The Last Sundancer

by Quinney, Karah

  Denoa’s eyes were vacant as she stared at Cohtzen. The death of her son was another blow that fell on top of too many devastating losses. First, she had survived the death of her husband and given birth to her sons alone. Siada and Kaichen had been born under a full moon and they were twins.

  Denoa had insisted from the moment of their birth that they mark the firstborn child. Kaichen’s foot had been marked and allowed to fester.

  Now he carried the mark of his father upon his right foot. All knew that he was firstborn. Siada had been born moments later and both boys were placed at their mother’s breast to feed. Twins were not often allowed to live, but Denoa would not part with either one of her sons. Cohtzen had understood and so he fought for their right to live.

  Cohtzen could not think of anything to say to Denoa that would alleviate her suffering and he knew that she would not accept his help.

  Denoa had known from the beginning that her father had taken both boys into the desert lands. Narin had grown old, but that did not explain his actions. The days spent as a captive had damaged Narin’s soul, sending it flying away. The man that had harmed the boys and killed Siada was not the same man that had been a loving father to Denoa.

  Narin sought a way to ensure that the fate that had once befallen his people would never again come to pass. Narin’s memories of captivity had tortured him night and day. He simply could not let go of the past even though his people were free.

  Denoa’s father had promised the people that he would not return until he fulfilled his quest. Those of their village lived at the mercy of the land, they were tired beyond measure and many had needed to believe in something. Anything. Narin had taken Siada and Kaichen by force, leaving Denoa bound and helpless.

  Cohtzen would have given everything that he owned if he could only turn back the hand of time. He glanced at Kaichen. The boy had not moved. Not even when his mother threw her arms around him and sobbed over the death of his brother and the harm done to him.

  “I cannot bring myself to mourn my father. He is the man that murdered my son.” Denoa brushed long strands of ebony hair from her face. She avoided mentioning her dead family members by name, as was their custom.

  “If my husband still lived, he would know what to do. You must help me Cohtzen, please tell me how to save my son. My father has told everyone that my sons are the only hope for our people. I cannot take Kaichen back to our people. Not yet. For they will surely crush the life from him with their need alone.” Denoa looked into the distance and Cohtzen knew that her eyes sought the wondrous canyon rocks that gave her people power. He had come to rely on the same red rocks for the source of his own strength.

  “You can send him away.” Cohtzen knew that his words would further break Denoa’s spirit.

  Even now, the light that filled her soul had already grown dim. When Narin took her sons, Denoa had been in torment over thoughts of what her father might do to harm her children. The vile things done to Narin by their enemies had shriveled what was left of his soul. Narin wanted peace for their people more than he wanted his next breath.

  Denoa should have sent Narin away before he caused harm to someone that she loved. But he was old and feeble. He did not appear to pose a threat. This is what she told herself over and over again each day. She ignored the danger that her father posed to her children and Siada had paid with his life.

  Denoa was quiet for a long time as guilt weighed down upon her. She moved around the fire circle and grabbed hold of Kaichen’s hands.

  It broke her heart to see the emptiness reflected in his eyes. The boy stared without seeing.

  “I will protect you, Kaichen. I will not fail you again.” Denoa spoke through tears as she looked into her son’s face.

  Kaichen did not answer her. He did not even seem to hear her words.

  Denoa stiffened her spine and stood to face Cohtzen. She was ready to hear what it was that he would say. Cohtzen had always stood by them.

  “We will send your son to the bands that live upon the great mesas. Azin will take on the training of him and he will soon thrive. It is the only way that he will survive.” Cohtzen knew that Denoa would be forced to return to her people without her sons.

  Siada’s resting place would remain unmarked and they chose to burn Narin’s body. It went without saying that her father would not be given the honor of a burial place.

