by Rada, J. R.
“There’s the rest of my team,” Gary said.
Sarah relaxed.
As Sarah came closer to the other members of Gary’s group, the light from all the lanterns and flashlights merged creating a small bubble of light within the cavern about twenty feet in diameter.
The first impression Sarah had about the three people was they were utterly filthy. Each of them reminded Sarah of Pig Pen, the Peanuts character who always had a cloud of dust following him no matter where he went. She had always enjoyed watching the Peanuts cartoon specials when she was a little girl. This group’s resemblance to Pig Pen was because their sweat had mixed with the dirt on them to form a film of mud on each person. One man was so covered in mud that he looked like a black man.
“This is the rest of my team,” Gary said. “This is Billy Joe Nash, Lou Montgomery, and Christine Stills.”
Sarah was surprised to see a woman among the group. She was even more surprised that she hadn’t recognized the woman because she was covered in mud and had on heavy coveralls.
“Between these three people, there’s fifty-two years of caving experience,” Gary continued. “This is David Purcell and his friend, Sarah,” Gary said to his team.
Sarah started to reach out her hand to shake theirs but decided against it and said, “Nice to meet you all. So you four do all the dirty work while Jared and Alex sit up on top?”
Billy Joe wiped some of the mud off his face and said, “If it was always like that, we’d probably revolt. We alternate in pairs two days upstairs and four days down. We need to get a little sun every now and then.”
Even with all the people around her, Sarah still felt like something was moving outside the range of the flashlights and lanterns. She concentrated on listening to the group talk. She made eye contact as often as possible and never looked over their shoulders to the edge of the light.
She was afraid of what she might see out there.
CHAPTER 25
After leaving the caverns with Sarah, David still didn’t feel as if he knew anything more about what had happened to him than he had before he went in. He hadn’t had any startling revelations as he stood in the dark with Sarah and the cavers. If anything, he was more convinced it had all been a bad dream. How could anything live in cave? Without light, it was absolutely dark. There was no food, and at least in this cave, there was very little water.
It did him a little good, though, to walk around in the chambers and see how easily the cavers moved around. They weren’t scared of the place; they were fascinated by it. They were mapping the passages he had been lost in, and those maps would take the mystery out of the cave. It would be a less-scary place once it was mapped out and there were no more unknown areas.
It was true that he had seen the pale men, but did they come from the caves? And if not from the caves, then from where?
It was after seven o’clock when he dropped Sarah and Adam off at their campsite. He felt a little guilty going home to his air-conditioned apartment when he knew they were sleeping a half a mile from the highway in the stifling heat. But he hadn’t forced them to camp there. They had chosen it themselves.
David went home, took a shower, and changed into clean clothes. Now he had to do something that made him just as uneasy as the going into the cave.
He had to talk to Terrie.
He drove his new car out to Terrie’s mobile home. It was on two acres of property at the east edge of Blanding, but she had no immediate neighbors so it looked like she owned more like sixty acres. David had always thought it was odd that she lived in a mobile home, but had never moved out of town. Terrie had planted a garden behind the trailer, and had a concrete patio laid in front of the trailer. There were no shade trees on her property, but she did have sod laid out on it and an automatic watering system to keep it thriving. Her yard was a patch of green in an oasis of brown. If there had been a way for her to make the trailer a permanent fixture to the land, she would have done it.
He glanced at his car and thought he could still leave. He hadn’t knocked on her door yet. Somehow he knew what he would find when he knocked.
He should have called her first. Then he wouldn’t have to put himself in this embarrassing situation now, but maybe this was just what he needed to shake himself to his senses. Glancing at the driveway for the hundredth time, he noted there were three cars in it. His Corolla, Terrie’s Geo Metro, and a BMW 325i. He didn’t recognize the BMW, and he had a feeling he didn’t want to know who owned it. It certainly wasn’t Terrie’s.
