People of the Weeping Eye (North America's Forgotten Past) (60 page)
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“But I have so much to learn. Even knowing the future, a great deal is uncertain.” She watched as Old White walked on, shoulders bent with the weight he had carried for so long.
“Soon,” she whispered. “You need bear your burden for only a few more moons, Seeker. And then, on the equinox, at Split Sky City, all will come clear.”
“Let us hope,”
Deer Man replied fervently.
Deer Man replied fervently.
A
woman’s cry disturbed Flying Hawk’s Dream.
woman’s cry disturbed Flying Hawk’s Dream.
Disoriented, he blinked awake, glancing around his dark room. The Dream had been so real, the colors so vivid. The verdant green grass had smelled sweet; the feel of the air on his cheek had been so clear. Sunlight from a blue sky dotted with clouds had filled the clearing and danced on yellow, red, and blue flowers. The whir and clicking of insects mixed with birdsong from the surrounding forest of black oak, beech, and hickory.
In the darkness of his palace room, Flying Hawk rubbed a hand across his sweaty brow and gasped for breath. He’d been back there, beside his brother’s dying body; an arrow-ridden buffalo lay dead to the side, its froth-bloody tongue lolled on the rich grass.
He had stared down with disbelief, watching scarlet ooze from his brother’s head, heard the death rattle escaping his brother’s lungs. But the worst thing had been his brother’s eyes, fixed on his. They had pierced him with spears of betayal and disbelief.
Flying Hawk remembered panting, struggling to his feet in horror. Breaking his brother’s gaze, he stared at the stone gripped so tightly in his hand. He barely remembered how it had come to him as he and his brother rolled around, kicking, striking, and scratching. But found it, he had. Memory of the smacking impact as he hammered it time after time into his brother’s head was as much physical as auditory. The rock was crimson, strands of hair and brain matter stuck to its surface. It
fell from his suddenly nerveless fingers to thump onto the grass and roll a couple of times.
fell from his suddenly nerveless fingers to thump onto the grass and roll a couple of times.
Breath Maker, what have I done!
“Chosen your path,” a voice had said from behind.
Flying Hawk had spun, startled by the dark man who stood, feet braced, and watched him with gleaming eyes. He had been young, the glow of Spirit Power surrounding him.
“It’s the price of red Power. The choice you had to make to become high minko. It runs in the blood, Bear Tooth’s blood. You remember what happened to him?”
Flying Hawk had swallowed dryly, nodding his head.
“Power is shifting,” the stranger had said softly. “It will take strength and courage to maintain all that we’ve wrought over the years.” The man pointed. “Do you think he has the cunning and will?”
Flying Hawk followed the pointing figure to the body sprawled on the grass.
Crying out, he’d jumped back, seeing not his brother, but Smoke Shield. His nephew was but a youth, a hideous wound in the side of his head, fresh blood oozing past his crushed cheek to pool in sleek black hair.
“No!” Flying Hawk cried. “I didn’t do this!”
Smoke Shield’s vacant eyes seemed to mock him.
“You have done everything,” the stranger’s voice intruded on the horror. “All that will be, you have wrought to obtain the high minko’s chair. In the end, it is a struggle between brothers. It always comes down to brothers, doesn’t it? You must pick one.”
When Flying Hawk turned back, the stranger spread his arms wide; and from them, immense wings grew. The black iridescent feathers had a rainbow-like sheen in the sunlight. With a leap, the stranger sprang into the air. Flying Hawk ducked as the mighty wings pumped, and the backwash rolled over him. When he looked up, the stranger had vanished; only a midnight-black raven could be seen winging off over the trees.
That’s when the woman had screamed.
“A Dream, only a Dream. But what did it mean?” He sucked air into his oddly starved lungs, then swung his feet over the side of his pole bed.
When had he grown so old and tired? Fragments of the Dream clung to his souls like colorful bits of light.
The woman’s whimper carried in the silence.
