Qaletaqa (41 page)

Harvey lost it. “The bond…no…she’s safe now!
You said she’d be safe! He can’t kill her! What’s happening?
Claire, we have to…”

I grabbed his face and forced him to look at
me. “We have to go through with our plan. The Matwau has access to
the dark gods’ power here. He can do whatever he wants. If you want
to save your wife, do exactly what I told you to do. Now!”

As quickly as Harvey had fallen into
hysteria, he snapped back out of it. He held his arm out to me and
I clamped down on his flesh. He stood, but I stayed kneeling. The
position helped me focus better. I was going to need every bit of
help I could get. My hand never left Harvey’s arm, but my thoughts
turned inward. I was terrified. All I had were some vague
instructions and an even more vague vision of what I was supposed
to do. I was filling in the gaps myself, with nothing but hope to
guide me forward. Time slowed around me to the speed of a desert
tortoise.

Reaching in to contact my soul wasn’t the
first step like I had originally thought it would be. Trying to
extricate my power while it was still tangled throughout my body
would only rip me to pieces. Instead I started at my fingertips and
my toes. My power was thin and wisplike here. If I tried to grab at
it the bits fluttered away. If I coaxed my power, calling it toward
my center, it responded more favorably. Inching my power up my
fingers and toes was easy, but that quickly disappeared. The more
substantial my power became, the harder it was to move.

I was focused on pulling in my power, but a
small part of my consciousness was still tapped into the world
around me. When I had moved my power in to my knees and elbows I
squeezed Harvey’s arm. Immediately he started yelling at Uriah.

“Uriah, come back. Please!”

My eyes were closed, but the way his pleas
kept rising in volume, becoming more frantic with each word told me
Uriah wasn’t responding. I kept working and trusted Harvey to come
through for me. It wasn’t just Uriah he was trying to distract, it
was Melody as well. They were both about to lose big if they didn’t
turn away from each other.

I kept pulling in my power and Harvey kept
yelling.

It would take time for both of our efforts to
succeed, just not too much time, I hoped fervently. My power
reached my shoulders and hips. That was when it started fighting
me. I was prepared for it to pull away. What I wasn’t prepared for
was Daniel.

I had suppressed my bond to him, but not
broken it. I hadn’t understood before how I could break my bond if
I had to give up my power, but as I had been pulling my power
inward I felt the bond weaken. Sacrifice, Quaile had said. I
couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen the answer before. Giving up my
power to save Uriah’s life was a sacrifice worthy of the gods
notice. The more I pulled the more it faded.

But the bond didn’t want to fade.

Daniel’s face burst into my mind, shocking me
so profoundly I almost lost my hold on my power entirely. The image
of his face expanded until his whole body appeared in front of me.
I knew I had my eyes shut tight against distraction, but I saw him
walk toward me. His grin held decades of laughter, his eyes a
thousand joys. The way he walked toward me so eagerly told me every
one of his happy thoughts had been spawned from us being together.
I could do nothing to stop his approached. If I reached out to fend
him off I would lose all my progress.

Confidence carried him to me. Daniel’s arms
wrapped lovingly around me, and with his embrace came the worst
assault yet. Images danced in front of my eyes. A garden wedding at
the base of the mountains. Daniel’s parents and extended family
welcomed me into their lives with such love and enthusiasm that
every handshake and hug stole a little of my resolve. Even worse
were my own parents standing nearby. My dad talked to Daniel…and
laughed! He loved him. He welcomed him as a son. My mom fawned over
him with delight. The bond pulsed, filling every bit of space
around us with joy. Everyone around felt it and rejoiced with
us.

I cried. My heart fought against it all. I
screamed at the gods. I already had to do this once! Why are you
making me go through this again! I screamed at them in anger. I
never expected an answer, but I got one.

You can’t give something up without truly
knowing what you are about to lose.

Time sped up. My heart was already aching,
and the voice had jarred me badly, but my struggle was only
beginning.

