Sixty-one

The words “liquid with fear” meant something to Blue Heron. She was totally immersed in the meaning, feeling it as it ran through her veins, tickled her stomach, and shivered her bones.

This is taking too long!

She shifted from foot to foot, staring around in the night. They were going to be discovered. She kept expecting some shouted alarm, that warriors were going to come boiling out of Spotted Wrist’s palace and seize them all.

Morning was just a half a hand of time away over the eastern horizon. Better were this the middle of the winter instead of nearing the summer solstice. Night was just too cursed short to get anything meaningful done.

An owl hooted from the roof of the Surveyors’ Society building where it overlooked the Avenue of the Sun just east of the Great Plaza.

This was madness. She could think of a hundred things that might go wrong and get her, Flat Stone Pipe, and who knew who else hanged in squares.

“You sure this is the right building?” Wooden Doll asked as she strode up beside Blue Heron and squinted at the dark palace.

“Can’t miss those guardian posts,” Blue Heron told her, pointing to the two tall double-headed eagles atop their high poles on either side of the walkway leading up the low mound. “It’s Sun Wing’s palace. The one right behind it, between us and the Great Plaza? That’s the Recorders’ House. That next one down is the Men’s House. This is some of the most prized ground in Cahokia.”

“Shhh!” Wooden Doll reached out, dragging Blue Heron into a crouch at the side of the sloping earth.

From Spotted Wrist’s palace, a man emerged, little more than a shadow in the darkness. He made his way around to the back of the mound, and, standing on the corner, undid his breechcloth.

The sound of spattering urine could be heard in the still air.

Blue Heron held her breath as the man retraced his steps to the palace veranda and stepped inside.

“Bet that has Flat Stone Pipe’s attention.”

“Hope he’s the kind who can get right back to sleep after he pees.” Wooden Doll rose to her feet again, eyes on the Keeper’s palace. “I hate men like that. Especially the ones with dinky little bladders. Keep me up all night.”

Movement by the door of Sun Wing’s palace solidified into two young men dressed in breechcloths, their skin gleaming slightly from the grease and mosquito repellent they’d rubbed on their bodies.

On silent feet they skipped down the short stairway to the ground, and one said, “It’s set, Lady. In fact, listen.”

Blue Heron turned her right ear, the one that heard the best, toward the doorway. The faint crackle and popping was just audible over the keening of crickets and the slight breeze rustling through the thatch.

“We don’t have much time.”

“How did you know that Lady Sun Wing would be staying the night in Rides-the-Lightning’s temple?” Wooden Doll asked as they retreated to where her litter sat in the shadows behind the Recorders’ House.

“The Earth Clans shaman owes me. Not to mention that he really appreciated the whelk-shell cup I sent him when I asked if he’d invite Sun Wing to bring the Tortoise Bundle up for a pre-solstice Blessing ceremony and a cure.”

“And Spotted Wrist?”

“What’s the point of running a spy network if you can’t use it? He’s in Serpent Woman Town. House business. He won’t be back until tomorrow morning.”

Wooden Doll’s shake of the head was barely visible in the darkness. “Can’t believe that you would burn your niece’s palace. It’s a bit extreme if you ask me.”

“Not a great loss. The place is a dump. It needs burning. Sun Wing’s not the same these days. Walking Smoke broke something inside her when he tried to sacrifice her. Being the Keeper for the Tortoise Bundle? It’s given her a purpose, but she’s living in the Spirit World where keeping a clean house doesn’t seem to be a priority.”

Wooden Doll studied her in the darkness. “You know what will happen if this goes wrong tonight?”

“I was just dwelling on that very fact.”

“Me? I can just fade away. Spotted Wrist will be coming after you. You’re the most logical one.”

“I am.”

“Why? Skull’s a clanless thief. I can understand that he’d be an amusement, a novelty for a woman like you. But to attempt something like this?”

Blue Heron shot the woman a sidelong glance. “You’ve never really trusted me, have you?”

“Excuse me, Lady, but my associations with nobility haven’t exactly taught me to believe they’re the most trustworthy of humankind. Just the opposite, in fact.”

Blue Heron took a deep breath. “Seven Skull Shield and I have a joke that we share. We agree to never let anyone know we’re friends because it would disconcert people who think better of us. Yes, he’s a pain in the ass. Absolutely irreverent, and he refuses to treat me like the high-ranking and exalted personage I am. A fact for which I dearly appreciate him. When I really needed him, Seven Skull Shield was there for me.”

Wooden Doll turned her eyes to Sun Wing’s palace. “This is it.” She turned to the men crouched in the darkness. “Get ready.”

Blue Heron fought to settle her pounding heart. “We’d better hope that Flat Stone Pipe has done his part.”

“If not, here.” Wooden Doll slipped a small jar stoppered with wax into Blue Heron’s hand.

“What’s this?”

“Concentrated essence of water hemlock. If we can’t get him out of there, it’s the kindest thing we can do for him.”

“You think he’d drink poison?”

“Rather than hang in a square? I thought you said he was your friend, that you knew him?”

“You’re right.”

The first flames ate their way through the roof of Sun Wing’s palace.

Time.

Blue Heron, nerves jumping like scalded crickets, hurried across the avenue, climbed up the short stairs to Spotted Wrist’s palace, crossed the veranda, and pushed the door open.

Into the dark room, she shouted, “Fire! Next door! Hurry! If you don’t put it out, this whole section of Cahokia is going to burn! That happens, Spotted Wrist will have your asses cooked and handed to you on a carved wooden platter!”

It took a couple of heartbeats as the warriors all sat up in their beds, glanced wide-eyed in her direction.

“Well, did you hear me? Fire!”

The beds erupted in a flurry as men clawed for their clothing.

Blue Heron stepped back, clearing the way as the warriors pelted out the door, calling to each other.

Across the narrow gap, Sun Wing’s palace was now a burning torch in the night.

It took longer than it should have to peel Seven Skull Shield’s comatose body out of the cage. Despite the bindings cut by Flat Stone Pipe, the cage had been very, very well built.

Nevertheless, not a finger’s time later, Blue Heron was able to fade into the darkness as Wooden Doll’s litter was borne off to the west, the thief’s unconscious body sprawled in the seat.

All right, that’s done. Now the fat’s in the fire. Spotted Wrist will be coming, and he’ll know exactly who to blame.