I was frozen with fear even though Half-Breed stayed close beside me.
Focus, Princess. You must remain calm. His thoughts burst into my mind.
From somewhere I found the strength to force myself to move forward as we proceeded to the spring. With shaking hands I picked up one of the small wooden cups and knelt to fill it with water.
Noeetu stood the closest to me and the others gathered around and were all facing me. I stood with the cup in my hand and as I turned to face my audience I said, “Who will be the first to drink of the eternal waters?”
“I will,” a strong male voice echoed from behind the group, a voice I knew belonged to my husband.
The moment was upon him, the moment to act and Moheeladeck rushed up behind Niviktay. He grabbed her from behind and placed a knife to her throat, just as he has done with Divakar that day in the forest.
One of our warriors, Ratuka, had managed to do the same with Williamson, but Noeetu, who stood the closest to me, had escaped capture. Although our warriors stood with spears and arrows aimed and at the ready, Noeetu still held a gun in his hand. I stood as if in a dream watching the scene play out in slow motion before me.
David moved to position himself between me and Noeetu. He closed his eyes and I could see by his expression there was an emotional struggle going on inside him. The sight of Moheeladeck brought the raw hate and jealousy of Divakar rushing to the surface and he was clearly fighting for control.
My eyes shot to Moheeladeck, but his gaze remained frozen on David. His face was usually an emotionless mask, but his eyes darken and his body stiffened.
“My brother,” Moheeladeck finally said to David, his voice tight as he struggled for control. “Will you at last do the right thing? Will you finally lay aside your jealousy and hate and save the woman we both love?”
Everyone’s eyes turned toward me; everyone except Moheeladeck, who remained focused on David.
“What nonsense is this?” Niviktay said. “David is the son of Agnes Warren, my son.”
“Yes, that may be true in this time, but within David lives the spirit of Divakar, my brother, and the son of Glooskap,” Moheeladeck said.
Everyone gasped. “Son of the Great and Powerful God, Glooskap? Impossible!” Niviktay exclaimed.
“Impossible? As impossible as Agnes Warren being Niviktay? As impossible as your husband being the son of Malsumsis, Noeetu, my cousin? As impossible as Pam Hasting being Takshawee, my bride and the true Tribal Princess? It is not only possible, it is so. This man is my brother.”
“It cannot be,” Niviktay said. “I have waited for centuries to get into this cave. I have neutered David to be the rightful heir of this tribe. It cannot be that I have done all this for nothing. I cannot accept it. I will not accept it,” she said as she struggled against Moheeladeck’s hold.
“Be still, woman, before you cause my hand to slip,” he commanded through clenched teeth as he held the blade closer to her throat.
“You seem to forget something,” Noeetu said as he leveled his gun and aimed it at my heart. “I’m the one holding all the cards, I’m the one holding the gun, and believe me, I will use it.”
I saw the hardness in Moheeladeck’s eyes. My thoughts rushed to Half-Breed who had moved now to stand closer to Williamson.
Half-Breed, tell Moheeladeck not to falter, no matter the cost.
Half-Breed relayed the message and Moheeladeck’s eyes flashed to me.
Williamson saw that as the small diversion he needed and made a move to pull his gun out of the holster but our warrior, Ratuka, was holding him and pressed the knife closer to Williamson’s throat. Blood ran from the officer’s neck. Williamson elbowed Ratuka in the gut, and the warrior stumbled backward and fell. Williamson, now freed, pulled the gun out of the holster and pointed it at Moheeladeck, who had started to turn to the direction of the commotion.
At precisely that same moment, Half-Breed leaped up at Williamson. As he jumped, he transformed before our eyes into Emanudeck, whose size and weight knocked Williamson off his feet. But as he fell, Williamson fired his gun.
Everyone had now turned toward the commotion, including Moheeladeck, who was holding Niviktay in front of him. The bullet meant to strike Moheeladeck struck Niviktay, who Mooheladeck held before him. She slumped forward as the bullet entered her body and a stain of blood covered her chest. Moheeladeck loosened his grip and stepped back from her as her lifeless body dropped to the floor of the cave.
The roar of the weapon discharging echoed off the walls of the cavern. The floor beneath us rumbled as if it were a great beast that would open its mouth to swallow us.
As Emanudeck struggled with the officer trying to pull the gun from his hand, the weapon discharged again. Fear choked me. Had my father been hit? I could not suffer loss again. But this time Williamson became his own target.
Noeetu didn’t waste time. Seeing his accomplices fall, he turned back toward me and aimed the gun level with my chest. He was only a few feet away from me, and I thought for sure this was it. My stomach clenched, and I swallowed hard to force back the feeling that I might vomit. A stream of sweat ran between my breasts as I brought my shaking hand to the dream catcher.
“Niviktay is dead. Now you will die in this hole, too, you bitch,” he said, shaking as rage overtook him.
I closed my eyes and held my breath to ready myself for the impact of the bullet as he fired the weapon.
“No!” David shouted and leapt forward.
