The voices came and went with the breeze. Tahee listened carefully. When it was clear the source of the voices were not getting any closer Tahee got up and slowly made his way through the forest toward the voices. Tahee’s walking crouch and his tighter grip on his spear worried Joey. His heart rate sped up even without the running. He wondered what was drawing Tahee toward danger. Then he wondered why he was following.
The smell of smoke got stronger and the voices got louder. Joey smelled something else also—horse manure. He looked down. Sure enough he had stepped right in some. Looking up ahead he could see horses in a makeshift corral in the forest. They were munching on a pile of grass that someone had put there for them. That seemed strange to him. The horses belonged in the grasslands where they could get grass for themselves. Beyond the horses Joey spotted tents of skins. The voices came from behind the tents. There were many voices, a gathering of some sort. Someone started a rhythm on a drum. A flute-like instrument joined it. Several voices started singing.
Tahee got as close has he dared. He knelt down behind a tree right at the edge of the forest. He seemed startled when Joey knelt down at his side. Tahee had forgotten Joey was there. He gave another stern signal for silence. There was no laughter in his face now. He seemed to be listening intently trying to catch what the voices were saying. His expression went from stern to angry. Joey felt uneasy. If Tahee had met him in the forest with this expression he would have run for his life. Tahee mumbled angry words and glanced at Joey as if he could understand.
“What is it?” asked Joey. “What’s this about?”
Tahee bared his teeth, jabbed at the sky, and whispered more angry words.
Joey’s nervousness turned into outright fear. He sensed something bad was going to happen. He had been taught in school that when you sense that you are in a bad situation, like with friends who are using drugs, you need to leave immediately. That advice didn’t work here. Where would he go? Even in danger he would rather be with Tahee than alone.
Activity in the grassland caught his attention. Some distance past the tents people stepped out of the forest. Joey had expected people who looked like Tahee, but they were much more spectacular. They were tall and dark-haired. Instead of the leather skirt that Tahee wore these people were dressed in colorful robes that shimmered in the sunlight billowing lightly in the breeze.
“Feathers,” Joey said. Their robes were made of colorful bird feathers. They were grand and beautiful. Joey quickly realized this was a procession of some sort. A man wearing the most ornate robe of them all led the group. He had a feather crown on his head and an amazing scepter of feathers in his hand.
Following the leader was a man leading a horse. Sitting on the horse was a young woman not too many years older than Joey. Even from this distance Joey was struck by her beauty. Long black hair fell over her shoulders and down her back. The blackness was broken by small, downy feathers that had been interspersed throughout. Her shoulders and arms were bare, but a feather gown covered the rest of her down to her thighs.
The only thing that marred her beauty was an aura of unhappiness that hung about her. She sat straight and proud on the horse, but her discomfort was apparent. Her face looked grim. She grasped the rope in an unnatural manner.
Joey looked again and realized she wasn’t holding on to the rope—her hands were bound to it. She was surrounded by six men carrying spears. No, they weren’t spears, Joey decided, but pikes. They were much longer than spears. Unlike the first two men who were walking confidently in the front, these six men were watching the sky closely. Every so often they would turn around to check the sky behind them.
When Tahee saw the girl he forgot his own warnings for silence and cried out. The expression on his face went from anger to despair. Joey recognized fear and a hint of panic. Tahee’s cry had not been loud, but the leader of the procession must have heard. His demeanor changed and he looked their direction. Tahee and Joey were relieved when they continued on.
“What is it? What’s going on?” Joey whispered. Tahee threw Joey a dark almost vicious look. It was clear that Joey was not to speak another word.
The girl on the horse, as uncomfortable as she looked, tried to keep her head high with defiance. As they got further away from the forest and more exposed in the grassland she seemed to lose her courage. Her head drooped towards her chest. Joey could see sunlight glint off tears on her cheek.
It wasn’t until the procession almost reached it that Joey saw the post. It stood a foot taller than the grass with an iron loop attached at the top. Not wasting any time the leader attached the horse to the post. He tied it so that the horse’s nose almost touched post. The horse couldn’t move anything but its hind quarters.
