Obsidian and Stars (Ivory and Bone #2)(74)
As I watch, Pada sets the atlatl down and picks up her paddle, moving closer to the place where Kol stops, just above the rocks that break the surface of the water. “Kol!” she calls out, his name carried on the sea breeze like a song. “You’ve recovered! You look so much better.” And when I hear this—when I hear the joy carried by her words—I know she is telling the truth. They haven’t come here to do us harm.
They’ve come to warn us.
By the time I reach the wet and slippery rocks and crouch beside Kol, both of us shivering in the spray, Thern and Pada have paddled as close to the cliff as the rocks will allow. “We’ve come to tell you Dora is alive,” Thern calls over the waves. “She is helping the Tama. She brought Noni’s father and a group of Tama fighters to the Bosha camp and promised to help them find Noni.”
I think of the last time I saw Dora, when she leapt into the sea. I remember waiting to see her body on the waves, but she never surfaced. I had worried that she might have survived the jump. Now I know that I was right.
“When will they be here?” I call out. I think of Noni in camp, unguarded. No one knowing she needs to be guarded.
“They are already here,” Pada answers. “Not far north, waiting for dark. We volunteered to help find you and fight for the Tama, but it was a lie. We wanted them to bring us along so we could help defend you. Tonight, we told them we would scout ahead, to find the best way into your camp. We will go back and say we found nothing, but they will come anyway. They are all armed with atlatls and darts, just like these.”
“How many in all?” Kol asks.
“Ten, counting the two of us.”
“All in kayaks?” I ask.
“Yes, but they are not strong on the sea.”
I remember this—Noni told us her mother ran away out to sea because their clan wasn’t accustomed to paddling in the open water. “We won’t wait for them to come to us,” I say. “We’ll come to them. We’ll warn them that Noni is not going back with them and tell them to turn back, but if they advance, we’ll stop them with force.”
As I say these words, I imagine what my brother would say. Would he approve, or would he tell me that sending Noni home would be the best way to protect the clan? I’m not sure, but I realize all at once that it doesn’t matter. Chev is not here to decide. I’m here, and defending Noni is the only choice I have.
I turn to Kol. I can’t compel him to help. This isn’t his clan and Noni is practically a stranger to him. He sees the question in my eyes. “Don’t even ask,” he says. “You know I’m with you. I’ll do anything to help you protect Noni.”
“It’s not just Noni you’re protecting,” Thern calls. The tide is coming in and the waves pound the cliff. He and Pada dig in their paddles to stay back from the rocks. “Dora struck a deal with Noni’s father—she brings him to Noni if he helps her kill Mya and her sisters.”
A wave thunders against the cliff, but it can’t drown out Thern’s words or the ringing that starts in my ears. “It doesn’t matter,” I call back. “Whether they’re coming for Noni, or me, or any of us—if they’re coming for Black Dog—they’re not getting what they want.”
“We’ll go back and watch for you,” Pada says. “And we’ll be ready to fight.”
Before I can shout a thank-you across the waves, she and Thern are gone.
The climb back up the cliff, the hike back down the ravine—it all passes like a cloud threading across the sky. By the time I notice where we are, we’re back at the ring of huts. The drum calls the clan to the evening meal. Kol and I hurry to the meeting place, and when we find his mother, we call her aside. “We need to speak in Mya’s hut,” Kol says. Mala’s eyes sharpen. She can hear the fight in Kol’s voice. She finds her other sons while Kol and I gather Morsk, Yano and Ela, Seeri, Lees, Noni, and Shava. The council of elders are scattered throughout the clan, sitting and eating, and I work my way through the gathered crowd, tapping my brother’s most trusted advisors and friends on the shoulder.
Once we are assembled in the crowded hut, I tell the story in as few words as possible. “My intention,” I start, then, glancing at Kol, I start again. “Our intention is to cut them off before they reach the camp,” I say. “But we have to prepare. The clan needs to be ready to defeat an enemy the way we defeated the Bosha.”
The silence expands, pushing against the walls of the hut. Morsk speaks, his voice ringing through the quiet room. “We’ll stop them,” he says. “I’m coming with you.”
“And me,” says Pek.
“And me and Roon, too.” My eyes move to Lees. Her usually soft face is hard with determination.
Before I can answer her, Kol is speaking. “I don’t know about Roon. He might be too young—”
“Then I’m going without Roon,” says Lees. “You can’t stop me from helping defend my friend—”
“But this is about more than Noni,” I say. “This is about you, too. Dora wants to kill you.”
“Then even better. You certainly can’t tell me I can’t defend myself.”
“Kol,” Roon says, “if she goes, I go.”
I stand staring at my sister as everyone else begins to move. People are anxious. “Morsk, Pek, Seeri, Kesh—you’ll come with Kol and me to meet the Tama on the water. Thern and Pada will side with us, too—”