by Sheryl Seal
I listened very carefully as White Bear explained everything and it of course, made perfect sense. I thought of these poor trapped souls. How awful it would be, not to be able to travel to the land of the ancestors, and the land of the far West. An eternity in a land of freezing snow with no end in sight was not what The Great Spirit had in mind for anyone. They were just lost by circumstance. It wasn’t because they were evil. Then a thought occurred to me. “White Bear, you have not answered my question on who it was that tried to help these people, or how they were hurt. When did this happen?”
He looked as if he didn’t like this question and it seemed to me that he had tried very hard to avoid getting very deep into this part of the story. I had a nagging feeling though, that it was something that I needed to know.
Those questions and their answers would have to wait for now because just then, two men came into the lodge. One was much older than the other and I could tell by the old man’s eyes and the pain that I saw there, that he was the chief, Black Arrow. Well, that and the fact that he wore a very long headdress with feathers which reached clear to the ground and he had the whitest and longest hair. He was a very majestic old man. His eyes were a dark brown and set deep in his face and he had a long crooked nose and a wide mouth. There were weathered wrinkles all over his face. His leggings were made out of the finest leather and they were beaded and quilled beautifully. Including the bone breast plate he wore. The chief stood proud and tall. He didn’t look dead at all. I mean, like I would think a ghost would look. He greeted me and moved aside.
The man next to him didn’t look dead either, but there was something more to this man. I thought about this for a second before it hit me just like a slap in the face. This man was most definitely alive; I could feel his energy force, although I couldn’t read his mind. I couldn’t read anyone’s mind so far, White Bear’s included, which I could always read, except recently.
This place grew stranger by the minute. The man next to chief Black Arrow was a very nice looking Indian warrior. He had a familiar look to him, but I couldn’t put my finger on why. He was handsome with his long flowing raven hair with just a touch of gray starting to show. His onyx eyes were touched with a few crow’s feet and he was probably well over six feet. He had high cheekbones and his straight nose was perfect for his square face. Attractive for his age, I thought. He had on heavy winter furs with a hood that was pulled back and knee-high moccasins.
He looked at me with an adoring look in his twinkling eyes and a broad smile on his face that I didn’t understand. I was starting to get a little uncomfortable under his close scrutiny when he suddenly reached over and took my hands in his that were very huge and warm. He pulled me up off my feet. Hugging me until I thought I might be crushed, he finally released me gently to the ground and cupped both sides of my cheeks. I watched as the tears gathered in his eyes and feeling unashamed, he let them roll down his cheeks. I was feeling confused at the man’s actions towards me. Then his next words made my heart beat so hard and loud that I barely heard what he said to me. “Welcome, my daughter.”
Grandfather
As Red Thunder, Aponi and I entered the cave; I could already tell that it was different than the last time I was here picking mushrooms with White Bear. I could almost smell that there had been an outside presence. It was a different kind of magic that I felt here now. This is the magic that not many have ever been around, the magic of the dead looking for peace. My first thought was this could be very dangerous. Sometimes evil souls never rest and look for peace within the living.
“Red Thunder, light the torches so we are not traveling in the dark. I wish to see these cave drawings that White Bear told Oria about.” As we neared the back of the cave, there they were. The drawings were bright and a vibrant red color, they were shining like they were freshly painted.
“What do they mean grandfather? I’m sure these were not here before.
“I do not know Aponi; I will have to study on them for a while. They will tell me their story and then we will know what has happened with White Bear and Oria. You and Red Thunder take the torch and have a look around and see what else you can discover here. I will see if I can read these drawings by the light of my magic.”
Red Thunder looked worried and grabbed Aponi’s hand. “We will not be far grandfather, I think we need to stay together, somewhat.” He sounded worried, but then again, we all were. I let them drift off from my hearing as I tried to discern what the signs on the wall meant. I stamped my staff on the ground and in my hand appeared a ball of light and I held my hand up toward the wall.
There were many symbols all telling the story of a tribe of people, The Ahwahneechees. I knew this because of the great waterfalls, tall trees and mountains that were all surrounding the Ahwahnee. The next symbols were in a group and a wide red circle enclosed them. These were of women gathering acorns under the great Black Oak trees. The dwellings were O’chums made of the bark from Incense Cedars. There were children and women and warriors that were scantily dressed. The next runes showed a black sickness that came to the village and some of the people leaving the valley for higher elevations. Standing alone, the next illustration was of a black arrow over a man dressed as a chief. He was leading the way out of the Ahwahnee.
The next pictures were another village higher up in the mountains and this small village of people were surrounded on three sides by very tall cliffs. Life was good for a while but the sickness came back. Then the snow started and it never stopped. The small tribe was trapped. There was no food. They couldn’t get to the wood. The village quickly disappeared under the mounds of snow.
Not one living soul survived.