Just as Noeetu fired, Moheeladeck threw his knife. The blade stuck Noeetu squarely in the back and the gun fell from his hand as he dropped to the ground. The sound of the third gun blast echoed through the cave and the ground shook beneath us as rocks began to fall from the ceiling and walls of the cave. In the split second when all this was happening, I realized that I hadn’t felt the bullet strike me. I opened my eyes and looked down to find David slumped at my feet with blood seeping from a wound in his chest. I knelt beside him with tears running down my cheeks. Moheeladeck, Emanudeck, and our tribesmen all came to stand around us.
“I told you I would die for you, Pam,” he whispered.
“And I told you that I would never ask you to do that,” I said as my trembling fingers touched his face.
“You would never have to ask. I love you,” he said. “I have always loved you.”
Moheeladeck came and knelt beside David. “After all these centuries, my brother, you have finally done the right thing. You have acted out of selfless love and broken the curse upon the male children of our blood.”
David looked up into Moheeladeck’s eyes and uttered the words that I had spoken mere moments ago. “It is amazing what can be done when you are the one destined to do the job.”
David had finally realized his true destiny. He was the brother destined to break the curse. Tears streamed down my cheeks and I silently prayed he would not die.
The walls of the cave began to crumble and jagged cracks opened in the floor.
“Let us leave this place,” Moheeladeck said as he lifted his brother into his arms.
“He’s not going to make it,” I said. “We have to do something! Here! Now!”
Moheeladeck gently placed David back down beside the spring. He took the cup and, filling it with water, he handed it to me.
“Hurry, dip the stones into the water,” he instructed.
I did as he asked and then handed the cup back to Moheeladeck, who placed the cup to David’s lips. “Drink,” he said.
David was growing weak and struggling to breathe, but he did as his brother had asked. After he had taken a sip from the cup, Moheeladeck poured the remainder of the water in the cup over David’s wound.
Then he turned to me and said, “If you love him, ask the stones to save him, to let him live.”
Moheeladeck gazed into my tear-filled eyes and asked me the burning question. “Do you love him?”
I knew the answer. I had found the answer at the falls. “Yes, I love him.” T
he words spilled out in a mere whisper.
Moheeladeck’s face was a mask, void of all emotion. His eyes dark and lifeless as the light left them.
“But not in the way a wife loves a husband. I was only drawn to him by the enchantment of the stones,” I hastily added.
Love shined again and the light returned to Moheeladeck’s dark eyes. “He is Divakar, my brother. I cannot watch him die. You have the power to save him. Please, Takshawee, ask the stones to let him live.”
I looked down at David and saw that he was indeed now Divakar. Emotion tugged at my soul. Divakar had been the mortal enemy and brother of Moheeladeck, Divakar had been the man who kidnapped me in the forest. Where was David, the man who protected me, the man who loved me as Pam in my present time? Could these two men have become one as I had become Takshawee? Confusion gripped me, but I had to act. There was no time. He was dying. I had to trust my heart. I took the stones into my trembling hands and spoke in a whisper. “Please, let this man live.”
The light that surged from the stones when the heart of Moheeladeck and I were united as one in our lovemaking now surged from the catcher because our hearts were united in love, all of our hearts. The energy that surrounded us when we had made love here that day in this sacred place now brought its light and life to every area in the cave. It surrounded Divakar and a glow throbbing like a heartbeat shown around him. Moheeladeck reached up and took my hand.
When the glow receded, Divakar’s wound was completely gone. He was weak from the loss of blood, but was otherwise unharmed. At last, I thought, it’s over, but it wasn’t.
In all the commotion, no one had noticed Noeetu as he dragged himself toward the gun. He took it into his trembling hands and with his last bit of strength and dying breath, he raised the gun and with shaking hands—fired.
The blast echoing off the walls of the cave mingled with the rumbling of the floor shaking. I watched boulders crash down to bury Noeetu as I felt the bullet rip through me. Everything went black.
Chapter 39
Memory of the bullet burning into my chest was fresh in my mind and I wondered why I was not in pain, why I had not died. Heat from the dream catcher seeped into me. The power of its vibration consumed me, the voice of its magic spoke to my soul, and I knew it was its magic that had saved me from certain death. My eyes slowly fluttered opened to see three sets of concerned eyes looking at me; Moheeladeck’s, Divakar’s, and Emanudeck’s. Relief swept through me to see all had survived. But as I watched the weathered face of the old Shaman I had come to know as my father, the years seemed to melt away from him and I was looking at the face of Richard Hastings.
“Father?” I whispered in confusion. Was my clouded mind playing an evil trick on me?
“Yes, Pam, I am here. I have always been with you. You knew me as Richard Hastings, but now you have come to know me, your true father, Emanudeck.”
“And what of mother?”
“Weekatay was Jill. We are your parents, through all time.”
I smiled as his features morphed into those of Emanudeck once again and a feeling of wholeness and complete joy filled me.
But the reunion was interrupted when the rumbling in the cave resumed and grew more intense as boulders tumbled past us, filling the air with dirt and dust.
Moheeladeck lifted me into his arms.
“How is it I survived being shot?”
“The enchantment of the stones and the magic of our family finally united is what saved you. I could not allow even death to take you from me,” he murmured as he lightly planted a kiss upon my forehead.
