The People of the Black Sun (53 page)

He came to the last man in line and stood silently, his hands clasped behind his back, staring not at his warrior, but up at Sindak. The man had been watching Negano, his gaze following him down the line of warriors. Negano knew the kinds of questions Sindak must be asking himself. He also knew that Sindak must have a nest of vipers slithering around in his belly—just as Negano did.

In the end, everything,
everything,
came down to a matter of trust.

 

Fifty-four

Sky Messenger

I'm not sure where I am. Smoke fills the warm air. My left eye won't open, and all I see through my right eye is a cloudy shifting haze filled with golden twinkles that shoot across my vision like meteors falling to earth. My fingers spastically clench, unclench.

I squint, trying to focus, to make out faces in the haze. All I see are ghostly gray figures spinning like wind-touched mist, without substance or form. Distant voices rush close, then fade to nothingness; I'm not sure they're real.

I faintly remember being struck with a war club. Many times when warriors are struck in the head one of their eyes goes milky. I think that's what happened to me.

Somewhere high above me, crows caw, and I hear birds singing. Insects hum in the grass.

Baji? Gitchi? Where are they? Are they right here beside me, guarding me?

Maybe they didn't escape.…

Pain too terrible to endure suddenly wrenches me, turning me inside out. I think my arms and legs are flopping, but I'm not sure. When the seizure ends, tears leak from my eyes and trail hotly down my cheeks.

I have the vague sensation that my condition is placing everyone around me in danger, and I have the overwhelming urge to run … but I can't feel my legs.

 

Fifty-five

Hiyawento followed Disu, sliding through the dry grass on his belly, heading for Saponi, who wore Hiyawento's Truth Belt around his waist. When the runner had realized Sky Messenger was not here, he'd obviously delivered it to the man in charge. Saponi had wedged himself between two rocks overlooking the battlefield and Bur Oak Village. Even from ten paces away, Hiyawento could see that Saponi's pockmarked face was cold and gray. The scent of fear sweat filled the air. The rest of Saponi's warriors crouched behind the boulders that scattered the hilltop.

Disu shifted to whisper, “Let me tell him you're here.”

Hiyawento nodded and wiped his brow while he waited.

A short while ago, Hadui had begun tormenting the hills, thrashing through the forest and hurling old leaves and gravel like weapons. To the north, a black wall of Cloud People was pushing south, and Hiyawento had the feeling the unseasonably warm weather was about to end.

Brittle leaves had blown into every hollow, making the hill look smooth and rounded, though Hiyawento knew from experience, it was not. Dips and rocky holes stippled the ground, making it treacherous footing, especially if a man were running for his life. He'd move these warriors immediately, as soon as he'd talked it over with Saponi.

Disu made it to Saponi and touched his friend's foot, announcing his presence before he crawled up beside Saponi and started talking.

Saponi shoved up on one elbow to search for Hiyawento, then he lifted a hand, waving Hiyawento to join them.

As he crawled forward, the smell of death, of rotting muscles and intestines, drifted through the trees like an invisible miasma, blowing up from the corpses piled against the Bur Oak palisades and the surrounding meadows. It would get worse as the day wore on.

Hiyawento slid forward and Disu moved to the side, yielding his position next to Saponi. Saponi was a burly man with brown eyes and a nose like a flattened beetle. His cape bore the interlocking green and blue rectangles of the Snipe Clan. Hiyawento wedged himself, shoulder-to-shoulder, between Saponi and Disu. Boulders rose twenty hands tall on either side of them.

“We're very glad to see you War Chief Hiyawento,” Saponi said.

“And I to see you. After I heard about the Mountain army, I feared all I would find here was a smoldering pile of rubble.”

“Not yet, but we just received word from one of our scouts that there's a Flint war party heading this way.”

“They're part of the alliance, Saponi. They—”

“If I knew Chief Cord was still alive, I wouldn't be worried, but he may be dead and the new Chief no friend of ours.”

Hiyawento took a breath and through a long exhalation said, “How long until the Flint war party arrives?”

“Nightfall. Even if they're on our side, they won't make it in time to help us.”

Hiyawento thought the ramifications through. He didn't have the luxury of worrying about the Flint People right now. He'd consider them later, if he was still alive. “All right. Here's the situation: Towa will arrive shortly, dragging hundreds of Landing People with him. Some are warriors. By the time he reports, he'll have the warriors who wish to fight for us separated out. There may be one hundred. Two if we're very fortunate. The rest are starving women, children, and elders.” He vented a breath. “Now, tell me what's happening here?”

Through the narrow crack in the rocks, Hiyawento could see almost the entire battlefield below. He scanned it quickly … Bur Oak Village on the left, along with the useless burned-out husk of Yellowtail Village. Just in front of Bur Oak, in a wavy line, stood around four hundred warriors. Then, out at a distance of perhaps seventy paces, the Mountain army created an enormous crescent. It cupped the meadow on three sides, and was perfectly positioned to close in with crushing force.

