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Authors: Kathleen O'Neal Gear

It Sleeps in Me (6 page)

BOOK: It Sleeps in Me
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Touches Clouds was an unruly boy of eight winters. He’d begun stealing about three moons ago, little things at first: a polished bead, a bit of copper, a wooden spoon. His family couldn’t prove he’d taken them, but they suspected the worst by the violent way he reacted when they questioned him about the missing items. His uncles had been counseling him for the past two moons, explaining their values, trying to convince the boy that his actions hurt the people who loved him most. Apparently their words had done no good. It was time to take more dramatic action.
Sora said, “Make the arrangements. Let me know when the Circle will be held.”
“Very well. I’ll speak to his uncle this afternoon.”
But for treason, the Black Falcon People did not punish wrongdoers as other nations did; they almost never killed a criminal. Instead, they gathered him in their arms and told him how much they loved him, all the while explaining how his actions hurt others.
As they neared the council chamber, Long Fin and Rockfish ducked beneath the front door curtain.
Rockfish gave her a concerned smile. He’d pulled his gray hair away from his wrinkled face and tied it in back with a cord. His plain brown shirt was cinched at the waist with a bright red sash.
Long Fin held the chamber door curtain aside for his mother, then Sora.
As she ducked in, Rockfish whispered, “Are you well? You were up early this morning?”
“I won’t be well until all these negotiations are over and done.” He squeezed her shoulder gently. “Tell me what I may do to help you.”
Four benches surrounded the fire hearth. Wink and Long Fin sat on the north bench, to Sora’s left. She and Rockfish sat on the west bench, their backs to the door. A tripod with a tea pot stood at the edge of the fire, near Wink. Cups rested on the hearthstones, keeping warm.
Long Fin said, “May I dip a cup of tea for anyone?”
“Yes, I’d like one.” Rockfish smiled his thanks.
As Long Fin went to the tripod and dipped the ceramic cup full, Rockfish asked, “Did you two have a chance to discuss the strange new stone?”
Wink and Sora blinked at each other. They’d been occupied discussing far more important things, like forbidden love and disembodied souls.
“Some,” Sora lied. “What do you think about it?”
Long Fin seated himself beside Wink and leaned forward to brace his elbows on his thighs. “I think we should do everything we can to obtain it.”
Taken aback, Sora said, “Why is that?”
Wink exchanged a strange, secret look with Rockfish, then said, “Rockfish told us last night how lucrative the stone could be. How can we say no?”
After a morning of trust and soft words, Sora felt suddenly betrayed. She glanced around the fire. Had Wink already made the decision to go after the stone?
She glared at her husband. He lowered his eyes, obviously shamed by his duplicity. Is that what had taken him such a long time last night? While she’d been speaking with Skinner, he’d had a discussion with Wink and Long Fin? What surprised her most was that she had not foreseen it. Of course he wanted the stone. His people would give their very lives to …
She went still inside, as though the eyes of her souls had just come upon a hidden snake. Was he thinking that? That if the Black Falcon People did not want to take the risks his own people might?
Dear gods, he didn’t tell Wink that, did he?
Wink said, “Sora, listen, I was up all night thinking about this. Rockfish suggested that his people might be willing to send two or three hundred warriors. With our two hundred, and Blue Bow’s two hundred, who could stand against us?”
Long Fin eagerly nodded. “We would all benefit enormously.”
Sora gave Wink a look of disbelief. “Who could stand against us? I’ll tell you who: An army with a thousand warriors. An army that knows the terrain better than we do. An army that, if endangered, has relatives in a dozen nearby villages who will appear at the fall of an arrow to support them.” Her voice had gradually been rising until now it was almost a shout. “If we do this at all, we should dispatch a very small war party to minimize our risk! What’s the matter with the three of you? We could be sending our warriors into a trap. Even more important, what makes you think Blue Bow will keep his word about sharing the stone?”
“Well … ,” Long Fin said with a casual smile. He was a handsome youth with large brown eyes and perfect white teeth. “If we
have five hundred warriors there, and he has two hundred, we can take what we want, can’t we?”
Sora looked at Wink’s stiff face, then at Rockfish. His wrinkles had rearranged into apologetic lines. Yes, Long Fin was obviously sixteen.
“Do you truly think Blue Bow hasn’t thought of that?”
Long Fin’s smile froze. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, he’s not a fool. He contemplated every twist and turn long before he dispatched his war chief. We are no friends to him. He must have planned for the possibility that we will betray him and take the stone for ourselves. Wink,” she pleaded, “we just went to great effort to keep peace with the Loon People. Do you now want to do something that will cause war? That’s what will happen if we do as your son suggests.”
“My Chieftess,” Long Fin defended, “I did not mean to suggest that we take the stone, only that if Blue Bow goes back on his agreement, we
could
take it.”
