The Storyteller Trilogy (67 page)

Her irritation continued to rise as Fox Barking spoke. Did the people believe him? His words were like nets ready to catch them all. Though now he praised Blue-head Duck, had they forgotten how often Fox Barking made jokes about the man, told lies about his children, even his dogs? Did they think he was trustworthy just because he could shed a few tears?

Fox Barking told several old women and two of Blue-head Duck’s nephews to take the man’s body to his wife’s lodge, then when those few were gone, he spoke again about revenge, promising the young men they could take Cousin River women as wives, telling the women their men would bring them back food and furs from the Cousin River storage caches. Finally, Ligige’ could not bear to listen any longer.

She pushed herself up with her walking stick, called out to anyone who would listen, “He is a fool; he is a liar. If you follow him, you are no better than he is.”

She turned to leave the circle, ignoring those who called to her. As she walked away, her anger seemed to clear her mind, and suddenly she knew what Fox Barking meant with his riddles.

The knowledge was like a fist to her stomach, and she had to stop, gasp for breath. Almost, she turned her steps toward Red Leaf’s lodge, but then decided she must spend time thinking before she spoke to Sok.

Her thoughts had been as thin as smoke, drifting in circles, since the battle. Who could believe that a village could lose so much in one day? Who could believe so many people could die? And who could believe her sorrow had not killed her?

Sok stirred the hearth coals then they pulled back their parka hoods, held open hands toward the fire. Finally Chakliux said, “I do not think many people understood the riddles.”

“Perhaps I understood the first,” Sok said. “Red on the snow and on a lodge floor, that means blood. He was talking about the two deaths, our grandfather’s and that of the Sea Hunter woman.”

Chakliux nodded.

“But I do not understand the second riddle.”

Chakliux closed his eyes, tightened his hands into fists. He did not want to say this to Sok. If it was not true, then why repeat it? But if it was true and Fox Barking knew, they must be prepared; they must think before taking action.

“What do we put in midden piles?” he asked softly.

Sok pulled his parka off over his head, laid it on the floor, then snorted. “Things thrown away, things not wanted.”

“Who lives in lodges?” Chakliux asked.

“We do,” Sok said, an edge of irritation hardening his voice. “All of us.”

“People,” Chakliux said. “Not animals, not rocks, not plants, people.”

“Yes,” Sok said.

“Who owns our lodges?”

“The women.”

“The second riddle was ‘She fears she must build a lodge in the midden piles and no longer see the sun.’”

“A woman thrown away,” Sok said. “He is talking about a woman thrown away by her husband.” He frowned. “The only women thrown away in this past year were Blueberry and the Sea Hunter woman.”

Chakliux shook his head. “Fox Barking spoke about a woman who was afraid she might be thrown away.”

“Then it could be any woman.”

“Remember, she is afraid that she will no longer see the sun.” He pointed at the sun motif on Sok’s parka, and saw understanding, then horror, fill Sok’s face.

“Red Leaf?” he said softly. “Not Red Leaf. She cared too much for our grandfather. She would not …” Suddenly, he jumped to his feet. “Fox Barking!” he shouted. “He tries to destroy us. He wants the others to drive us from the village!”

He tore open the doorflap, then stopped, backed into the lodge, his mouth hanging open. Red Leaf entered, her eyes on his face.

“You understand the riddle?” she asked.

“He lies. It is not true,” Sok said.

Then Fox Barking was also in the lodge, his mouth stretched wide in a smile.

“Tell him,” Fox Barking said to Red Leaf.

Her voice was soft, like a whisper. “I killed your grandfather,” she said, “and the Sea Hunter woman.”

“She would have killed me, if she could have,” Fox Barking said, “but she thought I would keep her secret. She thought I would rather preserve my son’s honor. Most times I would, but there are other times …” He looked at Sok and laughed.

“Why?” Sok asked softly.

Red Leaf held her hands out to him, palms up. “So you would get his dogs. So you would have his songs. So you could be chief hunter.”

Sok buried his face in his hands. His shoulders shook, but Chakliux heard no sound. Finally Sok looked at his wife. “A man does not want to be chief hunter in that way,” he told her, and he spoke softly, as if he were talking to a child.