  Cohtzen watched silently as Denoa set fire to the large pier of wood that he had gathered piece by piece. Narin’s body rested upon the mound and soon it was consumed by fire. Denoa dragged Kaichen to his feet, heedless of his stiff arms and legs and the dull glaze of his eyes. Denoa pulled the boy along until he stood beside his grandfather’s burial pier.

  “Look and see, Kaichen. Cohtzen has struck down your enemy. But after this day you must fight your own battles.” Denoa forced back the tears that threatened to break free.

  She knew that Kaichen’s spirit had flown from his body. She did not know all that her son had suffered, but she could well imagine. The bruises upon his body and the vacant stare of his eyes told her that Narin had managed to break something within her son. Despite all that had come before now she knew that Kaichen must listen and remember. It was the only way.

  “You will grow strong and you will walk just as your father walked. I am sorry that I could not save you this unbearable pain.” Denoa’s voice broke on a sob, but she forced herself to continue. “I am sorry that your brother was taken from us. But you are a survivor.”

  Denoa looked at Cohtzen and silently asked for him to leave them alone for a time. Cohtzen’s jaw was as rigid as stone, but he did as she asked.

  Denoa took several deep breaths and called upon the strength of will that had never failed her. Now was the time. She could not hold the truth from Kaichen any longer.

  Denoa wanted to weep and gnash her teeth. Grief burned inside of her and it did not seem that even the passage of time would wipe away her tears. Her soul screamed that it was not fair.

  Kaichen was still a child. He did not deserve the burden that she would now place upon his shoulders and yet, she knew in her heart that he was no longer a boy. He struggled in her embrace for a moment, but she held him firmly by the shoulders. He jerked his chin away, but she forced him to look at her.

  “I will tell you the truth now, so that you will never doubt it. You are Kaichen, the son of Shale. You are the firstborn son of that great man and you are the future of our people.” Denoa felt her son stiffen within her embrace.

  When he turned his face away from her, she stepped back and gently grabbed hold of his chin. He had his father’s eyes, his father’s proud stance and will. He was his father’s son and he was their only hope.

  Chapter One

  His earliest memory was the story of the Sunflower maiden as told to him by his mother. Denoa had taken Kaichen by the hand and walked with him down the stone steps and out onto the flat lands that made up the base of their village.

  Kaichen wondered why his mother spoke to him without his brother present. Siada enjoyed the stories that his mother told, just as he did. However, Denoa’s face was set and her eyes were determined. Kaichen knew better than to question his mother when she had a purpose in mind.

  “It is said that long ago, a great warrior cleared the land and planted the first sunflower seeds. The ancients shared his story amongst themselves and it has carried down to us from that day to this one.” Denoa waved her hand over the softly broken ground and Kaichen’s eyes followed his mother’s graceful gesture.

  Denoa did not try to bring attention to herself, she simply commanded it with her presence alone. It was for this reason that she held the honored position of Beloved Woman. She was a bringer of peace for their village.

  “The great warrior’s name has been lost or perhaps it was too sacred to be spoken. They did not live upon this land but in another. Their story was passed down from one Beloved Woman to the next that it would never be forgotten. The great warrior sought to honor h
is sister and he cleared the land for her. He dug into the soil, breaking it apart with his bare hands and tools made from stone. It is said that he worked until the sun rose from its resting place. His hands bled, his back ached with each movement and still he dug, row after row, raking the land with his fingers when his stone tools gave out.” Denoa sat with her legs crossed beneath her and she was silent for a time.

  Kaichen tried to envision his mother’s words so that he could look without seeing, listen without hearing. In this way, the story would become entwined with his very being so as to become a part of his spirit.

  Kaichen allowed his eyes to lose focus and as his mother continued the story, he looked with his inner eye and he listened with his heart.

  “The great warrior took sacred seeds gathered from the hands of the many villagers and he spread these about the land. He pressed each small seed into the soil and covered them over. Each seed had its own resting place. He worked throughout the night and when the sun’s brilliant rays brought daylight to the land, each seed was in place. The great warrior stood and invoked a blessing from the heavens.”