He hadn’t knocked on the door he reminded himself. Terrie might not know he was here. He could...
He knocked.
He heard movement from inside the trailer. When Terrie opened the door, he had to catch his breath. She looked beautiful, as always. Her brown hair hung loose across her shoulders. She was wearing a pink T-shirt, which hugged the curves of her body, and her white shorts showed off her sleek runner’s legs that she was so proud of.
When Terrie saw it was David at the door, she quickly closed the door until it was only a narrow slit. She hadn’t wanted him to see into her trailer, but she’d been too slow.
“David, I didn’t expect you tonight,” she said quickly.
David looked at his feet. “I know. I’m sorry I didn’t call, but I didn’t want to be put off. We really need to talk. I can see you’re busy, though. I guess this means we don’t have anything to talk about after all.” There was no anger in his voice, only sadness.
The smile on Terrie’s face fell. “Oh.” She opened the door wider and David saw the blond-haired man in a navy-blue suit sitting on the couch in Terrie’s living room. He lifted his hand as if to wave to David.
“Do you want to come in?” Terrie asked.
David shook his head. “Sorry to have barged in.”
He spun around quickly and headed for his car. He wasn’t sure if he was going to cry. He hoped not. It would only add to his embarrassment. No wonder things had gotten so bad between him and Terrie! She’d been dating another guy.
For how long?
David felt a hand on his arm. “David, wait.”
He jerked his arm away and then felt he was acting like a child. He stopped and turned around. Terrie looked like she was about to cry, too.
“I was going to tell you. Really I was. The night you fell in the cave and the other day when I came to see you in the hospital. I didn’t want you to find out like this,” she tried to explain.
“How did you want me to find out?”
“Slowly. I wanted to break up first, and then when you were used to that I was going to tell you about Randy.”
“How kind of you.” He paused. “You’ve got a thing for guys in suits with fancy cars, I see.” David could see the comment hurt her and in a way, he was glad. He doubted it hurt one-tenth as bad as he hurt at that moment.
“You got a new car,” Terrie said glancing over his shoulder.
David nodded. “The Camaro let me down one too many times. It was time for a change.”
“Oh.”
Kel´hoya opened his mind and waited. He called out to Pahana. He hoped the Outlander would still be in his room in the white pueblo. The pueblo was a good place to kill Pahana. To slay an enemy where he felt safest would inspire fear in the other Outlanders who sought to destroy the dark kachinas.
When his mind met Pahana’s, he saw the lost white brother was not in his room at the pueblo. He was outdoors beside a small dwelling. It looked to be a solitary room, not like the pueblo where Pahana had stayed the night before. Perhaps, Pahana thought that the female he was staring at would protect him from the Bow Clan as the old Outlander had done. Pahana did not realize how lucky the old Outlander had been. He did not know the true power of the Bow Clan. That was the reason why Pahana did not fear.
But tonight, he would learn fear.
Fear first, then death.
Kel´hoya opened his eyes. To´chi was already awake and pacing the cave. Kel´hoya wondered if thi
s impatience he was seeing in To´chi was part of To´chi’s true personality, uncontrolled by the dark kachinas.
“Tonight we will kill Pahana,” his companion said. “We will carry his head with us back to Kuskurza for all the Sun Clan to see.”
Kel´hoya stood up and stretched. “He is with a female.”
“A female? We should capture her. She would bear strong slaves for the dark kachinas. Now that the Sun Clan has stolen our women, we need all we can get even if they are Outlanders,” the younger Bow Clansman thought out loud.
Kel´hoya shook his head. “We will be lucky if we can return to Kuskurza ourselves. This female is Pahana’s current protector. We will make him fear the Bow Clan first, before he dies. If we are able to return to Kuskurza, we can tell the dark kachinas of the rich source of slaves that could be ours for the taking if the Bow Clan attacked the Fourth World with their weapons.
