Secrets of the Anasazi

by Sky Whitehorse

  Fearless lurched forward into the bend of the dirt slide, but his footing slipped.

  Suddenly, it all went wrong... very wrong. Fearless was swept onto his side. They crashed into the water. Warren was pushed into a groove in the rocky wall where his leg became wedged under a rock. He couldn’t move. He sat in the corner of the dirt slide as water receded down the passage, forcing him against the wall. "Fearless!" Warren reached toward him, but within seconds Fearless was brushed down the canal. He thrashed and neighed until he went under the water in a spiraling rush. “FEARLESS!” Warren’s heart thudded as the skin around his eyes bunched into a pained stare.

  He washed down the dirt slide, trying to turn himself upright, but the force of the current rolled him onto his back, his hooves flailed. Within seconds he was completely covered under the flood.

  “FEARLESS?” Warren kept watching, staring into the distance, waiting for his head to pop up at any moment. He scanned the water as he watched it flush into the river. Minutes went by. Warren tried to pull himself free. He knew if he did he couldn’t save himself, but he had to know if Fearless had made it. He struggled, clenching his jaw as he pulled his leg. More minutes passed before he realized there was no hope of freeing himself. He was like a helpless child. His chest heaved as he looked out over the canal again. He couldn’t give up hope yet. This was the horse that always came back no matter the circumstances. Fearless was a survivor. Warren corded his neck as if he could get a better look down at the bottom.

  He thought about how Fearless loved to steal his hat and throw it into the trough, and how after his mother went missing Fearless was the only horse that noticed. He had gone through a depression, pacing back and forth by the door of the hut, waiting for Warren’s mom to come out. He had refused to eat. Warren had to hand feed him. He had slept in the stall with him night after night as they bonded over their loss over the greatest woman that had ever lived. Without Fearless Warren wondered what he would have done in that time of his life.

  Warren reflected over his life, unable to remember a time Fearless hadn’t been there. His earliest memory was of his mom showing him how to ride. Fearless was the cavalry. Warren’s chest caved when he came to accept that by now Fearless could not have survived the underwater tumble down the canal. He clutched his arms as his shoulders curled over his chest. His shoulders wracked in sobs.

  41. Pow Wow

  Sunday, 2:24 p.m.

  Chantal tried to talk sense into Maya as the two stumbled into the stables where Roy filled the trough with water. His clothes were rumpled and unwashed. He turned to them, drawing his eyebrows together. “Where have the two of you been? Aunt Roslyn and I’ve been worried sick. She’s tried contacting the police and everything!”

  Maya hadn’t seen her brother so worked up over her absence. He reminded her of their father. She even felt guilty knowing how worried they must have been. She walked up to him and flung her arms around his mid-section, getting warm inside. After where she had been it was wonderful to see his angry face. “I’m sorry. I really am.” She pulled away as he continued to scowl at her, but she ignored it. “Where is Fearless?” She looked left and right into his empty stall.

  Roy bit his unshaven lip. “I haven’t seen him for days. He was gone when I came to check on the horses yesterday morning-“

  Maya put her head down. Fearless hadn’t come back after all. The last time she had seen him he was keeping an eye on her as she climbed the canyon to the underworld. She felt hot and fanned herself. What if his disappearance had been her fault because she left him, and he had faithfully waited for her during the storm? She shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

  “-and don’t change the subject! You both look like you’ve been through the depths of hell. I demand an explanation.” He grabbed her arm and their eyes met.

  “I- we…” Maya stuttered.

  “We went looking for Ahote, and good thing we did,” Chantal said, combing her fingers through her knots. “We’re still looking for Warren, but we’re exhausted. Maya and I are going to get some rest before heading back out. Did Ancient Orange and Hototo make it?” Chantal hurried to look in their stalls.

  “Sure, they’re here. Somehow they got out the other night. I had to let them back in.” Roy played with the stubble on his chin.

  Maya coughed into her fist, covering her part in their misconduct. Ancient Orange peeked over the stall and Chantal ruffled his ears. In the stall next to his, Hototo nuzzled his muzzle into the back of Chantal’s neck, making her laugh.

  Maya tilted her head back in relief and let out a breath at the sight of them.

  “One of the horses needs her medication and I don’t know where Ahote keeps it,” Roy said, scratching his bed head.

  Chantal strode past him. “I’ll show you.” They went into the hut, and the screen door slammed behind them.

  This is my chance. Maya turned to Hototo who was looking at her. He made soft grunting noises as she approached, with his ears standing at attention like he was happy to see her. She chuckled at the warm breath that tickled her face as he exhaled through his nostrils. He shook his head side to side as if he had an itch as she scratched his mane.