I stood in a kitchen making lunches. Each
sandwich and water bottle got packed into the lunchboxes with care.
I smiled when three children sped through on their way to the front
door. They each snatched a bag off the table with harried thanks,
but the middle, a girl of only seven or eight, brushed against me.
Her touch set off an image in my mind. The bus they were about to
board was going to get in an accident. A truck would run a red
light and crash into the seat where my children would be sitting.
The girl would die instantly. The other two would be badly injured.
A shadow hung over the oldest and I feared it meant he would join
his sister.

Your power is greater than any other
shaman that has ever lived
, the voice whispered.
Most shaman
are limited to glimpses, uncertainties, but you will be so strong
that your vision will be sure. You will be able to protect the ones
you love from harm.

Scenes flashed before my eyes. An accidental
contact, a hug, every touch warned me of danger. Every time I
prevented it. My children, friends, and family came to me for
advice. There were no ifs or doubt when I told them the right path.
I knew. I could do so much good, have so much happiness if I would
only step back. I didn’t have to give up my power. The image of a
young girl’s battered body lying on the pavement ripped a hole
through me.

You can make a difference in many lives.
Your power can heal, see, tell. It can protect and warn. Giving it
up will leave you with nothing, a rancher’s wife and nothing
more.

My despair had almost been complete. Wherever
the voice was coming from, whatever its goal was, it had just said
the one sentence I needed to hear most. My power responded to my
unvoiced decision. I expected it to rear away from me again, but it
didn’t. As my resolve deepened, it calmed, bending to my command. I
guided it gently into my core where it shivered around my soul. It
took a small amount of coaxing to convince it to part and slip
away, upward, but it gave in under the surety of my choice.

A rancher’s wife and nothing more.

The voice had uttered the words as if they
were a curse, something low and undesirable. What it didn’t
understand was that was all I had ever wanted. I could give up
anything else in this world for that one thing.

37: Spent

The only conscious thought in my mind was
Melody. Her blood trickling down her face was a lure I couldn’t
deny. Her heart beat within my chest. The rapid pulse of panic and
desire was perfectly in time with mine. Every step I took closer to
her sped up both our heart rates in perfect cadence. Her breathing
matched mine as well. We gulped in breaths as we struggle to get to
each other. The Matwau held her back, but something else, something
I didn’t understand slowed my pace.

I wanted to run. When she reached out to me I
swear I could feel her fingers brushing against my skin. It felt
like fire scorching its way across my body. I wanted to reach her
so badly. My muscles pushed harder. My mind screamed at me to move
faster. The Matwau ran his finger down further. The blood came
fast. He was scarring my beautiful Melody. Her beauty would never
fade in my eyes, but I hated the idea of her perfect body being
marred. I hated the idea of anyone who wasn’t me even touching her.
Melody was mine. She had been promised to me. She was my reward,
and I hers.

But not yet
, something whispered in
the back of my mind.
Not yet.

Something else tried to distract me. A voice.
Someone was screaming behind me. I think they were calling my name,
but I was so focused on reaching Melody that I couldn’t understand
the words. The Matwau’s claw dug deeper. A fresh rivulet of blood
sped down Melody’s neck and pooled at her collar bone for a moment
before running over the brink. Fury raged through me and broke the
trance.

My heels dug new holes in the sand, spraying
the leftover bits behind me as I ran. Everything that had been
completely blocked out a second before came rushing into my senses
like a hurricane of sights and sounds. Talon was speeding in from
the side where he had fallen earlier. The Matwau was laughing.
Laughing? The voice that was screaming at me about something
cleared, but not enough for me to understand. Melody was silent but
her eyes were a wash of emotion, still fixed on me. We were finally
going to be together. As soon as I got her away from the Matwau,
everything would be perfect, just like it was supposed to be.

I was almost to her. I lunged forward, and
caught the Matwau’s claws clean on my shoulder. Pain screamed
through me. I heard Melody gasp, saw her crumble. Tears poured down
her cheeks as she stared at the blood on my shoulder. The Matwau’s
laughter gathered and boomed across the valley. The wound wasn’t
deep, but I could feel the strength slowly leaking out of the wound
along with the blood.

