Two Rivers (9 page)

She laughed softly. “Come.”

The pull of her arm was firm, uncompromising, and he felt the
people’s curious gazes upon them, some friendly, some wondering, some sparkling
with rage like the eyes of Turea, Yeentso’s sister. This one was as beautiful
as always, tall and imposing, her wonderful hair flowing, cheeks glowing, eyes
dark; but the creases of her frown made her look older, and the pressed lips
were downright ugly.

He took his gaze off her and dived into the outer circle of
dancers, following the uncomplicated steps, surrounded by wonderful energy, his
anger receding, giving way to familiar elation. The simple pleasure of rhythmic
movement took off the edge of the frustration, and the pretty sight of the
Porcupine girl’s shapely legs made his thoughts flow into all sorts of peaceful
channels. She retreated into the inner circle of the dancers, teasing, but he
knew she meant more than that while coming to invite him to dance. He pondered
if it was time to beckon her and ease his way out.

“What are you staring at?”

Outside the dancing circle, an argument was growing, and he
could see the Beaver Clan beauty making her way out too, eyes troubled. The
foreign boy, he guessed. Who else?

“Nothing!”

Another youth stood in front of the wild cub now, frowning.

“Stop staring at the girls. They are not for your filthy eyes.”

The look the foreign boy gave his offender was fierce, blazing
with so much hatred, the other youth took an involuntary step back. More people
drifted toward them, and even the dancers began stealing glances.

“Go away,” hissed the cub through his clenched teeth. “I will
look at whomever I like.”

“That’s what you think!” growled another youth, coming closer.

Encouraged by unexpected reinforcement, the first youth stepped
closer, and the silence turned heavy, encompassing.

Two Rivers hesitated, unwilling to be a part of yet another
trouble involving the wild cub. He could feel the Porcupine girl coming closer,
halting beside him. Flying insults could give them a perfect cover to slip away,
as no serious fighting would develop on the ceremony like that. Too many elders
were present, leaders and other people, with Clan Mothers already shooting wary
gazes in that direction.

“Leave him alone, Hainteroh!” The Beaver Clan girl’s voice tore
the silence, making them all jump. “Stop looking for trouble.”

They all turned to stare, even the older people. Young girls
were not expected to burst into arguments or fights. It was none of their
business, even if they were the obvious cause of those.

The girl licked her lips. “No one tells you what girls you can
look at or not, so don’t do this to others,” she went on, as forceful as
before.

The foreign boy looked as tensed as an overstretched bowstring,
but at her words, Two Rivers noticed, he relaxed visibly. How obvious! He hid
his grin.

“Stop this argument and go back to dancing,” said an elderly
woman, one of the Turtle Clan’s Mothers. She glared at the youths. “Do as you
are told.”

They began shifting reluctantly, and he could feel the touch of
the Porcupine girl's palm as it brushed against his arm, leaving a pleasant
sensation in its wake.

“You, go back to your place in the longhouse,” went on the
woman, addressing the foreign boy this time. “You were not to wander the town
until the Councils decided on your punishment,” she added harshly, squashing
the blushing youth with her gaze.

He still seemed as though about to argue, and Two Rivers could
not but admire the boy’s spirit. To stand up to the Clan Mothers took more
courage than some people could gather.     

“I thought I was allowed to attend the ceremony,” he muttered
in the end, dropping his gaze.

“To attend – yes. To stir trouble – no!”

The other women nodded solemnly.

“He stirred no trouble, Honorable Mother,” said the Beaver girl
quietly.

The elderly woman seemed as though about to burst as her gaze
flew at the girl, blazing.

“How dare you to argue with your elders?” she demanded.

The Beaver girl’s face took the color of the purple shells
adorning her tiny waist.

“I’m not arguing,” she said, lips trembling but voice still
firm. “I’m simply telling what happened. I saw it all. The Wolf Clan boy did not
stir trouble. Hainteroh and his friend did.”

Another courageous thing, thought Two Rivers, admiring the girl
for not giving up.

“Yes, there was no trouble,” said another elderly woman,
obviously trying to lighten the atmosphere. “I saw it, too. The foreign boy did
nothing wrong this time.”

