The Wind in His Heart

by Charles de Lint

  Ruby rubbed her face. Could this girl be any more clueless?

  “I have to put a stop to this,” she said.

  “And how do you expect to do that? They’ve already made their bargain.”

  “I’ll think of something.”

  As she stepped into the witch’s yard she felt the sudden interest of the gangbangers. A couple of them stepped toward her and she paused.

  “You want us to take care of them?” Manny asked.

  Ruby shook her head. “That’ll only exacerbate the situation.”

  “Listen to you with your big words.”

  “Seriously. Let’s try to leave them out of it.”

  Manny nodded. “No problem.”

  But he made a slight motion with his hands and the crows in the tree above them rose from their perches and landed again in branches above both groups of gangbangers. The men that had been moving stopped and eyed the birds warily.

  “Wait,” Manny told Ruby as she started to move again. “You know this is a bad idea.”

  She ignored him and strode across the yard. Manny and Xande exchanged glances, then shifted to their crow shapes and flew ahead. They were perched above the witch’s door by the time Ruby reached it.

  Ruby flung the door open and stepped inside, followed by the pair of crows who flew a circuit of the room before settling on the backs of chairs on opposite sides of the room.

  Sadie shrank away from Ruby and hid behind the old woman.

  Abuela gave each of the intruders a long look before her gaze finally settled on Ruby. “Normally,” the witch said, “visitors have the courtesy to knock before entering.” She smiled, but there was a warning in her eyes. “This is the home of a witch. You take your life in your hands with such behaviour.”

  “I don’t see a witch,” Ruby told her. “I just see an old woman who steals the medicine of the thunders and pretends it’s her own. Pretends this land is her own.”

  “I do no such thing. My people have been here since—”

  “You stole this land from the tribes, who stole it from the ma’inawo before you or the other Europeans ever arrived. All you five-fingered beings are liars and thieves.”

  Anger flashed in the old woman’s eyes. “You dare question my integrity?”

  “When it begins with the lie of how this land is yours?”

  The witch scowled. “If you wanted to claim ownership, you should have done a better job of holding on to it.”

  Ruby laughed. “No one owns the land. You might as well say you own the sky. It makes about as much sense.” Then she let her humour fall away. “The girl is under my protection.”

  “Is she now? Then why did she come to me to ask for the same?”

  “Because she’s a stupid child who doesn’t think and takes no responsibility for her actions.”

  “Don’t let her near me,” Sadie said. “I don’t know who she is, but she’s a crazy woman.”

  “You know me,” Ruby said. “My name is Ruby.”

  Sadie’s features went white. “Oh crap. She’s going to kill me. You need to get rid of her—right now.”

  “I told you I would protect you against those who mean you ill,” the witch said, “and I will do so. But our bargain doesn’t include protecting you against those who mean you well.”

  “This is such bullshit,” Sadie said.

  “However,” the witch went on, “should she attempt to harm you, I will deal with her, and when I’m done she won’t be troubling you—or anybody else—again.”

  Ruby held the witch’s gaze. “I doubt you’ll find me as easy to deal with as the five-fingered beings you’re used to dazzling with your stolen medicine.”

  “You’d be surprised,” Abuela told her.

  Manny changed shape, sliding down from his perch until he was lounging in the chair, one leg thrown carelessly over its arm.

  “You might want to reconsider that kind of threat, señora,” he told the witch. “If you kill her, you’ll start a clan war between yourself and every canid from the mountains to the ocean.”

  The old woman turned to look at him. “You think I’m afraid of dogs?”

  “Did I say ‘dogs’?”

  Abuela frowned. “Speak plainly.”

  “I did. You’ll become the number one target of all the canid clans. Every wolf, coyote, dog, fox… Well, you get the picture. And then there are the big guns. If justice serves, you might get the attention of Cody, and you know how Coyote likes to mess with you five-fingered beings.”

  The witch waved a hand, feigning indifference. “I’ll worry about that when the time comes.”

  Manny nodded. “If Aggie dies, that time’s coming sooner than you might like.”

