Children of the Dawnland (North America's Forgotten Past Series) (8 page)

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Authors: Kathleen O'Neal Gear,W. Michael Gear

BOOK: Children of the Dawnland (North America's Forgotten Past Series)
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“I knew I shouldn’t have invited you here,” Mother snarled. “Leave.”
Screech Owl closed his eyes wearily for a moment before he ducked beneath the flap and disappeared into the night.
Tears filled Twig’s eyes. She didn’t understand it. She loved Mother and Screech Owl, but they were always fighting and arguing. It broke her heart.
Twig waited until Mother turned to pick up the plate of cakes before she slipped completely under her buffalo robe to cry.
A
T FIRST, ALL I hear is the roaring wind.
Then … the dream begins.
I’m freezing. Freezing to death, and terrified. The woman is standing beside me, smiling.
Faint screams creep up from every sparkle in the snow, and fear clutches at my heart. All around me, colors swirl and form pictures, becoming flaming spears that flash through the air.
“What’s happening?” I cry.
The woman just keeps smiling.
Far below, I see a village. It looks tiny from this high. When the flaming spears land on top of the lodges, they burst into flame, and a brilliant fiery wall rises. I see women and children
lunge from their blazing homes and run away into the haze of smoke that billows into the starry sky.
“What am I seeing? Where is this?”
“You don’t recognize it?”
“No, I—”
“You will. Soon. You must remember that you will not find Cobia’s cave without Greyhawk. You must be braver than you have ever thought possible. Learn every lesson Screech Owl teaches you.”
She leaps into the frosty, twinkling hearts of the Star People … and the screams and cries of war fill the air. I turn, and the Ice Giants are black, black as coal, and sparkling.
“Wait. Wait!” I shout. “Don’t leave me! How do I get home?”
A deep groaning rumble erupts, followed by a loud boom! Several smaller booms shake the ground beneath my feet, and I stagger as a strange orange gleam fills the night.
The rumble grows to a roar.
The earthquake strikes like a giant fist slamming the earth.
And a boy’s voice calls my name … .
S
TARLIGHT GLISTENED ON the roof poles over Riddle’s head. She lay warm in her hides, listening to Twig, who was dreaming.
“No,” Twig said softly, and Riddle could tell she was crying. “Help me. Please, help me.”
Riddle rolled to her side to study her daughter. Only the top of Twig’s head showed over the edge of the buffalo hide. Her long black hair snaked across the sleeping mat. Twig whimpered and turned over onto her stomach. Her hands clenched and opened, as if she were trying to reach for someone.
Riddle threw off her hides and went to kneel by Twig.
“Twig?” she called softly. “Twig, wake up. It’s all right. Twig?”
“Mother?” Twig whispered, her voice sleepy.
“Yes, I’m right here. You’re safe.”
“Oh, Mother, I had the dream again! This time I saw a village on fire. And the Ice Giants turned black!” Tears ran down her cheeks.
Riddle stroked Twig’s hair gently. “What else did you see?”
Twig took a breath as if to speak, then shook her head. “There was a—a boy’s voice … and a blue spiderweb. I—it … never mind. I’m sorry I woke you.”
Riddle’s heart sank. Twig didn’t want to tell her, and she knew why. Riddle feared powerful Spirit dreams. She often shouted at Twig when she claimed to have had one. Mostly because Riddle had never learned how to control them, so on the few occasions when they came to her, they controlled her with such terrifying power that she thought she was dying.
Twig squeezed her eyes closed, a clear signal that she didn’t want to talk anymore. “Thank you, Mother, but you can go back to sleep now. I’m all right, really.”
Riddle let out a tense sigh. “Twig? Do you want to go live with Screech Owl?”
Twig opened her eyes. For several heartbeats she didn’t answer. Finally, she whispered, “Do you want me to?”
“No, not really, but he could teach you a great deal, and maybe … well, I’ve tried hard to kill the power that lives inside you, Twig. But if you really are destined to be
a great dreamer, you could save our people. I just, well, I pray the dreaming is not as hard on you as it is on me.”
“Why is it so hard?”
“Oh, Twig, everyone in the village relies on the Spirit dreamer to see the future, and when she’s tired, or sick, or just disheartened, and she can’t dream, they all blame her for the bad things that happen. It’s not an easy life … and I hoped yours would be.”
“Was it hard when you were growing up?”
“Yes, I just wanted to be a normal little girl. But my grandfather made me study with Screech Owl.”
Twig swallowed hard. “Is that why you don’t like Screech Owl?”
Mother nodded. “His lessons are very difficult. Sometimes, they hurt, as you are about to find out.”
They stared at each other for a long time before Mother said, “Tomorrow we’ll pack your things, and I’ll take you to Screech Owl. I don’t know how long you’ll be able to stay. We may be moving soon. But I’ll give you as much time with him as I can.”
Twig hugged her hard. “I’m afraid, Mother, but I will try to learn to dream better.”
“Good. Terrible things are happening. If you learn enough, and try hard enough, maybe you will dream a way for us to escape.”
Since I can’t, someone has to.
Across the lodge, from the Wolf Bundle, Riddle thought she heard the Stone Wolf call out to her … as if in approval.
“
O
H, GREAT MAMMOTH, there he is,” Mother said in an unhappy voice. “Do you see him?”
Twig shielded her eyes from the bright morning sunlight. They had been walking since long before dawn to get to Screech Owl’s cave. Twig looked at the huge oaks out front, then searched the black boulders … and finally saw him.
