Keeper of the People (Book One)

by Karah Quinney

  It was risky to travel after dark but she felt the need to hurry. Taikiuu didn’t know how long the men would be wracked with the pain that left them unable to follow her. She had been unable to kill them, even though they were both deserving of death, it would have to come from some other source.

  Taikiuu could not turn her back on all that she had learned and sought to pass on to her daughters. She was a keeper of the old ways and traditions. She held sacred the memories of times long ago and she could not throw that away to seek her own safety. Taikiuu would have paid too high a cost in return.

  Carefully she made her way over a particularly rocky crevice, careful of every footstep at this point. She remembered Jon’lan’s insistence on each person being tied to the one behind them as they walked. She realized that if she were to fall into one of the dark crevices, there would be no one to help her.

  Taikiuu shuddered and this time she wasn’t sure if it was from the chill wind or her thoughts. Still she refused to be daunted by the challenges the mountain presented. She told herself that she did not walk alone and said a silent prayer that it be just so.

  Jon’lan awakened in the morning to find that he ached all over, but the majority of his pain came from the knife wounds that Star Feather had bandaged. He remembered pieces of the night before, but he could not remember what happened to his wife. Star Feather was quick to kneel at his side as he tried to rise.

  “Jon’lan please, you must rest.” Star Feather spoke gently but firmly as she pushed him back all too easily upon the ground. Jon’lan had never felt so weak, it was as if his bones had turned to mush and he could not force his body to obey.

  “What’s wrong with me, other than these knife wounds?” Jon’lan asked through a mouth that felt full of fur. Star Feather smiled grimly as she handed him a water skin to drink from. She waited until he slaked his thirst before answering.

  “I think you were all poisoned.” Star Feather stated clearly as Jon’lan looked at her uncomprehendingly.

  “Poisoned.” Jon’lan said the word as if it was foreign to him. Jon’lan remembered Marad moving in for a killing blow and then he touched his chest where the medallion his sister Laloni had made for him rested. The medallion had saved his life. “Was their poison on the Aztlan’s weapons?”

  “Yes.” It was Roark that answered as he opened his eyes for the first time since he had sustained his wounds.

  Star Feather made a sound that was part joy and part fear as she rushed to his side. Only moments before she feared that he would never awake and yet now he looked at her with fever brightened eyes.

  “Roark!” She cried as she pressed against him, feeling his chest move with each breath. There were no words to express her relief at his improved condition. She hugged him fiercely although she was careful of the wounds to his body.

  “The warriors used poison.” Roark paused as he caught his breath, “They poisoned their arrows and spear tips. There is no remedy.” Star Feather jerked in his arms to look into his face.

  “Husband?” Star Feather asked but she could not finish the sentence.

  “We are dying, wife.” Roark breathed the words before he closed his eyes as she wept upon his chest.

  Silence descended upon the small camp as Jon’lan thought of the future he would never know and the wife he would never hold again.

  “Where is my wife?” Jon’lan asked, hating himself for interrupting Star Feather’s last moments with Roark, but he needed to know Taikiuu’s fate. He hoped that she had escaped with the others down the mountain into the valley below. But he needed to hear the words spoken and then he could rest.

  “She was taken by the remaining warriors.” Star Feather whispered through broken sobs. Every hope and dream that she had cast for the future was destroyed and she had never felt such despair, knowing for certain that the men would not become stronger and be able to search for Taikiuu cut wounds into Star Feather’s heart that she feared were irreparable.

  “She left these leaves for you to chew and I have been giving them to you throughout the night.” Star Feather whispered as tears fell unchecked down her face. “But now I know that it was all in vain, for there is no cure.”

  Anaay moaned and blinked his eyes open. For a moment all was quiet and then Star Feather dried her eyes and rose with a fresh water skin to give Anaay a drink.

  “Why do you cry?” Anaay’s voice came out as a guttural rasp and Star Feather strained to hear him, even as her eyes welled with pity for the young man before her who would never live to see the prime of his life.

