The Great Plains

by Nicole Alexander

  The bird tilted its head and screeched at Abelena. She dropped the knife and fell back on her bottom. ‘It was not my kill,’ she muttered, ‘you do it,’ she told Will. ‘You take his scalp.’

  ‘Scalp? I’m not taking anyone’s scalp. Have you gone mad?’ Ignoring the girl, Will dragged Tobias to his horse. ‘I’ll never get him on without your help, Abelena,’ he panted.

  ‘Then he lies where he fell.’ The eagle was behind her, wings readying for flight.

  ‘If he lives I’ll be in real trouble, if he dies I’ll be in worse,’ Will told her.

  ‘Who will know? The land will take him. It’s as it should be.’ The eagle disappeared into the shadows.

  ‘Abelena, you’re speaking madness. You have to help me.’

  ‘No.’ Abelena tucked the knife in her leather belt. ‘Take your mother home, Will. Tell your father that his wife is a good woman who has lost a child this night and that she needs comfort and care. Tell him Peanut has gone to the heavens, that if he looks to the west in the night-time sky he will see his little daughter in the stars. Tell him,’ she implored.

  Flossy stirred.

  ‘You’re not coming with me, are you?’ Will lay Tobias on the ground next to his horse.

  ‘No.’

  ‘But why?’ He walked towards her. ‘We decided –’

  ‘You decided, Will. It’s time I made some decisions for myself.’

  ‘But you made me believe –’

  ‘I promised nothing,’ Abelena replied. She was pleased the darkness hid his face – it was enough to hear the yearning in his words.

  ‘But what about Mr Wade? What happens if he dies?’

  ‘Then he will die,’ Abelena said simply.

  Will grew angry. ‘You’d let me take the fall for this?’

  ‘I did not strike him down. You did.’ If Tobias died Aloysius Wade’s male line would die with him. She would be free, released from the Wade obsession, and it would be a boy on the other side of the world who had given her that freedom. Abelena’s voice softened. ‘Will, listen to me. Leave him here. You are a boy with nothing, he is a great man. There are no other witnesses. Leave him here.’

  ‘It was self-defence.’ But there was a faint trace of hesitancy to his tone.

  ‘They will call you a murderer. The poor have no rights. You know this to be true. You have a family to look after, you are richer than most, Will. Don’t throw that away.’

  ‘Throw what away? My mother’s mad and my father’s a thief. At least let me come with you for a little of the way until we decide what to do.’

  ‘I will decide what I will do.’ Abelena placed a hand on his arm. ‘You only have one family, Will, and families are precious things. Look after them.’

  Will glanced at Tobias. ‘He’s losing a lot of blood.’

  ‘He will not survive. Will,’ Abelena implored, ‘if you go home, your mother will recover and, in her recovery, your father will understand the error he has made. But he will need your help, your strength. If you leave them now, we both know that it will be the end of your parents. And you will forever remain the only son that ran away.’

  ‘But what will you do, Abelena? Where will you go? You’re only a girl. You need someone to look after you, to protect you.’

  Abelena laughed softly. ‘I come from a different world, Will. I am of the moon and the stars, of the canyons and the prairies, the earth is my bed, the sky my shelter. I am like the eagle, born to be free.’

  Epilogue

  September, 1935 – on the plains, Southern Queensland

  Abelena walked into the rim of light, as if a moth attracted to a flame.

  ‘I know you,’ she said warily. ‘I should not have come here unannounced.’

  Jim motioned for Abelena to sit. ‘I have been waiting for you. Share my father’s resting place.’

  Abelena sat cross-legged before the fire. Although the night was hot, her skin prickled as if winter neared. In the weak fire-light the red marks on her neck and the wounds on her arms spoke of a recent battle.

  ‘You have been hurt.’ Jim pointed to a gourd sitting near the warmth of the fire. ‘The liquid will ease your pain.’

  Abelena accepted the tonic – it was bitter but soothing. ‘I saw you at the river. You do not like me.’

  ‘I do not like the spirit you bring. It has made the world an upside-down place and turned friends against each other.’

  ‘It was not my intention to cause trouble.’

  ‘That was inevitable,’ Chalk retorted.

  She pointed to the old man on the ground. ‘Are you sick?’

