Lemmi Tsinnajinni had spotted the four riders when they were more than a mile away, cresting a grassy hill against the backdrop of the Black Mountains a few miles beyond. They were coming for him, he thought, and kept riding.
He'd encountered his first Swift Current Dinneh the day before, a solitary youth scouting for buffalo. They'd talked, and Lemmi discovered their dialects were more alike than he'd expected. Then the youth had turned and galloped back toward the mountains already visible in the west, to tell Chief Nagani Yazzie he'd discovered a Dinneh from a tribe many days to the east. A stranger with a message for him—from Mazeppa Tall Man of the Dkota.
Lemmi had been right about the four riders, and they rode together into the mountains. There the land was rugged and rocky, the streams small, the forest largely of pine, and the trail much used. After a bit, they came to an encampment, its tipis much like those at Many Geese. Nagani Yazzie was sitting crosslegged by a small outdoor fire. As Lemmi and his escort approached, Yazzie unfolded his old legs, and stood.
"Here is the man you sent us for," said the escort's leader.
Yazzie greeted him with reserve. "I am told you are Dinneh," he said, "from a tribe many days ride toward the sun."
"That's right. I am of the Sancroy Dinneh."
Yazzie's wolf-like face looked past him, jaw set. After a moment he gestured. "Sit," he said, and lowered himself back onto the ground. Lemmi sat to his right, out of the smoke.
"What is the land like where you come from?" Yazzie asked.
So, Lemmi thought, in at least one respect beyond language, the Dinneh here are like the Dinneh at home; like the Dkota, for that matter. They don't get right to the point. "It is a land called Soggo," he answered, "in the north of the Kingdom of Sota. It is mostly flat, with many lakes and streams, and mostly covered with trees, many with broad leaves like the cottonwood, but also pines, some of which grow very large." With his hands, Lemmi gestured a diameter. "But when the trees are cut down, the land is fertile."
"Are the Dinneh numerous there?"
"In Sota, no single people is numerous. But counting all the peoples together, they are very numerous."
Nagani Yazzie looked into the fire, digesting what he'd been told. After a minute he went on. "I am told you have a message for me from Mazeppa Tall Man. What kind of Dinneh does the bidding of a Dkota?"
"The Sancroy Dinneh have no grudge with the Dkota. And Mazeppa wishes to be the friend of the Swift Current Dinneh."
Nagani Yazzie contemplated the small, burned-down fire before speaking again. "Mazeppa Tall Man consorts with witches who ride through the sky in a canoe. He may have become a witch himself. I will have nothing to do with such a person. If he wants these sacred mountains, he will have to take them from us."
So he knows about the Helverti. "It isn't these mountains he wants. He told me they belong to the Swift Current people, and should remain so. He wants to take the land of the Sotans, east of the Great Grass. And he wants you to help him. It will be a large war, with many honors to be gained, and when the Sotans have been broken, the buffalo people will no longer need to fear the dirt-eaters."
Nagani Yazzie pursed his lips scornfully. "Cochran, who is called 'Kills Buffalo With His Knife,' told me all that. He is chief of the Ulster, and now calls himself brother to Mazeppa. I told him I already do not fear the dirt-eaters, and do not trust Mazeppa. He was to tell his new brother that. Mazeppa was a fool to send you, after I did not believe Cochran, with whom I have been friends a long time. Our peoples joined together in our fathers' time, to defend each other against the Wolves, who used to war on us. After that, the wolf warriors did not trouble us, but now our alliance is over."
"Mazeppa thought you might listen to another Dinneh, someone who speaks your tongue."
Nagani Yazzie shrugged. "Why does Mazeppa want land east of the Great Grass? It would be hard to hunt buffalo there, if there are any."
"In many ways, Sota is a good land," Lemmi answered. "The Sotans never lack for wood. They have more water than they know what to do with. They have many women famous for their beauty, and many gardens in which they grow food. And many spotted buffalo, tame and easy to kill."
Nagani Yazzie grunted scornfully, and gestured about them. "The Swift Current people have all the wood they want. They have all the water they want. Their women are better than Sotan women. Also, the Swift Current People do not have to garden. They have all the buffalo they can eat. Not the poor spotted buffalo of which I have heard, but buffalo with thick warm fur, and fat humps."
Lemmi nodded. He'd foreseen the answer. "I will tell Mazeppa that. Is there anything I can tell him for you that he will be glad to hear?"
