by Kevin Tinto
Now, any time Leah returned after a longer-than-normal absence, K’aalógii ran to her in hopes of getting another handful of Corn Nuts. This time however, the girl didn’t have her hands out for the special treat; instead, she seemed more flushed and excited than normal, grinning as if she’d decoded the key to the universe.
She spoke in Navajo, including a mix of Apache and Pueblo words. “I know why you have been gone!”
Leah didn’t know if she should be amused, or alarmed. K’aalógii always asked Leah where she went when she ‘disappeared.’ To which Leah typically replied vaguely that she was ‘looking after’ the Ancients. Now she responded with what she hoped was a noncommittal facial expression. “You do?”
“You’re preparing for our arrival into the Fifth Domain.”
Leah blinked. This was the first time K’aalógii or any of the Ancients had mentioned anything that might relate to mythology.
“The ‘Fifth Domain’?”
K’aalógii spun and pointed at Appanoose.
The shaman was watching from below, no doubt grasping, if not hearing, the gist of their discussion. He locked eyes with Leah, his expression one of undeniable disapproval. Appanoose forced his way through the warriors and climbed swiftly up the deer trail toward Leah and K’aalógii. As he neared them, he signaled that K’aalógii should approach him. When she did, he laid a gentle hand on her shoulder and guided her a few steps away.
“Hey,” Leah said loudly in plain English. “Hey! I’m having a conversation here.”
No response from Appanoose.
“Just because you’re a big fish in a small pond,” she continued inanely in English, “don’t think you can just interrupt my discussions at any time.”
He responded with a withering glare, then turned his attention back to K’aalógii, kneeling and whispering to her at eye-level. Leah thought he sounded more like a patient teacher instructing a student than an authority figure scolding an errant child. K’aalógii listened attentively, eyes wide.
Appanoose stood and regarded Leah, his countenance now merely a disapproving scowl, absent of all menace. He turned and strolled back down to the Settlement, strutting in a manner that seemed custom-made for the approval of his followers.
Arrogant jerk.
Leah felt the small hand of K’aalógii taking hers.
“Doo shił bééhózin da,” she said, her eyes downcast.
“But why?”
“He says I can only speak of the ‘Fifth Domain’ with him. It is only for us.” K’aalógii nodded, as if agreeing with her great leader. “We are special.”
Leah smiled her approval. “You didn’t need to tell me that.”
K’aalógii beamed and giggled, then wrapped her arms around Leah and embraced her tightly enough to squeeze the air out of Leah’s lungs. Another reminder that the Ancients inhabiting the modern world bore only a surface resemblance to those who’d lived on these mesa tops and in the cliff dwellings a thousand years prior.
Garrett Moon emerged from a thick grove of piñon, his arms loaded with a stack of firewood. Two fierce femmes and one male warrior followed, also heavily laden.
Leah pointed at Garrett and told K’aalógii, “Go help Moon carry the firewood.”
K’aalógii bolted toward Garrett, dust kicking up from the rear of her bare feet, at a pace a world-class sprinter couldn’t hope to match. Leah jogged behind her down the sandy path, intercepting Garrett as he dropped the load of wood under a sandstone overhang. Leah spoke in a whisper to K’aalógii in Navajo, telling her to warm herself at the fire and dangling the promise of a ‘ch’iyáán spéshelígíí,’ a special treat, for her later.
K’aalógii bolted away. She appeared healthy and happy. Leah was having a difficult time matching up the information she’d gotten from Gordon with what she was witnessing right now.
Once K’aalógii was out of range, Leah filled Garrett in on the meeting with Gordon, his findings, and the need to get K’aalógii to Holloman for testing. And their concerns about Appanoose.
She saved the worst for last. “The bottom line is, our dream for the Settlement was righteous but fatally flawed. These people are every bit as intelligent as we are—the idea that we might create a version of the San Diego Zoo on steroids, was naive and cruel.” She placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Garrett. I know this is an experience that I can’t even fathom. A chance for a modern Navajo to interact with living ancestors.”
