People of the Mist (68 page)

 
          
Panther
cast a measuring look at Copper Thunder. “With a marriage alliance between
Greenstone Clan and Copper Thunder, the Mamanatowick would be forced to throw
all of his might against the upriver villages. The perceived threat lay there,
with the upstart. While the Mamanatowick fought it out with Copper Thunder, the
Independent villages would be spared. Anyone’s best guess would be that Water
Snake would crush Copper Thunder within two Comings of the Leaves. And then,
when you faced him, Water Snake’s forces would have been weakened, buying you
even more time.”

 
          
“That
makes sense,” Nine Killer agreed, seeing the logic. “But killing Red Knot
wouldn’t serve the Weroansqua’s purpose, would it?”

 
          
Panther
shook his head. “I don’t believe that Hunting Hawk had the girl killed.” He
looked at Copper Thunder, who now frowned uneasily at Hunting Hawk. “You and
the Mamanatowick were being played like fish on a string, Grass Mat. The
Weroansqua’s real fear was that you might deal with Water Snake—trade with him
rather than fight. That realignment of power would have eventually strangled
the Independent villages. Hunting Hawk understood from the beginning that you
couldn’t build a chieftainship like the one you dreamed of. The upriver
villages don’t have the resources to support it. What worried her was how you
would react when you realized that truth.”

 
          
Copper
Thunder’s eyes had narrowed to slits. “And the trick with Shell Comb? Did you
toy with me, Weroansqua?”

 
          
Panther
answered for Hunting Hawk: “Red Knot was dead. The Weroansqua’s plans were in
jeopardy. She would marry anyone to you if it would create an alliance
unacceptable to the Mamanatowick.”

 
          
Hunting
Hawk stiffened, “I will not listen to this any longer! War Chief, seize him!”

 
          
“Where
were you that morning, Weroansqua?” Panther asked mildly. “People said that you
were absent all through breakfast. Why? What were you doing during that
critical time?”

 
          
Nine
Killer stood, flexing his hands, as he studied Hunting Hawk. “I would prefer to
hear him out, Weroansqua. I think this is clan business.”

 
          
“If
you will not, Flying Weir, I want you—”

 
          
“No!”
Yellow Net stood, her angry eyes fixed on Hunting Hawk. “I agree with my
cousin, Nine Killer. This must be heard for the sake of Greenstone Clan. We
still do not know who killed Red Knot.” She bent to stare into Hunting Hawk’s
angry eyes. “You said you didn’t kill her.”

 
          
“I
didn’t!” Hunting Hawk cried. “You should know! I was with you that morning.”-‘
She pointed her stick at Copper Thunder. “Trying to figure out what to do about
him!” “Did you have her killed?” Yellow Net demanded, face distrustful.

 
          
“No!”
Hunting Hawk stared aghast at her cousin. “What do you think I am? A monster?”

 
          
Panther
placed a gentle hand on Yellow Net’s shoulder. “The Weroansqua didn’t kill her
granddaughter.”

 
          
“You
know this?” Yellow Net demanded.

 
          
“I’m
fairly sure.” Panther gave the fuming Hunting Hawk a sidelong glance. “Had she
done so, she would never have sent the War Chief after High Fox. Instead, she
would have ordered him to track down Winged Blackbird and then attack
White
Stake
Village
. She would have needed someone to take the
blame, and Corn Hunter would have been perfect for the purpose.”

 
          
Black
Spike cocked his head. “Then she really believed High Fox killed the girl?”

 
          
Panther
nodded. “Red Knot’s murder caught Hunting Hawk by complete surprise. She knew
that Corn Hunter’s warriors hadn’t committed the act: the body would have been
desecrated. That left the most likely suspect as High Fox. And, forgive me,
Weroansqua, but the-one thing you will not tolerate is a personal affront, or
an insult to your clan’s honor.”

 
          
She
gave him a grudging nod.

 
          
“Then,
who killed the girl?” Nine Killer demanded. His gaze shifted to Copper Thunder.

 
          
“I
didn’t do it!” Copper Thunder raised his hands in defense. “Why would I?”

 
          
“Jealousy,”
Nine Killer countered. “You couldn’t stand the thought that she’d run off with
a mere boy. Your honor demanded that the slight be paid for in blood.”

 
          
Copper
Thunder gave the War Chief a crooked smile. “I didn’t care if she’d coupled
with a camp dog. I needed an alliance and a child out of her, nothing more.” He
tilted his head at the Weroansqua. “Two can play at subterfuge.” “I’m sorry,
Grass Mat. Your best spy has been kicked out,” Panther added. “Flat
Willow
was banished this very evening. In fact,
I’d say, Great Tayac, that your alliance has just evaporated before your eyes.
These people are not the same as you knew among the Serpent Chiefs. They don’t
have the discipline. They weren’t raised to believe, to obey, to be dominated.”

