while, can you make some excuse for me?”
Wink released her arm, but glared at her. “If you’re not back in one hand of time, I’ll come looking for you with a war party.”
5
SHE CROSSED THE BRIDGE THAT SPANNED RACCOON CREEK and walked out onto the lakeshore trail. The small houses of commoners dotted the way. At the very end of the lake stood an enormous burned-out tree. She resolutely marched toward it.
“I have to find out what he wants, why he’s doing this,” she whispered.
To her left, fish tails glinted as minnows fed in the shallows. People waded through the water with green cane spears tipped with the spikes taken from the tails of horseshoe crabs. Several people watched her pass, but she was obviously in a hurry and no one dared speak to her.
Sora tramped past the burned tree and turned right onto the deer path that led into the depths of the forest, where only pinpoints of sunlight speckled the mossy deadfall. The beautiful songs of warblers filled the giant oak trees.
She’d come to this place a hundred times after Flint left her to lie in the cool shadows where his canoe had always rested and to dream of him. What bitter days those had been, filled with despair and wrenching anger that had made her sick to her stomach.
A rattlesnake shook its tail at her as she thrashed through the palmettos that choked the path. Sora backed up, said, “Forgive me for disturbing you, Sister,” and took a new path.
Though snakes were thought to portend misfortune, no one among the Black Falcon Nation would knowingly harm them. Just after the Creation, Mother Sun had become angry with human beings and decided to destroy them. It was Rattlesnake who had saved humans by killing Mother Sun’s daughter and turning her anger to grief. She …
Wind swept the forest, and Sora saw Skinner just ahead, partially concealed behind a long swaying beard of hanging moss. He held a huge oak leaf in his hand, which he lazily twirled.
He called, “He asked me about you. Did he tell you?”
She stopped. “Who?”
“Your husband, when he was showing me to the guest chambers. He’s very curious about us.”
Inexplicable anger possessed her, as though Rockfish had said something that would hurt her. Ordinarily, it would never have occurred to her, but after the meeting with Wink and Long Fin over the jade brooch, she no longer knew what he might say or do.
“What did he ask?”
“He wanted to know if I’d done something to you in the council chamber.”
When she’d called out last night, her tone must have frightened Rockfish.
“What did you say?”
Skinner leaned a shoulder against the enormous trunk of an oak and looked at her. His deeply set black eyes glistened. He’d left his waist-length hair loose. It draped the front of his long buckskin shirt like a gleaming jet curtain. “I didn’t tell him any of your secrets, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“You don’t know any of my secrets.”
The silence stretched.
He started pulling the leaf apart, slowly, a vein at a time. The
green wisps fluttered to the ground at his feet. “Rockfish seems to think we were lovers.”
She ducked under a thick curtain of moss and tramped closer to him. “You told him no, of course.”
“I told him that not once in the entire time I’d known you had I betrayed your trust. I said that whatever had happened between you and me was ours alone.”
Which means that any lingering doubt Rockfish might have had about us being lovers vanished .
Upset, she said, “You and I never touched each other, Skinner. Why did you say that?”
He gave her a strange look, penetrating, then tore off another piece of leaf, which spun to the ground like a wing seed. “Why don’t you just have your warriors escort me out of your village?”
“You are a visiting war chief. Why would I do that?”
“Because you’re afraid of me. You always were.” He gazed at her unblinking, like a big cat about to leap for her
Wink released her arm, but glared at her. “If you’re not back in one hand of time, I’ll come looking for you with a war party.”
5
SHE CROSSED THE BRIDGE THAT SPANNED RACCOON CREEK and walked out onto the lakeshore trail. The small houses of commoners dotted the way. At the very end of the lake stood an enormous burned-out tree. She resolutely marched toward it.
“I have to find out what he wants, why he’s doing this,” she whispered.
To her left, fish tails glinted as minnows fed in the shallows. People waded through the water with green cane spears tipped with the spikes taken from the tails of horseshoe crabs. Several people watched her pass, but she was obviously in a hurry and no one dared speak to her.
Sora tramped past the burned tree and turned right onto the deer path that led into the depths of the forest, where only pinpoints of sunlight speckled the mossy deadfall. The beautiful songs of warblers filled the giant oak trees.
She’d come to this place a hundred times after Flint left her to lie in the cool shadows where his canoe had always rested and to dream of him. What bitter days those had been, filled with despair and wrenching anger that had made her sick to her stomach.
A rattlesnake shook its tail at her as she thrashed through the palmettos that choked the path. Sora backed up, said, “Forgive me for disturbing you, Sister,” and took a new path.
Though snakes were thought to portend misfortune, no one among the Black Falcon Nation would knowingly harm them. Just after the Creation, Mother Sun had become angry with human beings and decided to destroy them. It was Rattlesnake who had saved humans by killing Mother Sun’s daughter and turning her anger to grief. She …
Wind swept the forest, and Sora saw Skinner just ahead, partially concealed behind a long swaying beard of hanging moss. He held a huge oak leaf in his hand, which he lazily twirled.
He called, “He asked me about you. Did he tell you?”
She stopped. “Who?”
“Your husband, when he was showing me to the guest chambers. He’s very curious about us.”
Inexplicable anger possessed her, as though Rockfish had said something that would hurt her. Ordinarily, it would never have occurred to her, but after the meeting with Wink and Long Fin over the jade brooch, she no longer knew what he might say or do.
“What did he ask?”
“He wanted to know if I’d done something to you in the council chamber.”
When she’d called out last night, her tone must have frightened Rockfish.
“What did you say?”
Skinner leaned a shoulder against the enormous trunk of an oak and looked at her. His deeply set black eyes glistened. He’d left his waist-length hair loose. It draped the front of his long buckskin shirt like a gleaming jet curtain. “I didn’t tell him any of your secrets, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“You don’t know any of my secrets.”
The silence stretched.
He started pulling the leaf apart, slowly, a vein at a time. The
green wisps fluttered to the ground at his feet. “Rockfish seems to think we were lovers.”
She ducked under a thick curtain of moss and tramped closer to him. “You told him no, of course.”
“I told him that not once in the entire time I’d known you had I betrayed your trust. I said that whatever had happened between you and me was ours alone.”
Which means that any lingering doubt Rockfish might have had about us being lovers vanished .
Upset, she said, “You and I never touched each other, Skinner. Why did you say that?”
He gave her a strange look, penetrating, then tore off another piece of leaf, which spun to the ground like a wing seed. “Why don’t you just have your warriors escort me out of your village?”
“You are a visiting war chief. Why would I do that?”
“Because you’re afraid of me. You always were.” He gazed at her unblinking, like a big cat about to leap for her
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