She wanted to talk to Onio about so many things, but was afraid to try. She was too new to the soul song to moderate her voice, or even know what subject might be taboo, or cause insult. She stared into the fire and smiled when Onio placed a fur over her shoulders. “Sleep while you can, Mel,” he said. “We will move swiftly when we finally go, and we will not stop for many miles.”
Mel lay on her side and watched the fire, feeling her eyelids grow heavy as Onio started to sing a little song. She smiled as his soft words lulled her to sleep.
He whispered, “Be brave little bear, your mother watches over you.
Hush… hush… hush.
Be silent little squirrel, your father watches over you.
Hush… hush… hush.
Be steadfast little sasq, your tribe watches over you.
Hush… hush… hush.
Be calm little lion, your brother watches…”
Mel slept.
The sun was setting over the treetops when a large hand shook her awake. Sitting up, Mel saw that queen Tanah was kneeling by the fire. She looked calmer now and studied the meat on the end of her roasting stick with an expression of contentment on her face. She glanced at Mel and said, “Make sure the small gets enough to eat, First Son. We will not stop unless it is absolutely necessary.”
Onio placed a wooden bowl of meat in front of Mel, who regarded it dubiously. She was barely awake and usually did not eat right away after waking up. She didn’t dare defy the queen’s direct order though, so she picked a piece of meat up and took a tiny bite. It was delicious! The meat was so tender it practically melted in her mouth. Mel eagerly ate all the meat and gratefully accepted the carrots and mushrooms another sasq offered her.
Tanah studied Mel’s face while she ate. Mel felt uncomfortable being studied so openly but bore up under the scrutiny with as much dignity as possible. The queen’s one remaining eye was as blue as a robin’s egg, and although she was missing a couple of teeth, Tanah’s smile was beautiful. She was scarred, painted and looked as wild as any feral beast, but Mel could tell that under different circumstances the woman would have been considered gorgeous.
Tanah turned to Wolf and said, “We will leave soon. Please be ready. You and my warriors will take turns carrying the small one. I would like to reach the conclave in four nights turning.” She paused and glanced at Mel again. “Tell the girl her cin is appreciated. My husband rests easier now. I don’t know if it was the small human’s potion or the fact that my husband is still very strong, but I think he may survive to tell the story another day.” She nodded once in Mel’s direction and strode away into the falling dusk.
Instantly, the camp seemed to spring into quiet but frenzied activity. One of the tents was dismantled while a number of sasquatches moved in and out of the king’s quarters carrying bags and bundles of belongings. The fire was put out while food was packed up and wrapped in layers of frozen leaves and forest debris.
Wolf picked his bag up and gestured to Melody to climb on his back. She would rather travel with Onio but she did not dare argue with the big guard. She scrambled up and looked over Wolf’s shoulder as ten big male sasquatches, led by their human queen, surrounded them.
Suddenly, Onio held up a hand. “Wait for a moment please,” he said. The sasquatches stared at the half smile on his face and then all of them relaxed as they realized what he was waiting for. The sound of barking echoed through the air and Mel grinned at the telepathic message Onio allowed her to hear. It was the dog, Smiles, who had been left behind before and was not about to be left behind again.
The skinny chocolate dog came bounding through the trees. Mel had forgotten about the dog, but was happy to see her ugly, happy face again. Onio gazed at the queen, who shrugged and said, “Bring the beast if you must, First Son. Just remember that if she wails, or can’t keep up with us, one of my soldiers will deal with her in a way that ensures she will not threaten our security again.”
Onio nodded and scooped the joyful dog up in his arms. Smiles wriggled around in Onio’s arms and faced forward, clearly eager to get underway. Wolf and Tanah conferred for a few moments and then they were off.
Mel never dreamed that any creature could move so fast. The sasq flew over the rugged terrain like there were wings on their feet. They ran through the forest for many miles and then the trees grew sparse, opening to an area of pastures and rolling hills. Looking over Wolf’s shoulder, she could see a ribbon of twinkling lights in the distance. It was a highway, and what looked like a gas station and truck stop.
