The Gathering

by Sharon Sala

  ***

  Evan and Yuma cleared the camp just a few yards ahead of a group of warriors. They saw Aaron in their midst and knew that he was heartsick that the boy was lost.

  Yuma paused on the ridge to call out Dakotah’s name, then waited a few moments, hoping he would hear an answer, but all he heard was Tyhen’s voice in his head.

  He’s in the trees. Wolves beneath it. I’ll get him. You get the wolves.

  Yuma saw the small grove of trees about a quarter of a mile ahead and pointed.

  “Tyhen said he’s there! Wolves have him treed,” he cried, and started running.

  A dozen armed warriors followed Yuma, running through the tall grass as Tyhen flew above them. She could feel the boy’s fear and rapid heartbeat, but she also felt his weakness and exhaustion.

  Hold fast, Dakotah. I am coming.

  ***

  Dakotah felt himself going in and out of consciousness and tried to wedge his body between the fork in two big limbs in case he passed out, hoping it would stop him from falling among the wolves.

  In his mind he was still screaming for help, when in reality he had not uttered a word. He did not see the warriors coming for him or the whirlwind flying through the air above them, until out of nowhere, he heard Tyhen’s voice in his head. He opened his eyes, thinking she was right behind him. When he didn’t see her, he thought he’d been dreaming and looked out at the distance between him and safety. That’s when he saw armed warriors running toward him, and a whirlwind of motion in the sky above them.

  He was saved!

  The relief he felt was so overwhelming that, for the first time since it happened, he began to cry.

  All of a sudden the warriors were below him and in the midst of the wolves. He saw Yuma spear one and slash another one’s throat with the big knife from his belt and in the back of his mind Dakotah wondered if he’d ever be that brave and strong. He watched Evan shoot an arrow into one that was running away, and then the other warriors waded into fight. The snarling soon changed to yelps of pain as two more wolves went down and then a third one fell. At that point, the remaining wolves made a run for it.

  Evan ran after them, taking down one more with his spear just as Tyhen took the whirlwind into the trees.

  One moment Dakotah was clinging to the branches and the next he was inside the whirlwind and cradled in her arms. The last time he’d seen that look on a woman’s face was from his mother just before she disappeared beneath the mountain.

  “I went too far,” he said softly, and then passed out.

  Tyhen felt the blood on his back and flew faster. When she reached the ridge, she set down and then ran the rest of the way into camp.

  When Lola saw Tyhen come into camp carrying him and saw the blood all over his little body, she let out a wail of despair, certain he was dead.

  “He’s not dead,” Tyhen said. “Bring water to clean him and find a healer.”

  Lola ran to get her water pouch as one of the men took off running through the camp.

  Tyhen laid him down and then turned him over to inspect the wounds. When she realized the bite marks had not torn flesh and that part of the puncture wounds had already stopped bleeding, she breathed a sigh of relief. When Lola returned with the water and the cloths, they began washing the blood off his body and cleaning out the wounds.

  Yuma and the warriors returned just before the healer. He dropped Dakotah’s shirt down near his body and then got down on his knees to look at the wounds Tyhen was cleaning.

  “Did he talk to you?” Yuma asked.

  “All he said was that he went too far,” she said.

  Evan glanced at his brother who was standing within the crowd and arched an eyebrow questioningly.

  Adam nodded.

  Say nothing.

  Adam nodded again, agreeing with his brother’s judgment. Tyhen did not yet need to know the connection between her and the boy.

  Tyhen was so involved in tending to the boy that she didn’t tune into the cryptic conversation between the brothers, and then the healer arrived and Tyhen and Yuma were moved aside.

  The healer, a woman named Myra Begay, checked the wounds they’d cleaned and then opened her medicine pouch and poured a powdered substance into the punctures. She laid the last of her medicine leaves from the jungle on top of each bite mark and wet them down to make them adhere to Dakotah’s skin, and then she was done.

  Tyhen laid a hand on the back of the little boy’s leg and felt the weakness, then sent her voice out across the prairie so that all would hear.

  “We do not travel today. Today we hunt for food to fill our bellies and our packs. Today we repair what is broken and will be thankful this boy is still with us.”

  Lola looked up at Tyhen with tears in her eyes.

  “Thank you. Thank you for bringing him back.”

  “I did not do it alone,” Tyhen said, and pointed to the warriors behind her. “They killed the wolves. If they had not, the beasts would have followed us daily, waiting for someone else to go too far.”

  She glanced at Yuma who was still on his knees beside Dakotah.

  “I am going to set our camp back up,” she said.

  Yuma gave the child one last pat and then stood.

  “I will hunt for food,” he said.

  “I will go with him,” Evan added.

  By the time she left, a large number of the men were gathering to make up several hunting parties and go in all four directions. She hoped they were able to bring down some of the larger game, like the buffalo and deer. She was heartily tired of rabbits and birds.