  “He raised his palms to the sky and asked that the sunflower seeds grow with strong stalks and many flower petals. It was the first time that a hunter and warrior planted seeds in the ground and waited for them to grow.” Denoa chanted a blessing over her son as he closed his eyes and went with her into the dream world that was open to them alone.

  Kaichen slipped into the dream world without effort. His ability to lose himself in the world of dreams was part of the reason that he was special, blessed amongst all.

  Denoa had fought most of her life to meld her spirit with the dream world. It was not easy for her and it came at great cost.

  “It is said that the great warrior hurried to find his sister and he brought her to stand before the ground which had been changed for all time by the work of his hands. The girl knew at once that her brother had given her a great gift. She turned wise eyes to her brother and he blessed her with these words.

  “That all may know that you are blessed amongst women, for you are our Sunflower maiden.” Denoa repeated the sacred phrase three times as Kaichen swayed back and forth to the rhythm of her voice.

  “It was at that time that the way of the people changed. We imitated the great warrior in all things, because he was a man of great wisdom and knowledge. Soon other seeds were gathered and other seeds were sown. We learned the way of the harvest. The people no longer traveled from one place to another in search of food. They remained in the sacred places where crops grow tall and strong. They learned to cycle the planting from one patch of ground to another so that they would not deplete the soil of the gift of life. Children were born to the people and they did not die, they remained strong. Life came back into the world from the scattered seeds sown by one great warrior as a gift to the Sunflower maiden.” Denoa shifted and she waited patiently as her son returned his gaze to hers.

  She saw the dreams in his eyes and she knew that he had already considered the ending to her story long before she could speak the conclusion.

  “This is why we have the Sunflower festival each season. So that we can remember those that walked the land before us. It is said that the world has lived and died twice since the time of the great warrior. Who can say? But the time of change will come in our lifetime. You will see it. Your brother will see it. We must be ready, we must prepare.”

  Kaichen opened his eyes and stared out over the land that rolled and swelled before him. He could almost see his mother exactly as she had been so long ago. Her back was not bowed low and her eyes were bright with the promise of what was yet to come.

  Ten seasons had passed while Kaichen grew and trained to become a man that his mother would be proud to call son. He often felt the grief of loss over Siada. His mother had been wrong. Siada did not live long enough to see the changes that were yet to come.

  He had decided long ago that he would live for himself as well as his brother. Siada was not lost to him, though he no longer lived.

  Kaichen remembered his brother’s courageous spirit. He remembered his will to live and it was from this source that Kaichen drew his strength.

  “Kaichen.” The gravelly voice of Azin broke into Kaichen’s thoughts.

  He looked up to find the old man watching him. Azin had waited patiently as Kaichen learned to trust him and he did not seem to mind that his actions were weighed in the balance.

  “Uncle.” Kaichen did not hesitate to call Azin by the honorary title, though they were not related by blood ties.

  “We must go.” Azin hated to break Kaichen’s solitary meditation.

  The young man showed all the signs of becoming that which others expected of him. Azin knew that Kaichen did not fully understand his own potential. He knew the ways of power and understood the need for balance.

  Denoa had been right to bring the boy to him so many seasons ago. The journey itself had almost broken the woman, just as it had with Cohtzen.

  Everyone knew that the people of the canyons gathered their power from the mounds of rock and treasured sand. Each step away from their home sucked at their strength. Only Kaichen had remained unaffected. In truth, he grew stronger with each passing day.

  Cohtzen on the other hand was bent with grief that he could not return with Kaichen, as expected. It would be foolhardy for the older man to push his body any further. Cohtzen grew stronger after several days of rest but he would not return to his people at Kaichen’s side, Azin would not allow it.

  Azin did not like to remember the boy that had come to him broken and shattered by the cruel actions of his grandfather. Azin had known Narin from times long past. Yet, even he had difficultly believing that Narin had taken Siada’s life so cruelly.

