People of the Wolf (56 page)

"The people tire of war?"

"Yes, but they don't understand that we have to—"

"What are they saying?"

Red Flint thundered, " 'Let the Enemy go!' they cry. 'We've killed enough to atone for the deaths of our own. Isn't that enough?' " He balled a fist. "Enough?
Enough?
Where's our honor? Already too many of our young girls carry their rotted seed!"

"Is this a personal battle? Have you stopped caring what the people want?"

Red Flint's lips twitched as he looked away, making a throwing-away motion with his arm. "Moon Water has told me over and over how the Enemy treated her. I want them wiped out. All of them. Pay them back for the mutilations of our young men. When the last of them is killed and buried, then I say we go back and live by the salt water.''

Ice Fire lifted a shoulder, idly watching an eagle dive and

I

soar on the wind currents, a black dot swirling in endless blue.

"I walk around the camp and hear our children talking about the Blessed Star People. I like that. I hear them talk about the Monster Children. I like that story, too. Perhaps we shouldn't be warring with each other? We were one people once."

"Impossible! Relatives to an Enemy who cut my cousin's body apart when they captured him!
Cut him apart!
His soul's out there, wandering, crying for justice—and you'd befriend these Enemy? I say kill them for the vile corruption they are. Men, women, children! Brain them all. Erase every last trace of their seed from the earth."

"So, you will destroy your daughter's child when it comes?"

Red Flint jerked around, scowling. "Of course not! What sort of question is that?"

"The seed is this Jumping Hare's. Your daughter's child was planted on the other side of the ice by an Enemy. But then, you'll have to kill Wasp over there. Look at him." He pointed to the handsome boy who frolicked with a group, practicing throwing their darts at a mound of soil. Childish laughter lilted on the cool breeze.

"What are you—"

"He thinks he's going to be a warrior. Down Chest and Ten Feathers fawn over him. He was the child they couldn't have, remember? Black Claw picked him out of an Enemy camp years ago. Stole him away in the middle of the night. He's full-blooded Enemy. You'll break their hearts when you kill him."

"You're twisting my words," Red Flint grumbled, looking away.

"Am I? I don't think so."

"I don't like killing either," he muttered. "But we have to have a way of gaining honor or we'll lose the Hide again. And these Enemy and their disgusting ways are the best..." He stopped, shielding his eyes against the sun as he scrutinized the distant hills.

A muffled war cry rose on the breeze. The warriors in camp leapt to their feet, grabbing up their darts.

"I don't believe it," Red Flint murmured. "Look!"

Ice Fire turned, seeing the man trotting toward the camp. Even over the distance, he couldn't mistake the long parka of the Enemy. Shouts raised all around the camp.

The man continued to run as warriors boiled out of shelters, knocking darts.

"Careful!" Ice Fire called, quickly getting to his feet. "Keep watch! This could be a diversion, something to take our attention away from the rear.''

Young men sprinted for the surrounding hilltops, heeding his orders.

No more than two dart throws away, the Enemy stopped, shucking off his parka, dropping his pack. Naked, he picked .. up his weapons and walked forward.

"Wait!" Ice Fire commanded as his young men raised their weapons, grinning as they moved to meet him, a blood glow in their eyes. At his words, they stopped, milling, uncertain at what the Most Respected Elder could want when prey presented itself so easily.

Ice Fire walked forward, snatches of the visions floating in his mind.
An angry young man. Defiant.
His heart began , to pound.

"Respected Elder?" Walrus asked as he passed the foremost of the warriors. "No farther, he can hit you from there."

Ice Fire shook his head, absently aware of the looks they cast his way. His eyes remained locked with the Enemy warrior's. So close, yet so far away. As if they stared at each other through time as well as space. A tunnel darkened around him, hazy and fluttering. Ice Fire walked forward in a dream. His heart beat strongly, blood coursing in his veins as he went to stand before the young man, aware of his warriors closing around them, nervous, anxious for his safety—held back by respect for his Power.

The Enemy stood tall, straight, well muscled. The features of his face were finely formed, the chin strong, nose long and broad. High cheekbones cast shadows to either side of his firm lips. The forehead rose smoothly over emotionally charged black eyes. Like a bent willow, he stood, poised, chest rising and falling, belly tight, balanced for conflict. Not once did his eyes flicker from Ice Fire's.

"Who are you?" Ice Fire asked, standing no more than a body length from the Enemy.

"Raven Hunter," the man panted. "I've come to kill you."

Ice Fire flinched. "Why?"

Raven Hunter lifted his chin, the rolling tones of his voice clear in the still air. ' 'I have come to take the heart and soul of the Others. By doing so, I'll destroy you—and save my people."

A stir came from the hawk-eyed warriors circling them.

Ice Fire nodded. "Wolf Dreamer has driven you out."

This time the Enemy flinched, jaw muscles leaping like mice on coals.

Ice Fire filled his lungs and blew it out. Turning, he raised his hands. "There will be no death here today." He looked harshly back at Raven Hunter. "Come to my shelter. We must talk, you and I."

' 'Why? What have you to say to me? I am here to kill you and die! My visions have betrayed me! My people have betrayed me. What's left?"

"I am," Ice Fire murmured.

"Then die!" Raven Hunter's hand whipped back, the dart nocked in his intricately carved atlatl.

With uncommon agility for his age, Ice Fire moved, leaping to grasp the stone tip of the dart as Raven Hunter threw his weight into the throw. Ice Fire's arm knotted, muscles cording and bulging. They stood for a second, face-to-face, struggling. Some wildness roiled in the warrior's eyes, terrified and angry. The wooden shaft bowed and split with a splintering crack.

