Read It Sleeps in Me Online

Authors: Kathleen O'Neal Gear

It Sleeps in Me (4 page)

BOOK: It Sleeps in Me
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“Don’t be hasty, my wife,” Rockfish said. “We should at least consider this proposal.”
“I will discuss this with Matron Wink, of course,” she answered, “but I think it’s too risky. Blue Bow is asking us first to ally with him; then he wishes us to send our warriors south to ally with another people, to fight against a foe whose numbers and strength we do not know, to gain access to a quarry that may not even exist.”
Her delicate black brows plunged down over her pointed nose.
She handed the box back to Grown Bear. “If it was solely my decision I would refuse to send our young men and women into such a situation. However, I would tell Chief Blue Bow that if he obtained the stone, we would be happy to pay him well for it.”
“But, Chieftess, we cannot obtain it alone! We are a small clan. We need help.” Grown Bear held the box to his heart, as though afraid to set it down for fear it would suddenly disappear.
Sora studied his half-panicked expression. “What do the other Loon chiefs think of this? Have they agreed to send warriors to fight this unknown people?”
Grown Bear swallowed hard. “They will not help, Chieftess. Like you, they are timid.”
Rockfish lunged to his feet with fire in his eyes, ready to lash out at the insult. Sora gripped his arm and silently ordered him to sit back down, which he did, but reluctantly.
In a deadly quiet voice, Rockfish ordered, “Do not ever insult our chieftess again—not if you wish to make it home alive.”
Grown Bear lifted both hands, as though in surrender. “I meant no disrespect. It’s just that this is such a rare opportunity! If we do not act now, the Scarlet Macaw People will find other allies, and we will be cut out of the Trade. We have to—”
“If the Scarlet Macaw People had other allies,” Sora asked, “do you think they would have approached you, an utter stranger?”
That seemed to stop him. For several moments, he blinked and stared at her like a duck hit in the head with a rock. “We spent seven days with them, Chieftess. We became great friends. That’s why they decided to include us—”
“Yes, I’m sure,” she said coldly. “I give you my oath that if the Scarlet Macaw warriors survive the battle with the people who control the quarry, we’ll discuss this again.”
“But their chances of success are much greater with us than without us, wouldn’t you agree?”
Sora gracefully rose to her feet. Grown Bear’s eyes followed her; he resembled a man awaiting execution. “As I said, I will
speak with Matron Wink about this, but you should not get your hopes up.”
Grown Bear blurted “Thank you!” and fell to his knees to kiss her sandals, a gesture of deepest respect. “Blessed be the name of the Black Falcon People. You will not regret this. I—”
“I just said we would discuss it, Grown Bear. That’s all. Will you wait for our matron’s answer? Or shall we send a runner to Chief Blue Bow when we’ve decided?”
“I will wait, Chieftess. How long do you think the discussions will take?”
“I will speak with Matron Wink tomorrow morning. You should have your answer by tomorrow night.”
He looked up at her with shining eyes and handed her the box again. “I will wait, Chieftess, but please, you must take this back. Chief Blue Bow said it was yours regardless of your decision.”
She gestured to Rockfish. “Deliver it to Matron Wink, and tell her I would like to speak with her about it in the morning.”
Rockfish took it and clutched it against his chest like he could barely stand the thought of letting it out of his sight. “Of course, my wife.”
“Also, make certain that War Chief Grown Bear has a comfortable chamber to sleep in,” Sora added.
“I’ll put him in one of the chambers we reserve for visiting chiefs.” Rockfish gestured to Grown Bear. “If you will follow me.”
Grown Bear rose, nodded to Sora, and followed Rockfish out of the council chamber.
When they were gone, Sora rubbed her arms. Despite the blazing fire, she felt icy inside and out. Cold pimples dotted her skin. She paced before the fire. The watery way alliances ebbed and flowed never ceased to astound her.
Voices rose in the hallway. Rockfish lifted the curtain, his elderly face pinched with concern.
“My wife, War Chief Skinner is here to see you. May I send him in? Or do you wish some time?”