Rockfish slid around on the bench to face her. In his softest, most persuasive voice—the voice he used when negotiating Trade—he said, “How do you think we should protect ourselves? I may be able to pull more warriors from distant villages, but it will take time that I’m not sure we have. Should I try?”
“What do I think?” She blinked in surprise. “I don’t want to do this at all. It’s political suicide! Please, listen for a few moments.” She extended her hands to them. “Imagine what the other villages will think if we do not invite them to send warriors south. They will rightly feel slighted. On the other hand, if we do ask them, and they commit warriors who are then slaughtered in some faraway land, they will blame us. This stone may cause an irreparable rift between the Black Falcon clans. As well as war with the Loon People! And maybe war with a distant people we do not even know!”
Long Fin picked up the painted box and opened it. The huge jade brooch shimmered in the firelight. Longingly, he said, “With
this stone, we could become the preeminent chieftainship in the world. It seems hasty to me to dismiss this matter so quickly. Perhaps we should gather our elders and ask for their guidance?”
The lines at the corners of Wink’s eyes tightened, obviously torn between supporting her son and supporting Sora. “Rockfish? What is your opinion?”
He glanced at Sora, then grimaced at the floor. “I support whatever my wife decides.”
Wink said, “Sora? Shall I make the decision, or should we gather our elders to discuss this further?”
These were three of the most important people in the Black Falcon world. If they thought the stone was worth risking the lives of five hundred warriors, they could certainly convince the elders. Her words would be considered, of course, but in the end the elders would choose to join the war party.
Anger swelled her chest. Sora couldn’t help but think that if she’d talked to Wink and Long Fin before Rockfish had, this discussion would not be taking place. His disloyalty stung. It might cost the lives of hundreds or, if warfare erupted over the stone, thousands of men, women, and children.
“Sora,” Wink said, “all we’re saying is that we should seriously consider Blue Bow’s proposal.”
Curtly, she replied, “Since we disagree, we should gather the elders and ask their views.”
Wink relaxed and started to say something, but from down the hall a man called, “
Matron
?”
Wink gestured to Long Fin. As he rose, he said, “I’ll return shortly, forgive me.”
He left the chamber, spoke softly with the runner, and called, “Mother?”
Wink crossed the chamber with her yellow dress fluttering around her legs. When she ducked out into the hallway, she said, “What’s wrong?”
The voices outside went too low to hear.
Rockfish turned uneasily to Sora. “It just happened, Sora. I delivered the stone, and when Wink opened the box, she started asking me questions. What did I think about the stone? Was it worth as much as Blue Bow suggested? Could we gather the warriors to mount an attack on the quarry? I had to say something.”
“You were supposed to arrange a meeting to discuss it. Nothing more.”
As though angry, he bowed his head. “I try to serve you as best I can, but I always fail, don’t I?”
Irritated by this common litany, she snapped, “Not always, Rockfish. I just wish you had—”
“
Sora?
” Wink called and shoved the curtain aside to look in at her. “May I see you?”
The taut tone made Sora leap to her feet and hurry across the chamber. When she ducked out into the hallway, Wink ordered, “Long Fin, please continue your discussion with Rockfish.”
“Yes, Mother.”
Wink waited until her son had disappeared beneath the curtain and she heard him talking with Rockfish before she gave Sora a wide-eyed look. “The runner came for you.”
“What’s wrong?” Dread prickled her chest.
“The runner said a man paid him very well to bring you a message.”
“Yes? What is it?”
“The man said he has to talk to you. He’s waiting for you in the place where he always stowed his canoe.”
Meet me at my canoe. I’ll show you how much I love you
.
Sora’s stomach flip-flopped. She couldn’t find the air to speak.
Wink grabbed her arm, as though to hold her up. “That’s where you used to meet Flint, isn’t it?”
“Yes, I—I …”
“Let me go, Sora. I’ll find out what he wants and tell you.”
A potent brew of fear and curiosity shot through Sora’s veins. She shook her head. “No. I have to do this. If I’m not back for a while, can you make some excuse for me?”
Wink released her arm, but glared at her. “If you’re not back in one hand of time, I’ll come looking for you with a war party.”
SHE CROSSED THE BRIDGE THAT SPANNED RACCOON CREEK and walked out onto the lakeshore trail. The small houses of commoners dotted the way. At the very end of the lake stood an enormous burned-out tree. She resolutely marched toward it.
“I have to find out what he wants, why he’s doing this,” she whispered.
To her left, fish tails glinted as minnows fed in the shallows. People waded through the water with green cane spears tipped with the spikes taken from the tails of horseshoe crabs. Several people watched her pass, but she was obviously in a hurry and no one dared speak to her.
Sora tramped past the burned tree and turned right onto the deer path that led into the depths of the forest, where only pinpoints of sunlight speckled the mossy deadfall. The beautiful songs of warblers filled the giant oak trees.
