“Much has changed since you left us, Mat-huwa,” Tewanias said. Small amber reflections of light glowed in the corners of the Mohawk chief’s dark eyes.

“Tell me.”

Tewanias turned his head away from the flames so that one side of his face was pooled in shadow.

“When you first came to us, I told you of the history of our people and how it was the Peacemaker’s vision of the tribes coming together as one under the Tree of Great Peace that gave breath to the Rotinonshón:ni.”

“I remember,” Hawkwood said.

“And how the sachems of the Six Nations would meet in friendship around the great fire at Onondaga?”

Hawkwood nodded.

Tewanias paused, gathering his thoughts. “During those times it was said that the land ruled by the Rotinonshón:ni was greater in measure than all the sky; from the banks of the Oiqué – what the whites called the Hud-son …”

“… to the river the People of the Cave Country call the Tanasi,” Hawkwood finished. “I have not forgotten.”

“And we told you how the whites came,” Cageaga muttered, his voice dripping with scorn, “with their guns and their one true God.”

“That, too,” Hawkwood said, wondering where the conversation was leading.

“And we thought that was good,” Cageaga growled. “The whites offered us trade: guns for furs. With guns, the Rotinonshón:ni could defeat their enemies, the Wendat and the Abenaki, so we welcomed these new friends. We let them build their houses and their farms. But with the passing of each winter more whites came, spreading their shadow across the land. The Rotinonshón:ni became fearful; some left their homeland and went west, to Ohíyo. Others went north, to Canada. The rest stayed. But soon, they learned that the whites had brought other things besides their one true God and their guns.”

Hawkwood waited.

“They brought sickness,” Cageaga hissed, “and they brought war. And we have been paying with our lives and our lands ever since.”

“First, it was the English fighting les français,” Tewanias said, drawing his cloak about him. “The Rotinonshón:ni were divided. Those Kanien’kehá:ka who had travelled north chose to fight on the side of les français. Those who remained fought for the Great King. Kanien’kehá:ka fought against Kanien’kehá:ka. But when the soldiers of the Great King defeated les français, a treaty was signed so that all men – the Rotinonshón:ni and the whites – could live in peace and the lands of the Rotinonshón:ni would remain free for all time.”

“And like fools we believed them,” Cageaga snorted. “For too long we have let ourselves be tricked by the white man’s promises.”