He heard an unhappy sigh come from where Lucius was standing, but he ignored the old corbae doing his Buddha thing, just as he did the impressive moose lord, standing tall on his right. He gave Walker a friendly nod, then met Minisino’s glare with his crazy clown gaze. Knowing Jilly was safe, all his worries were channelled into so much energy he felt like grabbing a drum from one of those buffalo soldiers and doing his own dance. But while he couldn’t crank down the mad light in his eyes, he managed to stand still and keep his voice calm.

“So, what do you say, Minisino?” he asked. “Can I take up a moment of your time?”

He rolled a cigarette as he spoke, had it made and lit in less time than it would take someone else to shake a Lucky Strike out of its pack. He blew a wreath of blue-grey smoke and offered it to the buffalo war chief.

What’s the situation, Jack? he asked, speaking mind to mind and narrowing the focus of his thoughts so that only Jack could hear him.

Pretty much a mess, Jack replied. This thing’s like a powder keg that’s about to explode. Minisino’s got a stick up his ass the size of a redwood, and he’s not interested in listening to anybody—not even the powerhouses we’ve got lined up here.

Got it, Joe sent back.

Minisino made no move to take the proffered cigarette.

“There will be no peace smoke between us, mongrel,” he said.

“It’s not a peace smoke,” Joe told him. “Just an offer of respect before we start in on this thing. I mean, you’ve got to know a whole lot of people are unhappy about how it’s playing out.”

“What happens here today is cerva business,” Minisino said, his voice flat. “It concerns no one else.”

The war chief gave Raven a pointed look before letting the dark anger of his gaze settle on Joe once more.

“Yeah, see that’s the thing,” Joe said. “If it was only you and the bogans going at each other, I’d agree with you. But you’re setting a whole other thing in motion here, something that’s going to affect everybody for a long time to come. So all of a sudden, it’s other people’s business.”

“Will someone remove this mongrel from my sight,” Minisino said, “or must I do it myself?”

“That’s twice,” Joe told him before anybody could move.

The buffalo soldiers who’d been about to move forward held their place, waiting for their war chief’s response.

“Twice what?” Minisino asked.

“Twice you’ve insulted me. Why would you want to go and do that?” Minisino shook his head. “I speak only the truth—how can that be an insult? You’re a half-breed. Canid and crow. Neither of whom have any business here.”