by Sharon Sala
Are you all right?
He sighed. How did she always know when something was bothering him?
Yes, but something is wrong between Adam and Evan.
When she didn’t immediately answer him, he suspected it was because she was trying to tune into them. Whatever was going on, she would get to the bottom of it he thought and then lengthened his stride.
Tyhen thought of the twins which usually had one or both of them tuning in and talking to her, but the silence was telling.
She tried for several minutes to listen in until it dawned on her that it wasn’t because she could no longer hear them. What was happening was that they were blocking their thoughts from each other. Now she was concerned.
Adam! Evan! What is going on?
Adam answered first.
Nothing.
Evan’s answer was immediate, as well.
I’m fine, too.
Then both of you come walk with me.
Evan gave her the first excuse.
I am helping an old man carry his pack.
When Adam stayed silent, she frowned.
Adam?
When he finally spoke, it was the last thing she expected him to say.
There are strangers in the east riding on horses toward the Gathering.
What do you mean, strangers?
Their skin is white. They wear metal coats and hats.
A rush of shock ran through her.
The explorers? The ones who threaten our land and way of life? Here now?
Now Evan was adding to the warning.
I see them, too, Tyhen. Forty, maybe fifty and there is something wrong with them. I think they carry a disease. If they reach the Gathering before we do it will be a disaster. They will infect the entire population waiting for you.
Tyhen was trying not to panic.
How much time do we have? Can we reach the Gathering before them?
Adam spoke first.
If we walk all night we will be there by morning.
And what of the strangers? How far away are they?
Evan added more information.
They are not walking, they are riding. If we make camp tonight they will get there ahead of us and then it will be too late.
Now Tyhen understood the white buffalo’s message. This was how she would be tested. She glanced up at the sky. It was already past mid-day. The New Ones would be tired and looking forward to a night’s rest. She could go ahead, bypass the Gathering and deal with the strangers on her own, but it wouldn’t solve the other problem. Until those already at the Gathering saw for themselves that she was truly a messenger with the power to change their fate, they wouldn’t all follow what they needed to do.
There was only one option.
She raised her arm and then raised her voice. The wind carried her words across the wide valley and stopped the New Ones in their tracks as they all turned to face her.
“There is danger coming toward the Gathering. Strangers are riding in on the animals you call horses. They carry a disease that will destroy us all and there will be no way to stop it from spreading.”
The cries of dismay echoed from one side of the valley to the other, giving Tyhen the opportunity she needed.
“Once more I am asking something of you that will cause you suffering. Once more you will be asked to sacrifice yourself and your well-being to help me stop it.”
Again, their voices rose, but this time loudly and chanting only one word.
“Yes. Yes. Yes.”
The land before her began to blur from unshed tears.
She held up her hand and the chanting stopped.
“The twins have told me if we walk all night without stopping to rest, we will reach the Gathering by sunrise, before their arrival.”
“Then we walk!” they shouted, immediately agreeing to the obvious danger to the young and the old, as well of the obvious discomfort.
Yuma sent her a message.
Tell the people they need to walk closer together. Tell the hunters to take up positions of defense around us as we walk. There will be wild animals hiding in the tall grass in the dark, waiting to pick off easy prey.
And so she did, repeating his words exactly so that the New Ones understood the need and the reasons, then she watched as the stragglers quickly gathered up their packs and began jogging toward the front while the younger and stronger hunters pulled their weapons and moved away from their families to take up positions on the perimeter of their march.
It took nearly thirty minutes for the group to gather and for the guards to get in place. She watched, waiting for the signal that they were ready, and when they all finally turned to face her, their fists were in the air.
“We go!” she shouted, and once again led the way east, lengthening her stride with every step.
The drums in her head were louder. There could be no failure—not now—not when they were so close.
As the hours passed, Tyhen watched the sky, frowning when she saw clouds beginning to gather.
“Not now. Please not now,” she muttered.
The sun continued its downward slide. The sky turned darker and long shadows came upon the land. She heard the soft flutter of wings from an owl in flight and somewhere far off in the distance she heard a howl and shuddered. Wolves!
The next time she looked down in the valley she saw Yuma coming up the slope toward her on the run. He was carrying three torches, one of which was lit. She saw the flare of light as more torches were being lit down in the valley and sighed with relief. Something she had not thought of. Walking in the dark, they would have had no way to see her or know which way to go.
When Yuma reached the ridge where she was walking, he handed her the lit torch and then fell into step beside her.
“Don’t argue,” he said softly. “Just taking care of what’s mine.”
Choked by a swell of emotion, she leaned over and kissed him quickly on the cheek.
“Thank you, my Yuma.”
She saw a flash of teeth as he smiled and then all of a sudden the light was gone and the world went dark.
“There is no moon,” she said.
