Stone Song by Win Blevins Read Free Book Online Page A

would be all over the village anyway.
    Then he saw that Buffalo Hump was looking at him differently, too, challengingly. Curly understood. Hump wanted to see whether he handled this like a grown-up or a child.
    Hawk lurched at her leg ties, flapped her wings, and shrieked.
    Hump wants me to ignore this teasing , thought Curly, but Hawk wants me to fight . He spoke in a casual tone. “Maybe one of you Bad Faces would like to practice fighting a little.”
    The Bad Face youths looked at each other, all smiled, and all said at once, “Me.”
    Hump was not surprised. He held up a hand. “Wait,” he said. He studied everyone. “Bad Faces, you pick your champion. Curly will pick the weapons.”
    The Bad Faces all looked at each other again and as one said, “No Water,” and laughed.
    Hump nodded. As he expected, they had picked the biggest, to take the most advantage of Curly’s slightness. Now Hump wanted to see howwise his hunka would be when confronted with this challenge. “Weapons?” Hump asked.
    “Knives,” said Curly.
    Hump smiled at his hunka . His anger was not running ahead of his wisdom.
    The preparations took a few minutes. The combatants wrapped their blades with strips of deer hide, so neither would get cut. They stripped to breechcloth and moccasins. Hump went into the village circle and came back with a handful of wet ashes. “Here,” he said. “Put this on the knife edges. That way we can see when someone gets hit.” They rubbed the soot on the deerskin coverings.
    Hump backed off and gave the sign to begin. The fighters circled each other. The Bad Face youths looked on in a group, smirking. Black Elk, Young Man-Whose-Enemies, Lone Bear, and Horn Chips came up to watch the fun.
    Yes, yes , Hump thought. Curly was staying well away, knife held low in his left hand. He would dart in and out. No Water’s strength would do him no good this way, and his size would make him slow. Curly had chosen perfectly.
    Hump wondered what Curly’s being left-handed would do to No Water. The Bad Face might not have faced a left-hander before. Hump had taught Curly to take advantage of that.
    No Water jumped forward and thrust. Curly knocked the blade hand aside, slid to the left, and flicked his blade at No Water’s face. The big man jumped back, a black slash on his cheek. He looked furious.
    The Hunkpatila, Black Elk, Lone Bear, and Young Man-Whose-Enemies, let out a cheer. Horn Chips looked on impassively.
    Hump thought, Don’t build up the fire in him . Hump wasn’t sure whether Curly had gone high because the left arm was protecting the gut or deliberately to shame No Water by marking him.
    His knife well down, No Water suddenly charged.
    Curly kicked the knife arm away. “Beautiful!” Hump wanted to shout. No Water hurtled past, carried by his momentum. Curly cut a black gash down his side.
    Hump looked hard at Curly’s face. Yes, his hunka was full of cold fury. Hump wondered who would win, Curly or his anger.
    “Be careful,” Hump wanted to warn Curly. “The bull may charge again. He is not tricky, but he is dangerous.”
    Curly stepped slowly toward No Water, feinting left and right with his hips and head. The knife blade stayed still, point up.
    Uncertain, No Water backed up.
    In a flash Curly knocked No Water’s blade aside and hit him twice on the chest. Soot blackened each nipple.
    Hump was thrilled at his pupil’s quickness.
    Black Elk and Young Man-Whose-Enemies minced like women and made the trilling sound mockingly.
    No Water exploded. He gave a huge yell and bolted forward, straight at Curly, knife high this time.
    Curly ducked under the blade. He came up under the armpit and let No Water ride onto his shoulder. They toppled, Curly going backward. Into the dust they fell, No Water on top. The big man’s gut bounced off the point of Curly’s knife.
    “That’s enough!” yelled Hump. No need to say that Curly had won, that with an exposed tip the blow would have been fatal.
    Rolling off