A half-moon hung over the little lake, and she could see Eagle Feather"s set face, one side red with firelight and the other pale white in moonlight. His bright blue eyes fixed on Wave, he strode forward, a small, determined figure.
Astonished, Redbird could only stand and watch. How could this be happening?
He stood before Wave and held up his hands. For a moment there was silence in the camp, disturbed only by the crackling of the fire and the rustling of the birch leaves around them.
"No!" Black Hawk cried, his rasping voice full of anguish. "Do not do it!"
"Stop!" The Winnebago Prophet reached for Eagle Feather. Owl Carver quickly blocked his way.
"You must not touch him. He returns from a spirit walk."
Solemnly Wave handed the pipe down to Eagle Feather.
Others took up the cry. "No! No!" But no one laid a hand on Eagle Feather.
And many were silent, and Redbird knew that she was not the only one in the camp who wanted Eagle Feather to smoke the pipe.
Awed, Redbird realized that the spirits hovered over Eagle Feather, guiding him. Her son had been chosen to save the remnant of the band, though only six summers had pa.s.sed since his birth. She felt her mouth trembling.
Eagle Feather put the mouthpiece of the pipe to his lips and drew in. A deep puff. Though he was but six years old and had never smoked before, he showed no pain as the hot smoke filled his tender mouth, nor did he cough. Redbird"s heart swelled with pride.
Eagle Feather blew the smoke out again. A single puff, according to custom.
Wave"s thick features were breaking in tearful relief.
Eagle Feather had known just what to do. And there could be no doubt in anyone"s mind that he meant to do what he had done. He held the pipe up to Wave.
A new cry of pain rose from Black Hawk, and the Winnebago Prophet joined him as loudly.
But Redbird"s heart was happy. She hugged Floating Lily.
Their long agony was over at last.
Eagle Feather turned and walked back to her, straight and steady, as if he had not been lying all day long unconscious. She quickly handed Floating Lily to Wind Bends Gra.s.s, knelt down and held her arms out to her son. He ran into them, and they held each other tightly.
"It was good that you smoked the pipe. Very good."
Eagle Feather said, "When the eagles came over the lake, my spirit self whispered to me to eat from Grandfather"s medicine bag. Then I went to many strange places and saw many very bad things. The long knives killed many people. At the end of it all, I lay in the lean-to and I heard a voice say that if someone would smoke the calumet there would be peace.
And my father"s spirit self, the White Bear, came to me and told me to smoke."
_If White Bear had been here he would have smoked the calumet. I know he would._
Owl Carver put his hand on Eagle Feather"s shoulder.
"The boy is the grandson of Owl Carver and of Sun Woman. He is the son of White Bear. He has had his first vision. It is foreordained that he should be a Great Shaman."
Redbird felt flames burning under the skin of her face.
"He is the son of Redbird as well," she said, her voice shaking.
Owl Carver put his other hand on Redbird"s shoulder. "Yes, he is your son."
Suddenly his old face crumbled. "And all my other children are gone," he wept. "Redbird, you are the only one left."
Redbird trembled as she saw Fort Crawford, a great square formed by long stone lodges connected by log palisade walls. Hard-faced long knives in blue jackets surrounded the Sauk, pointing rifles at them. Redbird drew the sling in which she carried Floating Lily around from her back to hold her tight. With one hand she pulled Eagle Feather, who stumbled under a heavy blanket roll, close to her.
"You will all camp in the field beside the fort," said Wave. "If anyone tries to escape, those left behind will be punished."
Redbird heard a wordless cry from behind her. She turned and was astonished to see a group of gray shadows standing in a meadow outside the fort. She saw they were Sauk women, some holding babies, some with small children standing beside them.
Redbird swung Floating Lily around to her back and rushed to the silent women, praying that among them she would see Sun Woman or her sisters.
She moved more slowly as she realized that the eyes of each silent face she peered into were lifeless and the mouths slack.
These few, she grasped with horror, were all that was left of the people who had tried to cross the Great River at the Bad Axe. Just as White Bear had predicted.
She came to Water Flows Fast, barely able to recognize her. She had changed terribly, a change that had begun when the long knives killed her husband, Three Horses, at Old Man"s Creek. The older woman"s face had lost its roundness. Her cheeks sagged and her head shook with a constant tremor.
"Is it really you, Redbird? In the flesh? I am not on the Trail of Souls?"
Redbird drew Water Flows Fast to her.
"Redbird, they killed everybody. They kept killing and killing. They would not stop. Even babies. I don"t know why I"m still alive. My children are dead. They tried to swim away, and the long knives shot them in the water."
Wild Grape, Redbird"s younger sister, rushed up to her. They fell into each other"s arms, weeping. Redbird had never loved her sister as much as she did at this moment.
Wild Grape said, "I saw Robin"s Nest die. She stood before a long knife.
She was holding her baby son. She begged for her life. He just smiled and shot her. She dropped the baby, and the long knife shot him on the ground. They would have killed me, but a long knife chief came along and stopped it."
"And Iron Knife?" Redbird asked. "What about Iron Knife?"
Wild Grape drew back and looked at Redbird with huge eyes. "Redbird, one of them cut off Iron Knife"s head."
Redbird screamed as Wild Grape babbled on.
"Yes, with a knife this big." She held her hands wide apart. "And Sun Woman called down the wrath of Earthmaker upon him, and with the same knife he cut her throat."
Redbird fell to her knees sobbing. "Oh, no more! No more!" Water Flows Fast and Wild Grape knelt with her and held her, and they wept together.
Redbird cried until Floating Lily began to wail. Redbird gave her daughter the breast and a warmth spread from her baby"s sucking lips, blunting the edge of grief and calming her a little.
Wild Grape said, "I have seen White Bear."
Redbird"s body went rigid. Floating Lily pulled her mouth away from Redbird"s breast and started to cry again.
"White Bear? Alive?"
Wild Grape nodded. "When the long knives were killing us at the Bad Axe, he came. He was the long knife war chief"s prisoner. He spoke for the long knife chief, told us not to be afraid. But then he saw Sun Woman lying on the ground with her throat cut. He fell down beside her and screamed and tore at his face. The long knives had to hold him. I thought they might kill him, or he might kill himself. They dragged him away. I think he is a prisoner right there in that fort."