Copyright © 2015 by D.E.L Connor
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
The novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and plot are all either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons – living or dead – is purely coincidental.
First Edition.
Editor: Pat Spence
Cover Art: Kellie Dennis at Book Cover by Design
The wind will blow
A spark our way
Up from the south one cold day.
The spark will glow
And ignite the land
Hungry for the hot blood it will sow.
It will not fade
Nor will it stop
Until all is flat-out barren laid.
Pain it wants
And pain it gets
Power, then shall it flaunt.
The giant bear will blow
That spark away
May we live to see that day.
Chapter One
Walking Bear tapped Nine Fingers on his shoulder and pointed to the buffalo grazing peacefully in the valley below.
“I told you I knew where to find them!” Nine Fingers beat his fist against the war shield on his chest.
“We should not have come this far south, Nine Fingers. The Apache and Comanche claim this as their hunting ground.”
“We should let our people starve?” Nine fingers spat the words.
Walking Bear’s gaze darted furtively around the still, dark evergreens. “Our death won’t feed our people either. Losing their best hunters would lead them into hard times.”
“Who says we will be gone? I’m not afraid of those cowards. Let the Comanche come after me again. This time I will wear their scalp on my lance!” His fingers absently stroked the stub of his missing index finger on his right hand.
“Get DOWN!” Walking Bear pulled him to the ground behind a group of rocks.
“What is it?” Nine Fingers whispered close to Walking Bear’s ear.
“I saw movement in the trees upwind of the buffalo.”
“Comanche?”
“No.” The eagle feather in Walking Bear’s glossy black hair twirled around with the motion of his head.
“Apache?”
“No.” Walking Bear stroked the string of bear claws hanging around his neck.
“You’re worried.” It was a statement not a question. “You only touch the claws when you are worried.”
“It’s not right. I can feel it like a cold wind running down my bare back.”
“Should we go?” Nine Fingers crawled backward as Walking Bear held up his hand. Their movements stopped as a fleeing figure broke out of the trees into the valley below.
“A girl?” Walking Bear shushed him.
The girl ran like demons were behind as she glanced over her left shoulder. She was not dressed as a girl; rather she wore breeches and a shirt as a warrior would. Her hair was loose and fanned out behind her like ravens’ wings.
She had reason to run. The warrior who followed her was muscled, painted, and deadly, and he was gaining on her. Walking Bear and Nine Fingers watched the duo.
“He will kill her,” Walking Bear predicted.
“It’s not our concern.”
“DID YOU SEE THAT?” Nine Fingers screamed the words.
Walking Bear shook his head in denial. “NO, No, NOOOO. It’s not possible. I’ve heard of it, but it’s not possible.”
“Well it just happened! He turned into a WOLF! I saw it with my own eyes.”
The girl ran into the fleeing buffalo herd mingling in the dust trail. The wolf slowed and enveloped himself in the powder.
Walking Bear mounted his paint horse in one smooth move. They moved quickly down the hillside as Nine Fingers followed on his steed. Walking Bear hit level ground, and he laid his body close to his horse. The ground churned beneath them as Walking Bear and Nine Fingers closed in on the girl and the wolf.
“Patoo.” Walking Bear spit out dirt and ran his hands over his eyes. The dust covered everything, and his horse turned a chalky brown color. He turned his horse in a zigzag pattern searching for the girl.
Nine Fingers galloped alongside of him pointing to his left. The girl cowered beside a jutting rock formation. Her chest heaved, and sweat left tracks in the dust on her face.
Walking Bear reached her first. “Come. Quickly.” He slowed his horse to a stop and held his hand out
“No.” She didn’t look up.
“He will kill you.”
“He will kill you if you help me. He will track you down and kill you and your people.” She finally met Walking Bear’s gaze. Her dark eyes startled him.
“I’ll take the chance. Grab my hand.” She extended her hand, and he effortlessly pulled her behind him. “Hold on. We’ll be riding hard.”
Her arms wrapped themselves around Walking Bear’s abdomen, and her body molded into his back. Nine Fingers motioned ahead as they galloped, swiftly cutting in and out of the fleeing herd, avoiding the powerful wild beasts.
The wolf somehow materialized in front of them, and Walking Bear swiftly pulled the horse to the left. The wolf disappeared from sight, lost in the powdery dirt.
“He’s behind us!” The girl yelled in his ear. Walking Bear saw the shadow of the wolf as it gained speed and attempted to jump on them.
“Hold on.” Walking Bear leaned with the girl to the right, laying them both flat as the wolf sailed past them rolling hard a few times. It regrouped quickly and was soon running side by side with Walking Bear. The wolf turned its head toward the couple, and Walking Bear caught a glance of cold black eyes before Nine Fingers launched himself off of his galloping horse and onto the wolf’s back. They were quickly lost in a jumble of fur and pounding hoofs.
“Noooooo!” The girl’s cry was lost in the thickness of the air. Walking Bear steered his horse close to Nine Fingers’ riderless horse and grabbed the sinew rope, pulling it along with them.
They followed the herd for a couple of miles until they forded a small stream. They slowed, carefully walking the horses upstream in the icy, muddy water. After several quiet miles, they directed the horses out of the water.
