was out of sight; then she slumped forward on the log and squinted at the wind-blasted lake.
It took another hand of time, sitting in the cold, before she realized she was waiting for someone who wasn’t coming. A man who couldn’t come.
He’d been dead for days.
8
“I WAS UP HALF THE NIGHT RELIVING THAT AWFUL COUNCIL meeting,” Wink said, crossing the floor to greet Sora as she ducked into the Matron’s House the next morning. “I should have known old Wood Fern would wind up shouting and waving her fists in everyone’s face.”
“Especially mine,” Sora said unhappily.
“Yes, I know. I’m sorry about that.”
The room smelled of burning cypress and damp wood. Sora had run through a downpour to get here. Her black-and-white feathered cape shimmered with raindrops. As she removed it and shook it out, she asked, “Is that why you sent for me? You want to discuss the council meeting?”
“Partly. Our runner also returned. Let’s go into the council chamber and talk about it.”
Sora followed her down the hallway to the chamber. “The one we sent to Blue Bow? How could he be back so quick—”
“The runner I sent to Matron Wading Heron in Minnow Village.” Wink ducked beneath the door curtain and gestured to the four benches around the central fire pit. “Come and sit down.”
Wink walked over and sat on the closest bench with her back to Sora. The posture unnerved Sora. Wink had coiled her graying black hair on top of her head and fastened it with a carved deer-bone pin. Oval pieces of pounded copper glittered across the back of her blue dress.
Sora removed her woven mulberry bark hat and hung it on a peg by the door, next to her cape. “What is it, Wink? You’re scaring me.”
Wink waited until Sora sat down beside her; then she turned and gave her a somber look. “Didn’t it surprise you when Skinner told you that he and Flint had gone out to scout the perimeter of their territory for raiders?”
Sora frowned. “Yes. Ordinarily a war chief would dispatch low-level warriors to complete that task. He wouldn’t go himself.”
Wink nodded. “Wading Heron said that Skinner was panicked, drenched in blood, when he carried Flint into her village. He kept spouting nonsense about being ambushed by someone they were supposed to be meeting.”
“Why is that nonsense? Maybe the Lily People—”
“Didn’t he tell you he woke in the middle of the night and found Flint’s blankets empty?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Wading Heron said he stumbled into her village in the late afternoon.”
Sora shrugged. “We don’t know how far from Minnow Village they’d camped. Maybe it took him several hands of time to get there.”
Wink’s gray-shot black brows slanted down. “They weren’t out searching for raiders, Sora. They had gone to meet someone.”
“Perhaps they found the raiders and set up a meeting with the leader of the war party. Who knows?”
The lines around Wink’s mouth deepened when she pressed her lips into a thin, disbelieving line. “You and I think too much alike for you not to have thought about the same possibilities I have.”
“What possibilities do you mean?”
“I mean, what if Chief Fireberry dispatched Skinner and Flint to meet one of the Loon People? Blue Bow may not have come to us first about the jade.”
Sora warmed her cold hands before the fire, remembering the thoughts that had roiled her souls last night on the lake. “I did think of that, but I dismissed it.”
“Why? What if Water Hickory Clan has a secret alliance with Blue Bow? Do you know what that could mean to us? To Shadow Rock Clan?”
“If he already had an alliance, he wouldn’t have sent Grown Bear to try to convince us to join him.”
Wink leaned forward to prop her forearms on her knee. The copper bangles on her blue dress glittered. “Unless it’s some kind of diversion. Maybe while we’re arguing about his proposition, he and Water Hickory Clan are plotting to overthrow
It took another hand of time, sitting in the cold, before she realized she was waiting for someone who wasn’t coming. A man who couldn’t come.
He’d been dead for days.
8
“I WAS UP HALF THE NIGHT RELIVING THAT AWFUL COUNCIL meeting,” Wink said, crossing the floor to greet Sora as she ducked into the Matron’s House the next morning. “I should have known old Wood Fern would wind up shouting and waving her fists in everyone’s face.”
“Especially mine,” Sora said unhappily.
“Yes, I know. I’m sorry about that.”
The room smelled of burning cypress and damp wood. Sora had run through a downpour to get here. Her black-and-white feathered cape shimmered with raindrops. As she removed it and shook it out, she asked, “Is that why you sent for me? You want to discuss the council meeting?”
“Partly. Our runner also returned. Let’s go into the council chamber and talk about it.”
Sora followed her down the hallway to the chamber. “The one we sent to Blue Bow? How could he be back so quick—”
“The runner I sent to Matron Wading Heron in Minnow Village.” Wink ducked beneath the door curtain and gestured to the four benches around the central fire pit. “Come and sit down.”
Wink walked over and sat on the closest bench with her back to Sora. The posture unnerved Sora. Wink had coiled her graying black hair on top of her head and fastened it with a carved deer-bone pin. Oval pieces of pounded copper glittered across the back of her blue dress.
Sora removed her woven mulberry bark hat and hung it on a peg by the door, next to her cape. “What is it, Wink? You’re scaring me.”
Wink waited until Sora sat down beside her; then she turned and gave her a somber look. “Didn’t it surprise you when Skinner told you that he and Flint had gone out to scout the perimeter of their territory for raiders?”
Sora frowned. “Yes. Ordinarily a war chief would dispatch low-level warriors to complete that task. He wouldn’t go himself.”
Wink nodded. “Wading Heron said that Skinner was panicked, drenched in blood, when he carried Flint into her village. He kept spouting nonsense about being ambushed by someone they were supposed to be meeting.”
“Why is that nonsense? Maybe the Lily People—”
“Didn’t he tell you he woke in the middle of the night and found Flint’s blankets empty?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Wading Heron said he stumbled into her village in the late afternoon.”
Sora shrugged. “We don’t know how far from Minnow Village they’d camped. Maybe it took him several hands of time to get there.”
Wink’s gray-shot black brows slanted down. “They weren’t out searching for raiders, Sora. They had gone to meet someone.”
“Perhaps they found the raiders and set up a meeting with the leader of the war party. Who knows?”
The lines around Wink’s mouth deepened when she pressed her lips into a thin, disbelieving line. “You and I think too much alike for you not to have thought about the same possibilities I have.”
“What possibilities do you mean?”
“I mean, what if Chief Fireberry dispatched Skinner and Flint to meet one of the Loon People? Blue Bow may not have come to us first about the jade.”
Sora warmed her cold hands before the fire, remembering the thoughts that had roiled her souls last night on the lake. “I did think of that, but I dismissed it.”
“Why? What if Water Hickory Clan has a secret alliance with Blue Bow? Do you know what that could mean to us? To Shadow Rock Clan?”
“If he already had an alliance, he wouldn’t have sent Grown Bear to try to convince us to join him.”
Wink leaned forward to prop her forearms on her knee. The copper bangles on her blue dress glittered. “Unless it’s some kind of diversion. Maybe while we’re arguing about his proposition, he and Water Hickory Clan are plotting to overthrow
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