  “Aggie?” the witch repeated. Her gaze went from Manny to Ruby, and they could see her make the connection. “Do you mean Abigail White Horse? What have you done to her? I thought dogs and crows were her friends.”

  “We are. We didn’t knife her and put her in the hospital.”

  “I have no quarrel with her,” the witch said.

  “No, but you’re protecting the one who is responsible.”

  The witch fixed her dark gaze on Sadie.

  “Hey, it was an accident. She’s just some old lady—why would I want to hurt her?”

  “Why, indeed?”

  “I said it was an accident.”

  Abuela’s attention returned to Manny. “What’s done is done,” she said. “The bargain has been made, and no matter what the dog thinks, I do not break my word.”

  Ruby growled low in her chest, but didn’t speak.

  “And speaking of the bargain,” the witch said to Sadie, “it’s time you upheld your side of it. You owe me a soul.”

  Sadie nodded. “Sure, but I have to go get it.”

  “All things considered,” the witch said, “I would prefer you have your volunteer come to meet us here. You can use my phone.”

  “That’s not really going to work.”

  The witch’s brow went up.

  “Chill,” Sadie told her. “I’m not planning to rip you off.”

  “Then what is the problem?”

  Sadie sighed. “Look, the soul I’m getting for you belongs to my old man. He just doesn’t know it yet.”

  “You did hear me when I said it must be willingly given?”

  “Sure I did. I have a plan.”

  The witch remained silent, waiting.

  Sadie gave another heavy sigh. “Okay, okay. You want the deets? I mean to pay the old fuck back for how he treats me. I’m going to the house tonight while he’s asleep, and taking a baseball bat to him. Once I get going, he’ll do whatever it takes to make me stop—including giving up his soul. It’s not like he cares about it anyway.”

  Ruby felt her heart sink. The child was on a downward spiral and she wasn’t sure there was any chance that she could be saved. But Ruby knew what she had to do.

  “You can have my soul,” she told the witch.

  A broad smile spread across the old woman’s features. “Can I now?”

  “Ruby!” Manny said, jumping up from the chair. “What the hell are you doing? Look at that kid. You think she’s worth it?”

  Ruby shook her head. “But she’s under my protection, so I can’t let her do this.”

  Manny glared daggers at the witch. “This is messed up.”

  “Free will,” the witch said.

  “Wait a sec’,” Sadie said. “Isn’t this supposed to be my decision?”

  “Oh, let’s see,” Manny said, his voice heavy with sarcasm. “Haven’t you already done enough?”

  “Hey, smart mouth—” Sadie began, but Ruby cut her off.

  “Get her out of here,” she told Manny. “Take her wherever she wants to go.”

  Sadie shook her head. “No. I’m not going anywhere. This is between me and Abuela, so you just butt out. If she’s taking anybody’s soul, she’s taking mine.”

  Ruby smiled. Maybe there was hope for the child yet. But all she said w
as, “Manny?”

  Manny stepped up and took Sadie by the arm. When he started to move her toward the door she tried to yank herself free, but he held on tight.

  “Ouch! Some protection here?” Sadie demanded of the witch.

  “There’s nothing I can do,” Abuela told her. “He means you no harm.”

  As Sadie continued to struggle, Xande shifted to human form and joined Manny. Between the two of them they half dragged, half marched her out the door.

  Ruby waited until it closed behind them. She could still hear Sadie yelling, but she put the girl from her mind and turned to the witch.

  “So how does this work?” she asked.

  Raven Wings

  48

  Steve

  I’m not just getting used to Calico’s way of travelling, I’m starting to enjoy it. And I especially enjoy the look on people’s faces when you just step out of nowhere into their space, the way we do in Sammy’s office at the hunting lodge. He’s behind his desk, with Dave Running Dog sitting on a couch by the window. They both stand up, eyes wide, mouths agape. Man, I love it.

  Dave takes a run at us but Calico gives him a casual backhand that sends him crashing into the wall. Sammy winces, the surprise in his features turning to fear. We stand there for a few moments, not saying anything until I see his courage coming back.

