by Sheryl Seal
Grandfather was very quiet for what seemed like an eternity as he clicked his tongue in deep thought. Finally he grumbled and took a deep breath and releasing it, he answered. “It would appear that with the rift of the world, there may be more than just the toxins and pollutants that have affected the population. I do not believe that these creatures were ever of this world my Queen.”
“What are you saying grandfather? That they are from other worlds or worse…” Mother’s words trailed off as grandfather nodded. He stamped his staff on the ground as he thought on her words and there was a thundering boom. He was angered and his magic flowed through his staff. I sensed his thoughts as mother did. He knew what was worse than other worlds and these creatures may have come from there. It was nothing I had encountered and it terrified me. But it was the gasps from Aponi that drew everyone’s attention away from grandfather. “We have witnessed many disturbing beasts since the worlds died, but these are different from the man creatures that have hunted us. These are not of man at all.”
“Yes Aponi, these are definitely not from any worlds we have ever been to or that you would have heard of. I will have to speak with the ancestors and see if they have heard where and if the pit to the underworld has been opened up.” There were more gasps and as all eyes focused on grandfather, he continued. “It should not surprise anyone that this has happened. The worlds crack was significant and these beings may not have been aware of the opening until recently. Now they will keep coming through every border opening they find. We need to discover where this border is and pray to the Great Spirit, there is only the one door into our world. Send trackers out immediately; find this border and close this door forever.
Looking down at what was left of the monsters that were littering the ground around us, mother recognized that after grandfather’s declaration, her hands were shaking; she made fists and shook them out. She was also frightened but refused to let it get the best of her. “This is not the worst by far grandfather. I feel there is more to come and these beasts are just like the scouts we would send ahead to a new world.” Kicking the remains with her moccasin and kneeling down at one, mother tried to get more of a feel for what it was. The stench was not just from the burning flesh. I thought I could smell the horrid stink emanating from their rotting corpses. It was all mother could do not to gag. I was sure if I had been here in physical form that I would be losing my last meal right in front of them all.
“Well their mistake was coming to our world, I would say. They have no idea who they are messing with. We have the Golden Queen. TAKE THAT!” Aponi kicked the burning beast in the leg and it started to crumble into ash. Somehow I felt she had gotten her strength back and was now ready for the fight that was ahead of us all. She seemed exhilarated like she probably hadn’t been for twenty years. She also seemed younger than she did when we first encountered her.
There were cheers from the crowd that had shifted back and gathered around looking over the remains. Then I heard some wailing as pieces of tribal members were found nearby. A mother in anguish is one of the most heartbreaking things you will ever hear and I could feel that my mother was grateful her children were at home. The shrieks of anguish penetrated clear through to the soul. Once again I felt mother’s emotions and she blamed herself. There should have been more she could have done, to prevent this attack. At the moment, I couldn’t think of what that could have been. It all happened so fast and everyone was unprepared for the attack. If mother hadn’t been there, it could have been worse. This whole tribe would have been lost, at the very least in hiding and afraid of their own shadows.
Mother focused her attention back on the creature that lay at her feet, while Aponi and Red Thunder tended to the families with dead children. Although they were older children, in their twenties, that did not make the grief any less. Drying away some stray tears herself, mother looked closer at the monstrosities that lay before her. “Grandfather, I think the first thing we need to do, is send for more Dwellers immediately. This village needs all of our protection and more lodges need to be built so we can protect each other. Call on our Dwellers and I will take a few from this tribe with me to search for this new opening and put up wards on all the borders. This cannot be allowed to happen again.”
“Yes my Queen, we will do this right away.” Grandfather hit his staff on the ground and in a blinding light that I had never seen before, he was gone.
Red Thunder, along with several other Dwellers and me along for the ride with my mother’s memories, headed out for the borders that she knew needed wards. Along the way the search would be on for this new border that had opened up. This could be a big job with a new world and borders could have changed. There could also be many more. Whatever it took, mother was determined to find them all. She would start with the ones she knew first.
Bridalveil Fall was the closest to the village and we started there. However, this mountain and waterfall were huge, much bigger than they were before and required extra time with the wards. As mother called on her magic and began to put the wards up for protection, her memories flooded me again. She couldn’t help but remember the day that she first stepped through the waterfall into this world. The first person she had seen that day was my father Grey Wolf. Coming out from behind a tree, he was the most awe inspiring man she had ever seen. Smiling and feeling that inner warmth, she believed, he still was. Handsome and tall with his chest bare and wearing only leather leggings and moccasins, he was a sight to behold. His long raven hair flowed in the breeze and his eyes sparkled golden, as a secret smile spread across his face. She thought he was a peeping tom that had stolen her clothes. She must have giggled out loud like a teenager remembering her first sighting of her soulmate. I felt her instant love for him, although she relayed only anger in that moment. I almost felt embarrassed that I was seeing these images of my mother and father. I have read some of the love stories in mother’s journal about her and father. This was like spying though. I was glad when her memories were interrupted.