“Very little of this trip has been made easy for us. And so it continues,” he said.
Without light by which to see, the New Ones’ footing was less certain. More than one took a tumble, either stepping into hole made by any number of the burrowing animals that abounded or stumbling over uneven ground.
The cries of children too weary to go on were quickly silenced as someone picked them up and carried them. The clouds continued to gather to the point that the sky was as black as the land in front of them. There was no demarcation line—no sight of a horizon. Tyhen knew they were walking on faith, following only the light of her torch.
Yuma was focusing so intently on keeping her on safe footing and the night hunters away from her that they had not shared a dozen sentences.
When the wind began to rise it blew away the cloud cover, revealing the vast array of twinkling stars and giving the night a new panorama to fill the sky. All of a sudden the things that had been frightening minutes ago were rendered harmless. The wind also carried the howl of a wolf pack, but tonight the pack was far away and hunting elsewhere.
Even though the torch lit only the contours of their faces, Yuma watched her when she wasn’t looking. He kept looking for a breaking point and never saw it. She had to be afraid of what lay ahead and yet she did not speak of it.
He reached for her hand, threading his fingers between hers and giving it a gentle squeeze.
“Should we call a momentary halt?” he asked.
“Did Singing Bird give you time to rest as Firewalker fell to earth?”
“At first yes, and then the last day, no.”
“Is this time as important to our e
xistence as it was then?”
He sighed. “Yes, maybe more so. If we fail this before we even start, it will have all been for nothing.”
She squeezed his hand back.
“If we let them stop, they will have to go faster to catch up. Understand?”
“Yes, and you are right, my little whirlwind.”
She smiled slightly.
“You pretended you were concerned for the New Ones, but I know you. You were thinking I needed to rest. We all need rest, but when we do, we will rest together. We have to be close. The drums are so loud in my head it’s hard to think.”
Yuma looked toward the east, hoping for that first faint sight of sunrise and then glanced at his torch. It was their last one. When it was gone they would have to walk in the dark.
“If that happens, I will go down and walk with them,” Tyhen said.
Yuma flinched.
“I didn’t say that aloud. You just read my mind.”
“Oh. Sorry,” Tyhen said. “I didn’t know. I just heard it and -”
“No apology. I was just surprised and I don’t know why. I’ve witnessed far more amazing things from you.”
“But they did not involve you, right? You felt a little bit like I had walked into your body without permission.”
Yuma laughed softly.
“Oh, my love, you have eternal permission to walk inside my head, to lie with me, to let me grow old with you. I will ask for nothing more.”
All of a sudden Tyhen was weeping.
Yuma heard the soft, choking sound of a sob and felt like he’d been stabbed in the heart.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. What did I say?”
She moved closer to him and then pulled his hand to her cheek, feeling the scar on the back of his left hand beneath her lips and trying to remember if she knew why it was there. Their whole lives were ahead of them and there were times, like now, when she felt like happy would never happen again.
“You said nothing bad. Your words are so beautiful that they make me ache. I want this over. I want to find a place to call home and be able to go to sleep and wake up with the same sense of safety that I feel in your arms.”
Yuma frowned.
“I want the same thing, my love, and I wish this trip was over as much as you do.”
After that, they were both silent, lost in dreams of what things may come. The wind grew colder and Yuma thought he could feel the sting of tiny pellets of ice.
Sleet!
Just what they didn’t need.
Chapter Nine
The sleet didn’t last, but left the wind far colder than it had been before.
Tyhen was miserable to the point that she couldn’t quit shaking. She tried walking faster but could not keep up the pace. There was a pain in her side and the muscles in her legs were burning. She could only imagine what this was doing to the old ones and the people with children.
Once she slipped and would have fallen down the backside of the ridge but for Yuma, who caught her by the arm as she slid past him.
One second she was upright and the next thing she knew her backpack came off. Without knowing what awaited her in the dark below, she was scrambling to stop the slide when Yuma yanked her to a full stop. Seconds later he was on his knee beside her, moving the torch above her for a better view.
“Are you hurt?”
“I don’t think so. Help me up,” she asked, and held out a hand.
With the torch in one hand, he braced his feet and pulled her up and into an embrace.
Tyhen wrapped her arms around him.
“Thank you,” she said, her voice sounding as weary as she felt.
He sighed and then slid his mouth across her lips.
She felt his tension fading as passion replaced panic. His lips were cold but soon warmed against her mouth as he deepened the kiss. When the wind began to whirl around them it was all the warning Tyhen was going to get that their passion was getting out of hand. Their feet were already partway off the ground when she pulled away.
“Sorry. I have no control over what your love does to me,” she said softly.
“I know the feeling,” he said, and ran a finger down the side of her cheek and then looked down into the valley. No one had noticed they were stopped. It was time to start moving before they thought something was wrong.
