People of the Earth (91 page)

 
          
 
She shook herself out of the Dream and the
animals fled in a rush, scampering away into the sage or soaring into the
turquoise sky. The warriors below shouted and covered their heads against the
exploding flock of birds. One man fell to the ground and starting Singing to
Thunderbird. "What? What did you say?"

 
          
 
"Tell them we bring a Dream. That we will
not hurt them."

 
          
 
As her voice rang out in the speech of the Sun
People, the warriors glanced back and forth uncomfortably.

 
          
 
Then the lead warrior edged toward them,
climbing the slope cautiously, a dart
nocked
in his
atlatl
. His men followed nervously. Still Water felt White
Ash stiffen as the warrior drew closer. When the man stood no more than ten
paces away, he halted, an awestruck expression on his face. Young and handsome,
he moved with a powerful grace and balance. His hair had been pulled into a
high roach. Three blue lines had been tattooed across his forehead. His mouth
opened and he whispered, "White Ash?"

 
          
 
Still Water recognized her name in the Sun
People tongue. He turned to her and found her staring open-mouthed at the young
warrior.

 
          
 
"Wind Runner?" White Ash whispered,
disbelief mixing with the swirling fragments of Dream. She blinked and rubbed
her face. Was this real? Or something conjured from the One?

 
          
 
He stepped closer, older than she remembered
him. Harder. In the bright light she traced the lines of his familiar face. Her
heart skipped as she looked into the wonder that filled his eyes.

 
          
 
“White Ash . . . you're alive!"

 
          
 
She rose on unsteady feet and waited until
Still Water stood beside her before walking forward and embracing Wind Runner.
He hugged her as tightly as he had that night above the White Clay's last camp.

 
          
 
"I thought you were dead," he
whispered against her hair. "I'd given up hope."

 
          
 
Trouble barked and growled behind her.

 
          
 
"White Ash?" Still Water called
uncertainly. "Who is this man?"

 
          
 
She pushed away from Wind Runner, blinking at
the tears that had come to cloud her vision. "Still Water, this is Wind
Runner."

 
          
 
Still Water clutched the Wolf Bundle to his
chest and gave the warrior a curious appraisal.

 
          
 
Wind Runner's face had turned hard. "What
are you doing here? Why were the animals around you? What's going on?"

 
          
 
White Ash closed her eyes, trying desperately
to shake the serene nothingness of the One so she could think clearly. "These
are Black Point?"

 
          
 
"We are."

 
          
 
She nodded, a sprig of relief sprouting
within. At least I don't have to face Brave Man. "Let's go to your camp,
Wind Runner. We have a lot to discuss and not much time."

 
          
 
"And this man?" Wind Runner asked in
a voice that cut like freshly struck obsidian.

 
          
 
White Ash saw Still Water straighten, his flat
features pulling tight.

 
          
 
"He's the Keeper of the Wolf
Bundle." She glanced up at Wind Runner, then turned and extended a hand to
Still Water. He braced the Wolf Bundle against his chest with his bad arm and
stepped forward to take her hand. "And he's . . . my husband."

 
          
 
My husband. The words burned Wind Runner like
white-hot coals on exposed flesh.

 
          
 
He turned, muscles charged, and looked at Snail
Shell. "Go back to the camp. Have food prepared. We must have a
council."

 
          
 
"And this Earth People man?" Snail
Shell glanced uneasily at Still Water.

 
          
 
"He will come with us . . . for the
moment."

 
          
 
Snail Shell nodded, looking as if uncertainty
crawled like insects under his skin.

 
          
 
Wind Runner turned back to White Ash, seeing
her confusion. Then he inspected the Earth man again. One arm looked shriveled
and useless. The man stood squat, and his face conjured thoughts of manure that
had been stepped on. Only in the eyes did Wind Runner see anything noteworthy.
Still Water's eyes reflected a soul too kind for its own good.

 
          
 
What could she possibly see in him ? He's . .
. he's . . . Wind Runner shook his head and gave the man a foul glare.

