People of the Mist (52 page)

 
          
Nine
Killer swallowed hard, shaking his head. “You told Shell Comb that you had a
dream? That First Man came to you?”

 
          
Panther’s
lips twitched, voice softening. “Yes, that part was true, too.” He glanced at
Nine Killer. “You heard those things I told Shell Comb, about losing everything
to find everything? I meant that, War Chief. That is the most important lesson
I can teach anyone.” He smiled wistfully. “But so few people understand just
how important that lesson is.”

 
          
The
old man gestured for silence and continued plodding his way through the snow
for the palisade. Sun Conch Hesitated long enough to give Nine Killer a
questioning look. He frowned, then raised his shoulders in a vague shrug. The
original bond had been forged between the two of them. If Sun Conch didn’t
understand, Nine Killer couldn’t be expected to, either.

 
          
“Oddly
enough,” Nine Killer whispered for Sun Conch’s ears, “I still trust him. I’m
not sure why, but I do.”

 
          
“I
think it’s because he’s seen through the eyes of Okeus,” Sun Conch whispered.
“And what he saw there sent lightning bolts through his soul.”

 
          
Half
Moon, Nine Killer’s brother-in-law by marriage, was waiting for him inside the
palisade gate. Nine Killer gestured to The Panther, saying, “This looks like
family business. Why don’t you and Sun Conch go and warm yourselves. Rosebud
will have tea for you.”

 
          
Panther
nodded gratefully, shivering from the cold. Then he shuffled off across the
plaza toward Rosebud’s long house Sun Conch walked just to one side, casting
about as usual for any sign of danger.

 
          
“Busy
day?” Half Moon asked. He stood a full two heads taller than Nine Killer. Long
ropy muscles covered his limbs, and his shoulders, though stooped, were built
for endurance rather than brute force. Half Moon’s lower lip tended to stick
out, and his rounded nose and perpetual squint gave him a perplexed look that
caused people to underestimate him on first acquaintance.

 
          
Nine
Killer fingered the handle of his war club, tied to his breech clout “Very. It
started first thing this morning with errands for the Weroansqua; then I had to
carry some baskets of corn out to Aunt Windleaf. She refuses to live inside a
palisade now, claims the air loses its spirit, whatever that means. I guess she
thinks it gets worn out being breathed by so many people.”

 
          
“And
him?” Half Moon twitched his lips to indicate

 
          
The
Panther. To Nine Killer’s amusement, no one seemed to grant Sun Conch any
recognition. As the witch’s servant, she might have become invisible.

 
          
“I
just took him to a meeting with Shell Comb. She wanted to talk to him.”

 
          
“About
what?” Half Moon crossed his arms, uneasy eyes watching the old man hobble past
one of the Guardian posts outside the House of the Dead.

 
          
“I
don’t know,” Nine Killer lied. “I don’t listen to the Weroansqua’s business.”

 
          
“Ah,
the Weroansqua’s business!” Half Moon grinned. “So, Shell Comb wasn’t just
being sociable?”

 
          
“Brother,
I don’t know. Maybe, or maybe not. She wanted to talk to him in private. I
serve my clan, just as you serve yours. Now, what can I do for you?”

 
          
“Go
and see your wife.” Half Moon scratched at his ear lobe. “How long has it been?
A week, maybe two? White Star is starting to think she’s a widow. You’ve been
spending all of your time at your sister’s.”

 
          
“Red
Knot’s murder unsettled too many things. That’s clan business. Then we had the
raid against
Three
Myrtle
Village
. You know how that went.” “Old friend, if
we never find ourselves in that kind of mess again, it will be too soon. That
raid should never have taken place. It was wrong—ill advised from the
beginning. Only that old man saved us … saved us everything, in fact.”

 
          
Nine
Killer smiled up, at his hr otherin-law. They’d been companions and warriors
long before they’d become kin through marriage. In fact, had they not been such
good friends, Nine Killer wouldn’t have married White Star. She was nearly six
years older than he, and a widow. After her husband’s death, it was found that
part of his intestine had broken through the gut wall and into his right
scrotum. There it had choked itself, and ruptured, and rot had festered
throughout him.

 
          
White
Star should have remarried to a more prestigious man than a young unknown
Greenstone warrior. At that time, Nine Killer was a mere youth, and hadn’t even
earned his name in that daring raid on the Mamanatowick’s Weroance at
Mattaponi
Village
. But, because of Half Moon’s influence, and
because he came from Greenstone Clan, the marriage was arranged. The youngster
who would become War Chief Nine Killer married the most beautiful woman in the
village—save, of course, Shell Comb. But in those days, his cousin was still
married to Monster Bone, and was living at Three Myrtle.

 
          
“Friend,
I have to tell you, I don’t know about this Panther.” Half Moon crossed his long
arms. “He might have saved us at Three Myrtle, but people are nervous. What’s
he doing here? What is he after, brother?”

 
          
“If
I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.”

 
          
“Oh,
come on. This is your brother-in-law that you’re talking to—if not your oldest
friend.”

 
          
Nine
Killer gave Half Moon a conspiratorial look. “He’s here because of Sun Conch.”

 
          
“What?”

 
          
“I
told you you wouldn’t believe it.”

 
          
Half
Moon gave him a disappointed look.

