by Gin Eborn
The path of the Creation Dreamers, I thought.
It seemed a pilgrimage so rare the trees bowed begging for my energy to join theirs. I heard them breathing, and I felt the surge of our communion. Every now and then they hummed and I wished I could join in. But it was forbidden though no one ever told me why.
Clarimonde was a vigilant scout, taking off and flying ahead. Hunger fought with me. I had not fed since the night with Fisher. Yesterday? A week ago? A month ago? I didn’t know. I just felt the emptiness in my bones and the exhaustion setting in. I shared my time-body confusion with Clarimonde.
“You Atlantians are funny beings. Why wouldn’t you always live in accordance to the intelligence of your body?” Clarimonde coasted high above me.
“Because, then, we would never do what other people told us to do. And then we would be happy, and that alone would make our society crumble.”
She landed on my head and bent her eyes down toward mine. “Sugar, didn’t it crumble anyway?”
“Yes.” I laughed with embarrassment.
“Well, if you ask me, I would choose to live in a world where luxury and nourishment are the only requirements.” She batted her eyes at me. Black then red then black.
“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” I remembered that line from somewhere. Someone had written it in the Sacred Books, but the Regys wouldn’t even consider it as law. Indentured to time and to work in the name of power and crystals, that was their law. That was their happiness.
“Exactly! That’s a world I would breathe into.” Clarimonde nested into my hair.
The hunger pangs spoke again. If the mountain was a partial mirror of Stoney Cliffs, water would be ahead. I craved the comfort of it wrapping around me, holding me as I fed. The warmth of nourishment filling my body and being in deep connection with the Earth Mother as she fed me; that was happiness for me.
It started to rain—soft splats on my face at first, sweeping in the smell of sweetness. It managed somehow to fall between the woven branches above. Clarimonde swished her feathers as I brushed the drops from my cheeks.
“How much farther?” I asked.
“Just ahead. The clearing is just ahead.” And she flew off.
A subtle wind whistled in the woods. Sounds moved beside me in the trees and then in front of me. My fur spiked.
“Get down!” It was Zach. “Jezze, go!” One of the felines took off as an arrow grazed my hand. “Hang on, Maggs. We’re on it.” I collapsed to the ground as cats dropped in from fucking everywhere. From tree limbs and behind tree trunks, they swarmed down the path to the faint lights behind us. I had been oblivious. Lost once more in my thoughts.
“They know better than to come in here.” Zach sat next to me. “This land belongs to the Cat Clan. Sacred guardians to the Creation Dreamer.” He winked as I wiped the blood away. “Maggie, you okay?”
Soaked from the rains, there was a gentleness in Zach as he touched my face.
“I’m okay.” Blood dripped down my hand and onto the ground. I touched my left hip. “Just not used to being hunted. In my world, there’s lots to run from, but no one ever paid any attention to me. I was pretty well hidden.”
“Well, Caly Cat, those days are over. Come on, let me help you up.”
I heard her wings before I saw her. Lola was hard to miss; beautiful as owl or woman, it was an energy that intrigued me. My grandmother had told me stories of owls and their magics, but I had never seen one. Until her.
“Jezze has things under control.” Lola landed, seeming more at ease. “See, you’ve got nothing to worry about, Magpie Turnley. They won’t dare come in here now. They just needed a little reminder. I’ll get a message from Jezze if anything changes.”
“Sweet.” Zach’s smile at me was unbroken. “Okay, well, you are almost there. Edge of the forest line is where we all stop.”
“So I have to go alone?”
“‘Fraid so. But listen, we have your back. You get in any trouble up there, well, you make a break for that line and we’ll all be waiting here. We aren’t leaving til you get back.”
Lola smiled and touched my face. “We are on full watch over you. Cats are fine, naturally. But you have the Bird Clan as well. I am at your service should you need me. Not that you will want to leave the mountain.”
“Why do you say that?” I asked.
