The Secret of Namana (The Arnaka Saga Book 2)

by Lucia Ashta

  There was something extraordinary about these two people that shared the car with him. He didn’t know exactly what it was, but had they told him they were beloveds incarnated time and again to fulfill a divine destiny that filled the earth with light and changed the world, he would have known that was it.

  But he didn’t know that yet. What he did know was that this man and woman were important to the world, and Great Spirit had led him to them. He would do whatever it took to help them fulfill their divine purpose. And in that way he would also further fulfill his.

  “Marco is right,” Sitting Bear said. “What is most important is focusing on who you are and what you are here to do.

  “But it couldn’t hurt to speak with the man who intercepted your attacker. He may have seen something, or he may know something helpful. Do you know him?”

  “Yes, I do know him,” Elena said to the window. Her breath fogged the glass. “He came to our campsite—the one where we first saw you—and I spoke with him one night while Marco slept. I know little about him other than that he seems like a good person. He wanted to help us.”

  “Let’s find him tomorrow morning, after we rest,” Marco said.

  “If he wants us to find him,” Elena added. She remembered how elusive Willem had been. He had just walked off into the night. He was mysterious, a man of his own ways, just as Sitting Bear was. She doubted she and Marco would be able to locate Sitting Bear if he didn’t want to be found. She didn’t think Willem was any different.

  When they parked in the hidden alleyway Sitting Bear had shown them the day before, they could see the pyramid, but they were too weary to hike the distance to it. It had been a long day and a still longer night, and they came down from the adrenaline surge that pumped through them during the attack while still at the police station. They longed for restful sleep.

  Even so, Marco and Sitting Bear took turns keeping a lookout while Elena slept. She was too tired and overwhelmed by everything to be a helpful hand in their defense. The men organized their rotations of watch and sleep with efficiency, and Elena decided they were better at it than she was anyway.

  Sitting Bear built a healthy fire, and he took the first watch. Marco unzipped his sleeping bag from Elena’s so he wouldn’t disturb her when he got up to relieve Sitting Bear, but he lay it down close to hers afterward. If Elena wanted to reach out and touch him in the night, she still could.

  She smiled at Marco’s thoughtfulness. They hadn’t had as much time alone as they did in Sedona, and the intimacy they were able to share was limited. Marco facilitated their closeness in little ways such as this, and it made all the difference to Elena.

  Realizing she was under careful watch, and feeling the love for Marco in her heart, she fell asleep for the second time that night. This time, she wouldn’t wake until the sun broke the top of the pyramid. When her eyelids flickered open, Marco smiled back at her with bleary eyes. He had been up since before dawn, giving Sitting Bear the opportunity to rest. But Marco looked happy. He had a divine purpose, and he fulfilled it with small steps at every opportunity.

  “What was that?” Sitting Bear reeled around to look behind him in an uncommon display of discordant movement.

  “That was Willem,” Elena said.

  “What?” Sitting Bear asked, now more confused than before. What did she mean that was Willem? Could Willem somehow be a wall of energy?

  Elena laughed. She couldn’t help herself. Her answer was confusing if you didn’t know what she was talking about. But it was mostly confusing because Sitting Bear considered the infinite possibilities, and that was exciting to Elena. She and Marco were keeping good company. Being open to unimaginable possibilities was a key prerequisite to allowing them into your life.

  “What I meant was that Willem set up the layer of protection you just walked through. He did it the night I met him. He said demons were watching us, and he put up this protective bubble of light around the campsite for us.

  “But then we met you, and we haven’t been back here to sleep since. Willem may have come back here looking for us.”

  “Did you notice what kind of car he was driving?” Sitting Bear asked.

  Elena shook her head, No. “He didn’t have a car as far as I could tell. He didn’t have anything with him. He walked off into the desert until I couldn’t see him anymore.”

  Sitting Bear raised peppered eyebrows. This was uncommon behavior for this time and place.

  “In fact, he acted a lot like you did the first time we saw you. Willem is a man of mystery, just like you are.”

  Now it was Sitting Bear’s turn to laugh. He had never been called a man of mystery before. Elena was surprised by the lightheartedness of his laughter, and even Marco looked up from his inspection of their tent to watch the big man throw his head back and cackle.

  Willem was not conveniently waiting for them at the campsite. Elena had no idea where else he could be. He had somehow found them all the way over by the pyramid, miles away from here where she first met him. Now, he could be almost anywhere.

  “As a fellow man of mystery, do you have any idea where Willem may have gone?” Elena asked Sitting Bear.

  Sitting Bear considered Elena’s question in earnest. He looked all around him, as if he were studying the land and the winds. He closed his eyes in concentration, the better to sense any changes around him. But in the end, Sitting Bear echoed Elena’s thoughts.

  “No, I don’t. He could have gone anywhere.” That was one of the things he loved the most about his nomadic lifestyle. He could always choose to leave or to stay. On any given day, he could be almost anywhere.

  If this was the way Willem also lived, then Sitting Bear admired and understood the man’s freedom. This freedom meant the world to Sitting Bear, and he would do everything he could to preserve it.

