Qaletaqa

by Gladden, DelSheree

  Gathering my strength and determination, I looked up. I meant to stare down the Matwau, but instead my eyes were drawn to Melody. Our eyes met and I felt my heart convulse. She stood defiant and terrified at the Matwau’s side. But even that gave way when we looked into each other’s souls.

  There she was, the embodiment of everything I wanted. How could I have chosen her in the first place if she wasn’t? Unable to break my gaze away, I took a halting step forward. And my knee buckled. My palms landed in the searing sand, but my foot was more of a concern. I had stepped in a hole. Why was there a hole here?

  Taking in the rest of the valley, I saw holes everywhere. Heaps of sand were scattered around the floor. The pock marked terrain seemed so strange. Melody had told me about the problem with the prairie dogs, but this wasn’t right. The vision showed me fighting across the flat desert floor, not hopping over holes and sand piles. This wasn’t right.

  I scrambled and called out for the troublesome animals, for any animals, but not a single one responded. I hadn’t thought the Matwau would really be able to get rid of them all. One more of my gods-given abilities had been nullified. The realization twisted my gut.

  I stumbled back up to my feet as the Matwau’s creatures entered the valley and formed another vicious ring around me. I already knew one of the twelve would be missing, but until now I had not realized how that would affect things. There had been twelve in the vision. It wasn’t right. Bhawana had seen all twelve. Too many little details had already changed. Her vision was my guide, the one thing that had convinced me I could protect Claire and still win.

  Glancing back up at Melody, despair entered my heart. What if Claire was right?

  34: Ungodly Life

  The Matwau’s crazed laughter brought me out of my stupor. Melody cringed at his side. Hatred flashed across her pale face at his vileness. The Matwau’s hand snapped out and grabbed her arm, twisting painfully. Screaming in agony, Melody fell to her knees. The laughter escalated and filled the valley before abruptly cutting off as he met my furious gaze.

  “At last we meet again, but for the final time,” the Matwau said. His face was full of confidence and pride. “I have waited for you for a long time, Uriah. For centuries I have feared your birth. Now that you stand before me, I can laugh with pity for your fate.”

  “I have come to fulfill my purpose, Matwau,” I said. The words seemed stiff on my tongue, but I had to say them. With all the other bits of the vision that were not as they should be, I was clinging to the ones I could keep in place. I needed any small assurance I could find at this point.

  “As have I,” he sneered, “but only one of us will be successful.”

  “It will not be you,” I said. I felt my fist tighten, my body tense in anticipation of the battle. But what next? I had watched myself make a mad rush through the circle in the vision, but I had no idea whether or not I was successful in real life. Blindly attacking was foolish in any situation. I felt trapped by the vision. If it changed too much, would Melody die?

  Another excruciating scream made my decision for me.

  The bond propelled me through the sand. The depraved leader of the creatures snarled and met my advance. Claws sprang from his paws and slashed out at me. Whatever other powers I had, my skin was still a thin as it ever was. I spun to the side to avoid the sting, but pain lanced down my thigh and I found myself on the ground.

  I tried to get back up, but the weight of every creature jumping on me held me down. Maniacal laughter mixed with Melody’s screams raged above the growling. Terror and panic ripped a feral scream from my lips as well. Everything my father and Ahiga had taught me was hovering in the back of my mind. I seized it and felt my body respond.

  Hands, feet, and every part of me lashed out at them. Some gave up early and simply cowered in defeat among the heaps of sand. The others fought with all their strength. Whether they were simply releasing centuries of pent up anger at their vicious master on me, or they really wished to kill me for their own satisfaction, I didn’t know. It didn’t matter in the end. One by one I threw the creatures back. Claws and teeth met my body more than once as I beat and strangled the ungodly life out of each of the creatures until the last one stood facing me.

  The leader of the pack, the one filled with the greatest sense of vengeance and evil bared its teeth at me with a snarl. I returned his viciousness in kind. Angry thoughts raced through its mind as its haunches tensed in preparation. I grinned and took them all in, preparing myself for it’s attack. It leapt at me and I jumped aside. It came at me again, but I knew what it was thinking.