As quickly, Walrus closed from behind, wiry arms clamping around Raven Hunter's chest. Other warriors rushed in, driving him to the ground, pummeling him with fists and elbows.

"I want him alive," Ice Fire ordered, gripping the dart meant for his heart in one knotted fist, a faint tracing of blood sliding down the meaty part of his palm where the keen edge had cut.

"Why?" Raven Hunter demanded, straining against his captors.

Ice Fire's eyes narrowed as an ache built in his chest. "I owe it to your brother.''

The mammoth-hide lodge stretched thirty feet long and twenty wide; a fire burned dimly in the center, crackling in the heavy silence. People crowded in, anxious to see what would happen to the crazy captive.

Yellow Leaf, a bent old woman with long gray braids, edged forward, eyes squinted. "I say we cut him apart just like he did our sons!'' she cried, working her toothless mouth as she glared around the gathering. "Send his foul soul out to wander forever with my grandson's. That's justice! That's honor, to pay back in kind!"

Grunts of endorsement carne from around the packed shelter, hard mouths set, jutted chins nodding approval.

Ice Fire bowed his head, clutching his arms tightly across his breast. Red Flint wanted a campaign of extermination. The angry warriors were with him, ready to crush the last of the Enemy before they could escape through the hole. The rest of the White Tusk Clan felt satisfied. They'd run the Enemy out of the good country. Now they wanted to enjoy their spoils before the Buffalo Clan moved into those grounds.

"You do know who this is, don't you?" Moon Water's voice cut through the throng as she elbowed her way forward. "This man is their war leader, Raven Hunter. He's the one who's led the raids against us. He's the one who told them to crush our infants and torture old women. He led them—made them do it. You want revenge? Here's the one to get it from."

She sought out the greatest warriors, chin high, challenging, her swollen belly reminding them of what the Enemy did to captives. "When you kill him, kill him slowly. Then, according to his beliefs, bury him in the ground."

Raven Hunter heaved against the thongs binding him, muscles straining under sweat-smooth skin. "No! Don't bury me! Don't leave my soul in the—"

Walrus kicked him in the side, doubling him over, leaving him grunting and shaking as his stomach heaved from nausea.

Ice Fire studied him.

hatred between our peoples? Has he rent us so far asunder I can never repair the rip ?

Walrus stared down near the Enemy. After thinking for a moment, he said, "I heard that my nephew, Young Bird, screamed for three days while they piled coals on his body. I heard this Raven Hunter cooked his legs off his body. Cooked Young Bird's manhood and then made him eat it. I think we'll make this Raven Hunter die very slowly, very painfully. I, for one, will urinate into his empty eye sockets. Then we will bury him. Perhaps while a little spark of life remains in his body so we know we capture his soul underground."

Raven Hunter's jaws worked, black eyes sparkling with a soul-deep fear. Terror-sweat had begun to bead on his naked body.

Horror gripped Ice Fire's heart.
My fault . , . that you're here at all.
Tears stung his eyes. He blinked them back quickly, exhaling. "Tomorrow. As the sun rises, we'll begin. We'll torture him for four days. A holy number, four." He looked around. "In the meantime, go to your shelters. Rest well this night, for once we start, there will be little sleeping with this Enemy's screams in the night."

"Even the ghosts of the dead will cower in fear," Yellow Leaf hissed as she spat on Raven Hunter. The Enemy warrior twitched as if he'd been stung.

Walrus looked up. "I'll stay to watch him. It wouldn't do for him to get loose."

Ice Fire nodded, motioning the others to go on about their business. Raven Hunter stared up at him, hate glistening in his black eyes.

"So," Ice Fire whispered as he knelt down. "You'll see what it's like for your victims." He frowned, cocking his head. "Tell me, what do you feel?"

Raven Hunter's thinly pressed lips betrayed his fear. He said nothing, looking away.

Ice Fire nodded solemnly. "It's hard to believe such cruelty could come from me. ..."

He saw the glint of comprehension in Raven Hunter's panicked face. Shock and disbelief flickered in the pools of his eyes.

"You know," Ice Fire whispered. "Did your brother, Wolf Dreamer, tell you? Perhaps the witch, Heron?"

Raven Hunter's eyes narrowed to slits.

Ice Fire watched him for a moment, pensive as he fingered his chin. He turned away and nodded to Walrus, clapping him on the back. "Nice capture out there. I suppose you'll be wrestling white bears next?"

Walrus chuckled, fingering his darts.

"It'll be a long night. I'll make us something to drink." Ice Fire bent over the fire, pulling herbs from his pack and mixing them in a horn spoon.

From the corner of his eye, he studied his son, knowing what had to be done, contemplating the terrible danger involved.

"Stop! Who are you?" Dancing Fox demanded, darts held loosely in her hand.

She faced them on the narrow rocky trail, twilight falling as the lavender night grew out of the east. Three young men of the People, weapons clutched, crouched warily until they recognized her.

She stepped toward the tallest man, Red Moon. "You're going to raid the Others, aren't you?"

He clamped his jaw, saying nothing.

"You know the Dreamer ordered that no one raid them again. You defy him?"

Red Moon lifted a shoulder. "What business is it of yours, woman?" He lifted his chin, an angry glint in his steely eyes.

"If you raid, you'll split the People. Do you want to—"

"Perhaps I'd leave you with a little something on the way, eh?" He suggestively caressed his crotch.

The two youths who followed laughed out loud, eyes gleaming in anticipation.

Dancing Fox lifted a brow. "More of Raven Hunter's teachings?''

Red Moon took a step closer, leering. "He told us all about you. The way you—"