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Minko Chito.”
    “That means ”great chief‘?“

    THE SHADOWS OF GOD
    “Yes. Chief of all the Choctaw, though that doesn’t mean much, really. He can’t tell the district or village chiefs to do anything they don’t really want to. But he’s a great persuader. That thin fellow with the broken nose next to him, that’s Tishu Minko, the assistant to the chief. The big warrior behind him is Bloody Child, a man who doesn’t like me very much. The thin man with the snake tattoo is Paint Red. Red is a war title, a sort of captain.”
    “Like Red Shoes?”
    “Yes. ”Red Shoes’ is usually a title for the war chief. Red Shoes walk the warpath.“
    “Are you a war chief?”
    “Of a sort. I took the title when my uncle was killed, because I was the only one to carry it. Everyone still calls me that—they say I’m the war leader against the spirit world. The Red Shoes of the nation is him, there, with the sun tattooed on his arm.”
    “What was your name when you were a boy? Before the war name?”
    “Why do you want to know?”
    “I never knew the boy you were. At least I could know his name.”
    Red Shoes shook his head. “As I said, the boy I was is dead. We don’t speak the names of the dead.”
    She rolled her eyes. “Who are all those other men?”
    “Village and district chiefs. Shamans. Taken together, they are the leaders of the Choctaw.”
    “Who are those four? With the black streaks around their eyes?”
    “Ah, you notice them. They are rarely seen. Those are the Onkala priests from the House of Warriors, where the bones are kept. We also call them the Bone Men.” He reached for his loincloth and match-coat. “They are the men I came THE SHADOWS OF GOD
    to see.”
    “Some of those men are from far off, yes? How did they know you were coming?”
    “I made shadowchildren, each with the name of a chief or priest beneath its wings. Each carrying a vision of the Sun Boy and his army.” He fastened the breechcloth and shrugged the deerskin match-coat over his shoulders. “Stay here with my sister.”
    “I’m going with you.”
    “You can’t. Stay here.”
    “And if you don’t return?”
    “Then I don’t.”
    She looked at him silently for a moment. “Return/” she said.
    “Very well.” He kissed her, then went down to where the leaders of his people awaited.
    They watched him descend in silence. When he stood facing them, Minko Chito clasped his hand.
    “You’ve come. It’s good.”
    “I hope that it is,” Red Shoes replied, flicking his gaze across Bloody Child and Paint Red. The two brothers seemed to think his return was anything but good.
    But no one had tried to kill him yet.
    “Is it true?” the chief asked. “The dreams we’ve had? Did you send them?”
    “I sent them, and they are true. With my own eyes I’ve seen the army. With my own hands I’ve fought against them.”

    THE SHADOWS OF GOD
    “He is a brother to the owls,” Bloody Child snarled. “Any dream he sends is a lie.”
    “We’ve heard other things,” Tishu Minko said. “The Shawano trader who stayed with the Yellow Canes told of strange things beyond the Water Road.
    And what would it profit Red Shoes to make such a lie?”
    “To lead us away from our villages, perhaps,” Bloody Child said. “To leave our women and old men defenseless against his English friends.”
    The chief cleared his throat. “Red Shoes, why does he come, this Sun Boy?
    Why is he our enemy and not our friend? Many have joined him.“
    “Yes. Those who join him become his warriors. Those who do not, die.”
    “Why not join them, then,” Paint Red asked, “if they are so strong? We’ve fought for the French, when it was in our interest, and with the English as well.
    If he offers us glory and scalps, why spurn him, this child of the Sun?”
    “He shines, but he is no child of the Sun,” Red Shoes said. “He is the black man, who lives in the West, the chief of the night-goers, the god of ruin. He is the serpent with