"Tell him we do not fear the dirt-eaters. And we do not fear his witches. Only Dinneh witches can harm the Dinneh. Tell him his sky witches will bring harm to his people. Witches are poisonous; when a witch befriends you, you are doomed. Unless he kills them, they will destroy him. Tell him that."
Lemmi nodded, a single nod. "I will tell him all those things."
"Good. Would you like something to eat?"
They ate buffalo hump, and talked about their tribal beliefs. The Swift Current Dinneh knew about Jesus, but they did not worship him as the Dkota and Ulster did. To the Swift Current Dinneh, the pope was at most a vague rumor, and they'd never heard of Norlins. Compared with them, the Sancroy Dinneh were strict Catholics.
Nagani Yazzie invited Lemmi to stay with him in his lodge that night, and Lemmi agreed. While they finished eating, a man of perhaps thirty years trotted up. Nagani Yazzie invited him to join them, and cutting off a large slice of meat, gave it to his tribesman, whose name was Tsosi Begay. Briefly they talked about the weather, the upcoming hunt, and Lemmi's errand. It seemed the entire village knew he'd been sent by Mazeppa.
"As Nagani Yazzie knows," Tsosi said, "Mazeppa Tall Man and I grew up together."
"That is true," Yazzie replied. "Enlighten this Dinneh from far away."
At age nine, Tsosi Begay had been captured by a party of Dkota. For six years he'd lived with the Coyote Clan of the Beaver Lodge Dkota, but eventually ran away and returned to his people, partly for shame at the coyote being the totem of his adoptive clan, but also because he missed the holy mountains.
At first the Dkota boys had made fun of Tsosi because he knew no Merkan, and because he was so dark. That was how he'd learned to fight so well. And as he learned Merkan, and Dkota ways and beliefs, life became much easier.
But even when he'd been new there, Tsosi was not the one most picked on. Mazeppa, who was a year younger, had been the butt of many jokes. Something was wrong with his body. Often he stumbled. He couldn't run very fast, couldn't fight very well, and was a poor shot with the bow. His calling name was "Clumsy." More than once, in riding contests, he'd fallen from his horse.
But Mazeppa never quit, never gave up. While still a child, he began spending hours alone with his bow, shooting at anything that hopped or ran or slithered or flew, until his fingers were raw. When nothing else offered itself, he shot at gopher mounds. He never became the best shot, or the best rider, but he did become proficient. And he had an older brother, a very good wrestler, who could also walk on his hands, do handsprings, and kick a ball hung higher from a crossbar than any other youth his age. It hung higher than he could reach. So Mazeppa asked his brother to teach him to do those things. He almost killed himself learning to kick a ball hung no higher than his head.
After greeting the rising sun, Mazeppa, as he grew older, often left camp running alone, instead of with friends. If you watched, you would see his child form disappear into the distance, not returning till much later. Once another boy, who was thought the best runner of boys their age, followed Mazeppa's tracks, to see if he lay down somewhere under a bush to rest. Mazeppa came back far ahead of him. The other boy, when he returned, told that Mazeppa had turned into a coyote, and ran around him in circles, a story much repeated.
After that, Mazeppa was looked at differently. Before he reached his fourteenth winter, he was not only the best distance runner among boys his age, but the best sprinter. And the best fighter; no other boy his age wanted to fight him anymore. He allowed no one else to prevail at any time; he'd lost all sense of proper balance, of harmony. His calling name became "He Who Must Win."
Having told his story, Tsosi Begay made his parting courtesies and left.
The next morning, Nagani Yazzie gave Lemmi his final message. "Tell Mazeppa Tall Man I will not ask my people to go far away and die because he needs help to get what he wants. What Mazeppa Tall Man wants is his business, not ours."
Then Lemmi left the Black Mountains, escorted by two warriors. It was a pleasant ride, the three of them exchanging stories and asking questions. The Swift Current men were intrigued, and at times amused by what Lemmi told them of the settlement of Dinnehville, in the Township of Big Pines. The strangeness seemed even stranger, knowing that generations of Dinneh had been born, spent their lives and died in that place. Finally they separated from him a few miles beyond the foothills, and returned home. They'd have liked to hear more, but a herd of buffalo had been located, and Nagani Yazzie's people were preparing to go on a hunt.
That evening when he camped, Lemmi radioed his contacts, summarizing for them what he'd learned. "The old chief is sending Mazeppa an earful," he finished. "Food for thought."
"Fine," said Tahmm, "as long as Mazeppa doesn't punish the messenger for delivering the message."
"I don't think he will, but if he tries, the messenger may challenge him."