Children of the Dawn

by Patricia Rowe

  The two villages were about the same size, with the same number of warriors and the same kinds of weapons. By following the Great River, then turning and following the edge of the endless water, a man could get to the Masat village in less than one moon.

  Kai El asked about their slaves.

  They had slaves, but they were worthless people from a tribe who lived farther up the endless water. The Hida and the Masat had been enemies since grandfathers were little ones.

  Squill told him again how his tribe never bothered any other people. Especially river people. The god Raven loved his river people, and would kill the Masat for harming; them.

  Kai El finally told Squill that they could go, with this warning: If they or any of their kind ever came back, what Raven would do to them would be nothing compared to what Teahra warriors would do.

  Tahna thought they should be allowed to give their gifts to the women who’d been stolen. Bree, Nissa, and Selah took the necklaces without looking at the men.

  They left.

  “Don’t come back!” Kai El yelled.

  The necklaces were pretty. The women couldn’t help liking them. There were so many, they gave some to their friends.

  Tahna took two that were alike… two strings of white shells, big as a fingertip… circles that went over her head and lay on her breast.

  “One for me and one for Gaia,” she told Kai El.

  The Masat came back. The same five, and three more.

  When Kai El took the warriors to meet them, the intruders threw down their weapons. Then they threw down large packs and opened them.

  There were furs Kai El had never seen before; shells; woven hats; smoking pipes; necklaces.

  “Trade,” Squill said.

  Kai El allowed them to come to Teahra. They stayed for several days, eating the people’s food, sharing a smoking plant they had brought with them. Kai El thought it was better than kinnikinnick, not so hot in the mouth. Puffing it made his head light.

  Teahra people traded roots, firefish oil, and stone beads for the wonders from the land by the endless water.

  The next time the Masat came, they brought two young women who wanted to stay. The people of Teahra, who now had several kinds of blood, welcomed another kind to the tribe.

  Kai El knew when he saw them that neither Masat woman was his soulmate.

  CHAPTER 60

  THEY CALLED IT “FREEZING RAIN,” BECAUSE IT turned to ice as soon as it hit the ground. Sometimes it was already frozen, and stung the skin as it came down. In the second winter of the Brother and Sister Chief, freezing rain fell day after day, until a thick layer of ice covered everything in Teahra Village but the tops of the warm huts. It was cold and miserable outside, and dangerous to walk, so people stayed in their huts as much as possible. Kai El hadn’t been to his home in the cliffs for days.

  Awakening in a deep recess of the Tlikit cave, he looked out and decided that this would be the day that he’d go to the cliffs. The ground-ice hadn’t gone anywhere in the night, but for now, it wasn’t raining ice. The sky was blue, and beautiful. He couldn’t remember the last blue-sky day he’d seen. He hoped the sun would stay and melt the ice, but for now it was cold enough to see his breath.

  As he approached the Moonkeeper’s hut, Kai El slipped. He grabbed a piece of wood by the door, shaking the hut.

  Inside, a girl yelped—Chopay, ten summers, who was living with Tahna now, learning Moonkeeper’s ways.

  Tahna said, “Who is it?”

  “The hawk has landed,” Kai El said as he entered.

  Chopay squatted by the fire with a poking stick in her hand.

  “You scared me, Kai El.”

  He tousled her hair.

  “Sorry, little one. There’s too much ice out there. My feet did a dance by themselves.”

  Tahna stood at her work shelf.

  “Smell this,” she said. “It’s the most wonderful smell.”

  He sniffed some little round seeds on a flat grinding stone.

  “What? I hardly smell anything.”

  “It isn’t on the outside. It’s on the inside. That’s where you find the real beauty of everything.”

  She mashed the seeds with the other part of her grinding stone. A sharp odor rose.

  “Whew,” he said. “You think that’s wonderful?”

  “Mmm. I do.”

