Free Children of the Dawnland (North America's Forgotten Past Series) by W. Michael Gear, Kathleen O'Neal Gear

punish her severely.
    As Twig led Grandfather back toward her lodge, she gave Greyhawk a terrified glance. She needed to understand her dreams, but she was afraid that Mother was right. If she became too powerful, her own people would be frightened of her, and might cast her out of Buffalobeard Village. Where would she go? Whom would she live with? Would she be alone for the rest of her life, as Screech Owl and Cobia were?
    Twig suddenly felt lost and frightened, like her insides were melting.

CHAPTER 10

    S ITTING ALONE OUT on the treeless tundra, Chief Nightcrow heard steps pounding up the trail and opened his eyes. His Spirit vision died like mist on a hot day. War Chief Hook and a young warrior named Player trotted up the trail.
    Nightcrow rose to his feet. The wind was cold on his face. He shivered. To the south, the forests had just started leafing out. A green haze whiskered the distances.
    Images from his vision taunted him. He saw men screaming in fear, trying to protect their families; then he saw himself cleaning and preparing the bodies of the bravest of his warriors for the blessings of the afterlife.
The cowards, of course, would receive no such rites. On the contrary, he would send their souls spinning away into eternal darkness.
    Nightcrow’s eyes narrowed. He was a man of spells and magical words, more feared than any other Spirit dreamer in the history of the Thornback People. He could kill with a look, or the lightest touch. When he’d been a boy, and his powers had first started to come, his own parents had tried to kill him. They had failed. Then the assassins sent by the chief had failed. Finally, an entire war party had vanished trying to track him through the snow.
    Since then no one had dared try to harm him. He had seen thirty-three summers pass, married three wives, sired eleven children, and seen six grandchildren born in the past two summers. Life had been good. But the world was about to change.
    The end was coming soon. In his visions, Nightcrow had seen the sky explode and the land burn. The dead scattered the charred ruins of villages like slaughtered animals, and hunger stalked the land. War broke out as people fought for the scraps from each other’s supper fires.
    Nightcrow had already ordered Hook to start attacking their enemies first. His reasons were simple: If there were no other villages, there would be no fighting over scraps. His people would have everything.
    Nightcrow inhaled a breath as Hook—a tall, muscular giant, with broken, yellow teeth—stopped before him
and bowed. Many scars cut across Hook’s face. He wore a knee-length black shirt, as did all Thornback warriors.
    “Chief, forgive me for disturbing your visions, but important news has reached us.”
    “What news?”
    “Buffalobeard Village has sent out another war party. We think they are trying to find Cobia.”
    A small thread of fear warmed Nightcrow’s veins. There was only one person in the world who frightened him. Cobia. “Cobia will not help them. She hates them. They stole her from her people and lied to her about it for nineteen summers. She wants the People of the Dawnland dead as much as I do.”
    Young Player stepped forward. He was thin, with a long black braid dangling over his shoulder. His skin shone with sweat from his run across the tundra. “She may want the People of the Dawnland dead, my chief, but I have heard that there is one old man, the man who raised her, that she would die for. His name is Screech Owl. If he asked Cobia for help, she might agree.”
    “Do you think so?”
    “I think we must consider it, because if she agrees …”
    “If she agrees … what?”
    Player closed his mouth. He seemed to realize his mistake. The young warrior had just suggested that Cobia was more powerful than Nightcrow, that she might be able to defeat him and destroy the Thornback People.
    Nightcrow’s gaze slid to Hook, seeing if his war chief understood the insult. Hook showed no emotion at