People - People of the Wolf Part 46

"Cleanse yourself," he offered, handing the glowing coals to Crow Caller. "Dream yourself clean, man of the People! Drive the corruption from within. Here is Light." He spread his fingers to reveal the glowing coals. "I offer you a new way, reach out and take it!"

Crow Caller backed away, shaking his head, pathetically crying, "No!

No!"

"Do it!"

"N-no!" he wailed, the blackness crumpling, folding in on itself, destroyed in the Light of the spitting smoking fire and its cleansing odor.

"A husk, like a maggot casing," Wolf Dreamer moaned, shaking his head.

"That's what you've become, Crow Caller."

"No!"

Wolf Dreamer placed the coals reverently to his lips before dropping them in the fire. He turned, looking to the People. "Pity this creature for what it has done to itself. Forgive it for what it has done to you."

"Don't," Crow Caller muttered from where he crouched, looking up, blinking his one good eye. "Don't do this to ... to .. ."

His mouth opened, pink tongue darting out between the stained pink gums as he grabbed at his chest.

Wolf Dreamer reached down, the Dream showing him the way. "His heart,"

he called. "His heart is jumping around, quivering. His soul is killinghim. He dies .. . still a coward."

Crow Caller cried out, huddling there on the ground.

Wolf Dreamer straightened, feeling the corrupt soul writhing in agony.

"One Who Cries." He recognized the soul as it parted from the crowd.

"Take him, he'll be dead soon. Make him comfortable. He must deal with his soul now. Later all of us will sing him to the Blessed Star People."

The shimmering multicolored soul that was One Who Cries lifted the old man lightly from the ground, bearing him through the People.

Wolf Dreamer raised his hands and pointed northward. The souls around him shifted, fluttering and changing colors anxiously. He lowered his voice to a calming murmur. "There, the Others come. You must all make a choice. Our young men can die, kill their young men. Blood will stain the snow, leach into the rocks, trickle through the gravels. But nothing will stop them. See? Look out there! Beyond the hills, see them crouching? Hear the beat of their countless hearts as they close around to smother us? Look close, my people."

And he turned to look himself. A cry of fear rose in his throat at the vision that met his eyes. It came ... the blackness rolling like waves toward them. "See?" he screamed. "The blackness there beyond the far horizon! Who can stand against that? Feel the Power coming, each step crushing our world?"

Someone cried out in anguish and a rumble of voices rose.

"But life can be ours...."

"How?" someone called piteously. "Tell us!"

He pointed toward the Big Ice where it loomed darkly on the horizon.

"Heron Dreamed.. .. She said we would find nothing here but pain, and death. She saw us ground away, bitter, angry, rotting within as we torture, and glut ourselves in an orgy of blood. Ground away! Like a sandstone cobble in a sea of flint! See us ground away? See us buried?"

He whirled at their gasp.

"Yes, buried! Covered by the Others! The ways of the People gone .. .

forever!"

"Tell us how we can--"

"Wolf Dream!" Singing Wolf bellowed from somewhere far away. "Wolf will save the People."

"Wolf," he murmured. "Wolf ..."

One Who Cries struggled to keep himself from shivering as he laid the old man down in the thick robes of the shelter he'd borrowed. The low structure had been closest to the Dance, the easiest to carry the dying shaman to.

"There, rest easy," One Who Cries said, comforting.

"I was .. . powerful .. . once," Crow Caller whispered. "I led the People. Led them well. Tried to do the best. Tried, you understand?"One Who Cries nodded somberly. "We remember."

"Did my best." Crow Caller swallowed hard. "But the People, they always want so much.... So much .. . They suck away your soul. Suck you up ...

like the Long Dark . sucks up heat. They want ... so much. Always .. .

hungry. Demanding .. . Can't .. . can't be wrong. Always have to be ...

perfect. All the time. Had to ... pretend. Lie." He closed his ancient eyes. "I tried .. . best I could.. .."