Here I took a break, because the pain I felt was overwhelming. My heart broke for the people who were lost to this awful tragedy. I let the light die out as I put my head in my hands to think. Red Thunder startled me out of the horrific feelings I was having. “Grandfather, there is nothing more in the caves. There are only these drawings on the wall and this odd looking shelf that has a slot carved out for something. We do not know what though. Are you alright? You look umm… paler than usual.” He held the torch closer to me as I swatted at the brightness. He jerked the torch away as I grumpily replied. “Humph, I am not alright Red Thunder. The drawings on the wall tell a sad story and I am not even done with the reading of it yet. It is heart-breaking for this old man.”
“What are the drawings about grandfather? Do they tell about what White Bear has done with Oria? Will these pictures help us find her?”
“I will get to that part Aponi; just let me collect my thoughts.” I realize I am slow in my thinking for the younger generation, and that I often click my tongue while I think but I have discovered that I care not. There are no short-cuts to anywhere worth going. The Great Spirit speaks to those who silence their minds long enough to hear him. I took a few deep breaths and when I felt ready, I began the story that I had translated so far. “I do not know yet exactly where White Bear has taken Oria. These drawings are the way though. I will tell you what I know so far. Many moons ago, there was an Ahwahneechee people that tried to escape a curse that was placed on their village. Many people died in the village, they called it a black sickness. One chief who was also a medicine man was called Black Arrow and he led men, women, and children and they went deep into the mountains. Together they totaled fifty. They were camped against the mountains surrounded on three sides for protection. They brought the sickness with them, although they thought they had left it behind. The snows came early and they were unprepared for such a harsh winter. With no way out, and sickness upon them and without food, there was only death.”
I looked at Aponi who was in Red Thunder’s arms, and she is such a sweet soul that I felt myself softening. She had tears dripping silently down her cheeks as she listened to this gruff old man, tell the story I had read from the drawings. “I am sorry Aponi; this will not get easier I am afraid. Shall we continue?”
“Yes! I want to find
my granddaughter now Elsu.”
That was careless of me, I had my mind on telling the story and Huyana, along with Tim and Jim came right in upon us. Of course she would want to be here to find out any news of her granddaughter. She raised Oria her whole life. She was more like a mother to her than a grandmother.
“So, we have all heard the story so far.” Everyone nodded at Huyana’s statement and Tim and Jim came closer to stand by Red Thunder and Aponi. Huyana snatched the torch from Red Thunder and held it for me. She followed me down the wall as we looked at the other symbols together for all to see.
“I think you are about right here Elsu.” She was pointing to a drawing on the wall with many moons passing by and what looked like spirits of the people wandering for all these many years through the snow-covered village.
“Yes, yes, here we are, many moons passed and the people should have been in the West and happy with their ancestors. It looks as if they never made it there. According to these runes, there was nobody left in the village to send the dead to the ancestors and they have been lost and wandering ever since.”
Jim spoke up and said that, “This is all very interesting but does it say anything about White Bear and where he took Oria?”
“Yeah, where are they?” Tim asked.
“Huyana are you alright my dear? You look as though you have seen a ghost.”
“No, I don’t think I am alright. Looking at these images, it looks as if the old chief found a way to try and get help from us. He has been trying since I was Queen and even before that. I missed the messages though. Everyone missed the messages. They were on a different wall back then, a cave on the ridge. He started putting them on this wall when Oria defeated the Ale.” Here the old woman paused and took a calming breath and I watched as the tears welled up in her eyes.
“Huyana, what is it? Surely it cannot be your fault that you were not here to see the signs.” I placed my hands on her shoulders and looked into her tear filled eyes. They still sparkled. They were the brightest of blues as when I had first met her all those many years ago. She was still the most handsome woman I had ever known. Pulling me back into the conversation, she answered with anger and regret. “Of course I don’t blame myself for not seeing the runes. It was many years of the worst evil’s that came into our lands.” She faltered for a moment and looked back at the drawings on the wall. “It shows that a Golden Queen did come to their assistance with the help of an Ahwahneechee warrior.”
I had sucked in my breath. That could only mean one thing. I looked at the wall to learn more, trying not to miss anything.
“What are you two talking about? Some of us standing here don’t understand what this means grandmother.” Aponi had come up and took Huyana’s arm in hers and I released my hold. I knew Aponi needed the closeness only a grandmother; (Oria’s grandmother) could give at this time. Regretfully, I stood aside.
Huyana patted Aponi’s arm and told them all what had been hiding in her heart for a very long time. “My daughter was the Golden Queen many years ago. The evil was not so bad for a few years and times were easy. Then one night that all changed. The Ale came and there was a fight. During the battle, my daughter was wounded and before I could find her and her husband, they disappeared. Both had vanished without a trace and left their infant daughter behind. There were never any clues, although we searched near and far we could not find them. This drawing shows that my daughter and her husband made it through to the other world. They were not able to help the people of the village. It does not tell why though. Someone else made it through but they also were not the right one to help these people. The chief knew the time had come for a new Golden Queen. This Queen is most powerful; it shows a picture of Oria defeating the Ale.”
“Look at that mass of auburn hair, even her eclipse and stars are there. Here’s her dragon.” Aponi said, pointing to the pictures of Oria.