Her stomach muscles clenched. She wanted this over with. “Send him in.”
Rockfish dropped the curtain, and Sora watched the leather sway in the firelight.
An eternity seemed to pass before Skinner ducked under the curtain. Tall and broad-shouldered, he had a strong, sun-bronzed face. A waist-length black braid draped his right shoulder. The style accented his high, arching cheekbones and straight nose, and made his deeply set black eyes look cavernous. Dressed in his knee-length buckskin shirt, he looked like a war god.
They stood in silence, staring at each other, and images of Flint flashed across her souls: she and Flint running through head-high palmettos, laughing; lying together in the cool spring grass, the air filled with the sweet voices of songbirds. Loving each other …
As she looked at Skinner, she realized for the first time that there truly would be no tomorrows. The sodden lump in her throat was the death of a precious dream.
Did I hurt you so much, Flint? Was it my fault?
“Sora,” he said in a deep voice. “I’m so sorry.”
She closed her eyes. Just hearing his voice made her hurt.
“Come and sit down with me, Skinner. I want to know everything.”
He crossed the floor, took her arm like the old friend he was, and slowly guided her to the bench.
After they’d seated themselves before the fire, he released her and bent forward to prop his forearms on his knees. In an intimate voice, he asked, “Are you well?”
“I was. Until I saw you this morning. I knew something was wrong or you wouldn’t have come.”
“Forgive me. I wanted to, a long time ago. Things were just difficult. You know as well as I that he would have seen it as a betrayal.”
“Yes. You were always more his friend than mine.”
He bowed his head, but made no effort to deny it. When they’d been boys, Skinner and Flint had been inseparable. Though Skinner was a winter older, Flint had been the stronger, more dominant
personality. Skinner had always reminded her of a wide-eyed puppy trailing behind a larger-than-life dog, trying very hard to keep up.
He said, “I needed to see you, Sora. You and I … we were the only people in the world he trusted. The only people who understood him.”
She wrapped her arms over her chest, hugging herself, and her white dress fell around her sandals in firelit folds. His eyes took in her every movement, as though comparing it to his memories.
She had tears in her voice when she said, “After Wink told me, I realized that for three winters I’ve been secretly hoping he’d come back to me, that someday he would realize he needed me as much as I needed him. Now …” Emotion welled in her throat, cutting off her next words.
Skinner took her hand. His fingers felt large and calloused. “And what would you have done? Divorced Rockfish and taken him back?”
“Probably,” she granted without hesitation. “Even though it would have ruined me and devastated my clan.”
He cocked his head in disbelief. “Your clan would have declared you Outcast, given all your belongings to Rockfish’s people, and replaced you as chieftess with …” He tilted his head thoughtfully. “Who would they choose to replace you?”
“Long Fin. Since I’ve yet to bear a child, Wink’s eldest son is next in line. He’s a little young, sixteen winters, but someday he’ll make a good chief.”
“So you would have given up everything to have Flint back in your life? Even knowing his jealousies, his wild passions?”
She sighed. “He was the one great love of my life. Which certainly proves I’m a fool.”
“No,” he said tenderly. “It proves you loved him. As I did.”
For a long time, the soot-colored shadows of the empty council chamber wavered about them in gray veils, silken and quiet but for the distant voices of people in the plaza. The mossy fragrance of the lake and the acrid odor of smoke clung to him. He sat so still that
one of his eyes caught the firelight and held it like a polished copper mirror. The only thing that moved was the steady rise and fall of his chest.
“I know a person never really gets over a love like the two of you had, but I was really praying you would find someone who drove his memory away, or even better, obliterated it.”
“Tell me what happened,” she pleaded. “Was he wounded in a raid? Did he die of a fever?”
His bushy black brows drew together, and he frowned down at her hand. “He wasn’t wounded; he hadn’t been ill in moons. I wish I knew what killed him. I don’t.”
She shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
He looked up, and his eyes were deep and dark, like bottomless wells. “A Trader brought news that our fishing grounds were being raided by the barbarian Lily People. We didn’t really believe it, but we went out to scout the perimeter of our territory. Just the two of us. I woke up in the middle of the night and discovered his blankets empty.”
He paused to massage his brow, as though his head throbbed. “I found him dying in the forest two hundred paces from camp. I carried him to Minnow Village as quickly as I could. It was the closest help.”
From the despair in his voice, it obviously hadn’t been quickly enough.
“Skinner, Wink told me you found him …” She couldn’t say the words.
“Yes.” He nodded. “I had to pry his fingers from his throat to hear what he was trying to tell me. It was about you, Sora. He wanted you desperately. I think you’re the only woman he ever truly wanted.”
An eerie sensation filtered through her. His voice sounded different, intimate in a way she did not want to think about. It was probably the stress of the situation, but she drew her hand away from him and laced her fingers in her lap.
He smiled his understanding, and for one stunning heartbeat, it
looked so much like Flint’s smile that she flushed. Even in the firelight, he saw the mottled red spread across her cheeks. His eyes flared with interest.
Defensively, she said, “I don’t know what’s taking Rockfish so long. Delivering a box to Wink and showing Grown Bear to his chamber should have taken a few hundred breaths. When he returns, I’ll have him show you to a chamber where you can rest.”
He boldly reached out and lifted her Birdman pendant from between her breasts. “I’m surprised you kept this. I thought you would have ritually buried it.”
Sora looked down. Against his large hand, the pendant appeared small and fragile. “Part of him lives in this pendant. I couldn’t let go of it.”
He released the pendant and clasped her hand again. When she tried to pull it back, his grip tightened until it was painful.
“Please, Skinner, let go.”
For several moments, he rubbed his thumbs over her skin as though drowning in the feel of her. “You know, don’t you?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Flint’s last words. You know what they were, don’t you?”
She stared at him with her mouth open and her heart racing. Fear uncoiled like a snake in her chest. “How c-could I?”
Just as he leaned toward her, to kiss her, Rockfish’s steps padded down the hall. Sora shoved away and called, “Rockfish!”
He hurried into the chamber. Obviously, her tone had alerted him. He stared at Skinner with hostile intent. “What is it?”
Breathing hard, Sora said, “Please show FI-Skinner to one of our guest chambers.”
The slip shocked her.
Dear gods, I almost called him Flint
. His death must have shaken her reflection-soul loose.
“Certainly.” Rockfish not-so-subtly held the door curtain aside.
Skinner smiled at her, rose to his feet, and walked across the floor. Before he ducked beneath the curtain, he turned, mouthed the words
“I still love you,
” and strode past Rockfish.
Her last glimpse of him was a swirl of buckskin shirt and a flash of red legging.
Rockfish asked, “Is everything all right?”
“Yes.” She waved a hand dismissively. More softly, she said, “We’ll discuss it later.”
He nodded and hurried to escort Skinner to the guest chambers.
As the sound of their steps receded, she realized she hadn’t taken a breath in a long time. Her lungs were starving. She sucked in air, and the world took on a strange shimmer, as though sparks floated all around her.
She walked out of the council chamber and across the hall to the temple. At the opposite end of the large chamber, the Eternal Fire burned. Behind it, three steps led up to a raised altar where an enormous wooden carving of Black Falcon hung on the wall. Though he stood upright, twice the height of a man, Black Falcon looked dead. He had his eyes closed, his head tilted to the right, his wings folded over his belly. In the Beginning Time, many birds had tried to fly to Mother Sun to get fire for human beings. Only Black Falcon had succeeded. He’d done it by flying into her heart. His feathers had burst into flame, and he’d tumbled through the sky like one of the Meteor People, rolling over and over until he hit the earth, where his flaming body started a great forest fire. When it ended, humans gathered up burning chunks of wood and used them to start new fires to heat their homes and cook their food. Sora’s ancestors had found Black Falcon’s charred body and brought it home to become part of the Eternal Fire, the fire that was never allowed to go out.
BOOK: It Sleeps in Me
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