Mel’s heart started pounding in her chest. This was her chance to break away from the creatures that held her in their grasp! They were kind, fierce, strange and alien. They were everything she was not, and for a moment, her heart went out to the human beings in their cars that drove down the darkened highways, never knowing, never dreaming what might be watching them from the distant hills above them in the night.
As though sensing Mel’s feelings of hesitation and doubt, Wolf set her down on the frozen turf and walked away. Mel swayed slightly on wobbly knees and looked over at Onio, who stood some distance away, studying her face in the moon’s faint glow. She heard his voice in her mind.
“It is an hour’s walk to the highway from here, Mel,” he said softly. “I would not blame you if you wanted to rejoin your people now. Tanah and her soldiers have agreed to join Wolf and me in keeping watch over you while you walk down this hill to the road.” His deep-set hazel eyes looked into hers as he continued. “I would have you stay. I wish to learn much about you and the small humans. I know though, that our meeting has been wrought with sorrow and danger. The journey to the conclave has only just begun, and it too, will be long and hazardous. Maybe it would be best if you go to your people now.”
Onio had let go of Smiles, who disappeared briefly into the darkness and then returned. The dog approached Mel timidly, tail pressed flat against her backside as though in sorrow and disappointment.
Mel fell to her knees and kissed the dog’s wrinkled brow. She stared down at the valley below for a few moments and then turned to look at the sasq that surrounded her. Tanah was adjusting the leather saddle straps on the back of another soldier, giving the first soldier a rest from her weight. Wolf pulled strips of meat from the rucksack he carried, while a young, red-haired giant passed a skin of water around.
The sasquatches were not guarding their thoughts from her, as far as she could tell. They weren’t saying much, but the general feeling of their thoughts ranged from excitement to trepidation, and from sorrow to exultant justification in their actions. There was one strange thought though, that was vague but frightening in its intensity. It spoke of rage, hatred, and ambition. It was so different…so passionate, Mel stiffened, looking around in alarm.
Onio followed her gaze and stared at the other sasq as they went about their business. He sensed the girl’s alarm but could not pinpoint the cause of her anxiety. “What’s wrong, Melody?” he asked.
Mel shook her head. Everything seemed fine and the stray thought that had run clammy fingers down her spine was gone…if it ever existed in the first place. She turned to Onio and said, “It’s nothing, Onio. I was just thinking.” She stared one last time at the lights below her in the distance.
“If it’s still all right with you, I want to stay. There’s nothing for me down there.” She paused and added, “Sure, there might be danger ahead, but if I go back I’ll die from loneliness. I know it.”
The grin that Onio gave her made her blush with pleasure. Wolf approached with water and a piece of meat. Although he did not smile, the look in his eyes was warm with satisfaction as well. Even the dog seemed to sense the human’s pleasure. Although she did not bark, she spun around in a happy dog dance of joy. Many of the sasq warriors chuckled at the dog’s antics. Even Queen Tanah rolled her eyes in amusement.
***
One pair of eyes though, glittered with wrath. Thunderbolt had become adept in schooling his thoughts and features
into bland neutrality over the years, and he did so now. He finished rubbing bear grease into the welts left by the queen’s saddle, took a deep drink of water, and stood ready to march with his fellow soldiers up into the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.
Chapter 13
Mel saw that they were approaching a series of hills. The light of the moon illuminated the ever-increasing slopes in shades of silver and grey, and beyond them, a mountain range loomed. It glowered down on them as if to say, “How dare you tread upon me?”
The sasquatches fell into a single line and began to climb a switchback trail, and Mel gulped as the path grew steeper. Frozen rocks and clods of dirt fell away to the valley below at their passing, and the landscape seemed to swirl dizzyingly in her peripheral vision.
They scrambled higher and higher. Then she watched one sasq after another disappear into a cleft in the rock wall on their left. Onio turned around once, grinned at her and then he too disappeared. “Duck your head girl,” Wolf demanded.