“River Wolf, honey.” Clarimonde was overhead. “He is always a hard one to leave.” She looked past me and swooped down to the ground grabbing the arrow that hit me. “This is not Blue Eagle’s arrow. Not a snake arrow at all.”
Zach grabbed it and looked at Lola. “Why? Would they want to kill her?”
“Whose is it?” I asked.
“Stone beings. Dragon glass arrowhead.” Zach rubbed his hands down the wood.
“Why would they do this, Zach? Stone beings are Earth’s armor. They work for her.” Lola’s wings perched up high.
“Begs the question, why would the Earth want to kill her own Dreamer?” They both stared at me. “What have you done?” Zach asked.
“Me? I haven’t done anything to the stone beings.” I grabbed the arrow. Clarimonde tapped the dragon glass.
“Well, something happened.” Zach was a bit edgy.
“It could have been a wager. Blue Eagle could have put them up to this.” Lola tried to support me.
Their stares unnerved me. Sweat pooled in my hair line hidden only by the damp drizzle.
“I didn’t do anything.” I wondered how red my face was. Except help mine crystals. Except replicate them. But at least I didn’t store soul pieces in them.
I grabbed the arrow and tucked it in my belt. Clarimonde, Lola, and Zach stared, and I couldn’t help but feel they knew I was a fucking liar. They had no idea how we had destroyed the Earth.
I was grateful they didn’t run as I turned and stepped out onto sacred ground.
12
A River Runs Through Me
“About time.” He was there, waiting for me.
“You. You were the one who warned me in the amphitheater. And the one from the Tower.”
“And—” He moved toward me with confident strides and then stopped.
“And you are the man from the ocean.” He smiled and waved for me to follow.
I thought we might walk together but that didn’t happen. He bolted back the way he came. Down a path and over a little hill, he was gone.
I headed his way, alone again. I missed people who knew me. People who ran and threw their arms around me because they were glad to see me. Alphazia was not that place. I was, it seemed, nothing but a curiosity. Everyone liked to find me, stare at me, but no one showed any genuine joy in me. I knew the journey would be a hard one; I just didn’t realize how much I’d miss home.
The walk over the knoll gave way to open spaces and the smell of a fire. A good smelling fire—just wood. Not the smell of burning buildings or toxic fumes, and gods only know what else. Blankets woven in reds and blacks and yellows and whites laid around the edge of the fire, welcoming me as I approached. The ground felt dry as I stepped; no rain had fallen outside the tree lines. And the night sky hung over us filled with stars. He looked so natural leaned over the fire.
“Coffee?” he asked holding out a cup, which I grabbed, happy for something so familiar to fill the discomfort inside me.
“I’m River Wolf.”
I nodded. “I’m Maggie.”
He nodded, putting some sage in the fire as the revolting smell of some dead animal hit me.
“Of course,” I moved my nose as far away as possible, “you eat meat.”
Oh my gods, they’re some kind of fucking hybrid cannibals. Who is he eating?
His face remained unchanged as he handed me a towel.
“What’s this for?”
“The hot springs. Just up that way. Not far. Thought you may be hungry. Not like we can eat together.”
I was relieved we were using our outside voices. It seemed respectful if not warm.
“How did you know? I mean, that I don’t eat—”
“You’re a Calypso. Calypso’s feed. They don’t eat.”
“And you? What are you? I mean, you live here—alone?” I hoped the fire and shadows hid the warmth climbing up my face.
“Yes, I like it that way. I’ve lived out here my whole life.” He stared at me— penetrated me. “I’m the guardian of this mountain. No one gets up there if I can stop them. And at the top, where you are headed, is Mountain Bear. I signaled him you were here.”
He ripped some meat off a bone as I struggled to get words out of my mouth. All I could envision was some kind of lottery where one of them offered their body as a sacrifice. It was vulgar.
And then the intoxicating wave took me again. It was him. His energy must have been all over Lola after the council meeting. And in the air at the Tower. I didn’t like the feeling at all. Not being in control.