“What did you find that is comical, my Queen?”
“Hmm? Oh sorry Red Thunder, nothing about this is funny. I was just remembering times past.
“Yes, Oria, I too have many good memories of this land.” His eyebrow was arched in question and he had a smirk on his face as if he too, knew her thoughts.
Mother was gathering her magic and I could feel her getting strong as she walked into the water. Twirling around in the water, I felt the magic of her ward going to work on the border to keep the evil out. The colors were vibrant and swirled around until they settled across the border where they could not be seen by most. Normally this would be the world into man, but without further investigation, mother could not be sure what world it would be now. There would be time for further investigations later but right now, there were many more wards to go.
We moved on to the other borders that were near. The next one was on the cliffs and this was where Aponi and Red Thunder had taken many people of the tribe and escaped into a world that had kept them safe. Although not as safe and comfortable as the world we had gone to. Many were sickly like Aponi but all of their people were here now, so mother closed the border into that world and put the wards of protection up. There was a vibration and a zinging of electricity before the border was sealed. Mother seemed a little disturbed by this but said nothing and kept her thoughts locked tightly.
Everyone shifted into birds and now we were headed to Ribbon Falls. Red Thunder had only chosen Dwellers whose spirit animals could fly, so the land from above could be watched. As we moved on, Red Thunder described through telepathy some of their life in the world where they had found safety. “It was a relief when we first entered into the world that we would call home. We had a number of people from the village and since we had been separated from the rest of the tribe, we started immediately building a new village. We secured the parameters the best we could and started to build lodges so we would all be protected from the elements. All was well for a w
hile. Although we missed the rest of our friends and tried in every way we could think of to leave a trail for you to find us, we also had to be careful not to leave signs for others that would do us harm. It seemed like a very wonderful and peaceful land, at first…”
Red Thunder took a deep breath as mother listened quietly and in his next words, his voice shook as he tried to convey the realities to her that had been their life trials. “The world we were in looked safe enough but there was just this underlying current that never did feel right. We noticed more of this after the first children arrived. There were some that were already pregnant as we entered this world…” Here he paused and it seemed to me, he was embarrassed. His next sentence came out in a rush of words that confirmed he was. “Aponi was one of these women with child.”
He was silent for a while and mother kept quiet and waited for him to continue. I knew she wished she could squeeze his hand to give him strength but she stayed quiet and as we hit the ground shifting, she did grab him in a hug that she knew he needed. When she finally released him, he looked around at the other Dwellers and directed them to look around the area. Knowing he would not talk so openly in front of the others, mother smiled at each one as they moved away from her and Red Thunder. Only then did she let him know her thoughts. “No one has ever judged you or Aponi, Red Thunder. That was over twenty years ago and we have all done what we needed to survive. Everyone knows that you two were in love and were planning a wedding. Because of the Ale, we never did get to have the ceremony that you both deserved. We have all done what we had to. Grandfather married many of us in the tribe specifically to increase our numbers. Not that I would have waited had it been my choice. Grey Wolf had made a promise to my father about keeping my virtue intact or something. Men, so old fashion! So you see there is no need for embarrassment. We are family, and there was not many secrets kept between Aponi and myself.” Mother smiled up at the big handsome warrior and I felt her brotherly love for him. The fact that she knew of his and Aponi’s relationship before the destruction of the world did not seem to surprise the man.
He chuckled and smiled also and shook his head in agreement. “You have always had a way about you Oria; you also have a gift of putting a person at ease. We could have used your guidance these many years. Many of our children did not make it in the land where we lived. We do not know the cause of why so many of our children died. Aponi had many children and we lost them all, except for our first born son, Brave Eagle. The ones that were already pregnant when we entered into the other world seemed to be healthy. After…” He left the sentence hanging unfinished and taking a ragged breath he squeezed his eyes shut tight and shook his head. Mother waited patiently for him to continue. When he did, his voice was once again strong. “It was very hard at first, every other child died, maybe it was the land, and maybe it was the toxins that entered our bodies before we went into this new world. We may never know, but after a while, there were no more pregnancies. We knew our children of the tribe would not have children. We knew if we could not come home, the rest of us would just be waiting to grow old and die.”
The sadness mother felt for her people was overwhelming and I wanted so badly to weep. She is strong and I don’t know how she held it together but she did. “I am sorry for all that you have endured Red Thunder. I’m also sorry for your pain after all this time. I wish things could have been different for all of us. I still feel if only I…”
Interrupting my mother, Red Thunder wanted to make her understand a few things and make clear others. I felt this in the rise of his voice as he hushed her about the past. “Don’t even say it my Queen. Never once through any of it, NOT ONCE, did we believe for one second, that you could have done anything different to change the outcome of our world or that of the World of Man. This is the way of The Great Spirit. It is by his design that this has happened. Although we do not understand the hardships we have had to endure. We are strong and we have endured it all. We will build more lodges and our village will become strong again, then we do what we were meant to do. Umm…By the way, I knew of this promise Grey Wolf made to your father. You should know that it damn near killed him.” He laughed hysterically and then cleared his throat and became quiet.
