“I don’t know. She was tense as a board when I got to her. Then she just whimpered and went limp. Hasn’t answered a single question. Hasn’t even cursed me out for a fool, which really scares me. I figure we’re barely in time as it is.”
“And what do you think the Quiz Quiz are going to do when they wake up and find her missing?”
“Vendetta, my little friend. They have to hit back.”
“I really wish you’d have let me go for some of our warriors.”
“Since the last time we had this conversation have you figured out just how you were going to alert them, and still have us follow Winder?”
Seven Skull Shield heard a soft chuckle. “I suppose not, thief.”
The dawn was now visible beyond the weeds that marked the high waterline on the river. “We’d better be making time; they’re going to be finding my handiwork any moment now.”
Grimly Seven Skull Shield drove his paddle into the river, sending them out into the thread of the current. He glanced at the limp bundle. Come on, Keeper. Tell me you’re still alive.
But what was he going to do about Winder? What did he owe the man who once kept him alive?
He looked back toward the dark bank and knew his old friend would be coming for blood. This had gone from a mere theft to a matter of honor—one that could only end in yet more blood.
Thirty-nine
“She’s coming around.”
The voice slipped into Blue Heron’s shattered dreams. As it did, the deep-seated memory of a splitting headache surfaced into the real thing. She swallowed hard. It hurt.
Her mouth was dry, but through it she became aware of the most foul taste: dry bile, sour phlegm, and rancid pus all mixed together.
“Easy,” a voice soothed.
Blue Heron managed to pry a dry and aching right eye open—the action painful as her lids dragged over her eyeball. The left barely opened, letting in a slit of light. Everything was blurry.
“Drink, now,” the voice told her.
A cup rim was held to her lips, and she sipped at wonderful, cool water. Like an elixir it slipped down her throat and hit her stomach.
She gasped from relief, and whimpered at the spears of pain in her head and chest.
“Easy,” the voice told her again. “We don’t know how badly you’re hurt. Some of the ribs may be broken, and you don’t want to move rapidly lest they punch holes in your lungs.”
Another voice said, “We’ve brewed some willow-bark tea mixed with datura. It will help with the pain.”
“No datura,” she said through a hoarse whisper. “Just the willow-bark tea.”
“Of course,” the voice agreed.
A warm, wet rag was placed to her eyes. A practiced hand carefully sponged them.
“That better?” the voice asked.
Blue Heron recognized it: Columella.
Blue Heron blinked her good eye, the blur swimming slowly into focus. Sort of. She knew this place: Columella’s palace. The Evening Star House matron leaned over her.
“How’d I get here?”
“By canoe,” the thief told her as he stepped up to stare over Columella’s shoulder. “Figured I needed to get to you soonest, so Flat Stone Pipe and I set ourselves a trap.”
“How was that? I was on a dirt floor. Moon temple. Somewhere by the river. Isolated.”
“Figured all that out, did you?” Seven Skull Shield asked with a grin. “Well, we didn’t have a farting clue. Still, if Winder was going to contact me, there was only one person he’d turn to.”
Blue Heron frowned. “Who is he?”
She saw the wary tightening behind Seven Skull Shield’s eyes. “Later,” the thief told her. “What counts is that if he wanted to contact me, he’d go to Wooden Doll. Barely got there in time. Flat Stone Pipe and I hadn’t been in that foul old woman’s house for a half hand of time before Winder showed up with a couple of them Quiz Quiz.”
“What old woman?” Blue Heron asked.
“Old bat that has a house bordering Wooden Doll’s. A weaver. She’s never really liked me, let alone my singing. But I grow on people once they really get to know me. And it didn’t hurt that I gave her a goose-honking big shell to let me knock a hole in her back wall so we could watch Wooden Doll’s door.”
Seven Skull Shield’s expression looked pained. “Can you imagine, Keeper? The old dried-up sheath thought Flat Stone Pipe and me were soul-sick with perversion! Twisted old wreck. After all the time I’ve spent waiting on Wooden Doll, she should have known I’m up for the doing and not the watching.”
