Lance stood. Seconds later, he squatted. He gazed at Morrigan, then Kelile, then her. “Okay. Maybe you’re right. She looks a little better and seems to be breathing better, maybe she can hang in there until I get back. You two stay with her. And no matter what happens to me when I leave, stay here.” He watched the Uktena. “How far do you think you can throw that bell, Kelile?”
“I don’t know.”
“You can throw a baseball farther than anyone I know. Think of it like a baseball.”
Kelile nodded, “Okay. But if that sleazy worm starts chasin’ you, I’ll run for the bell and ring the hell out of it.”
Lance shook his head. “No, I want you to stay here.”
“You ain’t my boss. I’ve got your back, brother. Let’s do this.”
The Uktena had moved around the protective circle and was now on the side closest to the portal. “Okay.” Lance stood and readied himself to run.
Aishling handed Kelile the bell. “Lance, wait, I … I …”
“We’ve got to do this now, Aishling,” he whispered.
“Please, be safe!”
“Ready?” Kelile boomed. “Set.” He threw the bell. “Go!”
Lance burst away, running in the opposite direction.
The Uktena slithered toward the bell. But as soon as the bell rolled to a stop and gave one last, resounding clang, the serpent slowed and changed directions.
After Lance.
“No!” Aishling screamed.
Lance slowed. But before he stopped, Kelile yelled, “Run! Keep running!”
When the Uktena passed their protective circle, Kelile charged after the bell.
But the serpent was closing in on Lance, and Kelile hadn’t reached the bell yet. Aishling had to do something. She stepped out of the circle, gripped the obsidian in her hand as she held it in front of her, and yelled, “Stop!”
The Uktena made a large turn and headed for her.
Lance halted and began clapping and yelling.
She stepped back into the circle, just before the Uktena lunged. Again, it bounced off the protective wall and shrieked.
Lance bounded, picking up speed, racing.
His hasty movements attracted the Uktena’s attention again; it restarted its advance after him.
By then, Kelile had reached the bell.
“Hurry!” Aishling yelled.
“No you don’t, you sleazy, oversized worm!” Kelile yelled, clanging the bell. He continued clanging it while running back to the circle.
The Uktena sporadically jerked around and pursued them.
Moments later, Kelile and Aishling huddled next to Morrigan. Lance had safely gotten away, and the Uktena inched its way around the circle once more.
Nightfall moved in as a thick, black, menacing fog.
Return to Beginning
One’s heart at last may grieve, and Shadowkin adjourns.
42
Aishling hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but she had. She jerked awake, momentarily startled by her surroundings. At once, she realized where she was and what had happened. She bounced up and checked Morrigan who was still unconscious, but breathing. Kelile was still asleep. She caught her breath and held it. The Uktena! But, it wasn’t there.
“Hey,” Kelile said, stretching. He leisurely opened his eyes, smiled, but suddenly lurched up and spun around. “Where is it?”
“I don’t know. Could it be trying to trick us into coming out of the circle?”
“Girl, you act like that thang has a brain. Maybe it went back through the gateway.”
“I don’t know, I—”
“What’s that?”
An old, white Ford pickup.
*******
May 16
Lance and Kelile are still asleep. But I’m so sad and scared that I can’t sleep. I think Morri might die. To the Creator and to Goddess, to all that is: Please, please save Morri!!!!! Please.
Redhawk has hardly spoken. I think he knows you, Ma. I kind of remember him coming to see you before. He looks at me like I’m evil or something. I don’t care. At least he’s trying to cure Morri. When Lance brought him back to us and he saw Morri’s bite, he looked directly at me and said, “What have you done?” What does that mean? It’s like he blames me for it.
Maybe it was my fault. I’m the one who took us there. I didn’t know what I was doing. Oh, how could I?
But Ma, you told me to go there. Didn’t you?
