by Sharon Sala
They started laughing and crying as they ran forward, because they knew what it meant. This was where new roots would go down, and the next time a ship full of strangers came to their land, they would be waiting with a whole new set of rules.
Singing Bird saw Cayetano’s joy and smiled. She felt nothing but relief. They had come home. Now all they had to do was build it.
Mother, it’s me. I felt your joy.
Singing Bird’s heartbeat kicked so hard against her chest that it caused her pain. She grabbed her chest as her vision blurred.
“Tyhen! My daughter! I hear your voice. We have arrived at the place where we will build our new city.”
I can see it through your eyes. Yuma sends you a message.
Singing Bird began to laugh through tears. Hearing from both her children at once was a joy she thought was lost to her forever.
“I listen. What does he wish to say?”
He says Adam and Evan have a new map Cayetano needs to see. He says they have given a new name to what was once called North America and South America. Do you understand?
Singing Bird was entranced that she could communicate so perfectly. It was like talking by telephone in the world before Firewalker.
“Yes, I understand.”
And he says to tell you one thing more. If you have not already named the new city, that you should call it Boomerang. He said you would know what that means.
Singing Bird gasped as her throat tightened with even more unshed tears.
“Yes, yes, I know what that means. It was an object that when thrown, no matter how far or how high it went, always found its way home. I love it. I will tell Cayetano that his first son has already named our new city, but I have a question, my daughter? Why have you not talked to me before?”
We have had troubles, but they are mostly over now. I have felt your sadness, but your heart was so heavy you could not hear my voice. What happened that made you turn your heart away?
Singing Bird hated to say the words aloud again because they hurt her tongue as deeply as they hurt her heart.
“We lost Little Mouse. I think we left her behind.”
What? No! Oh Mother, no! How did this happen?
“We are not certain. Acat said she was in the jungle gathering roots for the trip the day the earth shook. We don’t know if she never came out of the jungle or if she had already come back into Naaki Chava and died in the fire, or if we just left her behind. It was an accident if we did. We waited and waited for people to gather before we finally left.”
And that is why you cry.
“Yes, that is why I cry.”
I am sorry. My heart had been sad, too. Wesley Two Bears died the day the earth shook and Naaki Chava burned. I saw the vision.
Singing Bird glanced back toward the ocean and the people dancing about on the broad stretch of white sand.
“That is done. We cannot hold onto that which we could not control.”
I know. I’m learning.
“I love you, my sweet child. Come and see me in your dreams.”
You have to be listening for the sound of my voice.
“I will listen.”
Go now and tell Cayetano he has a city named Boomerang to build. I love—
And just like that, the voice was gone.
Singing Bird sighed, then wiped the tears from her eyes and went to look for Cayetano to give him the news.
***
Little Mouse was clean. She had food in her belly, medicine on her wounds, and for the first time in many days, clothing on her body. There was nothing she could do about her hair. Either it would grow back or it would not.
Meecha was ready to take her to her new home and had bluntly explained why it was vacant.
Little Mouse thought about living in a house where people had died and then decided they would not mind since they had Yaluk in common. Just because she had survived Yaluk and they had not had nothing to do with her.
Meecha led the way up out of her home and into the sunlight.
Since Little Mouse was no longer facing death by dehydration and starvation, when the sun hit her face, she took the greeting as positive.
“Are you strong enough to walk now?” Meecha asked. “It isn’t far.”
“I can walk,” Little Mouse said.
They started across the compound in silence, but soon Meecha began to talk.
“Chiiwi has no woman,” she offered.
Little Mouse frowned. The man carried her to the river when she was weak, not offered to lay with her. She did not like Meecha’s curiosity. Still, she was new and she thought it best to know all she could so she would do nothing wrong.
“What is wrong with him?” she asked.
Meecha frowned. “He just never chose a woman.”
Little Mouse shrugged. “Maybe he does not want a woman. Maybe he would lay with men. It is the same only different.”
Meecha sighed. “No, not that. We call them two people and he is not one of them.”
“Then it is his business,” Little Mouse said. “Am I allowed to tend to the dead woman’s garden and call it mine?”
“Yes, yes, Cualli said all that was hers is now yours.” Then she eyed Little Mouse closer. “But her clothes will not fit you. She was very fat.”
“I can fix,” Little Mouse said.
Meecha tried to think of something else to say, but they had arrived.
“Here is your new home. If you have need of anything, you must just ask. We always share. When you are well, people will call on you for healing.”
Suddenly, Little Mouse looked anxious. “I have no ointments or herbs to heal with, and what if the things I know do not grow in this place?”
Meecha thought about it and then smiled. “Chiiwi knows. He can help you.”
Little Mouse shrugged. She didn’t care who showed her as long as she could resume what was her passion and her trade.
Then a thought occurred. “Who did you use as a healer before me?”