“Do you have a point, thief?” Blue Heron managed to whisper. Her souls were floating; it was so hard to concentrate.
He grinned. “You’re getting better, Keeper. As long as you’re irritated with me, you’re healing.”
“So … I take it Winder came?”
“He did.” Seven Skull Shield seated himself on the side of her bed, hands clasped in his lap. “Flat Stone Pipe, Farts, and me, we followed him back to the canoe landing. He and his two Quiz Quiz paddled off north along the river’s east bank.
“We stole a canoe and followed. Played like we were fishermen, casting nets, staying just far enough back to keep them in sight. Saw them make shore, and Farts and me sneaked in close just after dark.”
“There were guards,” Blue Heron whispered before she felt the cup placed to her lips again. She gulped the warm and bitter liquid, recognizing the bite of thickly brewed red willow bark and something else. Too late she realized it had to be datura. Curse them, the potion was going to ease her pain all right—and steal her wits in the process.
“The guards?” Seven Skull Shield grinned. “Now that was a problem. You think it’s easy to strangle a man without he wakes up his companion sleeping no more than two paces away?”
She sighed, trying to place it all. “I don’t remember. Just a hand coming out of the darkness.”
“And you’re not going to remember much for a while,” Columella told her. “You’ve got one pupil bigger than the other one. What we could see of it, that is. That happens when your life soul gets knocked out of your head.”
“You just kind of went limp and whimpery,” Seven Skull Shield told her. “Made it real easy to carry you out of there.”
“They wanted a War Medicine box,” she said softly. “Said they wanted to Trade me for it. Didn’t matter. They were going to kill me. Pay back for what the surveyors did to their war leader.”
She saw Seven Skull Shield and Columella exchange glances.
“What?”
“Nothing you need to worry about.” Columella said in an obvious lie. “For the moment you need to rest, drink red willow bark tea, and heal.”
Even through the thief’s grin, she could see his tension.
“Don’t lie to me,” she whispered. “What’s really going on? Who is this Winder? What’s this all about? They stole the Surveyors’ Bundle. We got it back and captured the Quiz Quiz who did it. Of course we hung him in a square. What did he expect? That we’d just slap him on the back for profaning a Sacred Bundle, and wish him well on his journey back to Quiz Quiz?”
“Apparently the Quiz Quiz have other ideas, Keeper,” Columella relented. “They wanted to pay you back, and now we’ve snatched you away from their vengeance. You know how the Nations are down south. This has become a matter of honor for them. A blood vendetta.”
“That’s insane! A group of Quiz Quiz against the might of Cahokia? When the Morning Star hears about this—”
“He’s dead,” Seven Skull Shield muttered.
Blue Heron—despite her groggy and numb souls—couldn’t quite comprehend. “What do you mean, dead?”
Seven Skull Shield glanced uncertainly at Columella as he offhandedly said, “Or out of his body or some such nonsense. Something about that Sky Hand girl who came to marry him. Turned out she was an Albaamaha assassin.”
A sudden spear of panic shot through her. “How’s the city taking it?” Visions of rio
ts, of burning buildings and people dead on the Great Plaza filled the eye of her souls.
“Relax,” Columella insisted. “Flat Stone Pipe is keeping track of the situation and has runners wearing a rut in the Avenue of the Sun as the updates come in. Word is that the Morning Star’s Spirit is in the Underworld and Night Shadow Star is going to get it back.”
“She what?”
“It’s under control,” Seven Skull Shield told her, his expression obviously a lie. “And there’s nothing you can do about it for the moment anyway. Whispering Dawn got the Morning Star to drink some kind of poisonous nectar.”
“Knew that girl was up to no good. They catch her?”
“She’s vanished.”
“Bloody, dripping pus. What’s Wind doing over there? Sleeping?” Spit and blood, could this get any worse?
Seven Skull Shield frowned seriously as he picked at his thumb. “Bet that new matron is figuring out right quick just what a job she walked into.”
“And wishing she had Blue Heron back in the Keeper’s position,” Columella agreed.
