Part 39 (1/2)
”You may. I shall tell James to prepare the fleet to sail.”
”For Louisbourg?”
”No, of course not for Louisbourg. You are entirely correct, sir; it is far too late to undertake a campaign against Louisbourg. We shall return to the G.o.dforsaken province of New York in the stubborn and ungrateful and barbaric American colonies. G.o.d alone knows what we'll find when we get there, but it can't be any worse that what we're leaving behind.”
LEAF FALLING MOON, THE NINTH SUN THE VILLAGE OF SINGING SNOW.
”We have waited long to see you, my bridge person son.”
”I have been far away, Father. It took time to return to the home of my heart.”
Bishkek made a sound of disgust. ”Many times I am told you were seen in Quebec. It is not such a great distance between that city and this fire.”
Cormac had expected the reproach. He could not tell his manhood father that he had been as far south as Carolina looking for a white woman. ”I found the hawk, Father. The one in my dream. At least I think it was that one.”
”It is not likely that you will have been sent to look for two hawks. So?”
Corm shook his head. ”He told me many things, but I still do not know who the white bear is. Kwashko says it is him, but-”
”My other whiteface son is a red bear, is he not? Has his hair turned white since I saw him?”
”No, Father. He is still Uko Nyakwai. That is why ... But even if he is correct, I do not know if the threat to the little birds is finished.”
”Red Bear,” Bishkek muttered. ”Disgusting name.” They squatted near a cooking pot suspended over a fire tended by one of Bishkek's many daughters. ”Wisnawen,” the old man demanded, ”yawukne?” The squaw shook her head. The food was not yet ready. Bishkek stood. ”Come, we must go to see someone.”
”Who?”
”The squaw priest.”
”The one who nearly stabbed me?”
”Nearly is not important. The flint did not go into your heart, did it?”
”No but-”
There was no wind, but an unseasonably biting cold. Bishkek pulled the blanket he wore closer around his shoulders. ”Come. Otherwise by the time we return the food will be cold.”
They began walking. Bishkek looked up at the sky. It was gray and heavy. ”Pkon,” he muttered. ”Nagic.” Snow soon. ”My bridge person son must not be here when the snow comes.”
”Leaf Falling is too early for snow.”
”Perhaps the clouds do not know which moon it is. Perhaps they do not care. Tomorrow or the next day it will snow. You must leave before the first flakes come.”
”You always say that. But I am not a squaw or a child. It does not matter if it snows. If I want to leave, I can still-”
”Be quiet. Do you think you are the only one who has dreams?”
They had walked as far as the dome-shaped wickiup the village had erected for Shabnokis the Mide squaw priest. Having her near Singing Snow was a good thing; not having her actually living among them was even better. Everyone knew that the priests of the Midewiwin often caused trouble.
There was no sign of Shabnokis, but they could hear her chanting. ”Wa hi, hi, hi. Haya, haya.”
”She is praying,” Corm said. ”Better we go away and come back tomorrow.” He wasn't sure why the thought of another session with Shabnokis was so unpleasant, only that it was.
”I already told you, you must leave tomorrow.”
”Yes, before the snow.” Corm's tone made it obvious how unlikely he thought that to be. ”But the priest is busy. She won't like it if we-”
”She chants because she knows we're here. So we'll be impressed with how holy she is. Praying all the time even when no one is around.” Bishkek cupped his hands around his mouth. ”Ho! Jebye. Kteshyamin.” We have come.
The chant stopped and the blanket that covered the door of the wickiup was pushed aside. Shabnokis looked older than Corm remembered her. Her hair was entirely white and she wore it in two plaits that hung over her shoulders. ”Why do you make so much noise? I knew you were coming and I know you are here. I was praying for that one, the scar-face.” She jerked her head in Corm's direction, but spoke of him as if he were not present. ”He needs prayers.”