“What about your friend? Shouldn’t we go back for him?” The girl’s voice was soft.
“He can take care of himself. He will find us.” The girl sat on the horse her head bowed.
“I’m getting the sapling and sage.”
“What for?”
“We will tie it behind the horses to mask our scent and trail.” Walking Bear slid off the horse and jumped from rock to rock to a small grove of trees.
“Bring the horses over.”
The girl watched as Walking Bear used strips of buffalo hide to attach the small trees to the horses. The two horses walked slowly, pulling the small trees by the trunk behind them. The pungent smell of sage wafted around them. The landscape changed as the purplish rays of sun lingered on the horizon. The trees were abundant and thick now, and the air was cool.
Walking Bear held up his hand. He grabbed his lance and circled around behind the horses. The twittering of a meadowlark stopped him in his tracks as Nine Fingers materialized.
“It’s a good thing you let me know it was you or I would be wearing your scalp.” Walking Bear’s eyes gave away his true emotion.
“Yah, I wouldn’t look good without my hair,” Nine Fingers joked. “Where is the girl?”
Walking Bear motioned with his head toward the horses as Nine Fingers spoke.
“She is scary. I feel death around her. She’s not Comanche or Apache. What is she?”
“I am from a tribe that no longer exists. My name is Lina.”
“I’m Walking Bear, and that is Nine Fingers.” Nine Fingers made no motion to come any closer.
>
“Where did your tribe used to be?”
“We lived over the mountains surrounded by land that is hot with no trees.”
“Were there many of you?”
“I know what you are really asking. Are there many like the one chasing me.”
Nine Fingers interrupted. “What is it anyway? A man or a wolf?”
“He’s a Skin Walker. A powerful medicine man that can become any animal he chooses. And no, there have only been a few Skin Walkers, and none for many years, until now. They are evil and search for discontent and conflict to inflict death and despair on others. They are immortal, invincible.”
“Why was he chasing you?” Walking Bear’s golden eyes bored into her black ones.
“He intends to kill me.”
“Why? Why would he want you dead?”
“I don’t know. I can’t remember.”
“Sure you don’t.” Nine Fingers snorted.
“This much I do know. You must listen to me. You don’t understand what he is or what he can do. Do you wonder why the Comanche or Apache did not challenge you today over the herd of buffalo? They are no more! The few who may be left are hiding or dying of starvation or exposure.”
“What does he want? Buffalo? Hides? Horses?” Nine Fingers was confused.
“Power. He only wants power to destroy.” Lina’s eyes filled with tears. “He killed my family, he destroyed my tribe.”
“Was he from your tribe?”
“I don’t know. I know he killed them, and he has been after me ever since.” Lina turned and nestled her head in the horse’s neck, her shoulders shaking.
They made camp against the hollowed-out ledge of a mountain. Walking Bear handed Lina buffalo jerky and a handful of berries. She devoured them, curled up into a ball against the cold stone wall, and shivered until she fell asleep. Walking Bear never took his eyes off of her.
“Don’t think I don’t see what going on.” Nine Fingers glared at the sleeping figure.
“What?” Walking Bear startled out of his inattentive state. “What are you talking about?”
“You like her. I can tell. My brother, she will bring evil to you.”
“She’s not evil. If she was, she would tell us what she knew about the Skin Walker.”
“That’s if she is telling the truth. What if she is his partner and she is helping him find the tribes to destroy? What if she just entices warriors like us and leads us to our death?”
“You are loco, Nine Fingers. She is only a girl.”
“Don’t be deceived by her empty tears and pretty face, Walking Bear.” Nine Fingers stood up and picked up his lance. “I will stand guard tonight.”
“Wait, I want to hear what happened with the wolf.” Nine Fingers sighed and sat back down.
“I jumped on him and stabbed him in the shoulder with my knife. I didn’t think I inflicted much of an injury on him, but he stopped and then half-ran and half-limped back into the trees.”
“You must have hit him really deep and severed something.”
“That’s just it. I don’t think I did, and I got the impression that he was faking the injury.”
“Why would he fake it? If he has invincible power like Lina says, he could have easily killed you.”
“I know that. Why didn’t he kill me? Why let me go?”
“He wanted you to come back to us! He intended to follow you and then us back to the tribe.”
“Then we can’t go back.” Nine Fingers stared off into the inky darkness.
Chapter Two
Lina was the last one to wake the next morning. Walking Bear squatted next to her and touched her arm. Lina jumped up, producing a knife from somewhere and waved it wildly about.
“Whoa, put that down!” He squeezed her wrist until she released the knife. “If you are going to try and kill someone with that knife, you need to learn how to handle it.”
“I know how.”
“Didn’t appear that way to me.” Lina glared at his back as he walked away.
“Give me my knife back.”
“This is an unusual knife.” He turned it over in his hands. “I’ve never seen another like it. The blade is not antlers or stone or even bone.” The sun caught the glint on the blade and reflected his countenance back to him.
“It’s called steel. Flexible, but deadly.”
A trail of blood dripped off his finger as he ran it along the edge of the blade.
