171 Bullet went back to the common room and found
it empty. He walked around studying the maps. There were different
colored pins in all of them, but he had no idea what they could mean.
He went over and studied the mural. Whoever had painted it was very
good. You could feel the tension of the battle, almost hear The Dove
shouting "Forward! Forward!" and the battle cries of his people as they
charged. "That was a personal kind of combat," he thought, "face to
face, person to person not like today when you could kill a man from
yards away and barely see his face." He heard the sound of
footsteps and canes behind him, but didn't move.
172 "Beautiful, isn't it?" commented Bright Serpent. "I went away for
two weeks, and when I came back I found that on the wall. I had done a
young artist a favor, and this was his reward. He knew this was my
favorite story in The Sacred Writings. The Dove and I had things in
common, you see... leg injuries. But he was a magnificent man."
173 "What it must have been like for him," sighed Bullet, "one day,
just an ordinary fighter, then suddenly First Speaker of all his Land,
and, in the midst of one of the greatest dangers they had yet faced.
But he pulled that shattered army back together, and yanked victory out
of defeat. It hardly seems possible.
174 "Times of danger," put in Bright Serpent, "sometimes bring out the
greatness in men."
175 Smiling Fox appeared from the passage. "Good!" announced Bright
Serpent, "Both here! Let's go eat! I hope you like fish. We're having
smoked Broadback with cream sauce, rice, early beans, and brown bread,
with honey topping."
176 "When we lived on the coast," commented Bullet, "my mother used to
make that once and a while,