The People of the Black Sun (30 page)

“Kelek, please listen. There is another reason I am here. I was in the Wolf Clan longhouse the day our former high matron died. I saw something.”

“What?”

“I, along with five other people, saw Zateri's daughter, Kahn-Tineta, leave the former High Matron's chamber with her cousin Pedeza. Immediately afterward, we saw a man come into the longhouse and enter the former High Matron's chamber. His face was heavily painted with black and white stripes. None of us recognized him, but we heard later that many people had seen the evil witch, Ohsinoh, speaking with Chief Atotarho that day, and he'd had his face painted with black and white stripes. The man left the High Matron's chamber in less than thirty heartbeats. When we went to speak with her, to seek her guidance, we found her dead. She still had the corner of one of her bedding hides pressed over her nose and mouth. No one can prove she was smothered, but we all suspected it.”

“If so, I had nothing to do with it. I loved her! She had served our nation well for more than thirty summers!”

“Right now the story is being whispered through the entire nation. If it can be shown that you were involved in her murder, the Wolf Clan will swear blood feuds against every member of the Bear Clan. Isn't that right, War Chief Tajan?”

He nodded once. “My clan elders have assured me that we will.”

Adusha continued, “If this happens, it will split the Hills People yet again. The Wolf Clan greatly outnumbers us. One by one, they will hunt the Bear Clan down, even if it takes generations. The other Bear Clan elders fear that our clan may not survive.”

Legends spoke of many clans that had been wiped out by blood feuds. The tragic stories were told around the winter fires so that every child knew the possible outcome of a blood feud initiated as a result of the Law of Retribution.

After thirty heartbeats, the blood surging in Kelek's veins began to slow, and she could think again. Had she been so desperate for her clan to rule the nation that she'd brought it to the brink of destruction? She'd thought her clan would be jubilant. And they had been … for a time. She felt Adusha watching her with eagle eyes, as though waiting for Kelek to lie so that she could give War Chief Tajan the order to strike a deadly blow.

Surely that's why he's here. He's Wolf Clan. Under the Law of Retribution it is his right, the right of his clan.

“The village councils of Hilltop and Turtleback respectfully ask to hear your version of how it happened, High Matron. I will carry the story back for their consideration.”

Kelek swore the ground beneath her feet shifted, as though Great Grandmother Earth was preparing to suck her down into the depths of darkness.

Her mouth had gone bone dry. She licked her lips nervously. “It's a simple tale, Adusha. The night before our former High Matron died, Chief Atotarho came to me. It was the middle of the night. He was alone. He told me he'd just been with the High Matron, and that she'd named me to succeed her.”
Does my face show the truth?
“However, since he had no ties to the Bear Clan, he knew we would probably choose to replace him as Chief. He made me an offer. He said that if I would grant permission for him to marry my granddaughter, and work on his behalf with our clan so that he could retain his position, he would assure that by next spring the People of the Hills would be the only nation left standing south of Skanodario Lake. He guaranteed that we would have conquered and adopted everyone else.”

She paused to swallow and study their expressions. She couldn't tell whether they believed her or not.

Adusha's voice was low. “How did you think he could accomplish such a thing? Our Ruling Council would surely have refused—”

“Don't you see?
If
he could, the People of the Hills would become the most powerful nation in the world. Think of what we could do! We could send out armies to conquer the Algonquin and Cherokee to the south, and the Islander's Confederacy to the north. Our armies could sweep westward like locusts, taking whatever we wished. We would be wealthy beyond our wildest dreams! Our children would never be hungry or frightened again.”
And I would become a legend. The greatest High Matron in the history of the People.
She extended a translucent parchment-like hand to Adusha. “Isn't that worth allowing him to retain his position? Of course, if he'd failed, we would have been forced to replace him with someone else, but I felt certain—”

“Certain
?”
Adusha's voice was terse. “Are you telling me that you betrayed us so our nation could make war on distant Peoples we don't even know?”

War Chief Tajan had his gaze on her. Curiosity filled his dark eyes. Hikatoo's mouth had tightened into a white bloodless line.

“Betrayed who? The Wolf Clan? I didn't betray them. Atotarho assured me that our former high matron had named me to replace her.”

Adusha stared at Kelek for a long time. “Please tell your story, Hikatoo.”

Kelek's panicked gaze jerked to the Snipe Clan warrior, and her heart thundered.

“I only heard a few words of the chief's conversation with Matron Kelek. As she says, he did go to her. One hand of time earlier, however, I was standing right outside the Wolf Clan longhouse, barely three paces from where the Chief spoke with the former High Matron in her chamber. Though the longhouse wall hid many of their words, all of his personal guards, me included, heard the former High Matron when she raised her voice to tell the Chief,
‘You are unfit to rule this nation, but the council cannot afford to remove you on the eve of battle.'
” He paused to take a deep breath, and glared at Kelek. “One hand of time later, he ordered us to accompany him to the Bear Clan longhouse so he could speak with Matron Kelek. He stood under the porch until she appeared. The chief began their conversation by saying,
‘I have a proposition I think you will appreciate.'
After that, I only caught certain words. But we were all worried by what had happened that day, so later that night we discussed what each of us had heard. Between the five of us, we filled in much of the conversation.”

Kelek felt slightly faint. She gritted her teeth and lifted her chin, trying to glower. “You were standing twenty paces away. What could you have heard?”

Hikatoo's dark gaze did not waver. “You told the chief that in exchange for his saying the former high matron had named you to succeed her, you would marry him to your granddaughter, and you assured him that he would retain his position as Chief.”

