“Mat sent you? How is he?” There was a hesitation in her question.
Kendra eased her hand out of Riley’s grip. Her gaze went from the blonde to Cameron. Her eyes narrowed.
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about. I don’t know of anyone sending me here. In fact, I don’t even know how that snakehead thing works, and would really like someone to tell me, so that I can get back to New York.”
Cameron frowned. “You said Mat gave you the vessel.”
Kendra sucked in a quick breath. She swallowed back the apprehension in her throat. Before she could speak, Riley took her by the arm.
“Let’s go inside. I have some food cooking over the fire. I bet you’re both hungry.”
Cameron shot her a suspicious look, then carried his son into the cabin. Riley smiled and tugged on Kendra’s arm. Hesitating, she followed.
The dwelling was small and crude. It was nothing more than a one-room cabin with a dirt floor, and a huge fireplace making up one wall. There was a single bed piled high with furs, a crib, a small table, and three chairs. Riley stepped to the kettle hanging over the fire and grabbed wooden bowls from a shelf above the hearth.
“If Mat didn’t send you, why did he give you the vessel?” Cameron sat his son on the ground, and the little kid crawled to a corner of the room, babbling and picking up some kind of toy.
“Matt Donovan wanted me to have it, but I didn’t get a chance to ask him what it was.” Kendra cleared her throat.
Riley set the bowls on the table and motioned for everyone to sit. She stared at Kendra. There was no mistaking the unease that passed through her eyes. Kendra stood, staring at the two people.
Her mouth opened, and she talked about meeting Matt. She mentioned his curiosity about her tattoo, and how she’d dismissed his urgency that they shared something in common and that he’d had something important to tell her.
Kendra scoffed and brushed her fingers through her hair. She glanced at the ground. Anger shook her once again, and she faced the two people listening intently. “I never got the chance to talk to him and find out what he meant. He . . . he and his wife, they died in a car accident that night.”
Riley gripped her husband’s arm. He stared at Kendra from across the table, as if she’d told him something incomprehensible. Riley nodded. Tears pooled in her eyes, but she seemed less shaken up over the news than her husband.
“It’s fitting that Mat and Kayla died together,” Riley whispered. “One would have been miserable without the other, I’m sure. They had nearly twenty happy years together.”
Cameron’s fists clenched, and his face hardened as his eyes blazed with a mixture of sadness and betrayal. He stared up at his wife, the look replaced with anguish. “You knew?”
Riley held her husband’s gaze. Slowly, she nodded. “I couldn’t say anything. I learned about it when I was in the future, when I met Jana Evans. There was a photograph of her with her friend, Aimee Donovan, and her friend’s father. I recognized him immediately. It was Mat.” She swiped away the tears in her eyes. “I knew he would go to the future, and through Jana Evans, I learned that he and his wife had died in an accident.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Cameron didn’t sound angry, only astonished at his wife’s secrecy.
“Everything is supposed to happen for a reason, right? If I had said something, Mat and Kayla might not have returned to the future. Naatosi wanted them there, not in this time. There had to be a compelling reason.”
Cameron stood, and paced the room, looking distraught and unable to escape the turmoil inside him.
“I’ve met Matt’s daughter.” Kendra’s words broke through the silence. “She’s eighteen. She’s the one who gave me the box that contained the snakehead. She told me her father wanted me to have it.”
Cameron spun around to look at her. “If she knows about the vessel, her life is in danger, too.”
Kendra shook her head. “She didn’t seem to know anything. Whatever past life Matt Donovan and his wife led, they certainly didn’t tell their daughter about it.”
Cameron nodded. “Mat was wise to keep his identity from his daughter.” His eyes were still clouded with pain, but there seemed to be a degree of acceptance. He looked at his wife. “Just as our children will never know the truth.”
Truth about what?
“Well, I definitely don’t know the reason why Matt thought he needed to give this to me.” Kendra pulled the snakehead from her pocket and stared at it.