 
          
“People
can change.” Copper Thunder propped a fist on his hip.

 
          
“Can
they?” Panther indicated Yellow Net and Nine Killer. “You just saw two cousins
claim this as clan business, in defiance of their ruler. In what circumstance
would White Smoke Rising have allowed that kind of challenge to his authority?
Even were it his own son who spoke up?”

 
          
Copper
Thunder’s mouth twitched.

 
          
“And
even more to the point,” Panther added, “where are all the warriors you brought
with you? Sent home. Why? So they could fish, hunt, and trap. Unlike a Serpent
Chief, you can’t hold your warriors to one task. The most you can commit to
your efforts here is ten.”

 
          
Panther
stepped over to appraise Copper Thunder. “The truth is, you’ll ally with
whoever asks you. You’ve tried to build your fighting force, and trained them
well, too. You were able to whip Water Snake’s warriors and Stone Frog’s Conoy,
but then your elite force faded away. Your warriors wanted to go hunting, or
maybe they worried about the Monacans up beyond the fall line to the west, or
the Susquehannocks to the north. You couldn’t hold them despite all your
tattoos, your stolen spider gorget, and that war club you took from White Smoke
Rising’s trophy house.”

 
          
Copper
Thunder rose with powerful grace. “I’ve had enough of you, Raven.”

 
          
“That’s
why you were trying to talk warriors into joining your cause.” Panther locked
his hands behind his back. “You were looking for young men who would make that
full-time commitment. Problem was, all you could find were the malcontents like
Flat Willow. He, and his kind, are hardly the stuff of a great rank of
warriors, are they?”

 
          
“I’m
warning you.” Copper Thunder took a step forward, only to have Nine Killer
place himself between them.

 
          
“Oh,
relax, Great Tayac.” Panther waved him back. “As much as I’d like to blame you
for killing the girl, you needed that alliance, and when Red Knot was dead,
I’ll bet you were desperately anxious to see what other opportunity would
present itself.” Panther paused.

 
          
“From
your actions tonight, I’d say that the Weroansqua has found something
workable.”

 
          
Hunting
Hawk muttered, “My dealings with the Great Tayac are none of your business.”

 
          
Panther
shrugged agreeably. “As you will.”

 
          
Copper
Thunder clenched his fists in frustration. “You’re just stirring up trouble,
Raven. Are you going to get to the point, or waste the rest of the night?”

 
          
Panther
gave him a cold smile. “You’ve always been impatient. Too impatient to learn what
kind of family you almost married into? I tell you, you’re not going to like
the answer. Even less so, since I’m going to be the one giving it to you.”

 
          
Hunting
Hawk hissed, “Old man, if you don’t get on with this, I’ll see you burn"

 
          
Nine
Killer wished desperately that he’d brought his war club. Copper Thunder’s face
darkened like a winter storm. If the meeting erupted into violence, Nine Killer
could count only on the quick discipline of his warriors to protect the
Weroansqua and to restore order.

 
          
The
tension in the Great House felt like some fierce beast breathing down their
backs. Hunting Hawk looked as if she’d swallowed a bitter draught of may apple
root, her undershot jaw stuck out defiantly. Yellow Net had stiffened, face
thoughtful. Of them all, only Panther and Green Serpent seemed unconcerned.
Were they made of wood, or had old age just blinded them to the danger brewing
around them?

 
          
Panther
rubbed his hands back and forth before him. “The killing of Red Knot had
nothing to do with the things we’ve been discussing here. They simply helped to
precipitate the event.”

 
          
“Then
why did you bring all that up? To humiliate us?” Hunting Hawk demanded, waving
her stick angrily.

 
          
“No,
Weroansqua. Actually, I was doing you a favor.” He looked at Copper Thunder
with evident distaste. “You see, those innocent people with a reason for
killing the young woman needed to be cleared of wrongdoing, or questions would
dog them for the rest of their lives. I want this closed so that everyone can begin
to put their lives back in order.”

 
          
Black
Spike had crossed his arms, looking bored.

 
          
The
Panther considered his words for a moment, and finally said, “The story begins
a long time ago, almost ten-and-seven Comings of the Leaves past. At that time,
Shell Comb was married to Monster Bone, Weroance of Three Myrtle Village.
Married though she might be, Shell Comb was—”

 
          
“Was
what?” she asked, stepping into the room. Her hair was damp from the mist, her
dark eyes fixed on The Panther. “Did you intend to discuss me, Elder, while I
was still in the Women’s House?”