  ***

  Adam stayed with the boy, leaving Lola to unpack her camp and set it back up. He could see what the child had endured through his pain-filled dreams and felt instant empathy. He and Evan had suffered in similar ways until Singing Bird rescued them. But he also knew something that Tyhen and Yuma did not. One day, this young boy would be as vital to their daughter’s future as Yuma had been to Tyhen, and a most remarkable thing—the boy already knew it.

  ***

  For Adam, time was dragging and he was almost wishing he’d gone hunting with Evan. It was still disconcerting how Evan had changed after he’d lost his memory so many months ago. Before, the twins had been unemotional geniuses. Their psychic abilities and their bond to each other was all that mattered to them. They liked other people, but never got personally involved. It was like that part of humanity had been left out of them at birth.

  And then Evan got lost and hurt during the race to escape the erupting volcano and nearly died. When he came to, he was an entirely different man. It had taken him weeks to remember everything and heal, but after he got well, he wasn’t the same. Now, he laughed, he cried, he got angry and he got even, where Adam was still as he’d always been. Adam didn’t mind, but there were times, like today, when he felt left out because in a way, he had also been left behind.

  Lola returned, thanking Adam for sitting with the boy, and just like that, he was no longer needed. With nothing left to discern and no skills to add food to their cooking pots, he returned to their campsite and began setting it back up.

  He had just put down the bedding inside their tent and was getting ready to go fill up their water bags when a most remarkable thing happened.

  He picked up the water bags and when he turned around, he was confronted by a vision of a beautiful young woman staring at him. She was not one of the New Ones, and he guessed she was with one of the tribes already at the Gathering.

  The startling part of seeing her was in knowing that wherever she was, she was seeing him, too. The shock on her face was real and then he saw her gaze shift to just over his shoulder, and her expression changed to one of fear.

  He looked over his shoulder to see what she was seeing and saw Evan. That’s when he knew that wherever Evan was, he was having the same v
ision of her.

  An odd sensation rolled through him. He’d seen her first. She was his vision, not Evan’s. He looked back at her. She was still standing there, staring at the both of them like she’d seen a ghost. He wanted her to acknowledge him, and so he spoke.

  “My name is Adam.”

  And the moment he spoke she disappeared. Shaken by the feeling that she was no longer just his vision made him uncomfortable. He didn’t know that what he was feeling was jealousy because he had never felt like that before.

  He made his way to the spring to refill their water pouches and had to wait in line behind others who were there to do the same. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment, and as soon as he did her face popped back into his mind.

  Dark eyes flashing—a full, sensuous mouth—long black braids. Her clothing consisted of a long shirt that fell way below her knees with fur-lined leggings to protect her from the cold. He had no way of knowing what she had on was all she owned, then someone tapped him on the shoulder, urging him forward. It was his turn at the spring.

  ***

  Evan had been walking beside Yuma when the young woman materialized right in front of him. Before he could think to speak, he saw his brother standing between them. That’s when he realized it was a vision and that what was happening was going to change their lives forever.

  In the vision, he saw Adam turn and glare at him. He didn’t understand what was happening, but Adam looked angry, which was, for him, strange and unexpected behavior.

  Then all of a sudden she was gone and so was Adam. Evan tried to shake off a feeling of dread as he ran to catch up, and after a few more hours of successful hunting, it slipped to the back of his mind.

  ***

  Suwanee, youngest daughter of Matto, Chief of the Lakota, was still standing by the water when she heard her mother’s voice telling her to hurry. But how was a woman to hurry when she just had a vision of two of the most beautiful warriors she had ever seen?

  Their faces were the same. Their hair was black like hers, but not straight. It had motion in it, like the ripples in water. Their skin was lighter and their winter clothing was made from the skins of some kind of animal with black and yellow markings on its pelt.

  It wasn’t until one of them spoke to her in a language she’d never heard that she lost her concentration, and when that happened, the vision disappeared.

  “Suwanee! Bring the water now!” her mother shouted again.

  Suwanee sighed as she knelt at the river to fill the cooking pot, then hurried back to the tipi.

  They’d been at the Gathering for many sleeps now, and shamed that they were living in someone else’s lodge. The people of their village lost everything crossing a wide river. Some drowned in the crossing and her grandfather died just after their arrival.

  She was sad about her grandfather, and tired of the noise and the crowd. At this point, she didn’t care about any messenger and did not care if she ever saw the old woman they were calling the Dove.

  Her steps were swift as she hurried back with the water, but her thoughts were still with the warriors from her vision.

  Were they part of the people who were coming with the Dove, or were they spirits with a message she didn’t understand? Only time would tell.

  ***

  The hunters came straggling back into the encampment in far different numbers than when they’d left. Some had luck early and came back with the carcasses of their kills already field-dressed. Older men had automatically opted for smaller game, while the younger ones had gone after the larger game. Hunting in tandem with several others, they’d been able to run down and kill both deer and buffalo. So now they were all on their way back to camp, loaded down with meat and green skins.

  Yuma was carrying more than his body weight in fresh meat and still had a distance to get back to camp. He was tired, concerned about Dakotah, and worried even more about this test Tyhen would be facing, so he had no breath left for talking.