  Cohtzen had been changed by the death of Narin, even though he had killed the man to prevent him from harming Kaichen. From times long lasting until now it was believed that if you took a life, you lost a part of yourself, never to be returned. How much had Cohtzen lost with the death of Narin?

  The time had come for Kaichen to return to his own people. Azin had taught the young man everything that he could and the only thing that he did not teach him was how to walk as his father had walked. Kaichen refused to practice the dance as given to him by his father. Though Azin assured him that it was his birthright and his heritage, Kaichen would not be moved and he refused to try.

  The wound left behind by the loss of his father was too painful to touch. Over time, Kaichen had allowed the invisible wound to fester and swell. At times, he did not wish to remember his father and at other times he was almost certain that Shale walked with him, right by his side.

  “Your father would have danced in victory for his people.” Azin’s words stopped Kaichen as he started to walk away.

  “Do not speak of my father.” Kaichen spoke in a voice filled with command.

  Despite his disrespectful outburst Azin remained silent and watchful. Azin’s silence shamed him more than a carefully crafted response.

  Kaichen expected the older man to exact some form of punishment or speak harshly in his anger. But Azin did nothing. He simply stared at him as if he had learned a secret thing about Kaichen. Suddenly, Kaichen felt young, open and exposed.

  Azin could not force the dance out of Kaichen and he knew better than to call the young man’s loyalty into question. He could only hope that one day Kaichen would try to become all that lived inside of him. If he did not walk upon the path set before him then all was lost.

  “Do you know the four elements?” Azin asked the question in a teacher’s voice long after the day when Kaichen had refused to dance.

  Azin spoke in the way of his people from times long lasting until now. The old taught the young and aided them into adulthood. Azin knew that he was especially blessed to be chosen to help Kaichen.

  “Fire, air, water and the land of our birth.” Kaichen’s voice was firm and confidant. He had been taught by Azin since he first came to hi
m so many seasons ago. The way that the man taught was familiar to him and as comfortable as breathing.

  “Which of these elements is the greatest?” Azin’s question caused Kaichen to raise his eyebrows and narrow his eyes.

  Never before had Azin asked such a thing and Kaichen did not rush his response. Instead, he closed his eyes and studied the question from all of the various angles. He found that each answer that he came up with could be dismissed by the other.

  Kaichen studied Azin’s eyes. Azin gave nothing away and it was in this way that Kaichen knew that he was being tested.

  “Each element exists in balance with the others.” Kaichen gave his answer after much thought and Azin’s eyes widened slightly before he nodded.

  “My grandfather asked me that question when I had completed my training as medicine man for our band. I gave him the wrong answer.” Azin allowed his words to ring in the silence of the morning for a long time.

  Kaichen did not interrupt with words or unnecessary speech. Long ago, Azin had helped him to understand the value of silence. Kaichen knew that a strong warrior and able hunter valued silence. The absence of speech often communicated far more than mere words could contain.

  “You have learned all that I am able to teach you.” Azin’s spoke with carefully concealed disappointment. He knew that this day would come, but it seemed as if the seasons fell through his fingers like sand, disappearing too quickly.

  Kaichen was ready to return to his first village. Azin no longer had a reason to keep Kaichen at his side. The young man seemed to sense that Azin had released him from further instruction for the day. Kaichen stood and bowed his head respectfully before he took his leave. He had promised to hunt for food tomorrow, so that he could add to their food stores. Kaichen would not benefit from food left behind, but he wanted to ensure that Azin was not left in need. Azin watched the young man until he faded from sight.

  “How far do you wish to travel in search of the herd of buffalo?” Antuk asked his question without any show of concern. Kaichen knew that his friend enjoyed the wide open spaces, as much as he did. As long as their supply of food and water held, they would continue to follow the animal tracks that led them.