by Aimée
With a nod, Ella moved forward with her nightstick and ordered the dissenters to step back from the senator’s car. Justine backed her up, and the demonstrators gave ground and ran back to join the others.
The senator pulled out into the street with not so much as a backward glance.
“I don’t know how he ever got elected with that arrogant attitude of his,” Justine muttered.
As Ella and Justine jogged back around to join the others, one of the dissenters threw a soda can at Yellowhair’s car when it passed by. The effort was halfhearted, and the truth was she felt like throwing something herself. But it was obviously a signal.
Suddenly, the Fierce Ones made a unified rush toward the tribal building catching the cops off guard. Ella blocked a charging man, using her baton like a staff, but Justine fell when two of the Fierce ones collided with her at the same time.
As Ella moved to protect the downed officer, the men who’d knocked Justine down turned and started swinging at her. Things got out of hand quickly. Glancing around for backup, she realized that the other hooded figures had turned on the remaining officers, swinging fists, pushing, and kicking.
In the midst of the chaos that ensued, one hooded figure came to stand beside her and helped Ella deflect the assault. The man never went on the offensive, he simply blocked and neutralized any moves made against her. Even when two of the hooded figures turned on him, he refused to do anything more than stand his ground and parry their attacks. Then, as the half dozen officers managed to form a small defensive ring preparing for what looked like a renewed assault, sirens filled the air. Four patrol cars with county sheriff and state police markings came screeching up.
All of their hooded attackers scattered, making a run for it, except for the man who’d helped Ella defend herself and protect Justine. Ella knew that without his help, she would have gone down under all the blows.
Still dazed, Justine got up to her feet and, seeing the hooded man standing near Ella, quickly handcuffed his hands behind his back. The man didn’t resist.
“No, don’t do that,” Ella said.
“We have to take him in,” Justine said dully.
Ella gave Justine a sharp look. She’d wanted to handle this differently.
“Give me your key,” Ella said.
As Justine fumbled in her pockets, Ella focused on the man who had helped her. “We do have to take you in, but I’ll sign a statement on your behalf,” Ella told the Fierce One. “There’ll be no charges against you.” Ella removed his hood gently, wanting to see the face of the man who had risked his own life to help them. As she pulled the hood clear, and she saw who it was, she gasped. “Clifford!”
“Are you all right, sister?” he asked quietly. “And you, Cousin?” he looked at Justine with concern.
Ella stood there in shocked silence, unable to think of what to say to him.
Justine quickly uncuffed Clifford. “Go on. Get out of here. You can work this out later with Ella.”
Sergeant Manuelito came running up then, trying to catch his breath between words. “Hold on, Goodluck. What the hell do you think you’re doing? We don’t look the other way for relatives in this department.”
Ella, enraged with his attitude, found her voice. “It’s thanks to him that I’m still standing and Justine is in one piece.”
“But he took part in an assault on a police officer.”
“Wrong. He took part in a lawful protest, and when it got out of hand he stood up for what was right,” Ella snapped.
“That’s for a judge to decide, not you or me. I’m taking him in—unless you plan to try and stop me.”
Ella considered it. Manuelito was a tough old guy—built like a wall safe, but she was sorely tempted to make the effort. Yet, knowing it wouldn’t help matters, she held back.
Ella looked at her brother. “You’ll be out in no time. Any charges against you will be dropped once the judge sees our reports. I’ll also get Kevin to take care of the details. He’s the best.”
Manuelito brought out his handcuffs, but Ella blocked his way. “That won’t be necessary. I’ll take him in.”
Justine stepped in front of Clifford, backing Ella up though Manuelito outweighed her by a hundred pounds or more.
“You’re overruling me?”
“I outrank you, and the emergency here has ended. I’m taking him in myself.” Ella kept her voice matter-of-fact.
“Without cuffs,” Manuelito sneered. “And I suppose you’ll manage to lose the prisoner before you ever reach the station?”
“I’m not that kind of cop.” Ella’s gaze was ice and stone as she stood her ground.
Several heartbeats later, Manuelito moved back. “Okay, have it your way, but I intend to put this in my report.”
“Knock yourself out.”
As Manuelito walked away, grumbling, Justine gave Ella an apologetic smile. “I’m really sorry. I had no idea it was Clifford who was helping us, and now I’ve made things worse for everyone.”
“This isn’t your fault, so don’t worry about it. Neither of us knew it was my brother.” She motioned for Clifford to follow her to her vehicle. Once they were underway, she finally broke the silence between them. “What on earth were you doing out there? That’s very nearly the last group I expected you to be associated with.”
Clifford said nothing.
“You’re my brother and I love you, but sometimes you’ve got the brains of a stump.”
“Right now you’re not acting as my sister. You’re a cop. Am I right?”
She nodded. “Yeah, I guess so. I’ll read you your rights.” She recited them automatically, then glanced back at the rearview mirror. “Are you angry because I’m taking you in?”
“I’m sure you’re acting in accordance with your highest sense of right,” he said stiffly.