"We know," One Who Cries soothed. "Rest now, Grandfather."

"Pain," Crow Caller gasped. "Deep. All along my left side and arm.

Pain."

"Don't worry, you'll be .. ." One Who Cries stopped cold, staring at the place he'd left his darts.

"Dying," Crow Caller whispered hoa.r.s.ely. "Dying from the inside."

But One Who Cries was scuttling out from the caribou hide cover, staring about frantically as the crowd watched Wolf Dreamer, hands raised, tell them of his Dreaming.

One Who Cries ran, skirting the crowd, searching. High. Look high! He sprinted, leaping from boulder to boulder up the ridge. He'd be up here, somewhere. The throng ignored him, staring at Wolf Dreamer, enthralled by the haunting tones as the Dreamer talked.

Must be high, nothing else would make sense.

He saw him as he scrambled over the rocks.

"No!" The cry was torn from One Who Cries' throat as he jumped, fingers outstretched. "He's your brother!" Too far away. The man's arm had started forward, the familiar dart beginning its journey.

A rock rolled underfoot as One Who Cries crashed into Raven Hunter's legs, pitching the big hunter sideways. The dart's path was disrupted, striking a child who stood at Wolf Dreamer's feet. The tiny boy screamed in pain. The other darts went clattering away in the rocks. Confusion swelled as One Who Cries howled his rage.

Raven Hunter smashed him across the head with his atlatl, ripping his cheek open. "Let go of me! I'm saving the People!"

"You're killing us!" One Who Cries bellowed.

He grappled with the hunter, rolling over and over. One Who Cries grabbed up a hand-sized rock, swinging it, smashing it into Raven Hunter's ribs.

Again and again, the atlatl battered him on the head and across the face. Desperate, One Who Cries bent close to Raven Hunter's kicking legs and, with nothing better to do, sank his stubby worn teeth into the man's thigh. Raven Hunter roared.

He heard the blow that jarred his head; it sounded hollow, a sickly thump. Lights flashed behind One Who Cries' eyes and the world shivered and slipped under his loose fingers as he fell into gray.

Chapter 54.

Singing Wolf pulled One Who Cries' b.l.o.o.d.y head to his lap, calling softly, "Cousin?"

The People crowded around, staring. Singing Wolf swallowed hard. He sat before Heron's shelter, Raven Hunter standing haughtily before him, back straight, arms crossed, glaring around like a cornered eagle. Four Teeth rocked back and forth, sucking his gums, disbelief in his rheumy eyes.

Puffs of clouds rolled down from the north, promising rain. The mountains--half-masked by the geyser steam--looked on, bored spectators.

The blood leaking out of One Who Cries' head had coated Singing Wolf's fingers--sticky, matting his hands.

"He'll live. Hardheaded that one." Four Teeth shook his head. The People stared, fleeting whispers of horror scurrying from lip to lip in the manner of running lemmings on the tundra.

The breeze whipped Wolf Dreamer's hair wildly about his head as he ducked beneath the door flap of an unknown lodge; the crowd parted, leaving a wide swath for him.

"Twisted Root is dead," Wolf Dreamer told them in a lilting voice. "I watched the boy's soul slip from the body. A yellow-red soul, the wound left it blue .. . and green. Cold, you understand? Tonight I'll sing Twisted Root to the sky. The Star People will accept him."

"Now what?" Raven Hunter lifted his chin, arrogant eyes seeking among the crowd, locking with the young men's.

Wolf Dreamer--lost in the layers of his soul--said slowly, "You killed one of the People, brother. A six-year-old boy. You broke the peace. The light is draining from your soul. You're losing yourself to the Power."

"He killed one of the People," Singing Wolf reminded. "The penalty is--"

"He's the best warrior we have!" Eagle Cries protested, elbowing in from the crowd. "He's shown honor in the fight against the Others."

Singing Wolf was on his feet, glaring into Eagle Cries' haughty black eyes. "He would have killed the Dreamer!"

