The Sky People
Page 11
“Whenever I pass this sector, I will send you a signal.” He pointed. “When you see it light up here, you will know it’s me.”
River wiped a tear back from her cheek. “I will send a kiss into the sky when I see it.”
“I will catch it.”
Tom kissed a finger and then touched it to her cheek as he smiled at her in a way that meant the world. She returned a smile that meant the world.
The two chiefs stood when Tom went to meet them. He locked arms with both men in turn.
“We will miss you,” River’s father said.
“We will miss you, and we will always remember what you have done for us,” Chief Three Fingers said.
Chief Standing Bear lifted his chin. “We will remember you longer.”
Everyone in earshot laughed. Both chiefs laughed.
“Commander,” the female voice River remembered all too well crackled from inside Tom’s mask. “You’re coming up on the quarantine window. Have you straightened out the situation down there?”
“Yes,” he said, confidently. “Everything has been set right. But a remarkable woman named Raging River did most of the work. When I get back up to my ship, I’ll upload the event recorder and let you see it all for yourself.”
“All right, Commander. Commit to the lift on my mark.”
“Roger, Control.”
“What is that word? ‘Commander’?” Chief Three Fingers asked River.
“I think it means the same as chief,” River told him.
He nodded solemnly. “We are honored to have been visited by the Sky People chief,” he told Tom.
Tom clapped him on a shoulder and then turned to sweep an arm out. “Please, everyone, I need a little space.”
River helped urge people back out of the way, then turned and stood alone to watch.
Commander Tom stepped to the center of the cleared area as he took a last look around. Then he pressed the side of his mask and in an instant the black face covering came down.
As he stood, arms at his side, everyone waiting in rapt silence, the muffled female voice came from inside his mask.
“Lift locked in, Commander. Ready… mark.”
A bright star appeared high up in the daytime sky, bright enough to make everyone look up. People oohed and aahed.
Then the whole world seemed to shudder. Dust blew outward in an expanding ring.
A thin thread that looked like a cloud shot up into the sky. When River looked back, Tom was gone. She heard a boom shake the buildings.
And then the star winked out and was gone.
Chapter 24
River took Morning Flower’s little hand in hers. “Careful. This part is steep and there are a lot of loose rocks. I don’t want you to fall.”
Her little sister held tight to River’s hand. “I won’t,” she protested. “I’m not as little as you think. I know what I’m doing.”
River had to laugh to herself, wondering if that was the way she appeared to her parents.
Flower was excited to be on an outing with her big sister that took them days away from their village and adult supervision. Big Dog watched her every step, looking ready to grab her clothes in his teeth and help hold her up if need be.
It was the least tense River had ever felt away from home. Until the peace, she would have had to think hard about making such a journey. Hunts were always a nerve-racking affair. For once she didn’t have to constantly look over her shoulder.
After the Wolf People and the Sun People made peace, other people soon found out and wanted to join in and reap the benefits. Everyone was only too happy to have peace treaties. They were always marked with a great feast.
Still, Walking Stag worried for them on their journey. He said that anything could happen. They could fall, they could be attacked by a boar or a bear. So, he had come with them to watch over everyone. He mostly watched over River. She couldn’t say she didn’t like him watching over her.
“Hurry,” Laughing Fox called down to them as she motioned with her hand. “The view from up here is unbelievable!”
Chief Three Fingers’s daughter and River were quickly becoming steadfast friends. Both being the daughters of chiefs, they had a lot of similarities. Especially the common complaints about their fathers and how overly protective they were, but at the same time, how much they both respected the wisdom of their chiefs.
River and Flower finally reached the broad ledge where Laughing Fox waited. Together they gazed out across the world under a bright, baking sun. It seemed they could look forever. It was a beautiful sight, but what interested River the most, and the reason for their journey, was the smooth wall of reddish rock behind them under a protective overhang.
This was the place where people came to tell the story of their people with pictures drawn on the stone. River had quite the story to draw on the wall. Flower, too, was eager to tell a story.
It was considered a mark of importance to have drawn something on the wall. Everyone approached the honor with great respect and reverence. This day, they came to the task with the blessing of their chiefs. They had been charged with leaving a record of the most important event in their lives.
Laughing Fox was excited to tell of the peace between peoples. All the pictures already drawn on the wall were done with great restraint, saving the most important events in the lives of their people to be presented for all time. They would do the same.
As they began to carve their drawings into the soft stone, Big Dog curled up in a sunny spot for a nap. Walking Stag stood leaning with both hands on his spear as he looked out over the world while the three of them went about marking out their drawings in a nice clear spot.
River was particularly pleased to see Flower’s drawing, down low to the side. There was a stick figure to one side, and a smaller stick figure to the other.
“This one is you, River,” she said. “This one is me.”
“I can see that,” River said.
Flower put her finger on the figure in the middle with the big round head, holding both their hands.
“This is Tom,” Flower said.
River smiled. She couldn’t help but look up into the sky.
And then she began to carve out her own drawing of the Sky People, and her drawing of Tom in his big mask that looked like a big round head in the drawings.
Together, they spent the afternoon drawing their stories. Later in the afternoon, Walking Stag came back to tell them that he had caught some fish they could have for their evening meal. He had even made a fire and started the fish.
As he walked past the drawings, he studied them carefully.
“Your picture of Tom is very good, River.”
“Thank you. He was an amazing Sky man.”
“He taught me how to fight a war and kill people if I had to. You made it so that I didn’t have to. I am thankful that you are our priestess.”
“Me too,” Laughing Fox said. “She made peace between our people and now none of us has to worry about fighting and killing.”
“I will miss Tom,” Flower said.
River’s fingertips touched her own picture of him that she had carved into the wall. He looked so handsome in his dark clothes and big round head mask.
She had only known him for two days. He would be in her heart as long as she lived.
For all time, now, the drawing of Commander Tom would be protected there for all people to see, both her picture, and Flower’s of Tom holding hands with each of them.
Laughing Fox drew a picture of the two chiefs at peace, hunting together, chasing a buck with bows and arrows.
It was good to have such a record for people who would come after them.
River checked the armband, as she had so often since Tom had left.
There was no signal.
Tom belonged to the sky, now.
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TERRY GOODKIND has been a wildlife artist, a cabinetmaker, a racing driver and a violin maker. He lives in the desert in Nevada.
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The Sword of Truth series follows Richard Cypher, a young woodsman intent on tracking down his father's murderer. His quest will take him far from home, embroiling him in an ancient war, three-millennia past, that is about to re-ignite with world-shattering violence.
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First published in the United Kingdom in 2018 by Head of Zeus Ltd
Copyright © Terry Goodkind, 2018
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ISBN 9781789544015
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