  Again and again I evaded its claws and teeth. I had tried to do the same earlier, but facing eleven of them at the same time had made it nearly impossible to sort out any of their thoughts. This leader had held back, thinking to take me alone, but that was quickly proving to be a major flaw in its plan. In between dodging I made my own attacks, throwing my fists into its sides. Early in the fight I realized that the fiery touch I could use against the Matwau had no bearing on these creatures. That didn’t mean I was helpless. Even twisted by evil, they were still vulnerable to regular physical attacks.

  Panting and heaving, the creature watched me warily. I thought I had broken some of its ribs and one of its legs was practically useless, but it wouldn’t give up. It had gotten in a few attacks on me when its anger fueled a more thoughtless attack. Blood ran down my forearm and dripped into the sand. We were both nearly spent. It stared at me, formulating its last attack. Lunging forward, it feigned right. I pretended to follow its lead, but snapped back to the left at the last moment as I caught its neck in my arms. Dropping to my back, I wrenched its body across me, snapping the brittle bones and stealing its life away. The body rolled off of me at last, and I struggled to pull myself back up.

  I could feel my blood calmly sliding down the side of my face as I stood and faced the Matwau. My legs felt weak. A huge gash down the center of my thigh was dripping out most of my strength. My hands were shaking so badly that I wasn’t sure I could even form a fist anymore. I knew how to kill the Matwau, as long as I could overcome his multiplied power, but did I have the strength left to actually do it? I stumbled over another of the ruts in the ground and fell to one knee. Melody’s sob echoed in my heart. I felt like doing the same as I was finally forced to admit I had made the wrong choice.

  I couldn’t do this alone.

  ***

  As soon as Uriah’s motorcycle was out of view, my eyes snapped to Talon. He didn’t hesitate. I sighed in relief. “You were very convincing,” I said to him.

  He nodded in a way that seemed to say the same thing to me. I wasn’t convincing enough to make Uriah leave without tying me up, but it didn’t go as badly as I thought it might. Talon padded over to me and started gnawing at the thin rope.

  “I was afraid you were really going to leave us here for a while,” I said. He looked up, baring his teeth in the direction Uriah had headed. We may not be able to communicate with each other like he could with Uriah, but we were of like mind when it came to protecting the people we cared about. Nothing he could have said would have made us stay behind.

  Although, as a few of Uriah’s words drifted back into my mind, my chest constricted. Tears threatened when I thought of him saying watching me die wasn’t worth killing the Matwau. He believed it with his whole heart, but he was wrong. He wouldn’t be the only one to die. If he failed, countless others would be ravaged by the Matwau until someone else came forward to try and stop him. And judging by the way the gods revered Uriah when he met with them, that might have been a long time coming, if ever.

  Uriah was wrong. My death would be worth saving everyone who came after me.

  Having said that, I wasn’t exactly planning on dying.

  It was torture arguing with Uriah. Letting him believe there were no other options but watching me die or dying himself. All through our somewhat frightening drive down here I was thinking. I had a list of things in my mind that had to h
appen in order for Uriah survive. It was a short list, but an important one. Give him my power. Get him to turn away from the Twin Soul bond forever and gain that power as well.

  The plan for giving him my power started the second he pulled up. I really was frustrated with him that he didn’t believe me, but I only fought him enough to make it believable. The bond, that one was going to be harder. He couldn’t turn away from the bond until after it was formed. That was where it got tricky.

  My bindings sprang away. I shook them off quickly and got Harvey loose as well. Two seconds later all three of us were running for the truck. Thankfully, Harvey didn’t try to drive. I think Talon and I had both had enough of his frenzied driving by that point. I tugged out the keys Uriah had left in my pocket after tying me up and jammed them into the ignition. The old engine roared to life, more full of energy than I had ever seen before. Even the truck new Uriah was wrong.