Is it still in our reality? What if it bites someone else? We haven’t told Redhawk what really happened. We told him a large snake was hanging off a branch and bit Morri when she walked by. I know he doesn’t believe us, though. I wouldn’t either. But there was no way we could tell him the Uktena had bitten her. Everyone thinks it’s just a myth. He’d think we were lunatics. Isn’t Morri proof, though?
I think Redhawk must be a medicine man. He’s tried different herbs on her bite. I also heard him chanting in Cherokee. I’m afraid nothing’s going to work. Yet, the myth says that she should have already been dead. Us, too, just from looking at it. At least that part of the myth was wrong. We don’t know what to do. Lance thinks it’s only a matter of hours before Redhawk calls the police.
I wish I had come here alone. All of this is my fault. If something happens to Morri, I don’t know if I could stand to live. I hate what I’ve done to everyone. It’s all my fault.
*******
Lance crouched next to Kelile and Aishling in Redhawk’s guest bedroom after they had finished eating a late breakfast. Morrigan still lay on the bed, quiet, unmoving, unconscious. Redhawk was still in his kitchen. “I can’t believe we lost seven days in the cave,” he whispered. “I think we’re going to have to tell him the truth, the whole story. I know he doesn’t believe what we’ve told him already.”
“Man, if we do that, he’ll sure enough turn us over to the state. And because I’m black, I’ll get blamed for everything and sent to prison for what happened to the queen. And you two”—he pointed—“will probably be committed somewhere. No way is he gonna believe us.”
“But, Kelile, the bite marks,” Aishling muttered. “Aren’t they proof? I mean how many snakes get big enough to make those kinds of marks?”
“You three,” Redhawk’s voice boomed from behind Aishling. “Come in here. We’re going to council.”
Redhawk was a towering man with sable hair tied back by a thin, leather strap. The same leather strapping looped around his neck, securing a small pouch. The pouch was bracketed by a claw on either side. Aishling thought they might be bear claws but had only caught glimpses of them. He also wore a wide silver band on his left arm, a red jewel embedded in its center. With high cheekbones, dark amber skin, and noble, yet humble mannerisms, he awed Aishling. She easily could imagine him as a great Cherokee warrior.
He motioned for them to sit on the floor of his living room as he, too, settled on the floor. Before speaking, he made eye contact with each of them. His intense brown eyes pierced Aishling’s skin, triggering goose bumps along her arms. Her heartbeat galloped.
They hadn’t decided yet what else they’d tell him. What if she said too much? What if she got the others in even more trouble than they were already in? It didn’t matter.
I just want Morri to live. She inhaled, trying to calm her growing nausea.
Redhawk spoke in a quiet, yet commanding tone. “I took the four of you into my home yesterday, providing you shelter, food, and safety. I’ve asked nothing in return for my hospitality. I’ve listened to your story about your friend, Morrigan, and I’ve done what I can for her. I’ve also given you enough time to decide whether you wish to tell me the truth or not. Your time is up. If you cannot be honest with me, then I will be unable to extend my hospitality any longer. I will notify the authorities about you and let them handle things from here.”
Aishling stopped breathing. Redhawk’s words provoked a sensation of falling from a high waterfall and hitting the rocks below. She looked at Lance, searching for a signal
, a lead to follow. He stared at the floor. She glanced at Kelile. Same thing. What should she say?
The truth.
But how? Where would she start? What about Morri? He said he had done all he could do. Does that mean she’ll get better? Or worse? She continued hesitating, gawking at Lance and Kelile, avoiding Redhawk’s eyes.
“Sir, the four of us were in a children’s home in Franklin, like I told you last night,” Lance said. “We ran away together. I had to find you. You know, like I said. Mom had told me to come to you if something ever happened to her and Dad. I’ve been trying to contact you, but the state wouldn’t let me.” Lance stopped. He leaned forward and cupped his stomach.
“I ran away to save my mom from my sorry-ass, abusing stepfather,” Kelile spoke up, and then pressed his mouth closed.
“I ran away with them because I had to come home and see if I could find my mother. I couldn’t remember anything about the night she disappeared, or the fire. You know, we showed you my house yesterday.” Aishling waited for acknowledgment from him.
