THE COOSA VALLEY IS WIDE, FLAT, AND SURROUNDED BY LOW HILLY uplands. Situated at the confluence of several rivers, the floodplains contain fertile and productive soils. Coosa is an old Nation; the stories of its origins go all the way back to fabled Cahokia.
For generations, the original Mos’kogean settlers had expanded up and down the rivers, burning out forest, planting their fields, and building towns. Through conquest, marriage, or mutual agreement, Coosa had absorbed neighboring peoples into its fold until the core area was so interwoven with tribute, kin ties, and mutual reliance it had become a regional giant. Outlying and subordinate Nations like Napochies and Chiaha still retained their old identities, and had time allowed, perhaps they, too, would have eventually merged seamlessly into the whole.
As it was, the Coosa High Sun ruled his sprawling Nation with sense, compassion, and evenhandedness. His subordinate mikkos were treated with respect, and any who dared to defy the authority of the High Sun were faced with an overwhelming military threat.
For Blood Thorn, the journey down from the divide was an awesome experience. The first thing he noticed was the number of people traveling from Coosa to Napochies; we passed a constant stream of humanity: traders, emissaries, warriors, oretas borne on litters, messengers, and people bearing heavy burden baskets hung from straps over their shoulders.
Then as the route descended down into the broad Coosa River bottoms, we encountered hunting and collecting parties canvassing the forest for food, building materials, firewood, healing plants, and stone. As the trail widened into a road, we began passing individual farmsteads eking out a living on the lower slopes. Fishing camps were established on every stream.
Occasionally we would pass a shrine—generally consisting of a small structure filled with offerings of flowers, carved wooden effigies, and sacred sticks painted with colors and decorated with feathers.
When we finally walked out into the Coosa lowlands, Blood Thorn was amazed by the endless expanse of fields. At the Coosa River itself, a small town had grown up simply to serve the ferry traffic. In the town’s center, locals offered fowl, meat, pottery, fabrics, corn, beans, squash, arrows, carvings, feathers, you name it.
Two Packs made arrangements for our crossing while Blood Thorn, Pearl Hand, and I walked through the bazaar, inspecting the local goods.
“And this is just a river crossing?” Blood Thorn asked, staring at the locals in their colorful dress. “You could stock all of Uzachile just on what’s available here.”
“Wait until you see the capital,” I remarked. “It’s really four towns, each of which serves a different clan. The Wind Clan, from which the High Sun is descended, occupies Coosa itself. The Cougar Clan has their town just downriver about two hands’ walk. There the tastanaki, or Red Chief, holds sway. Were the four towns all built in one place, the thing would dwarf Telemico.”
“Are there great mounds with high palaces? Like those at Telemico?”
“Not as high. Mostly because the capital hasn’t been there as long. Several generations back, a faction of the Wind Clan overthrew the leadership. At the time they were living down at Etowah. Since most of the Nation’s interests lay in the north, they moved the capital.”
“Just like that?”
“Well, being more centralized shortened the lines of communication and made Coosa less vulnerable to attack from the Ocute and Tuskaloosa. The new High Sun also took the opportunity to order the other clans to build close to him—a way to better keep an eye on them. Since they’d helped to overthrow his relatives at Etowah, he was afraid someone might use the same trick on him.”
Blood Thorn made a face. “Sounds like a viper’s nest.”
“Isn’t that what government is?” I grinned. “And people wonder why I’m just a lowly trader.”
“Lowly, all right,” Blood Thorn said. “With Horned Serpent’s sepaya hung around your neck.”
After we crossed the Coosa, Two Packs pushed us harder. As a gentle rain fell we followed a winding trail past farmsteads. I wondered at Two Packs’s pace. Maybe he’d been dwelling too much on Pearl Hand’s enticing curves.
