It Dreams in Me Read Online Free Page A

villages!”
    Wink’s teeth clenched so hard it set her jaw askew. She longed to stride across Blackbird Town, drag the old woman out of her bed, and slit her throat.
    She said, “Feather Dancer, escort Red Raven back to his chamber.”
    “Certainly, Matron.”
    Feather Dancer used his club to gesture to the door, and Red Raven hurried out with the warrior close behind him.
    Long Fin rubbed his temples as though in pain. “Dear gods, I can’t believe it. Sea Grass has defied the council again!”
    An odd light-headedness had seized her souls. For a time, she sat there as though made of wood.
    “It seems, my son, that Water Hickory Clan is waging its own secret war against the Loon Nation.”
    She had been trying very hard to prevent civil war, but after this …

    Long Fin said, “What about the woman that Red Raven saw? Do you think she was Chieftess Sora?”
    “Maybe. I’m not sure about that part yet, but I’m almost certain the man was Flint. He recognized Short Tail and said ‘our clan.’”
    “But if Flint is alive, if he survived the attack on Eagle Flute Village, why hasn’t he returned to the Black Falcon Nation?”
    Wink shook her head slowly. Dire thoughts had started to weasel into her souls, treachery on a scale she had not imagined.
    “There’s only one thing that would keep him away.”
    “What’s that?”
    A hollow sensation filled her as she answered, “The orders of his clan matron.”

5

    “DID SHE—”
    “Yes, of course she did!”
    The shout woke Sora.
    She lay still, listening. How long had she been asleep? It felt like mere moments. Rain pounded through the branches and down upon the ramada like tiny fists. The fragrance of wet pines drenched the air.
    “Who was it?” Strongheart asked. “Did you recognize him?”
    Sourly, Flint responded, “Not right away.”
    “Why didn’t you tell me about the body? I would have liked to have examined it myself.”
    Flint just glared at him.
    Sora studied the two men who sat ten paces away, beneath a roof of moss-covered oak branches. They made a striking contrast. Flint was tall and muscular, with a handsome chiseled face and long black braid. He wore a plain leather deerhide cape that accented his broad shoulders. Strongheart, though a head taller, looked smaller and thinner. His gaze always
seemed to look past a person, as though he lived in a Spirit world no one else could see.
    Strongheart repeated, “Who was it? You said you didn’t recognize him right away, so eventually you did.”
    In an icy voice, Flint replied, “Chief Short Tail.”
    “He was Water Hickory Clan?”
    “Yes. She said he’d led the attack.”
    The lines around Strongheart’s eyes deepened. He pulled up the hood of his painted cape and squinted at the sky, watching the rain fall.
    Flint rested his balled fists on his knees. “I thought this was over.”
    “We have just begun, Flint. The Midnight Fox is not dead, just shattered. It’s trying as hard as she is to pull itself together.”
    As though he’d heard, something deep inside Sora stirred. He is a darkness that listens, that watches.
    Over the winters she had learned that he was not merely darkness. He was a darkness that spoke in the voices of knives.
    She rolled to her side and frowned. Lying beside her was a beautiful buffalo-wool cape. She blinked at it, studying the magnificent red and white designs that decorated the collar. It did not belong to her.
    Where did I get it? Eagle Flute Village?
    From what seemed a great distance a voice whispered, “I know you killed her, Sora. I know. I know.”
    She shook her head, not certain whether she’d heard someone say those words, or she’d only dreamed them.
    Flint stabbed a finger at Strongheart. “You’re supposed to be the greatest Healer in our world. If you can’t bring her reflection-soul back and fix it in her body, tell me, so that I may carry out my duty to protect my people.”
    His duty. Her belly cramped.

    Strongheart drew up one