That was why he had been laughing. He drew me
in like a fly to honey. I ran to him completely blinded. I had
enough sense to scramble out of his range and stand back up. Melody
reached for me instantly, but the Matwau pulled her back. Fury
almost carried me back into his trap. It was the voice behind me
that gave me pause.

“Uriah, please! You have to stop! Please come
back!”

The voice. I knew it. Every thought I had was
centered on Melody. The speaker’s voice was lost somewhere in the
depths, the parts of my brain that didn’t matter anymore. I was
about to give up on the voice. I wasn’t the only one that heard the
desperate screaming. Melody’s eyes widened.

“Harvey,” she whispered.

Harvey? The name struggled to breach the
barrier in my mind. His face suddenly blinked into existence…and
who he was to Melody followed. Remembering that Melody was married
momentarily stunned me. I knew it before, but the bond had
completely wiped that information from my mind. I looked back at
Melody. Seconds ago there had been only concern for me. Now war
raged inside her emerald eyes. Her struggle to get free doubled,
but not for me. There was torture in her eyes when she looked at
me, but I couldn’t hold her gaze anymore.

How could she abandon me?

“Uriah, please! Claire needs you!” Harvey
yelled.

“Claire,” I gasped.

Like Harvey’s named whispered from Melody’s
lips, when Claire’s name slipped from mine I staggered under the
weight of memories. Every kiss, every quiet moment, every touch
cascaded back into my heart and mind. Melody had claimed so much of
me, but Claire invaded, fought for her rightful place. I stepped
back a step, but that was as far as I could make it. Melody seemed
to be caught in the same battle. One minute she was screaming
Harvey’s name and the next she was reaching for me. The choice was
impossible. I could remember now what the bond was, but I didn’t
know how to fight it.

“Uriah, please. Look at Claire! Feel what
she’s doing! I know you can feel her power moving. Push away the
bond, see what Claire is about to do!”

The terror in his voice was so real. It
nearly ripped me in two to turn away from Melody, but I had to see
Claire. I had to feel…but the bond overpowered everything! It
seemed to get stronger the more I tried to push it away. A memory
slipped through, an image of Claire’s arms torn and bruised. She
bled herself for me. My fingers slid up my bloody arm and dug into
the wounds the Matwau so kindly gave me. Agony flared, pushing away
the bond long enough for me to feel it.

My eyes snapped to Claire in an instant.
Kneeling, gripping Harvey so tightly his flesh dimpled, power
visibly gathered around Claire’s body. “No. No!” I screamed it.

“Claire is going to die if you don’t turn
back! She’s about to give away her life, and mine, if you don’t
give Melody up and stop her!” Harvey begged.

My gaze slid back to Melody. Her eyes were
saucers. Even the Matwau had paused, confusion played on his
features. I had no time for him. If he was confused, all the
better. No doubt he had felt what Claire was doing before Harvey
had warned me and was trying to explain it to himself. Melody
didn’t understand, either. I hadn’t had the time to explain
everything I had found out about Claire when we met. She could see
in my eyes, though, that what Harvey said was true. Harvey and
Claire would both die if we didn’t find the strength to turn away
from each other and break the bond for good.

“I love you,” Melody whispered to me.

“I love you too,” I said, “but…I can’t give
her up. I can’t let her die.”

Tears that had nothing to do with the cut
running down her cheek dropped into the sand. “I can’t give up
Harvey, either,” she whispered.

I took a step back.

“I remembered,” she said, stopping me in my
tracks. “I remembered everything.”

A sob broke up her words. The Matwau
retightening his hold on her neck didn’t help, either. She clawed
at his hands. He might have strangled her right then, but we were
all distracted by a flare that burst from Claire.

“Uriah, hurry!” Harvey screamed.

The Matwau’s eyes darted back and forth
between Melody and Claire. He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t
know who to kill first. His panic loosened his grip enough to let
Melody slip out a few words.

“Run, bleed,” she croaked, “and let me
go.”