Garrett nodded. “I saw this coming.” He sighed as he took a glance at the shaman. “I have a feeling if Appanoose had been a warrior and chief a little later in our history, things might have turned out a whole lot different.”
“Well,” said Leah, “unless we can think of something, and think of it fast, we’ll repeat history in a matter of hours. If Appanoose refuses to release K’aalógii, then Gordon has no choice but report the Ancients are undergoing non-human, physiological changes. Wheeler and his crew will send in a team of special ops thugs; they’ll make the same assumptions that we have, that they’re harmless cave dwellers who’ll scatter at the sight of a flare gun. But what they won’t believe is that Appanoose and his warriors could easily ‘ghost’ an entire platoon of commandos before they knew what happened.”
Garrett nodded again. “Of that I have no doubt.” He paused for a moment, clearly hesitant to say something. Then he said it. “I have to get you out of here, before that happens.”
“No, we both have to get out of here—and try and save as many as we can. Somehow.”
Garrett Moon shook his head. “I’m not leaving, Leah. These are my people. I know they won’t submit. They survived a last-stand nearly a thousand years ago, and I feel with every strand of my Navajo DNA that they won’t be captured again.”
***
Leah stood, arms crossed, watching as the Ancients heated river stones on a fire next to the newly constructed sweat lodge. She was still devastated by what Garrett had said only hours ago: I’m not leaving, Leah. These are my people.
She didn’t have the emotional strength to do battle with him this evening. She’d approach him in the morning, and then contact Jack on the satellite phone with the news. Of course, the worst-case scenario might be delayed for days or weeks if she took K’aalógii back to Holloman with her. But instinct told her that Appanoose would reply to their plan to take K’aalógii away for testing with his standard headshake: No Chance.
In another ironic development this day, the Settlement hadn’t had enough skins to finish constructing the sweat lodge, so Appanoose had rifled through Leah’s gear bags, finding two large plastic tarps and layering them on top of one another to cover the dome-shaped pine structure.
The sweat lodge that the shaman and his people had completed was classic Lakota. An earthen rise and fire pit just outside the door flap: the fire representing the sun and the mound of earth representing a crescent moon. The sun and moon mounds together represented the universe, the sweat lodge the earthbound world. Lakota sweat lodges were serious business; inside, participants underwent rebirth.
When the stones surrounding the fire were nearly as hot as the fire itself, the Ancients lifted the stones out with two lodge poles and quickly transported them into the center of the sweat lodge. Once each stone was positioned in the center of the lodge, the warriors exited, and dipped the poles into a shallow depression filled with water. This prevented the poles from burning while transporting the next, blistering hot stone.
Garrett shouldered up next to Leah. “I stuck my face inside the lodge this afternoon. There’s no way we’d survive inside. It’s at least thirty-degrees hotter than any lodge I’ve ever been in—more like a sauna—at least a hundred and thirty, maybe a hundred and fifty degrees.”
Leah shook her head in disbelief. Ten minutes in a sauna made her dizzy. A sweat lodge ceremony continued for hours and hours.
“Appa
noose seems to be taking the Ancients into the lodge five at a time. How long has this been going on?”
“They finished building the lodge about noon—so maybe ten hours now.”
“In ten hours, he’s taken three sets of five Ancients inside for a purification ritual? How long does each ritual last?”
“Two hours—sometimes more.”
“So Appanoose has spent at least six of the last ten hours in that heat? How can he survive temperatures that would cook us inside out?”
Garrett gave Leah a sideways glance. “From what I can tell, he started with the youngest first. K’aalógii was in the first group.”
Leah was stunned that Appanoose would risk subjecting his people, especially young K’aalógii, to such dangerous temperatures.
“When I got back to the Settlement, K’aalógii was bubbling with excitement. She couldn’t wait to tell me about the ‘Fifth Domain’ and how I was destined to guide them to their destination. You saw Appanoose. He wasn’t at all pleased that she was telling me this. I thought maybe she was just trying to make sense of it all—using Indian mythology to explain what had happened to them.”
