Part 12 (1/2)

And hating everything on this plane, the windghost attacked

The flint monster never recoiled, or even ducked the hideous apparition Its hate burned just as hot Flint claws ranite cone, and for a few , and scrabbling Then, quick as thought, the h the windghost's hide Stone-hard organs and a many-chambered heart were rent like rocks in a crusher

Torn from its body, the tiny brain died

Candleone, obliterated by the poly that keen brain, had changed with the spell

Sysque heap of purple rubble in a scorched field marred with tar and sulfur and blood Yet even death could not satisfy her rage, and the gore-spattered monster slashed and sta, ”I want to kill hiain!”

All that re spell, quietly percolating at the edges of the valley, quietly dispelling the poisonous rust, then passing over the hill and ju to other fields And on and on, to the horizon and beyond

”We halt this fight!” Thornwing crowed Beside her, Blinddrum nodded ”And all others! There is no more need for battle!”

”What?”

”Are you !”

Voices rose all around, a cacophony

”Sunbright challenged every fighter! He-”

”He did, and he fought, and he defeated us!” the so us, he has defeated the whole tribe!” More noise, objections, calls for quiet and dignity, questions of custohters in the tribe

None would dispute that Yet Sunbright Steelshanks, son of Sevenhaunt and Monkberry of the Raven Clan, defeated us both And by that act, he defeated all of us! So he need fight no reed with the logic while others pondered it, weighed it against tradition Even old Iceborn adht, but it ichunger kept one wary eye on Knucklebones as he bawled, ”What of his sentence of death?

pronounced by Owldark?”

”Owldark is dead,” rumbled Blinddrum, ”and with him his sentence I don't remember the reason for the sentence anyway”

”A vision!” crowed an elder wo over us, a bloody sword in his hand and all of us dead Smoke and fire filled the horizon, and even the reindeer were slaughtered, and the son of Sevenhaunt the cause of it all!”

Superstitious, Blinddru She tossed back her horsetail, lifted her thin arht, and called, ”Owldark had many visions, and he had brain madness! Yes, listen to me! We all know he blacked out, fell in the cookfires many times In the end, he led us here, to misery Then he wandered the wasteland, and was eaten by wild dogs Owldark was a goodtrue! And so I disht”

”And we need a shaman, and have none,” Blinddrum added ”The sacred fire is out, and we cannot council until our shaht hi sword merely waved her hand in disered at Magichunger's indignant glare She turned one good eye on Sunbright The pale shaman swayed on his feet, but stood Her heart swelled in her breast for such a nity to save these people, fickle and ungrateful though ument would end

”If we can't council,” objected Rattlewater, ”then what are we doing now?”

”Talking! So shut up!” old Tulipgrace snapped That drew a laugh

”No!” countered Leafrebel ”If we only talk, not council, then nothing we decide uer let the borroord point to the ground Exhausted in body, Sunbright sat at hisas his people debated, invoking custoer, Knucklebones sat priht and took his cold hand Others built up the fire, and some fetched pipes with carefully hoarded sumac andbark to smoke, as if this were a proper council

Forestvictory th about siuments from the past Other tribesfolk who'd been driven out decades or centuries ago Soht disaster, others who ca ti her audience with sonorous words When she finished, there was long quiet Children had nodded off, heads pillowed on parents' laps Even Knucklebones yawned, and covered her ainst her white teeth

In the long silence, Thornwing stood up, steel sword in hand She was frah the night, and when she flung it high, it flashed in dawn light The so theain, I shall follow hiood, for ere useless as seals on ice pack Chosen by blood and by the Gods, Sunbright has recalled e live for, e have been, and e should be If he goes, I go, as does Blinddru the old ways is better than a herdoff a cliff because they're too blind to see I say this with blood!” And she slashed the sword across her pal hand

Without a word, Blinddru's

Forestvictory rose, laid flesh to sword, and clasped Her lover, Starrabbit, followed Then Archloft and Mightylaugh, and Goodbell, who carried her sleepy children forward, slit their fingers, and clutched them to her bosohtdove joined Old Iceborn was helped up and joined, though he had to slash his withered hands three tirace Rattlewater, Leafrebel, and er and three dozen tribesfolk re called, ”You'll not join us?”

”No Not yet,” Magichunger hedged ”But we'll abide by the ory hand, as did the rest ”Then it's decided” she said ”Sunbright is returned to the tribe, alive and under no sentence And shaht, welcome back What need we do?”

Painfully, with help froht Steelshanks rose and faced theht ”Friends, I thank you,” he said ”As you see, the Gods send us a new day for a new beginning, but it is not my place, as shans and advise To talk, we ather the proper ht the sacred fire Then, together, we'll decide our future”

Chapter 11

The common hut was eht used a chicken wing to sweep the fire pit radially Knucklebones squatted on her heels and watched ”You're fussy as a nursemaid,” she said

The shaman smoothed dirt, moved tiny stones, and said, ”The firethe co to the Sled, our northernmost star Shamans are fussy

Ask my mother, who lived with one”

The one-eyed thief frowned as he trickled grass in a triangular pattern, and gradually built a cone

”What I mean is, you take this shaht a shah the ation happy”

”That's a cynical view,” he s ”I e had blue sweet-grass and not just straw, but it must do”

”I'm not cynical!” she snapped ”Well, perhaps a little But thisit up, aren't you? To keep people occupied?”

He stopped, put down his collection of herbs and sticks ”Yes and no,” he told her ”Yes, I' much of it up I remember some of my father's invocations, saw a little of what Owldark did, but no, I never had real sha But there's no one to teach me, so I perform as best I can, and i as you're sincere”

Knucklebones cocked one pointed eyebrow, and said, ”Isn't it presuhed, and straightened his tiny fire cone with blunt fingers ”I don't claim to speak for the Gods,” he said ”If they send ht make mistakes, but someone must be shaman, and I'm chosen by the blood of my forebears and by happenstance And the Gods know our tribe needs help”

”What aboutback on his heels Sunlight fro Knucklebones's face was hard to see in the shadows, but he knew she was unhappy ”What do you ether”