People of the Earth (103 page)

 
          
 
The Wolf Bundle surged in his hand, and Still
Water felt a crackling—as when a hand is rubbed across fox fur to make it spark.
Power shifted, changing, advancing and retreating.

 
          
 
"We must go," White Ash whispered.
She rose slowly to her feet. Still Water stood beside her, supporting her arm.

 
          
 
"We can't leave without Snail Shell and
Blue Wind," Aspen said to Wind Runner, her voice tinged with panic. Still
Water frowned, wondering for a moment why he understood without the benefit of
translation. Then he noticed the golden shimmer to the air; it looked as though
Power had thrown a huge net over them. In his hand, the Bundle throbbed like a
laboring heart.

 
          
 
He eyed the others. No one else seemed to
notice the shimmer. White Ash led the* way down the dune, the black wolf
trotting protectively at her heels. Trouble lagged behind Still Water, his hair
bristling.

 
          
 
They walked up over the next dune as the sky
dimmed to slate blue. As White Ash had predicted, Brave Man stood there before
a huge fire. Behind it, a woman and five warriors clustered in a small circle.

 
          
 
Still Water became painfully aware of Aspen
and Wind Runner's fear; their souls spun out brief flashes of color to pierce
the golden net. White Ash and Sage Ghost stood resolutely, as though numbed by
the sight of Brave Man.

 
          
 
The black wolf growled a low half-whimper and
loped down toward the enemy camp. White Ash followed in its tracks. Still Water
clutched the Bundle to his chest and quickly ran to catch up. A small voice
cried out in his soul.

 
          
 
White Ash hovered on the boundary of the One,
letting the gentle gray haze drift through her. Brave Man watched her approach
with a curious detachment.

 
          
 
He's allowing me to come close. He plans to
trap me, to take me in a sudden rush.

 
          
 
The echoes of fear in her distant body left
her concentration unsettled. Awareness of the life in her womb triggered
age-old reflexes of maternal vigilance. The child's soul fluttered around hers,
shooting filaments into the One.

 
          
 
Seek. Seek the One, the untold voices of the
Wolf Bundle ordered through the layers of gray. We are here. Use us.

 
          
 
"I can't—not yet," she whispered
almost inaudibly. Desperately she sought to shove the memory of Singing Stones
out of her thoughts, to achieve balance. The warmth of the One that lay just
over the horizon of her soul beckoned.

 
          
 
In a trance, she wound her way through the
gnarled sagebrush. Each step brought her that much closer to the end. Her
moccasined
feet felt the crumbling dry soil underfoot. The
breeze tugged at her loose hair. Her heart pounded, each rush of blood in her
veins and womb a reaffirmation of all that she gambled.

 
          
 
She stopped before Brave Man, staring up into
his
slitted
eyes. The fire Danced eerily, casting
alternating light and shadow across the deepening dusk.

 
          
 
He smiled, exposing his missing front teeth. 4
Tonight you will be my wife, White Ash!"

           
 
"Tonight I will be your death, Brave Man.
I come to kill your Dream."

 
          
 
He threw back his head and laughed. "I
shall possess you. You will know my Power—all of it."

 
          
 
She wavered on the boundary of the One.
"I loved you once."

 
          
 
"And you will again." He looked
hatefully at Wind Runner. "You challenge me for the last time, old friend.
I've Dreamed your death. Tomorrow, as the sun reaches its highest point, I
shall offer your heart to Power. With my own hands I shall cut it from your
body—and a new way will dawn. You will pay for standing in the way of
Power."

 
          
 
Wind Runner's jaw muscles clenched. "My
darts will feast on your blood first. What has happened to you? Where is my
friend? It isn't too late. Let's bring an end to the hatred, Brave Man. For all
that we've shared—"

 
          
 
"Enough!" Brave Man glanced at Sage
Ghost. "You, too, have come to die with your daughter, old man?"

 
          
 
"We'll see, boy." The old hunter's
shoulders rippled with corded muscle. "Sage Ghost is ready for whatever
Power will bring."

 
          
 
White Ash barely had time to take a deep
breath before a glowing green burst of light shot out of the gray mist and
coiled around her soul, trying to suffocate her. Brave Man's attack eddied
through the One, forcing her back, away from the source of Power. Frantically
she huddled in upon herself.

 
          
 
Brave man laughed. "Have you no strength?
Did you come to play like a child?"

 
          
 
He struck at her again, his Power like a foul
hurricane, driving her back, back until she fell out of the Dream and into the
world of illusion. The gray mist evaporated and she blinked at the lengthening
shadows of night that crept over the sand dunes. Desperate, she closed her eyes
and retraced the path, finding nothing . . .

 
          
 
NO!

 
          
 
She took a deep breath, easing into the
nothingness, surrendering more of herself. He pushed her back again.

 
          
 
"Give up!" Brave Man commanded.
"You are too weak for me."

