Cowgirl Thrillers

by Barbara Neville

“What are we going to do next, Wolf?” asks Spud.

  “We are going to bring what is hidden into the light.”

  “If the weather holds we can get over the pass up there. There is an interesting area on the other side. Hot earth, hot water,” says Sir Jacob.

  “Spud has a hot spring,” I say.

  “Hm, him take you swimming, just like other girls.”

  “Quiet, Wolf,” hisses Spud. “I was keepin’ that on the down low.”

  “Annie not stupid, brother,” says Wolf, then continues, “Same hot water here, but more. Water also shoot into sky. Spook horses.”

  We are riding along a peaceful valley with a babbling creek. It has been a long morning. We are on a wagon road, so Wolf and I are riding side by side.

  “Our journey is long, but we must protect the Spirit Cave.”

  “Should we stop and stretch our legs or are we almost there?”

  Wolf turns and stares at me as our horses continue to perambulate down the road. Seconds pass, we are rocking easily in our saddles, the horses heads are bobbing in time. I can smell the green shoots of the last Injin summer grass. Wolf keeps staring.

  I raise my eyebrows, “What?”

  “Wolf not know.”

  “You don’t know what?”

  “Wolf not know where it is.”

  “What? The Spirit Cave?”

  “Yes.”

  “You are the Guardian, how could you not know?”

  “No one know.”

  “What?!”

  “I go to powwow of the Chiefs.”

  “And?”

  “No one come. I wait many days.

  “Little Owl finally show up say chiefs all dead, one alive, but brain has left body. Other die, heart quit. Last one, ship crash, dead. One missing no one know where. I come here to search, not sure, but think this the place.”

  “No one knows where the Spirit Cave is?”

  “I think, on this planet.”

  “You think? You don’t even know which planet?”

  “May be misdirection,” offers Wolf. “Plan meeting here, if chiefs know of bad men maybe have meeting here only, cave elsewhere.”

  “You think chiefs would do that?”

  “Wise men, very wise, counsel tribe, guide us in tough universe.”

  “So now you need new leaders.”

  “No, not lead, guide, provide counsel. All Injin truly free, no leaders. Each Injin his own leader. No one else. It is the Way.”

  “You never collaborate, always alone?”

  “We form team, alliance, only when all agree. If not agree, no team. True freedom.”

  “Ah. And the cave?”

  “I am Guardian, train from small child years.”

  “But the Council?”

  “They expect me to apprentice and eventually join Council, them not expect to die young. Booze, too much food, accident. Wolf not ready, too young, not think. Sent to this planet as child because it here? Wolf not know. Injin inscrutable even sometimes to other Injin.

  “I think it is here. I follow you, I follow shooters, maybe someone know where is Spirit Cave. Maybe I see a sign. I know signs to find cave. I find, maybe take long time. I am young, long time okay, but if someone else find first? Very bad. Not good. Injin power rest in Spirit Cave. Very bad if others find.”

  “This is the journey you have asked us to join. To find the cave?” I ask.

  “Hm.”

  “But why us? Why not get your kinsmen or others of your tribe?”

  “Like I say at Spud’s, me ask, they have white mans’ excuses. ‘I gotta work. I’ll lose my job. I got bills to pay.’ They have lost the Way. They are not Injin now. Our tribe, our heritage is in danger. I am but one man.

  “I think these men at the line shack have evil intent. Maybe they are crazy for gold, but maybe they think there is Injin treasure.”

  “Is there Injin treasure?” I ask.

  “For Injin, yes, treasure beyond counting, but is it valuable like gold to White Eyes? Wolf not know. I think only sacred things, spiritual things, not treasure. Maybe just strings of beads from white man.” Wolf chuckles. “But elders never say. I always think there is time to learn of these things. Knowledge was to be mine when I had acquired the wisdom to take the responsibility. Time stopped for Wolf when these men left from their bodies.

  “Wolf responsibility now to regain Injin Spirit, it reside in cave.”

  “Oh boy, maybe we bit off more than we can chew.”

  “Faith, Annie, we have to trust that the Spirits will guide us.”

  “Man, Wolf, when you speak of this, you sure sound Injin.”

  “Mmm.”

  “You fellas seem to be takin’ this in stride.” I glance over my shoulder. Spud, Michael and Sir Jacob have fallen back a ways. None of them has heard.

  “You gonna tell the boys?”

  “Hm.”

  I ride along and ponder this for a while. Was it a yes or a no?

  Then Wolf says “Our last Chiefs Counsel meeting before was on the planet of the twin suns.”

  “Hawaiia,” I say in awe. The planets of the twin suns. I have helped deliver cattle to some planets, including the twin planets of Makai and Mauka. Names based on the Hawaiian words for nearer and farther from the ocean. Spirit words.

  Makai being closer to the suns is a tropical paradise, lush, warm, fabulous. Mauka is more temperate with desert grassland type flora and fauna, better for some breeds of cattle production as it has less bugs and disease due to having hard freezes in the cool season. Makai though, with longer growing seasons, has more total grass production. Both, fantastically beautiful.

  While humanity has advanced to the point of being able to terraform and make planets habitable, the size and distance of the relative astronomical object along with its orbital path around its sun is still the ruling factor of a world’s climate. The size of its sun, major. Hawaiiia’s suns have the same names as their respective planets. It’s a Hawaiian thing, I reckon.

  “Yes. Makai, tropical, but we are high on top of the mountain of snow, a spiritual place on a spiritual planet. It is dusk. Makai Sun has settled below the horizon and Mauka Sun is just about to join it. We are watching for the green flash of Mauka Sun before we start. It is an important sign.

  “Afterwards we go into the Spirit Teepee which has been painted and blessed for the ceremony, the fire is perfect. Built and tended by Coati.

  “Moxie has the pipe. He speaks of many adventures. He is a talker. He passes the pipe to Many Horses, who speaks also. Then it is the turn of Great Sorrow who lost his wife to the plague. The elders nod and hum. Ancient Owl tells of what he has seen. Pieces are added to stories, variations of what happened are discussed. Disagreements are laughed away. The chiefs are wise enough to know that each mans’ journey is different. Even at the same place and time, each man has a different experience even standing next to each other, so how can it all be real? And so it goes around the circle. The chiefs speak of many things. Often they speak in allegory. I am very young, a novice. If I start to slumber Moxie nudges me with an elbow. Stories are long and full of meanderings. I listen, but many things mean little to me.

  “As I tell you this, I remember the stories of Many Horses catch my attention. He is a good and entertaining talker. There is much laughter in his words. We laugh at his antics until we roll on the floor. Even the Elder Chiefs, the men of great dignity are reduced to laughter, so much that the tears flow down their faces. Moxie nudges me during one story and says, ‘Listen well, Dancing Colt. Remember.’

  “I try hard to listen, but I am very tired from days around the fire listening, the teepee is warm inside despite the blizzard without. My belly is full of buffalo hump and I am so tired.

  “Today, as I look back, I am thinking that maybe the location of the cave is in these stories. A clue. I must meditate on this, herbs must be taken. A smoke ceremony. Heat, thirst, drink, walk, ice, fire, an answer must arise from within. If I listen closely I can hear
the spirits of my teachers and their teachers. I have traveled many journeys on this planet, seen many things. All my life until now must lead into a journey to place of the Spirit Cave. I know this, in my bones I know this.

  “I must have trusted companions for this, this Buffalo Odyssey. You are my compañeros espiritual.”