  “Me too,” Chopay said from her place by the fire. Kai El thought she’d make a good Moonkeeper someday.

  He said, “After living here through fourteen winters, I thought we’d seen the worst. But I was wrong.”

  “I know,” Tahna said. “Ice that falls like rain… what mean spirit would make a thing like that?”

  “I think you have a broken leg to tend,” Kai El said. “One of the Masat women slipped as she was chipping ice for water.”

  “Oh,” Tahna said with sympathy. “Chopay, get your furs. Poor things, they don’t know about ice. It never freezes at the endless water. They don’t even wear moccasins there.”

  Kai El shook his head. “Hard to imagine, isn’t it?”

  All that the Ogress—as Tsilka was called after her death—had said about the Masat people and their home had turned out to be true—though that didn’t change the memory of her as a madwoman.

  Kai El said, “I’m going to the cliffs.”

  “It’s dangerous,” Tahna said. “Why don’t you wait until the ice melts?”

  “That might not be until spring, the way this winter is going.”

  “The last thing I need is to have my brother all broken up.”

  “Sister, I’m a warrior with feet like Suda, the ram. I can climb in the dark with my eyes closed. I’ll be able to tell what’s happening to the Great River from up in the cliffs. We need to know.”

  “Yes,” she admitted. “We do.”

  The long cold weather had changed the Great River into something that people had never seen before. First in quiet pools at the edge, then farther out, the water hardened into choppy wave shapes. Frozen chunks floating down the river snagged on boulders, and caught more chunks. Freezing rain added layer after layer, ice upon ice.

  Kai El said, “I walked out there. It’s solid near the shore, but as you get toward the middle, you hear water rushing underneath. The ice groans and creaks. Then you think you feel it moving, and it seems like a good idea to turn around and come back. I don’t know how far it goes.”

  Tahna said, “I wish you’d stay off it. And keep others off. Men aren’t supposed to walk on rivers. The ice could break apart and take you away.”

  “I can keep men off the river,” he said, “but I can’t keep them from asking questions. Like, ’How far out does it go? And what if it freezes all the way across?’ Tahna, people have always wondered what’s on the other side. I have. Haven’t you?”

  Tahna shrugged, but he knew she had. They had talked about it. She was just afraid of the unknown, as women had reasons to be.

  “The men are talking about crossing. I will lead them. I need to know as much as I can.”

  “Well then, you’d better go up for a look. Please be careful.”

  Kai El made his way along the river trail, and began the climb up the Moonkeeper’s Path, made dangerous by ice. He slipped and fell, and would have bruises to show for it.

  Partway up, he could see that there were places where the ice went all the way across the Great River. It looked as if men could cross to the other side.

  Now that Kai El knew it could be done, he would have to decide if it should be.

  Having seen enough, he could have gone back to the village. But he wanted time alone to think, so he kept climbing.

  He sat in front of his cliffside hut, gazing at the frozen river, and the hills rising out of it on the other side. The only colors were gray and white.

  The Great River was blocked. Who could believe it?

  Kai El remembered the dream where he and his mother had thrown stones on a river of ice. This ice didn’t seem bad, like the ice
in the dream—just different, interesting, and full of questions. He had to laugh to think of breaking it with stones.

  Glancing up at She Who Watches, he said, “We could cross it, you know. Tor would if he were here. Haven’t you always wondered what’s on the other side?” Then he laughed at himself. “I’m sure you know by now,” he said.

  Looking back at the river, Kai El saw something move. He caught his breath. Far away on the other side, an animal came onto the frozen river, advancing slowly toward Teahra Village. He squinted, trying to make it out. A bear?

  No. A man in a bearskin. The man crept along, then stopped, looked back, and motioned with his arm. There were others.

  The question of whether Teahra warriors should cross faded. The new question was what to do about the strangers already on their way.

  In a tight cluster, six or seven walked and crawled onto the frozen river. The braver one who’d tried it first waited. They came a short distance, then one fell. They turned back for the shore, and wouldn’t be persuaded to try it again.

