Chapter 9 - The Council of Fire
The Council of the Mountain Clan was held within an immense natural amphitheater surrounded by towering red sandstone pillars. Over five hundred people had gathered—warriors, women, elders, and children. The air was thick with the smoke of white sage and roasting pinon nuts.
When Corvin walked into the circle beside Tazhi, a wave of hostile murmurs rippled through the young braves. Several reached for their war clubs. To them, every white man carried the stench of broken promises and cavalry carbines.
A young warrior named Chato, his chest scarred from the Sun Dance, stepped directly into Corvin's path.
"Why does an enemy walk among the sacred fire?" Chato shouted in his native tongue, his eyes flashing toward Chief Nana. "He will run to the soldiers the moment the sun rises!"
Tazhi stepped between them, her voice cutting through the canyon like a whip. "He gave me water when my throat was ash! He stood before Vance’s guns without flinching! He bled while his own house burned to the ground! Which of you young men has done more for our honor this season?"
Chato bared his teeth, stepping closer to Corvin. "He has the white tongue. Let him prove he has a warrior's heart."
Chato pulled a bone-handled hunting knife and drove it deep into the earth between Corvin's boots.
Corvin looked at the knife, then looked Chato straight in the eyes. He didn't reach for his gun. Slowly, deliberately, Corvin reached out with his uninjured right hand, grabbed the blade by the bare steel, and wrenched it free from the rock-hard ground, his hand bleeding from the grip.
Without blinking, Corvin handed the knife back to Chato, hilt-first.
"I didn't come here to fight you, son," Corvin said in English, loud enough for the entire council to hear. "I came to tell you that Vance has sixty mercenaries waiting at Rattlesnake Pass to ambush your supply lines. If we don't ride together today, neither your children nor I will have a home tomorrow."
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Chief Nana slammed his staff into the earth. The resounding boom silenced the crowd instantly.
"The white man has spoken," Nana proclaimed. "Prepare the war horses."