           
 
Breath caught in her lungs. In panic, she glanced
at Still Water. He looked at her with sad eyes and nodded encouragingly. An
implacable determination molded his features as he lifted his voice and began
the chant she knew so well.

 
          
 
White Ash followed the words as she had for
weeks, using them as markers to lead her inside to the place that always
listens. But before she could find it . . .

 
          
 
Brave Man's Power washed over her—a flood of
carrion filth, assaulting her with terrible images of pain and rape. She cried
out and dropped to her knees on the cool sands . . . and Three Bulls stared out
of the depths of her soul, gaze half-lidded and smiling. She could smell his
fetid breath and the stink of his unwashed body as he forced himself within
her. The dying screams of the White Clay shivered the air. She looked into
Bright Moon's absent eyes.

 
          
 
Brave Man has found a way to call up your
worst memories and use them against you!

 
          
 
Clinging to the last of her reserves, she
sought her soul, conjuring memories of her own. Liquid cold ran through her veins,
frosting her soul as she drowned in a cutting, crystal river. Gravel scraped
her skin as the current whirled her around, seeking to spin her loose from her
soul.

 
          
 
Bad Belly's hand grabbed her hair. She
struggled, choking on blue ice—and she survived. She pulled her ragged self out
on a far shore, gasping.

 
          
 
And she found the place inside that listens .
. .

 
          
 
She gathered her strength and countered,
building a picture in her soul of a terrible morning years before: The Black
Point exploded out of the cottonwoods along the Fat Beaver River, howling their
war cries, running among the lodges as the shocked camp came awake. She saw
Brave Man stumble out of his lodge, naked. Women screamed and children cried
out in terror, fleeing before the enemy warriors. A tall Black Point warrior
grabbed Rock Mouse by the hair, and Brave Man
nocked
a dart in the hook of his
atlatl
and cast, driving it
into the man *s back . . . the enemy whirled and dove for Brave Man. Brave Man
fought for his life, kicking and screaming . . .

 
          
 
Brave Man cried out jaggedly and White Ash
experienced the agony of his headache, building . . building to a sickening
throb; it staggered her soul.

 
          
 
"You're stronger . . . than I
thought," Brave Man rasped. "But not strong enough. I tire of
this."

 
          
 
White Ash screamed as the green mist engulfed
her, shrinking around her soul like rawhide soaked in water, squeezing the life
from her.

 
          
 
“Use the Power! We are here. Claim us!'' the
Wolf Bundle penetrated her anguish. She shrieked in panicked desperation. Brave
Man's haunting laughter rocked the foundations of the very earth.

 
          
 
Did she dare? Singing Stones' dead eyes
gleamed through the malevolent haze of green. What if I lose myself? What if I
can't reject the lure of the One? Faintly, she could hear Still Water's chant
growing louder, as though he'd come to kneel beside her. The Wolf Bundle
wrenched her soul, struggling to drag her down into its whirlpool or Power.

 
          
 
Pale Raven stood to the rear, waiting
nervously, eyes on the veil of darkness that had swallowed the desert. Blue
shadows clung to the dunes, making them look like hunching beasts ready to
spring. She barely heard the words of Brave Man and White Ash. Then she felt
the change in the air and staggered.

 
          
 
She glanced at Flying Hawk. The warrior stared
back with wide eyes. She stepped closer to him, whispering, "Have they had
enough time?"

 
          
 
From the side of his mouth, he answered,
"You only need to step into the light of the fire and raise your
hands."

 
          
 
At that moment Brave Man cried out, placing
his hands to his head. He toppled sideways, overbalanced by his bad leg. He
rolled into a sitting position, an anguished expression on his face.

 
          
 
The warriors started forward.

 
          
 
"Stay where you are!" Pale Raven
ordered. "Leave the Soul Flier to his battle." Ours will come later
If Brave Man loses, the Black Point had better hope Thunderbird is on their
side!

 
          
 
Brave Man gasped, drawing a deep breath. In
that moment White Ash's eyes cleared and she feebly grabbed the Wolf Bundle
from her man's hand, hugging it to her breast.

 
          
 
Pale Raven took a step forward. In the
firelight she searched the faces of her enemies. The men seemed awestruck. The
delicate Black Point woman glanced warily about, as if invisible bats fluttered
around her head. She fingered her darts, nervous, but very much in possession
of her wits. She'd be the dangerous one.

 
          
 
White Ash got to her knees and bent forward,
hugging the Bundle like a lover. Black hair tumbled around her face.

 
          
 
"Dream!" cried the young Black Point
warrior, his hands knotted to fists. "Dream the new way, White Ash!"

 
          
 
Pale Raven's eye caught Flying Hawk's slight
movement and glanced out at the night. Shadows crept among the dunes. Her eyes
narrowed. Brave Man would win-—one way or another.

 
          
 
White Ash held the Wolf Bundle securely over
her heart, defended for the moment by the strength of Still Water's chant, by
the yellow brightness of his soul. She released herself to the Bundle's Power.