“Yes, and this is Matoskah and his spirit animal the White Bear, the red eyes are because he is possessed I believe.” I pointed to the depictions so that all could see. Red Thunder came up and asked, “What is this here grandfather? It looks like a stone of some sort. Sparkling and deep red and its tied around the neck of White Bear.”
“Yes, I would say that is what Oria saw Matoskah wearing. This must be how the old man possessed his body. The chief probably knew that Matoskah came here often for mushrooms. This was the only way he knew of to get help for his people. He had to get Oria here so she could enter into the other world. I believe he tried calling to her with a magical flute.”
Huyana was growing anxious now, I could see it in her face and she wasted no time in demanding answers. “What are we to do now Elsu? How are we to help them? How do we get to the other side? There must be something we can do. I will not lose my granddaughter to this spirit who cannot move on. He has already taken my daughter Titania and her husband Fire Cloud.”
I could tell this whole ordeal was taking much out of her. For many years she had not allowed herself to say the names of those that she had thought were long gone and perhaps dead. Out of respect, she wouldn’t speak the names of the departed until now. I knew she was worried and I needed time to read all of the drawings and then we would see what could be done. “Please calm down Huyana, all I have seen teaches me to trust the creator for all that I have not seen. We will come up with something. I just need to study these drawings more.”
I turned back to the wall and continued studying the symbols. I was well aware that Huyana was reading right along with me over my shoulder. The closeness of her made it hard to concentrate. I tried a few deep breaths and set my mind to the task at hand. The answer on how to help our Golden Queen and Matoskah was here. I had to look closer at what was right in front of my face. I would not fail Huyana this time. I would get her family back… Even if it killed me!
Fire Cloud
It was like a dream and I hung on tightly to it. I never thought that I would see my daughter again. She has grown into a beautiful young woman like her mother. My mind was spinning with the implications of what this could mean though. Prophesies have told the old chief that Oria is the one. I hope she will be strong enough to handle this land. We all need to go home where we belong. I could not take it any longer and pulled her off the ground in a hug. With tears streaming down my face, I held her tight. Then I took her face in my hands as I looked into her beautiful eyes, they were the color of her mother’s, and then I whispered in her ear. “Welcome, my daughter.”
It wasn’t much of a surprise when she pulled away from me with a look of astonishment on her face. Her eyes gathered tears that made the silver flecks in them sparkle. The teardrops started to run across the beautiful silver stars and golden eclipse that were on her cheek. I wondered about the runes and it came to me that, like so many of her mother’s runes, she had gotten them during some great battle. She had saved worlds like her mother had done. I knew some things about her life, but the great chief Black Arrow never told all of what his visions showed him. Many things he kept silent about. I cannot have visions in this place of the dead. All magic stopped for me once I got here. I cannot shift into my spirit animal either, something I long for so desperately.
She whispered to me and her voice was like that of a songbird, so much like her mother’s. I longed to hear her mother’s voice for so long that I thought I had forgotten what it sounded like. Ahh… It sounded just like this voice of our daughter’s. “You are my father.” She seemed to know without question that I spoke the truth.
“Yes, my sweet daughter, you look more like your mother, but you have my cheekbones, height and I do believe a few other attributes of mine. You are most definitely my daughter.” I wiped a teardrop from her precious chin and pushed aside a stray piece of auburn hair, which was just as curly and wild as Titania’s. She then stumbled on her next words. “But… grandmother said you and mother were… we thought you were both dead for all these years. You have been trapped here all this time in this village?”
“Yes, we have been here all along. Here, in this land, many of life’s things are different. There is mostly just the dead hoping to find a way to the West. We have been separated from you for far too long with no way of getting home.”
She hesitated for a moment and I could see her immediate acceptance of this truth, and then she hugged me as she whimpered. “You truly are my father.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yes, I truly am your father Oria.”
She pulled away suddenly and looked up at me with her blue eyes still shimmering with tears, and I could see that there was hope in her face. “Does that mean that my mother is here also?”
My gut immediately wrenched with the thought of my wife and all that has happened with her. How do I tell our daughter what I knew would be heartbreaking for her. That her mother was here but has also slipped into a world of the spirits. She would probably never feel her hugs, as even I have not, just as I have not heard my wife’s voice for all these many moons. I took a deep breath and let it out kind of shakily. I decided she was a strong young woman and would appreciate the direct truth. Nodding yes, I took her hands and held on to them tightly.
I began our story of how we have been trapped here for so many years of her life. “So much had happened in those dark days when we first crossed over into this land. There were many adjustments that had to be made. I have learned to survive with the knowledge that we were now in a land that we may never be able to leave.”
Oria listened patiently and I knew she already had many questions, but her grandmother had taught her well to respect her elders. I watched as she bit her lip to silence her questions, also much like her mother did. I continued to run my hands across her hand trying to make up for all of the missed moments. The many times that I had never gotten to touch and hold her in my arms.
“You see Oria, we were in a great battle with evil the day we were on the cliffs and the drawings appeared to us. Your mother had been injured. Burned severely, and I was trying to make her as comfortable as I could. I did not think she had very long to live in this life. She had always been able to heal herself. These burns put her in critical condition.”