Mel tucked her chin down on Wolf’s shoulder and held her breath as they dipped into what turned out to be another cavern, much like the cave Onio’s tribe had inhabited. Most of the sasq stood back while scouts ranged forward looking for any threat hidden in the nooks and crannies of the stone enclosure. After a few minutes, the scouts came back and called the all clear.
The sasq fell into line again and began walking through an elaborate series of tunnels. Some of the tunnels were huge and echoed eerily with the sounds of their passage; others were so cramped and narrow the biggest sasq needed to turn sideways in order to squeeze through. It seemed to her as though the sasquatches night vision was preternaturally excellent, but they did carry a couple of torches maybe for their queen’s benefit. Mel was relieved. She didn’t think she suffered from claustrophobia, or fear of the dark, but spelunking a high mountain cave in the dead of winter had never been high on her bucket list.
The fitful glare of the torches cast huge shadows on the tunnel walls, illuminating one small area, only to leave vast hollows of darkness in others. Occasionally Mel could see the silhouettes of stalactites hanging over their heads like an enormous bed of nails, and more than once she saw furtive movements stir within the gloom, and the red reflection of an animal’s eyes as it blinked in startled surprise at the false sunrise.
Wolf sensed her unease and said, “Don’t worry about the animals that slumber in these tunnels. Many of them sleep away the cold season and won’t awaken at our passing. Others are far more frightened by us than we would ever be of them.”
Mel nodded and replied, “Thank you, sir. I’m just not used to this sort of thing.”
Wolf’s amusement rumbled through his body. He laughed silently and for a moment Mel wanted to slap him, but then she let out a nervous giggle. Onio’s teeth flashed and he reached back and gave her shoulder a playful pinch. For a few seconds, it seemed as if all the sasq shared in the joke. Then the queen snapped, “Quiet! There are hazards in these tunnels, as you well know. I would have you pay attention!”
They resumed their journey in cautious silence. The unremitting darkness and the strain to see through it caused Mel’s eyes to ache with fatigue. She knew it was probably only nerves, but she was becoming convinced that something was watching them…following them.
She was afraid to say anything though, as she had been the target of fun once already on this journey, and she didn’t want to slow everything down or make anyone angry by acting like a nervous Nelly again. She closed her weary eyes and tried to forget about the evil gaze that was boring holes through the back of her neck. Finally, she lay her head down on Wolf’s shoulder and slept.
She snapped awake with a start. Hideous screams filled the air and there was a cacophony of startled shouting from somewhere behind them. Mel knew she was hearing these sounds telepathically through Onio, but the pure terror and pain he heard was enough to make Mel’s knees go weak with fear.
Wolf set her down on the tunnel floor and pushed her back against the stone wall. Then he and Onio ran back to see what was happening, along with many of the other sasq warriors. Mel stayed plastered to the wall for a few moments, but curiosity got the better of her and she crept back down the tunnel to see what was going on.
What she saw made her wish that she had stayed back against the wall in blissful ignorance. A large female cougar and two young ones were attacking the sasq warriors. The young red-haired sasquatch that had passed the water skin around in the valley earlier lay dead on the floor of the cave. His throat glistened wetly, and his blood had spread into a sticky, slippery pool that made the stone floor treacherous for the sasq but didn’t seem to affect the animals at all.
The cats sprang from one victim to the next, using the warrior’s bodies as launch pads and leaving long scratch marks on their backs, bellies and shoulders. As Mel watched, one of the queen’s guards grabbed a smaller cougar by its neck. Although it wriggled and bit, scoring its captors belly with its hind claws, Mel saw the cougar’s tongue protrude in agony as the warrior squeezed its throat. The mighty black-haired sasq let out a howl of victory as the cat finally convulsed and went limp in his hands.
Looking away, Mel saw Onio with the dog Smiles snapping and snarling at his side. As she watched, he grabbed the large female by the tail. Although she fought and screamed in rage, Onio swung the animal around and around like a mace. Once, twice, three times Onio hurled the cougar around until he got close to the tunnel wall. Then he gave a shout and launched the mother cat against the wall so hard even Mel heard the snap of the creature’s back as it smashed against the stone, and her screams cut off abruptly.