Meecha shrugged. “We didn’t have a healer, but sometimes Chiiwi knew what worked.”
Little Mouse felt bad, like she was stepping into shoes that were already filled. “Then he was your healer.”
“No. He is our best fisherman. He makes nets and hooks and knows where the best places are to hunt and fish.”
The news lightened Little Mouse’s heart. “Then I will ask him to show me... when I am well.”
Meecha nodded. “It is good.” She glanced toward the doorway to the dugout. “Do you want me to go in with you?”
“No. It is best I go in alone,” Little Mouse said.
Happy that her duties were over, Meecha made a hasty retreat as Little Mouse opened the door, shoving it wide to let in the light, and then walked down the steps into the room.
There were dark places in the dirt floor at the foot of the steps. She thought it was blood. But the rest of the place appeared as if someone had just stepped away. The pots and dishes were sitting on a shelf. Dried herbs hung from the ceiling above a table with two stools. A bucket had been made from a short piece of a hollowed-out log and had rope for a handle meant for carrying water from the river, she guessed. The bed of skins and furs on the floor at the back of the room was large, made to accommodate two people. It would be the best bed Little Mouse had ever had.
She reached down and touched the dark earth, and then straightened.
“I am Little Mouse. Thank you for this home.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Like everyone else in the region, Yaluk now knew the story of the medicine woman with great powers who was supposed to change history. He also had heard she walked with many people and that they were coming through his land. But he wasn’t concerned with the future. He just wanted more power with as little effort as possible.
He s
ent eight of his best men out to scout the area. He wanted to know how many people there were with her and which direction they were moving. If the medicine woman was as powerful as he’d heard, then she would likely have great wealth to go with it, and that was his goal.
He’d been waiting for hours now for his men to report back, but so far without success. Frustrated and more than a little bored, he gathered up twenty more of his warriors and left camp. If he found them lazing about without the answers he’d sent them to get, he would gut them where they stood.
***
Tyhen’s relief in knowing her parents had reached their new location was dampened by the news of Little Mouse. The little healer had been so much a part of her life in Naaki Chava that it hurt to think of what must have happened to her. And like her mother, the thought that she might have been left behind was horrifying. Little Mouse would have been so afraid on her own when the mountain died, and there was no way she would have escaped it.
And so she walked with that heartache added to all the others, barely aware of the hot sun on her face or the sweat running down her back. Heat was a constant where she’d grown up.
But when a child stumbled and fell a few yards ahead of her and she saw how red his face was and how dry and dusty his feet and legs were, it made her realize that while it was still hot, it had not rained on them in days.
She was thinking about finding a place to stop for a rest when the mother scooped up the little boy and settled him on her hip without missing a step. As she did, the child tucked his head beneath his mother’s chin without a whimper. The sight of such acceptance touched her heart. Even the children seemed to know this march was unavoidable. She had witnessed tears, but they were few and far between.
However, seeing this little boy fall made her think of Yuma. He hadn’t been much older than this one when they’d run from Firewalker, and he’d been on his own. A rush of emotion swept through her at the thought. He’d been so young, but so very, very brave.
She looked up to see where Yuma was at and remembered he’d told her earlier that he was going to walk ahead with the Nantay brothers, but she didn’t see them anymore, and at first she thought nothing of it.
The people had just begun a climb up a long slope of land, and since she didn’t see him ahead of her, she turned to look behind, didn’t see him there either, and then her gaze locked on the view of where they’d been.
The geography behind her looked like someone had drawn a line on the earth announcing, here is where things will grow, and here is where they will not. There were still trees and many strange bushes, but she did not think this land on which they were walking would grow food, and there was no water in sight. She turned again to the people in front of her, and even though she had stretched to her tallest, she could not see Yuma anywhere.
She was on the verge of being concerned when she caught movement on the horizon just ahead. She stopped to watch, letting others pass by her, and all of a sudden three men appeared.
It was Yuma and the Nantays and they were running! Johnston and Yuma were on either side of Montford, and each had an arm around his waist to keep him on his feet. Then she saw the blood on the front of his chest and saw what no one else could see, eight armed men in pursuit only a short distance behind them and gaining ground. She leaped forward, barely aware that the New Ones were already arming themselves as she flew past.
***
Yuma and the Nantays were scouting ahead for landmarks to match the maps that they had. Because of the geographical region of the country through which they were now moving, their lives would depend on where they could access water, and how far they could go without it.
“Look there!” Montford said. He was smiling as he pointed off into the distance at a small cloud of dust. “That is something in a herd. I haven’t seen animals make a dust cloud like that since before Firewalker.”
Johnston nodded, but he was more interested in the terrain. It was getting rougher. He thought about all of the people behind them still walking barefoot.
“We need to get back and call for a rest so people can get their feet covered. These rocks are going to be too sharp for bare feet.”
