Yet they were contained, I realized. None walked the land. They were locked in another place, hemmed in on all sides by a heavy, ragged white line.
It would seem the Deadlands Gate can be closed, then.
Once done taking photos of that segment, I walked forward, doing my best to understand it. Working on the other pictogram had helped – I recognized some of the same symbolism. But I couldn’t be sure if I was reading into it what I wanted to know or whether I was seeing it for what it was. This will take time, for sure. I’ll need Whitsy’s help.
Moving my flashlight sideways, I saw more of the pictograph, and the five coyotes again. As I took pictures of that, I studied it. Here, human figures accompanied them. One held something shining white in their hand – a light the Ash Walkers cowed away from.
Then I realized what I was looking at.
The figure holding the white stone wasn’t just driving them off, it was placing the light into the side of a mountain. The key to the gate!
“Who can hold light in their hands?” I wondered out loud.
Wind rushed around the cave at that moment, whistling through the cracks, and a barrage of images stitched together in my mind.
We were in the far north, the Coyote Brothers and I, along with a few others. But their faces were hidden from me. Trudging across a vast, white tundra, we were dressed in heavy furs and snacked on dried meat. A Husky panted by my knees, a team of them dragging a sled of supplies.
Night lasted for months. We spent what seemed a year up there, seeking, and searching.
But one night, a full moon shone out of the sky. The Coyote Moon.
Within a beam of moonlight, we found it. The Moonstone.
The key to locking the Ash Walkers away from this world.
As I picked it up, it glowed, and Ben let out a growl.
“Of course it would be you,” he said, trying to smile, even as his eyes grew troubled.
The landscape changed. Fire raged around us, the brothers fighting off Ash Walkers on every side, and I ran, breathing hard. Something lashed at my face, but then Ben was there, stopping it.
Battle raged. Something dark was darting through the trees, full of malice and hate. It wanted the stone and it had sent the Ash Walkers to retrieve it.
But what beast could control those demons? It made no sense…
Later, we had escaped them, but Burr and Cree were injured badly. Clutching the stone, I listened to Cree’s repressed groans as Ben healed him, and prayed he’d live through the night…
“The Deadlands are too dangerous for you!” Ben stormed at me, as dawn crossed the sky. “Last night I almost lost a brother. I’m not losing you. You’re not going. Stay here. We’ll figure it out.”
Furious and hurt, I waited for him to sleep, then slipped away, intent on getting to the Gate…
Ash Walkers pursued me from every side and that malice lurked.
But I knew of a sacred place. A hidden cave where they could not get me. Once inside, all was quiet, and I leaned against the wall, breathing hard.
Suddenly a voice called out from the shadows, calling my name. It was Ben.
“I found you,” he said. His voice was full of relief as he embraced me. “Can you forgive me?”
“You’re impossible…” I murmured and pressed a kiss to his cheek.
We kissed, the heat familiar, and the connection strong.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he said. “I was too hasty, as I always am. But you shouldn’t have run off like that – alone in these woods.” Embracing me, Ben shook his head. “You’re more reckless than I am sometimes, Ila.”
Ila. A nickname.
“Sun” in the Siouan language.
The image shifted; time had passed, and I was saying, “Let’s leave the stone here. We can retrieve it when we’ve figured out a way to get to the Deadlands.”
He nodded and I held it up. Light shot from the stone, etching pictographs on the wall, and then I held it up, and it vanished into the wall.
“Come here,” I told him, placing my hand on the wall, and gesturing for him to do so as well. As he stood next to me, I slid a hand up his back and smiled up at him.
When he placed his hand on the wall, light erupted around our fingers, and when we pulled back, our handprints flashed out, then faded.
“What did you do?” he asked, sounding impressed in spite of himself.
“Made it so that only you or I can free the moonstone. Now come on.” I whispered.
Outside all was quiet. We crept through the woods, holding hands, and Ben looked back to smile at me. He was a fool sometimes, but he was a fool who loved me…
Suddenly, hot breath crossed my neck, and pain lanced through my spine.