  “The poison in your system will kill you, all of you.” Star Feather hated to say the words and she hated even more to be the person to tell Anaay. He was such a good, strong, capable young man and he would have made Kii happy all the days of her life. “My heart is laid bare.”

  “But I feel better than I did yesterday.” Anaay denied the condemning words Star Feather spoke. He knew his body well and he felt improved from the beating he had taken as well as from his wounds.

  Star Feather nodded meekly as Anaay denied her words and she went to offer water to her husband who was now awake again. Jon’lan watched everyone with a sense of being outside of his own body, as if his soul hovered above them all, watching from a distance. Yet he was inside his body, he felt each wound throb and he felt each bruise.

  “Where is the Old One?” Jon’lan spoke slowly as if each word cost him a piece of the strength that he so desperately sought.

  “I have not seen him.” Star Feather responded quietly as she looked up from her task of preparing a broth for them to drink.

  “Marad hit him. I saw Marad strike the Old One.” Jon’lan responded as he licked at his cracked lips and shuddered against the wind that chilled him even through his fur lined parka.

  “I will go and look.” Star Feather made ready to rise, but Roark stopped her with what strength he had and handed her his knife. It looked huge in her small hands, but she did not hesitate, she took it gladly. Regardless of the taboos of her first people and the village of Aztlan Star Feather would use the knife needed.

  Chapter Fifty

  Star Feather walked carefully out into the open, scanning the ground as she went for any sign of movement. It was possible that one or two of the Hetmos warriors or the foreign warriors still lived, although they appeared to be dead. Star Feather skirted to the right and left when necessary to avoid walking to close to their bodies. She did not wish to be caught unaware.

  She saw a small figure huddled on the ground and knew at once by the man’s moccasins that it was the Old One. She did not allow her steps to hurry, instead she approached him cautiously, praying that he lived, yet his form was still beyond life at this distance. She crouched next to him and placed her fingers to his neck hoping to feel the pulsing of his heart. His skin was dry and chilled and she closed her eyes as she felt for any sign of life.

  Taikiuu was at the last of her strength. She could go no further without risking the child that she carried. She knew that pregnancy was often at its most fragile stage during the first few moons. She wasn’t yet through her third moon and she feared for her child.

  She collapsed next to a large group of boulders and did her best to squeeze into a crack that was just wide enough for her. She turned her back to the wind as she curled against the boulders.

  All she could do now was pray to the Great One of All Things for strength and endurance, there was no one to save her. She would have to find the strength to save herself. Often when she cared for those that were ill or dying they would tell her their life story and this she kept in her memory.

  She remembered a man that had been on a hunting trip and had gotten separated from the other hunters. He was a foreigner and unfamiliar with the area and so he had wandered around for days before finally collapsing in exhaustion. The hunting party finally found him just as he was on the brink of death.

  The man told Taikiuu that he should have walked longer and harder those first few days
before exhaustion claimed him. He told her that he should have pushed himself, no matter the cost. At least he would have had his life.

  Sadly all she had been able to do was make him comfortable before he closed his eyes for the final time. But as she remembered the man who died with regret burning in his heart she forced herself to her knees and then onward again, thankful for the ever present light of the moon.

  Taikiuu walked into an opening and she breathed deeply, trying her best to quiet the sound of her breath. She sensed that she was being watched, but she couldn’t determine from which direction she was being pursued. She felt that it would be best to stay to the shadows and she caressed the hunting knife that she had brought along for protection.

  Just as she moved forward a dark shadow streaked towards her and she held her knife in front of her. Eyes gleamed in the dark and fear made Taikiuu stand rigid as she waited for the attack. The beast skidded to a halt in front of her and chuffed gently.