  All of this happened without a spoken word. That was about to change. Talon and Harvey seemed to know it, too, because both of them turned to stare at me as we bounced down the mountain. “Please tell me you have a plan,” Harvey said.

  I took a deep breath. “Yeah, I do, but you aren’t going to like it.”

  ***

  Uriah was tiring. His shield was still in place, no doubt trying to keep me from rushing in to help him, but it had weakened along with his physical body. His pain and fear were sweeping through me. I dashed through the sands, pushing Claire and Harvey along with me.

  The drive back down the mountain and over to Taos de Pueblo had taken longer than I expected, and we were all dismayed to find out that the road stopped well away from any view of the Matwau. The pale hills ran right up to the forest, but the shifting sand had us scrambling over them much too slowly. Traveling on all fours was nothing new to me, but Claire and Harvey were forced to travel in the same way and they were certainly not pleased about it. The scorching sand burned their hands. They struggled to move as quickly as they could.

  As we got closer to the tree line, sounds of the battle began to reach us. The clash of man and animal brought growling and howls, snarls and yelps from the animals, but also screams of pain and anger from Uriah. Even without being able to tell Claire that Uriah was struggling, she heard the sounds and knew it was not going well. Harvey seemed to come to the same understanding. Both of them doubled their pace and pushed with everything they had.

  One last low hill stood in front of us. Claire and Harvey were ready to sprint over it, but a sharp growl from me stopped them. The sounds of the fight were very clear now. Topping that hill would put us in plain view of everyone in the valley. I had no idea what powers the Matwau could now make use of in the valley of his birth, but I did not want to find out that way.

  Quietly, but quickly, I led Claire and Harvey around the base of the hill. The slope terminated near the edge of the forest, giving us a place to survey the valley before jumping in. I was going to help Uriah, but I would not break my promise to protect Claire, either.

  “Can you see him?” Claire asked.

  A few more steps brought me around the base and laid the entire valley out before me. Utter despair filled me as Uriah’s emotions hit me full force. The scattered bodies of the Matwau’s creatures lay at his feet. Dead or defeated they did not move any longer, but they had left their marks on Uriah.

  There was hardly a single inch of his body that was not covered in blood. Some might have belonged to the creatures he had killed, but the gash in his thigh and another in his forearm let his lifeblood leak out. He was down on one knee staring up at the woman whose life he had come to save. Her eyes pleaded with him to get up, but hopelessness was her only answer.

  Nodding to Claire that I could see him, I then dipped my head and shook it back and forth.

  “What? What’s wrong?” Claire demanded. I pantomimed Uriah’s injuries and shook my head again. Taking a deep breath, she said, “Okay, the plan will still work. I’m just going to need a few minutes before we put it into action. I’ll have to take care of Uriah’s wounds first.”

  I nodded eagerly. I didn’t understand any of the conversation Claire had with Kaya on the way down the mountain, but I understood she was getting more last minute instruction on using her power. It worried me that Claire had never tried Kaya’s techniques before, but we had no other choice. Uriah could not last much longer on his own. By the expression on his face, he knew it, too.

  Claire’s hand on my shoulder brought me out of my concerns about her power. “We’re ready, Talon.”

  I had so many instructions I wanted to give her. Go right to Uriah. Keep Harvey back. Let me distract the Matwau. I could tell her none of my plan. I growled in terrified frustration. Patting my back, Claire nodded, her face stony and filled determination. I didn’t need to tell her anything.

  She was ready. She gave Harvey instructions that I hoped were similar to the ones I wanted to give him and took his hand in a show of unity, or maybe to keep him from disobeying. His face was hard now, no fear, just solid determination. We all knew the risks. We were all ready to die if that was what it took. I had lived a long life filled with hunts and danger and friendship. Although the last was new to me, it was what made me so willing to give up the others.

  With no regrets and a cold fury burning in my heart, I tore into the valley, straight for the Matwau’s throat.

