The Last Sundancer

by Quinney, Karah

  “This is the reason that Antuk often cuts off his hair.” Kaichen did not have to look up to see Amara’s smile, her burst of startled laughter rang out in the silence. Amara threw her hands over her mouth, surprised over her outburst.

  Antuk studiously ignored them as he sought to convince the donkey to heed his commands. For a moment, all was well and the dark cloud that followed them had given way to the sun’s light.

  Chapter Seven

  Amara touched her bruised ribs gingerly and she grimaced at the dull ache. Kaichen had drawn the day’s journey to a stop far earlier than she expected. She hoped that he did not think she was too weak to continue. It was true that her thirst was great but her sides ached continuously.

  Riding upon the horse was both a blessing and a curse. Amara could not have made it this far without the animal’s help, but the constant rocking motion caused her to clench her teeth in agony.

  “I will make a fire.” Antuk seemed to enjoy the task of creating a fire each time they rested.

  Kaichen nodded though Amara noticed that he chose an area that would conceal them from sight. When Antuk gathered sticks, twigs and brush to burn, Kaichen was there to sort out anything that would cause dark smoke to burn.

  “I will search for water.” Kaichen spoke in Amara’s language and she glanced up at him. “I will make a strong brew to dull the pain in your ribs.”

  Amara did not deny that she was in pain. She knew that it was etched upon her face. She simply nodded and then glanced worriedly at Antuk.

  “He will be fine for awhile. If you sense danger, simply call out, I will not be far.” Kaichen rose and walked with silent steps until he was out of sight. Amara felt her face flame as she realized that Antuk had noticed her watching him.

  “You are a butterfly.” Antuk spoke his thoughts though Amara could not possibly understand him.

  She smiled in return to his words and hand gestures. She thought that perhaps he called her a bird or an owl. Antuk smiled with happiness as she nodded.

  Amara hoped that Kaichen would find water. She knew that he was concerned about the threat of pursuit and yet he left them to seek out the life sustaining liquid. His concern over their ability to survive another day without water was obviously greater than his concern for their safety.

  If the warrior that Kaichen had wounded was near Amara only hoped that he suffered from lack of water and food, just as they did. In truth, she hoped that the enemy warrior had already fallen never to rise again. Amara felt no shame over her desperate thoughts. The time for shame was long past. Now she looked to the future with only one hope in mind. Survival.

  “If you dance, then we will find water.” Antuk’s lips were cracked and dry, though he did not complain.

  “I will not dance.” Kaichen felt anger rise inside of him but he quickly tamped the emotion down. Antuk was his loyal friend and he did not know what he asked of Kaichen. Whenever Kaichen danced, memories of his father flooded through his mind, drowning out all thought.

  They had both given up on the small round stone that was used to pull moisture into the mouth and throat. Long ago, as boys they had learned how to find a perfectly round stone, small enough to roll upon the tongue and yet large enough to imitate a morsel of food. Such a stone was used to draw water into the mouth from cheeks that had gone dry and a tongue that lacked moisture. The tactic was used to stave off the first effects of overwhelming thirst.

  Sundancer. Kaichen felt a bitter smile bend his lips downward. Only after his father’s death had the sacred words been uttered amongst the people.

  While his father lived, he was simply called by the name given to him at birth, but later on, the people came to believe that Shale had been the first Sundancer born amongst them. Kaichen knew that his brother, Siada, had been the one that was most likely to follow in his father’s great footsteps.

  From the time Siada was a child until the day that his life was cruelly taken, he had been able to sense water deep underground. Power. Siada had touched that elusive force and Kaichen firmly believed that his brother would have walked as his father had walked.

  His head pounded just as it always did when he thought of Siada. The day of his brother’s death came to him in the night when he was sleeping only to leave him cold and shaking.

  He knew that the terrors of the night would act as his punishment for the rest of his life. Kaichen’s eyes narrowed in pain and remembered anguish. In truth, he felt that he deserved far worse than nights spent wracked by the agonizing memories of his brother’s last few days of life.

  “I am not the one that my people seek.” Kaichen spoke to Antuk firmly, though he hated to diminish the hope in his friend’s eyes.

  “Perhaps you could simply try.” Antuk’s suggestion was met with a disdainful frown.

  Kaichen refused to consider his friend’s suggestion. He noticed that Amara sat silently as if she did not wish to draw attention to herself.

  Kaichen felt the burden of responsibility that all but strangled him at times. He needed to survive and he needed to ensure that Antuk and Amara survived their journey.

  “I will seek water. Give me your waterskin.” Kaichen held out his hand to Antuk as he readily handed over his waterskin.

  “If you dance, the rains will come, all believe it except you.” Antuk shook his head sadly as Kaichen walked away.

  Amara stared after Kaichen without speaking. She could not understand their words, but their body language and gestures were now familiar to her.

  She knew that Antuk wanted Kaichen to do something for them, other than find water, but she could not imagine what that could be. She had never been so thirsty in her life and if not for the two men, she would have fallen where she stood long ago.