“Which means you’re really ticked off at me. But don’t worry, this will never make it to court. You’ll be out in a few hours.” She glanced at her watch. “But not in time to go to the shrine today. Do you want me to tell Mom what happened?”
“Since this is new to me, I’m not sure how soon I’ll be able to get to a phone. You better tell her. And tell my wife not to worry.”
“I’ll ask Mom to reschedule the visit.”
“No. Take her up there yourself. She’ll need the comfort that’ll give her now. We’ll all go up again later as a family. It’ll signal a healing after this unpleasantness is over.”
“All right. I’ll handle things, then once you’re out, we can make new plans.”
Ella called Kevin on the way to the station, then stayed with her brother throughout the booking process. As she’d expected, Kevin arrived a short time later. After filling him in on what had happened, Ella left so he could speak to Clifford alone under client/attorney privilege.
Ella drove home slowly, her mind a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions. Sometime soon, she’d have to find a time when Kevin and she could talk alone. He had a right to know about the baby.
When Ella pulled up in front of her home, she saw Loretta’s truck parked outside. Her sister-in-law’s presence would not make telling her mother the news about Clifford any easier. With a sigh, she went inside.
Ella looked around for Julian, Clifford’s four-year-old son. “Where’s my favorite nephew?” she asked as she entered the kitchen.
“He’s at my mother’s home. We’ve been waiting for you and my husband so we could go to the shrine. It’s been a long time since we went together as a family,” Loretta said, standing by the window. “But I expected my husband would get here first. You’re the one who’s always late.”
“Sit down, Mom, you, too, Sister-in-law,” Ella said, avoiding the use of names out of respect for their traditionalist views. Names were said to have power and were not to be used lightly. “My brother is going to be a little late getting home today.”
Ella related the afternoon’s events in a few sentences, wanting to leave the details to Clifford when he was r
eleased.
“I had a feeling something wasn’t right when you came in the door. Now I know why. I just can’t believe my son would have taken part in something like that. All that fighting and disrespect for others…” Rose said, shaking her head.
“He wasn’t involved in anything criminal at all, Mom. In fact, he helped me out,” she said, reluctantly giving them the highlights of what had happened. “His attorney knows all the facts. My brother will be out in a very short time, probably in a matter of hours. Believe me, there’s nothing for either of you to worry about.”
Loretta glared at Ella. “You said he helped you. Why didn’t you help him and keep him out of jail?”
“I couldn’t,” she said, and tried to explain the circumstances.
“You arrested him?” Loretta stood up quickly. “Now I’ve heard it all.”
Ella looked at her mother and saw the disapproval on her face, too. “I didn’t have a choice. My brother would be the first to admit it. But maybe one of you can explain something to me. My brother is a man of peace. Why on earth has he allied himself with a group known to use whatever means are necessary to achieve its goals? He must have known the risks that would entail. Even if he never took part in any acts of violence, he’d be caught in the middle, risking his reputation and even his life whenever there was trouble.”
“He knew all that,” Loretta said. “We talked about it several times. But he thought it was a risk worth taking. The Fierce Ones have done a lot of good things for this tribe in spite of some of their methods. He was hoping that by joining them, he’d become a positive influence, and keep their efforts channeled in the right direction.”
“Your brother stands for the traditions of our tribe, and so do the Fierce Ones,” Rose said, her voice calm. “They got started to counter the confusion and the values the Anglo culture was bringing into our world. They’ve done this tribe a lot of good. Your brother must have joined them because he believed that, together, they could do great things for the Dineh. Of course, I don’t speak for him.”
“I value our traditions, too, Mother, but the Fierce Ones are like loaded weapons that can go off without warning.”
“This is exactly why my husband never said anything to you,” Loretta said, then crouched by Rose’s chair and looked up at her. “I promised I’d go with you to the shrine, but my place is with my husband now.”
“There’s nothing you can do at the station,” Ella said.
“Yes, I know. You’ve taken care of everything,” Loretta snapped.
“That’s enough,” Rose said, her voice stern.
“I have to go, Mother-in-law,” Loretta said. “I hope you’ll understand.”
Rose nodded, then remained quiet until after the rumble of Loretta’s truck faded in the distance. Unwilling to interrupt her silence, Ella sat down across from her mother and waited.
“Now, more than ever, I want to visit our shrine,” Rose said at last. “Can you drive me there?”
“Of course.” It meant at least thirty minutes of rough driving each way, and she still needed to meet with Kevin, but she couldn’t say no to her mother now.
At first they rode in silence, then Rose spoke. “In his own way, your brother is doing his best to serve the tribe, just like you are. It would mean a lot to me if you would respect what he’s trying to do.”
“I do respect what he’s trying to do, Mother. I just don’t agree with the way he’s doing it. Instead of putting himself in the line of fire and facing the possibility of being labeled a criminal, he’d be better off teaching kids after school, like Wilson does. Knowledge like his needs to be passed on. What a better way to work toward the future than by helping young Navajos and providing a role model that helps keep them out of gangs?”
Rose nodded slowly. “But he needs to do more than work with kids. He understands, like I do, that the Dineh also need to focus on the present.” She paused, then in a firm voice, added, “But please, I never want your brother arrested again. Do whatever it takes to convince him that he can help no one from inside a jail cell.”