 
          
 
White Ash spoke to Still Water in the garbled
talk of the Earth People. He replaced the leather object in the pack. The man's
obnoxious black-and-white dog stared up with wary eyes.

 
          
 
Wind Runner turned on his heel. I'll marry
you. Be your wife. He snorted under his breath.

 
          
 
"The Black Point have taken all the land
to the south?" she asked, running to match his pace. Her melodious voice
sent shivers through his soul.

 
          
 
"I said I'd come for you before the first
snow."

 
          
 
She walked in silence for a moment. "Things
have changed."

 
          
 
"I can see," he replied
sarcastically.

           
 
She placed a hand on his arm. "Can
you?"

 
          
 
He glanced down at her slim fingers resting on
the rippling muscles in his arm, then looked into her eyes . . . and the world
shifted, as if his soul had been exposed. He swallowed and shook his head. Cool
wariness seeped through him. "What did..."

 
          
 
“You've changed, Wind Runner. Become a man.
But I know your soul and your anger, and the hurt that will soon replace
it." She gazed off toward the camp, a bittersweet smile on her full lips.
"So much has happened since you left the White Clay."

 
          
 
"With him?" Wind Runner asked,
jerking his head back toward Still Water, who followed nervously.

 
          
 
White Ash read his meaning and replied curtly,
"Yes. He's saved my life more than once—and even faced Brave Man and his
Broken Stones in the process."

 
          
 
"Him?" Wind Runner laughed. "He
looks as if he'd run if a rabbit squealed at him."

 
          
 
Her beautiful face took on such a sad
expression that a shiver wound through him. An eerie prickle of Power swirled
in the air around her. Unconsciously, he walked a half step farther away. I
feel that she knows more than I do—sees things I don't. White Ash, my White Ash
. . . what's happened to you?

 
          
 
He steeled himself. "I looked all over
for you. Three Forks,
Badwater
—everyplace I could
think of. What happened?"

 
          
 
"The Wolf People killed the White Clay. I
fled."

 
          
 
"I know. Sage Ghost is with us."

 
          
 
The announcement didn't bring the ecstatic joy
he'd expected. Instead, she simply accepted the information with a knowing nod.
He peered at her from the corner of his eye. What's wrong with you, White Ash?
Did that ugly Earth man cast some spell on you? Is that it? He's a magician?

 
          
 
He winced. Only this morning they had placed
Hot Fat on a
high point
and Sung his soul to Thunderbird.

 
          
 
White Ash expelled a tired breath and said,
"Do you know that Brave Man has crushed the Wolf People and that even now
he's in the basin?"

           
 
Wind Runner sucked in a breath.
"What?"

 
          
 
"Yes, I thought we'd find him before we
met you. He's become the Broken Stones' Soul Flier—and a Powerful one."

 
          
 
"Broken Stones? Here?" His gaze
swept the sage-covered hills, seeking any movement. Only the breeze through the
brush and a hopping cottontail caught his eye.

 
          
 
She seemed to lose herself in the visions in
her head. "He's coming—swiftly.''

 
          
 
And I just sent three fourths of my warriors
away!

 
          
 
She continued walking, unaware that he'd
stopped short.

 
          
 
Wind Runner darted after her. "Have you
seen Hollow Flute, too?"

 
          
 
"Not here. But it wouldn't surprise me.
The Spiral is shifting."

 
          
 
"What Spiral?"

 
          
 
She looked up at him as if he were a child.
"I have to Dream the Spiral back, Wind Runner. That's why Power sent me to
you. The Sun People must become part of First Man's Dream. If not, the Spiral
will change and Brave Man will Dream the new way. Would you want to live in a
Dream of his making?"

 
          
 
He glanced back suspiciously at Still Water.
The man hoisted his pack higher on his back and trudged resolutely behind White
Ash, but he looked as though his mother had just died.

