Dread writhed inside her like a snake.
Bright Bird led her to a bench in the shed at the east end of the square. Livi settled herself, adjusted the narrow buckskin skirt and knotted her fingers in the folds of her woven cloak. She must hold herself together, Bright Bird had warned her. She must hold her peace.
What she ached to do was hold her child.
The place was just as Bright Bird had described it—four mud-and-stick sheds facing the open plaza. She searched each of them for some sign of her son, some sign of Reid.
She noticed Red Hand immediately. Though his expression was hidden beneath his bright mask of paint, she could sense the menace in him in the set of those mammoth shoulders and the way he rested one hand on the hilt of his knife. He had come here to take her baby's life.
After a moment, she noticed Reid standing stiff and alone at the far end of the square. Since he'd come to see her earlier, he had donned a mantle trimmed in fur and tucked white feathers into the woven band he wore around his head. A belt made of silver disks encircled his waist, and his moccasins were thick with beads. The fine clothes made him seen grand, imposing. They turned him into someone she didn't know.
Livi searched his face for reassurance. What she saw was strength. She sought hope and calm in the depths of his eyes. They were distant and bleak as the winter sky.
"It is starting," Bright Bird whispered.
Anxiety washed hot up Livi's chest.
The Creek's leader, the Miko, took his seat in the shed at the west end of the square, beneath a panel carved with birds and alligators. He was a heavily tattooed man of middling years, wearing a mantle of bobcat skins and a headdress adorned with swan feathers. Livi recognized two of the men attending him as ones who had been at the cabin. One was painted white, as he'd been then. The other was the translator.
The Miko rose to his feet and the crowd fell silent.
"Headmen, warriors, beloved Old Men, my brothers and sisters of all the red and white clans." Bright Bird translated for Livi in an undertone. "We have come together today to discuss a matter of great importance to the future of the chiefdom. It is a matter that has long concerned us, a matter that will determine the fate of our village and our people."
Livi knotted her hands in her lap.
"In the early days of the war between the British and the colonists, Colonel Henry Hamilton, the one known to us as The Hair Buyer, sent emissaries to our town to persuade us to fight for the British cause. While The Hair Buyer's men were here, they took from us certain objects sacred to the Creeks. They took two of the copper disks that were granted to us by the Master of Breath. Through his men, The Hair Buyer assured us that if we fought for the English against the settlers, he would keep these sacred objects safe. He said if we did not fight, he would fulfill the words of our ancient prophecy and give the disks to our enemies, the Shawnee."
Livi looked to where Reid sat on the far side of the square. She had never seen him so impassive. Something about that stillness unnerved her. It made him a stranger to her in a way his Indian garb did not. Was he gathering himself for the confrontation that lay ahead, she wondered, or had he accepted that saving Little David was impossible?
"To keep the colonists from our land," the Miko went on, "we agreed to take up weapons in the English cause. For a time, The Hair Buyer kept his word. He held our sacred disks and kept them safe. But in the war, The Hair Buyer was taken prisoner and our sacred disks were lost.
"With their loss, our fortunes as a tribe grew dark. The British withdrew from the land they call Virginia. Our Great Warrior Emistesigo was killed in battle. Our days grew heavy with mourning and fear.
"Then word came that Ravens Flight, grandson of Light of Dawn and the trader McTavish, had protected the disks of our ancestors from harm. We sent Red Hand to search out the lodge of Ravens Flight and bring the disks to those of us who have mourned their loss. And so it is that I have spoken."
Looking to where Red Hand was waiting, the Miko resumed his seat.
As Red Hand rose, Livi went weightless inside. In the way he swaggered to the head of the square, she could sense his arrogance, see how eager he was to speak.
"It is I, Red Hand," he began, "who was given the great honor and responsibility of finding Ravens Flight. I, Red Hand, who did what had to be done to ensure the return of the sacred disks."
For the first time, the crowd gathered around the square, murmured with approval. Livi realized all at once that the crowd's response to his words would weigh heavily on whether Little David lived or died.