Garrett said, “I’ve noticed the Ancients who have gone through the ritual look more like they’ve attended a religious revival. Baptized in the pond, or whatever. At first, I thought they were just happy to get out of that oven…. Now I’m not sure.”
Leah studied the lodge as the warriors continued to heat rocks, then stack them inside. “Appanoose knows a whole lot more than he lets on—and more than the others in the Settlement. Whatever he’s telling them inside is boosting their hope for the future.”
Garrett nodded. “He’d make a pretty good Charlie Manson. He’s got that kind of charisma, and he knows how to manipulate people—including you and me.”
“I’m wondering what exactly Appanoose is handing out inside the lodge while the flap is down. You think they are getting high on cactus?”
“The only peyote I know of is up around Smith River. That’s a long-ass haul from here. But we know the Ancients can run like the wind, and if their sense of smell is improving at a similar rate….” Garrett shrugged. “If Appanoose wanted ‘buttons,’ he’d probably find ’em without much trouble.” He turned to her. “What’s your plan?”
“Tomorrow morning we’ll have a sit-down with Appanoose. We have to convince him to allow us to ‘borrow’ K’aalógii from the Settlement for testing, perhaps treatment. If he won’t cooperate, I wouldn’t give a nickel for our chances of surviving the next forty-eight hours.”
Chapter 11
At first light, Leah took Garrett aside. “Whatever we do, I don’t want to piss him off. We want to be firm on K’aalógii, but not combative. He’s got to understand their bodies are undergoing changes he can’t explain. For K’aalógii, the ‘changes’ could be dangerous. I want you to handle the discussion. Your language skills are way better than mine, and you can remain calm no matter what he says.”
Garrett flashed a grin. “Don’t piss him off? Is that even possible when you two mix it up around the fire?”
Leah ignored the comment. “Go over there and get us a meeting like a boss.”
Garrett walked over, gesturing his desire to engage in a private discussion. He leaned in to Appanoose and whispered, making the same sort of hand signs and movements that Leah had seen him use on other occasions when engaging with the leader.
Garrett turned and waved her over. He’d gotten an agreement for a private discussion. When Appanoose beckoned, Leah advanced toward his fire. After watching Appanoose ‘preaching’ to the Ancients, she’d christened his over-sized fire pit and circle of cut logs the Shaman’s Basilica.
Once seated, Appanoose motioned to one of the warriors who stood a respectful distance away. The young man suddenly appeared at the shaman’s side. Appanoose whispered in his ear. The warrior backed reverently away, turned, and chose several choice pieces of firewood from the wood pile, adding them one by one. The fire grew with each new piece of wood, warming the sitting area against the near-freezing temperatures.
When Appanoose was ready, he gave his standard sharp nod.
Garrett leaned forward and spoke in precise Navajo. Appanoose nodded sharply each time Garrett made a point.
Leah understood much of what Garrett said: a soft-spoken plea to allow Leah to take K’aalógii away from the Settlement for, at most, a few days. He hit all the key points, and Leah was encouraged each time Appanoose gave one of his sharp head nods while Garrett addressed the changes taking place within the Ancients’ bodies.
When Garrett sat back, he invited Appanoose to reply. The shaman spoke in rapid-fire Navajo, far too fast for Leah to follow, using his hands as he spoke to convey key points.
When he stopped, Leah leaned over and asked, “Is it just me, or did his Navajo get a whole lot better just now?”
Garrett nodded. “Uh, yeah. Turns out his Navajo is pretty good.”
Bastard Lakota has been sandbagging us the entire time, Leah thought, but maintained an even expression. “I only caught a word here and there. I heard him saying, ‘Inipi,’ with almost every headshake. That’s the Lakota term for a sweat-lodge rebirth, right?”
“Yeah. He had a few things to say about the lodge,” Garrett said. “He agreed to allow you to take K’aalógii for two days—no more.”
Leah couldn’t hold back the overwhelming relief. “Thank God,” she said, breathing into her hands while rocking back and forth.