  It astounded her that Kaichen had the strength and will to walk off into the darkness in search of water. His formidable strength gave her hope, though she was afraid to let him see it.

  He had already provided meat and safety for her, he had already rescued her from a cruel fate. Did she now expect him to provide water when there was none? The intensity that burned in Kaichen’s eyes often hinted at gossamer shadows of power and mysteries too deep to understand. He called to her, as no one ever had before.

  She glanced over at Antuk. He moved through the motions of making a fire in his usual ritual and she saw that he would not notice if she stepped away. She would not go far. Antuk’s back was turned and he never lifted his head as she slowly backed away from their small shelter.

  Before long, her feet had carried her to higher ground, where she could sit closer to the heavens above. She glanced up at the luminaries and marveled at how close the sky appeared. It was almost as if she could reach up and pluck one of the bright shining lights from the heavens above.

  Amara felt an overwhelming sense of peace as the night sounds surrounded her. She looked up at a narrow bluff that beckoned to her. With a sigh, she gave in to the urge to climb high up above where the bird’s nested each night.

  Her hands held her weight as she created a path for herself. When she reached the top of the bluff, she realized that she had climbed much higher than she had anticipated. But her soul would not allow her to return to the safety of the ground. Up where it was high and calm, she felt truly free.

  In the stillness of the night, she heard the gentle call of the nighthawk. She listened to the resonant song of the night with every fiber of her being, taking in every sound. Amara pulled the sound to her with an urgency that surprised her. She kept her eyes closed as the music began to fill her, the same way that a clay jar is filled by a trickling stream.

  It swept her away so that momentarily there was no thirst or throbbing pain in her ribs, there were no bruises or scars at her wrists and ankles. She was simply an instrument of sound.

  Amara opened her eyes slightly, though they appeared to be mere slits against her face. She looked toward the canyon floor and caught sight of Kaichen bathed in moonlight.

  He walked carefully, with
the steps of a hunter. He sought water, with the intensity of a man dying of thirst and though she knew that he was unaware of her presence, she could not look away.

  Kaichen walked without the light of a torch. He had left Antuk and Amara behind with only a cursory glance at their surroundings. He called himself a fool several times for leaving without warning Antuk to remain watchful. They were all tired beyond measure and the never-ending thirst had begun to wreak havoc on their bodies.

  Already today, Antuk had run wildly toward what he thought was a fresh pool of glistening water. Kaichen had gone after his friend and he had felt the larger man tremble with fatigue as he sifted dry sand through his hands.

  There was no water to be found; Antuk simply suffered from a desert dream. Yet, having endured the visions wrought by the desert in the past, Kaichen understood that a person caught in the midst of a desert dream could see the water shimmering in the distance. They wanted nothing more than to bathe the dryness from their parched tongue and throat.

  The moon was almost full. Kaichen felt both relieved and deeply concerned. He had sworn that he would arrive at the village of his birth before the time of the harvest was complete.

  He could only hope that his search for water proved successful. He did not regret his decision to intervene and save Amara from her captors, nor did he regret their joining. However, he could admit that his need to be cautious had taken them off course and he was far from the path that he would have ordinarily taken to return to his village.

  Kaichen knew the land around him. He understood its intense natural beauty as well as the expectation of the unknown. His spirit was at ease when he stood alone with nothing but the wide domain of land and sky before him. This was the land of his birth.

  He would not die here. His hands clenched with determination as he stepped forward.

  The moon’s light appeared brighter and the landscape around him gathered together in shades of deepest black and palest gray. He caught the silvery gleam of leaves and he heard the sound of hunting coyotes as his steps took him farther away from their small shelter.

  He walked in an ever-widening circle and then he cast his steps outward and away in search of water. It was only as he stood still and breathed in the warm night air around him that he heard the first trilling notes of birdsong.

  As a hunter, Kaichen’s body was alert to any change in the world around him and his ears were attuned to even the smallest sound. Shards of moonlight lit the ground under his feet and his heartbeat slowed as he laid his spear upon the ground. His bow and arrow he cast aside and from the depths of a tortured soul he began the first steps of a dance that was older than time.

  The flow of the dance was older than memory and born of the stories of his father, whispered by his mother since the time of his birth until now. Kaichen did not have to plan the placement of his hands and the shifting of his feet. He knew the steps of the dance, his soul remembered and his spirit knew the path.

  He cast his thoughts and worries aside as he became the epitome of the dance. His palms faced the sky as he humbly requested water from the heavens, the sky, the luminaries and the moon.

  The steps of the dance offered renewed strengthen to his body, where before it had grown weak. The natural flow of movement gave vitality and force to each footstep and he pulled the dance of the hunter, warrior and cultivator of land together into one being, one single moment in time.

  With a sudden movement that was as natural as breathing, Kaichen threw his body into the air and whirled away into the night. For the first time in as long as he could remember, Kaichen felt unbound, unfettered and truly free.

  Kaichen did not know how long he knelt with his back bowed and his face to the ground. He was warmed by a pool of moonlight which encircled him completely. Time held no meaning.

