by Sharon Sala
****
Adam was running with both his pack and Evan’s on his back and a four-year-old girl in his arms, so sick at heart he could barely breathe. Her mother was in front of him carrying her baby. They’d left the father a good half mile behind, crushed beneath a burning rock.
Adam saw it happen, heard the mother screaming and stopped long enough to grab the little girl who’d fallen out of her father’s arms. The mother didn’t even see him. She just kept screaming.
He slapped her. Pointed at the baby in her arms and screamed.
“Run, woman, run!”
Still reeling from the blow, she turned and ran.
He was right behind her.
****
Cayetano and Singing Bird were running hand in hand. He wouldn’t let her go, and she wasn’t about to stop. She couldn’t believe this was happening to her again and very angry with the Old Ones. They could have changed this outcome. They should have changed this outcome.
Her feet were burning and sparks were falling in her hair. More than once Cayetano gave her head a quick thump with the flat of his hand and she knew he was putting out fires. She could hear people screaming all around her. They were death screams. She’d heard them before. She wanted to scream, too, but was afraid if she did, she’d never stop.
She didn’t know where the twins were or if there would be enough people left alive after this to even make a new city, and right now she couldn’t let herself care. As long as Cayetano was beside her, she would bear what came to pass.
Cayetano felt like he’d lost his mind. This had to be a nightmare and when he woke up it would be gone. But the screams were too loud, the fire was too hot, and the falling sparks on his arms and legs were causing too much pain to be a dream.
The ground was moving beneath them with such force that it was difficult to keep his balance. Twice he had stumbled and gone to his knees, and both times Singing Bird had been the one who pulled him up. He didn’t know her like this. She’d fallen back into the woman who’d run from Firewalker. It was yet another thing to fear. If they lived through this, which woman would stay?
After a time, Singing Bird became aware that they were now ahead of the fire rather than caught in its midst. With that realization came another, that no fiery rocks had come this far. She wanted to look behind her, to see if they were actually outrunning the danger, but was afraid to slow down. Her chest was burning, her sides aching, and her muscles were in spasms.
Finally, she began slowing down from sheer exhaustion and was about to take a chance and look back when she caught a glimpse of movement to her right. Then she saw what it was, and when it sailed over their heads and kept going, she stumbled and fell to her knees.
“What was that?” Cayetano shouted as he jerked her upright.
She leaped forward again without answering, couldn’t bring herself to say the words that would break his heart. But the last time she’d seen anything remotely like it was when the Windwalker had rescued her from her attackers on the streets of New Orleans. Now she couldn’t slow down. She had to know if she’d been seeing things or if another miracle was about to occur.
****
Adam Prince was still a hundred yards behind and still running with the little family that he’d saved, but with joy in his heart. He had never cried in his life, and up to this moment, he had been convinced he was incapable of emotion. But he was crying now and with his heart in his throat. Tyhen had just sent him a message.
I found him.
Despite the mortal danger they were still in, his heart was so full of joy he believed he could run forever.
****
Tyhen stopped the wind when she saw the ocean. She lowered her arms and dropped to the beach, then caught Evan before he fell. He was unconscious, which was just as well. She knelt beside him and heard his heart thump, although his skin was pale.
When he began to moan, she stood and moved straight into his line of vision. His eyes opened.
Evan, it’s Tyhen, can you hear me?
She watched his eyes widen as he began to look around in confusion.
Look at ME. See ME.
He crawled backward.
“Where are you? Who’s talking?”
She sighed. The blow to his head had played havoc with his psychic self.
It’s Tyhen. Adam is coming. Cayetano and Singing Bird are coming. You are safe.
“Adam! Where’s Adam,” he mumbled, then stood up too fast, staggered forward, and fell back down on his hands and knees.
He’s coming, my brother. Just wait.”
“Brother? I am your brother?”
Tyhen saw movement up in the trees beyond the shore and stood up as Cayetano and Singing Bird appeared, with hundreds of others close behind them. They ran all the way to the water and then fell into it in exhaustion, grateful for the cool wet relief on their scorched skin and aching bodies.
Singing Bird ran straight to Evan and fell to her knees.
“My son, my son! You’ve been hurt.”
The ache in Tyhen’s chest grew with each moment she waited. She was this close to her mother and Singing Bird did not know that she was there.
Mother, I am here.
Singing Bird didn’t react.
Tyhen sighed. There was too much dark energy from the sadness for her to hear.
Evan blinked, then reached for Singing Bird’s hand.
“You are my mother?”
Singing Bird looked at Cayetano with tears running down her face.
“He doesn’t remember us. It is the injury on his head. When he is well, it will come back. It has to.”
Cayetano got a cloth wet in the ocean and then carried it back to her. Singing Bird began to clean the wound with gentle strokes, but she hadn’t forgotten what she’d seen, and the only explanation for Evan being here ahead of them, was that he’d been carried within the wind, the same way she’d been taken off the New Orleans streets.