“But first, Pahana must die and all those he might have told the secrets of Kuskurza to. We have already failed once, and the Bow Clan does not fail. We must kill him tonight so we can return to Kuskurza before our judgment has completely deteriorated.”
Terrie rubbed her thigh nervously. “I’m sorry about this, David, but you need to know how I feel,” Terrie tried to explain.
The sky was dark enough now that she was only a vague shape to David.
“So tell me.”
Terrie touched David’s arm. He didn’t pull away this time, but he realized her touch no longer excited him as it once had.
“I really don’t feel like I’ve been cheating on you,” she began.
David laughed. “Funny how I don’t remember us breaking up. I thought I was still your boyfriend.”
“You haven’t been my boyfriend in months.”
“Now that’s not true,” David said as he shook his finger in her face. “I’ve always been concerned about you. Don’t I call you when I’m out of town?”
“But calls don’t take the place of seeing you. Don’t you understand that I wanted to be with you?”
“I suppose, but I have a job to do, and it takes me out of town sometimes.”
“Too often,” Terrie added.
“That’s the way you see things, but it’s not the way I see them. And that is the heart of our problem, isn’t it?”
Terrie paused, and then said, “Maybe you’re right.”
“I love you, Terrie. I was willing to try and work things out. I hoped they could work out. I didn’t turn to the nearest female the first time things got tough for us.”
“I didn’t turn to the nearest male, either. Randy has been a friend of mine from the diner for years. He saw I was upset one day and we started talking, and then one thing led to the next...”
“And you both wound up in bed,” David interrupted.
Terrie slapped him hard across the face. “That’s a lie! Just because things didn’t work out for us, doesn’t mean I’m sleeping around.”
David realized he had overstepped his limits. Terrie didn’t believe in sleeping around. The only man she would go to bed with would be the man she married. Having dated her for a year, David knew that as well as anyone. But he had wanted to make her mad to make his break from her complete. He had, and now he was sorrier for having done it. “You’re right. I’m just angry.”
“If you had wanted things to work out between us, you could have gotten a job that didn’t take you out of town three nights a week,” Terrie said.
“I could have, but there’s no job around here that would pay me as much as I can make with Hayden.”
“Money’s not everything,” Terrie insisted.
David nodded. “I agree, but the point of the matter is, I don’t mind being out of town three nights a week. It’s not like we saw each other every night, anyway. Before you start laying the fault for our failure on me, look at yourself. We could have moved to Salt Lake City. That way I’d have been close enough to the airport that I could turn most of my overnighters into day trips. Then, if things had smoothed out between us, we could have gotten married.”
Terrie snorted. “Married? Do you think I’d leave my life just because you finally mentioned the M word? What if I didn’t want to live in the city? What would I have done for work?”
“Probably the same thing you do here, but you’d have gotten paid better for it.”
Terrie waved her hand around the yard. “This is my home.”
“People move all the time, Terrie. Why couldn’t you?”
“Because I like living here. My family lives here, and so do all my friends. This is the only place and way I know how to live. Randy accepts that. Why can’t you?”
“Because I’m not Randy. I’m David. David Purcell. Remember me? I used to be your boyfriend. Besides, you just told me money isn’t everything, well, either is location.” David turned away from Terrie. “Goodbye, Terrie. Good luck with Randy. I hope he wants the same things you want.”
The Bow Clansmen moved through the darkness without saying a word. Kel´hoya searched for the landmarks he had chosen while he had watched the world through Pahana’s eyes. He had chosen ones that would keep To´chi and him away from any of the Outlanders. Kel´hoya wanted to keep his companion’s thoughts on killing Pahana and not returning to Kuskurza. He did not want to think that he would die soon.
As they approached the dwelling of the female protector, Kel´hoya saw no one outside the pueblo now. They must have gone inside, and Kel´hoya thought he knew how to get inside. He had seen how Outlanders worked the doorways in his visions.