“Keeper?” Seven Skull Shield asked. “Who beat you? Was it Winder?”
“No. One of the Quiz Quiz. Winder … stopped it. Got mad.”
“Well…” The thief hesitated. “At least there’s that.”
“What does Flat Stone Pipe say?” Blue Heron would have made a face against the pain, but it hurt too much. Piss in a pot, her souls were wandering. So cursed hard to form a thought in her head.
“He’s leading a party of warriors to the farmstead upriver where you were being held.” Columella leaned back and braced her hands. “If Winder has the sense Power gave a rock, he’ll have pulled out with the rest of the Quiz Quiz.”
“Won’t be much trouble to find him,” Blue Heron said through a slow exhale to limit the pain in her ribs. A dreamy and floating sensation was filtering in at the edge of the pain.
“I wouldn’t bet on that,” the thief told her.
“Oh?” she mused as Sister Datura’s gentle fingers lifted her away.
“You gotta understand, Keeper,” the thief said from somewhere far away, “that if there’s anyone in this city as smart as me, it’s Winder.”
Columella’s distant voice asked, “And you think he’s still a threat?”
Seven Skull Shield’s voice faded as he said, “With Cahokia in chaos and no organized pursuit, he’ll be figuring a way to kill the Keeper. And he’ll do it if we’re not…”
But she missed the rest, her souls buoyed and fluttering on Sister Datura’s golden wings. She felt herself floating … floating … And then she was gone.
Forty
Across the wide Father Water—its roiling surface dotted with canoes—Winder could see Lady Columella’s high palace were it rose above the clutter of buildings that surrounded Evening Star Town’s plaza.
He stood on the levee’s slight slope where it overlooked the southern end of the canoe landing. His field of view was hemmed on both sides by walls, as the buildings were packed tightly here, real estate being what it was in River Mounds City. A barely audible curse could be heard from the society house behind him.
Have to deal with that. Things were getting too dangerous just to lose it all on the chance that some passerby might recognize that one of Sky Star’s people was speaking in Quiz Quiz. It could precipitate the final disaster of disasters in what was increasingly a desperate venture.
Knotting his fist, Winder watched the muscles bunch and slide under his deeply tanned forearm. The tendons stood out from his wrists, knuckles like white moons above his thick fingers. And even then he continued to tighten his grip until his hand cramped and shook with the effort.
If only that could be Seven Skull Shield’s neck that he was squeezing the life out of. It had to be Seven Skull Shield. Who else could have slipped in, murdered two veteran warriors, and ghosted away with the old woman? Who else would have? Anyone else would have come with a war party—as happened no more than a finger’s time after Winder managed to evacuate what was left of Sky Star’s war party.
Fortunately the Quiz Quiz were indeed veterans. They knew how to lay low and vanish into the weeds as pursuit passed them by. The only surprise to Winder came with the recognition that the warriors who’d raided the cottonwood farmstead had been dispatched by Evening Star House. He’d recognized the designs on some of the squadron leaders’ shields.
Evening Star House? If anything, he would have expected War Duck’s River House warriors to be dispatched in pursuit. The high chief of River House could only be counted on for so much.
“Come on, think,” Winder told himself.
“Think what?” Sky Star asked as he hobbled up next to Winder. The war leader was healing, his wounds having scabbed up enough to allow him to walk without tearing them open. His arm, however, remained in a sling. Whether the Quiz Quiz war leader considered it fortunate or not, the slashes in his cheeks had disfigured his tattoos beyond recognition, and his telltale pom of hair had been removed along with a round patch of scalp. The bare and blood-clotted skull was now covered by a soft fabric cap.
“I’m trying to figure out how they found us.” Winder shot a speculative glance at the war leader. “They had to have someone watching the paid woman’s. That’s the only explanation. Better yet, it was Skull himself. Were it one of the old woman’s spies, they would have gone straight to War Duck and ordered out a war party.”
“Two of my warriors are dead!” Sky Star said through gritted teeth.
“They wouldn’t have died if they hadn’t been asleep,” Winder replied angrily. “Nothing else explains how they could have been strangled so easily by one man. You ask me? Given the damage they’ve caused us, they got off easy.”