“I’ll just—” I pointed toward the hot springs.
“Take your time. It’s safe there. No one will see you or bother you.”
“Thanks.” I was on my way in an instant.
“Hey,” he called out.
“Yeah?” I bit my lip to focus.
“We sleep here.” I turned around. “Here.”
It was a tent. A small tent.
“Okay,” I said rolling my eyes. “I will just—” pointing toward the springs like an idiot.
I couldn’t get away fast enough. He sat by the fire, eating and singing to himself. My hunger pangs called me on.
Quiet is the only way I can describe it. Me in the wild—in a space so open and so free I could be anyone I wanted to be and do anything I wanted to do. The stars bounced their light off the steaming pool of water. No waterfall, gratefully. I think seeing the falls again would’ve been too much for me. Naked, I stood in the night and just felt the quiet hold me. Soft breezes ran over my skin and through my hair as I laughed and danced and opened into the freedom of the moment.
The warmth of the water caressed my toes and then wrapped over my legs and my belly. The wound was already a scar. A new tattoo. Slowly down until my nose tickled the water line. I forced myself to take it one tiny shift at a time, letting my hunger build until I couldn’t hold back any longer. Then with one big breath, I plunged myself down onto the bottom. Soft and warm and bubbling, I dropped my cord, reaching into the Earth with controlled ecstasy. I loved that. Until finally, at last, the connection happened with the Earth’s core. Her energy of translucent indigo rolling up my cord and filling my hips and then up and over my body and down and back again. I was held. This was enough. It had to be enough. At least, when all else was lost, I had this. This connection. The one thing to nourish me.
Snapshot. So unexpected. It hit hard and fast. The woman I always saw when I fed, cloaked, holding a silver chalice with meticulously carved patterns. “Drink.” She placed the chalice in my hands as we both invoked, “In beauty, in bounty, in love, and in heartbeat.” I put the chalice to my lips and when I drank, there was nothing. No nourishment. No energy to bring up my cord. I could not feed.
Then I was back—back in the springs and in my body and that place. It was fast.
The force of my heartbeat rippled the water around me. I scooped the water up and let it fall. I scooped the water up and imagined a Dream Lodge and a magical fire. There was nothing.
“Come on,” I thought. “Just give me one picture. Just one.”
Nothing happened. I scooped up the water again daring to imagine Fisher and me on the houseboat. I swear it was there for a moment. I could almost see his face. Feel his arms wrapped around me, and then it ripped away. I knew it wasn’t a real vision.
I had to try one more time. But some kind of naughty little inside voice suddenly possessed me, daring me to scoop the water with a very different intention. One I didn’t see coming. Mindlessly, as the water flowed between my fingers, I imagined eating a piece of meat with River Wolf by the fire below. The vision opened into hajone. Beauty as dancing wisps of light wrapped around us. We were in the wild, dancing around the fire, stomping our feet in perfect rhythm with our heartbeats. And the Earth’s heartbeat joined in, so like the heartbeat on Stoney Cliffs. I held the energy of that thought for as long as I could, and for a moment, my whole being was awake. For just a quick second, I felt something connect. There was a click.
River Wolf, the Earth and me. My magics were broken, obviously.
The tent. It was small. It was really small.
“You’re going to sleep all day, I suppose,” Clarimonde taunted me. She perched on my chest staring at me. “Like all day.”
“Stop it. I mean, really? This is how you want to be? And how are you here on hallowed ground intended only for me? And River Wolf?”
“Sugar, you are just not getting much about me, are you? Let’s just say it’s okay for me to be here. Now. Get up.”
“Yeah. Okay.” She flew out. My hair was still damp, but the tent was perfectly warm. Still no quakes. I think that was why I slept so well.
“Maggie? Coffee?”
River Wolf was huddled once again by the fire. “Always. I’m not much good without it.” I grinned and grabbed a cup. “Did you sleep okay?”