  Taikiuu’s inner self recognized Rhea before her eyes told her that it was the large cat that had befriended Anaay. Rhea stood in front of her panting lightly. Three smaller shapes approached carefully and Taikiuu once again tensed until Rhea turned and bathed each of the three figures with her tongue. Taikiuu realized that these small cubs were her babies.

  They sniffed Taikiuu’s feet with great curiosity and Taikiuu refrained from petting them even though she hugged Rhea, thankful to have something alive and familiar to give her comfort. She wasn’t sure how the cat had found her, but Rhea could easily track game for long distances and Taikiuu wanted to believe that the cat intended to find her.

  Rhea allowed the woman to hug her as Taikiuu wrapped her arms around the large cat’s neck and sobbed quietly into the soft fur. Rhea purred as she was reminded of the little ones, Yaa and Mar-ee. She was eager to get her cubs fed and rested and she yearned to see the little ones of the People’s band. Taikiuu could not know what thoughts went through Rhea’s mind as the cat turned breaking contact with the woman and chuffing softly at her cubs. One of the cubs was slightly smaller than the others and it leaned against Taikiuu’s leg panting softly from the exertion of its travels.

  Taikiuu reached down and allowed the little one to sniff and lick her hand, it seemed to accept her presence and so she picked it up by the scruff of its neck as she knew young animals were used to being carried by their mother in this way. The cub immediately went limp and she placed it within the circle of her arms. The tiny bundle was warm in comparison to the cold that swirled around them; Taikiuu pressed her cheek into the downy soft fur and felt her heart become buoyant with hope.

  Perhaps she could make it back to Jon’lan and the others now with the help of Rhea and her cubs. It was as if her prayer to the Creator of All had indeed been answered. She followed Rhea as the cat streaked off into the night with her cubs at her heels. The darkness was all consuming but for the first time Taikiuu felt a bright ray of hope.

  Jon’lan rose as another day dawned; he noted that Star Feather lay sleeping against Roark who still breathed. Anaay was awoke and had already added kindling to the fire, there was little left to burn as they were surrounded by snow and rock.

  “You live.” Jon’lan winced at the raspy sound of his voice and sipped carefully from a water skin.

  “I feel better. Today I am stronger. The poison will not kill us.” Anaay was sure of it now and he had to convince the others of the same. Even though Roark was certain that the poison had no cure, Anaay was just as certain that the leaves left behind by Taikiuu had remedied the damage that the poison would have wrought if left unchecked. He told Jon’lan as much and the man listened intently.

  “I can walk today,” Jon’lan announced quietly as he stood. “I will go look for my wife.”

  He glanced over at the place where the Old One had slept only the day before, the man had been knocked senseless by Marad, but besides an aching head he was alive and had gone to tell the children that the men lived. Jon’lan was surprised that he worried after the Old One, but already he had grown accustomed to the man’s presence.

  “I will go with you.” Anaay volunteered, although his heart was eager for him to go and find Kii. She would have to wait patiently for him to find her and find her he would. It was only a matter of time, before they would all be together again.

  It was the cub that caused Taikiuu to stumble and fall. The little one had been running along behind his brothers when he let out a piercing scream that distracted her for only a moment, it was enough. She was suddenly in the air where she bumped against hard rock taking the blow to her side and back, before sliding down to a ledge that was just wide enough to brace her fall. She looked up, once she was able to breath normally again and she saw Rhea peering into the crevice that now held Taikiuu prisoner.

  Taikiuu tried to scramble up but the crevice was an icy sheet with no finger or toe holds. She was captured just as surely as if the mountain had swallowed her whole. Rhea chuffed and huffed as she circled the hole where Taikiuu had fallen. One of her cubs was down there with her and Taikiuu could hear the little one crying.

  She moved carefully towards the sound and found the small cat with its thin needle-like claws clinging to the side of the crevice. She didn’t mind the sting of its extended claws as it grabbed hold of her in its fear, she soothed it even as it continued to cry for Rhea. Up above Rhea’s instinct was to go after her cub, but she could not risk being trapped in the crevice, that would mean certain death to the two cubs that now circled her paws in dismay. She licked them clean of ice and debris even as she soothed herself with the familiar ritual. She settled down to lay by the side of the crevice and listened to the woman who began to speak to her.

