by C Lee Tocci
“Yes, you will,” she stated quietly.
They had turned to walk out on to the street when a large dark figure filled the doorway. Todd’s eyes froze on the silver star on his shirt. He was aware that the big man was looking closely at the travelers, taking more notice than Todd felt comfortable giving. With a mumbled farewell, they hurried past the Sheriff, down the street and back to the horses.
The Sheriff stood woodenly, staring out the window of the diner, watching the children scurry into the night. Unlatching his walkie-talkie from his belt, he activated it with a grip and a chirp.
“O’Quapin to base,” he barked.
“Go ahead, Oak,” the response scratched back after a pause.
“Think I got us a twenty on those runaways. Over.”
“Copy.”
“They’re out by Sand Canyon, heading south towards Snake River. Over.”
“Ten Four, I’ll notify State. Out.”
The Sheriff stood watching out the window for a moment before walking over and taking his regular stool at the counter. A cup of black coffee waited for him, patiently steaming.
“Good eyes there, Oak,” Connie said tonelessly as she pulled two cheese danish from a glass cake bin on the counter.
“Just doing my job, Connie,” Oak mumbled, pouring sugar into his cup.
“Real good eyes,” said Connie.
A weighty silence descended as she watched the sugar pour like a waterfall into a bottomless lake. Oak finished pouring out his sugar before meeting Connie’s eyes.
“Just doing my job.”
Chapter Forty Five
The Noose Tightens
Secure within the confines of the Central Command RV, the Director gave vent to the anger and frustration he had controlled all night. Turning on the travel stove, he placed his hand over the lit burner. The flame stroked his palm and calmed his rage. He smiled. These setbacks were incidental. In the end, they would succeed. Nothing could eclipse the power of Syxx.
Once more in control of his temper, he studied the map of the surrounding territory. Dozens of flags dotted the chart, each one a reported sighting of the truants. From the evidence in front of him the only answer could be that there were two dozen groups of children on horseback wandering about the region. Either that, or the fugitives were able to disappear and rematerialize.
This last operation had been a fiasco. The intell they’d received about Sand Canyon had seemed reliable at the time. Called in by a County Sheriff. They’d mobilized all the crews and found nothing. The teams had fanned out and canvassed around the canyon in a two mile radius and couldn’t find a sign that the quarry had been anywhere near there.
“They have entered Reservation Territory.”
The Director turned and found Syxx standing at the rear of the RV. He had not heard him enter nor could he understand how he got past him, yet this was not the moment for those questions.
Syxx walked past him to the map. “They are among the People of the Land. They conspire against us. You cannot trust the reports you receive from those sources.”
The Director raised an eyebrow. He would not dare to contradict Syxx, but it seemed unlikely to him there could be a movement that well-orchestrated among such a rural area.
If Syxx saw the doubts of the Director, he did not choose to address them. Instead, he pointed to a portion of the map, the northeast sector, which had the least number of sightings flagged.
“Concentrate your search in this area. I will be conducting my own search and will be checking in on your progress.”
Syxx stepped back from the map as the Director moved forward to examine the territory indicated.
“To what degree should we conceal our presence?” he asked.
When he received no response, he turned around, but Syxx was no longer there.
Chapter Forty Six
Dry Creek Crossing
On the plains of Dry Creek, one hundred and sixty miles north of Sand Canyon, the riders pulled up from a joyful gallop. Their bellies and their packs were full and the night winds were sweet. They had ridden through the night and the sun was cresting the distant mountaintops as they pulled up. The horses were winded and their riders were tired as well, but Todd saw their willingness to ride on. The call of the mountains was stronger than the need to eat or rest, but Todd didn’t feel safe galloping over the sweeping grasslands in the full light of day. He scanned the landscape, looking for a place to shelter until dark.
A small grassy hill had a rocky outcropping on its northern face. The travelers huddled beneath a shallow cleft shielded by a narrow ledge. Donny sent the horses off to a distant field to rest and graze. .
They had just settled in when the first helicopter appeared on the horizon. They did not move, they did not speak, they barely breathed.
Keotak-se waged a small war against his own fears which threatened to blacken his vision.
He could feel the Enemy approaching. His presence hung like a grey film over the pine-swathed mountaintops. The need to find the children before the Enemy did drove him to search both night and day without rest.
He circled the Canyon del Muerte in ever increasing circuits yet found no trace of the children. It did not occur to him the children had passed under the mountains rather than over them, nor did he perceive the earth healing the scars of their trail as quickly as they passed.
He landed on a rocky precipice and looked out over the vast grassy plains that rolled from the edge of the Pine Mountains to the foot of the Stone Mountains. For the children to have gotten even this far was so improbable, Keotak-se assumed some greater force must be guiding their steps. Perhaps he would find some sign of them in the northeast, in those plains which stood between the Pine Mountains and the mountains of Kiva.
From the cusp of the cliff, Keotak-se threw himself off, indulging in the sensation of a freefalling dive before transforming into the condor and sailing off to the northeast.
To search. To find. To prevail.
Failure was not an option.