The six pike bearers stationed themselves around the horse at regular intervals and planted their pikes against the ground before kneeling next to them. They kept close watch on the sky. The man with the feathered scepter raised both hands to the sky and sang out a dreadful sounding chant. The girl, head bowed, sat motionless on the horse. She had resigned herself to whatever fate awaited her.
Tahee could barely control himself. He crouched ready to spring. He loosened and then tightened his grip on his spear repeatedly. His eyes focused intently on the girl. Joey got the feeling Tahee knew her. Joey wondered how. Tahee didn’t seem to be from this tribe. From the way Tahee was hiding he clearly wasn’t welcome here.
Joey understood that the girl on the horse was in trouble and that Tahee wanted to help her. It was also clear to Joey how hopeless the situation was. There were six armed men between Tahee and the girl. All of them were older and bigger than Tahee. They were very alert.
In the books Joey read the hero would sneak out low in the grass. One at a time each man would silently disappear into the grass as the hero took them down. For some reason the other men wouldn’t notice. After the last guard was gone the hero would cut the horse free and ride away into the sunset with the girl.
Joey saw how in reality this wouldn’t work. First there would be an obvious trail of moving grass. He would be spotted long before he got close. Second, the guards were too close to each other not to see an attack on one of their members. One would cry out and the others would quickly capture and kill Tahee.
“What would the captain do?” Joey wondered. The experience on the pirate ship had given him confidence. Even so, try as he might, Joey could think of nothing to help the girl. He felt helpless and weak again. Joey wasn’t sure even Captain Call would try something. Captain Call had been courageous on the plank in the face of certain death. Death for Tahee wasn’t certain here, unless he chose to help. If Tahee chose to try to save the girl he would certainly die. Would that make trying to save the girl courageous, or stupid?
Out at the post the men were preparing to leave. Whatever fate awaited the girl didn’t involve the men hanging around. The guards surrounded the leader and the horse bearer in a protective circle. They kept their watchfulness on the sky as they made their way back toward the forest. They walked much faster going back than coming out. This time even the leader of the procession was watching the sky.
Tahee watched the group of men closely as they got farther away from the girl. His eyes would leap regularly up to the sky, too. Joey sensed that Tahee was about to take action.
A cry rang out from two of the guards. Their arms pointed to the sky above the forest where Joey could not see. Then the others cried out and pointed also. The procession, forgetting its dignity, began running toward the forest. The guards sped ahead of the more portly leader leaving him behind. He screamed some sort of threat. The guards, looking very unhappy, stopped to let him catch up.
Joey sensed that Tahee was restraining himself from bolting out into the grassland. He looked desperate to get to the girl and yet continued to wait on his knee beside Joey. Did he have a plan? Was he just afraid? Joey wanted to scream out his frustration at not being able to communicate.
The procession was almost to the trees, trailing feathers behin
d them, when Joey spotted what everyone was afraid of. Flying into his field of vision out over the grassland was a single bird.
“Really?” thought Joey. “Could that really be it?”
Joey saw Tahee watching the bird. For the first time Joey saw fear on Tahee’s face.
“It’s just a bird,” mumbled Joey, looking again. The bird was very high. Even so he could see its wings clearly outlined against the blue. Its wings never moved. The bird sailed by as if it were an airplane. The bird looked like it was going to continue straight to another destination when it suddenly banked to begin a broad circle over the girl. As Joey watched the bird circle he began to realize that this was a very large bird flying very high. Still, he wondered how afraid a man with a pike should be of a bird?
When the last man in the procession entered the forest Tahee said something and sprang into action. He leaped up and started a sprint toward the girl. Joey was caught by surprise. He stood up confused. Was he supposed to follow or had Tahee just told him to stay there? And what was the big deal anyway? Why had Tahee chosen that moment to run to the girl? The guards would surely see him. Wouldn’t it have been smarter to try crawling slowly through the grass? Tahee might have gotten a lot closer to the girl before the guards noticed him.