“Sharp!” The admiration on his face was easy for Lina to see.
“Would it help for you to have my knife?”
“Help me? What do you mean?”
“Kill someone. Would it help you kill someone?” The meager morning sunlight gleamed off her eyes.
“Your eyes aren’t black.” Walking Bear blurted. “They’re just really dark brown.”
“That pleases you that I don’t have black eyes? Why?”
“It doesn’t matter whether you have black eyes; they remind me of a raven’s eyes, full of mystery and wisdom. I have never seen eyes as dark as yours.”
“And I have never seen an eye color like yours, rimmed in gold like sunshine around the dark earth.” Walking Bear longed to reach out and touch her to reassure himself that she was a real person and not a spirit sent to torment him.
“Who are you going to kill?” Nine Fingers spat on the ground. “I heard you say something about killing someone.”
“Lina wanted to know if her knife would help me kill someone.” Walking Bear handed the knife handle first to Nine Fingers who weighed the knife carefully in both hands.
“Where did you get this?” Nine Fingers leaned closer to Lina until his face was inches from hers. Lina didn’t cower or step back; instead she raised her chin defiantly.
“It belonged to my father and his grandfather before him. It was a gift from a pale-faced man from the other side of the moon.”
“You lie!” Nine Fingers hands snaked out to her neck as Walking Bear pulled him back.
“Leave her be! How do you know she lies? You are blinded by hatred of her.”
“And you are blinded by her beauty and the spell she has cast on you. Have you forgotten the Skin Walker that follows us? She led him to us!”
“I didn’t ask you to save me! You should have let him kill me. I told you that.” She looked for confirmation from Walking Bear.
“She did tell me to leave her, Nine Fingers. The decision was mine. The consequences for that decision are mine. Whatever happens I will have to live with that burden on my soul.”
Nine Fingers threw the knife blade down in the soft dirt, and the handle quivered as he stomped off.
“He is frightened and angry. Ignore him.” Walking Bear bent down and retrieved the knife and placed it in her outstretched hand.
“He should be frightened.” She carefully placed the knife in a leather sheath around her waist.
The route they took was straight up the mountainside, deep in the dense trees. Walking Bear and Nine Fingers walked ahead leading the horses, and Lina followed several paces behind them.
“Keep up or we will leave you.” Nine Fingers didn’t even bother to look her way. Lina kept climbing, her breathing more and more labored until finally Walking Bear stopped at a small stream.
Lina dropped to her knees by the stream and splashed cold water on her face.
“Where are we going?”
“It’s not for you to know.” Nine Fingers pulled the horses into the darkest shadows of the trees, keeping his eyes on her bowed figure by the water.
The sharp shrill cry of a raven pierced the air. Lina grabbed Walking Bear’s hand and frantically pulled him into the deep underbrush at the edge of the water. Her soft hand covered his eyes as she squeezed her own eyelids together.
“Squawk, squawk.” The sound was closer and closer. Lina held her breath.
“Squawk, squawk.” The raven was farther off now and in a different direction. Walking Bear opened his eyes under her hand.
“Shhh, the c
ry of a raven can be heard from less than a mile away. Close your eyes and stay still. He can sense your eyes on him.” Lina’s whispered words next to Walking Bear’s ear sent a tingle across his body.
Lina dropped her hand from Walking Bear’s face and peered out of the brownish underbrush. Her eyes followed the stream to the horizon, across the tall brown cattails waving on the banks, and finally to the lush trees to the side and behind them.
“We need to go. Now!” She grabbed his hand, and they ran to the trees, not stopping for Nine Fingers but motioning him to follow them. Their flight was quiet, swift, and steadfast. Lina led them zigzagging back and forth from hills to mountains, always under the cover of the trees. They stopped for nothing, not food or water or to empty their bladders.
The blanketing darkness finally forced the trio to a stop. Lina walked around and around the area, looking behind rocks and shrubs.
“Come.” She led them into a small opening that led to larger cave. The horses balked at coming inside the complete blackness of the cave.
“You must not be afraid. Trust me.” Lina stroked the horses’ downy snouts, laying her head against their foreheads. She walked into the cave, and both of the horses obediently followed her.
“How did you do that? It’s like you talked to them.” Nine Fingers struggled to see Lina’s face as they went deeper into the mountain.
“I did.” That was all Lina would say to either of them. It was too dim to see what Lina was doing, but her even breathing soon led them to believe she was sleeping, and they fell, back to back, into an exhausted sleep as well.
Without the light of the sun, morning felt like night. “Lina, are you awake?” One of the horses nickered, and Walking Bear pawed a horsetail out of his face.
“I’m awake. Grab my hand.”
“Where are you? Keep talking.” Walking Bear found her and ran his hands down the cool rock wall until it connected with her glossy hair.
“Grab my hand.” Lina’s warm hand squeezed his.
“Nine Fingers, where are you.”
“Keep walking to my voice. I am near the opening.” Lina and Walking Bear followed the walls of the cave with their hands, blinded to everything but the darkness.
Darkness Echoes: A Spooky YA Short Story Collection Page 16
