than a breechcloth, sweat streaking my mud-caked skin, I panted under a load and was grateful with each step.
Father and I bore a two-man litter west along the fabled Avenue of the Sun. Hidden under the high pile of firewood were our packs and the precious copper falcon that would buy our lives. Behind me, Father’s shoulders knotted, his expression bitter. Rage and desperation radiated from him like heat from a white-hot rock. The litter poles were gripped tightly in his blocky fists.
As much as the load strained my shoulders, arms, and back, for Father, fit though he was for his age, it had to be brutal.
Ahead of us, Seven Skull Shield strolled insolently along, some unrecognizable staff held before him as he parted throngs of people in an attempt to aid our passage.
“You have
bound
us,” Father repeated yet again through gritted jaws. “You gave your word to a scoundrel, a mere thief!”
“It’s our
lives
, Father. And perhaps more to the point, the lives of our warriors. If the Keeper catches us, do you think she’ll just let Five Wings, Fast Call, and the rest of our people go? We’ve acted against the Morning Star House, hurt one of their agents, and embarrassed the Keeper, perhaps even the Morning Star himself. And we did it at the very instant they have been completely humiliated by the Red Wing!”
“That copper falcon means more to me than my life.”
“If it was so important, why did I have to come to Cahokia to learn about it? About any of this?”
“I didn’t want the past to suck you down like a whirlpool.” He paused. “I made my deal with Power. I would forgo any desire for revenge, would allow the past to fade without any action on my part. That, in return for a squadron and the chance to save our people.”
He uttered a disgusted hiss. “See how
that
worked out! And once she’d taken me? Tied me to her bench where all I could do was stare at my copper falcon? She shamed me before my son and my warriors. I
couldn’t
let it go.”
“And now I’ve promised it to Seven Skull Shield,” I interjected before he could hurl his outrage at my stiff back.
Between labored breaths, he muttered some imprecation before finally saying, “It was as if fate dragged me face-to-face with my falcon, saying, ‘Here is the Power and honor of your lineage. Will you stand idly by and watch it pass into the hands of strangers?’ Power
wants
the falcon returned to our family. I can feel it. All of this? It’s punishment for surrendering it so easily all those years ago. I let our family down then, and now you’re doing the same.”
“Is our word and honor worth more than the symbol and spirit Power represented by the falcon?”
“That is the question I’m asking myself.”
“Something’s wrong up ahead.” I turned my attention to Seven Skull Shield, who had slowed, stopped by two Hawk Clan warriors bearing bows. Another dozen lounged in the shade of an oversized ramada to the side. The road was narrow here, a choke point created by Reed Lake to the north and a marsh to the south.
“How may I be of service?” Seven Skull Shield asked with an overly dramatic “respectful” touch of his chin.
“We’re looking for two men. Four Winds from Horned Serpent House. One is older, the other young. You seen them?”
The second of the warriors walked close, looking Father and me over with a suspicious eye. “They’d be about the ages of these two,” he said.
My heart froze, an image of the Morning Star’s terrible squares looming in my imagination.
In T’so I told Father, “And now we’ll discover if a thief has more honor than we do. And if he gets us through this, I’d say he’s earned that falcon, and our loyalty.”
*****
I jerked awake in terror. The night was pitch-black under thick cloud cover and drizzling rain. Inside the thatch-roofed warehouse where we hid, I could barely make out my hand when I held it before my eyes.
For long moments I lay gasping, my heart hammering;
Father and I bore a two-man litter west along the fabled Avenue of the Sun. Hidden under the high pile of firewood were our packs and the precious copper falcon that would buy our lives. Behind me, Father’s shoulders knotted, his expression bitter. Rage and desperation radiated from him like heat from a white-hot rock. The litter poles were gripped tightly in his blocky fists.
As much as the load strained my shoulders, arms, and back, for Father, fit though he was for his age, it had to be brutal.
Ahead of us, Seven Skull Shield strolled insolently along, some unrecognizable staff held before him as he parted throngs of people in an attempt to aid our passage.
“You have
bound
us,” Father repeated yet again through gritted jaws. “You gave your word to a scoundrel, a mere thief!”
“It’s our
lives
, Father. And perhaps more to the point, the lives of our warriors. If the Keeper catches us, do you think she’ll just let Five Wings, Fast Call, and the rest of our people go? We’ve acted against the Morning Star House, hurt one of their agents, and embarrassed the Keeper, perhaps even the Morning Star himself. And we did it at the very instant they have been completely humiliated by the Red Wing!”
“That copper falcon means more to me than my life.”
“If it was so important, why did I have to come to Cahokia to learn about it? About any of this?”
“I didn’t want the past to suck you down like a whirlpool.” He paused. “I made my deal with Power. I would forgo any desire for revenge, would allow the past to fade without any action on my part. That, in return for a squadron and the chance to save our people.”
He uttered a disgusted hiss. “See how
that
worked out! And once she’d taken me? Tied me to her bench where all I could do was stare at my copper falcon? She shamed me before my son and my warriors. I
couldn’t
let it go.”
“And now I’ve promised it to Seven Skull Shield,” I interjected before he could hurl his outrage at my stiff back.
Between labored breaths, he muttered some imprecation before finally saying, “It was as if fate dragged me face-to-face with my falcon, saying, ‘Here is the Power and honor of your lineage. Will you stand idly by and watch it pass into the hands of strangers?’ Power
wants
the falcon returned to our family. I can feel it. All of this? It’s punishment for surrendering it so easily all those years ago. I let our family down then, and now you’re doing the same.”
“Is our word and honor worth more than the symbol and spirit Power represented by the falcon?”
“That is the question I’m asking myself.”
“Something’s wrong up ahead.” I turned my attention to Seven Skull Shield, who had slowed, stopped by two Hawk Clan warriors bearing bows. Another dozen lounged in the shade of an oversized ramada to the side. The road was narrow here, a choke point created by Reed Lake to the north and a marsh to the south.
“How may I be of service?” Seven Skull Shield asked with an overly dramatic “respectful” touch of his chin.
“We’re looking for two men. Four Winds from Horned Serpent House. One is older, the other young. You seen them?”
The second of the warriors walked close, looking Father and me over with a suspicious eye. “They’d be about the ages of these two,” he said.
My heart froze, an image of the Morning Star’s terrible squares looming in my imagination.
In T’so I told Father, “And now we’ll discover if a thief has more honor than we do. And if he gets us through this, I’d say he’s earned that falcon, and our loyalty.”
*****
I jerked awake in terror. The night was pitch-black under thick cloud cover and drizzling rain. Inside the thatch-roofed warehouse where we hid, I could barely make out my hand when I held it before my eyes.
For long moments I lay gasping, my heart hammering;
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