 
          
 
Wind Runner walked in silence. Too much had
fallen on him too quickly. First, Hot Fat's murder—the grief hadn't even sunk
in yet. Then White Ash's appearance. Broken Stones? Brave Man? Dreams? And
Aspen
. . . Blessed
Thun-derbird
,
what was he going to tell her? Her heart's already been broken by her
grandfather's death. He stamped on, fists knotting as they approached the camp.
Too much to think about all at once. Too cursed much.

 
          
 
"What about us?" he asked, seeking a
way out.

 
          
 
"Us?" She blinked curiously.
"I'll always love you, Wind Runner.''

 
          
 
The confusion took another twist.
Aspen
said she d step aside.

 
          
 
"And this Earth man?"

           
 
She cocked her head, looking puzzled.
"He's the Keeper of the Wolf Bundle. He's my husband."

 
          
 
"Wait." He gestured his frustration.
"You just said you'd always love me."

 
          
 
"I will."

 
          
 
"But this Still Water is your
husband?"

 
          
 
She nodded. "Of course."

 
          
 
Through gritted teeth, he growled, "Let's
get one thing straight. I don't intend on sharing you. I don't know what kind
of spell he's cast on you, but I'll break it. He won't live in our lodge. In
fact, he'd better—"

 
          
 
She placed a hand on his arm. "I can't
love you that way."

 
          
 
"White Ash"—he lifted his arms
helplessly—"I don't understand. What are you talking about?"

 
          
 
"You're bound up in illusion, Wind
Runner." She frowned. "But that's to be expected. The way has to be
Dreamed for the Sun People."

 
          
 
People crowded the edge of the camp as they
approached through the waist-high sage.

 
          
 
Aspen
stepped out in front of the gathering, the
sun gleaming in her long hair and glinting from the bone beads tied to the
fringes of her hem. She stood numbly, inspecting White Ash and Still Water
before searching Wind Runner's face, grief in her bright eyes. Behind her the
people whispered, gasped words of witchery and spells and Spirit animals rife
in the air.

 
          
 
"Wind Runner?"
Aspen
's worried voice twisted his soul. He halted
before her, a painful tearing in his heart. She clasped his hands to her
breast. "What is it? Who are these people?"

 
          
 
Voice faltering, Wind Runner told her,
"This is White Ash."

 
          
 
Aspen
's eyes went wide as she searched his,
seeking some reassurance. Wind Runner's soul had turned to wood, unfeeling,
senseless. As he watched helplessly, wretched understanding grew in her. Her
eyes glazed as she stared into his and dropped his hands.

           
 
Then
Aspen
turned to White Ash, composure cracking.

           
 
"Welcome to the Black Point." With
those words she turned quickly and shouldered her way through the gaping
people.

 
          
 
Wind Runner closed his eyes.

 
          
 
Sage Ghost broke from the crowd and took a
cautious step, arms half raised. "White Ash?"

 
          
 
"Hello, Father." She ran forward and
hugged him. "I've missed you so much."

 
          
 
Wind Runner braced his feet against the
churning sickness in his gut. What had happened to his life?
Aspen
's tortured look had seared something in his
soul. The day seemed to have lost its color.

 
          
 
Black Moon's voice rose above the babble.
"You are the woman who calls the animals?"

 
          
 
Through stumbling confusion, Wind Runner
watched White Ash pull free of Sage Ghost's embrace and stride to stand before
the clan leader.

 
          
 
"Yes, I call the animals. You are Black
Moon? I am White Ash, of the White Clay." She pointed a finger at Sage
Ghost. "This man is my father. My husband and I would claim a place among
your clan."

 
          
 
Black Moon shook his head slowly. "This
man, Sage Ghost, is White Clay. He is not of our clan."

 
          
 
She turned, and Wind Runner opened his mouth,
shaking his head. Not that! She couldn’t! Not after everything I’ve . . .

 
          
 
White Ash's words hammered at him: "Then
my husband and I would place our claim because this man, Wind Runner, is my
cousin. He has told me he is Black Point."