  “We decided to forgo the white van for this kidnapping,” I tell him before he can speak. “That’s what always trips criminals up, pulling the same crap over and over again.”

  “Now look—”

  I wag a finger at him, cutting him off. “Uh-uh. I’ll tell you when you can talk.”

  We decided before we got here that I’d handle this part of it. Calico’s too pissed off for any kind of finesse, and Reuben’s just going to push all the traditionalist-versus-Casino-crowd buttons.

  “You’re lucky I’m here,” I tell him. “Calico says we should kill you, and I have to admit I can see the appeal of that because then we’ll be done with you once and for all. There’s a lot to be said for never having to see your sorry ass again.

  “Reuben wants to dump you in the mountains,” I continue. “Oh, not the Maderas. The ones in the otherworld. I’m leaning a bit more that way because I’m not really a bloodthirsty kind of guy. Mind you, there’s no guarantee you won’t die of exposure.”

  I give him a smile. “You figure it out yet? I’m the deciding vote.”

  His gaze shifts between us.

  By the wall where he fell, Dave pushes himself up to a sitting position, which earns him growls from both my companions. He puts his hands up, palms out. “I don’t want any trouble,” he says.

  “Then why are you toadying around this piece of work?” Reuben asks, nodding in Sammy’s direction.

  “Come on, man. It’s just a job. I had nothing to do with ratting you out to the cops.”

  “See, that’s part of the problem,” I say. “Ratting us out presupposes that we’re guilty of something.”

  “I didn’t mean it that way.”

  “I know, Dave. But unfortunately, now you’re a witness.”

  “Don’t kill me, man. I won’t say anything to anybody.”

  “He probably won’t,” Reuben says. “Who’s going to listen to him? He’s going to start talking about people appearing out of thin air and grabbing his boss?”

  Calico’s been staring hard at Sammy through all of this. The little bit of bravado he was showing a few moments ago has vanished, sucked away like rain on the thirsty desert dirt.

  “Let’s deal with the boss first,” I say. “Okay Sammy. You’re up. What’ve you got to say for yourself?”

  His eyes can’t stay in one place. We’re spread out enough that he can’t focus on one of us without the other two disappearing into his peripheral vision.

  “I—” He clears his throat. “What do you want me to say? You told me not to kill any of those spirit animal people and I didn’t.”

  “No, instead you told the cops that we kidnapped some girl.”

  “That was a mistake—I see that now. I’ll tell them I was wrong.”

  “But you weren’t.”

  He looks puzzled. “I wasn’t?”

  “You weren’t ‘wrong.’ You were outright lying to them.”

  I don’t know where it comes from, but he finds a little backbone. “What did you expect?” he says. “You disrespected me.”

  “So you thought fair payback was for us to be thrown in jail and have our reputations dragged into the gutter.”

  “I just wanted to mess you up. They probably weren’t going to charge you on my say-so.”

  “So that makes it okay?”

  “I’ll fix this, okay? I’ll talk to whoever you want.”

  I shake my head. “Maybe you should shut up again because the more you talk, the more I’m leaning toward Calico’s way of dealing with you.”

  “You don’t kill people over something like this!” he yells.

  I shrug. “Ever disrespected a gangbanger? You know what their reaction would be?”

  “Come on. We can work something out. You want money? I can throw in a couple of grand on top of clearing things up with the cops.”

  I turn to Calico. “You need to get him out of here before I take a swing at him myself.”

  She nods. One moment she’s standing beside me, the next she’s over the desk and has Sammy in a neck lock.

  “What are you waiting for?” Reuben asks.

  “Shh,” she says. “I’m just calculating elevations so that I don’t drop him off the side of a mountain on the other side.”

  “Wait…no,” Sammy wheezes. It’s hard to talk when someone’s cutting off most of your air. He pulls at her arm, but he might as well be trying to break a python’s grip.

  Calico simply ignores him. “Got it,” she says. “I’ll be right back for you.”

  Then the two of them vanish.

  “Jesus Christ,” Dave says. “Are you really going to kill him?”