  As for Evan, who was also packing a large amount of fresh meat, he had no interest in talking, either. He was still trying to discern the meaning of the vision he’d had earlier and wondering what Adam would say about it.

  The face of the young woman still haunted him. He doubted if she was any older than Tyhen. She’d worn her long dark hair in braids and the braids had been wrapped with some kind of white fur. Her eyes had flashed with obvious spirit and he had been holding his breath, waiting to hear the sound of her voice when she’d suddenly disappeared.

  She seemed ill-equipped for the impending winter since she wore no outer garment over her dress, and had no leggings to go with her moccasins. Evan wondered if she’d come from a warmer climate and could not imagine how they would fare once the snow began, then wondered why he cared. She wasn’t real to him. Just a vision, and for all he knew a vision from the past or the future.

  They had more important things to focus on besides visions. The weather was holding. It was cold but not freezing and the sky was clear. At least there would be no rain tonight, he thought, and shifted his pack to keep it from rubbing a sore on his shoulder. Walking in rain and mud was miserable. He assumed walking in snow and ice would be worse and hoped after the Gathering that they found a place to wait winter out before going farther.

  By the time the hunters reached camp they were exhausted. The New Ones had several large cooking fires in different locations to accommodate the number of people needing to be fed. Every time someone came in with fresh meat, it was immediately put on the fire to cook. There were many to feed, but their bellies had shrunk and it didn’t take nearly as much to satisfy them now as it would have back in Naaki Chava.

  Yuma dropped off his meat at one of the cooking fires then went to the spring to clean up. He was hungry, but too dirty and bloody to stop and eat. He stripped down near the spring, and by the time he had washed he was cold and shivering. He thought of the luxury of warmth and spare clothing he had enjoyed in Naaki Chava and then shrugged it off and got dressed.

  The next thing on his mind was Tyhen.

  Where are you, my love?

  With Dakotah.

  He smiled to himself. He should have known.

  He went to Lola’s camp and saw Tyhen sitting beside Dakotah. He walked up behind her, slid a hand beneath her hair, and squeezed the back of her neck.

  Tyhen smiled as she looked up.

  “I saw you come into the camp earlier. You had good luck hunting.”

  He nodded as he squatted down beside her and then touched Dakotah’s leg.

  “How do you feel, little warrior?”

  Dakotah’s eyes widened. Being considered a warrior by the Eagle was a great compliment.

  “My back is sore. It is my fault. I went too far,” he said softly, then looked away, embarrassed by the situation he’d put everyone in. They had not walked today because of him.

  “We all make mistakes,” Yuma said. “Were you in the trees when the wolves found you?”

  “No. I was in the middle of the prairie between the trees and the camp.”

  Yuma frowned. “Where were the wolves when you saw them?”

  Dakotah shuddered, remembering the yellow eyes and the low throaty growls.

  “Right in front of me. I was watching pieces of the sky falling. When I turned around they were there.”

  Yuma leaned forward.

  “What I want to know is how you ran that far and got up the tree before the wolves took you down.”

  “I jumped up in the air and made a loud scary noise. They ran backward and I ran for the trees.”

  Yuma rocked back on his heels, staring at the young boy in disbelief.

  “How did you think to do that?”

  “I just did,” Dakotah said. “I will not go too far again.”

  “I am very glad you ran fast. You are a brave boy, Dakotah. I thin
k you should not be Gecko anymore. You are a warrior. You faced an enemy and defeated them with your wisdom and your speed.”

  Tyhen smiled.

  “That’s what I told him,” she said. “He was very brave.”

  “He is well?” Yuma asked.

  She nodded. “No fever. The wounds are no longer bleeding. Myra Begay will be back later to put more medicine on his back before he sleeps.”

  Yuma nodded, pleased to learn he was doing well.

  “Are you hungry, Dakotah?”

  The boy sniffed the air and then nodded.

  “The cooking fires make me hungry,” Dakotah said.

  “Here is a basket you can use to carry the food,” Lola said, as she stepped out of her tent.

  Tyhen took the basket. “I will go get it,” she said, and brushed a hand across Yuma’s shoulder as she walked away.

  Chapter Eight

  Like Yuma, Evan left the meat he’d brought at one of the cooking fires and stopped by their camp to get clean clothes, expecting to find Adam there. He was nowhere in sight.

  He didn’t think anything of it as he hurried to the spring. After he washed and dressed, he washed his bloody shirt and carried it back to camp and spread it across the top of their tent to dry out. When he still didn’t see Adam, he did what they always did and thought the question he needed answered.

  Brother, where are you?

  The silence was startling and he was just about to become concerned when Adam finally answered.

  “I am here.”

  Evan jumped. Adam was right behind him and he had not sensed his twin’s presence. That had never happened before.

  “How did you do that?” Even asked.

  Adam frowned. “Do what?”

  “I did not sense you. I always know when you are close.”

  Adam shrugged, unwilling to admit he’d purposefully blocked him.

  “You are different. Maybe you do not discern as you once did.”

  Evan felt like he had just been slapped.