Everyone thought they had chosen a good place to site this new village of theirs. Their crops would grow well at the edge of the creek, which flooded every year with the spring ice melt, leaving fertile silt behind when the waters receded. With the abundant deer, the many food and medicine plants in the forest, and their fall harvest of corn and beans and squash, life should have been good for them.

But with the constant threat of attack, the endless cycle of raid and counter-raid going on everywhere in their world, there was no time when they were not in an atmosphere of uncertainty. They were hidden, but they still might be found. And even though they sought peace, they still might have to fight to defend themselves. That was why they were still working on the palisade of upright logs planted in the earth around Kanata.

•   •   •

The lights of cooking fires gleamed through the chinks in those peeled upright pine logs that had been dug into the ground and then woven together with vines to make the strong stockade around their four longhouses.

As Okwaho made his way around Kanata’s tall wall toward the single gateway that led inside, he saw a small group of people waiting there.

Two were men, both holding bows and arrows and guarding the entrance. One of those men was Burnt Hair, the uncle of Tawis. Seeing him made Okwaho’s heart sink. Every boy’s uncle was the most important man in his life. The bond between Burnt Hair and Tawis had always been a deep one, even more so after Tawis’s much older brother, Tall Bird, had died while on a raid against the Swampy Land people. The other man was Okwaho’s father, Holds the Door Open. A tall woman who was turned away from them to look down the trail was between them. From the way she stood there, it was clear that she was anxious.

“Gwey-gwey!” Okwaho called, alerting them to his presence.

The woman standing between the two men turned. It was his mother, Wolf Woman. And as soon as she saw him, the look of worry on her face turned into a smile.

“My son,” Wolf Woman called, opening her arms and looking up at the sky in a gesture of thanks.

She stepped quickly forward as Okwaho crossed the distance between the trail head and the stockade.

Wolf Woman reached him before he arrived at the opening. Burnt Hair, Holds the Door Open, and several other men, all of them holding bows and arrows, had come out to stand close behind them. They said nothing, but they looked grim.