She’d come to this place a hundred times after Flint left her to lie in the cool shadows where his canoe had always rested and to dream of him. What bitter days those had been, filled with despair and wrenching anger that had made her sick to her stomach.
A rattlesnake shook its tail at her as she thrashed through the palmettos that choked the path. Sora backed up, said, “Forgive me for disturbing you, Sister,” and took a new path.
Though snakes were thought to portend misfortune, no one among the Black Falcon Nation would knowingly harm them. Just after the Creation, Mother Sun had become angry with human beings and decided to destroy them. It was Rattlesnake who had saved humans by killing Mother Sun’s daughter and turning her anger to grief. She …
Wind swept the forest, and Sora saw Skinner just ahead, partially concealed behind a long swaying beard of hanging moss. He held a huge oak leaf in his hand, which he lazily twirled.
He called, “He asked me about you. Did he tell you?”
She stopped. “Who?”
“Your husband, when he was showing me to the guest chambers. He’s very curious about us.”
Inexplicable anger possessed her, as though Rockfish had said something that would hurt her. Ordinarily, it would never have occurred to her, but after the meeting with Wink and Long Fin over the jade brooch, she no longer knew what he might say or do.
“What did he ask?”
“He wanted to know if I’d
done
something to you in the council chamber.”
When she’d called out last night, her tone must have frightened Rockfish.
“What did you say?”
Skinner leaned a shoulder against the enormous trunk of an oak and looked at her. His deeply set black eyes glistened. He’d left his waist-length hair loose. It draped the front of his long buckskin shirt like a gleaming jet curtain. “I didn’t tell him any of your secrets, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“You don’t know any of my secrets.”
The silence stretched.
He started pulling the leaf apart, slowly, a vein at a time. The
green wisps fluttered to the ground at his feet. “Rockfish seems to think we were lovers.”
She ducked under a thick curtain of moss and tramped closer to him. “You told him no, of course.”
“I told him that not once in the entire time I’d known you had I betrayed your trust. I said that whatever had happened between you and me was ours alone.”
Which means that any lingering doubt Rockfish might have had about us being lovers vanished
.
Upset, she said, “You and I never touched each other, Skinner. Why did you say that?”
He gave her a strange look, penetrating, then tore off another piece of leaf, which spun to the ground like a wing seed. “Why don’t you just have your warriors escort me out of your village?”
“You are a visiting war chief. Why would I do that?”
“Because you’re afraid of me. You always were.” He gazed at her unblinking, like a big cat about to leap for her throat.
She stiffened. This was not at all the timid youth she remembered. “Why are you here, Skinner?”
He threw the leaf down and stepped toward her, his movements graceful for a man his size. “I came because I needed to tell you Flint’s last words.”
“Then tell me and go.”
His gaze traced the smooth line of her jaw, lingering on her pointed chin, then lifting to her full lips. “He still loves you.”
“What are you talking about? He died four days ago. You told me so yourself.”
“Yes, but you knew it wasn’t true.”
Stunned, she stammered, “Are—are you telling me he’s alive?”
“Let’s stop this foolish bantering. You recognized me the instant I stepped into your council chamber.”
Frightened by the strange glow in his eyes, she started to back away.
He grabbed her arm and jerked her against him. In a low, pained
voice, he murmured, “You said I didn’t know any of your secrets, but I do. All of them.”
As panic burned through her, she struggled to get away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He leaned down until their lips almost touched, and murmured, “I know you killed your father.”
She felt as though she’d been struck from behind. “Wh—what?”
Tenderly, he said, “Who else but me knows, Sora?”
Me
.
The ground seemed to fall out from under her feet. She was floating, weightless, only his hand tying her to the forest.
Skinner smoothed his fingers over her long hair. It was a lover’s touch, a preamble to lying down together.
“It wasn’t your fault,” he said softly. “Instead of hiding her Spirit Plants from you, your mother should have taught you about them from the time you could walk. You were just making supper for your father while your mother was in a council meeting. You thought it was another herb.”
He must have seen the utter terror on her face. He added, “I’ve never told anyone. Not even when I hated you the most. You must believe me. I love you too much to hurt you that way.”
He let go of her arm, and she stumbled backward like a wet cornhusk doll, her legs barely strong enough to hold her.
“Why did you come here?” she asked, too frightened to break eye contact with him.
He cocked his head in a way she’d seen a thousand times.
Friends pick up each other’s mannerisms. That’s all it is
. “I need you, Sora. More than I ever did when I was alive.”
“I’m tired of this! I’m going home!”
As she started to turn, he said, “Please stay. I beg you. I need to hold you, Sora, like I used to.” He held out his arms.
As though her most desperate hope had just slipped from the empty place between her souls, she started shaking. “You’re frightening me, Skinner. I’m leaving.”
