Eleven

Ever since that unsettling purple sky had dawned, Fire Cat had been on edge. In anticipation, he’d dressed in his armor first thing, his club hanging from his belt along with a long copper stiletto. His bow, arrows, shield, and spare war club were tied in a bundle beside the door, ready for any eventuality.

He could feel the threat, hanging low like the clouds that continued to darken the city. In less than a week, the whole of Cahokia would be totally rapt in its celebration of the spring equinox. At the great observatory, the Sky priests were counting down the fingers of time, aligning the phases of the moon and the moving stars in the constant quest to read the will of Power.

Not that he and Night Shadow Star would be around to see it. By the Blessed sunrise that marked the event, they were supposed to be past the confluence and headed up the Mother Water for the Tenasee. Or that had been the plan before the supplies were burned.

He grinned to himself. Betrayal always came with a sense of building excitement, and he and Night Shadow Star were about to execute the biggest betrayal of all.

He sniffed the odor of cooking yellow lotus mixed with mashed acorn and cornmeal. Half a turkey carcass rested on skewers beside the fire. Green Stick and Clay String fussed over the two small packs laid out on one of the sleeping benches.

The large box containing all of Night Shadow Star’s wardrobes and clothing had been retired to the storage area behind the back wall. To Fire Cat’s way of thinking, the single ornately carved box of Trade and two smaller packs made a great deal more sense.

But then, nothing about the new plan left him any more thrilled than the old plan had.

Under his breath, he whispered, “I live to serve.” And, of course, to love. What Power commanded, he would do his best to ensure that the outcome would be a success. Whatever it took.

Outside, shafts of sunlight had finally managed to poke through holes in the cloud cover. Not that it helped much to cut the damp chill.

Night Shadow Star emerged from her rooms in the back, walked over to the fire, and crouched, hands extended. She wore a thick and warm dogbane-thread shirt beneath a beaver-fur cloak. Her hair was done in a simple bun and held in place with wooden skewers. The only hint of ostentation was in the small carved wooden box tied above her bun. The delicately engraved wood depicted Cosmic Spider and was inset with pearls for eyes and bits of polished shell. Fire Cat had no idea what it contained, but it had been a gift from Rides-the-Lightning.

She looked pensive, her large eyes seeing into a distance far beyond the glowing coals in the fire pit.

She had to be worried about what was coming, about their change of plans. The information that the expedition’s food stores had been burned was just the latest complication, and, if anything, had spurred her to an even greater resolve.

“Lady?” he asked, walking over to crouch beside her.

Green Stick and Clay String seemed to be waiting, unsure of what to do next.

“One last thing, Red Wing,” Night Shadow Star told him. “After that, we’re going to have to move fast.”

“I don’t understand. Is this something Piasa told you?”

A fleeting shadow of a smile flickered and died on her lips. “When I was a girl I always knew I was going to be a prize. No secret in that, really. What I didn’t know was that I would also be a weapon. To be a prize and weapon at the same time, that is an interesting dilemma. While half the world is trying to claim me, they are but obstacles trying to keep me from fulfilling my purpose as a weapon.”

“You mean killing your brother.”

She nodded. “I’m a gaming piece. Cast onto the blanket like a bone die in one game, while other dice are cast in an attempt to win me in another. There are so many levels to the game it is hard to know which side I’m playing on at any given moment.”

“We’re taking a risk, you know. Changing the game in midthrow. You heard Tonka’tzi Wind’s messenger. Two days until they can replace the burned supplies. Spotted Wrist won’t be expecting that.”

“If Columella agrees to empty her granaries.”

“There is that.”

She shot him a conspiratorial look. “The best way to ruin someone’s game is to take the pieces off the hide. Doing so throws all the schemes into chaos. Changes the rules. Especially if it’s done in a way that no one expects.”

“Just like in war, my lady.”

“Do you think this is any different?”

“It’s all strategy and tactics.”

“Yes, it is,” she mused, gaze lost in the fire again.

Footsteps could be heard pounding up the steps. One of the warriors who had been guarding her stairs appeared and dropped to his knees in the doorway. He touched his forehead to the matting and announced, “A man and woman are here to see you, Lady. It’s that thief, Seven Skull Shield. The woman I do not know.”

“The final die has been cast, and we know which markings are now faceup,” Night Shadow Star whispered, and aloud, said, “Send them up.”

“Yes, Lady.” The guard leaped up, wheeled, and trotted out to the top of the stairs, calling, “Lady Night Shadow Star will see you now.”

“You were expecting this?” Fire Cat asked.

Night Shadow Star shrugged. “I wasn’t sure who it would be. Piasa wasn’t specific.”

“So, he knows we’re changing the plan?”

“My master knows a great many things.” She sighed. “He just doesn’t know how they will end.”

“But he doesn’t object to what we’re doing?”

“On the contrary, he tells me that there is no other way for us.”

“Why doesn’t that reassure me?”

Fire Cat turned to see the burly thief accompanied by his miserable brindle dog as he topped the stairs and strode between the Piasa and Horned Serpent guardian posts. He was dressed in his usual coarsely spun hunting shirt; a blanket woven of strips of twisted rabbit fur was wrapped around his shoulders and was held tight before him. The woman who followed a half-step behind was young and remarkably endowed, with tangled and disheveled black hair. Her wide eyes and awed expression—not to mention her half-panicked gait—reminded him of a fawn ready to bolt after entering a panther’s lair.

