Red bone's Arc

Chapter 4 of 12

The rival clan came the next morning. They stopped on the rise below the eagle-shaped trees, their long branches spread like wings over the snow. The chief stood deep in his ranks. His warriors locked their shields into a wall and waited. Red bone watched from the gate. He wanted the chief alone, axe to axe. But the man hid behind a hundred shields, and shields do not fear a challenge. Berry came up beside him, breath steaming in his braided beard. "You can't shout him out," he said. "He's not a fool. He'll let his men bleed you first and keep his own skin whole." He nodded at the shield wall. "Break the wall and you've thrown your force into his teeth." "Then I don't break the wall," Red bone said. "I shame him in front of it." He went to the pen behind the great bear-shaped house. The white bear stood there, a brown patch over its left eye, its body wrapped in riveted armor. Red bone had tamed it once by refusing to flinch. Now he opened the gate and led it out by a rope no bigger than his wrist. A red hound trotted at his heel, her coat bright against the snow, ears pricked toward the enemy. Red bone walked into the open ground alone. Bear on one side, hound on the other. He stopped halfway between the two camps, well in range of their arrows. He planted his boots and threw down his axe. "Your chief hides behind you," he called to the shield wall. "I came with no wall. Just a bear and a dog." He spread his empty hands. "Any of you who wants my camp, come take it. Or tell your chief to come himself." No arrow flew. The bear swung its armored head and roared. The hound stood stiff and silent, teeth bared. The shield warriors stared at the man who faced them with no guard and no fear. Red bone saw their line waver. He saw them glance back at the chief who had sent them forward while he stood safe. That glance did the work no challenge could. A warrior in the front rank lowered his shield. Then another. The chief shouted at them to hold. They did not hold. One man stepped out of the wall and knelt in the snow before Red bone. A dozen followed. The wall came apart like rotten ice. The chief was left standing with a thin rank of loyal men. He had no wall to hide behind now. He drew his axe and came down the slope, because there was nothing else to do. Red bone picked his own axe from the snow. The red hound circled wide. The armored bear watched. The two men met alone on open ground, and this time no shields stood between them.