Unable to sleep, Flying Hawk slipped a blanket over his shoulders and padded down the hallway. Across from Smoke Shield’s room, he winced as he heard the familiar sound of carnal grunting. The woman was weeping softly, probably some slave that Smoke Shield had taken a fancy to.
By the Ancestors, what is it with him?
Flying Hawk made a face as he passed into the great room. There the fire had burned low, illuminating the chamber in a soft red light.
Flying Hawk made a face as he passed into the great room. There the fire had burned low, illuminating the chamber in a soft red light.
He placed his hand on the familiar cougarhide covering of his stool. With the murder of his brother, the high minko’s chair had become his by default. But at what price?
Murder?
“I would take that back, if I could, Brother.”
In the Dream, his brother’s body had become Smoke Shield’s, the old pattern repeating itself. Except Smoke Shield had lived to become the man he now was.
“It always comes down to brothers,”
the Spirit being had said.
the Spirit being had said.
Flying Hawk stared up at the giant carving that hung on the rear wall. So many times he had gazed at the great hand, the fingers so perfectly rendered, the thumb tight to the side. Each of the knuckles was visible. The fingernails had been inlaid with white shell. The great eye in the palm had been sheathed in copper and stared out with a pupil fashioned from stained black walnut.
The symbol of his people, it seemed fixed on him; and the eerie gaze bored through his souls. Flying Hawk shivered. One day, soon, he would have to hand over authority to Smoke Shield. And after his death, Flying
Hawk’s souls would make the journey westward. At the edge of the world, they would have to make the leap through the eye before proceeding to the land of the dead. He feared that day, feared he would be unable to make that terrifying leap—that his souls would fall, forever lost between the earth and the Sky World.
Hawk’s souls would make the journey westward. At the edge of the world, they would have to make the leap through the eye before proceeding to the land of the dead. He feared that day, feared he would be unable to make that terrifying leap—that his souls would fall, forever lost between the earth and the Sky World.
If that happens, it will be because I am unworthy
.
.
“And what if I do make it?” he mused softly. “What will I find on the other side?”
The too-clear image of his dead brother’s piercing stare lingered from both memory and Dream. The day would come when they faced each other again. What could he say in his defense?
“Smoke Shield and I,” Flying Hawk whispered, “we have both dedicated our lives to the red Power. Did I make the right choices? When I am gone … what then for our people?”
Flying Hawk gasped. It had to be a trick of the light, for he swore he saw a single great tear form at the corner of the eye. It trickled down as he moved to the side, gleaming in the light, tracking down the polished wood as he stepped close.
Raising a trembling hand, he ran a finger over the wood, horrified to find it damp.
From the hallway, the unknown woman’s weeping was the only sound.
T
he story of Trader, Old White, Heron Wing, Smoke Shield, Two Petals, and Swimmer continues in
People of the Thunder.
When we began
People of the Weeping Eye
we didn’t anticipate writing such a grand epic. Our job is to follow the characters where they take us, and to tell the story to the best of our ability. In the case of the late Mississippian world, the rich archaeological record, fascinating cultures, and vast landscape led us to delightful and complex characters. There are certain inescapable realities in publishing, and at our publisher’s request, we have broken the story into two volumes. We hope that you will join us for the sequel,
People of the Thunder,
and travel back with us, once again, to the magic of America’s past.
he story of Trader, Old White, Heron Wing, Smoke Shield, Two Petals, and Swimmer continues in
People of the Thunder.
When we began
People of the Weeping Eye
we didn’t anticipate writing such a grand epic. Our job is to follow the characters where they take us, and to tell the story to the best of our ability. In the case of the late Mississippian world, the rich archaeological record, fascinating cultures, and vast landscape led us to delightful and complex characters. There are certain inescapable realities in publishing, and at our publisher’s request, we have broken the story into two volumes. We hope that you will join us for the sequel,
People of the Thunder,
and travel back with us, once again, to the magic of America’s past.
Adair, James
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