“Yes, okay.”
He did not even turn his head in my direction. Last night’s fantasy was just that and nothing more. The morning light opened into the horizon line filled with trees of oak and pine. Some holly trees. And orbs. Lots and lots of orbs filling spaces between spaces in a fantastic display of camouflage.
“So, how do I go up from here?” I asked, breaking the silence.
“I’ll be taking you up. We go past the springs, there’s a hidden path, and then we reach a rock landing. You go up from there. Won’t take long. You a good climber?”
“Yes, actually, damn good.”
His eyes darted all over me. “I don’t know what happens after the landing, but I can only imagine you better be able to climb.”
“Well, don’t worry about me. I’m a lot tougher than I look.” I got all puffed up. “I can handle myself.” I headed toward the path.
“So you’re not afraid then?”
“Why would I be afraid?” Cocky.
River Wolf walked toward me, staring, “Because you have no idea what to expect. The great unknown awaits you up there. Glad as hell it’s not me. I can tell you that.”
I bit my top lip as it all came back into focus. He was just another distraction. A ridiculous distraction that held no power over me, and as soon as I dreamed up a new reality, none of it would matter. It would all go away.
He reached down beside the blanket and grabbed a pair of shoes. “You’ll need these. Good for climbing.”
Fuck. I forgot. You can hear me. Are you listening to me?
To his credit, he made no indication of eavesdropping. I grabbed the shoes. Handmade, tan leather with laces running up mid-calf.
“Trust me, you can feel the land under your feet with those shoes and that’s exactly what you need up there.”
I sat to put them on, and of course, they were a perfect fit.
“Do you need to feed again before we go? Down here is the only spring I know of.”
“No, I’ll be fine.” Frustration flared. I was ready to go and was done talking. “I only feed once a week. But thank you, you know, I really appreciate it.”
“Well, we go right by there if that changes.”
I nodded. “So when do we leave?”
“Now.”
“Great. I’ll grab my stuff.” My stuff had reverted to an arrow and my blade. That was all I owned in the world. River Wolf went back to the fire, pulling together a pack of things as movements shifted into slow motion: the howl from the fire; the sound of wings in the air as Clarimonde caught my eye. She came at me yelling something; this whizzing sound—high-pitched and irritating, another arrow flew by me and hit the upright tent frame right by my head.
“No!” River Wolf had me under his body befo
re I could even process what happened. Clarimonde flew overhead and back toward the forest line muttering something about how they will be wishing they were dead. That’s when it happened. For the first time since I left my own world, it was there. Me on the ground—the rolling started. Rolling underneath me from my head, down my back and legs, and out past my feet. River Wolf pulled us both up, holding me. Then the tremors started.
“I thought this only happened in my world.” His scent made me dizzy.
“That would be a lie.”
“But I haven’t felt them here.”
The shaking slowed as I saw the reflection of his full gray wolf. “We don’t have time. We have to get you out of here. Blue Eagle. That’s his arrow. The fool.”
“He wants to see me dead.”
“That will never happen. I can tell you that. The real problem is his pathetic orbs aren’t working any more. The orb illusions of Alphazia are about to implode and our world with it.”
“The orbs hide the truth of the Earth dying.”
“Yes.”
A false sense of security, not so unlike our border walls. The quakes and the fires were not lost on the Alphazian side of the veil. They were going to die, too, and Blue Eagle was ready to do anything to save his own fucking ass. That I knew.
“But the personal orbs?” I asked. “The ones from Fire Council?”
“Shows our power. Shows who we are. They are a part of us.”
“Like a birth shield.”
“A what?”
“I’ll show you sometime.”
Clarimonde perched on my shoulder.
“They’re coming,” she interrupted. “Blue Eagle and his army are coming. We will fight them off, but you have to hurry.”
“But why would he choose to break the sacred laws? He can’t come on this ground.” River’s face twitched.