  I look over to where he’s slouched against the wall. At least this time he didn’t piss his pants.

  “Haven’t decided yet,” I tell him.

  A moment later, Calico’s back.

  Reuben points a finger at Dave. “Keep your mouth shut. Remember this: no matter where you go, we can find you.”

  Calico adds a little punctuation mark by showing him a mouthful of sharp fox teeth.

  “I swear, I swear!” Dave tells us.

  Calico growls and turns away, but I see the twinkle in her eye. She’d as much bite him as I’d kidnap Sadie Higgins, but he doesn’t know that. She offers Reuben and me her hands.

  “Ready, cowboys?” she asks.

  Reuben smiles. “I think I feel insulted.”

  “What? A Kikimi can’t ride the range and be a cowboy?”

  “Jesus, don’t you two start,” I say.

  Calico laughs and steps us away. The exhilarating rush of the passage between the worlds comes to an abrupt halt when we reach our destination and see we’re not the only people with an interest in Sammy Swift Grass. Calico dumped him on a small plateau high up in the tallest mountains I’ve ever climbed. As far as the eye can see, the peaks run off in all directions. The air is thin and at least ten degrees cooler than it is in the desert. The sky’s an impossible blue, specked with condors in the distance, turning slow circles on updrafts.

  But none of that is what grabs our undivided attention. It’s not the view, or the sky, or even Sammy standing in front of us, his pants scuffed from an obvious fall. It’s what’s on the other side of him: a jet black helicopter, engine still, its rotors slowly turning until they come to a standstill.

  Sammy doesn’t even notice our arrival. Like us, his entire focus is riveted on that big metal machine. With its sleek lines, the tinted windows and black metal, it’s like some computer gamer’s wet dream. It doesn’t look real. It looks CGI.

  “What the hell?” Reuben says.

  I glance at Calico and she’s just as s
urprised as we are. “That wasn’t here when I dropped Sammy off,” she says.

  “Well, it’s sure here now,” Reuben says. “The damn thing looks like a black ops chopper or something out of a sci-fi movie.”

  I give a slow nod of agreement. “Except I thought our world didn’t intrude here.”

  “Normally it doesn’t,” Calico says. “But the elders say anything is possible, somewhere in the otherworld.”

  The cockpit door cracks open and we all tense up.

  Reuben turns to Calico. “If they’ve got guns or lasers or some kind of crap like that, you get us the hell out of here.”

  Calico nods. “Pronto.”

  But it turns into a whole other kind of crazy when the last person in the world I’d expect to see drops down to the ground from the helicopter: Thomas Corn Eyes. Following him is Night Woman, that strange raven woman I saw at Ancestors Canyon when the tribe was laying Derek Two Trees to rest. She doesn’t have the ghostly giant raven’s skull superimposed above her shoulders anymore, but there’s that regular-sized raven perched on one of them again, and it’s just as ghostly—more the idea of a bird than the bird itself.

  “What’s she doing here?” I ask Calico, pitching my voice soft.

  “I have no idea.”

  “Thomas, you crazy Indian,” Reuben yells. “Where did you get that machine?”

  “That’s no machine,” Thomas says. “It’s Gordo, Consuela’s big black dog.” He looks at the raven woman and adds, “I’m pretty sure he’s some kind of Transformer.”

  Night Woman rolls her eyes.

  Consuela? A dog that’s a Transformer? I’m thinking Reuben’s right about the crazy. Thomas has been smoking some serious weed or gotten into somebody’s peyote stash. But then—

  I’m standing right there watching it happen and I still don’t believe what I’m seeing. The helicopter seems to quietly implode on itself, growing smaller and smaller until that black dog from Ancestors Canyon is standing there. Still big, but no longer the size of a small pony. More like a mastiff.

  The helicopter’s gone like it never existed.

  “Seriously?” I hear myself saying. I want to sit down on the ground before my legs give way. It’s all I can do to stand upright. “What the hell is this?” I ask Calico and Reuben, but they’re looking as stunned as I’m feeling.