The rain finally broke, puffy clouds rolling off to the north. Evening gloom settled on the land as the trail we followed split off from the main route and paralleled the bank above the Coosahachi River—so called to distinguish the branch upon which the capital had been built from the main channel to the north. Through the trees we got a glimpse every now and then of the water to our left.
Two Packs’s house was built on a terrace overlooking the river. Nestled between its tree-lined banks, the Coosahachi reflected a silver sheen from the evening sky. The odor of smoke carried on the breeze, and here and there, on the floodplain across from us, fires flickered as people in farmsteads cooked their evening meals. Just visible to the southwest was Cougar Town, home of the tastanaki, the war leader, or Red Chief, of the Coosa Nation.
“I’d forgotten how charming it is,” I said as Pearl Hand stepped up to wrap her arms around me.
Then I turned back to Two Packs’s house, or should I say, houses. Four structures had been built back against the trees. Red Tie and Black Rope were calling orders to the pack of dogs that charged out to greet us. Several children who’d been standing by the fire rushed out to help, crying, “Papa! Papa!” as they rushed forward to clasp at Two Packs’s legs. He slung his pack down, dropped to his knees, and enfolded them in his arms.
I slipped my arm around Pearl Hand’s waist as the confusion unfolded and ordered my dogs to heel. They did so with obvious reluctance, wishing to go mix it up with Two Packs’s dogs.
At that point a woman stepped out, wiping her hands on her apron-like skirt. She shook her head and, striding forward, began calling orders.
Two Packs straightened and gave the woman a hug that should have cracked her ribs. When he released her, she batted him playfully on the shoulder, obviously delighted to see him. Then, spotting us, she came forward.
“Welcome, welcome,” she called. “I hope you’ve something to add to the pot. We didn’t make enough for all of you.”
I chuckled, “Willow Root, we would never impose upon your supper. Don’t worry about us.”
She squinted in the gloom. “Black Shell? That you? By the Piasa’s balls, it is! You scoundrel! Where have you been all these years? And with a charming woman? Does she know what kind of cur you really are?”
I introduced Pearl Hand and Blood Thorn while Two Packs showed the porters where to place our packs.
By then Willow Root was fawning over her sons, shooing the other children away, sending them on errands to fetch water from a creek just down from the house.
Somehow enough food was scraped together, the fire enlarged, and we threw out our blankets under the starry sky.
Supper was the time for stories, but I could tell Two Packs was antsy, sitting with his arm around his wife. It didn’t take long before we called it a night.
The next morning, after breakfast, Two Packs wandered over to squat beside our fire. His broad face was introspective as he hunched, arms braced on his knees, hands hanging.
“I think we should go on to Coosa today.” He yawned. “I’ll introduce you to an oreta I’ve done favors for in the past. He’s Wind Clan, a cousin of the High Sun. Since he’s in favor, he can take your request for an audience to the High Sun without going through the various yatikas, oretas, and mikkos.”
“We would appreciate that.” I handed him a cup of tea. “Is there a place we could rent in Coosa, someplace where the trade won’t be out in plain view?”
“I have a storehouse there.” He glanced at me. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to accompany you.”
“You would be more than welcome, and besides, it saves me the humiliation of begging.”
He grinned. “I always did like you.”
“You’re notorious for poor taste in friends.”
He slapped his knees. “I got that from you. But before we go, have you looked over my dogs?”
“I have. First thing. That black and the brown-and-white look like prospects.”
He nodded. “Blackie and Patches, the two I thought you’d pick. Good choice. But don’t expect them to go for a couple of trinkets.”
“Take a look at my trade. Help yourself to whatever catches your fancy.”
“As long as it’s not a Kristiano sword, huh?”
“Except that.”
A hand’s time later, Two Packs was a strand of pearls and an engraved shell cup richer. I laced Fetch’s old pack on Blackie. Skipper’s I tied onto Patches’s brown-and-white body. Having been bred by a trader, they were already broken to the pack and had been living with discipline from the day they were whelped.