Crouched against the rock, the travelers watched impatiently as the sun crept slowly towards the mountains. Though they had closed their eyes and rested, they hadn’t really slept.
Even though the sun was not quite set, Todd told Donny to call the horses. They hadn’t seen another helicopter all afternoon. The only stranger in the sky had been a very large bird they sighted hours ago. It had passed more than a mile away and they had seen nothing unusual since.
Todd knew it might be dangerous to travel while the light was still up, but the roots of his hair were itching to move and they’d got this far by trusting his instincts. He wasn’t going to ignore them now.
Todd couldn’t tell if the horses ran faster because they sensed a threat in the air, of if they were just picking up the riders’ fears, but for whatever reason, they almost flew across the hilly plains. Yet as they had reached the top of a tall rise, they all stopped, awed at the view before them.
The mountains before them were close enough now to make out the details. To the north ruled a towering peak, capped with snow. A ribbon of white sparkled along its southern face, marking a waterfall that cascaded into the hidden valley below. The two mountains to the east and west weren’t nearly as tall. One was green and lush, the other, rocky and barren. And the fourth mountain, to the south, almost as tall as the northern mountain, looked eerie, dark, and draped with swirling clouds and shadowy mists. Connecting the mountains were palisades of red stone cliffs which had been eroded into hoodoos: statue-like pillars standing shoulder to shoulder, glinting purple in the dusk.
Todd slid off his horse and walked forward a few steps, as if the few extra feet would help him see better. These were the mountains he’d seen in his dreams and he was certain that, whatever Kiva was, it would be there in the valley between those mountains.
“Is that Kiva?” he heard Donny ask.
Todd turned to face the others. They too had dismounted and stood staring at the mountains. Todd gr
inned.
“Yes,” he said. “That is Kiva.”
Todd turned back to study the view, drinking in the details, knowing that these memories wouldn’t fade from his mind the way they did in his dreams.
He saw Lilibit’s shadow approaching. He looked down at her and her grin made him smile back. He picked her up and placed her on his shoulders. Together, their shadow stretched from the grassy hill, across the plains, towards the feet of the Sienna Sentries. She lifted her arms as if the stone pillars were doting uncles and she was a toddler, asking to be picked up. Todd laughed out loud.
So mesmerized by their first sight of Kiva, none of them noticed a large shadow streaking across the plains, heading directly for their grassy hill.
Chapter Forty Seven
The New Wave
Gil-Salla scattered crushed feldspar and dried cactus needles into her hearth, watching as the flames leapt up, pink and gold, the colors of inquiry and welcome.
While her eyes gazed into the flickering light, she studied the pledges as they sat nervously in her hall, their backs pressed against the earthen walls.
Oh, by the Stone. They are so young! It had been more than ten centuries since the Earth Stone had called a new generation of Stone Warriors, but, Stars, she did not remember them being so young!
Young or not, she doubted there had ever been such a wave of neophytes that followed the Stone with such blind faith. While some of them were People of the Land and had heard the myths and legends of the Stone since infancy, most of the neophytes knew nothing of Stone Voices or Stone Warriors and had left their homes to follow the call blindly. Even the existence of the Enemy was little more than a scary bedtime story to them. They had much to learn if they were to prove themselves worthy of the Stone.
The dormitory hogans had been prepared and the neophytes had divided themselves up between the three halls. Ten centuries had past, yet still youth fell into the same patterns, reenacted the same rituals. It would be interesting to see how the Infant Stone Voice dealt with their self-inflicted segregation.
The Infant Stone Voice. She was close, Gil-Salla could feel her, but she was not safe yet. Gil-Salla had little time to initiate the neophytes.
Raising her eyes to meet their gazes, she spoke to them briefly, hinting at the skills they must learn, the powers they may earn and the fealty which they might be called upon to pledge. She then dismissed them and turned her mind to the hearth.
The Enemy was near, closer than she had felt him for centuries. He had grown stronger since their last meeting, feeding upon the corruption and decadence of mankind, thriving in the degradation of creation.
Gil-Salla could not leave Kiva to help search for the lost ones. All she could do was pray Keotak-se would find them before the Enemy did.
Chapter Forty Eight
Sienna Shadows
The shadow passing before the sun was the first sign to the travelers that they were not alone. The horses snorted frantic whinnies and bolted off the hill in a panic.
Brandishing his staff, Todd gestured for the others to get behind him.
Looking into the setting sun, Todd could only see the outline of a huge winged creature setting down on the crest of the hill. As they watched, amazed, the figure transformed and the silhouette of a man now stood where moments before had landed the winged intruder.
“Lilibit,” called the stranger. His words rang like the knell of death in their ears.
Behind him, Todd felt Lilibit trembling.
“I don’t know you!” her voice cracked in fear. “Go away.”
“Lilibit,” repeated the stranger.
There was a note in that voice which made Todd want to obey. He girded himself against that urge.
“I DON’T KNOW YOU!” screamed Lilibit, “GO AWAY! GO AWAY!”
“Lilibit,” he called for the third time.