I fell.
The last thing I saw was Ben, his hands holding my face, and then darkness…
Opening my eyes, I found my cheeks were wet, and I stared at the wall with wonder. I’d seen into another time, seen the past lives of Ben, his brothers, and me.
And I knew everything that I needed to know.
I was about to place my hand on the wall when a voice broke through and I wondered if I was having another vision.
Turning, I heard it again, full of anguish, and desperation.
“Hazel!”
And Ben stumbled into the room, just as he had once before.
Chapter 16
In three strides, I’d crossed the cavern and pulled Hazel into my arms. I kissed her fiercely and she let out a squeak of surprise. But after what I’d just seen, the hell I’d gone through, I knew that she was right, and I’d been a fool.
“Why do I always put you in a position where you have to forgive me?” I murmured as we broke apart and I stared into her eyes. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Hazel had a strange, remote smile on her face, and I realized she had been crying. There was a faraway look in her blue eyes. “Some habits are hard to break.” She paused, studying me. “You okay?”
“No,” I growled. “Forest is full of Ash Walkers. Three innocents are dead. Pale-Eyed demons are everywhere, too. We have to go – I need to get you back somewhere safe.”
“This is a sacred place, Ben.” She said softly. “We’re safe here.”
“We need to leave, Hazel, now,” I urged, trying to keep my voice even. But the blackened bodies were flashing into my mind and my stomach clenched. “What are you even doing here?”
“I know why they’re here,” Hazel responded, pulling loose, and glancing at the wall. “Rayner was right, they were after something in the cave. Something that was hidden a long time ago.”
“What are you talking about?” A funny sensation crawled along my spine.
“We hid something in here, long ago,” Hazel said, her voice full of triumph. “The key. The one that will turn the tide and drive back the Ash Walkers.”
Letting out a strangled noise of disbelief, I gazed down into those sapphire orbs, wondering if she’d hit her head or something. But they were perfectly clear and lucid. Something suddenly tugged in the back of my mind. A feeling of trying to remember something.
“Come again?” I finally gasped out. “Hazel, you’re freaking me out a little, you know.”
“What, you can shift into a four-legged beast, but you don’t believe in past lives?” Her eyes twinkled at me. “You’ve see the spirit of Old Man Coyote, Akba Atatdia, and don’t think he’s helping still? Look at this wall. Look at these images, Ben. All of this was bigger than both of us.” She paused and then tugged on my shirt. “Although being together feels that way, too.”
Gaping at her, I realized what she was saying, and I glanced at the wall, then at her, and back to the wall. Studying it, I felt that prickle in the back of my mind again.
Something about it did seem familiar…
“You mean… You and me?” A sense of awe was descending on me, along with a burst of warmth, chasing away all my fears and doubts. “Were we in love before?”
H
azel tilted her head up at me and smiled widely. “Yes. And who knows just how many times, Benjamin Ofreo…” Her voice was teasing. “You’ve always been a stubborn, impossible fool, I can tell you that much.”
“What? How do you know this Hazel?” I asked, excitement thundering through me. You do belong with me, with the brothers. “Did you figure it out from the pictograph?”
She hesitated, then shook her head. “It’s kind of a long story, but ever since I’ve gotten here, I’ve had strange dreams, and then sometimes, what I can only describe as waking dreams.”
“Your fainting spell,” I said, gazing at her. “You called me that name in Apsáalooke, the Crow language. Saka’am. You’re like Rayner…”
“Moon. Rather an appropriate nickname.” She smiled. “Mine was Ila. Sun. I guess we were a bit romantic, huh? I don’t know everything that happened – it’s just a handful of images.”
“Damn, does that mean we were also sharing those other dreams?” I asked, rubbing the back of my neck, and glancing away. Geez, some of those were…intense.
Hazel laughed lightly. “We can figure that out later. Right now, we have a much more pressing task.” She glanced at me, biting her lip, and then explained, “There is a moonstone hidden here. You and I are the only ones who can retrieve it.”