  “You’re such a good boy.”

  He pushed against the stable with his chocolate and white patched chest, as if he knew she was going to take him for a ride.

  Maya peeked over her shoulder like a devious horse thief. She unlatched the gate a Hototo pushed his way through. Within moments they were galloping out of the stables and down the path to the Valley of Hoodoos. Her surroundings were a blur because of her exhaustion. Each time she felt her head nod she snapped back at attention with the jerking motion of the ride.

  They traveled under the sandstone arch and to the right for a mile, weaving through the colorfully layered hoodoos. Finally, they arrived by the Anasazi dirt slide where Hototo came to a halt.

  Maya dismounted. “Stay here, boy.” She gave him a pat and rounded the corner to the entrance, steadying herself with her hand against the wall as she rounded the corner under the Danger sign.

  She saw Ahote, who crouched over a body in the bend of the dirt slide. She feared the worst as she hurried toward them. Her heart sunk at the sight. He was like the wreckage from a ship after a storm. His head hung limp, his hair was in disarray, he was dirty, and his clothes were tattered and torn. His shoulders hung over as if he couldn’t sit up straight. The skin on his face was loose, making him nearly unrecognizable. He was like a withered replica of the Warren she knew.

  Ahote had his arms wrapped around Warren’s torso, trying to pull him free. Maya put her fingers over her gaping mouth. Warren’s head rested on his father’s shoulder as his eyes popped open and met her gaze.

  Seeing him awake made her feel more at ease. She straightened her posture, trying not to let the shock of his appearance show on her face.

  She trekked towards them. Ahote looked back at her, then continued to pull him. She took hold of Warren’s frail legs that were limp like wilted grass, and they were stuck under the rocky northern wall while his back rested against the eastern wall.

  Ahote held him under the arms while Maya tugged. Warren’s leg pulled free. The rock had ripped a hole in his pants, but he only had a few scratches. His dead weight was difficult to lift. They shifted him away from where he had been trapped. His weight was too heavy to carry him far, and they propped him against the wall. Ahote sat beside him, his chest heaving.

  Maya knelt to face Warren and snatched up his hand, rubbing it. He gave her a light squeeze.

  "I was so worried about you," she leaned toward him, caressing his cheek, and gazed into his tired eyes. "Are you okay?"

  "It's hard to move." His speech was slurred and raspy.

  "But... you made it from the river up here?" Maya asked.

  "No!" He tried to lift his head, but gave up and just let it rest to the side.

  Whatever his experience, it must have been horrific.

  "It's my fault,
" he mumbled. "Fearless wouldn't leave without me. He washed down… and drowned." Warren winced.

  Her heart broke at his words. She loved Fearless like a friend, and he had loved her the way no other horse ever could. “Are you… sure?”

  Ahote raised his chin and looked to the sky. “I’m afraid it’s true, young one. The river carried him to his underwater afterlife.”

  Maya tried to imagine this, as there was no water in the dirt slide now. She threw her arms around Warren, pulling his chest toward hers. His muscles were soft. Her throat knotted with guilt. "I'm sorry. It wasn't your fault... it was mine…” she swallowed. “I took it for granted Fearless would find his way home." Her eyebrows turned up.

  Warren put his head back, following his father’s vision toward the clouds overhead they churned like fluffy white cotton balls. “No…” he swallowed. “I was there with him when he was taken… I couldn’t save him… I’m weak like a child.” His voice cracked on the last word and his face crumpled like a knife had twisted in his side.

  “A warrior’s strength is measured by his heart, my son,” Ahote said. He laid his hand on his shoulder. “Not by his might.”

  Maya brushed her lips against Warren’s silky soft cheek and planted a kiss. Their eyes met and she ran her fingers up his neck into his tangled hair. She wanted to tell him everything she had gone through in the underworld, how terrified she had been that he had drowned, and how she loved him, but with Ahote beside them, she decided none of those things were appropriate.

  She pulled the Indian paintbrush from her pocket and closed her eyes as she wrapped her hand around it. She got up and felt for the wall in front of her and began to brush the rock with it underneath the existing petroglyphs. She imagined Fearless in his glory, galloping up the dirt slide with Warren on his back.

  She turned to peek at Warren. He studied the new flower-like brush and blinked a few times as if he was having trouble focusing. She continued painting a beautiful picture in memory of Fearless— without paint.

  Warren flinched, “I think the poison in my blood is making me see things. It’s like you’re painting with a… flower?”

  Maya tried to stifle her laughter as she glanced at Ahote.

  “What?” Warren said. “Is there a secret between the two of you?”