It was at that moment that the sun dropped below the Pine Mountains in the west. Now the travelers could clearly see the stranger. Todd was unsure whether it was the weathered brown of his face, or the green mantle he wore over his tan leathers, but, while he still looked like a man, he also seemed somewhat like a…
“TREE!” squealed Lilibit. Before Todd could stop her, Lilibit darted from behind him and leapt high at the stranger, wrapping her arms around his neck and clinging with her legs to his chest.
“I can’t wait to see how she greets people she does know,” Devon whispered.
The stranger gingerly detached Lilibit from his torso and placed her gently on the ground. His face was expressionless as he looked down at the grinning child, but Todd sensed strong emotions hiding beneath his stoicism.
“I am called Keotak-se. You have done well to have traveled this far. Now I will lead you to Kiva.”
Todd felt heat rise in his face. This man’s opinion shouldn’t be important to him, but he was still flattered by the approval.
“I am… Todd.” He winced. His name sounded lame in his own ears. “Marla, Jeff, Donny, Devon and Nita.” He introduced the others, hoping his voice wasn’t as sullen as it sounded to him. “Lilibit, evidently, you’ve met.”
Keotak-se nodded to each of the travelers. “We shall now proceed to Kiva.”
Keotak-se raised a faint eyebrow when the horses returned at Donny’s summons. Todd hesitated before mounting.
“There isn’t a horse for you, should we all walk?” Todd asked.
With a hint of a smile, Keotak-se chanted “WEES SI KEY EM” and where a moment before there stood a brown man, there now pranced a white steed. Its coat was so bright it almost hurt Todd’s eyes to look at it. Rearing up on its hind legs, it neighed musically, like a cornet and, with a slash of its hooves, set off across the hilly plains. The travelers followed, their mustangs hard pressed to keep up.
The night was so dark, the riders could barely see the horses beneath them. No moon and few stars pierced the muffling blackness of the sky. All they could see was the glowing form of the white steed as it led them across the plains.
Out of the gloom, the pillars of the Sienna Sentries rose black on black in front of the travelers. Still they did not slow their pace. The white steed turned north and the others followed, racing along under the stern glare of the stone sentinels.
They rode for hours without a rest. Their breath heaved when the white steed finally slowed to a stop. And though they watched him closely, none of the travelers saw how the white horse transformed back into the brown man. And yet there he stood.
Todd’s scalp was buzzing so urgently it was almost a sharp pain. He searched the open expanse of the plains, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. The fact that Keotak-se scanned the horizon with a similar intensity did nothing to ally his fears. He felt a looming menace hanging in the air like a dry fog, threatening to choke them.
“Dismount,” ordered Keotak-se. “The horses can go no further. We shall travel the rest of the way on foot.”
The dismay on Donny’s face was painful to see. He opened his mouth to argue, something he rarely did, but Todd cut him off with a shake of his head.
Donny hugged the neck of the golden stallion in farewell.
“But they said they would serve!” he muttered sullenly as the horses trotted off into the dark.
“And they have served well. They have earned honor here on earth for their labors and great will be their rewards thereafter.”
Keotak-se’s words were curt but Donny seemed to find some comfort from them. He stood gazing towards the herd for several moments after they were swallowed by the night, then shrugging off his grief, he slid his backpack onto his shoulders and turned to follow the others up the path.
Chapter Forty Nine
The Attack of the B’Ricas
Path was far too civilized a word for the course over which Keotak-se led them. They scrabbled over razor sharp rocks, hoisted each other up stony barricades, and scaled cliff faces that scraped their skin raw.
Todd realized that, as difficult as it had been getting to the
Sienna Sentries, without Keotak-se, it would have been impossible to get over them into Kiva.
Eventually the trail took them between two monolithic pillars spaced so closely only Lilibit could get through without being squeezed by the stones. Beyond that point, the hiking got better. It ran along a narrow gap behind the palisades, switchbacking up the face of the cliff.
Todd should have felt safer sheltered by the cliff walls, but instead he felt edgy. He scanned the skies, but couldn’t see any threat.
Several times, the path wound around the front of the Sienna Sentries. Marla trembled when they edged their way along the narrow lip. She hated heights and one slip of the step could send them tumbling down fathoms into the teeth of the rock shards below.
As the trail wound its way around the exposed western face for the fourth time, a vicious wind picked up and blasted the travelers. It was hot and humid and stank like rotting meat. It tore at their clothes and whipped at their skin. Their eyes teared and their breath gagged in their throats.
Keotak-se, leading the march, halted and turned to face the blackening horizon. The sky swirled with thick dark clouds which hung like a scummy canopy over the plains.
“Get back!” He barked.
Todd started to herd everyone back to the cleft which they had just passed through, but Jeff’s scream made him turn.
“What in hell are those?” Jeff paled as he stared out over the plains.
Dropping from the greasy clouds were thick funnels of whirling filth. But these weren’t tornados like Todd had ever seen or heard of before. There were three separate twisters, each articulated by swirling tendrils that stretched out and retracted like arms as they moved. Near the top of the columns, the winds spun to form vortexes resembling vacant eyes and a gaping toothless mouth.