“I was afraid you would throw me away so you could take Snow-in-her-hair as first wife. I knew you wanted her even before I became your wife. I thought I could make you forget her, then I thought that she could be second wife, but Wolf-and-Raven would not give her to you. I thought he might let her come to you if you were chief hunter. Then you would not throw me away. I did not mean to kill the Sea Hunter woman. But she saw me, she and her boy. I thought the boy might tell others, but I dressed as a man, and he must not have known who I was. But Fox Barking saw me….”

“I had just left your grandfather’s lodge,” Fox Barking said. “I saw her from the shadows, but she did not see me. I did not know anyone had died until the next day. Then I remembered who I had seen. I went to Red Leaf and told her I would say nothing, that I did not want my son to be hurt by something his wife did. But sometimes a man can no longer live with lies.”

Sok turned his back on Fox Barking and said to Red Leaf, “We had two strong sons. I would not have thrown you away, but now …” His words faded, and he clenched the knife he wore in a scabbard at his waist. “Do you know how many times I have vowed to kill the one who killed my grandfather?”

“I will leave the village,” Red Leaf said. “I will find some other place to raise your son.”

Sok clenched his teeth. “If I let you leave, you will not take Cries-loud. He will stay with me. Snow-in-her-hair will be his mother.”

“I do not speak of Cries-loud,” Red Leaf said. She placed a hand over her belly. “I speak of this son that I carry under my heart.”

Fox Barking laughed. “So what choice do you have?” he asked. “Keep her. She is a strong woman. Who else can make parkas like Red Leaf? But I must tell you that she is not welcome in this village. You can stay, but she cannot.” He laughed again. “Nor can her son. Either son.”

Sok whirled, scooped up his parka and threw it on the fire. The fur caught, filling the lodge with smoke. “Get out!” he bellowed at Fox Barking. “This woman and I and our sons will leave the village tomorrow morning. Until then, I do not want to see you.” He pushed Fox Barking toward the entrance tunnel.

Chakliux pulled the charred remains of the parka from the hearth fire with a stirring stick and heaved it outside after Fox Barking.

Sok sank to his haunches, sat with his head in his hands. Chakliux sat beside him.

“I will go with you,” he told his brother. “I still hope to find Aqamdax.”

“Aqamdax is dead,” Sok said. “I have seen her death in my dreams.”

“I have not,” Chakliux said quietly.

“So where will we go?”

“To the Cousin River Village.”

“They are our enemies.”

“They were my people. I cannot let Fox Barking plan a revenge raid without warning them.”

“Why should they believe you? Why should they listen? They know you fought against them.”

“I will go quietly, in the night, to my mother.”

“You think she will not kill you?”

“She may try to kill me, but she will listen first.”

“What good will it do them, to know our hunters come? They have only a handful of warriors left.” He looked hard into Chakliux’s eyes. “Do not expect me to fight against my own people. I will not. Against Fox Barking I would seek revenge, not against any other.”

“So then you understand how I feel about my people. I have few I owe revenge: Night Man and Tikaani, though both may now be dead. I did not see Night Man in the battle or among the survivors, and Tikaani was taken away on the travois. That leaves only my mother.”

“And in this village, Red Leaf,” Sok said, staring at the woman until she huddled against the wall of the lodge, covered her face with her hands.

For a long time, neither man spoke, but finally Sok broke the silence. “I will take Red Leaf and Cries-loud and leave in the morning. I will travel near the Cousin River Village. If you choose to come with me, then come. I will wait for you while you visit the Cousin River People. If you do not return, I will go on, try to find a River village that will welcome a hunter and his wife. Or perhaps I will build a lodge near the Grandfather Lake and stay there.” He looked into Chakliux’s eyes. “It has been a good thing to have a brother.”

They rolled out sleeping mats, but Chakliux could not sleep. They had already packed many of their belongings and would empty out their storage caches in the morning. Though Wolf-and-Raven had killed most of Sok’s dogs, he still had Snow Hawk and two others. Chakliux had Black Nose. With the dogs and the four of them—Chakliux, Sok, Red Leaf and Cries-loud—they could take much with them, even Red Leaf’s caribouskin lodge cover.

Cries-loud had come to them as they were packing, but Sok had refused to answer the boy’s many questions. Finally Red Leaf drew him aside, spoke to him for a long time. Then the boy, too, helped them, his face somber, his eyes red and swollen, though Chakliux saw no tears on his face.