He nodded once.
“Morri came with me. We’re anamchara, or I guess it’s something like blood brothers, or sisters. She has an aunt who’s supposed to get her soon, but she’s not back in the country yet. So, Morri came with us.”
“We had gotten into trouble when I found you,” Lance picked up with the conversation. “I don’t know how to explain it.”
“Put one word in front of the last and talk,” Redhawk answered.
“Well …”
“Man, I mean, sir,” Kelile said, “all of this is far-out stuff, stuff Lance and I don’t know anything about. Morrigan and Aishling—”
“I see,” Redhawk said. He shifted his eyes back to her.
“Sir,” she whispered, “we didn’t ask for these things to happen, really.” She cleared her throat and spoke louder. “I guess, for me, this all started with the fire on Samhain, I mean Halloween, 1989. I don’t remember anything about that night except a fireman pulling me out of the house and telling me they hadn’t found anyone else. Ma had disappeared. I was put in that children’s home. Apparently, this evil wi … evil woman had been trying to get something from Ma.” She panted and looked to Lance for help.
“Just say it, Aishling,” he muttered. “Just say the truth.”
“Okay. Redhawk, my mother is … or was a Celtic witch, but she was also a healer, and part Cherokee. She helped people become whole by bringing pieces of their soul back to them. I remember you came to see us once. Do you remember her?” She glanced up to see his reaction, but his face, like a rock, gave nothing away. She stumbled on, “Well, we found out that another witch, an evil witch, had been after Ma, and that this witch was probably the one who had started the fire. And, she’s probably the one who killed Ma.” Her voice cracked when she said this.
After clearing her throat again, she continued, “We also thought that maybe this witch had caused the death of Lance’s parents, and Morri’s mother. You see, we discovered that the four of us are connected somehow. This evil witch has been hounding Kelile’s thoughts for days, telling him to find the Suti Stone. That’s what the evil witch wanted from Ma.” Aishling had to take a breath. Was she making any sense?
Redhawk squinted and shook his head once. “Suti Stone?”
“The Ulunsuti,” Lance answered.
Redhawk continued squinting but nodded and looked back at Aishling.
Her heart flipped. “So we decided to go after the Suti Stone, or Ulunsuti, and to lure the witch to my home. We were going to turn her in and make her pay.”
Kelile interrupted, shaking his head, “But when we went into that other dimension, the Uktena chased us, you know, like in the myth. I mean that snake is gigantic. Lance kept tellin’ us he didn’t believe in the Ulunsuti, that it was just a mythological stone. We made him come with us, man—sir. Don’t be mad at him. You should adopt him like his mother wanted,” he finished and gulped.
Redhawk sat back against his couch, crossed his arms, and closed his eyes.
Moments thudded by. Aishling peered at Kelile and Lance and shrugged. She hoped he was done asking questions. She couldn’t bring herself to tell him all of the truth, to tell him the Uktena might be running around somewhere in their reality.
Redhawk’s eyes remained closed, but he spoke, “Yes, I knew your mother, Aishling.” He opened his eyes again. “Did she ever tell you she had the Ulunsuti?”
“No. I didn’t even know the story until several nights ago.” Well, hadn’t remembered the story.
“What made you think you could find it?” His eyes bored into her again.
“In the Garden of Life and Death, my mother had told me where to go.”
“How? Where?” Redhawk frowned.
Aishling sensed his impatient energy. “Before we went to the gateway, Ma’s image appeared to me in our garden. And Ma had also left me a wish box that had a stone and bell to help me travel into other dimensions.” She slung her hands in the air. “Look, I know all of this sounds weird, but it truly happened. And when we were in the cave, the Uktena chased us, and that was when it bit Morri. I thought if I kept ringing the bell we’d be safe, but somehow Morri got bitten. And when we came back here to our reality, the …” Oops. She forced her mouth shut.
She caught Lance staring at her. Did he want her to tell the rest? Or, was he trying to tell her to keep quiet?