  Kai El knew what it felt like to have people too afraid to do what you wanted them to.

  Falling and getting up again, the brave one slowly, steadily approached.

  Kai El had a strange feeling, as if he knew this one who was coming. As if his life was about to change.

  The man came to an uncrossable place where the water still ran free. Kai El could see from his high place that the man needed to go down the river, where it was frozen hard. But on the vast plain of choppy white waves, he couldn’t see that, and headed the wrong way.

  Kai El slipped and slid down to the village without thinking of his safety.

  Who is he? This man I know but have never met?

  Are you sure it’s a man?

  Of course it’s a man. Only a man would be fool enough to do what he’s doing.

  He told Tahna what he’d seen, and told her to tell everyone. The people of Teahra Village would give a peaceful welcome to the strangers.

  “Since he’s coming alone, I will meet him alone,” Kai El said. “Unless you want to come.”

  Tahna shook her head. “No river-walking for me. Does he have any weapons?”

  “A spear. Or maybe it’s just a staff.”

  “I’d feel better if you took one or two warriors.”

  “Of course you would. You’re a woman.”

  “At least take a spear and a blade. You don’t know what kind of people they are.”

  “Why would one man walk up to an entire village if killing was what he had in mind?”

  What could his sister say? What could women ever say to stop men from doing what they really wanted to do?

  Kai El walked out on the river, heading down to where he knew it was frozen all the way across. He carried a staff for balance, but no weapons. Under his feet, the ice felt solid as stone and slippery as wet moss.

  They saw each other from a distance, stopped, and stared.

  Who are you, Kai El wondered, but the bear fur covered the man from head to foot.

  Kai El held up his hand in a sign of peace.

  His unknown friend did the same. He was small, from the size of his hand.

  Kai El walked forward, watching his feet. He stopped and looked up.

  The other one stood in front of him, and pushed back the hood of the fur robe. A beautiful woman looked at him.

  He swallowed, gulped, held his breath till he was; dizzy.

  The most beautiful woman. Kai El had seen her in his dreams, had mistaken her for Gaia.

  She seemed to be as wonder-struck as he was. Her eyes looked into his soul.

  “Tosanna,” she said, placing her hand on her chest.

  There was no lovelier sound than her voice, Kai El was certain, not anywhere, even in the otherworld. Everything about her was perfect: face, hair, eyes…

  “Tosanna, Last Flower,” she said.

  “Kai El, Sun River,” he answered. Then the shock hit him. “You speak my language!”

  “No, you speak mine!” she said, with a smile like sunshine inside the heart.

  She pointed across the river.

  “What is this place? Who are these people?”

  “It is Teahra Village. We are the Teahra tribe.”

  “We have watched your fires. We have wondered about you.”

  He said, “We are peaceful.”

  “Good. You are many, and we are few.”

  Kai El wasn’t cold anymore, though the wind was still blowing.

  “Tosanna… ” He forgot the rest of what he was going to say. Her name was the prettiest word. He could sit all day saying it to himself.

  “What?”

  “Who are you, Tosanna?”

  “We are Washani. We have come a long way. There were not enough mates in our tribe, and the people who live toward Warmer are mean. So we came to see if any people lived toward Colder.”

  They had come looking for mates, and she was not too shy to say so. Kai El smiled.

  “How many?” he asked.

  “Nine now. Four died. We left in the spring, but this huge river stopped us. We followed its edge. When autumn came, we had found no people, so we decided to spend the winter in a cave, and leave again in the spring. Then one day I was out getting wood, and I saw your village.”

  Her soft, dark brown eyes gazing into his were like a magic spell. Kai El could not have looked away if his feet were on fire.