“Brother, death will take all of us unless we leave this place now,” Divakar said.
“You must ask the stones to bring us to the village. To our People.”
“What of the dead?” I asked.
“They are buried in the rubble of their own destruction. Let this be their eternal resting place.” Divakar, Emanudeck, and all the warriors drew close. Still in my husband’s strong arms, I took the catcher in my hand and I did as Moheeladeck had asked. I commanded the stones to return all of us to the People. As we were transported away, I heard the sounds of the cave crashing in on itself in total collapse and destruction.
Once we were safe in our lodge, Moheeladeck seemed sullen.
“What troubles you?” I asked him.
“Many things.”
“Such as?”
“When did you know that your heart was truly mine and not his?” He indicated his brother laying peacefully in sleep on the furs by the fire as he recovered from the ordeal.
“I knew it for sure today when I sat at the place where you first had buried the stone. I knew my heart has always belonged to you. I love you.”
“The moment you realized your heart truly belonged to me I too felt it. I knew it also in my heart. I have always loved you, and I will, through all time.”
“But something else troubles your mind, husband.”
“Yes. The cave has been destroyed. Although we have forever been in battle to protect the secrets it contains, it was a sacred place to the Aloscotay People and it was our sanctuary. We must find a way to restore it.”
“Are you sure that is what you truly wish?”
“Yes. I have given it much thought. I wish for our sons to live in peace and not to have the curse and burden of defending the cave upon their shoulders, for I know that is a heavy burden to bear. But perhaps they will not have to carry such a heavy burden.”
“What do you mean?”
“I have a plan.”
“What are you thinking, husband?”
“We will see that word will spread of the destruction of the cave and soon the threats of our enemies will diminish and die away, but the magic of the cave must never be allowed to die. Its magic is the essence of the life of our Tribe. We must restore it. Do you agree?”
“Yes. But how shall we accomplish the great task of restoring the sacred cave, of moving a mountain?”
“According to legend, you simply have to ask the stones.”
One year later, after taking my rightful position as Tribal Princess and the true leader of the Aloscotay, I stood silently at the falls with Kitchi, one of my twin sons in my arms. Moheeladeck stood beside me holding the other. The crisp autumn air filled my lungs. I smelled the water and the freshness of the pine trees. I smelled the damp earth that surrounded the rocks. The sound of the water spoke to me and gave peace to my soul. I stood before the rock ledge and felt the cool damp earth beneath my bear feet, the spray from the waterfall upon my face. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath.
I was filled with peaceful oneness with the earth and oneness with my husband, my family, my People. I had found the love I had searched for my entire life and more than that, I found my parents again. I knew I was where I belonged.
I spoke in a gentle whisper. “This is a very special place, my sons. It has always brought me peace and led me to the right path. May it do the same for both of you,” I said as I placed the dream catcher around Kitchi’s tiny neck.
“You do not know this now, my son, but one day your legacy will live on. I have made preparations so that many, many years from now our bloodline will be remembered. One day I will show you documents that must be guarded, as your father has guarded the secrets of this special and sacred place. It must be passed down through the centuries. One day, my son.”
As the years passed, the sons of Moheeladeck had sons who had sons. Through the centuries, stories were told of Moheeladeck and his brother, Divakar, who broke the ancient curse, who fought side-by-side to protect their People and who lived together in peace. Stories of the great love of Moheeladeck and Takshawee became legend.
Son-to-son names were added to a list, a list that began with the names of the sons of Moheeladeck and was passed down through the centuries, together with a leather satchel containing a trust fund started with half a million dollars, a deed to all of the Aloscotay lands, a dream catcher, and a handwritten letter, yellowed with
age. A letter written by a woman whose name was lost in time. A woman whose name had been Pam Hastings.
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Chapter 1
“Father, how could you?” I shrieked, slamming my fist down on the wooden kitchen table in our island home.
“Think of it, my dear. You’ll be a Duchess,” he said, leaning back in his chair and giving me that crooked smile of his.
“Yes, and I will also be married to a man I have never met. If mother were alive, this would not be happening. She would never have allowed this.” I paced back and forth in our cramped kitchen, anger boiling in my gut.
“Mind your tongue, girl. Your mother, God rest her sainted soul, would see it for what it is, our salvation. Now stop thinking only of yourself. Think of all the riches. We shall want for nothing.”
“I want for nothing now, Father. I was not brought up in the Courts of London, but here, on this Island, thanks to your indiscretions with the Viceroy’s wife.” I felt the worm of guilt curl in my stomach. I knew it was disrespectful, but my anger gave rise to the outburst. Shock, and something else, maybe a flash of guilt, passed over his handsome aging face.
“You thought I didn’t know? Just because I was only ten when we were forced to leave London? Believe me, I was quite aware of why we were leaving.” He cast his eyes downward. I knew I had crossed the line, but pressed him further. “What were you thinking in agreeing to this match, Father? I have not had the opportunity to master the ways of a fine Lady. You know we live modestly here. We dress plainly. I do not have fancy gowns. I wear simple cotton skirts and blouses, similar to what I have on now. How do you intend to pass me off as a wealthy Countess?”
According to Legend Page 29