 
          
“I
had no choice,” Panther said easily. “The Weroansqua appointed the time…
apparently without consulting you.”

 
          
Shell
Comb gave her mother a grim smile, and flashed a probing look at Black Spike.
She seated herself with a flourish, removed the damp feather cloak from around
her shoulders, and shook her long black hair back over her shoulder. She
flashed a smile at Nine Killer, enough to make his guts tingle, and then she
beamed at Copper Thunder before stretching her hands to the fire.

 
          
Nine
Killer couldn’t help but watch the way her lithe body extended itself toward
the fire’s warming rays, but he noticed that Black Spike had locked his jaws,
the muscles of his cheeks tight. His gaze never left her.

 
          
And
Nine Killer saw the desperation locked behind the Weroance’s strained
expression—and knew it for what it was.

 
          
“Yes,
let’s see,” Panther resumed. “Ten-and-seven springs ago, Shell Comb traveled
north, up the
Salt
Water
Bay
. The journey was ostensibly a trading
expedition. North she went, passing a year among the Susquehannocks and the
Seneca.”

 
          
“I
think you have confused the time we spent there, Elder.” Shell Comb smiled
coyly at him. “I recall it more like three moons.”

 
          
Panther’s
voice softened. “I’m sorry, Shell Comb, but you betrayed yourself the other
day. The Andaste White Dog ceremony occurs in midwinter, just after the
solstice. The Green Corn ceremony happens in late summer. You saw both of them.
How else could you know that the Feather Dance was done at both?”

 
          
“I
was told,” she said coldly.

 
          
“No,
you needed time to bear the child.” Panther crossed his arms. “I assume that
Monster Bone would have known the child wasn’t his, that it was his brother’s.
So you and Black Spike left, traveled north to bear the child where your
husband wouldn’t know. And then, what happened? Couldn’t you bear to part with
the child?” “That’s ridiculous!” Shell Comb gaped at The Panther. Nine Killer
caught the sudden horror on Black Spike’s face—as if his entire world was
growing dark. He raised his hands, fumbled with them, and finally placed them
on either side of his face.

 
          
Panther
took a step and shifted his attention to the sooty roof overhead. “When I was
in
Three
Myrtle
Village
, the old woman, Moth, tried to—”

 
          
“Moth!”
Shell Comb cried. “She’s crazy! You old fool! You didn’t believe a word she
said, did you? Monster Bone took her in a raid against the Mamanatowick. She’s
been hit in the head so many times she doesn’t know night from day!”

 
          
“But
she knew that Monster Bone’s long house burned from the ground up,” Panther
replied evenly. “Burned the night before you and Black Spike landed on your
return from the Susquehannock.”

 
          
“Longhouses
burn!” Black Spike cried. “It happens!”

 
          
“It
does”—Panther pointed up at the roof—“but the sparks usually catch up by the
smoke hole. Monster Bone’s house was set on fire so that no one could escape
—and in this case it brought you good fortune. Your brother burned to death.
You became Weroance, and kept your child. That’s why your wife’s clan never
came to claim the child, isn’t it? She never bore High Fox.”

 
          
“She
died in childbirth!” The pitch had climbed in Black Spike’s voice. “In the
presence of Okeus, I swear it.”

 
          
“No
matter what happened to her, she never returned with you, did she?” Panther
goaded. “Dead, left with the Susquehannocks, it matters not. She was out of the
way, unable to expose the truth.”

 
          
Black
Spike’s eyes had glazed, and he shot a frightened look at Shell Comb.

 
          
Shell
Comb’s eyes seemed to enlarge as she fixed them on The Panther. The corners of
her lips jerked, and then with a sudden smile she nodded. “An able concoction,
Elder, and I can see how a person could string the facts together like a
pattern of beads. But it is a fashion of your own, not the way it was.”

 
          
“Indeed?”
Panther looked around at his rapt audience.

 
          
High
Fox was staring, openmouthed, at Shell Comb. “I think that in a few moments, we
will see just how well I can string these beads of fact upon their cord. Then,
Shell Comb, we shall see whose neck they will fit.”

 
          
“Mother!”
Shell Comb hissed. “Stop this! Now! The old fool’s out of hand!” “No,” Hunting
Hawk said woodenly. “I think we will hear him out.”

 
          
Panther
turned to face Green Serpent. “If you would be so kind, Elder?”