Halfway through the night, Chakliux heard someone outside the lodge. He sat up, reached for his knife. If others had solved Fox Barking’s riddles, they might come for revenge, but then he heard the scratching on the lodge wall. What enemy scratched before entering? He crept through the entrance tunnel. Snow-in-her-hair stood outside, her son bound to her back.

“I need to talk to my husband.”

Chakliux beckoned her into the lodge and saw that Red Leaf and Sok were awake. Sok sat down beside the hearth.

Chakliux wrapped himself up in his sleeping robes, lay down and turned his back.

“Fox Barking came to me,” Snow-in-her-hair said. “What he told me, is it true?”

“Yes,” Red Leaf said quietly, and came to stand beside Sok.

“Why did you do such a thing?”

“To keep my husband,” Red Leaf said.

“Almost, I can understand,” said Snow-in-her-hair, then she asked, “If I come with you, will I and my child be safe?”

“You will be safe,” Sok said, his words loud after the quietness of the women’s voices.

“No,” Snow-in-her-hair said, “I am asking Red Leaf.”

“You will be safe, and any of your children.”

“When do you leave?”

“In the morning,” Sok said, “after we have taken the lodge cover down.”

“Can you help me with my lodge cover also?” she asked.

“I will help you,” Sok said, and Chakliux heard the gladness in his voice.

She left, and then their mother Day Woman came. Her tears and sobbing woke even Cries-loud. She would come with them, she said, and no argument from Sok or Chakliux could convince her otherwise. She had already brought her pack. Fox Barking was angry, she said, but he did not stop her. What good was she, a woman without sons in the village, a woman too old to bear more sons? Fox Barking would probably throw her away at the beginning of the next winter. He was better off with a younger wife.

What could Chakliux and Sok do except agree to take her?

In the morning, when they rolled up their sleeping robes, when Red Leaf and Day Woman went to empty the food cache, as Cries-loud and Chakliux began to take the lodge cover from the poles, then Ligige’ came to them. She was leading Wolf-and-Raven’s dog, her belongings strapped to the dog’s back. She sat on her haunches and watched them work, called out advice now and again.

By noon, they were ready to leave the village. Ignoring the curses shouted against them, and acknowledging the cries that were blessings, they started out: two hunters, two wives, a boy, a baby, five dogs and two old women.

F
OR THE THIRD TIME
since the men had returned, K’os’s dreams took her back to the day at the Grandfather Rock. For the third night, she was not K’os, healer, feared by all, but K’os, daughter of Mink, a girl without power. She awoke with a start. Her bedding was wrapped around her, pinning her arms as Gull Wing had pinned her arms, and her hair had come loose from its braid and lay across her face, smothering her as her parka had smothered her.

Then she heard the man’s voice. Because she was still in her dream, she thought it was Gull Wing. She opened her mouth to scream, but in taking a breath, drew her own hair down her throat. Hands were on her face, but they were gentle, pulling away the hair, loosening the blankets. Then her mind cleared and her eyes, and she knew it was Chakliux.

She pushed away his hands, then stood, shook off her bedding furs, catching one to wrap around her waist. She stirred the hearth coals, moved a tripod that held a caribou skin of stew closer to the coals, then squatted on her haunches and looked at him.

He was larger than she remembered, and his face had changed. Boy to man? No, that had happened long before. Storyteller to warrior. Perhaps that.

“So you are alive,” she said to him.

The words were harsh, rough with the phlegm of sleep.

His silence reminded her of Ground Beater, and she wondered if the spirit of her dead husband had come to Chakliux, had strengthened him with a need for revenge.

“Our warriors say the Near River men fought bravely,” K’os said. “They also tell me you led them.”

“We fought to protect the women and children, the old ones,” Chakliux said.

K’os rose and took two wooden bowls, filled them with meat from the cooking bag. “You will eat?” she asked, holding both bowls out to him.

He took one, wrapped his hands around it and waited until K’os took the first bite, then he ate.

“You are afraid I would poison you?” she asked, mocking him.

“You have taught me to be careful,” he answered.

“And because I eat, you think you are safe? What if I, too, have decided to die? What if I decided to sacrifice myself in order to kill the one who has killed so many of my people?”