestion and
that's
what Salmon Tail heard."

Red Star sighed patiently, as though she was thinking about it while she blinked at Broken Branch's hide-booted foot. "What happens afterward?"

"You mean after death?" The girl nodded. "Well, when you wake up, you're flying among the stars, soaring just like Eagle. You get to—"

" 'Cause I'm one of the Star People again?"

"Sure."

She cocked her tiny head seriously. ' 'Grandmother, do you believe Wolf really came to Runs In Light and gave him a Dream?"

"There's not a doubt in my whole body, girl. I've seen Dreamers—real Dreamers. ..." Her voice faded as her thoughts drifted to bittersweet days twenty-five years before. "Real Dreamers ..."

Up the slanted tunnel to the opening, a sibilant rustling of furs sounded, dogs barking. Red Star jumped, a short cry of joy erupting from her bluish lips.

"It's him!" she cried shrilly, scrambling up the tunnel. "Runs In Light! Runs In Light!"

Broken Branch closed her eyes, offering a soft prayer of thanks to Wolf before dropping her head to her mittens.

"Hello," she heard Red Star say, as if she didn't know the person she spoke to.

"You hungry, little one?" an unknown woman asked.

"Oh, yes, my stomach's been howling."

"Well, here. You eat some of these and you'll be fine."

"Thank you!" Red Star moaned gratefully and slid back down the tunnel with a long stuffed rope of intestine.

What is it about that voice that stirs . . .
With it came tremors of fear and regret, tears welling in Broken Branch's wrinkled old throat. She swallowed with difficulty.

"Broken Branch?" the woman's gravelly voice demanded. "You in there?"

"I'm in here," she answered in shock. "Who—"

"Well, come out before I come in to get you."

"Who are you?"

When no answer came, Broken Branch hesitantly threw off her robes and crawled on hands and knees up through the ice

opening. A haze of white blew around a hooded figure, stabbing at her eyes, forcing her to squeeze them closed = She pushed up to stand on weak tottering legs, trying to make out the ancient face in the caribou hood. The vast expanse of white encircling them seemed to swirl in Wind Woman's grasp.

"I'll be a cursed . . ."the woman grunted. "That pointed nose of yours used to be beautiful. Now it looks as sharp and ugly as somebody's dart point. Makes me feel better."

"Who are you?" she demanded roughly this time. "Do I know you?"

"You old bitch. Of course you do. How could you forget someone whose heart you broke?"

Broken Branch gasped a deep wheezing breath as recognition dawned, her hands fluttering wildly about the woman's shoulders. Touching her to make certain she was real. Getting control of herself, she put a hand to her trembling lips and stared with trepidation. "Blessed Star People . . .
it's you."

"Of course it's me," Heron snapped. "How many other people's hearts have you broke?" Then, squinting in thought, she added, " 'Course, I guess I wouldn't know. Maybe you've stacked up quite a few by now.''

Reaching out timidly, Broken Branch grabbed the hide strings of Heron's parka and clumsily pulled her forward before wrapping frail old arms around her and hugging her as though she were a vision that might disappear at any moment. "I thought you'd died long ago."

Heron raised her own arms, patting Broken Branch's back tenderly as she chided, "Couldn't let myself. I always figured I'd see you again."

Broken Branch shoved gently back to stare into the oval face of the Spirit Woman. Heron's graceful features were still finely etched, lips full and nose turned up. "You still want to kill me?"

Heron slowly filled her lungs and held the breath as she scowled for a long moment. "Not as bad as I used to."

"You just come to that conclusion because of my nose."

"Mostly. I still might curse your joints, though."

"You're too late. Somebody else already did. I can barely walk most of the winter.''

"That right?"

Broken Branch nodded, bowing her head as guilt swelled in her breast. "You know, I never meant to hurt you. It was just that I—"

"Oh ..." Heron shook her head sternly. "You did me a favor, really. I didn't have the courage to become a Dreamer by myself. Needed some deep wound to force me to let go of the People."

"I sure gave you that, didn't I?"

"You did."

"I never felt right about it after you left. There was always an empty place inside me."

"After, .sure. But it never occurred to you when it counted!"

Broken Branch's eyes narrowed, jaw clenching. "Of course not. I didn't like you."

"Well, you weren't exactly lovable. That sharp tongue of yours waggled all the blasted time. Why, I—"

"Grandmother?" Red Star's young voice interrupted, a sweet timid face peeking out the opening to the cave. "Come and eat before this is all gone."

"I'll be there in a minute, child," she called over her shoulder.

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."

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.

When they reached the edge of the steaming pool, Heron disappeared into a crack in the rocks and returned with a pile