Riley stepped up to her. She glanced at the artifact but made no move to try to touch it. Kendra glanced up to see Riley’s intelligent eyes studying her.
“You don’t have any idea why he would have wanted you to have this?”
Kendra shook her head.
“I have a good feeling I know, and clearly Mat saw it right away, too.” Cameron stared at her tattoo.
Kendra’s eyes volleyed from one to the other. “Would someone please fill me in on what’s going on?”
“I think the best person to ask is Naatoyita, one of the elders of the Sky People. He should be the one to tell you.”
Kendra scoffed. “I think I’ve had enough of the Sky People for a while.”
Riley touched her arm and smiled. “You may not have a choice, Kendra.”
Kendra moved away from the blonde. Unease filled her. “Sure I do. I can go back to the future. Just tell me how this thing works.”
“You’re not the least bit curious as to why Mat gave you the vessel?”
“I want to get to the bottom of who killed Matt and also my grandfather, and bring the guilty party to justice, so that I can go back to leading a normal life.”
“I’m trying to bring the guilty to justice, too, but it won’t be the kind of justice you’re thinking of.” Cameron’s icy words sent a chill down Kendra’s spine.
Kendra stared. “You think Mukua had something to do with it, don’t you?”
“I know he did. He has wanted the last remaining children of the Sky People dead for a long time. It appears he has finally succeeded.”
Kendra mentally shook her head. He was implying that Matt was one of those children in her grandfather’s stories?
“He tried to get the snakehead from me before that thing transported me here. Then he offered to send me back home, so that I could forget about it all and lead a normal life. All I had to do was give him the time travel device.”
Riley and Cameron exchanged quick glances.
“He wants you dead, too, Kendra,” Cameron said dryly. “He’s not going to let you live.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Why? Just because I wouldn’t hand him that vessel? Why didn’t he kill me when he had the chance?”
Riley stepped forward. She offered an uncomfortable smile. “He can’t kill a member of the Sky People. Someone else has to do it.”
Kendra stared from one to the other. She shook her head and laughed. “I’m not a member of the Sky People.”
Even as she spoke, a chill crept down her spine, and her limbs began to tingle. Kunu’s stories echoed in her head.
“You are special, Natu . . . Someday you will believe . . . beware of the wolf.”
The Wolf! Wo'itsa. Just as Kunu had said. He was the one who would kill her.
Kendra flinched at the sound of a sharp knock on the door. Cameron reached for his bow, and Riley scrambled to pick up her son. Cameron glanced from his wife to Kendra, then opened the door.
Kendra craned her neck while squinting into the bright evening light that streamed into the cabin. The silhouette of an old Indian appeared in the doorway. Mukua!
“Naatoyita.” Cameron sounded surprised.
“I have come to bring bad news, Cameahwait, and to warn you to be vigilant.” He paused to inhale a raspy breath. “Mukua has broken one of the most sacred laws of the Sky People.”
Kendra moved forward to get a better glimpse of the old man. The wrinkles around his sad-looking eyes shifted, and then a smile cracked his face. His ey
es instantly brightened.
“Natukendra’eh weda. You have come home.”
Chapter 14
Wo'itsa stood on unsteady legs, blinking several times to dispel the dizziness that overtook him. The strange feeling passed quickly, but it was nevertheless a sensation he didn’t relish. If he didn’t have his wits about him, he might end up dead, especially with Bakianee lurking in the area.
His hand gripped the hilt of his knife, and he glanced around with unfocused eyes. What if his enemies were lying in wait to ambush him? He wouldn’t stand a chance if he was feeling disoriented and unsure on his feet.
Was this how Kendra had felt when she’d time traveled to his time? She’d seemed a bit dazed at first, too, yet she’d fought like a warrior. If this was what she’d experienced, his respect and admiration for her grew even more.