"We found the cabin of Ravens Flight in the far hills of Kentucky," Red Hand went on, "and when we did, we saw that Ravens Flight had foresworn his Creek heritage. He had defied our ancient prophecy by giving the disks that had been entrusted to his keeping to the English and Shawnee."
Red Hand gestured to where Reid sat at the edge of the square. "This is the kind of treachery we have come to expect from men like him. Men whose blood is thinned by marriage to whites. Men who have repudiated Creek beliefs. Men whose honor is tarnished by years of living among our enemies."
Reid sat as if he had been carved from stone. Only the color rising in his face hinted that he took exception to the other man's claims.
"It was his duty to care for the sacred plates," Red Hand went on. "To see that they were returned to the Creek nation. Instead he betrayed us. He gave the sacred disks to those who would use their power to bend the Creeks to their will."
Livi heard some of the men seated near her hiss.
"But I, Red Hand, undermined this man's treachery. I tore Ravens Flight's son from the arms of his white mother. I brought Ravens Flight's child here to the chiefdom to pay for his father's treachery." Red Hand's voice rose. "I, Red Hand, demanded that this tainted man, this dishonored man, recover the disks from the English and return them to where they rightfully belong. Here. Among the Creeks, who venerate their power."
A shiver ran the length of Livi's back.
"Ravens Flight sits among us now, but I do not see the disks. I do not know if he recovered them from the British. I do not know if he reclaimed that which we need to ensure the future for our tribe. I believe he has not. And because he has not, the Master of Breath demands Ravens Flight's son to be sacrificed for his father's treachery."
Red Hand's threat called up Livi's worst fears—that her child would be hurt, that she'd be helpless to prevent it.
She shifted on the bench, ready to push to her feet and offer herself in her son's place.
But Bright Bird tightened her grip on Livi's wrist. "You must not act. You must let Ravens Flight answer the charges."
Livi fought the woman's hold.
"You must put your trust in Ravens Flight!"
In Reid, who had fought for her and her family. In Reid, who wanted more than anything to send them back to Lynchburg. In Reid, who might have reasons of his own for acceding to the Council's demands.
Fear squirmed inside her.
Then Reid rose from his seat and strode to the center of the plaza. As he stood straight and still, the angles of his face showed in stark relief, like bones bleached white by the wind and sun.
"Have you brought the disks to us, Ravens Flight?" the Miko asked him.
"I would see my son before I answer."
The man seated beside Livi howled with disapproval. Others around the council square shouted and shook their heads.
In asking to see his son, Reid was questioning Red Hand's honor, calling for a decision the Miko didn't want to make.
Reid stood like a tower of granite in a world of sand. He did not acknowledge the Miko's scowl or the tumult rising around him. He made it clear he would not relent.
"This is not so unreasonable a request," the Miko finally offered in a conciliatory fashion. "Bring the child."
Stiff with indignation, Red Hand turned and nodded to one of his emissaries. The man ran off.
For several interminable minutes, the crowd rumbled with specula
tion. Was the child here? When they saw him, would the Council still seek his sacrifice?
Livi's heart beat hard against her ribs.
Red Hand paced.
Reid never moved.
Then Red Hand's man returned, bringing with him a young Indian woman carrying a child. At the sight, fresh speculation buzzed through the crowd.
Livi barely heard them. All she could see was the fair-haired infant in the woman's arms. From a distance she devoured every inch of him from the dome of his downy head to his tiny moccasined feet. She watched him pucker his soft, sweet mouth and blink those big dark eyes. Her heart turned over when she saw how alive her David was in his son.
Just then the baby cooed, as if he were calling out to her. Heedless of her surroundings, Livi rose to go to him.
Across the council square, the Indian woman looked up; for a moment a mélange of emotions seemed to shiver between them. Then David cooed a second time and turned his face into the squaw's breast to nurse.
Livi tried to hold back the cry of distress that rose in her throat, but it was as if her son had chosen this stranger over her.
