It Wakes in Me (24 page)
Authors: Kathleen O'Neal Gear
FROM EVERY PART OF THE BLACK FALCON WORLD, PEOPLE had flocked in to attend the council meeting. Feather Dancer guessed the crowd at around five thousand strong. He stood before the four elders in the broad plaza of Blackbird Town, but his eyes sought out the positions of the guards, perched in the tallest trees, standing on the mound tops, covering every possible entry to the town. Matron Wink had posted Rockfish’s three hundred warriors—all dressed in pale yellow war shirts—in a tight ring around the plaza to keep the crowd back. Presumably, they could not be bribed by clan members who had grudges against certain council members.
Though the Water Hickory war party that had attacked Eagle Flute Village was being kept under guard outside of town, the captives had been allowed in to testify before the elders—which they had done for most of the night, and all morning today.
To his right, Pipit sat in the front row, biting her lip. All the way back, she’d kept asking people if they’d seen her parents. Once, she’d even run off into the trees after a shadow, and
Feather Dancer had been forced to leave the captives alone to go find her. When all of this was over, he planned to ask Priest Teal if he would Heal the girl.
Feather Dancer had been forced to leave the captives alone to go find her. When all of this was over, he planned to ask Priest Teal if he would Heal the girl.
“Were there any survivors?” Matron Wink asked.
“I did not see any survivors, Matron,” Feather Dancer answered, and took a deep breath to fortify himself. The huge crowd had begun to push at the circle of warriors guarding the plaza. “We escaped just a few moments before the attack came. But the Water Hickory warriors boasted all the way home that they’d left no one alive.”
“Of course they did,” Matron Black Birch said, and her white head wobbled. “That’s just pride. There are always survivors.”
“Yes,” Matron Wink agreed. “And by now, they’ve run to the nearest Loon village and poured out the entire story.”
“With embellishments,” Black Birch added.
Matron Sea Grass, who sat on a mat a few paces away with her hands bound, chuckled. Her old face resembled a shriveled winter-killed carcass. Rumor had it that Matron Wink had sent a war party to catch Sea Grass on the trail to Oak Leaf Village and to drag her back, bound and gagged, into Matron Wood Fern’s bedchamber to verify her death.
No one knew who’d killed Matron Wood Fern. Her body had been discovered three days ago by slaves who’d gone in at dawn to ask what she wanted for breakfast.
But her murder had roused the nation.
Matron Wink looked up from where she’d been talking with Matron Black Birch. “Feather Dancer, is it your opinion that the war party had orders to wipe out the entire village?”
“Yes, Matron.”
Black Birch turned a sharp old eye on Sea Grass, and said, “Did they have orders to completely destroy Eagle Flute Village?”
Sea Grass chuckled again, as though the fact that her life hung in the balance was a trivial concern. “They had orders to
kill every man, woman, and child. They were filthy Loon People! We wanted them all dead!”
kill every man, woman, and child. They were filthy Loon People! We wanted them all dead!”
As Sea Grass’ voice rose to a shout, several members of her clan, who stood just beyond the ring of guards, shouted,
“Filthy Loon People!”
and
“We want them all dead!”
“Filthy Loon People!”
and
“We want them all dead!”
Matron Wink gestured to the guards, and they used their war clubs to shove the agitators back, but cries of outrage went up from those who sympathized.
Wink glanced at Feather Dancer, and he tilted his head uncertainly. If the crowd decided to break through the guards, they would. Three hundred warriors with clubs would be overrun in a matter of moments. She seemed to be aware of how volatile the situation was.
Matron Wink glared at Sea Grass. “It is our understanding that the Water Hickory council elected you as the new clan matron. Is that correct?”
“You know it is,” Sea Grass said. “That makes it difficult for you, doesn’t it? If you kill me, like you did Wood Fern”—a roar of surprise and rage swept the crowd—“you will doom our nation to civil war. Is that what you want?”
Matron Black Birch leaned forward and half shouted, “You old hag! This is what you and your clan have brought us to! We ought to slit your throat and throw your body to the alligators!”
“Wait,” Matron Wink said. “If we are ready to cast our voices, let us do it clearly and for all to hear.”
“I’m ready,” Black Birch said, and gave Sea Grass the evil eye.
“As am I,” Wigeon murmured.
Long Fin wet his lips and nodded. “I am also ready.”
Wink got to her feet and held her hands up to the crowd, calling, “Silence! If you wish to hear the council’s decision, listen!”
The angry roar that had been building quickly dwindled to
a low hostile hum. Every eye in the crowd fastened on the Council of Elders.
a low hostile hum. Every eye in the crowd fastened on the Council of Elders.
Matron Wink called, “We will now vote on whether or not to cast Water Hickory Clan out of the Black Falcon Nation.”
The crowd went utterly silent.
Wink said, “Matron Black Birch, do you vote to make them Outcast?”
Black Birch squared her bony old shoulders and called, “Yes, they committed treason and deserve the consequences!”
Cheers, as well as bellows of disagreement rose.
Wink gestured to Matron Wigeon, and her old eyes went huge. “Matron Wigeon, how does Bald Cypress Clan vote?”
“Bald Cypress Clan votes no. I have many relatives among the Water Hickory Clan. I will not doom them for the mistakes made by their leadership. I—”
“You senile old woman!” Sea Grass shouted. “We made no mistakes. We defended our gathering grounds from enemy thieves. We had to do it alone because the rest of you are cowards! You should be thanking us, not—”
Gasps and cheers eddied through the crowd, drowning out the rest of what Sea Grass wished to say.
