“You’re the Thunder, the Herald of the storm the people call hurricane.”

“Here you are, Cousin,” said the Thunder, unsurprised by my arrival. “By what name should I call you?”

“People call me Cat,” I replied, for I knew better than to reveal my full name. “Why did you take my brother?”

“You took a life. We took a life.”

Dread chilled my heart. “Have you killed my brother?”

“Death is merely the other side of the island.”

“I haven’t the knowledge to debate questions of natural philosophy with you. I just want my brother back.”

“It is time for the match. Batey is the game.” He gestured toward the ballcourt. At the motion of his hand, thunder grumbled beneath my feet. “If you score, then we shall give you a chance to stand before the elders and defend yourself against the accusation laid against you. On behalf of the spirit lord you call the Master of the Wild Hunt, you cut a path into our country and allowed him to kill here as if he possessed the right to do so when he possesses no such right. Think how we must look at you, Cousin! We let you walk in our land as a guest, and you betrayed us.”

My head was still spinning with the vision of Vai encased in ice. “So if I score a point, I’ll be allowed to stand trial before a hostile assembly? That’s my chance?”

“If you don’t choose to speak in your own defense, it’s no skin off my nose.”

“It scarcely seems a sporting game if I’m obliged to play a game I only learned a few months ago against spirits and opia who have played for time uncounted.”

“I freely offer you a gift, Cousin.” A skull inset with beads and gems sat by his right knee, and I was sure it was watching me, for its hollow eyes gleamed. “The gift of the skill you would have achieved had you played the game for as long as these others have.”

I had to take the chances I was offered. “That seems fair. I agree only if all responsibility falls to me. If the ancestors find I am not at fault, then my brother and I are both free to go.”

“We are agreed.”

“I’ll need leather cords to tie up my skirt.”

The rabbit scribe set down its pen and tossed me a rope of braided cords. I untangled the cords and used them to secure my skirt at knee length. I still wore only my sleeveless bodice.