“Do you remember what happened?” she asked.
He shook his head.
“Do you know who I am?”
He blinked. “Mother?”
She sighed. She’d put that thought in his head when she’d called him son.
“Do you know your name?”
He frowned. “Someone called me Evan. She said I was her brother.”
Singing Bird rocked back on her heels and scanned the beach. Cayetano was doing the same.
Tyhen’s heart skipped a beat.
Look at me, Mother. I am here. I am here.
“She wants you to look at her. She keeps saying, look at me, Mother. I am here,” Evan said.
Singing Bird stood up.
“Tyhen?”
Tyhen wrapped her arms around her mother’s shoulders, and as she did, Singing Bird jumped, and then sighed and closed her eyes.
“I feel you, daughter. I cannot see you and I cannot hear you, but I know you’re here.”
Tyhen turned and put her arms around Cayetano.
He jumped like he’d just been burned. He felt of his chest, and his arms, and then looked at Singing Bird in disbelief.
“This is my daughter that I feel? How is this so?”
And in that moment, Tyhen felt Adam before she saw him coming, then when he ran out of the trees, she called his name.
Adam, we are at the shore. Straight in front of you.
He stopped. Even though the beach was filling up with more and more survivors, the moment they set foot on the sand, Adam had seen the light that was Tyhen.
I hear you. I see you.
He turned to the young mother who’d run with him. She was staring at the ocean with a blank expression.
“I am sorry that your man is dead,” he said gently as he put the little girl down beside her.
The woman blinked as she shifted focus.
“Thank you for carrying my daughter. Thank you for saving us.”
He nodded, touched her shoulder lightly, and then pointed toward the water.
&nbs
p; “I have to see to my brother,” he said and started running.
Evan is hurt. He can hear me, but he can’t see me. He doesn’t know who I am and I don’t think he knows who anyone else is, either. Be patient. His memory will return.
Shocked, Adam stumbled.
“Where did you find him?”
Running toward the fire.
Adam groaned.
“I will never be able to thank you enough.”
Tell my mother and Cayetano that they are loved and not forgotten. Tell her that I see them in my dreams.
“Yes, I will. I will.”
And just like that, she disappeared.
By the time Adam reached his family, he was shaking. Exhaustion and shock had set in.
He threw his arms around Singing Bird and Cayetano without saying a word, and then dropped to the sand beside his brother.
Evan blinked.
Adam reached out and took his hand.
“Evan.”
Evan shuddered.
“You hurt your head, but you’re going to be okay,” he said.
Tears began to roll down Evan’s face. “I couldn’t find you,” Evan whispered.
Adam pulled him into his arms. “You were running the wrong way.”
Singing Bird couldn’t wait another second to ask what her heart already told her was the truth.
“Was that whirlwind I saw my daughter? Was that Tyhen?”
Adam nodded.
“She knew about the volcano. She sent me a message asking if we were alive. I told her yes, but that Evan was lost. I asked her to help me and she came.”
Cayetano’s grunt was pure shock. “That thing I saw was my daughter? How is that possible?”
“No. Your daughter made it. She was in it, and so was Evan. That’s how she saved him,” Singing Bird said.
Cayetano shook his head. “I do not think such a thing is possible.”
“It wasn’t her physical body that was here,” Adam said. “It was her spirit.”
Again, he shook his head. “No. I do not believe.”
Singing Bird lifted her chin and met the fear in his gaze. “It was her and it is possible because that is how the Windwalker saved me in the other world before Firewalker. Now that Adam is here to tend to Evan, we have much to do. Your people are suffering. We need to see how to help.”
Then she looked down and saw that his sandals had burned off his feet. He had been running barefoot and didn’t even know it. She pointed.
“It is a good thing I made the moccasins. I’ll unpack them later.”
He glanced at his feet and grunted.
She knew it wasn’t the end of it between them, but she took his hand anyway and led him away.
****
The New Ones had gathered around Yuma, afraid to move, afraid that the Dove would fly away before she had time to save them. Someone had begun a chant, singing to the Old Ones for healing mercy. They didn’t understand what was wrong with her other than she lay in Yuma’s arms as if she were dead.
Yuma was anxious, but he had faith. He just wanted her back. Waiting like this without knowing what was happening was the worst kind of torture.
Almost an hour had passed, and during that time, Yuma had not moved so much as a hair on her head. He was looking up to see if the volcano was still erupting when he felt a jolt, like someone had jostled her. He saw the color and life coming back into Tyhen’s face, and when she opened her eyes, he held his breath.
They looked at each other for a long, silent moment and then she sat up in his arms.
“Evan is hurt but safe. Adam is alive and so are Singing Bird and Cayetano. The jungle was on fire around them. Many people died. I saw the ocean. I am thirsty. Could I have the water that is cold?”
The singing stopped. Someone let out a whoop of celebration that she was back, while the others heard her words and spread the story.
“I will bring the water,” a young boy offered and ran into the cave.