Reluctantly, she turned away to pick up her pack and then slipped her arms into the straps and settled it on her back. She had been cold for so long she couldn’t feel her feet and it took a few moments of walking before that sensation went away. Cold and frozen hurt.
Are you all right?
She smiled to herself. Evan must have sensed her shock when she began to slide.
I just slipped. I am fine.
The Eagle takes good care of the Dove.
Evan was right. Yuma’s every thought was always of her first. She put away the longing to be with him for another time and place and kept the New Ones moving, unaware that at least one other had noticed something was wrong.
When Dakotah saw the torch on the ridge above suddenly disappear from view, he stumbled.
Lola quickly grabbed her arm, steadying him on his feet before he could fall.
“Are you alright?” she asked, as her hand automatically moved to smooth down the hair on the top of his head.
He nodded, his gaze already moving back to the ridge where Tyhen would walk. When he saw the torchlight reappear, he breathed a quiet sigh of relief and, without thinking, reached for Lola’s hand.
She felt his fingers against her palm and smiled to herself as she clasped his hand. He had been such a sad and quiet little boy since his parents’ death. She was grateful he felt comfortable enough with her now to seek out her presence when he felt the need.
***
The longer the night went on, the colder it became. Along with that misery, the last torch in Yuma’s hand was growing dimmer.
Tyhen also noticed the dying flicker of flames and gave Yuma an anxious glance. He did not seem fazed by the fact that it was about to go out. If he wasn’t concerned she wouldn’t be either. His strength and courage seemed endless and his faith in her kept her moving.
She glanced down at the New Ones. Very few had torches still burning. She frowned and looked up toward the east, willing the arrival of sunrise. The drums were so loud in her head now that she could feel the vibration all the way through her body. She had a vision of watching the sunrise over the Gathering and knew they must be close. What she didn’t know was how close the strangers were. How much time would she have before that confrontation?
An hour, maybe more.
She sighed. This time it was Adam who answered.
Thank you, my brother.
When he didn’t respond, she thought nothing of it. She had no idea that his gut was in knots from what he knew was going to happen.
What Adam knew that Evan didn’t was that this night walk would be the last time they were together as they had been born. One thought—one mind—one heart—for each other. Sunrise would be the death of that bond and he was trying so hard not to weep.
***
Tyhen was looking toward the horizon when their last torch went out.
“I’m sorry,” Yuma said. “Just hold onto me. I won’t let you fall.”
She was still holding on to the love in his voice when she saw the first glimmer of hope.
“Just in time,” she said. “Look in the east.”
Yuma saw it and breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Sunrise was on the horizon.
The sky continued to lighten as the landscape came out of hiding, revealing the trees and the tall, dry grass.
Tyhen heard a child’s plaintive cry and looked back down at the New Ones for signs of trouble when all of a sudden Yuma stumbled, then grabbed Tyhen’s hand and yanked her to a st
op.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
He pointed.
Breath caught in the back of her throat. Even though true light had yet to break the horizon, there was enough for them to see the long snaking river and the shadowy outlines of the dwellings of more people than she had ever seen in her life.
“We have arrived,” she said softly, and then turned toward the New Ones down in the valley. “Up here!” she called out, motioning for them to join her.
They moved as one toward the ridge, sensing her excitement, eager to see what they knew must be the Gathering.
Tyhen kept walking forward, making room for the others who fell into step behind her until the New Ones were strung out along the ridgeline as far as the eye could see. When they stopped, they were seeing the vast numbers of dwellings in the same way they’d seen their first sight of the buffalo. What a mighty people they had been, and oh, how far they had fallen.
Their faces burned from the cold. Their bodies were weary to the point of giving out, and yet not a word of complaint was uttered. They were in complete silence when the first rays of sunlight reached them, sweeping across their legs, then their faces, and all the way down the length of the hillside until they were all bathed in the light of a new day.
And with sunrise, came the doves. They appeared out of nowhere and immediately began circling the skies above them.
Tyhen watched the massive campground as people began emerging from their dwellings, some stretching, others beginning to rebuild a cooking fire, while elders came out for morning prayers. She saw a warrior turn and look up. She could not see the expression on his face, but she heard him let out a cry that brought everyone running.
Adam was shocked by the sight. He had never seen so many people in one place before and although he knew they meant no harm, their sheer numbers made him uneasy.
“What do we do?” he asked.
Yuma glanced at the twins, glad they were here to enter the Gathering beside them. If there were any dangerous undercurrents, they would know it before it happened.
“We go meet the People,” Tyhen said, and spoke to the New Ones, letting the wind carry her words yet again. “Wait here. Rest,” she added, then shoved the hood from her head and started walking down the hillside.