  “Rhea!” Taikiuu called raising her eyes to see up to the top of the crevice. “Rhea you must go find Anaay or Mar-ee. Go!”

  At first Taikiuu wasn’t certain that Rhea heard her or understood and she waited a few moments before repeating herself. Finally she heard Rhea move off and away from the edge of the crevice and she could only hope that the large cat understood her plea. She knew the bond that existed between Anaay and Rhea and she also knew how Rhea felt about Mar-ee. Perhaps the cat could be counted on to find the rest of the band, even if Anaay was no longer living. Taikiuu refused to give in to the despair that welled within her. Instead she placed one hand protectively over the small mound of her stomach and with the other she lifted the now sleeping cub up to her cheek and crooned softly to it. Where there was life, there was hope.

  Jon’lan and Anaay did not talk as they walked. They were well armed and ready to meet any challenge that they might face. Already they were exhausted from their attempt to track Taikiuu and her captors and they were working with a cold trail. Anaay used every bit of his skill to help Jon’lan but time and time again they lost the trail. Anaay feared that the trail had grown cold until he saw a small marking that could have been a footstep. He knew that Jon’lan was also searching the ground for any sign of his wife or her captors.

  Anaay found another track that could easily have been made by a walking stick and Taikiuu's small foot. Although it hadn’t snowed recently time played an element when it came down to tracking. Anaay crept forward while trying his best to ignore the exhaustion that forced itself upon him.

  He thought of Taikiuu who had rescued him just as surely as Jon’lan had, welcoming him into their band, providing the first home he had known since being cast out as Boy Alone. Taikiuu would always be First Woman to him, and Jon’lan would always be First Man. Already Yaa spun stories about them that Anaay knew would be passed down to future generations. He could not allow himself to believe that Taikiuu’s fate was to die at the hands of Sirion.

  “Here.” Jon’lan’s attention was captured by the story that he read upon the ground. The two men had turned at this point and came close to Taikiuu who alternately followed behind them and then walked in front of them. It was as if they could not decide if she was their captive or their leader. He realized that
he was most likely dealing with Hetmos warriors, since they were cowed by her former position of the Ada’na of the Hetmos people.

  Anaay nodded as they once again picked up the trail and both men hurried forward without any urging from the other. They were eager to make up the distance between themselves and Taikiuu. It was obvious that Taikiuu walked along with the warriors by force, but Anaay and Jon’lan ran, there was every hope that they would meet up with the trio before nightfall.

  Jon’lan ignored the stitch in his side and the pain that radiated throughout his body. He ran alongside Anaay with the sole intention of finding his wife and bringing her home. Anaay held up his hand after a while and Jon’lan slowed, allowing his breathing to return to normal as Anaay studied the ground. They had traveled through most of the morning and well into afternoon.

  At times they lost the trail only to pick it up again later, in the last few hands of time Jon’lan had feared that they had lost the trail completely, he saw no sign of his wife’s foot steps but Anaay moved on with confidence. The young man’s tracking skill was awe-inspiring and Jon’lan wondered if Anaay knew how much he was valued as a member of their band. A sound drew Jon’lan attention to the sky, high above him a large bird of prey circled. Jon’lan heart beat slowed as he peered up at the bird, hoping with his heart that it could truly by Hawk, his beloved companion and friend.

  The Hawk circled again before dropping from the sky to land on the perch of Jon’lan’s arm with effortless grace. Anaay’s eyes widened as he saw Jon’lan smile for the first time in as long as he could remember. He did not think it wise to get too close to Hawk since he was not as familiar with Anaay as he was with Jon’lan, but he could not help expressing his own joy at Jon’lan finding his long lost friend.