Introducing two new dogs to a longtime pack is not without its trials, jealousies, snarls, nips, and fights. A new pecking order has to be established. But with Two Packs’s help we had them on the trail and by midday were passing around cornfields where women and children worked, backs bent to the sun. We encountered a constant stream of people, mostly local farmers who greeted us with a smile, bowing at the sight of our trader’s staffs.
The road led us around houses, ramadas, and gardens, past children and dogs, the occasional inconveniently placed basket, and finally to the landing below Deer Town. Set on the Coosahachi’s northern bank, the town looked lazy with its low palisade and ditch.
Blood Thorn drew stares as he admired the two high palaces built on adjacent flats atop the single great mound that dominated Deer Town. The surrounding high granaries with their pointed roofs added to the illusion of height.
The canoe landing was crowded with people sitting on the parallel ranks of beached canoes. It was apparent from the crowd that we’d have to wait our turn. I kept the dogs in hand with Two Packs’s help; then he merged with the crowd, seeking to arrange our crossing.
A disorganized bazaar had been set up, locals having spread blankets or placed their goods under the few ramadas. Smoldering fires gave the air a smoky flavor, enhanced by the smells drifting off the food vendors’ steaming pots. At the periphery, a group of old men played at dice, laughing and talking, and two smiling young women dressed in bright yellow dresses danced to flute music.
Blood Thorn tried to take it all in, oblivious of the people who paused to point at him and whisper behind their hands.
Two Packs managed to buy us crossing for a couple of pieces of shell, and a finger’s time later we were across the Coosahachi. Above the landing rose the imposing buildings of Coosa itself. Here, too, people were hawking their wares, children running up to offer us smoked fish, skewers of boiled crawfish, turkey legs, local pottery, and every other ware.
Two Packs, brandishing his trader’s staff, waved them back and managed to get us—unscathed—through the crowd. Blood Thorn, however, found himself fascinated by a magician who made things disappear into thin air. Pearl Hand grabbed him by the elbow and had to physically tug him away.
Smoke hung over the valley like a thick mist through which the distant hills could barely be seen. The capital itself was surrounded by a high wall, the portals manned by squads of warriors. Spread around the bastions, in a haphazard and crowded clutter, were various structures, including the one Two Packs owned: a tall granary, built atop eight sturdy poles. I could just reach up and touch the cane-pole floor. Two Packs untied a ladder that he’d hung beneath the floor joists and set it before climbing up to the wooden-plank door.
“Why the heavy door?” I asked, realizing that I couldn’t see hinges, so cleverly had it been constructed.
“Thieves,” he replied with irritation. “This close to the capital, with so many passing, anything left unattended tends to disappear. See this bit of cane sticking out?”
“Looks like shoddy construction.” I shielded my eyes against the sun, watching Two Packs at the top of his ladder, hoping the weathered poles wouldn’t snap under his weight.
“It’s the latch,” he said smugly. “Just lift . . . so. And push.”
I saw how he did it and watched him push the door open. He was grinning down at me, quite proud of himself. “Better put your trade in here. Out of sight and safe.”
One by one we lifted the packs. After Two Packs disappeared inside, I climbed up, feeling the spring in the ladder.
The inside was uncomfortably warm, stuffy, and dark, but I could see the split-cane roof was tight and the walls had been made of woven willow stems interlaced with shreds of basswood bark.
The packs stowed, we crawled out and Two Packs showed me the trick to relatch the door. Stepping out into the breeze was a welcome relief. We congregated in the shade beneath the granary floor, my dogs growling at their new companions. Blackie and Patches kept wanting to bolt in terror. Pearl Hand took it upon herself to reassure them, much to Bark’s dismay.
Dogs can be as complicated as people.
A shabby-looking ramada was attached to the southern side of the granary like an unwanted appendage. An old fire pit was situated in the middle, and sunlight played through the frayed roof.
“I should see to that,” Two Packs mused.