  “The only thing we can do is wait for him to find us. If he wants to find us, he will, and based on the way he acted last night, I think our chances are good.”

  Marco walked over to Elena and draped his arm over her shoulder. He turned his face toward hers.

  “You could call to him. If he is capable of creating this,” Marco gestured with his other hand to the protective bubble that surrounded them, “he may be able to hear you.”

  “You’re right!” Why hadn’t she thought of that?

  Sitting Bear studied his newfound companions. He wasn’t accustomed to people speaking and acting this way anymore. When his father died, he lost the one person in his life that interacted with the world with an awareness of the invisible realm.

  Most people attributed anything they could not explain away with their rational minds to God. But they never assigned any power to themselves. They did not realize how incredibly connected they could be to the All of Everything. Even among the people of his tribe, the ordinary had replaced their extraordinary understandings, until few who believed in the magic of the world remained.

  Now, most attributed the inexplicable instead to something outside of themselves that they could not control. They relegated their hopes to prayers for divine intervention without realizing they carried a spark of the Divine inside them. They held divinity within.

  Elena and Marco’s conversation was refreshing. Sitting Bear stood taller than he had in some time. Operating within notions of infinite possibilities was the true way of the emancipated. The secret to freedom lay within a person, not with his external circumstances.

  The wind whipped up in a gentle breeze, and the scent of sage bushes and juniper trees filled the air. Sitting Bear breathed in deeply, expanding both his lungs and his spirit, and he had a flash of memory from another time. He saw himself standing in this very spot in the body of Thunder Gods. Sitting Bear looked over at Elena and Marco, and he could have sworn it was Sky Elk and Swift Horse he saw embrace just then.

  28 Natural Counterparts

  Although accustomed to waking with the sun’s first light, they slept in this morning. By the time they found a place that felt s
afe to rest last night, it was late, and then they waited for calm to settle within their hearts before sleep could claim them once more. The attack on Master Kaanra made them all uncomfortable. If Thom had reached Kaanra a moment later, or if things had gone just a little differently, the gentle master might not be with them any longer.

  That thought bothered all of them, except for Kaanra. He made his peace with death a long time ago, and the threat of it no longer bothered him. Now that he had completed the one thing that only he could accomplish—leading the twins and Thom to the tree that housed the doman—he felt complete. He could leave this incarnation without regrets when it was his time.

  Still, Kaanra was grateful his life had been spared. He could still help the twins and Thom, and what they were trying to accomplish was too important for him to go unnecessarily. Especially now that they had discovered who was pursuing them, Kaanra could help since they needed to move faster and more carefully than ever. Brazzon was no amateur.

  Even I grew up hearing the legends of Brazzon as a child, Kaanra told Ashta, Anak, and Thom.

  They sat in a half circle in front of Kaanra, who leaned against the trunk of another magnificent tree, extending his legs out in front of him in an unusual display of relaxed comfort. Ashta eyed him in the rising sun. She had never seen Kaanra like this before. For as long as she had known him, he was always composed, dignified, and elegant in his postures. Today, he let go.

  Kaanra looked into the sun as it broke free of the horizon’s hold. He smiled. Wisps of hair that had broken free from his usually tight braid rustled in the soft breeze, and the gold chain that held his master pendant sparkled as it caught the light. Ashta smiled. She liked this version of the master. She felt as if she were able to peer into his private world right now, his guard down. She liked it very much.

  It is possible that he is hundreds of years old, Kaanra finally continued, with a buoyant tone of voice that was contrary to the topic of conversation. Of course he recognized how dangerous Brazzon could be. But life appeared idyllic here, nestled in the forest. Fairies flitted in and out of the soft, early morning light, playing in the young shadows. Leaves rustled in accompaniment to the birds’ songs. It seemed as if nothing could interfere with the peace in his heart.

  Once a human being makes the choice to give his soul to darkness, his soul is sucked into the depths of the dark world. This is allowed under universal law because the person made the choice of his own free will.

  All human beings are born from light, and, for that reason, there is light within every person. But when a human soul has been in darkness for too long, there is little light left within it. That is why, with people like Brazzon, that light is very hard to find. He may be one of those few who are too far gone.

  Kaanra paused.

  I have been wondering if Brazzon is still human. I discovered an ancient text within the abandoned portion of the temple library. It had been written long ago in a language I had never seen before. But this book had drawings, and the drawings showed a man becoming so dark that the soul left his body.

  An unwelcome shiver ran down Ashta’s body. It seemed out of place in this pastoral setting, and she shook it off immediately. She had never imagined the possibility of a person becoming so dark that he would no longer have a soul. The thought was heavy with foreboding because Ashta accepted what Kaanra said as true. It resonated throughout her body in the way things did when they were right.

  She had learned to accept darkness as a natural counterpart of light that allowed the soul to evolve through autonomous choice. Love was the only viable option in dealing with darkness. It was only through love that darkness gave way to the light. To confront darkness with fear only gave that darkness more power. But to view darkness with understanding, acceptance, and love was incredibly freeing, and it gave this human experience greater depth and meaning.