  ‘Only the body is sick,’ Chalk replied. ‘My mind is strong.’

  ‘Can you not fight the illness?’ she asked. ‘There are things I can do to ease your pain.’

  ‘I do not wish for my life to be dulled at the end.’

  ‘You are in a new land now,’ Jim began. ‘This land has its own spirits. They are in the mountains and the rivers, the moon and the stars. Very soon the Emu in the Sky will reappear above the horizon. That is the time for you to put aside old teachings and embrace your new life.’

  ‘But I don’t want a new life.’

  Jim spread his palms wide. ‘And yet the old life is gone. You know this.’

  The girl didn’t answer. Her fingers intertwined.

  ‘There are some things you will never forget, for they are as one with you. They flow through your blood, but this is an ancient land and you must respect those that were here before time began.’

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Abelena responded.

  Chalk pointed to the pouch hanging about her neck. ‘The history of your peoples, the hide you left on the riverbank that day, this you should keep but the medicine cord is not yours, is it?’

  ‘No,’ she admitted warily, ‘it’s not.’

  ‘Give it to my son.’

  Abelena squeezed the worn leather.

  Chalk gestured for it. ‘You must understand, girl, that some powers are uncontrollable if they are not meant for you.’

  Abelena thought of how the eagle had appeared to peck out Wes Kirkland’s eye and how close she’d come to scalping Tobias Wade. It was as if she’d been possessed.

  ‘Come,’ Chalk repeated.

  Abelena handed it over reluctantly. Around them, small creatures rustled the grasses. They listened to a branch fall to the ground, the slight breeze that made leaves quiver and they smelled the scents of musky leaf litter decomposing in the dry air.

  ‘I feel cold.’ Abelena hugged her knees to her chest.

  Jim dropped the medicine cord on the dying coals. It sparked brightly and, catching fire, burnt quickly, leaving behind only shrivelled hide. Jim fanned the smoke towards Abelena. ‘As it burns to nothing, so the anger inside of you will burn to nothing.’

  ‘They will not come for you again,’ Chalk soothed. ‘From this world or the next.’

  ‘So I am free?’ The girl looked exhausted.

  ‘The one who brought you here has gone. His spirit has left this place.’ Chalk spoke reverently. ‘Good or bad, he has gone. You have killed one but you have saved another, you owe nothing.’

  ‘Tobias is dead?’ Abelena said softly.

  ‘And you have saved Will and his parents. But now you must leave.’

  ‘Leave?’ A tiredness had crept into Abelena’s limbs, all she wanted to do was sleep. ‘But where will I go? What will I do?’

  Chalk rubbed at a grizzled eyebrow. ‘In your eyes I see the distances you have walked, in your smile, your losses. After what you have endured, now you ask these questions? Go with her, Jim. I can teach you no more, my son.’ Chalk looked to the horizon where the Emu in the Sky had partially reappeared. ‘Your time has come, mine has ended.’

  ‘But, Father.’ Jim took the old man’s hand.

  ‘The canoe comes for me, my boy. Soon I will be taken to the spirit-island Baralku in the sky, where their campfires can be seen burning along the edge of the great
river.’

  ‘But, Father, you cannot go. I still have much to learn and what am I to do with the girl? Where do I take her?’

  ‘To the banks of the Condamine. To the special place, the sacred place. In the months to come you will call to your son, you will whisper to the boy you would have. There is great medicine within you.’ He glanced at Abelena. ‘Make it stronger.’

  ‘And if I leave, what of you? How will I know you have arrived safely?’

  ‘When you see a shooting star you will know the canoe has returned to earth and that I have arrived safely in the spirit-land.’

  ‘You wish to come?’ Jim held out his hand to her.

  Abelena hesitated. It was growing light, false dawn approached.

  ‘Go now, the both of you.’ Chalk closed his eyes. ‘You are the last of my line, Jim, and you, Abelena Wade, are the last of your womenfolk.’

  Jim bade farewell to his father. Together, he and Abelena walked out across the plains towards the concealing timber and the river.

  ‘Will it be better here?’ Abelena asked.

  ‘It will be both different,’ Jim said thoughtfully, ‘and the same. For in the white man’s world, the sky is very small.’