  Though his body glistened with sweat, he no longer felt tired. He no longer felt lost, without hope and full of the never-ending guilt that constantly plagued him. His spirit felt renewed and he was filled with the knowledge that through the gift of the dance, passed down to him from his father, he could touch power, if only for a time.

  A rustling sound was Kaichen’s only warning that all was not as it should be.

  He was instantly alert and without thought, his hand clasped the hilt of his hunting knife. A woman’s scream warned him to brace for an attack. Amara.

  In the darkness, he could not see even a flash of movement. Kaichen’s well-honed instincts told him that the threat came from his left. He rolled swiftly, so that his body was sheathed in shadows.

  An arrow pierced the ground where he had been standing only moments before. He reacted instinctively, rolling farther into the brush. He knew that he had mistakenly left himself open to attack and now his weapons lay in the circle of light and he had only his hunter’s knife with which to defend himself.

  Cold shivers passed over his body as his enemy stepped into the moonlight.

  The man standing before him was the same warrior that had taken Amara from her people. The man’s words were foreign to his ears but Kaichen understood his intent, he was their enemy and he would not cease his pursuit until he had Amara back within his grasp.

  “I will have the woman, but first I will have your blood.” The raider known as Gazhin studied the darkness around him.

  In truth, he hesitated to kill the man that had taken the woman from him and killed his men. He had never seen anything like the movements made by the hunter that he sought to kill. Gazhin thought that the men that led his band would appreciate such a mesmerizing performance. The sight of the man dancing in the moonlight caused Gazhin to hesitate. He had been close enough to aim true and place a killing blow against his opponent.

  As it was, his thigh throbbed from his enemy’s well-sharpened arrowhead. His dark gods had been with him, of this he was certain. How else could he explain the numbness in his leg that allowed him to walk and even run when he caught sight of his prey?

  He was strong and fit. He was a leader amongst the warriors of his band and he would be given glory beyond his dreams by bringing the woman back with him. This was his duty to his leader. The men that led his band were said to be like gods themselves, given the gift of life and longevity. Soon that gift would belong to Gazhin.

  Gazhin searched the darkness for his prey. The man would have to move and when he did, Gazhin would strike. He stepped upon the man’s weapons and ground them into the dust.

  “I am Gazhin! I will find you and slay you where you stand!” Gazhin roared, enjoying the way that his voice echoed into the distance.

  He had determined that the large man that traveled with the hunter and the woman was not a threat. The man that he hunted now was his only true obstacle and the woman would be his. His leaders would have the woman as their prize and Gazhin would benefit from his act of loyalty.

  He knew that his opponent was weak from the lack of water. He was defenseless except for a hunting knife that he carried strapped to his waist. The balance of power had shifted to Gazhin and no one would stand in his way.

  Chapter Eight

  Kaichen remained still. The man walked a few feet away as he shouted and boasted of his success. Kaichen knew that this was a tactic to draw him out. He realized that he was being baited when he saw that his enemy held his bow and arrow ready to cast. The man’s stance was deceptively relaxed, but his voice was eager. He had already counted the battle won.

  Kaichen could only hope that the man would make a mistake. Amara’s scream had saved his life, of this he was certain. But he would not hand his life over to this warrior that strutted and shouted like a desert bird. Kaichen had not been trained in the warrior’s way by Azin, only to falter now.

  He kept his eyes averted from the man that hunted him. It was said that a true hunter of the desert plains and canyons could feel the stare of a frightened animal. Kaichen believed this to be true.

  How many times had he felt unseen eyes upon him before he spotted the animal that would come t
o the call of his spear or arrow? More times than he could count. Kaichen took quick glances at his opponent so that he did not lose sight of him, but he did not allow his eyes to linger.

  The man before him was a formidable enemy. His long black hair hung almost to his waist in a single tale brought forth by a patch of hair at the crown of his head. The rest of his head was shaved close to the scalp in a way that Kaichen had never seen before.

  The man’s ears were pierced through and large flat stones had been placed in both holes. His chest was bare and he wore a loincloth and knee high foot coverings. Kaichen knew at a glance that the man had returned to the place of ambush and retrieved his weapons. He would have also taken the waterskins of his fallen companions.

  They were thirsty beyond measure, but this man had benefited from the deaths of men that he called brothers. The danger of returning to the area where they had saved Amara was too great to risk. Yet, this man dared.

  Azin’s first rule of defeating the enemy came back to Kaichen.

  “Never leave your enemy alive. A vengeful enemy is worse than a grassland rattling snake when its resting place has been trampled upon.” Azin’s wise face came to mind for a moment and Kaichen reached for a sense of calm.

  He had not been given a choice in the matter of the warrior’s life or death. At the time, he had only considered saving Amara’s life and getting safely away.

  Only now as he faced his enemy anew did he realize that he should have found a way to track down the man that in turn hunted them. Amara had quietly told him that she would never be safe. He remembered her words clearly.

  “The warrior that you injured will not cease until he has kept his promise to his leader. He will find me, of this there is no doubt.” Such utterly desperate words from a woman with more courage than many could lay claim to in one lifetime.