Johantty stepped along the circle of villagers, receiving blessings from young and old, then moved to the central fire and stripped to his breechcloth and leggings. His body had been elaborately painted, not for war, but with the sacred signs of his tribe, a large turtle on his chest.
The young Iroquois offered a sober nod as Duncan approached.
"Today is the day we reconnect the gods," came a familiar voice at his side.
Duncan turned to face Stone Blossom. For the first time since they had arrived at their new village with her son's shrouded body, the grief had left her face. She had known they were coming, though had not expected Hadley or the Scottish soldiers, and had led them to a burial site that had been prepared below the ancient shrine discovered by Skanawati the year before. The Onondaga matron had kept a solitary vigil at the grave for two days and two nights. Returning, she had offered the first smile Duncan had ever seen on her wrinkled face when she had discovered Duncan, Conawago, Moses, Hadley, and half a dozen Scots working with the tribe to clear fields and build longhouses. Hadley had brought Becca, Mokie, and Penn with him, explaining that he was going to help Rideaux build a new school for the Indians, far removed from those who would hunt for runaways. McGregor and his men had stretched their orders as an escort for Skanawati to cover the return of his body and had a slip of paper from a friendly ranger captain passing through Shamokin that stated they were now pursuing a raiding party on his orders, a thin excuse but enough to cover them on their return to Ligonier.
With the new longhouses constructed and the crops now planted, a great weight seemed to have been lifted from Stone Blossom. She was radiant with pride for her nephew, but also clearly worried. The old tales of the daylong dawnchaser course said that runners often died.
"There now, madame, the spirits be watching over him." Sergeant McGregor's brawny frame loomed over the woman. "Ye be fortunate. I remember when I was a boy in the Highlands we once had spirits who watched over us."
The words tugged open a chamber long locked in Duncan's heart. Images flooded over his mind's eye, of his mother at the hearth, his brothers roaming high in the heather among the shaggy oxen, his grandfather playing pipes by the moonlit sea, his sisters dancing at clan gatherings. He saw Skanawati, heard again his words that their clans had been linked together, and in that moment the dark weight that for weeks had been pressing on his heart began to fall away.
Conawago was whispering directions in Johantty's ear, still concerned that the youth would lose his way, when he looked up at Duncan. His words trailed off. McGregor muttered a soft exclamation of surprise, and both men stared as Duncan slowly loosened his buttons. Then suddenly the ragged old Scot's eyes lit with joy, and he helped Duncan pull away his shirt.
Duncan worked quickly, tightening his moccasins and leggings, letting Conawago tie his hair tightly at the back as the old Nipmuc whispered prayers in his ear, not objecting when his friend took one of the feathers from his own braids and tied it into Duncan's hair. He became aware of a new sound above the pulsing drum, a sound like the rustle of leaves, realizing finally it was the whispered prayers of all the Iroquois in the circle. McGregor, wiping an eye, joined in with his own Gaelic prayer. The old clans, Iroquois and Highland, may be battered, but they were not lost.
He did not know how long he chanted with his companions, blending the old magic of Gaelic with Iroquois words, but gradually something quickened inside him, a new resonance, and he knew it was now the pulse of the forest itself he felt. Suddenly Conawago lifted a small red feather over his head, and every voice stopped. Johantty and Duncan exchanged exalted smiles then turned their gazes to the feather. Moments later the tip burst into color as the first rays of sun hit it, then side by side, running like deer, the two men slipped down the ancient trail into the shadows of the forest.