“What do you want me to do? Most of the time he sees me as a well-intentioned but misguided modernist. He won’t listen to my advice unless he already agrees with it.”
“In many ways, you’re caught between two worlds. I understand that, but our family legacy makes you a part of the old ways, no matter how hard you fight it.”
“You told me once about that legacy, and why our family is supposed to have special gifts—”
“Not ‘supposed to,’ Daughter,” she interrupted sharply. “We have them. Yours, like mine, is intuition, and it’s far more than what most people call ‘woman’s intuition.’”
“Mom, I believe you’re gifted. I’ve seen what you can do. When any of us is really in physical danger, you usually know about it first. You’re also able to discern what people are thinking with incredible accuracy and, at times, you’ve been able to see things in your mind before they happen. I can’t do any of that. All I have are good instincts when it comes to police work.”
“You underestimate yourself. Someday, your abilities will be even stronger than mine. Just so you know, my gifts weren’t very developed until I got pregnant. Afterwards, it was a different story. I expect it’ll be the same from you.”
Ella maneuvered the Jeep onto a dirt road that wasn’t much more than two tire ruts. “Tell me something. Did you choose to have two children because of the demands of our family legacy?”
Rose nodded. “Though we’d rather forget about the entire thing, others will never let us do that. It’ll follow us for the rest of our days.”
“Beliefs connected to the metaphysical and spiritual are hard to argue away, I know,” Ella said in agreement.
Rose exhaled slowly. “It’s been particularly hard on your brother. People believe that he must have another child—that is, if he really cares about the Dineh. What they don’t know is that your brother’s wife can’t have any more children.”
Ella gave her mother a surprised look. “That certainly explains why she’s so protective of their son. I wonder why my brother never mentioned that to me.”
“It’s very painful for him. He wanted more children.”
“It’s got to be really hard on him when people continually pressure him to have more kids.”
Rose nodded.
“Remind me how the family’s legacy began,” Ella said.
“It was generations ago, after the Dineh made their first homes in New Mexico, but before the Spaniards came to North America. Mist Eagle, who was from our clan, fell in love with a warrior named Fire Hawk. Though they didn’t know it at the first, they were both from the same clan. Later, unwilling to break the taboo against marrying within the clan, Fire Hawk chose another woman to be his wife. But Mist Eagle never stopped loving him.
“One night when Fire Hawk’s wife was away, Mist Eagle came to his hogan, pretended to be his wife, and in the dark, seduced him. When the months passed and Mist Eagle discovered she was pregnant, she went to Fire Hawk and told him the truth. Unable to live with the shame he’d brought his family, Fire Hawk took his own life.”
“What happened to Mist Eagle?”
“She gave birth to a girl, but she and the child were shunned and they weren’t allowed to live near the hogans of other Navajos. Another clan even threatened to kill them if they didn’t move away. Mist Eagle faced a hard life alone in the desert with her baby. Eventually, she learned about herbs and how to heal all kinds of sickness. She offered her services to the tribe, but no one wanted anything to do with her—except for the skinwalkers, the Navajo witches. They were no strangers to incest, since it was one of the ways they gained their dark powers. Mist Eagle learned from these skinwalkers, but she never became one of them.”
Ella’s heart ached as she remembered her own days of loneliness when she’d first returned to the Rez from California after learning her father had been murdered. Many of The People had called her L.A. Woman back th
en, and had done whatever they could to avoid her. Yet, in comparison to Mist Eagle’s ordeal, hers had been a walk in the park.
Rose took a deep breath, then continued. “One day Mist Eagle came across an old man who’d gone out to the desert to die. She treated him with her special herbs, and the Songs she had learned, and he regained his health. Soon word of what she’d done spread to others, and those who were ill began to seek her out, though they were still afraid of her.
“Mist Eagle helped everyone. Their hatred never really touched her. But anger and resentment over what had been done to them filled her daughter’s heart from the beginning. Eventually, the darkness that had been part of her from the day she was conceived became too much for her to resist. She became a powerful force of evil among our people.”
“So our tribe sees us as descendants of evil,” Ella said.
“We are Mist Eagle’s descendants. But there’s more. Throughout the generations our children all have had special gifts. These were as varied and as individual as the children themselves, but one thing remained constant: the darkness that came with these powers, and the possibility that they could corrupt the bearer.”
“Have some in our family actually used their gifts to harm the tribe?”
“Not many, but there have been a notable few. That’s why our family decided generations ago to always have two children. That way if the darkness seduced one, the other would be there to balance things and restore harmony.”
“Can anyone even remember the last time one of us harmed someone else?”
“My great-grandfather killed his sister after they had shared the same blanket. He hung himself when people found out.” Rose paused, then added, “The gifts you and your brother have been given are, by far, the strongest any of us have ever had. Your brother is a healer, and your intuition will never fail you. But the others who watch you and him see only an even bigger threat of darkness and it frightens them.”
“Why did you want me to learn about herbs?” Ella asked, suddenly aware of the connection she shared with Mist Eagle.