"Runs In Light killed Crow Caller!" Raven Hunter's lip went up.

"Witchery! That's how. He witched him!" "Liar!" Singing Wolf gritted his teeth, fists clenched. In his breast, anger burned. "One more word, and I'll--"

"Wait." Wolf Dreamer placed a cool hand on Singing Wolf's shoulder, pulling him back. "I see your soul, old friend. You'd hate yourself if you followed your anger at Renewal." Singing Wolf fought with his rage--barely winning despite the Dreamer's words.

"He's lied, murdered, raped. Why do I expect more from a coward who'd betray his people?" Singing Wolf looked down at the blood on his hands.

At the hushed explosion of breath from the People, Raven Hunter tensed, trying to take a step forward, restrained by Four Teeth, who stood behind him."You'll regret that," Raven Hunter promised. "How have we come to this?"

Four Teeth cried pa.s.sionately. "Witchery," Raven Hunter insisted. "I'll not see the People destroyed by my brother. When he killed Crow Caller--my friend--through dark Dreaming, I grabbed up my darts and--"

"Liar twice," a frail voice called. They turned to see One Who Cries weakly prop himself on his elbows. Blood streaked his tanned cheeks in a web.

"What do you know, One Who Cries? Perhaps it's as Raven Hunter says."

Four Teeth turned, uneasy eyes on Wolf Dreamer.

One Who Cries blinked, weaving before lying back down. He stuttered, "I--I .. ." in confusion, as if he'd lost his thoughts.

"It's as I say," Raven Hunter growled. "Dark Dreaming has no place among the People. My brother is a witch! He had all the People enchanted by his act. Fooled by his words and the way he stopped Crow Caller's heart.

I would have freed them. I took the first opportunity, that's all."

"A man does things in pa.s.sion," Buffalo Back agreed. "But the dart struck little Twisted Root. There must be punish --"

"It was an accident!" Raven Hunter protested. "What's wrong with us?

Here, before us, is a witch! When I saw him perverting the People, I grabbed up my darts."

"Liar," One Who Cries whispered from where he lay. "You stole my darts.

Then you went around to shoot from the side of the ridge where you had a clear shot. My darts! So no one would know who did it. My tent is across the fire, Raven Hunter. You planned it."

"Your darts?" Raven Hunter laughed. "Head wounds do that. Cause--"

"Who has the darts?" Singing Wolf cried out, looking around, arms spread. "Where is the dart that struck the boy?"

Twisted Root's father--tears streaking his face--came forward, a short length of b.l.o.o.d.y wood in his hands. "Wolf Dreamer pulled it from where it stuck out of my son's back. This is not one of the People's darts.

It's too short."

Singing Wolf took the gruesome weapon, holding it up, displaying the broken point. "This belongs to One Who Cries. Look where the boy was darted. You'll find the detachable shaft with the fl etching Only One Who Cries makes a dart like this."

A woman cried as she pounced on the shaft, Twisted Root's blood marking the spot.

Singing Wolf turned to Raven Hunter, accusation in his hot glare. "The penalty for breaking the peace--killing one of the People--is death."

Four Teeth closed his eyes, a look of misery on his face. He stiffened slowly.

Wolf Dreamer stepped to look into his brother's eyes and murmured, "I asked you not to try and stop me. I see loops and coils in the future--but not the whole length of the path you will travel. Go! Alone!

Find your destiny."Raven Hunter growled. "You're making me an outcast? Condemning me?"

Singing Wolf turned sharply. "He deserves dea--"

"Go! Even as we speak, the web is spinning out, brother. Seek your heritage, and return. So you can"--his voice faltered as he took a deep breath--"can force our final meeting. Opposites crossed. Final resolution."

"Your meaning is hidden, like a caribou fawn in spring." Raven Hunter's black eyes danced angrily. "You must lose yourself to see, brother. Or remain in darkness. What do you choose?"