The Standing Dead - Stone Dance of the Chameleon 02 (71 page)

Akaisha
shook
her
head.
'Mutilating
this
dead
man
will not
bring
your
son
back,
Ceda.'

'What
will
then?'
the
woman
cried.
She
looked
around her
with
narrowed
eyes
and
every
man
she
looked
at averted
his
gaze.
She
gave
a
snort
as
she
placed
her hands
on
her
swollen
belly.
'You're
all
such
men
when
it comes
to
making
babies,
but
you'll
not
bleed
to
keep them.'

Ravan
pushed
past
Krow
to
stand
beside
the
corpse. He
reached
down
to
lift
its
hand,
then
turned
the
painted palm
in
all
directions.
'Can
everyone
see
the
colour?'
He dropped
the
hand
with
disgust
and
wiped
his
fingers down
his
robe.
'We
know
his
Tribe.'

'The
Bluedancing,'
cried
the
crowd.

'Let's
take
our
revenge
on
them.
Let's
go
and
bring
our children
back.'

Several
of
the
younger
men
cried
out
their
support.

Ginkga
shoved
Ravan
out
of
the
way
and
glowered
at the
Tribe.
'Yes,
this
bastard
is
Bluedancing.'
She
turned to
Ravan,
contempt
on
her
face.
'Do
you
know
how
many men
the
Bluedancing
have,
boy?'

Ravan
gave
a
shrug
as
if
he
could
not
care
less.

'Well,
if
you
don't
know
...'
She
pointed
at
each
of
the youths
who
had
shouted
out
support
for
Ravan.
'Can
any of
you
young
fools
tell
us?
No?
Well
let
me
tell
you.
For every
one
of
us,
they
have
two.
Heed
my
words;
even
were the
numbers
on
our
side,
fighting
would
be
risky:
against such
odds,
it
would
be
madness.'

Harth
came
to
stand
beside
her.
'Ginkga
speaks
the truth.
We've
lost
enough
already.
We'd
lose
more
in attempting
revenge.'

That's
easy
for
you
to
say,'
a
woman
cried
out.
Others joined
their
voices
to
hers.

Harth
raised
her
arms,
then
waited
until
they
fell silent.
'Why
is
it,
you
think,
the
Bluedancing
attacked
us at
all?'

Carnelian
felt
the
blood
draining
from
his
face.
He
put his
arm
over
Poppy
to
stop
her
trembling.

'I'm
sure
it's
well
known
to
you
by
now
that,
recently, the
Master
...'
she
looked
round
at
Osidian,
'put
some
of our
lads
up
to
starting
a
brawl
with
the
Bluedancing
in which
several
of
their
people
were
badly
hurt
and
—'

'We
didn't
start
it!'
Ravan
bellowed
as
he
advanced
on the
woman.

Harth
and
the
other
Elders
regarded
him
with
horror.

Akaisha
interposed
herself
between
Harth
and
her
son. 'Who
do
you
think
you're
speaking
to?'

Harth
stepped
out
from
behind
Akaisha.
'If
the Bluedancing
had
seen
the
Master,
they
could've
betrayed us
to
the
Gatherers,
bringing
disaster
down
on
the
Tribe.'

Ravan
grimaced,
dropped
his
head,
shaking
it
as
if
he was
being
confronted
by
an
exasperating
child.
He
lifted pleading
eyes
to
his
mother.
'It
wasn't
like
that.
The Master
made
certain
they
could
not
see
him.'

When
his
mother's
frown
deepened,
he
pointed
at

Harth.
'Can't
you
see
she's
lying?
It
wasn't
like
that,
it
—'

Akaisha's
slap
across
his
face
brought
Ravan
to
a
halt, gaping,
accompanied
by
the
crowd's
catching
of
breath. Akaisha's
voice
carried
clear
and
harsh.
'Never
again
will you
dare
address
an
Elder
in
that
insolent
way.'

Ravan
bared
his
teeth
in
cold
rage.
'Every
man
here knows
the
arrogance
of
the
Bluedancing's
been
swelling with
every
passing
year.
Are
we
to
accept
that
any number
of
brawls,
whoever
started
them,
is
justification for
killing
us
and
carrying
away
our
children?'

'This
was
the
action
of
some
hotheads,'
cried
Crowrane. 'It
couldn't
possibly
have
been
sanctioned
by
their
Elders.'

'What
does
that
matter?'
a
woman
cried
out
and
was answered
by
a
surge
of
approval.

Carnelian
was
sharing
the
general
feeling
when
he
felt Osidian
speak
something
in
his
ear.
He
turned
and looked
into
his
eyes.

Tell
them,'
said
Osidian
in
Quya.

Carnelian
shook
his
head.
'I
will
play
no
part
in
your games,
Osidian.'

Then
I
will
use
another.'

'What
are
you
saying?'
demanded
Harth.

Carnelian
shook
his
head.
'I
will
take
no
part
in
this.'

Osidian
began
to
speak
in
Vulgate.
Harth
asked
her husband
to
translate.
He
frowned.

'He
said
that,
even
though
their
numbers
are
greater than
ours,
they
still
feared
us
enough
to
attack
at
night like
cowards.'