He shook his head to clear his mind, not only of the muddled sensations, but also of the woman who seemed to have taken root there. At a time like this, when he needed to be alert, his attention shouldn’t wander to the perplexing woman from the future. Why was it so difficult to control his thoughts where she was concerned? If he wasn’t careful and alert, she might be the death of him yet, even if she wasn’t in his presence.
He focused his eyes on his surroundings in front of him. Nothing looked any different than in his own time, except he was definitely no longer in the same clearing as a few moments ago. Gone was the mound of coals that had been his dead campfire, and his belongings were nowhere to be seen.
Instead of the rolling hills and woods that were his familiar hunting grounds, he now stood in a valley framed on one side by a wall of mountains, which rose almost in a straight line into the sky. A river meandered through the lush vegetation, and a dense forest covered the hills on the other side of the valley.
He’d passed through this valley before, many seasons ago with members of his clan when they’d journeyed to the hot water pools found to the south of here. Memories filled him of when he’d camped along bubbling mud and pristine, scalding hot pools, some of which shot water high into the sky. A man could die in them if he wasn’t careful, but his people had been coming to these areas for generations.
At the time, he’d brought with him the horns of the bighorn ram he’d killed earlier in the season. Like so many hunters before him, he’d learned how to soak them in the hot water to soften them and form his bow. The bow that was now broken.
Why was he back in this area? Until he brought down another bighorn ram, he could not make a new bow.
The grasses and underbrush rustled softly behind him, and Wo'itsa spun around, gripping his knife. He instantly relaxed his stance. Mukua stood calmly a short distance away, holding the snakehead-shaped vessel in his hand.
Wo'itsa met the old man’s eyes. Had he truly traveled to another time with the Sky People elder? Whatever had happened to him to make him lose his vision and balance must not have affected the old man, for he didn’t appear disoriented at all.
“Why have you brought me here?”
Wo'itsa’s gaze traveled along the ridge of the tall mountain. Where was here? Was this the future from which Kendra had come? It didn’t seem likely. In his vision, he’d traveled to a foreign place, and had seen things he’d never laid eyes upon.
Mukua smiled. “We are in a time no different from the one you know. It is best we duck into the woods, or we might be seen.”
Wo'itsa followed the elder to the edge of the forest, leaving the meadow and river behind.
“Seen by whom? Are there Bakianee in the area? I have no bow to defend you, or myself.” Why would Mukua bring them to a time and place that might put them in danger?
The old man shook his head. “It is imperative that you do not show yourself to anyone you might encounter in this time. As I have said before, I have brought you here because a life must be saved.”
Wo'itsa blinked. The elder’s vague answers were hardly satisfying. Before everything had turned dark, he’d hoped that Mukua might bring him to Kendra’s future, so that he could learn more about her.
Despite his strong urge to know, it might not be wise to ask the elder to tell him more about the woman who was as infuriating as she was alluring. Expressing an interest in her if she was his enemy would not be a good thing. He’d already failed Mukua once when he hadn’t been able to get that stubborn female to relinquish the vessel that had brought her to his time.
“Whose life is in danger?”
Mukua stuffed his time travel vessel in the old leather pouch he wore around his neck, and pulled the drawstrings tight. His chest heaved as he took in a long, drawn-out breath before answering.
“A young woman is to be married soon. Her life is in great peril. I have brought you here to prevent a tragedy.”
Wo'itsa studied the old man. He nodded. It was understandable why the elder would want to prevent another couple from being ripped apart, denying them happiness. Mukua had lost the woman of his heart, too. If he could spare another man from heartbreak over losing a woman, Wo'itsa would gladly help.
He no longer grieved for the woman he’d lost, but the pain and anger he’d endured was one he’d never forget.
“I will help, but will saving a woman here in this time help us find the other time travel vessels that you seek to save the sacred mountains? I regret that I failed you.”
Next to him, Mukua scoffed. “You will not fail me again, Wo'itsa, unless you allow your judgement to be clouded by others.” The elder’s eyes blazed, and his wrinkled old face took on a harsh and stone-like appearance. “By saving the woman so she can unite with the man, you will help set a new course for the future.”