It was a quarter-mile to where the girl was. Tahee hadn’t gone fifty yards before Joey heard a cry of alarm from the villagers. In a moment the six guards were racing out after him. Tahee was fast. He reminded Joey of a cheetah the way he flew through the grass. If the guards chased Tahee they would never catch him. But they weren’t running toward Tahee. They were running toward the girl. As fast as Tahee was he was starting from a point farther away from the girl than the guards. The guards would arrive at the girl at the same time.
Joey saw Tahee glance in the direction of the guards. He must have seen as clearly as Joey that he wouldn’t get to the girl in time. It didn’t seem to matter. Tahee didn’t slow down.
“He’s crazy,” Joey said.
The guards and Tahee glanced up at the sky at the same time. Joey followed their glance. The bird had dropped in altitude while it circled. Joey cried out when he suddenly perceived how big this bird really was. Joey spent an afternoon at the little Oakley airport and watched a man in a Cessna 172 practice his landings and take-offs. This bird was as big as that plane. Joey decided this must be an eagle of some sort.
The eagle made a magnificent sight in the sky. It was still quite high, but Joey could see it clearly now. It was brown with blood-red streaks that shimmered when the sun hit them. Joey could see the individual feathers at the ends of its wings vibrate in the wind. He knew they would be as long as he was. He saw the tail feathers, spread wide, angle one way and then another as it steadied the bird in flight.
The eagle was magnificent until it began its dive. As it grew bigger the eagle went from magnificent to dreadful. A man fighting the eagle with a pike would be like a man hunting a grizzly bear with a pellet gun. Joey realized that the girl was a sacrifice to the eagle. Not just the girl, but the horse, too.
Joey saw that the guards were no longer a threat to Tahee. Even if he reached the girl the eagle would snatch them up in its enormous talons.
As the eagle dove the guards stopped the chase and stared up in dismay. Even Tahee slowed down at the terror of the sight. The guards yelled instructions to each other and formed a circle. They knelt down, bracing their pikes against the ground with the points up in the air. The eagle wasn’t diving toward the girl and horse—it was diving for them.
In a flash Joey understood Tahee’s plan. He was playing a dangerous game of timing. Tahee knew the guards would chase him. He knew that he couldn’t beat them to the girl. Tahee also knew the eagle was coming. He must have hoped for this exact scenario. He just might have a chance at rescuing the girl if the eagle was distracted long enough by the guards. How Tahee knew the eagle would go for the guards first Joey didn’t know.
The eagle never made a sound as it dove. Had the guards kept their eyes open they might have used their pikes a little more effectively. As it was the pikes were aimed too high. The eagle in its silent horror angled out of its dive below the points of the pikes and hit the group of men from the side. Pikes and men flew through the air as if there had been an explosion. It was then the eagle screamed its horrible cry. It seemed clear to Joey the eagle held something against the forest people.
Most of the men lay still, dark heaps in the tall grass. One, dazed and injured, staggered to his feet. He began limping toward the forest crying out as he moved.
The eagle pumped its massive wings flattening the grass below it with gusts of wind. Tahee, frozen in terror as the eagle struck the men, regained enough sense to fall to the ground as the eagle passed over his head. He was still some distance from the girl. Luck was on his side. The eagle gained altitude and circled back for the remaining guard. Tahee saw his opportunity and continued his run for the girl.
“Come back, Tahee!” Joey yelled. Tahee might reach the girl, but they still couldn’t get to the forest in time. The eagle would kill them before they reached safety. Joey didn’t want Tahee to die. Why would he do something so futile?
For a moment it looked as if the wounded guard just might make it to the safety of the forest. He was close enough to hope. No one in the village came out to help the limping guard. Instead, as he got closer they melted back further into the forest. The eagle came down at a steep angle. There was a whistling in its wings as it pulled out of its dive. It hit the guard so hard the man flew two hundred yards through the air landing not far from where Joey stood in shock. The poor man had died so close to safety and yet he had died all alone.
Joey started to understand what Tahee was doing. He wanted to save the girl, but if he couldn’t, at least she wouldn’t die alone. Somehow Tahee knew this girl and loved her. He didn’t want to live without trying to help her even if it cost him his life.