“My remaining warriors don’t like it that the bodies were sunk in the river. They should have been buried with respect on the—”
“Do not dare to lecture me about respect,” Winder snapped, turning his hot gaze back toward Columella’s distant palace. “War Leader, since I brought you here, every mistake has been a Quiz Quiz mistake. You let Skull trick you out of the Surveyors’ Bundle. You lost the fight that got you captured and the War Medicine Bundle stolen. If you will remember, I cut you down from the square and got you back to your warriors. I kidnapped the old woman for you. Took her right out from under Columella’s nose. It was your warrior who beat her half to death—and if there’s a comeuppance for that, it’s on your shoulders. And finally, it was your warriors who were supposed to be on guard and keep the old woman safe.”
Winder let his arms slap futilely to his sides. “So now we’re right back where we started. Without even the leverage to bargain for the War Medicine, and with the Four Winds Clan fully aware that their Keeper has been beaten bloody by a Quiz Quiz who held her captive.”
“You were the one who was followed from the paid woman’s,” Sky Star retorted, his voice slightly slurred because of the missing teeth knocked out by the surveyors who’d tortured him.
“Maybe.” Winder shrugged. “Among other reasons, it was against that possibility that I detailed those guards, which, if you will recall, you argued against.”
Sky Star’s eyes narrowed into an angry glint. “I should send you packing for your arrogant tone. It was you who were supposed to keep us from trouble in Cahokia.”
Winder made a tsking sound with his lips. “Fine with me. Hand me my Trade, and I shall be gone with the current.”
“We don’t have the Bundle.”
“You had the Bundle. You lost it.” Winder looked around, indicating the closely packed buildings. “So, what are you going to do when I’m gone? What’s your next move?”
Sky Star deflated like a punctured fish bladder. “You are right. Save us, Winder. Figure some way to get our War Medicine box back, and I shall give you all that I own. Otherwise all I have to look forward to is shame.”
Winder felt crawly down in his guts. He should leave. Take the opportunity to cut his losses and move on. But S
ky Star was a rich man, his lineage prominent among the Quiz Quiz.
If I can manage to salvage some semblance of success out of this incredible mess, I can name my price. I’ll be the most famous Trader on the river.
As he turned his attention back to Evening Star Town and Columella’s palace, his breast warmed with renewed anger.
Rot take you, Skull, you’re the only thing standing between me and the greatest triumph of my life!
So, how did he pay his old friend back?
Striking at Wooden Doll would be the easiest. But she, apparently, wasn’t nearly the weakness she’d once been for Skull. For all he knew, they barely spoke.
No, it was the Keeper now: Skull’s pathway to respectability, prestige, and status. That’s who he had to strike at—even if the old woman was locked away in the Evening Star House palace.
And the turmoil—if the rumors were true and the Morning Star was dying—might give him the freedom to do so. In fact, it might give him the opportunity to snatch an even greater prize than the Surveyors’ Bundle during the ensuing chaos.
“War Leader? I think I have a plan.”
“I would expect no less from you, Trader.” Sky Star tried to smile, but it obviously hurt too much for his wounded lips.
Forty-one
Night Shadow Star walked out from the camp, which had been set up just outside of a small community. A mere collection of farmsteads and Trading booths, the place stood on a high terrace above the murky waters of the River of the Northwest. She heard Fire Cat as he walked out into the night behind her and took up a position a step back from her right shoulder.
It had taken two days to reach this point: a day to reach and assemble the flotilla of fifteen canoes at River Mounds City, and another to paddle up the Father Water to its confluence with the great River of the Northwest, then east to the sluggish tributary on the north bank commonly called Cave Creek, which marked the access to the uplands.
They had reached Cave Creek just at dusk, paddling along its channel until the heavy war canoes began to ground. One by one the warriors had carried the craft up onto the terraced flat below where the creek emerged from broken sandstone uplands. Here a small community of farmsteads catered to pilgrims, offering them food, items of Trade, and lodging.
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