第12节

Cadillac stood up, walked over to the fallen Shakatak and turned his

body over. As the dead warrior rolled onto his back, his hands fell

limply away from the handle of Cadillac's knife. Clearwater joined him

and they walked to where Torpedo lay transfixed by the D'Vine

claim-stick.

Their eyes met over his lifeless body.

'Why did you not tell me you were a summoner?"

Clearwater shook her head in bewilderment. 'I did not know until

now.

It was only when you were about to die that the power came upon me. It

was sent through me. It used my voice to call the forces up from the

earth but I did not guide it." She paused and looked back at

Shakatak's body, suddenly intimidated by the terrible violence she had

unleashed. 'I do not know if it will come again."

Cadillac nodded. 'The door in your mind has been opened. If you call,

the power will enter. Mr Snow will teach you how to guide it."

Clearwater shivered and rubbed her arms. 'It frightens me."

The too,' agreed Cadillac. 'But it is a good power. Did you not save

my life?"

Clearwater shook her head. 'No. Talisman saved it. It was his

strength that flowed through me." She gently brushed the wounds on

Cadillac's ribs with her fingertips. 'If I could have saved you with a

single cry I would have struck down Shakatak before he drew his

blade.

But it was not to be.

Talisman did not reveal his power until you revealed yours.

You fought bravely, like a great warrior and, at the point of death,

you refused to dishonour your clan. You have standing. You have the

heart and blood of a Bear and there shall be a fire song to mark this

day ' 'I shall choose the words myself,' said Cadillac, swelling with

pride at the prospect and his new-found ability to ignore the pain that

pulsed through his chest.

'- but only,' continued Clearwater firmly, 'ffyou hold fast to your

oath to Mr Snow. Never to act rashly again. Never put the gift of

words in danger."

Cadillac shrugged arrogantly. 'If it is my destiny to be a great

warrior ' 'Then the fire song I sing shall tell how these Lion-Hearts

truly died.

Not under the hand of a brave Bear they called coyote, but by a single

cry from the lips of a tame fox!" 'She-err!" hissed Cadillac. 'For a

tame fox you have sharp teeth."

Clearwater slipped her arms around his neck. 'They bite softly enough

in the darkness of the moon." She rubbed her nose against his cheeks

then kissed him on the mouth.

'Come - let us prepare the fast-foot."

They gutted the carcass of the capo and strung it to the eight-foot

claim-stick. The weight of the dead beast made it sag dangerously and

they could only shoulder it with great difficulty. To take it back

unaided would mean abandoning the dead Mutes and their weapons.

Cadillac shed his end of the load. 'You will have to get help. I will

stay here and guard what we have won. Take the Lion-Hearts'

crossbow."

He hauled back the lever with a gasp of pain, placed a bolt in the

barrel and offered it to her.

Clearwater did not take it. She was looking past him across the plain

to the north; Home of the White Death.

'Running clouds,' she said.

Cadillac turned, following the direction of her pointing finger. He

saw a low dust haze hanging in the air above a distant rise; a sign

that often meant a group of warriors on the move; running with the

characteristic, loping gait that enabled Mutes to cover long distances,

sometimes running for twenty-four h