Pahana had been too careless this time. He took too many risks because he did not fear the Bow Clan. Now he would learn that lesson, but it would be too late for him to apply it.
Kel´hoya paused by the entrance to the metal pueblo. To´chi sunk to a crouch ready to launch himself through the doorway onto Pahana. Kel´hoya reached out and grabbed the door handle. Then he turned it as he had seen the Outlanders do. He pushed the door open.
As soon as To´chi saw that his companion was successful, he gave a war cry and charged through the doorway.
Terrie screamed, but Kel´hoya clamped his hand over her mouth quickly to silence her. He did not want any interference this time.
To´chi jumped on Pahana’s back as he turned to run toward the door to the pueblo. To´chi grabbed a handful of Pahana’s blond hair and yanked his head back. Pahana fell face forward onto the floor. To´chi maintained his hold and saw Pahana’s exposed neck.
To´chi’s hand found Pahana’s neck and tightened its grip.
“To´chi, no!” Kel´hoya yelled.
The Bow Clansman reacted instantly as he had been trained to do. He released his grip.
“Why? With his death, our mission will be complete,” the younger man said.
“Yes, but not yet. Have you not realized that he does not fear us? The Bow Clan means nothing to him.”
To´chi rolled Pahana over onto his back. Pahana’s eyes were closed, and his lower lip trembled. To´chi tugged at the lip with his long fingers and wondered how they would taste. Pahana whimpered at the touch of To´chi’s hand.
“He looks afraid to me,” To´chi said to his leader.
Kel´hoya stared at the man on the floor. “That is not Pahana.”
“How do you know?”
“I saw Pahana close up when I attacked him in the white pueblo. I know what he looks like.”
To´chi screamed and pounded his fists on Randy’s chest. “We have failed again. He has escaped us once more. This world has made us weak and powerless.”
“At least we have his protectors now. He is also powerless,” Kel´hoya said.
“You said that Pahana would be here. We should kill the man and take the woman as a breeder for when we return to Kuskurza!”
Kel´hoya thought for a moment and said, “No! I am the leader, and I will command! Make the male face me now. We will leave Pahana a message.”
CHAPTER 26
David pushed the Corolla’s accelerator
all the way to the floor. The car jumped forward and gradually gained speed. Too slowly for David’s sake. At least the Camaro had been quick to accelerate. The Corolla’s speed topped out at eighty miles per hour. Luckily, Highway 191 wasn’t too busy.
He had put up so much resistance to his mother’s idea of coming to Provo, and now he was racing there at eighty miles per hour. He hoped his parents would be happier to see him than Terrie had been. He needed to be pampered a little bit and loved a lot.
He would never have thought Terrie would cheat on him. Terrie was right about one thing. He could have handled a breakup, but not this.
Moab was still half an hour away. He would have to get gas there, and then he should be able to make it all the way to Provo.
Forget Terrie. Forget the Bow Clan. Forget Adam and Sarah. If Adam wanted a hero, let him find someone among his own people. David had lost five weeks of his life in that cave. He didn’t intend on losing it completely.
A trailer appeared in front of him suddenly. David swerved to avoid it, but it followed him across the road. He slammed on his brakes and was thrown against his seat belt.
The trailer disappeared and David saw an empty highway in front of him. He glanced in his rear-view mirror and saw a set of headlights far behind him that couldn’t possibly be the trailer.
David slowed his car down to forty miles per hour in case something strange happened again.
The trailer appeared out of nowhere again. David realized this trailer wasn’t on the road, though. It sat in a yard that he could see right in front of him.
He was seeing through one of the Bow Clansman’s eyes again. The Bow Clansmen were after someone.
David turned his car into a hard one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn. The tires screamed against the road, throwing David hard against his seat belt again. He would probably have a diagonal bruise across his chest tomorrow, but he didn’t care. He knew who the Bow Clan was going after this time. They had been looking at Terrie’s trailer.