Shaken, Livi looked up and saw Reid standing stiff with reproach. He had tried to keep her away from the council square for just this reason. She read the anger in his face and nearly sank to her knees under the suffocating weight of the mistake she'd made by coming here.
Then, for the briefest moment, Reid betrayed himself. He let her see how much she and David mattered to him. The love and fear that shone in his eyes stole the very last of her strength.
She sank to the bench chastened, breathless. She finally understood all there was at stake. If Reid failed to win his way, he would lose not just the child, not just her love and respect. He would lose himself.
When Livi looked back to make sure she'd understood what she'd seen, Reid deliberately turned away from her.
"Ravens Flight, grandson of Light of Dawn," the Miko said in a tone that was gruff with disapproval. "You have seen your son. You have seen how well we have cared for him while he has been with us. Can you say you guarded the sacred disks as carefully while they were in your keeping?"
Instead of answering, Reid bowed his head for a moment as if to gather himself. "I was told that if I brought the sacred disks to my grandmother's people, my child would be returned to me."
Hearing the angry mumbles in the crowd, Livi realized none of them, not even the Miko, knew what Red Hand had promised Livi.
The warrior sprang to his feet. "I brought the boy here as a sacrifice."
Livi looked to the others who had been at the cabin, the men on the Miko's right and left, to tell the truth.
They did not speak.
"He did promised," Livi whispered to Bright Bird. "Why else would we have gone through so much to return the disks?"
Red Hand turned back to the Council. "Even if what Ravens Flight says is true, why didn't he return the sacred plates long before this?"
In that moment Livi sensed more than saw the change in Reid. His shoulders shifted. The angle of his jaw seemed not quite so resolute.
Her mouth went dry.
"When I first took the disks from The Hair Buyer," Reid answered, his gaze turning to the men in the crowd, "I should have brought the disks here, to my grandmother's people.
"Instead I rode with Colonel Clark, to whom I owed a debt of honor. I went into the woods of Kentucky and helped a man to whom I owed a debt of friendship deeper than I can ever repay to build a home for his family. I see now that I was wrong to put these other responsibilities ahead of what I owed the Creek nation.
"If I had known of the distress the missing plates were causing my people, of the privations the Creeks were suffering, I would not have waited. I have not lived up to my responsibilities to the tribe, and I accept any judgment you see fit to give me."
As Bright Bird had said that he must, Reid was expressing his regrets to the Council in order to save the baby. Knowing that humility had never come easily and recognizing how Reid was humbling himself, Livi suddenly understood that at times in his life pride was all he'd had.
"But what of the disks?" Red Hand demanded when it seemed as if Reid's words might sway the men around them. "We still have not seen the sacred disks of which he speaks."
Reid's lips flared with fleeting disdain. "Would I bring the disks here and display them for all to see, especially when they are to be viewed only at the time of the Green Corn Busk?"
"Where are they, then?" the Miko demanded.
Reid's stance tightened. He glanced around the council square. "The disks are where they belong."
"And where is that?" The Interpreter spoke in the Miko's stead.
"Have the Holy Men go look in the sacred place where the disks are kept."
The men painted and dressed in white rose as one and disappeared into the compartment at the back of the Miko's shed.
Livi's heart twisted as she watched them go. How could Reid have given back the disks when they were all they had to barter?
While Red Hand paced, Reid stood tight-lipped in the center of the square. And though Livi willed it, he refused to so much as glance at her.
Trembling inside, she watched her baby sleep in another woman's arms. She wondered if this the last she would see her and David's precious child?
Would she even have a chance to hold him one last time?
The Holy Men were gone for a very long while. Shadows scudded cross the open plaza. The wind picked up, rattling the woven roofs over the daub-and-wattle sheds. The crowd mumbled in speculation.
Livi shivered and tried to hold herself together.
Then all at once the men in white emerged from the shadows behind the Miko's chair.