“Quiet!” Matron Wink ordered in a voice that commanded obedience. “We have already voted that going against the council constituted treason. That is not at issue. We are voting on whether or not to allow Water Hickory Clan to remain as part of the Black Falcon Nation.”
Long Fin seemed to be holding his breath in preparation for casting his voice.
Matron Wink turned to him and said, “Chief Long Fin, do you vote to Outcast, or not?”
Long Fin looked at his mother for several moments before he quietly said, “No. I vote with Matron Wigeon. I do not believe that Water Hickory Clan as a whole would have approved
of the attack if they’d been given a chance to vote on the matter.”
of the attack if they’d been given a chance to vote on the matter.”
Matron Wink turned away from the council and looked out at the crowd. It must have been like looking into the eyes of a lethal snake, because the crowd went utterly silent, as though paralyzed and waiting helplessly for the deadly strike to come.
Black Birch hissed, “Wink, if you let them stay there will be no reason for clans to remain loyal! Treason
must
be punished.”
must
be punished.”
Wood Fern paid with her life.
Wink bowed her head and very softly responded, “I know, but I cannot force myself to thrust this nation into civil war.”
Sea Grass cackled like an ancient witch as Matron Wink walked out of the circle of elders to face the crowd and in a loud clear voice called, “The Shadow Rock Clan votes no!”
Shouts and cheers rose like thunder, and people began Dancing and throwing things into the air. Others ran to carry the news to those in back who hadn’t heard, and more cheers and shouts went up. It was like a deafening wave rolling out into the forest in all directions.
Sea Grass struggled to her feet and held her bound hands out to her guards, ordering, “Cut me loose, you fools. I am clan matron of the Water Hickory Clan!”
The guards looked at Wink, who nodded, and they sliced through the ropes that bound Sea Grass’ wrists.
The old woman gave Wink a triumphant glare and walked across the plaza into a waiting throng of cheering people.
As the council rose and began talking among themselves, Feather Dancer said, “Matron? A word with you?”
Wink nodded and followed him a short distance away where they could speak privately. “What is it, Feather Dancer?”
“It gives me no pleasure to do it, but I feel it’s my duty,” he said through a long exhalation, “to tell you what happened in Eagle Flute Village just before the attack.”
“Before the attack? What are you talking about?”
As he told her about the conversation he’d overheard between Strongheart and Flint, about the murders and Chieftess Sora’s role, her mouth tightened, then trembled.
Finally, she said, “Was Sora killed in the attack? Do you know?”
“No, I don’t. I know you told me to make certain the chieftess was safe, but I had to make a choice, Matron. I could have abandoned the captives and gone searching for Chieftess Sora in the middle of the battle, or done my best to get the captives out alive.”
“You made the right choice,” she said with forlorn resignation as she gazed out at the forest trail that led eastward toward the Loon Nation. “I’m sure if she’s alive, she will come home.”
SORA LEANED AGAINST THE TRUNK OF A HACKBERRY TREE and gazed out over the small cypress pond. As evening veiled the woods, sparkflies climbed into the branches like the last blinking remnants of a great forest fire. She watched them and listened to the frogs that serenaded the night.
They’d camped a day’s walk east of Oak Leaf Village, far enough away from the main trails that no one would accidentally stumble upon them.
“Are you all right?” Strongheart’s voice surprised her.
Over her shoulder, she said, “You should be a warrior instead of a priest. You have the skills for it. I didn’t hear you approach.”
“I think you were occupied with other thoughts.”
His sandals shished in the tall grass as he followed the trail to reach her. He didn’t look at her; instead, he followed her gaze to the ducks that silently paddled across the pond in the distance. Silver rings bobbed out behind them.
The sharp green scent of the pond intensified as darkness fell.
Softly, he said, “I asked if you were all right.”
Sora took a deep breath, and as she let it out, answered, “I feel broken.”
He turned to look at her. A strange emptiness had grown in his eyes, as though the events of the past quarter-moon had hollowed him out like a rotted log. “You will feel that way for a time, until we’ve found all the pieces.”
“Pieces? What pieces?”
“The pieces of your shattered reflection-soul. We’ve just begun, Sora. For a time, you’ll feel like you’re looking at yourself in a broken slate mirror.”
“Do you truly believe the image will ever be whole again?”
“As we find more and more of the pieces, the picture will begin to coalesce. I think, someday, you will be whole.”
For a time the reflected light of the pond shimmered in the cypress branches, silver and beautiful but for the few cloud shadows that passed over.
For days she’d been seeing faces frozen at the last moment of life—faces she had not seen in many winters. Faces, she knew now, that she had hoped never to see again.
I killed them. I loved them, and I killed them.
Tears constricted her throat.
“What is it?” he asked. “Do you need me?”
She squeezed her eyes closed. She did not want to tell him how very much she needed him, that he was the only thing that stood between her and a glittering blue torrent that spoke with the voices of knives.
She said, “Will you stay with me? Help me to find the pieces?”
He had lost so much in recent days, he must long to run for the safety of the nearest Loon village where he had relatives. What would she do if he left her now?
“Sora, please look at me.”
She turned.
“I’ll stay,” he said softly, “but I want you to know that I’m afraid.”
“Of me?” Her voice shook. “I don’t blame you, I—”
“No, Sora. I’m not afraid of you. I’ve never feared you.”
Their gazes held, and he looked at her with more tenderness than she had ever seen in a man’s eyes.
He lifted a hand to comfortingly brush the hair away from her face. “The time is coming, very soon, when the Midnight Fox will seek me out. I pray that my heart is not too small to understand what he tells me.”
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