Beside the square of darkness were abandoned wooden carts and a hill of gray gravel that partly blocked the stream. This was a mine, Redbird understood, where the pale eyes dug metal out of the ground.
The Bear spirit put one paw in front of the other and, with grace and balance astonishing in a creature so huge, walked down a narrow path Redbird had not noticed before to the shadowy bottom of the ravine. Then it lumbered up to the mine mouth.
She opened her mouth to cry out in fear, but the Bear was gone.
There is a man in there.
And her spirit helper, the Redbird, had led that giant Bear to him. She had commanded it. She had not wanted to use her shaman's powers to hurt anyone, not even one she hated as much as this uncle of White Bear's. White Bear had saved many lives and never killed anyone.
Even though she was a spirit and this great grassland was sunny, she felt cold, and her stomach knotted.
I will lose something because I did this. I only did it to bring White Bear back to his body. But I will suffer for it, even so.
And so will White Bear.
Only let White Bear live, she prayed to the powers that brought life into the world.
White Bear turned to her. It is done, said his spirit voice. My other self has found Raoul de Marion.