Yuma just held her, feeling her heartbeat against his own. “You flew a long way today, my little Dove. I am grateful you have returned without your feathers being singed.”
“I saw something today that I think you call a miracle.”
“What?” he asked.
“The twins were crying. Maybe the shell around their hearts has finally broken.”
“That is a miracle and I hope you are right,” he said.
The young boy came back with the water and handed it to Yuma. “For Tyhen,” he said shyly.
“Thank you,” she said and drank thirstily as Yuma held it to her lips until she’d had enough. “This cold is good,” she said, as she caught a drip on the edge of her lip.
Yuma nodded. “Yes, this cold is good.”
****
There was equal turmoil at the Hiaki compound on the Rio Yaqui, but it had nothing to do with the ongoing volcanic eruption hundreds of miles away. The bodies of Nelli and her husband had been found the day before.
Cualli, the medicine man, immediately blamed the unnamed witch who Nelli claimed had cursed her and was going from house to house on a witch hunt of his own, even though Nelli said the witch was not here.
The Hiaki were not only afraid of the medicine man and his accusations, now they were afraid that the witch who’d cursed and killed Nelli and her husband would come after them. They began hanging charms to ward off evil spirits and making their own little sacrifices to the gods for protection.
Cualli hadn’t had this much business since the year the river got sick and all the fish died. So when he began having visions of a young woman coming to save the people from invaders, he took it as a sign that she would rid their ranks of witches as well. The sign of her coming would be a white dove, and she was to be welcomed and her warnings heeded.
When he shared this news with the Hiaki, there was much relief and an easing of the tension among them. After that, the watch was on for the sighting of a white bird. Many sightings were seen at first but Cualli rejected them all, saying his vision said the sign was a white dove, not the white water birds with long legs that fed in the shallows along the river’s edge.
Once their finds continued to be rejected, the excitement of the search soon paled. After all, Nelli and her husband had already gone on their journey to the Great Spirit and no one else had been troubled by a witch. So they forgot about looking for white birds, and for that matter, forgot about looking for a young woman with a message to save their people because their people were just fine.
But once the story had been told, the news continued to spread from one family in another tribe to another and another until, as fate would have it, the story came back to Yaluk.
****
It was after dark before Yaluk’s men came back into camp this day, and one of the few times he had stayed behind instead going on the raid. So the fact that they were not only late, but appeared to come in empty-handed hit him the wrong way.
“Where is the meat? I wanted meat and women.”
“We brought meat.”
Yaluk set up. “Show me!”
“Yoji! Give Yaluk the meat.”
A man came out of the shadows and laid a half-dozen fish at his feet.
Yaluk sniffed, and then hit both men across the face with the flat of his hand. “They are bad. These would make me sick! Do you want me to be sick?”
“No Yaluk, no. But it was all to be had. There has been a bad thing happen in the south. A great mountain threw fire into the air and many people died. The animals have all run away. The fish in the water there are dead. The city below the waterfall is no more. The city they called Naaki Chava is no more. The city to the east of Naaki Chava is no more. They are gone, all gone.”
There was a knot in Yaluk’s belly that had nothing to do with being hungry. He’d killed his sister for what turned out to be no reason. He hadn’t seen that witch in his dreams anymore and now a mountain threw fire and all those cities died. Even Naaki Chava! He’d heard of that city. He coul
dn’t believe it was gone.
“So there were no women to bring,” he said.
“We found one, Yaluk. She has been burned some. Most of her hair is gone, but she still walks.”
He frowned. He didn’t want to be with someone nasty. He wouldn’t bed a woman who had no hair or skin.
“Bring her in. I would see her,” Yaluk said.
The man named Yoji ran out of the dug-out and then came back moments later dragging a small, dirty woman with no hair or clothes. It was obvious by the oozing places on her body that her burns were painful, but she said nothing. She didn’t beg for mercy. She didn’t cry out in pain. It made Yaluk nervous. His women always cried and begged. It was what made his man part get hard. He slid a hand over it but it was as uninterested as he was. The woman did nothing for him.
“Woman! What is your name?”
She didn’t react to the shout. She just kept staring into space.
Yaluk stood up and walked toward her, but the closer he got, the worse she smelled. He was used to dirt. None of them in his camp smelled good, but the woman smelled like she was already dead.
He jabbed a finger into her breast. She didn’t even flinch.
“Woman! What is your name?”
Maybe it was the tone of his voice or maybe it was the hard jab to her breast, but her gaze began to focus, and then she looked around at the men one by one, as if surprised by where she was now.
Yaluk slapped her.
“You answer Yaluk when he talks to you. What is your name?”
A thin trickle of blood ran out of her nose and down her lip, but she didn’t bother to wipe it away.
“Little Mouse.”
He laughed. “That is a stupid name. Where are you from, the city of rats?”
“I am from Naaki Chava.”
He was surprised that she was here. “That city is very far away. How did you get here? What did you do? Do you have a disease? Did you lay with many men? Is that why you smell rotten?”