“Still, he should leave,” insisted the first woman. “He brings
trouble, even if he doesn’t mean to do so.” She frowned. “Tomorrow he will be
informed of the punishment regarding his past crimes, and then he would have ample
time to think the things over and to start correcting his ways.”

“What will be the punishment?” asked one of the older warriors,
curious.

“I heard he would be required to pay ten hides. Ten good,
large, undamaged pieces.”

The crowd gasped.

“Oh, stop spreading rumors,” cried out the woman of the Wolf
Clan. “Ten hides? What nonsense! Who would agree to such an outrageous price?”
She looked around, enraged. “Five hides was the agreed price, and it is too
high also, if you ask me!”

“Your clan can get this amount and more,” laughed someone.
“Wolf Clan is not the smallest clan of the town.”

“So what? Does it mean we should clothe you all, you lazy,
good-for-nothing men?” The woman flipped her hands in the air, advancing toward
her offender.

The laughing man retreated a step. “I didn’t say that,” he
muttered, rolling his eyes. “All I did was state that you can manage, and that
the boy is lucky no one died.”

“He is not so lucky,” said another Wolf Clan woman. “He will be
required to get those hides all by himself, even if it takes him summers to do
it.”

“Oh!” The air hissed loudly, escaping many chests. To send the
young boy to hunt the deer, skin it, tan it, and prepare the hides was an
unnecessary toughness. He had neither experience, nor the skill to do a half of
it.

Two Rivers felt his own anger rising. The boy had been formally
adopted, through the customary ceremony. He was supposed to be a part of the
family that requested him, enjoying the real family life. Instead, he had been
an outcast, with no warmth or protection, and now, with even his own clan
unwilling to help him out.

“Why won’t the Wolf Clan take responsibility for its members?”
he said loudly before able to stop himself. Again, his tongue proved impossible
to control.

Now the glares of the Wolf Clan women were upon him, while the
rest of the people kept silent, holding their breaths.

“We are a part of a clan because without it we are nothing.” He
saw their faces, flickering strangely in the flames of the raging fire. It made
him shiver, but there was no way back now. He shrugged. “Clan gives us
protection and means to survive. Is it not the whole purpose of the extended
families? Is it not why we give our clan everything it requires in return, so
the person would not need to battle the challenges of life all alone?”
Encircling them with his gaze, he saw people drifting closer, listening, their
curiosity obvious but mixed with the usual apprehension. They did not trust
what he said, not entirely. “This boy was adopted officially,
officially
.
He is a part of the Wolf Clan, living in their longhouse, doing his part,
hunting with Wolf people, fishing with them, clearing its clan’s fields. How
can the Wolf Clan Council shake off its responsibility to him? All of a sudden,
he is a foreigner and has nothing to this clan. How could that happen? Doesn’t
this decision to make him face the reasonable claim of the Beaver Clan’s people
alone violate the most basic of our laws? Is it not going against our ways, our
customs, our traditions?”

“No, it is not,” cried out one of the Turtle Clan Mothers.
“There were quite a few instances. When a person’s crimes are too high or too
unfitting, he or she might be expected to deal with the consequences of their
deeds all alone.” The woman’s eyes flashed. “It is not your place to criticize
the decision of a clan council. Let alone of the clan you do not belong to.”

He took a deep breath. “Yes, I know it is not my place to try
to interrupt the decisions of a clan council,
any of the clans
. But I do
believe a person can sound his opinion. I was not setting myself in judgment,
but I cannot turn my face from the obvious injustice. The crime of this boy is
not high, or unusual. He did not try to murder the man he injured. Indeed, he
acted foolishly, without thinking. But he had been provoked. I was there, I saw
it all. There was nothing unusual about their fight. It happens often,
regretfully so.” He remembered his own afternoon encounter. Had he cut Seeta’s
throat, he would be in as deep trouble as this boy now, worse so, because the
provocation was not as unbearable. Seeta did not try to touch him at all, but
merely said silly things, while Yeentso was grabbing this boy’s throat,
threatening to kill him. He shook his head to banish the unwelcome memory. “I
thought the Town Council was making inquiries, to determine the seriousness of
the event.”