Bishkek's look darkened. ”Then make many prayers. As many as he needs.” Ayi! Just like the Midewiwin. Always reminding you how important they were. And impossible to know when they spoke the truth and when they were only boasting. Still, better to be sure. ”Many prayers,” he repeated. ”I will send an elkskin tomorrow. It will snow soon. You will need it.”
Shabnokis c.o.c.ked her head at the gray sky. ”Leaf Falling is too early for snow.”
So, she did not know as much as he did. Nonetheless. ”I did not come here to talk about the weather. Tell my son what you told me.”
Shabnokis shrugged. ”I have told you and the others many things. Besides, I am old and I forget much.”
”Two elkskins,” Bishkek promised.
”Father, I don't-”
”Be quiet. I brought you here to listen, not to talk.”
Shabnokis came toward them. ”Good skins,” she said. ”Not shabby with half the fur gone.”
”The best,” Bishkek a.s.sured her.
The squaw priest squatted on the ground and motioned the two men to join her. Corm tried to keep his distance, but Bishkek pushed him closer. The woman wore a buckskin s.h.i.+rt much like that of a coureur de bois. The laces that closed the neck were not done up and he could see the wrinkled skin of the flat place above her drooping b.r.e.a.s.t.s. No whole-skin otter bag. Maybe she left it in the wickiup because she knew this wasn't a ceremonial visit. Meaning Bishkek must have arranged everything ahead of time. Which was a little odd since Corm had arrived in Singing Snow without warning and not more than an hour earlier.
”A priest of my lodge, a Miami, died in Thunder Moon. Before the Telling,” Shabnokis said. Corm realized he had lately been too long and too steadily among the Cmokmanuk He automatically translated that to two months ago, early July. ”I was among those who attended his ending.”
The squaw priest closed her eyes and began humming softly to herself. ”Wa, hi, hi, hi. It was a bad ending,” she whispered. ”He died slowly, with his belly on fire. Before the spirit left him he kept repeating the same thing. Papankamwa, esipana, ayaapia, anseepikwa, eeyeelia, pileewa.”
”Those are Miami words,” Bishkek supplied.
”I know.” Corm looked from his manhood father to the squaw priest. She had just repeated the Miami names for rac.o.o.n, elk buck, spider, fox, possum, and turkey, the symbols carved on the Suckauhock It was not possible that Bishkek could have told her those things. For one thing he would never betray Cormac. Never. For another, he didn't have the information. Bishkek had always refused to look at the Suki beads. Corm's heart began hammering in his chest. ”This priest who died, was he named Takito?” Genevieve Lydius's priest, who'd put Cormac to sleep for three days and nearly got him killed.
”No, I told you before. The one called Takito is not from my lodge. I would never be at his ending. This one was-” Shabnokis broke off. ”He is not yet dead six moons. I cannot speak his name. It is anyway not important. Eehsipana, ayaapia-”
”You already told me the six animal names. What else did he say?”
Bishkek made a sound of disapproval. ”Cmokman,” he muttered softly under his breath, hoping Cormac would be reminded that he was acting white, not showing proper respect. Then, louder so the squaw priest would be sure to hear, ”Two elkskins, remember. The very best.”
Shabnokis shrugged. She would allow the scar-face's impertinence to pa.s.s, at least this time. ”The fire in the dying priest's belly,” she said, ”it came from two things. One was the evil spirit who was slowly taking away his life. It was so big a spirit that his belly stuck out this much.” She used her hands to indicate a great swelling. ”The other was from the shame of making a bargain with a Cmokman dog t.u.r.d priest and not keeping his word.”
Ayi! Finally some information he could use, though Corm was pretty sure he could guess the rest of the story. ”What bargain?”
The squaw priest grunted to show her disapproval of yet another interruption, then continued. ”A long time ago the priest of my lodge went to Quebec. He met with a dog t.u.r.d priest and told him that the Miami chief Memetosia was in Albany at a powwow with the other tribe, the English Cmokmanuk”