People of the Fire (36 page)

 
          
 
"Hold it!" Rattling Hooves shouted,
seeing the other warriors, muscular arms reaching back, stone-tipped darts
glinting in the bright sun as their
atlatls
balanced.
"What are we doing?" They hesitated for a moment while Hungry Bull
turned his back, arms raised to stop the sudden advance of Three Toes, Black
Crow, and Meadowlark, all with darts ready to cast.

 
          
 
"Insanity!" Elk Charm cried, running
up to the warriors, pleading particularly to Snaps Horn. "What's
happening?"

 
          
 
White Calf ambled forward, waving her hands.
"Stop it! You fools!" She whirled, pointing a finger at Blood Bear.
"So, you'd kill me before we could talk this out? And you call yourself a
leader? You think you have the brains to keep the Wolf Bundle? Idiot!"

 
          
 
The warriors froze, looking back and forth
uncertainly. From long experience, Rattling Hooves could see the change in
Blood Bear's expression, instantly aware the situation had shifted. He lowered
his
nocked
dart. The old cunning light glinted in his
eyes as his brain raced.

 
          
 
"How did I know, old woman? How did I
know you weren't plotting with these"—he indicated the Short
Buffalo—"to raid our camp again? You keep strange company."

 
          
 
"Like Rattling Hooves?" White Calf
demanded dryly. "You don't-"

 
          
 
"I don't what? My people have been
killed! Raided by Short Buffalo People." He turned, chin up, glancing at
his warriors through
slitted
eyes. "How do I
know where the next raid might come from?"

 
          
 
“Surely not from an old woman who Dreamed and
bore children for the Red Hand/'

 
          
 
“Or from her?" Blood Bear indicated
Rattling Hooves with his dart point. As quickly, Hungry Bull's
atlatl
knocked the point aside.

 
          
 
“Use your finger next time. It's polite,"
Hungry Bull insisted, meeting Blood Bear's burning anger with his own.

 
          
 
“This woman is one of my people. You take
chances, hunter."

 
          
 
Hungry Bull barely nodded. “So do you."
They bristled as they glared into each other's eyes.

 
          
 
Rattling Hooves shot Hungry Bull a quick
glance. Why? Why did he intercede? He could be killed on her account.

 
          
 
“Enough!" White Calf bulled between the
two men. 44 Put your darts down. There will be no killing here."

 
          
 
Uneasily, the warriors lowered their weapons.

 
          
 
“O1d Woman, I'm the Keeper of the Wolf
Bundle." Blood Bear half crouched, glaring anger and frustration.

 
          
 
White Calf met him eye to eye. “And you still
haven't learned anything, have you? Remember when you killed Cut Feather? Eight
years you spent wandering homeless for that. And now you want to kill me? You
keep wishing for Power, and then you spit in its very face! You act like it
doesn't exist without you."

 
          
 
The final resistance drained from Blood Bear's
warriors. They shifted now, looking uneasily at each other, wetting lips,
fingering their darts nervously. Only Snaps Horn stood firm, a grimness to his
features as he shot searching looks at Elk Charm.

 
          
 
Blood Bear stiffened, a quiver eating at the
corner of his lips. “Watch yourself, old woman. You push me too far.”

 
          
 
“And I'll keep pushing, fool." She caught
the end of his dart with her frail fingers, lifting the point to the hollow
under her ribs. “Go ahead, push, Blood Bear. I've made it easy for you. But
before you kill me, want to make a bet? Want to gamble on how long you'll have
before you're wandering the plains again, hungry, in tatters, looking for a
snake or a toad for a meal?''

 
          
 
He swallowed hard.

 
          
 
Heart thumping in her throat, Rattling Hooves
reached around and pushed the dart down with the flat of her hand. "I
think that's enough for all of us."

 
          
 
Hungry Bull took the old woman by the
shoulders. "Come, Grandmother. Come and sit and let us all talk this out.
With Heavy Beaver making war in the plains, we can't have the Red Hand breaking
into factions in the mountains. The whole world may die if we do."

 
          
 
White Calf looked up, realizing Hungry Bull
had spoken in
Anit'ah
. "You've got a lot of
sense, boy." She nodded, smacking her old gums. "A lot of
sense."

 
          
 
Rattling Hooves exhaled slowly, seeing the quick
smile Hungry Bull gave her. As she turned, she noticed Elk Charm stood behind
Little Dancer. The boy looked pale, a dart
nocked
in
his
atlatl
. The look Snaps Horn gave him would have
melted ice.

 
          
 
Blood Bear pushed past them, stalking up to
the rock wall and hanging the Wolf Bundle on a peg. Arrogantly, he seated
himself on a tumbled boulder below it and braced his hands on his knees,
looking around with a hard expression.

 
          
 
"Now then, who are these Short Buffalo
People? What do they do here?"

 
          
 
"Where's Two Smokes?" White Calf
asked Elk Charm.

 
          
 
"He's still working on his net. I came
down for another armload of bark. By now he'll be on the way, figuring
something happened."

