She stayed by his side as they walked back to the entrance to the stockade. As soon as they passed through the door, two young men named Fox Tail and Chases Rabbits closed the opening with the strongly made gate that they propped firmly into place.

Okwaho looked around. It seemed that all of the rest of the ten handfuls of people who made up their little community were looking at him. They had come out of their longhouses or were already in the central area between them all. People of his own Wolf Clan had come from their longhouse, those of the Turtle Clan, the Deer Clan, and Tawis’s Snipe Clan had emerged from theirs. Not all of the clans of the Onondagas, the Among the Hills Nation, were represented here in the village where people had chosen to try to live in peace. Especially not the Bear Clan. That clan was headed by Atatarho, the Entangled One, the huge man who had become the great war chief of the Onondaga Nation. The one they were free from—for now.

No one had as much power as Atatarho did—either physically or in terms of spiritual strength. He seemed to embody an enraged bear, striking out against anyone within reach who dared get in his way. Like everyone, he had lost friends and relatives to the endless cycle of war. But no one was as twisted by that experience as Atatarho. Even his body was bent over and twisted from carrying that huge weight of anger.

“We will kill them,” he would growl. “We will destroy all those who try to stand against us.”

Angry and vengeful, Atatarho no longer listened to the advice of the clan mothers. His power was always directed toward conflict and war. And so the families from those four clans had left to find peace and safety.

But we were not really safe, Okwaho thought as he kicked at the ground while they walked. All we were was foolish.

Bird Flying, the mother of his friend, had not moved from her place in front of her longhouse.

“Go to her,” Wolf Woman whispered.

Taking a deep breath, Okwaho approached Bird Flying.

He opened his mouth, uncertain of what to say other than how sorry he was, but she raised a hand.

“Just tell me,” she said. “Tell me what my son did. Tell me why you are here and he is not.”

Okwaho felt his mother’s hand on his shoulder.

“We were fishing,” he said. His own words sounded hollow to him as he spoke them. “We thought it was safe. But they were on us before we knew it. There were three of them. They caught Tawis. But he helped me so I could get away.”