Tahee reached the post as the guard’s body landed in the grass. The eagle circled and gained altitude. Tahee, in his rush, was struggling with the knot in the rope. As he pulled out his knife to cut the rope the eagle prepared to dive.
Joey didn’t think. If he had he wouldn’t have done what he did. He knew Tahee needed more time. Sprinting from the forest he waved his arms and yelled at the top of his lungs. For a moment he thought it would work. He saw the eagle cock its head to one side and focus its terrible, yellow eye on him. In that moment Tahee cut the rope and leaped onto the horse behind the girl. The eagle, forced to circle one more time, directed its attention back to Tahee.
“No,” Joey thought. He was still running toward Tahee when he tripped over a pike that had stuck at a low angle in the ground. Joey yanked it free and brandished it at the eagle in a last desperate attempt to distract the eagle. It worked.
The eagle had just begun its dive when it spotted Joey with the pike. The pike made all the difference. The eagle had a hatred for humans bearing pikes. It changed the course of its dive for Joey.
Joey stopped in his tracks. The eagle’s wingspan was thirty feet. Its eyes were as big as his face. Its talons were far thicker than the pike he held. These facts, along with the malevolence the eagle focused on him, made him fall to his knees. Joey knew he ought to be running back toward the forest, but his legs wouldn’t work. Transfixed by the horrible majesty of the approaching eagle Joey waited for the end.
The last working part of his brain directed him to point the pike at the eagle. The butt of the pike was resting against the earth. Joey froze in horror as the eagle filled the sky above him. One large set of talons opened wide and dropped down around him. His pike slipped between the talons and sunk deep into the eagle’s upper leg. This and the fact that Joey was falling backward saved his life. The pain distracted the eagle. Its talons didn’t impale Joey, but merely closed around him. The eagle crash-landed on top of Joey. A crush of feathers absorbed the weight of the eagle. The eagle righted itself on its good foot, reached under with its powerful
beak and snapped what was left of the pike shaft. Then it leaped off its good foot, and with powerful strokes of its wings rose into the air carrying Joey with it.
Joey was almost delirious with fear as he saw the ground, upside-down, dropping away below him.
“JUWEEEEE!” Tahee screamed. Joey saw Tahee and the girl riding directly below him. Tahee and the girl looked up at him helplessly.
Tahee’s scream brought Joey back to his senses. He was in pain from the deadly tightness around his waist. He was gripped in one set of the eagle’s talons, his back to the ground. One arm had escaped the eagle’s grasp and hung free.
Joey felt the eagle change course to follow Tahee and the girl. As the eagle maneuvered a shaft of wood pressed against Joey’s shoulder. In spite of his pain Joey looked and saw the broken end of the pike sticking out of the eagle’s leg. Joey, in agony, grabbed the spear with his free hand and pushed. The eagle lurched in the air. It momentarily forgot the horse and its riders below. Pushing once more on the pike shaft he eagle screamed and released Joey. With the sudden easing of pressure Joey lost consciousness.
“The map, Joey.”
The words with their familiar chimes woke Joey. The map was coming out of his shirt. The ground was rising fast. Joey grabbed desperately at the map as the wind caught at it. His fingers slipped between the folds and the world started to fade. As they entered the safety of the forest Tahee and the girl saw Joey disappear twenty feet above the ground.
Chapter 14
Instead of the hard shock of the ground Joey felt gentle pressure as he moved to another world. He came back to his senses knowing something was wrong—he was still falling. In a panic he began flailing his arms and clawing at the air. His horror was made worse when the map slapped against his face as it was whipped away by the wind.
“The map didn’t work,” he thought. “I’m dead.”
An instant later it wasn’t ground he hit, but water. The water closed around his body cold and silent. The sudden weightlessness made him dizzy. He didn’t know which way was up. His nightmares about water came flooding back—the pool he nearly drowned in; the pond where his mom had forgotten him. As he flailed about he felt his foot strike air. He struggled to right himself and finally brought his head above water. He coughed and gasped and splashed.
Joey and the Magic Map Page 19