“Should we wait?” I eyed the crack in the cave ceiling, half expecting a red eye to glare back at me. “I don’t know if we can get it out of here safely.”
“We have to, Ben.” She shook her head. “I don’t know why, but the cave revealed itself to us now, and it brought us back together.” Her fingers brushed along my forearm and I shivered. “I think this is the only chance we are going to get. And time is running out.”
“The full moon!” I exclaimed, electrified. “Of course, the Coyote Moon. It makes sense.”
“Yes, that’s it!” Hazel said, her eyes widening. “It really is now or never.”
Nodding, I said, “Tell me what I have to do.”
Standing up straight, Hazel walked over to the wall and held out her hand, palm hovering just above the wall. She instructed, “Do exactly as I’m doing and then on the count of three, we’ll press the wall together.”
Moving next to her, I found her free hand and squeezed.
Hazel let out a deep breath and said, “One, two…three.”
We pressed our hands to the wall and instantly white light outlined our fingertips. Clutching her hand even tighter, I gazed around in wonder as the symbols on the wall lit up, and seemed to move. Then Hazel gasped. Glancing over at her, I saw she was looking up, and a bright flash of white hit my eyes.
Blinking, I saw that the pictograph was now fading, losing its luminescence, becoming nothing but white drawings, faded, and old.
But on the wall in front of us were two handprints that still glowed.
I shook my head in wonder as I turned to Hazel.
She was holding up a round, smooth white jewel, with hints of twilight gleaming in its depths, and staring at it in wonder. “This is it,” she said. “The Moonstone. The key.”
I frowned a little. “Why did it come to you?”
But Hazel didn’t answer, instead stashing the moonstone away in her pocket, and it bulged out awkwardly. “Let’s get out of here. I have a feeling it was keeping this place intact.”
“I thought you said this place was sacred!” I said to her as we darted from the room, still holding hands, with Hazel leading.
She glanced back at me, her eyes full of impish laughter. “It is, but it’s quite old, Ben.”
She led the way to the exit in a swift fashion, leaving me a little floored. I’d considered telling her how much trouble it had been to find her, but I changed my mind. Now I knew better.
Always trust Hazel, I thought to myself wryly as we scrambled from the entrance. I was about to say as much when my hackles went up and I stiffened.
“Stop,” I murmured, glancing from tree to tree.
It was hard to tell what time it was; the sky had been growing more and more overcast, allowing no sunlight to illuminate the forest. It was quiet, devoid of animals. They’d fled in utter terror. No shadow moved, not a breath of wind stirred a leaf, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched, and I pushed Hazel behind me.
“It was so gracious of you to retrieve that for me,” came an amused, lilting voice from the trees, and then a shadow split apart, moving towards us. “Now, do hand it over.”
A man, taller than Burr, maybe seven or eight feet tall, loomed up in front of us.
Dressed in all black, with dark slacks and a heavy, long jacket, his skin was stark white against his clothes. Yet he was almost unremarkable looking – just a man.
His expression said otherwise. His eyes were devoid of any color I could pinpoint, hovering between silver and shadow, with a curious red gleam to them, and a burn mark slanted down one side of his face. Suddenly he grinned, and his teeth were sharp, blackened at the tips.
Everything in my body instantly rejected this creature, repelled by whatever he was. It was wrong, against nature, and my skin broke out in a cold sweat.
“Come now, don’t tarry Hazel.” His voice had a whisper of a strange accent about it, almost British, under falsely musical tones. “Unless you want to repeat history and die in these woods in your beloved’s arms again.”
Ice shot through my veins and I let out a growl. “Stay the hell back.”
Yet even as he said that, an image flashed in my mind.
Hazel, her hair spread out around her eyes closed, cheeks cold to the touch… Lying on the forest floor, not moving, no matter how many times I called her name.
No matter how hard I tried to heal her.
“Coyote, you are vastly outmatched.” He snapped his fingers. Ash Walkers appeared, their bright red eyes glaring out from the shadows, and then Pale Eyes walked out of the woods below them. One was Maxwell, his jaw limp, and his hair in disarray.