  Author’s Note

  Delving into the American West was both mesmerising and daunting. Firstly, I am indebted to my mother, Marita, who accompanied me to Texas and Oklahoma in the July and August of 2013. No-one could have a better companion nor a more adept helpmate. I must thank the people of these two fine states who went out of their way to assist us, whether seeking directions (a frequent occurrence, especially once I started driving – ‘Stay on the right hand side, Nicole!’), historical information or when I was simply in need of advice. In particular I would like to thank the following institutions: in Dallas, the Dallas Historical Society; in Oklahoma City, the Oklahoma Historical Society Research Centre and the must-see National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum; and in various counties, the Fort Sill Museums, Southern Plains Indian Museum, Chisolm Trail Museum and Governor Seay Mansion (on which the Wade Oklahoma City residence is based), and Broken Arrow Historical Society Museum. In the Australian section, I have made great use of the Alexander Family Archives, as well as numerous works from the period.

  Australia has many rich and vibrant Aboriginal cultures, each with its own astronomy. But there are common threads. As The Great Plains is a work of fiction, I have drawn on a number of different beliefs from different tribes. Many have stories of a female sun who warmed the land and a male moon who, once a slim man (the waxing crescent moon), grew fat and lazy (the full moon). After his death (the new moon), whether at the hands of his tribe for having broken the law or by his wives, for example, he rises again after three days and continues doing so till this day. The Yolngu people of Northern Australia have a particularly wonderful belief that when people die they are taken by a mystical canoe to the spirit land in the sky. Similarly, the great Emu in the Sky is the subject of songs and stories in many parts of Australia.

  Thank you, as always, to my family and friends who have supported me throughout the writing of this novel, especially David and my parents, Ian and Marita. (All those John Wayne Westerns must have sown a seed, Dad). To Random House – my publisher, Beverley Cousins, and managing editor, Brandon VanOver – and my agent, Tara Wynne. Thank you for your professionalism and guidance.

  Lastly, to the many libraries and booksellers here and abroad, my friends and readers, old and new, thank you.

  I am indebted to the following texts and recommend them for further reading: Geronimo’s Story of His Life, taken down and edited by S. M. Barrett; The Americans by Gerald A. Danzer; Kingfisher and Kingfisher County by Glen V. McIntyre; Broken Arrow & Me, Growing Up Together by Paul Showman; A History of the United States by Philip Jenkins; Oklahoma: A History by W. David Baird and Danney Goble; Broken Arrow: City of Roses and Pure Water by Donald A. Wise; Dictionary of the American West by Win Blevins; The Great Chiefs (Old West Time-Life Series) by Benjamin Capps; The Dust Bowl: Men, Dirt and Depression by Paul Bonnifield; The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan; Great Plains: America’s Lingering Wild by Michael Forsberg; Bad Land: An American Romance by Jonathan Raban; Encyclopedia of American Farm Implements & Antiques by C. H. Wendel.

  © Natalia Fogarty

  In the course of her career, Nicole Alexander has worked both in Australia and Singapore in financial services, fashion, corporate publishing and agriculture. A fourth-generation grazier, Nicole returned to her family’s property in the early 1990s. She is currently the business manager there and has a hands-on role in the running of the property.

  Nicole has a Master of Letters in creative writing and her novels, poetry, travel and genealogy articles have been published in Australia, Germany, America and Singapore. She is the author of four previous novels: The Bark Cutters, A Changing Land, Absolution Creek and Sunset Ridge.

  Also by Nicole Alexander

  The Bark Cutters

  A Changing Land

  Absolution Creek

  Sunset Ridge

  Divertissements: Love, War, Society – Selected Poems

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

  Version 1.0

  The Great Plains

  ePub ISBN 9781742759876

  Copyright © Nicole Alexander, 2014

  The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  A Bantam book

  Published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd

  Level 3, 100 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW 2060

  www.randomhouse.com.au

  Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found at http://www.randomhouse.com.au/about/contacts.aspx

  First published by Bantam in 2014

  National Library of Australia

  Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

  Alexander, Nicole L., author.

  The great plains/Nicole Alexander.

  ISBN 978 1 74275 987 6 (ebook)

  A823.4

  Cover photography and design by Luke Causby/Blue Cork

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