Blue Heron was halfway through a bowl of Dancing Sky’s reheated stew when the roar of the crowd finally penetrated her muzzy thoughts. She hadn’t slept well and had risen late, only to discover that the old woman, Seven Skull Shield’s dog, and the Red Wing were missing.
Smooth Pebble had been laying out her dress for the day when the swell of shouting voices finally goaded Blue Heron’s curiosity.
Setting her bowl aside, she walked to the veranda, packed as it was with Fire Cat’s winnings. She glanced south toward Night Shadow Star’s mound and shaded her eyes against the rising sun. Were those people climbing the side of the Morning Star’s mound? Nor was that the end of it. The entire base of Night Shadow Star’s mound was a seething mass of humanity, with people even scrambling up the steep slope to hang just below the palace in the attempt to see something happening in the yard.
“Get my litter,” she barked to the guards. “Phlegm and spit, there’s a riot out there! Squadron First, alert the Men’s House. Call them out. All of them!”
“Yes, Keeper!” The man touched his forehead before shouting orders to the warriors below.
Even as he did, a Bear Clan youth holding a messenger’s staff pelted up her stairs, his eyes wide, breath tearing in and out of his lungs.
“Keeper! The tonka’tzi sent me. The Red Wing is fighting the Itza at Lady Night Shadow Star’s palace. He’s killed one, and is battling another!”
“He’s battling the Itza?” She shook her head, trying to get her sleep-numb souls around the idea. “Piss and excrement, is the man a lunatic? Smooth Pebble, get my clothes. Get them now.”
Her gaze stopped as it passed over Dancing Sky. The woman looked as if she’d just swallowed a prickly pear cactus. “Oh, all right. Just get the pots off the fire so they don’t burn. Yes, he’s your son, but he’s also a pain in my gut.”
Moments later she was hurrying down her stairs to her hastily brought litter. People were pouring in streams to join the crowd. Mud and maggots, if something happened to set them off, she might not survive the short trip.
What does that maniac think he’s doing? He could kill us all!