 
          
 
"The
berdache
is still here fouling the air?" Blood Bear asked in irritation.

 
          
 
Several of the warriors,
Ramshorn
and Never Sweat among them, flinched at the sacrilege. Snaps Horn looked like a
compressed willow stick—ready to strike out in any direction.

 
          
 
"He's part of my family," White Calf
said testily. She hesitated, propping herself as she looked at the Wolf Bundle.
"So the Power hasn't come back to it yet?"

 
          
 
Rattling Hooves caught the drawn expression on
Little Dancer's face, still pale, the total of his concentration on the Wolf
Bundle. His eyes glittered—an expression of tears barely held back. The boy
took a step, then another, one hand outstretched, his mouth working wordlessly.

 
          
 
Blood Bear cocked his head, watching as the
youth came forward, step-by-step, a tear tracing his cheek. Oblivious, he
reached for the Wolf Bundle.

 
          
 
Blood Bear's
atlatl
pushed his hand away.

 
          
 
Little Dancer came to, starting at the
contact, staring down into Blood Bear's hot eyes.

 
          
 
"It's . . . cold," Little Dancer
whispered. "You've made it cold. You don't smoke it in
sweetgrass
. . . don't care for it right. One day, it'll turn against you . . . just like
it will against Heavy Beaver and everyone who doesn't respect it. You're
strangling it."

 
          
 
The warriors shifted uneasily. They stared at
Little Dancer and the Wolf Bundle, backing away a step at a time. Only Snaps
Horn stood his ground, glittering eyes never leaving Little Dancer.

 
          
 
"And you're a heartbeat from dead,
boy," Blood Bear's rejoinder came.

 
          
 
Rattling Hooves could hear Hungry Bull's teeth
grind as he started forward. She reached for him, placing a hand on his
shoulder, acting by instinct. Under her touch, she felt his bunched muscle
barely restrained.

 
          
 
Hungry Bull glanced at her, worry in his eyes.
She shook her head, knowing the anxiety he felt. No, Blood Bear wouldn't hurt
the boy. She could feel it.

 
          
 
Little Dancer's hand fell, the pained look
deepening. "You don't understand. It's waiting. It wants the right person
to clean it, make it whole again. The Power's there, waiting for something ...
for someone. Feel the flames? Feel . . ."

 
          
 
He started to reach for it again, and again
Blood Bear blocked him.

 
          
 
Rattling Hooves couldn't be sure what had
happened. Maybe Blood Bear had hung the Bundle with some kink in the straps
that suddenly loosened. Maybe the light made it appear to move. It seemed to
jump, then patted softly on the rock.

 
          
 
Little Dancer staggered as if slapped and
shook his head He backed away, a dazed look in his eyes. "No," he
whispered. "Not me. I'm not the one!"

 
          
 
Blood Bear cleared his throat, glad for the
distraction. "And no one wishes to speak for these Short Buffalo
People?"

           
 
"They've come to see White Calf."
Rattling Hooves stepped forward. "From the moment they caught me on the
trail, they've been considerate. I don't think they're here to make war."

 
          
 
Blood Bear studied her. A shiver danced up her
spine on frozen prickly feet. Like it or not, she told herself, your life is
changed. How will you ever manage to live in the same camp with him? What will
that do to One Cast and Wet Rain?

 
          
 
"I'm glad to know you've become an expert
on Short Buffalo People."

 
          
 
"They've come here because they can't go
anyplace else," Hungry Bull added from the side, pronouncing the words
thickly.

 
          
 
Blood Bear lifted a lip in a sneer. "I'm
not finished with you, hunter."

 
          
 
"I'm here, Blood Bear." Hungry Bull
stood easily, a slight smile on his face.

 
          
 
Rattling Hooves shot a quick glance in White
Calf's direction. Where was she? This was her opportunity to . . . The old
Spirit Woman seemed made of stone, gleaming eyes burning as she stared at
Little Dancer. The boy had sagged to his knees, mouth open, while his gaze
locked on the Wolf Bundle.

 
          
 
"White Calf?" Rattling Hooves
reached for her, aware of the tension in the air. Black Crow's group shifted
uneasily. The Red Hand waited, totally lost. Everything would turn on White
Calf's words, and the old woman could only watch the boy, that burning interest
in her eyes.

 
          
 
“White Calf!" she hissed, reaching to
pluck at the old woman's sleeve.

 
          
 
"What?" The ancient eyes seemed to
clear. She shook herself, as if to rid her mind of a dream. "Yes?
What?"

 
          
 
Blood Bear reminded haughtily, "The Short
Buffalo People .. . if you'd care to make some comment. If not, I'll solve this
one way or another. Maybe you don't understand the forces at work here, old
woman, but the future of the Red Hand is-"

 
          
 
"Fool!" she snapped, taking a step
forward. "What do you know of the Powers at work? You think you're here
because of Three Toes and Black Crow? Idiot! This is a turning ... a day just
like the one when Heavy Beaver threw the Wolf Bundle into the dirt. Hah! And
you're worried about a few Short Buffalo People?"