In near defeat, Pearl Hand roped Blackie and Patches to one of the poles and firmly ordered the rest of the dogs to lie down in the shade. One by one, the growls died down.
Seeing the porters off, I turned to Two Packs. “All right. How do we do this?”
He considered the warriors guarding the palisade gate, his broad face thoughtful. “Let me see if I can get a message to the oreta. It might take a while.”
We watched him stroll off, his massive shoulders rolling with each step, and seated ourselves in the shade, backs to the thick support posts. Blackie and Patches whined as they watched him disappear, and I knelt beside them, petting their necks, reassuring them.
Blood Thorn stared around. “Coosa’s not as grand as I thought it would be, but I can’t get over the number of people. It’s . . . busy!”
I scratched behind Blackie’s ear while Pearl Hand kept Squirm and Gnaw from interfering. “Within two days’ walk, there are close to ten thousand people.”
He nodded, eyes on the high palace, the temple, and the tall granaries jutting from behind Coosa’s wall. “That’s just Coosa itself. Factor in all the towns we passed up on the Tenasee . . . all the way to Chiaha. That’s another thirty thousand, at least.”
“And Coosa extends for another fifteen days’ travel to the southwest.” I pointed. “There are another twenty-five large towns. How many people does that make? Forty, fifty thousand when you figure in the villages and farmsteads?”
“It would take a lifetime just to count them,” he whispered, shaking his head. “You seem at home here.”
“I did most of my trading out of Coosa. Mostly from here to the west and south.”
Pearl Hand arched an eyebrow. “And you have more friends like Two Packs? Big brawny rascals who like to leer at women?”
“As many as I could get.”
“What about Tuskaloosa?” she asked. “Is there someone like Two Packs who can smooth the way?”
“Old Half Bear and I always got along.” I smiled at the memory. “But if the Coosa High Sun can be talked into it, de Soto might not get that far.”
“And what are our chances of that?” Blood Thorn wondered.
“We’ll find out when we finally get in to see the High Sun.” I sighed, rubbing Patches’s back.
Bark continued to growl promises of mayhem at the new dogs. I prayed it wasn’t prophetic.
Two Packs came striding out of Coosa’s main gate less than a hand’s time later. He looked pensive as he walked up, his thick arms swinging. From the set of his wide mouth he was in a serious mood.
“Well?” I asked with unaccustomed anxiety.
He gave me a thin smile, eyes narrowing. “I couldn’t find my friend, but a different oreta was more than interested when I mentioned that you came with news of the Kristianos. I told him everything I knew: that you’d been following de Soto up from the peninsula; that you’d been at Napetuca and Cofitachequi. That you’d fought the Kristianos, taken one captive, and been a captive yourself.”
He hesitated. “The oreta, Tall Owl, a Cougar Clan man, immediately went to the palace, talked to the yatika, and was given admission to the Coosa High Sun. I waited only a finger of time before Tall Owl was back. He said he’d like you to come just after the evening prayers.”
We all glanced at each other.
Two Packs continued. “I told him you were a Chicaza noble, a Chicora, and an Uzachile iniha. I lied through my teeth and said you were all honorable individuals and of a noble bearing.”
“Finally telling the truth, huh? Going to make a habit of this, are you?”
He grinned, exposing his few peglike teeth. “I could have told him about the time you put that dead rat in the high priest’s water jar down at Talisi town.”
To immediately change the subject, I asked, “So we should arrive in full dress?”
“It wouldn’t hurt.” Then he turned grim again. “But you should also know that messengers have been passing back and forth. Your monster plays the game well. He has sent runner after runner telling the Coosa Sun that his intentions are entirely peaceful, and so far the message has been received with a great deal of satisfaction. What you’re about to tell the High Sun? Well, it might not come as welcome news.”
He placed a hand on my shoulder. “Be careful, Black Shell. You’re about to upset the most powerful man on earth.”
And for the first time in days, I felt the sepaya quiver.