“Those are Negano's warriors.” Saponi pointed to the four hundred.

Hiyawento grimaced. “Why on earth does Negano have his people sandwiched between the Standing Stone archers and the Mountain warriors? Is he trying to get them killed?”

“We've been wondering the same thing. It is … incomprehensible.”

“When the battle starts, the Mountain army will push the Hills warriors right into the range of the Standing Stone archers. They'll be butchered.”

Disu added, “Unless they are shot from behind first—as many will be. I don't care what agreement has been made, this is the chance of a lifetime for Mountain warriors to fulfill blood oaths against the Hills People.”

A ghostly wail, high and thin, wavered in the distance and Hiyawento thought for a moment it was mingled cries of unbearable pain, then he saw the Mountain army shaking fists with their heads thrown back. Clan war cries. The army began to move. Like a many-legged beast, it lurched forward with ragged clan flags jerking about in blurs of blue, red, and black.

A wayward arrow thunked into the boulder to Hiyawento's left and splintered into a thousand flying pieces. Disu covered his head and flattened out on the ground. Saponi and Hiyawento just flinched and continued watching the advancing army.

The warriors on the Bur Oak catwalks had their bows fully drawn back, patiently waiting for the enemy to get into range.

Hiyawento shook his head. “Why haven't Negano's warriors already started picking off the people in the open on the catwalk? They're just standing there.”

“I don't know how he thinks, but…” Saponi extended a finger toward the far right where the curve of the meadow butted against the rocky eastern hills. Twenty or so people stood in a knot. “You should know that the man lying on the ground before Atotarho is the Prophet, Sky Messenger.” Reverence touched Saponi's voice. He was a believer. He had witnessed the monstrous storm.

Hiyawento examined the body. Sky Messenger appeared to be unconscious.
Blessed Ancestors, please don't let him be dead.
“I can identify Atotarho and Nesi, and Chief Wenisa must be the big man, correct?”

“Yes. The others are the chief's personal guards. They…”

A din of gasps and soft cries erupted from the warriors surrounding them, and Disu said,
“I don't believe it! What are they doing?”

Hiyawento looked just in time to see the Hills warriors pivot on their heels, swinging full around to face the oncoming Mountain army. They loosed a devastating volley of arrows into the onslaught. Hundreds of Mountain warriors fell, forcing the rushing people behind them to stumble and leap their fallen friends before they could continue their charge. Enraged roars rumbled across the valley. In the stunned moments after the volley, Negano shouted something Hiyawento couldn't hear, but he watched in fascination as Negano's forces turned tail and ran as hard as they could for the Bur Oak Village gates. Screaming Mountain warriors chased after them, loosing arrows on the run. Many of Negano's warriors went down. Just before the survivors hit the gates, they swung open, and his warriors flooded inside to a deafening bellow of outrage from the Mountain People. The gates immediately swung closed, and Wenisa's army hit the walls like a hurricane, shrieking and shouting curses, while Standing Stone arrows rained down upon them.

“Gods,” Saponi said. “What just happened?”

Hiyawento shook his head. “I'm not sure.”

Disu let out a bizarre cackle, then he threw his head back and laughed. “Don't you see? Negano and his people just joined the Peace Alliance!”

*   *   *

Negano brought up the rear, shoving his warriors through the gates in front of him, shouting, “Move! Get inside! Hurry!”

As he pushed his warriors into the plaza, he heard the guards slam the locking planks on the gates into position behind him, and found himself surrounded by Standing Stone warriors with drawn bows. He shouted to his warriors, “Lay down your weapons! Lift your hands!”

With shocked expressions, his warriors did it. White-faced, they lifted their empty hands, and stared at the circle of bows that had closed like a bristly noose around them.

Negano desperately searched for Sindak but didn't see him anywhere. He was probably still on the catwalk handling the murderous onslaught outside. Instead, a tall woman, half a head taller than Negano, strode across the plaza. They knew her. Every last one of them. An odd hush came over his warriors. They shoved each other aside to create a path for her to reach Negano, and she walked through the press alone, her stony black eyes fixed on Negano's.

He held his hands higher in the air. She had just allowed around three hundred enemy warriors into her village, into the midst of vulnerable women, children, and elders—warriors who had been murdering her people yesterday. He didn't know what to expect, and nothing on her expressionless face told him.

Blessed Spirits, she had a presence. She looked completely unafraid, or maybe she'd just given herself up for dead days ago. When she stood before him, her black eyes glistened with deadly intent.

Negano said, “Matron Jigonsaseh, thank you for helping us, we—”

“Get your people up on the catwalk immediately. We're going to be short on arrows. I want one dead Mountain warrior for every arrow loosed. Move!”

“Y-Yes, Matron,” he stammered. He half-bowed, hesitated for only a heartbeat, then marched into the middle of his warriors to shout, “Pick up your bows and get to the catwalk now! Careful shots. One arrow for one kill. Go!”

She watched him with stone-cold eyes as Negano led his people to the closest ladders, and they charged up to join the battle.…