Screech Owl was balancing on his belly on a pointed rock that stuck out high above his cave. He had his arms and legs thrust out into thin air, as though he was imitating the ravens soaring above him. The birds cawed, and Screech Owl cawed back. The big raven, obviously the
leader of the flock, swooped down and hovered in front of Screech Owl’s face. He tipped his wings illustratively. Screech Owl moved his arms in the same way, but couldn’t quite get it right. He kept thrashing around.
Twig said, “What’s he doing? Flying?”
Disgusted, Mother said, “He probably thinks so. Come on. Let’s get this over with.”
As they got closer, Twig heard Screech Owl say, “I’m sorry. I just can’t get it right. Maybe in my next life, Earthmaker will let me have wings so I can fly better; then—”
“You are such an old fool,” Mother called up to him.
Startled, Screech Owl lost his balance and fell off the rock. Twig didn’t see where he landed, but a cloud of dust rose, and she heard him shout, “Riddle! Twig! What are you doing here?”
Mother lifted a brow. Her long hair, as blue-black as magpie feathers, fluttered about her shoulders. “Walk down here like a human, and we’ll discuss it.”
“Of course! I’m coming.”
Screech Owl climbed through the boulders and onto the ledge that stuck out over his cave, where he jumped off. He landed hard and stumbled sideways before he caught himself. “My, it’s good to see you both! Come in. Have some tea.”
He hurried to pull the door curtain aside so they could enter the cave. “Please, go in and sit down. I’ll have the tea boiling in no time and—”
“Screech Owl,” Mother interrupted him. She made no move to go into his cave. “You’ve been right all along.
I’m sorry I tried to prevent Twig from becoming a Spirit dreamer. I was just trying to protect her. You know—”
“Yes.” He gave her a kind smile. “I do know. The life of a Spirit dreamer is very hard, and you love Twig very much.”
Mother folded her arms tightly across her heart. “You have five days. I wish I could give you more time to teach Twig, but I’m not sure we have more.”
“What do you mean?”
“The village council will be meeting this afternoon. Father is going to tell the elders that we must pack up and move the village far to the south, away from the ball of light Twig has been dreaming about and the Thornback raiders.”
Screech Owl just stared at Mother with hurt in his eyes, as though he was worried about her. “Then I’ll do the best I can in five days.” He extended a hand toward his cave. “Now, please, come in and have a cup of tea. You’ve walked a great distance this morning.”
“No, I can’t. I must get back to prepare for the meeting.”
Mother slipped the hide pack from her back and dropped it beside Twig, and then she knelt to hug her. “Learn as much as you can,” she whispered. “Perhaps you’ll be able to learn the things that I couldn’t.”
Twig hugged her back. “I’ll try, Mother,” she said bravely. “And don’t worry. Screech Owl will take care of me.”
“I know he will.” Mother rose slowly to her feet and
turned to Screech Owl to ask, “Should I come and get her in five days, or will you—”
“No, let me bring her home.”
Twig said, “I can go home by myself. I’ve done it a hundred times.”
“Yes, but things change once you sprout a Spirit dreamer’s wings,” Screech Owl said. “Your soul will be concentrating on other things. I don’t want you to get lost. I’ll take you.”
Twig blinked, curious and not understanding, but accepting his decision just the same.
Mother touched Twig’s hair lovingly before she began backing away. “I’ll see you soon.”
“I love you, Mother.”
Twig watched her until she vanished behind the boulders up the trail; then she looked up at Screech Owl. “Well, I guess I’m here.”
“Yes, and I’m so glad. How did you manage it?”
“I had the dream about the strange woman last night. I woke Mother. After that she decided I could come and live with you.”
Screech Owl seemed to be studying the nervous twist to her mouth. “And what about you? Did you think it would be all right to come and live with me?”
She flapped her arms helplessly. “I have to find out what my dreams mean, Screech Owl. You know I do. I want you to teach me how to dream better.”
“Good. Then let’s get started.”
“What? Right now?”
“We only have five days, Twig, and a long way to go.” Screech Owl pulled back the door curtain to his cave and said, “Let’s go inside and grab the things we’ll need.”
She wrung her hands. “What do I have to do?”
“First,” he said, “you learn to fly so that you can go and talk with your Spirit Helper, Eagle-Man.”
Twig glanced uncomfortably up at the rock where Screech Owl had been balancing on his belly. “I have to fly?”
“Yes, didn’t you see me flying when you arrived?”
Twig narrowed her eyes. “Screech Owl, that didn’t look like flying.”
“No? What did it look like?”
“Well, I don’t know exactly. You were thrashing around like a turtle whose head was being chewed off by a wolf.”
“Ah!” he exclaimed in delight. “That’s exactly it! Learning to fly is like having your head chewed off. Come on. As soon as your human head gets devoured, you’ll grow bird eyes and be able to see the tunnel that ties Mother Earth to Father Sky. Then you’ll find Eagle-Man’s nest.”
As she ducked beneath the door curtain and into his cave, the scent of old dry mammoth dung rose. “I don’t like the idea of getting chewed up, Screech Owl.”
His expression turned dark and serious. For several heartbeats, he just stared at her. “No one does, Twig. But every great dreamer, at some point, must step into the mouth of the Spirit that wants to chew her up.”

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