Looking at Red Thunder, and seeing how strong he still was after all these years and all that he had been through, I knew mother was grateful that Aponi had spent her life with such a man. He had gray streaks running through his hair now and a few wrinkles around his dark eyes. But he was still lean and muscled. A very attractive man, Red Thunder is the only man who could have gotten Aponi through such heart aches. They were lucky to have each other. I had glimpses from my mother’s memories of him when he was twenty years younger and I did not see much difference. If anything he was more handsome and mother thought so also.
His laughter was infectious and mother had laughed with him. When she finally caught her breath she spoke her thoughts. “Well you and Grey Wolf are like brothers, it does not surprise me that you knew of his vow to my father. After all this time it is funny now. Then… it was pure torture.” Her voice turned serious again as she asked about her friend. “How is Aponi really? I can feel her sadness and her pain and it is breaking my heart. She seems very frail in body and in spirit. Is her health good?” Mother already knew that Aponi was not well, but perhaps Red Thunder knew what ailed her.
“It has been very hard on all of us, and Aponi felt like she had to take some of the lead for the women of the tribe. There has been much sadness. She has also had bouts with a sickness that we did not know or understand. Matoskah uses his healing arts as a medicine man on us all. There are many small illnesses that we just cannot seem to shake.”
Mother was ecstatic with the news of Matoskah being alive. He was not in the village so she assumed he had perished when the rift occurred in the world. I believe she was too afraid to hear the words that would break her heart. “White Bear is with you and alive? I am so happy to hear this. I thought…well, I thought he had died.”
“Oh no, he is very much alive. We found him near death and took him with us into the new world. As hard as it is to say because I would not wish what happened on any of us, especially where we ended up, but I thanked The Great Spirit every day that we had saved Matoskah and brought him with us. He healed quickly and then he has spent the rest of this life healing others and loving Sapata. They were one of the lucky ones that also had a live birth. They have a daughter, a young lady now. They are with the God’s at the moment, which is why they are not here.”
“I see, this makes me very happy and Grey Wolf will also be happy. We could not be sure what happened with his sister. The God’s were very quiet in the Village of Lost Souls. For some reason we could not communicate with them. I thought it would be different after we sent Black Arrow and his tribe to the land of the West but there is still a barrier that prevents contact with them. I wish things would have been different for all of us. We have missed so much time together. So umm… what has White Bear said is wrong with my sister and friend, Aponi?”
Shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders, he whispered the words. “I do not think he knows and it bothers him greatly that his medicine was not magical enough to heal her. He did his best and many times he was very much needed for his medicine.”
Not to take anything away from White Bear who was a shaman and mother knew him to be a great healer, but as soon as we were settled in the new village, I knew she would be examining Aponi to see what she could do to help her. She has the healing hands and although she hasn’t had to use them much except for healing the land. She was anxious to heal more and she would heal all the Dwellers.
“There were many toxins and pollutants we had all inhaled before we entered our new worlds. It is safe to say that, our bodies were not as pure as they had once been. Strange things occurred with us in the Village of lost Souls also, but we were not always sure if the fault was with us or the world we were living in. Many mysteries we have been trying to uncover. I a
m so happy we are all together again Red Thunder. My cup runneth over, as grandmother would say.”
Hugging mother tightly and spinning her around, he chuckled and let her down. “I am glad you are back my Queen, have I mentioned this to you yet?”
“I too, am happy to be home again Red Thunder. Now, we still have some wards to put up. Tell me, what do you think of this new land of ours? Everything seems to be so much larger than life. Don’t you agree?”
She let him talk about the land and while she listened, she walked around and put up the wards. These borders didn’t seem to take as much magic, but I did notice that she added extra spells and seemed to be tiring. She hadn’t used very much magic in a long time. Still, she smiled as she listened to Red Thunder as his voice was filled with emotion. “Yes, I envisioned our home many times, and it was always special with its many grand waterfalls, mountains, and giant Sequoias. There is so much here that is phenomenal. Now though, there are not enough words to describe the beauty of this land. The colors are so much more than vibrant. The land is healthy and alive again and grows so fast. Each new day there are more grand discoveries. This is all your doing isn’t it my Queen?”
“I might have placed some fairy magic on the land, but make no mistake Red Thunder, this is the work of The Great Spirit.”
There was an interruption as a young brave called for Red Thunder. “Father, you should come and look at this.”
Through mother’s eyes, I looked to where the voice was coming from and could see that it was another Dweller we had been traveling with. She knew immediately that this handsome young man, with long flowing black hair and the features of his father and Aponi put together, was Red Thunder’s son. He was moderately tall but not as tall as his father yet. He had dark eyes and a look that said he was proud and strong. The closer he got, I realized that this was the young man at the falls with the flute.