“Sir,” Lance said, “the Uktena followed us out of its reality. Aishling and Kelile don’t know where it is, whether it went back through the gateway or somewhere else.”
It happened so fast, if Aishling hadn’t been watching for his reaction she would have missed it. In less than four seconds, Redhawk’s expression went from normal to a reddened face and bulging eyes, to wrinkled brows and flared nostrils, and back to normal. Had she detected shock? Anger? Fear? She had no time to process his reaction.
Lance said, “I know it sounds unbelievable, sir, but that’s what happened.”
Redhawk nodded and stood. “You kids need to get some rest. You’re not to leave this house until I decide how we’ll proceed. Understand,” he said, more as an order than a question.
In unison, the three of them answered, “Yes, sir.”
Aishling’s dreams traumatized her sleep that night. Again, the Uktena chased them, this time biting Kelile. Rousing herself from the nightmare, she wiped away her dream tears. She kept hearing Kelile’s screams of agony. Even now as she became more aware of her surroundings, she still heard his screams. “Oh Goddess!”
Kelile was screaming!
She jumped up at the same time Lance did. A split-second later, Redhawk flipped on the light and rushed into the room. They crowded around Kelile’s cot as he writhed and moaned.
“What happened?” Redhawk questioned.
“The dreams!” Aishling answered, shaking all over, tears spilling down her cheeks. “I saw it in my dreams. But can it attack in your dreams?”
“What?” Lance said.
“The Uktena. In my dreams, I saw it bite him. He was screaming in my dreams. When I woke up he was screaming.”
Redhawk examined Kelile. When he found the bite below Kelile’s right shoulder, Aishling cried out, “No!”
She shoved past Redhawk and rummaged for her obsidian stone. “I’ve got to fix this. I’ve got to fix this.” She placed the stone on his bite and took a deep breath, trying to visualize the golden light. She burst into sobs.
“Step back.” Redhawk moved her away.
She almost resisted but didn’t have enough fight in her. He began chanting in Cherokee.
After a few minutes, he told them to leave and go into the living room.
This was it. The state or police would pick them up now. First Morri, then Kelile. She looked at Lance and her fear intensified. Would the Uktena strike him next? Isn’t that what had happened in her dreams? The Uktena always bit the others. One-by-one, they had disappeared. She remembered her amulet. Maybe that would protect him
, but would it make him sick? She removed it from her neck and reached for Lance, who stared at the unlit fireplace. He flinched when he noticed her.
“It’s all right,” she answered. “This is a protective amulet. I want you to have it, to wear it.”
He took it and held it in his hands, rubbing it, then shook his head and handed it back.
“Please, Lance.” He shook his head again and stared at the fireplace.
Friday, May 17
The pre-dawn hours had dragged as though time itself was crippled. Redhawk hadn’t said anything else to her or Lance. About an hour after they had discovered Kelile’s bite, three other Cherokee men arrived. Aishling noticed they wore similar silver armbands. But each one had a different colored stone in the center—white, black, blue. One of them carried a medium-sized drum. Redhawk ushered them into the bedroom where Morrigan and Kelile lay and closed the door. Then, the drumming and chanting began.
Now, a new day awakened. She watched through the window as light replaced dark. The drumming and chanting continued. Lance had fallen asleep. Her eyes drooped, and she was groggy, but she’d been too scared and worried to sleep or even rest.
Aishling stared at her bell and obsidian, trying to decide what to do. Was all of this her fault? Could she help Morrigan and Kelile? Or would she only make things worse if she tried?
She opened her grimoire, flipped through its pages, and closed it. Would it work this time? Without looking at it, she thumbed through its pages as she asked for guidance, and then randomly opened the book. As before, she had opened to an entry that hadn’t been there. The title at the top of the new page sucked the air from her lungs.
The Uktena.
43
Her muscles tightened and ached as she read:
Dead Moon Awakens: A tale of Cherokee myth and Celtic magic (Mystic Gates) Page 20