 
          
“All
right, I’m supposed to come home and warm White Star’s robes tonight. Good,
tell her I’ll be there. Late, but I’ll be there.” He winced. “Unless, of
course, some kind of problem pops out of nowhere to ambush my best intentions.”
“Like your sister throwing the witch out of her house? Don’t you dare bring him
to your wife’s. White Star loves you, but she doesn’t want her children exposed
to the likes of him. It’s bad enough that you do that to your sister’s
children.”

 
          
“Oh,
even I am smarter than to bring him into White Star’s long house

 
          
Half
Moon hesitated, kicking at the dirt.

 
          
“What
is it, brother? Speak up. The time for minding one’s tongue is long passed for
us.”

 
          
“It’s
my nephew, Rabbit,” Half Moon said, meaning Nine Killer’s son. “He’s got it
into his head that he’s going to run off and join the Great Tayac’s warriors.
Apparently there is some story going around about Shell Comb marrying Copper
Thunder. If so, there will be an alliance. Rabbit thinks he’s going to pack up
and travel upriver so he can fight for the Great Tayac.”

 
          
“Tell
him no.”

 
          
Half
Moon sighed. “Oh, I did that. White Star and I both told him no. He is adamant,
almost to the point of insolence. You can see the defiance in his eyes. He is
your son, Nine Killer. Just as buck-strong and thick headed When I told him
that, I saw the satisfaction in his face. That’s when I got to thinking,
perhaps, if you had a word with him… ?”

 
          
Nine
Killer pursed his lips as Half Moon talked, and nodded. “I will, old friend. If
you think it will do any good. I can’t forbid him, I don’t have the right. It’s
your clan business, what he does.”

 
          
“Yes,
I know. But he admires you more than anyone. In spite of the fact that you
spoiled him rotten, turned him into this incorrigible monster, he still thinks
you’re the most important man on earth. At least, he did until the Great Tayac
showed up. Now, he wants to be tattooed like that—that forked eye design—when
he’s Blackened. As if the Sun Shell Clan designs weren’t good enough!”

 
          
Nine
Killer chuckled and crossed his arms. “I’ll speak to the boy, tell him that if
he doesn’t listen to his uncle, I’ll hunt him down and whack him—even if he is
sprung from my loins. And, after I’ve done that, I’ll trade you straight
across. Rabbit for White Otter.”

 
          
“No,
you don’t.” Half Moon raised his hands in defense. “Your seed grew nothing but
boys in White Star’s womb, but, thankfully, no daughters!”

 
          
“Girls
aren’t so bad.”

 
          
“Aren’t
they? Says who?”

 
          
“And
whose house do you think you’ll live in when you get. old and outlive your
wife? Do you think the woman Rabbit marries is going to let you freeload when
your teeth have fallen out?” Nine Killer thumped his chest with a fist. “Now,
me, I can wear out White Otter’s hospitality, and then go mooch off of Slender
Bark, and when she finally throws me out, I can go to Little Shell’s. If I’m still
alive when she’s tired of feeding me, there’s always Sea Rice. See the benefits
of four nieces? You always have a place to live.”

 
          
“Then,
as an old man, I shall curse you for giving White Star no daughters, and, since
it’s your fault, I’ll come live with you and your nieces.”

 
          
“Done!”
Nine Killer reached out and shook Half Moon’s hand.

 
          
They
chuckled together for a moment, happy with their well-established friendship,
rocking back and forth on their heels as they watched the doings in the plaza.
Nine Killer studied the people who went about their duties.

 
          
She
would have glanced back from the palisade gate, taken a look at the plaza. Nine
Killer turned enough that he could see the gate. Yes, she would have stopped
here, just in the shadow of the post, and looked back. What did she see?

 
          
“What’s
that?” Half Moon asked.

 
          
“What
did she see?” Nine Killer repeated. “Red Knot, that last morning. She left
through the palisade gate. Stood right here where we are. What did she see when
she looked back? If only I could see through her eyes. Was anyone there,
watching her go?”

 
          
“The
man who killed her, perhaps?” Half Moon shrugged. “I don’t know. No one will
ever know. The dead are dead, brother. What they know dies with them.”

 
          
“I
suppose.”

 
          
“Rabbit
wants to cut his hair like the Great Tayac’s.” Half Moon made a face. “He wants
to cut it all off on the sides. He’s still a boy. I told him, when he goes
through the Huskanaw he can do any silly thing he pleases, but so long as he
lives in our household, he must follow Sun Shell Clan rules. Is that too much
to ask?”

 
          
“He’s
just a boy.”

 
          
“Oh,
he’s all of that.” Half Moon agreed. “He’s too much your son, that’s what. All
that energy, and I’m the one who has to turn him into a human being, not a wild
weasel.”

 
          
“Weasels
are great hunters. You’ll never have to worry about him being hungry.”

 
          
“Weasels
are savage fighters, and bloodthirsty to boot!”

 
          
“I’ll
talk to him,” Nine Killer said in reassuring tones. “But, keep in mind. He
doesn’t have to listen to me. I’m only his father.”

 
          
“I
know, but I think he will.” Half Moon reached out and clapped Nine Killer on
the shoulder. “I think your wife would appreciate it if you weren’t too late
tonight. I think she’ll cook up something special for you.”