The Marrow Thieves

Frenchie’s group continues traveling north in the snow. RiRi finds a bucket with a wrapped piece of bread, indicating that others are nearby. Miig asks Frenchie to climb a tree and scout; while in the tree, Frenchie sees “two figures, huddled around an open fire in a small clearing about a three-hour march to the west” (113). Once Frenchie returns to the group and describes the men he saw, Wab confirms they are the same men she saw previously. Rose talks to Frenchie, who waxes philosophical about the strange nature of life and how small decisions can have a major impact on events. After three days’ walking in the direction of the two strange men, Frenchie’s group catches up to them.

Frenchie and Miig find it alarming that the two strange men stay in place for multiple days, have open fires, and call out loudly, apparently unconcerned with being found and captured. Miig and the strangers greet each other in Anishinaabe and Cree. The strangers—Travis and Lincoln—invite Frenchie’s group to stay for food. Miig declines at first, but then agrees on the possibility of learning information from the men. While Frenchie leaves the group to look around the campsite, Chi-Boy finds Frenchie and asks, “Hey, did you notice the way that guy looked at Wab? I think he remembered her” (124). 

Miig asks Travis and Lincoln about a Native resistance movement about which he’s heard rumors. Lincoln responds with derision, claiming, “You either run or you find other ways to fit in and get by” (126). Travis attempts to defuse the situation while Miig and Lincoln square off. While looking at Wab, Travis tells Miig, “I never would have done things if I’da known the outcome. My intentions were never to get anyone hurt” (127). Travis invites Frenchie’s group to stay nearby for the night.

Frenchie’s group makes camp partway between Travis and Lincoln’s camp and a cliff. Frenchie wakes the next morning to a disturbance and finds that Travis has Tree and Zheegwon at gunpoint and Chi-Boy on the ground with “his own knife pushed through his arm” (131). Lincoln, apparently out of his mind on a drug, has RiRi, “her throat grasped under his thick arm” (131). Travis tells Lincoln not to “damage” RiRi because they’ve called the Recruiters already, and “[e]very head is worth a fortune” (132). 

In a moment of distraction, Chi-Boy stabs Travis in the leg, after which Miig punches Travis as well. Lincoln throws RiRi over his shoulder and runs. Tree and Zheegwon tie up Travis as Frenchie takes off after Lincoln, rifle in hand. Frenchie finds Miig, Wab, and Rose near the cliff: “And then I saw it. A single pink boot […] on its side, at the edge of the cliff” (135). Frenchie races back to the campsite; Travis, upon seeing Frenchie, deduces that Lincoln has killed RiRi. Frenchie brings his rifle into shooting position, thinking, “That’s the only time I felt anger through it all, seeing that rehearsed mask slip over his dark face” (136). In a dissociated state, Frenchie kills Travis.