Part 9 (1/2)
”After ht sone, merely sunk with other minerals to the bottom of the bowl You'll have to scoop the sater before the salt dissolves again”
”How? ”
Sunbright softened the truth by saying, ”I came near death, and left my body, and descended into the earth and learned her secrets So salt fro and a curse, for my dreams are haunted like your husband's
”But I have the strength of spirit to face them If necessary, I will brave the Gods themselves and learn our fate”
”Mind your own fate!” booht saw a fay features of Blinddruht Steelshanks,” he said, ”leave our village!”
Sunbright exploded to his feet and al to free Harvester's pommel, he shoved past Knucklebones and outside Blinddruht, but fell back before the warrior Unbeknownst, other folk had gathered, returned froer jobs in the to that the late-su, so the tribe looked almost populous, a couple hundred at least Most were dressed in tall, battered boots and long shi+rts of either deer hide or faded cloth, and fighters still sported the distinctive roach and horsetail of the Rengarth Barbarians
But ers, townsrown out and scruffy beards soiling their faces Yet all were fa, the other sword instructor, and his cousin Rattlewater; and Leafrebel, Forestvictory, Archloft, Rightdove, Goodbell, Mightylaugh, Magichunger, and Starrabbit
Eht A wave of hohing and crying Yet their stony faces chilled his heart Soht shae
Blinddruht Leave this place of the living None here coht's thundering eer won out, and he practically screamed, ”You shuffle around this hellhole like zoh your fingers! You abandon pride to cower here like arth! What say you to that?”
But not even insults stirred theer and Starrabbit spat Others looked at the rocky ground or turned away Curious children were cuffed around and dragged off Monkberry and Knucklebones crept forth, agonizing at how Sunbright was ignored For a moment the barbarian wished he were dead, rather than see his people like this, and be unable to help them But why talk if they wouldn't listen?
”Mother!” cried the shaman in desperation ”What do I do?”
Tears fell fro I know We've no wisdo!” Knucklebones spoke up ”Some way to make theht What is sacred to the I don't know ” he said The warrior-shae with slu, he saw only their backs ”What can you take from people that have lost all?”
Then his eyes fell on the round co from it
”Unless”
”Unless what?” asked the thief
But Sunbright ran like a child for the coht Monkberry's hand and they tripped after hied to the common house, and ducked inside to the smoke and haze Despite themselves, the Raven Clan crowded the entrance to see what transpired
Madness, it seerace by the shoulders, begging their pardon, and towed the sha embers Ashes and smoke flew in a cloud He stamped and stomped the fire pit until his moosehide boots were scorched and sparks dappled his skin In afroht pushed past stunned barbarians into sun- light Sneezing, he crowed in lee, ”There! If the sacred fire is the heart of my tribe, then my tribe is now truly dead! And since only a shaman can kindle a council fire, it will stay dead! So am I, a dead man, returned to a tribe of dead people!”
This idea, both new and old, sank in slowly Sunbright saw confusion and shock on their faces
And for the first ti they'd been denied
Sunbright gave them more to chew on ”Think! Do the dead hear? Let , fearsome, hooked blade Harvester of Blood over his shoulder Inverting the blade, he used the leather-wrapped pommel to thuht Steelshanks, dead or alive, challenge you, Blinddru, bastard, ! Do you hear that?”
”I hear,” Blinddrum murmured His broad, si, Sunbright thue you!
Would you be a barb-lipped, bottoulls, or a free and proud barbarian? Do you accept, or be named coward?”
”I accept,” she said drily ”But like it not”
”I care not if you like or dislike, only that you hear! You, Archloft! Was your ht - breaker! Fight ht, he poked Archloft, Goodbell, Magichunger, Forestvictory, others: anyone who'd ever wielded a sword, saying, ”I challenge you all, and anyone I forgot! And why?
Because I cannot leave the village until the duels are done! This custom would I have levied on Owldark had I been a warrior and shaman, but at the time I was only a boy Well, that boy is dead, and a ht?”
”Whenever you wish,” replied the swordive you time to visit your mother, and commend your soul For after an hour, you visit the Gods” With that, Blinddruht was left alone, inverted sword in hand Knucklebones and Monkberry caered at the back of the crowd The thief wept froht?” she sobbed ”Why co with exhaustion, as if he'd run twenty ht sheathed his sword, and said, ”In part, it was your idea” ”My idea?” Knucklebones shook small fists in his face ”You really are mad! You'll be killed! And I'll be left alone What's the point anyway?”
Surprisingly gentle, Sunbright enfolded the small woman to his chest, kissed her tousled dark curls, and said, ”Oh, Knuckle', if only life held simple answers Come, I'll try to explain, not that I understand it well ht shared rations and sipped water from a canteen
”You asked what tradition I could invoke that wouldthe council fire was one Yet I'm still banished-unless I have promised a duel to satisfy an insult It's the only way I can remain with the tribe
”And I can't leave, for they need me They need someone-the Godselse, I must make them think, and return to the alive custo the everyone, I can stay a long tirily she thrust his canteen away ”You're a fine swordsht nine dozen duels! You'll be hacked to pieces all at once, or a little at a time!”
”But in between, I can talk to folks, and think how to save us”
”Until you're dead,” Knucklebones spat
”Until a ht talked to his mother about the old ways Monkberry knew them all, for her husband had been the tribe's shaman for decades Knucklebones listened raptly to a neorld of tradition and legends and superstitions When Monkberry finally asked Sunbright where he'd been in the years past, the shaed
”Around,” he said ”Working here and there Seeing the sights the e Knucklebones I was lucky in that”
Dimly the warrior recalled the days when he'd first left the tribe, how he'd hungered and thirsted for revenge night and day Then later, after sojourning in hell, he'd become a man, and known that one day he would return to his tribe, and walk amidst them scarred and powerful and th lay within, and he could just quietly rejoin his people And now that he'd really returned, he found himself in an unpredictable role, the preserver and savior of his tribe Which just went to show, he supposed, how men made plans, and the Gods made men fools
”Yet it's my destiny to save this tribe fro aloud
His mother smiled and squeezed his broad hand with her twisted one ”Yes,” she said, ”your destiny, and our ht smiled back ”Knuckle'?” he asked