Twenty-three

In Trade pidgin, Blood Talon called, “We’re looking for a Trader’s canoe. We think with seven people. They’re headed upriver with two Cahokians. At least one woman, young. She’s a Cahokian noble, dressed well. Four spirals are tattooed on her cheeks. A warrior travels with her. A scarred man accompanied by armor, weapons, and chunkey gear.”

Blood Talon perched on the high prow of the sleek war canoe as it was paddled along the edge of the flooded trees; his attention was fixed on the two dugouts proceeding in tandem across the muddy water. Lines attached to a submerged net were being towed by the two craft. Each held three fishermen, all bent to their paddles as they dragged their net through the shallows at the edge of the half-drowned trees.

“We might,” one of the fishermen called back through an atrocious accent. “Such a party stayed at our village last night. They Traded for house for a lady and her warrior. They head for Tenasee. The canoe is Red Reed. They leave us at dawn.”

“Was the lady called Night Shadow Star?”

“How do I know? They only talk to her in Cahokian. But she got those tattoos.”

“Thank you. The Morning Star’s blessing upon you!”

The man waved, bending back to his paddle, far more interested in loading his net than talking to passing warriors.

“Think it’s her?” Nutcracker asked as Blood Talon lowered himself to a seat.

“Has to be her. How many Cahokian ladies do you know of headed for the Tenasee? If I were her? And I’d just embarrassed the war leader? I’d figure that Spotted Wrist would send someone to drag me back. One thing about Night Shadow Star, she hasn’t proved to be stupid. Not even once.”

“I never thought it would take us this long to catch her. It’s almost like she knows we’re chasing her.”

“She knows.”

“Do you really think she’s that smart? Or are the tales true?”

“What tales?”

“That she’s protected by Underworld Power. The stories are that she sends her souls there, you know. That she walks the Underworld with Piasa at her side. That the Spirit Beast whispers in her ear, and that she sees him.”

“That’s piss in a pot if you ask me.” Blood Talon said it more for the men’s benefit. No sense in spooking them or feeding any of their night fears.

On those occasions when he’d seen her, he thought her Spirit-possessed. That eerie look she got? The vacancy in her eyes? Well, it made the stories about her soul possession pretty easy to believe.

Once they caught her, maybe he’d take special precautions. Maybe cover her head with a sack so that she couldn’t cast some sort of spell on his warriors. Keep her trussed up like a cocoon lest she invoke malevolence with her fingers.

Have to catch her first, though.

Blood Talon glanced over his shoulders at the warriors resting on their paddles. “She’s a half day ahead of us. She doesn’t know we’re closing on her. I know you’re tired. I know I’ve pushed you hard. But just a little longer. That’s all I ask. We have to make up a half a day. When we have her, we can rest, feast for a day or two, and once we’re refreshed, we can take our time getting her back to Cahokia.”

The men answered with weary cheers, bending their backs to the paddles. The war canoe cleanly cut the waves. Broad-beamed as it was, it proved a fast vessel, built for moving men three abreast, and he had the toughest and strongest of his hand-chosen warriors to make up the difference.

Blood Talon smiled. These were his warriors, trained, battle-hardened, and proud of it. If anyone could catch Night Shadow Star, it would be them.