  Ashta felt heavyhearted for this man, Brazzon. How sad for him that he should have incarnated on this planet with the possibility of experiencing so much beauty and love, only to forgo it all. Ashta could imagine nothing more terrible than losing your soul to the darkness, forgetting its origin in light.

  Brazzon gave his soul out of a desire for power. That is how it almost always was. The dark side tempted people with promises of power and riches, only for the person to realize too late that the light of the soul was far more valuable than any such things.

  Ashta felt such compassion for Brazzon, this soulless man who lived past most human lifetimes as a prisoner in his own body, that she did not think. Right then, she sent out a wave of love to him from her heart. She wished he could somehow find a way to return to the light and to remember his true essence. The light glowed as Ashta streamed it to Brazzon.

  Thom saw it first. He gasped. This time, he did not react to the beauty of what Ashta was sharing with the world. Instead, he readied them to move. Ashta transmitted a ray of light that emanated from her heart and arrived impeccably at its intended recipient.

  The dark raven flew a wide circle around the forest, searching for any sign of where his prey might be. Ashta provided just the evidence he was looking for. Though her intentions were pure, she unthinkingly targeted the group of light warriors.

  Kaanra looked to Thom.

  You are right, Thom. We must leave immediately. You still carry the doman? Kaanra asked Thom.

  Thom nodded. He did, and he was already getting to his feet. Within instants, they were all in motion, heading deeper into the forest, with the sole goal of putting distance between them and the beam of light Ashta had let out, announcing their location.

  The raven turned in mid-flight, adjusted his course, and flew straight toward the source of the light. The light warriors picked up the pace, and even old Kaanra found dormant strength and agility as they ran into the dense trees.

  -----

  Marco and Sitting Bear gave Elena space. They wandered off in different directions, further into the nothingness of desert that surrounded them on all sides, with no real direction other than away from the campsite. But they did not go so far as to be unable to protect Elena. Marco and Sitting Bear kept a watchful eye on her, even at a distance. They would not take any chances after the attack of the previous night.

  Elena sat, her legs crossed in front of her with her hands loosely on her knees. She stared off into the endless desert that opened up before her until her eyes began to blur, and she no longer saw anything at all. Then, she closed her eyes.

  Her intention was to call out to Willem, to tell him she wanted to speak with him, but once she closed her eyes, her intentions dissolved. Something else, something much greater than her, pulled her in that now-familiar way.

  Elena no longer resisted the lure to another time, to another life. Instead, she took the leap within her mind that merged her with Ashta—although she had begun to wonder lately whether she and Ashta were ever truly apart. It seemed that in the blink of an eye, in the flutter of a thought, Elena could see what Ashta was doing.

  But it was more than that. It was not just that Elena could see what Ashta was doing, it was that she could feel Ashta, as if she herself were breathing air into Ashta’s body. When Ashta spoke, it was as if Elena let the words blossom from her lips. When Ashta moved, it was as if Elena extended her limbs with grace and strength. When Ashta and Anak made love, it was as if Elena were a part of the powerful energy the golden twins of prophecy both simultaneously shared and created.

  The connection between her and Ashta was transforming, becoming something greater than it had been before. Elena didn’t understand exactly what was happening or how important this nexus would soon prove to be. She didn’t realize it was this very link that she had at first resisted, but she now nurtured, that held the power to do the incredible, that which not even she had imagined possible.

  Elena held her breath without realizing. Ashta and her companions were on the run. The dark raven was after them. It was crucial that they escape. The fate of the planet rested on the lig
ht held within the treasure Thom pressed against his heart while he ran, trying to keep it from bouncing with his gait.

  The beating of Elena’s heart accelerated as it paired to the rhythm of Ashta’s heart. Run faster, Elena thought, and then it was her own feet that pounded against the forest floor, her own breath that grew heavy. She followed Thom and Anak, with Kaanra close behind her. Run! Run, because the fate of the world depends on it.

  -----

  They ran, dodging tree roots and rocks, until Kaanra could no longer hold the pace. Thom corralled them quickly, signaling to them to stay quiet and follow him. They huddled within a grove of trees.

  Thom reached out and took the hands of Ashta and Anak who were on either side of him. Ashta and Anak held hands with Kaanra. Thom did this not because it was necessary for what he was going to do next, but because he enjoyed the closeness of his newfound spirit family. It was something he had never had before.

  Thom closed his eyes. The twins and Kaanra closed their eyes too in complete trust of Thom’s knowing. Kaanra focused on stilling his agitated breath. He had not run that much and that fast in longer than he could remember. He inhaled deeply, and he exhaled deeply, trying to calm the rapid rise and fall of his chest.

  Meanwhile, Ashta and Anak engulfed Thom in light. This would give him additional strength if he needed it, and it could magnify whatever he was doing. This time, Ashta was mindful to restrict the light so it would not extend upward or too far around Thom. She intended that it engulf him and stay within his energy field, and it did.

  Thom felt the light coming at him from both sides, but he did not open his eyes, and soon the smile faded from his face. Thom was focused. The woodland life responded to him eagerly.