Seven Skull Shield had a grim look on his gnarled face as he half-heartedly tapped fingers to his forehead in a token gesture of respect and bulled his way into the room. The dog, to Fire Cat’s disgust, peed on the doorframe and went sniffing for the stewpot.

“Lady,” Seven Skull Shield blurted, “you’re in trouble. Hard on my heels is a pack of Spotted Wrist’s warriors. Their orders are to dispose of the Red Wing and carry you off to the Four Winds Clan House where Spotted Wrist is waiting. Like it or not, you’re going to be married within another couple of fingers of time. Figured I’d give you as much warning as I could.”

Night Shadow Star and Fire Cat rose together.

Seven Skull Shield kicked the raw-boned dog away from the stewpot, then gave the dazzled young woman a reassuring grin. She was staring slack-jawed at the wealth piled around the palace. Winnings from Fire Cat’s chunkey victory over a Natchez champion.

Night Shadow Star stepped up to the thief, placed her hands on his shoulders in a gesture Fire Cat found way too familiar. “I need you to do something for me.”

“Of course, Lady.”

“After I have gone, I need you to go to the Morning Star. Tell him that I have chosen my own way to deal with the problem in the east. Tell him: I’ll do it one way, or another. He will understand.”

“Me? Just wander in and tell him, huh?”

“My things are at your disposal. You had best dress the part. If anyone tries to stop you, tell them you are my agent.”

Seven Skull Shield frowned slightly, shot her a narrow-eyed and suspicious look, then laughed at himself. “For you? Of course.”

The pretty young woman was looking covetously at the palace furnishings. Now her startled gaze fixed on Night Shadow Star as if she just realized who she was.

Night Shadow Star told the thief, “By doing this, you are placing yourself at great risk. You know that, don’t you? This changes everything for you. In ways you can barely comprehend.”

Seven Skull Shield shrugged. “Lady, since way back when, you’ve treated me fair. Taken my side and made a place for me when you didn’t have to. I was there last time they made you marry a man you didn’t want to. Thought I’d give you a fair warning, so I didn’t have to watch you go through that again.”

She smiled up at him. “Then we’ll be on our way.” To Fire Cat she said, “Get the packs. Call the porters up for the Trade box. Our work here is done.”

Fire Cat stepped over and lifted his and her packs from the sleeping bench, a curious gaze fixed on Seven Skull Shield the whole time. “How much time do we have?”

“They were organizing their party when Willow Blossom and I left the canoe landing. They’ll be coming, probably at a dog trot. Which reminds me. I hired a litter to bring me here. Got it from Crazy Frog with a promise I’d give his men a sack of something worth a small fortune if they’d run in teams to get me here fastest. Lady, if you wouldn’t mind?” Seven Skull Shield’s eyes drifted to the exotic pottery, the engraved wood boxes, and the extravagant wealth hanging from the walls.

“I’ll see to it myself,” she told him. “Crazy Frog’s porters are waiting at the bottom of the stairs?”

“They are.”

She took her pack from Fire Cat and grabbed up a small sack that contained copper bracelets. “Green Stick, you, Clay String, and Winter Leaf keep the palace in order. I’m leaving Seven Skull Shield in charge while I’m gone. You are to obey his every order. Any disobedience, and he may discipline you any way he chooses.”

“Lady?” Fire Cat and Green Stick cried in shocked unison. Leave the thief in charge of her palace? What kind of lunacy was that? Even Seven Skull Shield, never one to show surprise, gaped in disbelief.

She told Seven Skull Shield, “You might want to keep that knowledge secret. Use this palace as a place of refuge. I think your coming days are going to be dangerous enough.”

Seven Skull Shield grinned, looked over at the horrified household staff, and said, “It’ll be waiting here, safe and sound, when you get back, Lady. On my promise.”

Fire Cat slung his pack over his shoulder and scooped up his bundled weapons where they lay beside the door. The porters had entered for the Trade box.

Night Shadow Star ignored them, turning to the still-stunned Seven Skull Shield. “My master tells me that Power hasn’t decided what to do with you. I am asked to find out. If you had a choice, would you prefer to die after being betrayed by a woman you love, or because you were caught while pulling off the most audacious theft of your career?”

Fire Cat watched Seven Skull Shield’s expression turn cunning. “Given a chance, Lady, I will always place my life in jeopardy over a beautiful woman.”

Fire Cat choked a deep-seated growl as Seven Skull Shield took Night Shadow Star’s hand and raised it to his cheek in a brazen but tender gesture.

She laughed, eyes flashing with amusement. “You know my heart belongs to another. I wish you well, thief. Perhaps the ways of Power will allow us to meet again. In the meantime, be smart. You will need all your wits to survive what’s coming.”

With that she headed for the door, not looking back.

Fire Cat, still unsettled by it all, called, “Thanks for the warning, thief.” Then, he paused. “You and I … well, we didn’t start so well. Know that you have my gratitude for everything you did for her, for me.” He bowed his head, touching fingertips to his forehead in a gesture of true respect.

He, too, refused to look back as he passed through the door. All the while he was wondering if he’d ever see Night Shadow Star’s palace again.

Behind him, he heard Green Stick’s cry of, “She left you in charge? Of us?”

Clay String was bellowing, “Get that dog away from the stew!”

Under his breath, Fire Cat muttered, “Thief, something tells me you’ve never been tested the way you’re about to be tested. May Power help you.”

Then he was past the guardian posts and headed down the stairs to where Night Shadow Star dickered with the porters loitering around Crazy Frog’s ornate litter.