"The disks are here!" the leader among them announced, holding up two familiar doeskin bags. "The sacred plates have been returned to us."
Torn by both hope and fear, Livi sucked in her breath.
The Miko rose slowly. "You have returned the sacred disks to us, Ravens Flight. For that we thank you. But why have you given the plates to us when you have yet to learn the Council's disposition for your child?"
Reid inclined his head. "It is long past time for me to return to my people—to the Creeks—those things that are rightfully theirs. I have no fear for my son's safety. The Council's judgment is always just."
"Oh, God!" Livi breathed. How could Reid entrust David's life to the Council?
Bright Bird wrapped her arm around Livi's waist and drew her close. "It will be all right."
Red Hand stood. "But how can we know the sacred plates have not been profaned during the years they were in Ravens Flight's stewardship? How can we be certain the Master of Breath has been appeased by the return of the disks? I say we must sacrifice the child, burn him in the sacred fire to ensure the Master's blessings for all the Creek villages."
Livi shivered and, at the far end of the square, she saw the Indian woman draw Little David closer.
When Reid answered, his voice was soft, resolute. "From the very moment I received the sacred disks from The Hair Buyer, I have been mindful of Creek traditions. In all the time the plates were in my care, they were never removed from their doeskin bags except when I celebrated the Green Corn Busk. They were never misused. They were never touched by women.
"I did not give the disks back to the English. They were stolen from me, just as they were stolen from this place. It was my duty to return them, and I have discharged it as best I can."
The Miko nodded acknowledging Reid's assurances.
Red Hand stood in counterpoint, the very image of skepticism. But before Red Hand could speak, one of the older men at the edge of the square rose to be heard.
"By his good faith in returning the sacred plates, Ravens Flight should be rewarded with the life of his son."
"This is clearly a man of honor," a second man said. "I believe the child should be spared."
Livi searched the faces of the people around the square and saw many of them nodding.
She crushed Bright Bird's fingers in her own.
But Red Hand had more to say. "I believe the Master of Breath is still angry that it took Ravens Fight so long to return the sacred plates. I believe He will continue to withhold His blessings from this nation unless the child is sacrificed."
A sob swelled in Livi's throat. She looked at Reid, needing him to say something, do something to save her son.
At that same moment he turned to her, and she saw his eyes were alive with challenge and recklessness. A frisson of dread sizzled the length of her spine.
Reid took a step toward the Miko. "If a sacrifice is necessary to please the Master of Breath, I am the one who should pay it. I am the one who kept the sacred plates when my people were in grievous need of them. I am the one to blame if the disks were profaned.
"The child has done nothing. And I willingly offer myself in the baby's place."
Livi sucked in her breath. Reid had indeed sacrifice himself to save Little David.
Around her, people shifted forward in their seats, their faces avid.
"Though my Creek heritage may be tainted with the blood of my white father and grandfather," Reid went on, "I have proved myself both as a man and a Creek warrior. Wouldn't the Master of Breath be more pleased by my sacrifice than by the death of a child? Wouldn't He be more honored by someone who goes to his death willingly? I swear I will credit the Master of Breath in the way I die. He will smile on the Creeks when He sees my courage. If there is to be a sacrifice, it must be me."
Tears burned in Livi's eyes as she stared across the square at Reid. This man had held her and comforted her when she was afraid. He'd spared nothing of himself to show her tenderness and bring her astonishing pleasure. He'd helped her deliver this child into the world. But most of all Reid had required that she find the strength in herself to stand alone in this raw, new land.
Red Hand's mouth twitched with satisfaction. "I believe that the Master of Breath would welcome such an offering."
Many of the men in the warrior clans rose and roared their approval of Red Hand's words. As the sound swelled, Livi understood that to Red Hand this judgment had nothing to do with The Hair Buyer, the sacred disks, or even Little David. It had to do with revenge for a brother killed accidentally years before. With this evil man's dissatisfaction that Soaring Eagle's life had been forfeit instead of Reid's.
A Place Called Home Page 38