 
          
Green
Serpent reached into the basket resting between Lightning Cat’s knees and
lifted out the skull. Chanting to appease the young woman’s ghost, he handed it
to Panther. The elder took it in his wrinkled hands, holding it carefully.
“Observe.” Panther pointed to the ugly dents in the smooth curvature of bone.
“The skull was crushed in two places. From the extent of the damage, Red Knot
would have dropped instantly, probably dead before she hit the ground.”

 
          
Panther
met Nine Killer’s eyes. “War Chief, would you take the weapon from Green
Serpent and demonstrate how the blow was delivered?”

 
          
The
Kwiokos extracted a long-handled war club from the basket and extended it. Nine
Killer swallowed hard and took the slender handle of the polished war club. The
smooth wood chilled his hand. As Panther held out the grinning skull, Nine
Killer reached out with the war club, aligning the business end with the side
of the girl’s skull. The two stone heads matched the holes exactly. Even from
where he stood, Nine Killer could see the strands of long black hair caught in
the settings of the war club. “Elder, that hair. Is it… ?”

 
          
Panther
nodded. “When the club was replaced in the House of the Dead, the killer didn’t
notice that some of Red Knot’s hair was stuck in the club.”

 
          
“That
could be anyone’s hair!” Black Spike objected, his voice hoarse. He couldn’t
seem to pry his gaze from the grisly exhibit.

 
          
“But
it’s not,” Panther replied. “The War Chief and I searched most diligently for
the weapon, even to the point of stealing Copper Thunder’s war club to match it
to the wound. Grass Mat, you’ll be happy to know it didn’t fit.”

 
          
“Of
course not!”

 
          
“Where?
Where was it?” Nine Killer demanded—and suddenly, he knew. He’d seen it so many
times. “By Okeus, taken from the very hand of the god! It’s the war club from
the altar!”

 
          
“The
very same,” Panther replied sadly. He reached into his belt pouch. “But if
there is any doubt, I will now lay it to rest. This piece of wood was chipped
out of the stone setting by the impact of the blow. The War Chief, Sun Conch,
and I found it the day we inspected the ridge where Red Knot was killed. You
will notice, it fits perfectly.” Panther pressed the triangular piece into
place where the stone and wood were joined.

 
          
“So,
you have the war club that killed Red Knot,” Hunting Hawk said dryly. “Anyone
could have entered the temple that night and stolen it.”

 
          
Panther
cradled the skull gently in his arms; it might have been a precious egg. “That
is correct, Weroansqua. When I began, I told you, it was the reason of Red
Knot’s death that eluded me. Almost everyone in this room might want the girl
dead, but to kill her took a special kind of desperation. Flat
Willow
was desperate enough, but he would have
used his own war club, and besides, he was out plotting with Copper Thunder at
the moment Red Knot was killed. High Fox might have wanted her dead, but White
Otter and Quick Fawn have told me that Red Knot wished to leave with him. Thus,
he had no reason to kill her.”

 
          
“Wait!”
Nine Killer cried. “What about High Fox’s necklace? Red Knot had it clasped in
her hand.”

 
          
Panther
nodded to Green Serpent, who lifted the necklace from the basket. High Fox
gasped at the sight of it, his face working. “High Fox?” Panther took the
necklace and dangled it before the young warrior. “Would you care to explain
how this came to be with Red Knot’s body?”

 
          
High
Fox stammered, “I—I put it in her hand, Elder. That morning. When I found her
dead … bloody. She was so cold. I just couldn’t…” He looked up, aching. “I
loved her! Don’t you see? I’d have died for her! We were going away to be
together—happy for the rest of our lives. And then to find her that way, dead,
and covered with blood. I just… I took off my necklace, and placed it in her
hand. Something … don’t you see? Something of me for her. So she’d know that I
still loved her. That I’d always love her.” He dropped his miserable stare to
the matting. “For all time … forever.”

 
          
Panther
stepped over and used a finger to raise High Fox’s face. Tears left shining
tracks down his cheeks. “She will know, High Fox. And your necklace will rest
with her bones. I promise.”

 
          
High
Fox smiled in relief as The Panther handed the necklace back to Green Serpent;
then Panther hesitated, his gaze fixed on the boy’s mouth. He whispered, “It
all comes clear.”

 
          
It
took a moment for Panther to recover his thoughts. “So, let us go again to that
last night of dancing. Place yourselves there. Red Knot and High Fox meet
outside the palisade. after the dance is over. She tells him how much she
detests Copper Thunder. He asks her to run off with him. She agrees. She is to
meet him at Oyster Shell Landing at dawn—giving High Fox just enough time to
paddle around the point. When she returns and meets Quick Fawn, Quick Fawn
tries to talk Red Knot out of doing such a mad thing—and in the process, Red
Knot tells Quick Fawn what she is doing. Isn’t that right?”