A twinge of guilt nagged at Wo'itsa. He could have done more to take the vessel from Kendra. He’d had plenty of chances, and could have taken it by force. Taking it from her at the time had seemed wrong somehow for reasons he could not name.
Wo'itsa gnashed his teeth. It was also wrong to go against the wishes of the Sky People elder, who was fighting a battle to save the sacred mountains, and who had asked for his help. If he crossed paths with Kendra again, he would not allow his strange feelings for the woman get in the way.
Mukua smiled, and placed a hand on Wo'itsa’s arm. “Natukendra’eh weda is conflicted. You know this to be true by the tattoo on her arm. I was hoping to guide her back to her spirit ancestors and the wolf clan, but now she will be influenced by my brother. She is a danger to you and me.”
Wo'itsa stared into the knowing eyes of the old man. Had the elder seen the questions about her in Wo'itsa’s gaze? The smile on Mukua’s face did nothing to soften his stare.
“But her name suggests she belongs to the bear clan.”
Mukua’s bony hands gripped Wo’itsa’s arm tighter as he spoke his subtle warning. “Because she is with Cameahwait, she will be under the influence of the bears, our enemies. After you secure the safety of the young bride-to-be in this time, you will do whatever is necessary to find and bring the other two vessels to me. Once I have the vessels, my brother, and even Natukendra’eh weda, will no longer be a threat to our mountains.”
“I know you have said she is the one who could destroy your plans, but how can she hold so much power when she seems to know nothing about the spirits and the Sky People? How did she come to own such a strong name if she is from a time in the future?”
Curiosity to know more about her had gotten the better of him. The questions were spoken before Wo'itsa could hold them back. Since the elder had offered some information about Kendra first, perhaps he would be forthcoming with more answers. If he was going to confront her again for the vessel, and if she was dangerous, he had to know his opponent better.
Mukua had no chance to answer. Voices drifted through the woods, and Wo'itsa stiffened. He turned and tilted his head to hear better. His hand went to the knife at his belt.
“Remember, you must not be seen. Observe and listen, and when the time comes, you will know what to do.” Mukua’s warning came a moment before he
released Wo'itsa’s arm and vanished.
Wo'itsa stared at the ground where, not a second ago, the elder had stood. He blinked and shook his head at the strange sight, and the sudden sense of unease. Mukua had left him in an unknown time? He didn’t even know what the woman he was supposed to save looked like. And what kind of danger was she in?
Wo'itsa’s face set in a hard line. Mukua clearly trusted him. He wouldn’t fail the elder this time.
The voices grew louder, coming in his direction. Two men sounded as if they were in a heated discussion, perhaps even arguing. Wo'itsa sprang behind a tree and concealed himself among the dense branches.
His wait was short. The two men strode by, passing within an arm’s length of his hiding place. They were both young hunters, carrying horn bows, and they spoke in the dialect of the Tukudeka.
“There is no need for you to follow me, Brother. I’ve already said what I needed to say on the matter.”
The taller of the two men stopped almost directly in front of Wo'itsa’s hiding place and faced his companion. He seemed agitated and distracted from paying closer attention to his surroundings. If he looked into the trees, there was a chance he’d spot Wo'itsa.
Wo'itsa stared, forcing his body to remain as still as possible. Mentally, he shook his head. His legs burned from remaining in a crouched position, but he dared not move, or he might give away his presence.
The same man who had spoken was not of the Tukudeka tribe. He was a white man. From a distance, he could possibly be mistaken for a Shoshone, with his raven hair and his clothing, yet standing so close, it was obvious that his skin was a lighter shade than his companion.
Wo'itsa glanced at the man’s face. A dark scowl passed over his young features. Wo'itsa blinked, and his forehead furrowed. From what he’d glimpsed of him, the man bore a slight resemblance to Cameahwait, or perhaps it was simply his imagination because of the color of his skin.
“You are being foolish and stubborn as usual, White Wolf.”
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