Yuma was listening, but his gaze was focused on a dip in the land off to their left. Twice now he thought he’d caught a glimpse of movement and was hesitant about going any farther until he knew what that was.
“What do you see?” Johnston asked.
Yuma pointed. “See that shadow in the land just ahead? It looks flat, but if you look closer, there is a slight dip to the surface. There’s something down in it.”
Montford looked.
Johnston stared. “I see what you mean. Something... no, someone is belly-crawling. See that faint poof of dust rising. Good eye, Yuma.”
The hair rose on the back of Yuma’s neck. He was thinking about what Tyhen had said about the bad men she’d seen in her dreams when a head popped up.
“There!” Yuma yelled.
The Nantays immediately notched arrows into their bows, ready to shoot if the target presented. And it did.
When the armed warriors sprang to their feet and came toward them on the run, both Nantays and Yuma launched their arrows, but only one man went down. The others were too many and coming too fast to stop and shoot again.
“Run!” Johnston shouted, and as they turned, an arrow hit the back of Montford’s shoulder and pierced the front of his chest, as well. He stumbled, his face wreathed in pain as Johnston grabbed him from one side and Yuma from the other.
“Move your feet,” Johnston yelled, and Montford came to enough to follow directions.
“We’ve got you, Montford, just hold on to us,” Yuma yelled. Then they began to run, carrying him between them.
It took a few seconds for them to get their footsteps in sync and then they took off. There was no way to know how many more warriors might be around, but the need to warn the others was paramount. If they could just get back over the hill before the warriors caught up, they’d be safe by numbers alone, but the little men were coming up fast and weren’t wasting breath doing it. It was a silent race to the death and Yuma wasn’t ready to die.
Dust rose ankle high as they ran over sharp rocks, dodging thorny cactus and dragging Montford between them as they kept their gaze focused on the high ground ahead.
When they finally topped the rise, their biggest relief was seeing the New Ones strung out all over the land before them.
Then Yuma saw Tyhen coming through the crowd, running in that long, fluid stride that made her look like she was moving on wheels. The expression on her face was set and he knew she was already aware of the danger.
When she drew even with him, their gazes locked. He got the message. Go take care of Montford. She’d take care of this.
The moment the three men were safely behind her, Tyhen channeled her anger and threw up her arms like she was tossing dirty water out of a bucket. The air rose with the motion of a tidal wave, gaining strength with forward motion until it was an impenetrable wall of mass and might, the perfect unseen weapon.
One second the eight warriors were coming over the rise and the next thing they knew, they were in the air and high above the ground, tumbling head over heels without anything thing to hold onto. The last thing they saw was a mass of people spread so far out on the ground below that they couldn’t see an end. They were screaming and praying to the Old Ones, still trying to catch hold of each other when the wind suddenly died. And then so did they, dropping from a forty-foot height onto the rocky ground below.
***
By the time Tyhen got back, women had gathered around the men and were digging medicine out of their packs. Johnston was in front of Montford, cutting the arrowhead from the end of the shaft, and Yuma was behind, ready to pull it out.
Yuma looked up. The grim expression on his face said it all. Before, all their danger had
come from the earth and the elements. It was no longer the case.
“Is it bad?” she asked, as she dropped down on one knee beside Shirley Nantay.
“Bad enough,” Shirley said.
Sweat was running down Montford’s face and there was a muscle jerking at the side of his jaw.
“Get it out,” he mumbled.
Johnston made one final cut in the shaft and the arrowhead fell into his brother’s lap.
“It’s off,” Johnston said.
Before Montford had time to brace himself, Yuma grabbed the back of the arrow and pulled.
Montford moaned and fell forward into his brother’s arms.
“I’m sorry,” Yuma said as he tossed the arrow aside.
Shirley’s expression was grim.
One of the women was carefully washing the blood from his shoulder, while Shirley was waiting to pour a healing powder into both entrance and exit wounds.
“What do you want me to do?” Tyhen asked.
Yuma looked up. “The ground is getting rough. No more bare feet. Spread the word.”
She stood and turned. The expressions on the New Ones’ faces were grim as she called out for all to hear.
“He will heal. The ground is bad. No more bare feet.”
Once again, the people began digging through packs.
Yuma slid an arm around her waist as he came up behind her.
“The warriors were in hiding. They attacked us first.”
She sighed. “We are in a new land. These people do not live the way we lived. Everything is strange. We must be careful not to waste what we have until we know where we can get more.”
He lifted the hair from the back of her neck and kissed the spot right behind her ear that made her weak.
As he did, the wind circled around them in a soft, teasing manner.
Tyhen sighed as she turned in his arms.
“Be careful of starting something we cannot finish.”
He groaned. “Yes. Thank you for the reminder.”
She smiled. “So, do we know which way to go?”