“Who are you?” I demanded, glaring at him. “What have you done to twist the Ash Walkers even more, never mind what you’ve done to these humans?
He laughed, an oddly light sound, and my skin crawled. “I gave them power.”
When he took a step forward, I instantly shifted and snapped my jaws at him. Whipping my tail, I made sure Hazel was still behind me, and then lifted up my voice.
“Oh yes, Benjamin, howl all you want. Call your brothers to their doom. You simpletons couldn’t do this before, what makes you think you can do it now?” The man shook his head. When he took another step forward, I saw that he had a slight limp, and a cane gleamed in the light.
Crooked Man, came a whisper in my head.
Suddenly Hazel stepped up next to me and whipped out the moonstone. She held it high and glared out at the crowd of monsters in front of her. For a second, the scene seemed to still, light rolling over the world again, and all I could see was a young woman holding back the shadows.
Then it passed and I blinked. So did Hazel, looking at the stone in bewilderment.
The Crooked Man began to laugh. “Little fool. You think because you tapped into a few memories from a past life, you can recall the power you once had? It took the Coyotes five years to even scratch the surface of their abilities. Yet even if they had a hundred, they’d pose me no threat.”
Get behind me, Hazel, I barked at her in my mind and she seemed to get the message, stepping back, white-faced.
“I grow weary of these games,” said the Crooked Man, letting his cane fall. Instantly his body hunched up and contorted. In another moment, a creature, long-limbed, with dead white eyes, and sharp blood-stained teeth stood in front of me. Its reddish skin was traced over with pulsing black veins and it gave off a foul odor.
It leaped at me, and I crouched, then met it midair.
The strength of the creature knocked me back several yards. Wincing, I circled it warily, surprised at its power, and changed my plan of attack. I’ll have to surprise it, outwit it… Then it lashed out, snappi
ng its teeth, and I barely had time to dart out of the way.
Howls sounded suddenly and my brothers appeared, darting out of the woods, snarling, but the Ash Walkers were there, distracting them. I saw Wes’s black form streaking along the ground, Cree’s bright brown fur like lightning through the trees, and Burr’s huge shaggy reddish form tossing its head. Rayner circled around, snapping his jaws, and his golden fur gleamed.
No help, the creature’s eyes seemed to say.
I slit my own. Don’t need it.
Parrying left, I darted right and slammed into the creature’s flank, knocking it over. Yet it twisted with incredible speed, sending me flying. I skidding across the ground and came to a stop a few yards away from Hazel.
Getting to my feet, I again attacked the creature. Yet every time it knocked me back.
Again and again, I tried to take it down, but was stymied. I’d never faced off against something like this – filled with so much malice, hatred, and cunning. It had more power than an Ash Walker and far more speed.
Finally, it hit me so hard I rolled over and over across the forest floor, the wind squeezing from my lungs, and when I came to a stop, I couldn’t move. Hot blood oozed from scrapes up and down my body. A low whine escaped me as I struggled to get to my feet.
“Ben!” Hazel was suddenly next to me, her hands on my head, and lip trembling.
A shadow exploded between us, knocking us apart, and I was pinned to the ground by the creature, watching in agony as Hazel struggled to sit up.
“Watch her die again,” came the cruel voice of the creature. “Maxwell, do be a dear. Slit her throat and retrieve the moonstone.”
Snapping my jaw and writhing, I tried to get loose. But the creature just pushed me further into the dirt. Maxwell appeared, his gaze empty and jaw slackened as he moved towards Hazel.
She tried to get up, but then he was on her, dragging her up by her hair.
The vision flashed into my mind again, like a sharp, hot dagger.
Hazel, lying on the ground, her eyes closed, and I bent over her, calling her name, begging for her to come back, and cursing the Spirits for giving me a gift that couldn’t save the woman I loved.
HOTSHOT BROTHERS: Coyote Shifters Page 14
