Chapter 154: Blood-Sucking Monster (7)
According to Karl’s earlier description, tonight marked the most important final stage of the annual Sacred Tree ritual. The priest would pray throughout the night, offering lavish sacrifices and devout faith to the sacred tree in exchange for its protection in the coming year.
But below the banyan tree—suspected to be the sacred tree—chaos had erupted.
Several masked, burly men had somehow broken in, interrupting the Native Americans’ ceremony.
They seized an elderly woman wearing a headdress of eagle feathers and a buffalo-hide outfit, pressing a gun to her forehead. They forced the nearby musicians to drop their instruments and lie face down on the ground.
Among them, Everly spotted Quilla. Blood seeped from the corner of her mouth, and her cheeks were tinged with dark purple—she had clearly just been beaten.
Judging by the intricate and ornate decorations on the elderly woman, as well as the imposing eagle-feather crown on her head, it was clear she held a high position in the tribe. She was most likely Nava, the Winton tribe chief and priest Karl had mentioned.
As for the masked men, based on the daytime incident and the prominent tattoo visible on one of their hands, Everly immediately recognized them as the white ranchers who had caused trouble in the village earlier that day.
She couldn’t believe they dared to climb over the fence and storm into the Native reservation at night, physically attacking the residents.
There were too many of the white ranchers for Everly to handle alone, and if they realized someone in the woods was attacking them, they might lash out recklessly at the captured Native Americans—something Everly was determined to avoid.