Father Charles wrapped his hand around the woman's destrier's reins and said, "You just get up on your destrier and let's go. I know how you young fellas are. Follow your little captains into battle every time. Not on my watch. No sirree."
Jem climbed up onto his saddle and said, "I'm not trying to quarrel with you, padre. Listen, how about we not go pointing fingers at each other?"
The preacher looked at him sideways, seeing Jem's earnest expression except for the slight spark of mischief in his eyes. He shook his head and said, "You can seriously kiss my righteous ass."
Chapter 17: Personal Jesus
Comee woke all of them up before dawn with various orders. Some of the men were sent out to collect as many large branches as they could find, while others were detailed to begin digging a pit in the hard desert floor. The three boys headed toward the thicket of barren and barbed trees but Toquame Keewassee called out to Haienwa'tha to wait. "Where are you going?"
Haienwa'tha looked at the other two and said, "Comee told us to gather firewood."
"No, he told them to gather firewood. You come with me," Keewassee said. "They won't mind. We have more important things to do than pick up sticks."
Thathanka-Ska watched his brother run back to the taller warrior and grimaced. "Why are we doing it if it isn't important?"
"I think he's making a sweat lodge," Lakhpia-Sha said. "The pit is for the stones and the fire. At least that's what it looks like, because something is wrong." When the younger boy asked him what it was, the apprentice said, "All sweat lodges are supposed to face the sun as it rises. Where he's building it, the mountains will cast their shade on him."
"If he's doing it wrong, you should tell him," Thathanka-Ska said.
The older boy shrugged as he bent down to pick up a long stick, "What do I know?"
"What makes you say that? Did Mahpiya teach you how to make a sweat lodge?"
"Yes."
"Did he say it had to face the sun and be out of the shadows?"
"Yes."
"Then you are disrespecting his teachings by not correcting someone who is doing it wrong."
"And what do you think Keewassee will say when I show him up in front of all his warriors? 'Thank you, meaningless worm. Without you, I would have looked like a fool?' No. I think he'll skin my hide for the insult and wear it like a coat."
Thathanka-Ska looked back at the man, who was now standing so close to Haienwa'tha that he was able to lay his hand on the boy's shoulder. The two of them were smiling and nodding. Telling each other secret things that only they knew. Things that made Haienwa'tha laugh and the older man smile, even as the sight of it twisted in Thathanka-Ska's chest like a barbed spear. "I don't think you're a meaningless worm," Thathanka-Ska whispered. "And I would not allow anyone else to say that, either. Least of all him."
Lakhpia-Sha finished loading his arms up with sticks and said, "Stop being so dramatic. I just meant that it isn't my place to tell our new Chief what to do."
Thathanka-Ska saw a large stick on the ground that was perfect for kindling. He made sure no one was looking as he stepped on it with one foot and kicked it with the other to break it in half.
Once the pit was dug and the long sticks assembled to form a canopy over them, the men soaked their blankets in the water of the nearby stream and carried them back to hang them on the structure. A fire was lit outside of the lodge and several of the men threw large stones into the flames until they smoked and glowed red. They shoveled the rocks out of the fire and threw them into the pit inside the lodge.
Toquame Keewassee watched all of this with solemn approval, and when there were enough rocks inside the lodge, he held up his hand to stop the work. "Behold, brothers. I go to communicate with our ancestors and seek their wisdom." He stripped out of his clothes and stood naked as Comee lit a bundled stick of sage and blew on it until it started to smoke. Keewassee held out his arms to let the smoke roll over him, then waved more and more of it toward him. He pulled back the blankets and ducked inside the lodge.
All of the other men moved away from the lodge and sat on the ground, waiting for their leader to emerge once more. Thathanka-Ska leaned close to Lakhpia-Sha and said, "Did they do that correctly?"
The older boy shook his head and said, "But maybe their way is just different than ours."
Thathanka-Ska looked up at the sun, now fully in the sky. The makeshift sweat lodge was covered in shadows from the hills above. The wet blankets were starting to steam.
***
For two hours the Pwatsak warrior sat within the lodge while his men waited outside. Some of them played games with stones in the dirt and others tended to their gear by sharpening their blades or re-tying their satchels.
Thathanka-Ska was tired of sitting and he got up to inspect the camp. All of the warriors were hard looking men with battle-scarred torsos. He looked on in disgust at their rifles that were decorated with long wooden stocks decorated with locks of flowing hair. Black hair, Thathanka-Ska thought. Beothuk hair.
There was a cart at the rear of the camp that he hadn't seen before, and the destrier it was attached to munched contentedly on a patch of tall grass. He patted the animal on its nose as he passed toward the side of the cart and lifted the blanket covering the contents inside. It was a cache of weapons. Not like the guns the men carried, but advanced rifles with electronic gauges and scopes. Boxes of grenades and rocket launchers. Thathanka-Ska whistled softly before he put the blanket back over the cart and headed back to find his brother.
The men around the sweat lodge were in an uproar. Dark smoke was billowing out of the sweat lodge and small flames danced across the surface of the blankets that spread in the wind and flared.
