Dread flowed cold through Redbird's arms and legs.
Now we will know.
Wave and He Who Lights the Water looked at each other for a long, silent moment.
"What has happened?" Black Hawk pressed them.
"The long knives caught up with them," said Wave. "Most of the people were hiding on an island in the Great River. The long knives had a smoke boat that fired a thunder gun at the island and killed many people. Then the long knives landed on the island and killed nearly all that were left."
Redbird reeled, stunned.
Sun Woman! My second mother! Iron Knife! Oh, no! O Earthmaker, let it not be so.
Cold crept over her as she remembered Eagle Feather's cry: The Bad Axe! The Great River runs red!
Black Hawk gave a cry of anguish. His paper bundle dropped to the ground with a thud. He sat down on the ground, picked up a handful of ashes from Redbird's campfire and threw them on his head. The people around him screamed and wept and held one another in their grief.
Wind Bends Grass fell against Owl Carver, and both of them sank to the ground weeping. Redbird saw Wolf Paw standing slumped and motionless, his arms hanging helpless at his sides, his face gray. He had insisted that both his wives and his four children try to cross the Great River at the Bad Axe, thinking they would be safer.