She turned to walk away.
He called, “Do you remember the Moon of Swallows, on the red hill? I held you so tightly. My souls tore apart when you gave birth to our tiny son in the forest, but I never let go of you. Do you remember? I held you for four days, feeding you broth and tea, weeping with you. I need to hold you like that again. Please, please, come back.”
She spun around to stare at him.
His eyes had a bright watery sheen. “Who else knows that your pains began just after sunrise, during a rainstorm? Did you tell anyone that I sang lullabies to you through the whole terrible thing?”
One of her knees gave way. She stumbled.
I told Wink about losing the baby. Right after Flint set my belongings outside our door
.
Had she also told Wink about Flint singing her lullabies? Or the rainstorm?
For moons, she’d been so distraught she’d done and said things she didn’t even remember. Wink had had to remind her of promises she’d made to village chiefs or clan matrons, things she could not afford to forget. But she had forgotten.
In an agonized voice, Skinner said, “I’ve never stopped loving you, Sora.”
It took almost more strength than she had to keep from running back to the safety of Blackbird Town, but she just stood there, unable to break the dark spell his voice had cast upon her. “You told me you had to pry Flint’s fingers from around his throat to hear his final words?”
“Yes. He was very strong, he—”
“How close were you when his last breath escaped?”
He walked closer, leaned down, and whispered, “Very close.”
Horror exploded in her chest.
“Leave me alone!”
She wrenched free of his hand and ran like a madwoman, thrashing through the palmettos to get to the lakeshore trail.
People whispered as she ran by, and their gazes turned to follow her.
In the plaza, men laughed as they knapped out new stone tools. Children raced up and down the lengths of the chunkey field, kicking a hide ball. Four pots of yucca blades boiled in the lye of wood ashes at the base of Wink’s mound. Three women stood around with long paddles, stirring the blades. When the pulp washed away, they would comb the stringy fibers and twist them into very fine white ropes.
“A pleasant morning to you, Chieftess,” one of the women called.
Sora hurried by, climbing the stairs to the top of the mound two at a time. When she reached the last step, she spied Wink and Long Fin sitting on the benches in front of the matron’s tall pitched-roof house. The wind had torn graying black locks loose from Wink’s bun; they blew around her face in wisps.
Sora didn’t have to say a word.
When Wink saw her pale face, she leaped to her feet and ran. “What is it? What’s wrong? You look like—”
“We have to go somewhere and talk. Now.”
Wink looked over her shoulder at the tall, slender young man who still sat on the bench with a curious look on his face. “I’ll return in a few moments, my son,” she called, and gripped Sora’s arm.
As they walked away, she hissed, “What happened? Did he hurt you?”
“No,” she managed to say through a taut exhalation. “Please, let’s walk to the far side of the house. I don’t want anyone to overhear us.”
Wink swiftly led the way around to the rear of the Matron’s House, where a series of benches looked out at the three other clan mounds across Raccoon Creek to the south. “Here, sit down. You look like you’re ready to fall on your face.” Wink gestured to the bench at the very edge of the mound.
Sora gingerly lowered herself to the massive log. Forty hands
below, Raccoon Creek ran clear and clean. Though they tried to keep the banks cleared of brush, the palmettos grew too fast for anyone to keep up with. They cast wavering shadows over the pale green water.
Concerned, Wink asked, “Was he waiting for you where he said he’d be?”
“Yes, he was there.” She forced herself to take a deep breath.
“How long has it been since you’ve seen the matron of Minnow Village?”
Wink stared at her for a few instants. “Five or six winters. Why?”
“Could you send a runner to her? Ask her what actually happened the day Skinner carried Flint into her village? I have to know.”
Wink sat rigid on the bench beside her, her yellow dress waffling in the breeze. “Skinner told you something terrible, didn’t he?”
“I don’t want to discuss it until we’ve heard from Matron Wading Heron. If I reveal any of the details he told me, I’ll be suspicious of whatever the runner says.” She ran a hand over her numb face. “I’m praying this is just a trick.”
Wink tucked a lock of gray hair behind her ear. “What kind of a trick?”
“I don’t know.”
“Sora, please, you have to tell me something.”
She shook her head.
Wink’s gaze darted over the mounds across the creek, as though she was thinking. While Wink was the matron of the Shadow Rock Clan, there were three other clans among the Black Falcon People: Matron Wood Fern ruled the Water Hickory Clan; Matron Black Birch headed the Bald Cypress Clan; and Wigeon was in charge of the Shoveler Clan. Each matron had her own mound. All three stood in a line south of the creek, and paralleled the northern line created by Wink’s mound, Sora’s mound, and old Priest Teal’s mound. People moved around the bases, going about their daily
duties. The bright reds and blues of their clothing created a beautiful mosaic against the dark soil.
BOOK: It Sleeps in Me
8.92Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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