  “It’s just the poison,” Maya lied. She didn’t like lying, but Ahote didn’t want him to know about the Underworld, or any of its secrets, and she respected his decision.

  They watched as she worked her magic paintbrush. Ahote puffed out his chest like a proud mentor. “Our ancestors have much to be proud of.”

  She flashed him a smile and gave the painting it's finishing touch, then stood back and opened her eyes. The new painting was perfectly gorgeous. The privilege of painting a memorial for Fearless- who lived up to his name- gave her a pain in her chest. He was a memory that lived only in her heart now.

  “There is no death,” Ahote said, looking to the sky again. “Only a change of worlds.”

  “I just don’t want Fearless to be forgotten,” Warren said, using all his strength to wipe his eyes. “He meant the world to me.”

  “I will never forget him,” Maya said, moving the hair out of Warren’s face.

  “He’s with your mother now,” Ahote said.

  The three of them sat in silence as they remembered him.

  After a while, Ahote got up and went to get Hototo.

  “I must look horrible,” Warren said after his father was out of earshot.

  She shook her head. "I’m thankful you’re here at all after what you’ve been through. I don’t know what I’d do if-"

  Ahote walked Hototo towards them into the dirt slide as he played a melody on his flute. Hototo laid on his belly beside Warren.

  “We’d better get back home.” Ahote wrapped his arm around Warren’s back and lifted him while Maya helped to put his leg over the horse. Hototo stood with grace as Warren slumped over.

  Maya whispered to Ahote, “will the poison wear off soon?”

  Ahote stared down at his hands. “I’m afraid I didn’t bring any stores from the Lake of Healing Waters. His condition won’t improve until I get some.”

  Maya turned to look at Warren. The color had drained from his face, and his breathing seemed labored. She tilted her chin to the sky. Why?

  Ahote put his hand on her shoulder. "Ride back with him.”

  Maya nodded. She got on Hototo and waved to Ahote as they trotted out of the dirt slide and into the Valley of Hoodoos.

  Warren attempted to put his arms around Maya’s middle, but they hung like a vine of grapes. Feeling him against her back sent thrills through her core. Even in the state he was in, she couldn’t fight her feelings.

  She tried to imagine the pain Warren was going through, both physical and the mental anguish of losing his strength. If she could stay with him and be his nurse instead of going home she would. She would tend to his every need until he could be cured.

  His head rested on her shoulder. She looked down at his lips. He moved his neck, trying to inch up on her, making her crave him. She rested her cheek on his.

  "All I could do as I laid in the riverbed was think about you and my dad,” Warren said, “and how I wished I could tell you I loved you again.”

  An intoxicating fire spread through her body. "I love you too." She ran her fingers over his legs that cradled her.

  “I’m so thirsty,” he said, pursing his lips together.

  “I will get you-” she gasped, remembering Lance had filled his water bottle in the Lake of Healing Waters. "We need to find Lance."

  "Why?"

  "He has something that should make you feel better. Hup."

  They galloped out of the Valley, under the sandstone arch, passing the stables, and went up to the porch of the hotel where there were guests dining. Maya dismounted, and Warren hunched over on Hototo. She took the reins and wrapped them around the fence, accidentally slapping the back of a lady who was holding a baby with the reins.

  “Sorry,” Maya said as the lady gave her a crusty look. Hototo snorted at the woman as Maya took off into the hotel lobby.

  Aunt Roslyn spotted Maya as she ran in. "There you are. What makes you think it’s ok to take off without leaving a note-"

  "I'm sorry, but I don't have time." She jogged by the desk and ran up to the Dining Hall.

  Lance was finishing lunch. His hair stuck out in several directions. He took a swig of water from the half-drunk water bottle. Maya plucked it from his hand. His eyes opened wide as his neck snapped back.

  "Sorry, Lance, but Warren really needs this. It's the water from the Lake of Healing Waters, isn't it?"

  He nodded, dazed from her sudden snatching.

  "Thanks." She scrambled back down the stairs through the lobby.

  Aunt Roz stood from her chair and yelled, "Where are you going? Maya, explain your–"

  Maya raced through the double doors and back to where Warren slumped on Hototo.

  She held the water bottle up to him. "Drink this.”

  He lifted it to his lips, but it slipped from his feeble fingers. Maya gaped at the bottle, trying to catch it, but it bumped off her palm and tumbled upside down and twirled around again before finally landing on its side. Drops splattered into the sand and sunk in.

  "Oh no!" she fretted, sticking her face near the ground. She grabbed the bottle and held it in front of her face to see through the plastic. It only held a quarter inch of water. She couldn’t breathe as she stared at it. She put her hand on his leg.