They could hear Toquame Keewassee coughing inside the lodge and several of the men tried to tear away the flaming blankets but could not get close enough. Suddenly, there was a crash of sticks and Keewassee burst through the side of the lodge, sending the entire thing collapsing onto itself. He rolled on the ground and burning bits of charred wood were stuck to his flesh that his men rushed forward to pluck off of him.
As he laid there coughing and trying to catch his breath, he whispered, "I have passed the final test."
He sat up and covered himself with a blanket and gratefully accepted water from one of his men. He downed the cup quickly and wiped his mouth, his face covered in black soot, but his wide smile white and pointed beneath it. "I saw your father," he said to Haienwa'tha. "He came to me and told me that I was to lead his people into the new lands, but that first I must prove myself to you. He reached into his medicine bag and cast fiery dust at the walls of the sweat lodge and he told me that I must escape unaided. It was Thasuka-Witko who started the fire, and it was he who showed me the way out."
The men nodded and murmured to one another at Keewassee's words. Lakhpia-Sha looked to Haienwa'tha, who was also staring at the man with wide eyes. Haienwa'tha stood to his feet and said, "It is true. You are the one."
"Yes, I am," Toquame Keewassee said. He held out his arms toward Haienwa'tha and said, "Come to me, little brother. Embrace the chosen leader of your people."
Haienwa'tha stepped toward the man, lifting his arms to return the embrace when Thathanka-Ska shouted, "No!" He pushed his way through the crowd, yelling his brother's name, telling him it could not be true.
"Shut your mouth," Haienwa'tha hissed.
"It isn't him!" Thathanka-Ska shouted. "It can't be."
"Everything Thasuka-Witko said has come to pass. Even your doubts," Haienwa'tha said.
"This isn't right," Thathanka-Ska said.
Toquame Keewassee wrapped the blanket around his waist and said, "Do you challenge my authority over you, little one?"
Thathanka-Ska turned to the larger man and looked him over. The long braid that swung down over his finely muscled chest and his thickly muscled arms. He was at least a foot taller than Thathanka-Ska and nearly twice as wide.
"I do," the boy whispered.
"No!" Haie
nwa'tha shouted. He grabbed his little brother and yanked him back, "Grab your things and go."
"Too late!" Toquame Keewassee said.
"He is just a boy!" Haienwa'tha said.
"Will you defy me as well?"
Haienwa'tha looked at the man, then turned his head to the ground and said, "No, my Chief."
"Good," Keewassee said. He pushed past Haienwa'tha and glared at Thathanka-Ska. "Pick your weapon. Rifles? Tomahawks?"
Thathanka-Ska made fists with his hands and said, "Unlike you, I am not so eager to shed Beothuk blood. Fight me as you are and I will make you renounce your claim to my tribe."
The men around him whooped with laughter in surprise and even Toquame Keewassee smiled as he threw off his blanket and said, "You speak brave words, boy. Come. Show me what you are made of."
Thathanka-Ska ran at the man swinging, howling with all the rage that had been bottled up inside of him for days. He swung wildly and connected with Keewassee's jaw, trying to cave in all of his teeth with one blow. The older warrior's head jerked sideways but he quickly recovered and shoved Thathanka-Ska backwards. "You little son of a whore," he whispered, touching the side of his mouth and seeing blood on his fingers.
Thathanka-Ska ran back at him, trying to hit him again, but Keewassee was ready and kicked the boy in the gut with his heel. When Thathanka-Ska lurched forward to gasp for air, the Pwatsak warrior slapped him across the face so hard he staggered sideways and fell straight down. Toquame Keewassee straddled Thathanka-Ska and grabbed a handful of the boy's hair to pull his face up from the ground and delivered a punishing strike to the center of his nose. Blood splashed Thathanka-Ska's cheeks. He punched him viciously again and again until the boy stopped moving except to lay on the ground and twitch.
Lakhpia-Sha looked at Haienwa'tha, silently pleading with him to intervene.
"He made his decision," Haienwa'tha whispered. He could not look away and with every blow struck against the boy's face, he flinched like it was happening to him.
When it was finished, several men wrapped the boy in a blanket and carried him over to the fire. Haienwa'tha shouted for the men to put him down. Tears filled his eyes as he looked down at Thathanka-Ska's beaten, swollen face and mouth. He grabbed Lakhpia-Sha's arm violently, "Is he?"
The apprentice undid the blanket and put his hand against the boy's chest. "He lives, but I am not sure for how long."
"Do something. Do something for him. Please," Haienwa'tha sputtered. He picked up his brother and clutched him to his chest, his sobs loud enough for every man in the camp to hear.
Toquame Keewassee watched them from across the camp, flexing his hands. They were cut and bruised from striking the boy's face and he worried some of them might be broken. "Send me that boy when he's finished," he said.
Lakhpia-Sha tended to Thathanka-Ska, even as Keewassee's man tried to yank him away. He soaked flat leaves in medicine from his pouch and pressed them to the boy's forehead and face. The tall, thin apprentice came over to Toquame Keewassee and said, "What is it?"