  “And I wondered,” she said. “Were you the people we had searched for? The others said, ’Too bad if they are. We are over here and they are over there, and that is not a river to be crossed.’ When the spirits froze the river, I said we must come and see. But the others were afraid.” She shook her head. Her long black hair swung around her shoulders. “Finally we find some people, Kai El, and they are afraid.”

  She talked easily, as if she’d always known him. Laughter bubbled up in him.

  “You are welcome, beautiful Tosanna. Let’s get your people.”

  Kai El brought the Washani across the ice. The people of Teahra Village gave hearty welcome to the four women and five men, amazed that they spoke the same language. A feast was prepared in the Tlikit cave—the best they could manage in the frozen conditions. Not everyone could fit, so they took turns.

  Tahna told the story of when the Moonkeeper Ashan traveled in the spirit world and saw the beginning of time, when all the people of the world belonged to one tribe. It was not so strange that the Washani spoke Shahala.

  Kai El did his best to pay attention and act like a chief. But he and Tosanna couldn’t keep their eyes apart. It was late when the Washani settled down to sleep on the other side of the cave. Kai El imagined that he smelled Tosanna’s sweet scent, and heard her breathing. And it was just as it had been in another time that he could not remember.

  The day dawned bright on Teahra Village. People came out to enjoy its promise. Sunlight gleamed on melting ice. The air was a warm caress.

  Kai El, whose eyes saw only Tosanna, was both happy and afraid. He heard loud pings and cracks from the Great River, like he’d heard in his dream, the sound of breaking ice.

  He called her name, and she came to him.

  Last Flower, he thought. You are so beautiful.

  “Tosanna, listen to the river. It’s thawing. Soon there will be no crossing it. I will take you back if you want to go.”

  She looked into his soul.

  “I never want to leave.”

  AFTERWORD

  FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS, INTERTRIBAL GATHERINGS took place at the village on the Columbia River. People came from as far as the Great Plains and the Southwest to trade for the abundant salmon. The people of the village welcomed Lewis and Clark in 1805. By the 1950s, all that remained was a mound, which was partially excavated before it was drowned in the backwaters of The Dalles Dam.

  She Who Watches saw it all, and is watching today.

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  Contemporary Indians who live along the Columbia tell of the Peopl
e of the Misty Time, sometimes seen as lights shining from the riverbottom; of River Devils who pull bad people into the water and drown them. Of the Ogress, a woman so ugly no man would have her, who learned magic to make herself seem beautiful in a certain kind of light. She would seduce young men, and when they made love, turn back into her ugly self. The last thing a foolish young man saw as he died of horror was the hideous face of the Ogress.

  And the story that inspired this novel, the legend of She Who Watches…

  A woman was chief of all who lived in this region. That was a long time before Coyote came up the river and changed things, and people were not yet real people. After a time, Coyote, in his travels, came to this place and asked the inhabitants if they were living well or ill They sent him to their chief who lived up on the rocks, where she could look down on the village and know what was going on. Coyote climbed up to the house on the rocks and asked:

  “What kind of living do you give these people? Do you treat them well, or are you one of those evil women?”

  “I am teaching them to live well and build good houses,” she said

  “Soon the world will change,” Coyote said, “and women will no longer be chiefs.” Then he changed her into a rock with the command “You shall stay here and watch over the people who live here.”

  All the people know that She Who Watches sees ail things, for whenever they are looking at her, large eyes are watching them.

  A STEP TOWARD TOMORROW

  Nine thousand years ago a band of people called the Shahala faced famine. Yet their Moonkeeper, the woman Ashan, foresaw hope, 3 and led them across the Tabu land and on to humankind’s destiny.

  Ahead lay a savage and volatile people who needed to learn the Moonkeeper’s ways; a woman with secrets that could destroy Ashan’s love for her mate, Tor; and a terrifying accident that would send Ashan on a dream journey toward death. Now as the Shahala’s quest for survival begins, the first seeds of the nation would grow or perish on the banks of a mighty river… in a long-ago eon called the Misty Time.