  ***

  I watched Talon leap away from us. His legs carried him impossibly fast, but we didn’t stand there to watch his flight. The second we saw the Matwau’s eyes snapped over to Talon we made our break as well.

  Uriah stared in amazement at Talon as he ran past him. He watched his friend leap into the air at the surprised Matwau. Surprise did not last long enough. The Matwau lashed out at Talon, knocking him away. Talon’s claws did manage to score a few rough slashes across the Matwau’s arm before he was tossed away. Talon fell into the sand, but was back up in a split second, ready to leap again.

  I looked away, praying Talon would be alright. I turned my attention back to Uriah and tried to prepare myself. He had fallen back to his knees at the sight of Talon, but was already trying to jump back up and go to his friend. His trembling legs were having a hard time doing as he wanted.

  “Uriah,” I called out. “Uriah, wait!”

  He turned back and finally saw us. His eyes flew wide and his head started shaking, but relief hid behind his denial. I wanted to jump into his arms, but I was afraid I would only damage him even more. I slowed just before I reached him and grabbed his hands firmly in mine. I hauled him back to his feet. I had no time to be gentle with him.

  Unlike me, Harvey was paying no attention to Uriah. His eyes were glued to Melody. Melody’s frightened eyes danced between her husband’s and Uriah’s as she was yanked back and forth by the Matwau’s attempts to avoid Talon. He looked to be on the verge of running to her, which I knew would only end in his death. I grabbed his arm and forced him to look at me.

  “Wait, Harvey. Just give me a few minutes, okay? Don’t run up there and get yourself killed before I have time to fix this mess.”

  He held, barely. I had to trust him to stay put for now. Leaving him to hopefully sit still, I frantically turned back to Uriah. I didn’t know if he heard what I had just said to Harvey, but his face was a mask of confusion and relief. As I stared back at him I finally saw the damage he had sustained.

  “Oh, Uriah, I’m sorry we didn’t get here sooner. It took longer than we thought it would to get here from the pueblos. Are you okay?” I asked.

  He just shook his head. “Claire, you have to…”

  Surely he won’t try to tell me to leave again, I thought. He can’t be that thickheaded.

  “You have to help me,” Uriah said in defeat. “I can’t do this alone. I’m so sorry I didn’t listen to you before.”

  “I doesn’t matter,” I said quickly. I took in his appearance one more time. He could barely stand, let alone fight. I only had a few seconds to help him. Talon wasn�
��t going to be able to distract the Matwau for much longer. Rolling out Kaya’s instructions to the front of my mind, I held Uriah’s face and closed my eyes. He tried to ask me what I was doing. I ignored him and focused every bit of my energy on our bodies.

  Everything was so chaotic, I couldn’t get in contact with him like I wanted. I needed more. Wrapping my arms around Uriah, I let myself drink in everything about him. His power, the bond, the scent and feel of him. It strengthened my resolved, focused my mind, and let my power touch him.

  I dove through the heat of the bond and hovered at the edges of his soul. The last thing we needed was to have Uriah black out again, so I didn’t go any deeper. Quickly, I searched the border of his soul. The wounds leeching away his strength pulsed against my touch. I felt compelled to soothe him, protect him. Everything Kaya had told me suddenly felt so natural, like I had known it long before she told me what to do.

  The wounds to Uriah’s body sizzled under my touch. I could feel his need to be healed covering him from head to toe. My power responded to that need. Leeching away my own strength, I let it pour into him. The pulsing wounds settled and relaxed instantly. Uriah shivered in my arms, causing me to pull back. I nearly stumbled to the ground when my power receded. Stronger than it was a second ago, Uriah’s grip caught and held me.

  I looked up and was startled even though I knew what to expect. It had taken less than a second, but the change I saw in Uriah was amazing.

  “What did you do?” he asked. He was still covered in blood, but instead of blood pouring out of every wound, the flow had stopped and had the look of beginning to mend.

  “I…I healed you,” I said. No need to get into the details of how, and what it cost me right now. I knew how Uriah would react to that bit of information.