Copper Falcon by W. Michael Gear Read Free Book Online Page A

Keeper’s most influential spies with that knock to the head.” Father slapped my shoulder as he sprinted for the back of the room.
    “What are you doing? We’ve got to
go
!”
    “Just a moment.”
    On the wall, to the right of the great Four Winds carving, hung a copper falcon the length of my arm. A master had beaten the metal into a thin sheet, then placed it over a wooden form and used dowels to mold the metal into a three-dimensional image of my family’s spirit helper.
    Father reverently lifted the copper falcon down, then whipped a hemp-fabric shirt off one of the sleeping benches.
    As he charged past me, wrapping the valuable piece to hide its shape, he added, “Some things can’t be relinquished; this is one.”
    At the door we hesitated and looked out. The Keeper’s entire household was crowded at the top of the stairs, staring down at the drama below. No way we were going down the stairs.
    “This way,” Father hissed, sprinting for the north side of the veranda. We ducked out of sight around the corner of the palace. Next thing I knew, we were skipping and sliding down the steep clay-sided mound.
    We’d no more than made the bottom when I heard the shout, “Traitorous vermin!”
    I looked back up to see Bear Heart, his good hand to his bleeding head.
    “I’ll get you, find you, you pus-licking maggots! You’ll die screaming on my squares!” Even as he bellowed, he sagged, disoriented. Almost falling, he braced himself on the palace wall and bent double to throw up.
    “He means it,” Father said grimly. “We’re in
real
trouble.”
    *****
    We hid in the dim recesses of a dome-shaped sweat lodge, where water was poured on hot stones to create a steam bath. This one served a collection of Panther Clan houses that crowded together in the shadow of a temple dedicated to Old-Woman-Who-Never-Dies.
    Crouched in the gloom, we could hear the cries of disbelief outside. All of Cahokia was in dismay over the news of Makes Three’s defeat in the north. I couldn’t help but think of Night Shadow Star, of the vulnerable expression on her face as she talked about her husband. As I fingered the chunkey stone she’d given me, her smile and excitement replayed between my souls. From the love in her eyes, I could well imagine her trying to kill herself at the news, and my heart ached for her.
    Father sat cross-legged, the beautiful copper falcon propped on his knees as he ran the tip of his finger over the metal. I’d never seen such a reverent look in his eyes, and to my astonishment, I caught the gleam of a tear as it streaked down his cheek.
    “Are you all right?”
    His smile hinted of barely repressed joy. “Great-grandfather traveled north in his youth. Up in the copper lands, on the shores of the great lakes, he dug this metal, cracked the stone away, and bore it here. High Chief Gizi’s best coppersmith did the work, pounded the copper flat, pressed the metal into the shape it now has.”
    Father paused wistfully, then added, “It was my father’s most valued possession, and upon his death, it became mine. When I was taken and exiled, it was still my property. That she had it ripped from my hands? For that I will never forgive her.”
    I reached out, tracing the smooth metal with a caressing finger. I felt the Power, crackling like rubbed fox fur. I could sense the souls of my grandfathers, who had cared for this piece with such reverence.
    “I am holding the only heritage our family has left. Living all those years without it, it was as if part of my souls were missing. I have longed for this, wished to touch it, to feel the presence of my father, and his father before him. More than anything I want that for you, for your sons.”
    He gave me a weary smile. “This is the reason our town is called Copper Falcon.”
    “We should be moving, Father. Stopping here was a bad idea.”
    “Even if we beat them south to Horned Serpent Town and collect our people, they’ll still have warriors waiting