"Mend my hands," Keewassee said.
The boy inspected the injuries and dug into his bag for a small vial. He tapped out several drops from inside of it across Keewassee's knuckles and wrapped them with small strips of cloth. "Try not to move them, and they will be fine," he said.
Keewassee waved him away, "Go now."
"Chief Keewassee, may I ask you a favor?" Lakhpia-Sha said. "I would like to pray for my friend, in case he crosses over. I understand you have great anger toward him, and did what was necessary, but still. It is proper for my prayers to accompany him on his journey and will go toward healing his brother's pain."
Toquame Keewassee looked disgusted and said, "Do whatever you want."
He watched the apprentice head off into the desert and then called Comee over. "I want you to keep an eye on them."
Lakhpia-Sha turned to look back at the others and make sure he was far enough away. He began to chant, starting with a low, guttural moan that sounded like singing. He chanted as he walked and looked for somewhere out of their sight. Somewhere to be alone. Somewhere to dance.
***
Thunder rolled in long and slow over the mountains, a growling, rumbling sound that stirred Thathanka-Ska out of the darkness. He came to under his bundled blanket with leaves and liniments plastered to his face. His mouth was filled with a medicine-taste and he sat up quietly and spit it out. The rest of the men, including his brother, were gathered around Toquame Keewassee, looking out at the gathering storm clouds.
Thathanka-Ska slid out of the blankets, careful not to make any noise. His face hurt. He could feel where it was swollen around his nose and mouth. It hurt his cheeks to squeeze his eyes shut, but nothing was broken and he could breathe. If he could breathe, he could run.
He crept back from his blanket and ducked behind a small, bare desert bush and waited to see if anyone noticed. Lightning speared the sky and as all of the men turned away to look at it Thathanka-Ska seized the moment. He sprinted across the hard soil toward a patch of tall grass in the distance, turning back constantly to make sure that he was both moving away from the men and staying out of their line of sight. He stopped only long enough to catch his breath and find his next place he could run to.
Raindrops as thick as coins struck the dirt around him like tiny meteors. He held up his hand to cover his face as he looked into the desert. The hills where the Hopituh Shi-nu-mu hid were nearly a mile away, but there were smaller rock formations nearby. Thathanka-Ska could make it to them if he was careful. If the storm kept up.
He scurried towards the first of the rocks and whipped himself around the corner, only to leap back in terror at the Beothuk waiting there for him. Lakhpia-Sha grabbed him and covered his mouth to muffle his cry. "Quiet!" he hissed. Thunder cracked overhead and both boys winced, checking the sky to see how close the lighting was from their position. "This isn't right at all. I must have made a mistake."
"You did this?" Thathanka-Ska whispered. "How?"
"I just tried to summon rain, but this happened instead."
"This…this is perfect. Come on."
"Where are we going? We have to wait for Haienwa'tha."
Thathanka-Ska spat the taste of medicine out of his mouth and said, "He isn't coming. If he wants to be with Keewassee so badly, I say let him. We can make it to the ruins and hide with the Hopituh Shi-nu-mu."
"But that means we'll be cast out of the tribe!" Lakhpia-Sha said. "We can never go home."
"He isn't Chief yet," Thathanka-Ska said as he grabbed the older boy's arm and pulled him away from the rock.
***
All of his men scattered, trying to find shelter inside the makeshift sweat lodge or ducking under rocky overhangs from the cliffs behind it. All except him. He looked up at the sky, raising his face to the storm to let the rain pelt him. "I do not fear your forces, Great Spirit," he whispered. "For, I am one of them."
He heard Comee calling his name and watched him come racing across the flatland from the direction of the farthest hills. "I found them! There are old dwellings carved into the cliffs ahead and they are hiding in there."
Keewassee smiled thinly and said, "I knew he would lead us to them. Tell the men to get ready."
"In the storm?" Comee said.
Keewassee shoved him away and said, "Yes, in the storm!" He watched the men begin to crawl out of their hiding places and grab their rifles. He pointed at the covered wagon and said, "Take them instead."
Haienwa'tha came racing toward him, "Where is my brother? Have you found him?"
Toquame Keewassee nodded grimly and said, "Yes. As well as the hiding place of our enemies. The little traitor ran straight to them."
Haienwa'tha swallowed and said, "Really? Where were they?"
"So you continue to insist that you do not already know," Keewassee said with a quick grin. "Regardless, he has done us a service, and I will offer him one last chance to return to us. Do not fear, little brother. I will
not spill the noble blood of Thasuka-Witko unless I am forced to."
The men began smearing their faces with dark paint that ran down across their bare chests in black streaks from the rain. As they began to arm themselves with their rifles, Toquame Keewassee raised his hand and said, "It is time we show our enemies a demonstration of our new power."
Comee barked for the men to break out the large military weapons from the carriage. When they activated the battery packs with the throw of a switch, the rifles whirred and crackled with electricity. "What do we need those for?" Haienwa'tha said.
"These are the weapons of the revolution, Haienwa'tha. Our men need all the practice they can get with them."
"But these are just women and children!"
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