“But….”
“What?”
“He wants quid pro quo,” Garrett said.
Leah froze. If the shaman wanted something in exchange for allowing K’aalógii out of the Settlement, it wouldn’t be extra sugar for his coffee.
“I couldn’t possibly guess…. Tell me.”
“You have to do a re-birth ritual with him. Privately.”
“The sweat lodge? There’s no way! Not as hot as he makes it. I wouldn’t last three minutes in there, much less two or three hours.”
Appanoose pointed directly at Leah. “Inipi!”
Before Garrett could object, she held up a hand, cleared her throat, and said, “Lą́’ąą.”
Appanoose gave a little extra snap to his single head nod upon Leah’s sudden agreement to his terms. He leaned forward, addressing her directly and said one word. “Kičháǧa.”
“Bee ánáádí’ní,” Leah replied. A basic Navajo term meaning she didn’t understand, or grasp what he was communicating.
“Kičháǧa,” he repeated.
Leah glanced over at Garrett in frustration and whispered in English, “I don’t have a clue what he’s saying.”
Garrett leaned over and whispered, “Pretty sure that’s Lakota, not Navajo.”
Leah felt a flush of irritation. “Why is he jerking me around? He speaks Navajo.”
“Could be he doesn’t know the term in Navajo.” Garrett pulled back and grinned. “More likely, since you’re the big cheese, he thinks you ought to speak Lakota.”
Leah kept an eye on Appanoose. “He really enjoys pushing my buttons.”
Garrett nodded. “And he’s gotten damned good at it, too.”
Appanoose extended an arm and pointed south. “Kičháǧa!” He sat back on the logs, looking more irritated than Leah felt, if that were even possible.
Clearly frustrated, the shaman drew a deep breath, pointed south again, and sounded out a different word: “Ant-Arc-Tikke.”
Leah looked to Garret, then back at the shaman, dumbfounded. He knows the modern name of the bloody continent? Apparently, he listens as well as he speaks.
Garrett shrugged. “Sounds to me like he wants you to deliver him back to Antarctica.”
Chapter 12
Only one person aside from Gordon was more relieved that Appanoose had allowed K’aalógii out of the Settlement: Jack Hobson. Aft
er a restless night on base, he’d gotten a satellite phone call from Leah at noon. Saying that she’d hiked to the mesa top, Leah proceeded breathlessly to tell Jack that Appanoose had agreed. K’aalógii could be returned to the Settlement within two days. ‘The fact that he agreed, without conditions is a miracle in my opinion, Climber,’ were her exact words.
Leah told Jack to have the Black Hawk at the supply Landing Zone no later three that afternoon. She didn’t want to allow Appanoose time to change his mind.
Jack glanced at his watch. It was two-thirty and he was the only passenger aboard the Black Hawk. This time, Hutchinson and Cruz flew their approach by the numbers, coming in from the north and staying low over the treetops. Finally, the Black Hawk flared into a hover, and Hutchinson worked the Black Hawk skids, landing dead center of the SLZ. Jack waited until crew chief Sergeant Bruce had given him the ‘all clear’ before hopping out of the Black Hawk and onto the grass.
Before he had time to stretch his legs, Leah braked the quad to a stop at the SLZ perimeter. K’aalógii sat behind Leah on the quad, holding on tight around Leah’s waist, the oversized helmet down over her eyes.
Leah swung her leg over the front of the quad and slid off, grabbed K’aalógii, and lifted her off. K’aalógii wore her native clothing. This time of year, at this altitude, temperatures were crisp, even during the day. Today it was in the low 40s, but K’aalógii wore no skin boots or moccasins.
Though Leah had described this particular superhuman trait in detail, Jack still couldn’t help but stare at the barefoot child in the near-freezing temperatures. Leah grasped K’aalógii’s hand and walked toward the Black Hawk, waving at Jack and smiling at the same time. K’aalógii seemed totally at ease, seemingly having assimilated into the high-tech, modern world without effort.