“The Town Council would have done this had the victim of the
attack died,” said one of the elders softly. “As it is, this problem went back
to the Clans' Councils, to close the matter between them.”

Two Rivers nodded, forcing his face into stillness. Yes, he
should have thought of this. There was nothing to add, really. If the Wolf Clan
Mothers were determined to discipline one of its members in this way, then that
was that.

The elderly women glared at him, victorious, their eyes
sparkling. He returned their gazes, then glanced at the boy, who stood there
all ears, eyes traveling from face to face, listening avidly. The wolf cub’s
path was turning more difficult from turn to turn, and with such temper and so
much pride he wouldn’t go far.

“Five hides is not such a great price,” said someone. “If you
think it’s so cruel and unjust, you can go with the boy, help him hunt. A guide
of your skill and experience would be of a great help.”

Incensed, Two Rivers shot a glance at the speaker, a man of his
own clan, residing in the neighboring longhouse.

“I may do just that,” he said coldly.

“Instead of going with our raiding party?”

He wanted to kill the man for trapping him this way.

“Maybe.”

He didn’t have to do that, neither to take care of the boy, nor
to do so instead of joining the warriors. The hunting could wait, should he
decide to help. There was no need to create a scandal by refusing to join the
raid after participating in the War Dance, and after being indicated by the War
Chief as to the chances of him being among the chosen. And yet…

“If you are going, be careful. Aside from all sort of enemies
lurking, through the last two moons, the other bank of the Northern River was
spotted by footprints of a huge bear. The grizzled brown bear, most clearly,
and judging by the signs - an old, vicious creature.”

“Yes, we saw those prints, too,” cried out several voices. “The
creature seemed to make the First Springs and its tributaries its own.”

They were still talking as the idea flashed through his mind,
too beautiful to disregard it right away.

“How many hides would the fur of the huge brown bear be worth?”

They all turned to stare at him, wide-eyed.

“What are you thinking?” asked someone suspiciously.

“Well...”

He rushed it through his head hurriedly, trying to play for
time. He might have been acting foolishly, entangling the boy in an even
greater danger than before.

The youth’s eyes bore at him, expectant, sparkling with
apprehension that had nothing to do with doubt or fear. Encouraged, he looked
up.

“If the boy was to slay the beast and bring its magnificent fur
home, would his offering make it right with the Beaver People’s Clan?”

The silence was heavy, encompassing. He returned their
incredulous gazes.

“A boy can’t slay such a beast. Even a hunter of many summers
cannot be sure to trap the huge, grizzled bear and return home in one piece,”
breathed someone.

“I’ll help him track the beast,” said Two Rivers, aware of his
own heart beating faster at the prospect of the adventure. He turned to the
boy, narrowing his eyes. “What do you say? Are you up to the challenge?”

The boy did not hesitate, not even for a heartbeat.

“Yes,” he said loudly, voice trembling, but only a little. “I
want to do that.”

“What do you say?” He watched them, amused by the various
expressions crossing their faces.

“Well, it’s a challenge,” said one of the older warriors. He
turned to the boy. “Are you sure you want to do this? Your chances of coming
back from such an encounter are slim. Two Rivers will help you track the beast,
will explain to you what to do, but he will not be hunting it together with
you. It will be your challenge. Do you understand that?”

The boy licked his lips, then nodded, apparently unable to
speak. His eyes, huge and glittering, clung to the man’s face, so wide open
they looked round.

Two Rivers began to regret the idea. From the corner of his
eye, he saw the pretty Beaver girl stifling a cry, pressing her palms to her
mouth.

“It may have to wait until I come back from the raid to the
lands of the Rock People,” he said, trying to gain time. Maybe he’d find the
way out of it by the time he came back. There was no need to worry but for the
nearest future. In a moon from now, many things may have changed.

“Also, you can’t decide on any of that without the formal
agreement of the Wolf and Beaver’s Clan councils,” declared one of the women,
her hands on her hips.