The third cat was perched on a shelf of rock high in the back of the cavern. The queen’s warriors thrust their spears at it in anger and frustration. Even Mel could see that the animal was mortally wounded. Through Onio’s ears, she could hear it mewling in pain and fear.
Suddenly it was all over as Wolf roared, “Move aside!” He cast his spear, as straight as an arrow, skewering the beast through the chest and pinning it, momentarily, to the wall.
Mel stood with her hands over her mouth, shaking with shock. She saw that many of the warriors were covered with blood and some of the wounds were terrible. One of the queen’s guards had lost an eye, which still hung precariously from its roots amidst the damaged flesh. Another warrior gritted his teeth as Wolf replaced a huge strip of skin that had been peeled away from his back, like the rind of an orange.
Onio and the dog walked up to her. Through the shock-induced buzzing in her ears she heard him ask, “Melody, are you all right?” Mel saw that his arm was bleeding, though he seemed calm and unaffected by the pain. She stared at him for a moment and then she took his arm in her hands and turned it over to inspect his wound. She almost gagged when she saw the jagged tooth marks and puncture wounds on his forearm. She thought she could see the white gleam of bone through the blood.
Trembling, Mel asked, “Onio, where is your bag?”
He shrugged and gestured down the tunnel from whence they came. “Down there, I guess. I dropped it when I heard the animals attack. Are you hurt?”
“No,” she replied. “But this wound needs to be bound, and I think there might be some medicine left…I hope.”
Melody turned and made her way into the tunnel. There were some sasq warriors there, including their queen, who had not been involved in the fight. They moved in and out of the torch light. Tanah bent down next to the sasq who had lost his eye, and joked that now he was truly a brother to the mighty king, although it was unnecessary to lose an eye in the proof. Two other sasq guards doused some sort of moss with water and pressed the green concoction over their comrade’s wounds.
Mel almost stumbled over Onio’s sack that lay forgotten on the floor. Crouching down, she rummaged through the bag and found the bottles of pills that Onio had stashed. Mel found some aspirin and Tylenol 800s. There were no more antibiotics, but there was a tube of Neosporin. She rose from where she crouched on the flo
or to take the medicine back to Onio and the wounded sasq warriors, but found Tanah standing behind her. Mel stifled a gasp and stepped back.
The queen smiled and used soul song to speak. “Girl, I understand what you are trying to do, and I appreciate your kindness, but the sasq will not. They will view your potions with suspicion and will fear ridicule if, in their weakness, they succumb to your ministrations.” She held up a hand at the expression on Mel’s face.
“Do not argue with me girl,” Tanah snapped. “I have lived with the sasq most of my life. I know what they think and how they feel.” The middle-aged woman with the missing eye and tattooed face studied Mel’s face kindly.
“You would be surprised at the knowledge the sasquatch hold,” she continued. “You have only met Onio, Wolf and the sasq warrior sect. You have not sat at a conclave with the medicine women or the wise ones. They have potions that are equal to anything the smalls possess. They can heal with the touch of a hand…stop death with a song!”
“Go back and help clean my warriors wounds…help my medics moisten the moss so that the healing starts quickly. Listen, little girl, and learn. Maybe then you can see why I, Tanah, though given another choice many, many times, have chosen to stay amongst the sasq people.”
Mel nodded and put the medicine back in the bag. She understood that sasquatches didn’t use the kind of medicine she was used to, and she really didn’t even know if human medicine was good for the sasq. She just wanted to try to help. She felt guilty for not saying anything when she first sensed the watchful eyes, but she couldn’t help wondering why the warriors had not noticed the threat.
Mel walked back down into the wide mouth of the tunnel and looked for the attending medics. Spotting them toward the back of the cave, Mel headed in their direction. She had only walked a few paces when she heard the queen cry out.
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