Adusha's head tilted in an unpleasant accusatory manner. After ten heartbeats of waiting for Kelek to deny it, she lifted her arm and pointed a finger at Kelek's chest. “When I said you had betrayed us, I didn't mean the Wolf Clan, Kelek. I meant the nation. Your own words make it clear that you conspired with Atotarho to circumvent the wisdom of the Ruling Council. That alone is treason,
High Matron
.” She said the words with contempt. “And once the rest of the story has spread across the entire nation, the Bear Clan will be spat upon and hunted down like dogs. Our clan will be extinct.”

Kelek rose to her feet, shaking with a combination of indignation and fear. “Tell your village councils that I demand they appear before me to discuss this issue in person. This ‘pieced-together' conversation is pure fabrication! I refuse to stand here any longer being maligned by a cowardly warrior and an insignificant
Little Matron!
”

A cold smile came to Adusha's thin lips. “I will tell them. In the meantime, we have heard that Atotarho requested you to send two thousand warriors to join him in the destruction of the Standing Stone nation.”

“Yes. I'd planned to bring the issue before the Ruling Council tomor—”

“Take no action until you've heard from our village councils.”

Kelek stiffened. “But he needs those warriors.”

Adusha didn't deign to respond. She turned on her heel and stalked toward the door with her guards behind her.

When they'd gone, Kelek stared at the wind-whipped curtain. The sacred False Faces on the walls rattled and hooted shrilly, crying out to each other. Her shaking knees finally gave way. She sank down to the bench and dropped her head in her hands.

 

Twenty-seven

Cloud People blanketed the night sky, turning it pitch black and ominous. The mist rising from Reed Marsh had a damp, caressing feel against Gonda's face. He adjusted his pack, checked his slung bow and quiver, and examined the shoulder-width hole they'd chopped from the frozen soil beneath the exterior palisade. The black oval was barely visible. Situated at the point farthest away from Yellowtail Village, the enemy warriors on the Yellowtail catwalks could not possibly observe their emergence from the ground. There could, however, be fifty men with bows sitting in the limbs of the nearby trees, watching for the slightest movements along the Bur Oak palisades.

Gonda turned to his volunteers. “Last chance. Anyone who wishes to back out should do so now.”

Three warriors stood with him, their breaths frosting and mingling in the night air. Each carried a bow and overstuffed quiver, and wore a knee-length black shirt and high-topped black moccasins. In addition, they'd covered every bit of exposed skin with soot. In the darkness he thought Sindak and Wampa had their arms folded, but couldn't be sure. Young Papon noisily swallowed. Eighteen summers old, he had buck teeth that made him tend to slur his words. He also had a reputation for exaggeration. But Jigonsaseh insisted he was a bold fighter—and that's what Gonda needed tonight.

He whispered, “All right. High Matron Kittle has ordered the fires extinguished to help cover our movements. Our opponents probably assume it is to conserve firewood. But they may also think we're up to something.”

“They do,” Sindak said from Gonda's right. “This isn't normal. They know we have wounded and children to keep warm. They'll be especially on guard.”

Gonda nodded, though he knew they probably couldn't see it. “I just spoke with War Chief Deru. He's ready. He'll be watching for us to emerge from the marsh at the predetermined location. Once he either sees us, or the fires erupt, he will begin his diversion. When we're in the marsh, we must take our time. We don't want to startle any of the birds perched on the reeds and cattails. Any sudden squawking or chirping and we're all dead.”

Sindak waited for Gonda to continue. When he didn't, Sindak added, “Also, if you must get out of the marsh, be vigilant about the patches of snow that still cling against the western palisade wall. Not only will they crunch if you step on them, your blackened body will show up clear as day.”

Gonda looked for nodding heads, but the sable darkness cloaked their bodies so completely they were just faintly darker silhouettes cast against the cobalt background.

“One last thing,” Gonda said. “As soon as we're through this hole, it will be covered up. The only way we're getting back into Bur Oak Village is through the front gates, and the guards have orders not to open them for us unless we're in the clear. Understand?”

Papon slurred, “So, if we're being closhely followed, they won't open the gates?”

“That's right.”

Papon shifted uncomfortably. He had a wife and four children.

Gonda lowered his voice, and used a deadly tone. “And I don't want any misunderstandings. Each of us is expendable. Our only purpose is to buy the people in Bur Oak Village a chance. Anyone who is caught, wounded, or doesn't make the rendezvous
will be left behind.
Those are Matron Jigonsaseh's orders. Am I clear?”

He heard grunts of assent.

“Very well. Everyone ready?”

“Ready.” Sindak's voice.

“Me, too.” War Chief Wampa.

Barely audible, Papon hissed, “Yes.”

Gonda got down on his knees, shrugged out of his pack and weapons, and pushed them through ahead of him as he slid into the hole on his belly. Coming up on the other side like a muskrat through an ice hole, he shouldered his load and crawled toward the marsh. The old autumn leaves that covered the ground were drenched with mist, quiet and slick. When he reached the marsh's edge, he eased aside the reeds, and glided into the water. He almost gasped at the bitter cold, but stopped himself. Sindak entered the water next, followed by Wampa and Papon.

Gonda looked around. Here, it was dark, but in forty paces the halo of firelight streaming from Yellowtail Village gave the calm water a supernatural sheen. The dark reflections of the trees stood out so clearly they might have been painted upon the marsh. Fortunately, the cattails grew thickly there, too. The stripes they cast upon the water would cloak their shapes … he hoped.

“You all know the plan,” Gonda whispered.

Silence.

“Sindak comes with me. Wampa, you and Papon are the best shots in the village. You will remain in the marsh, paralleling our course, with your bows aimed at the palisade. You'll see warriors targeting us long before we do.”