The Raven's Trail (Book 1)

by Liz D. Marx

  “What did you say?”

  “Nothing, I’m getting you out, hang in there.”

  “No!” Chloe shouted back.

  No?

  “You have to come down here, Mason. It’s stunning!”

  It truly was. The hole turned out to be a long water toboggan that led deep into the mountain and landed in a large hot pool the size of a football field.

  The water felt milky and warm. He was expecting a heavy smell of rotten eggs, like every other area in the world where hot pools are found, but instead pleasant aromas of fresh grass and several different flowers wafted into his nostrils. The cave was made of spectacular formations that looked like marble curtains that cascaded down the walls and passages. Sunbeams reflected on the pool’s waters, producing an amazing spectacle of light and shadows. Several springs of all sizes fed its waters.

  Mason swam to the edge and got out of the small pond. The ground was inexplicably soft, with several cones of limestone covered in green, red and orange moss.

  Chloe stood by the opposite edge, completely in awe. “Look!” Chloe exclaimed with a broad smile.

  The steam made it hard to see at first, but once his eyes adjusted, Mason caught sight of what she was pointing at―an array of colorful rainbows that crisscrossed the tall ceiling.

  The cave was truly amazing. “Now I get it why the elders dubbed this the Valley of Peace,” Mason murmured to himself.

  “We found it, Mason,” Chloe beamed from the other side of the pond. “We found Mantaka!”

  Yes, they had found it indeed.

  “Did you know that even enemies forgot their quarrels and sat in harmony here?” Chloe said as she explored her side of the cave.

  A few birds flew past and disappeared through an arch to the left. Mason followed them to the threshold.

  “There must be other chambers.” Mason’s voice echoed in the hollow cavity. It was dark, but there was light seeping through the end of the tunnel. “I’m going to check it out.”

  He was right; the cave was made of several connecting chambers. “Oh, Chloe, you’ve got to see this.”

  But Chloe didn’t reply.

  Oh, not again.

  Mason rushed back, images of Chloe falling into another hole flooded his worried mind. But he froze as soon as his feet stepped into the main cave.

  Chloe stood by the widest of the waterfalls. Her eyes were closed, chin lifted toward the ceiling, the Binding Stone in her hands, seeping colors left and right. But what took Mason’s breath away was Chloe herself―she was beaming, and not in the figurative way. A cloud of light radiated out and around her whole body. Her aura was as visible as the waterfall itself, with several shades of pink, blue and yellow dancing around her.

  Chloe met his gaze. Her emerald eyes had switched to chocolate. Her lashes elongated, her complexion fluctuated between pearl and copper.

  “Go, Mason,” she whispered. “I’ll wait for you here.” Peacefulness surrounded her beautiful features.

  Mason’s jaw dropped to the ground as he realized his gut feeling was right.

  It is true. Adsila has found me.

  At that moment, he made up his mind. It was time.

  He took a deep breath and walked to where Chloe stood. “Chloe, there’s something I need to tell you.”

  She nodded and turned to face him. “Yes?”

  Right, this was it. He had her attention; they were in the perfect place for him to tell her the whole truth. She needed to know. He owed it to this amazing woman who had given him so much in such a short time, who had given him the courage to face his shame. The only problem was his mouth had gone completely dry.

  “Mason, it’s alright,” Chloe said softly, closing the gap between them. She cupped his face with her hands. “Whatever it is you need to tell me, I won’t―”

  She paused, startled. Her peaceful aura vanished and was replaced by pure terror. Her eyes were on his, as if his irises were a screen showing a horror movie.

  “Chloe?” Mason yelped and covered her small hands with his, but she pulled away as if he carried a deadly disease.

  “Chloe, what’s happening? Talk to me!”

  In complete despair, Mason watched his love clasp her chest with both hands and bend over in pain. “No!”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chloe closed her eyes and braced herself, as a rush of despair engulfed her.

  No, no! Please…

  When they first found the cave, as soon as she fell into the warm lake, she had felt Mantaka’s power and an impossible connection to something much bigger than her. It was all so majestic and humbling at the same time―the several waterfalls, the hundreds of rainbows crisscrossing the tall concave ceiling, the streams of colors waltzing in the air.

  Then, she touched Mason and saw his soul, and was instantly overwhelmed by darkness and grief.

  With an unbearable ache that started in her heart and shook her to the core, Chloe bent down, her hands gripping her chest, trying to make the pain go away. She heard a faint noise of someone screaming and realized it was her own cries that echoed in the vast cave.

  The darkness was consuming her; it ran through her veins, her limbs, her soul, like a river whose dam had been cracked open. Her knees buckled, robbed of any ounce of strength. Unable to keep herself upright any longer, Chloe fell heavily to the ground.

  She felt cold hands touch her, trying to bring her back up, but she slapped them away―the pain was too great for her small body to fight against. But the hands were insistent, and Chloe felt herself being pulled up and leaned against strong muscles. With glazed eyes, she stared at the cave’s ceiling.

  The darkness slowly receded into a starry sky and the natural pool morphed into a layer of brown dirt on the ground. Chloe looked around and realized she was no longer in the cave―she was on the edge of an open field surrounded by tall, cone-shaped huts made of layers of long grass.

  A large bonfire lit the small village. Women, men and children were out and about finishing their chores for the day―tucking the kids in, hanging the freshly woven baskets or feeding the horses. The scent of fresh food and recently cut wood permeated the cool air.

  Chloe looked down to find chocolate hands holding the magical stone, but it was larger than the one she had found at The Smithsonian. This one had two triangular parts attached together in an intricate design.

  She ran to a nearby pot of still water and looked at her reflection. Large brown eyes stared back at her and long black braids fell over the front of her lean body, covered by a simple dress made of deer skin and a thick leather poncho.

  “Be careful, Adsila!” a short woman shouted. “This water is for the baby,” she barked, taking the pot away from Chloe’s hands.

  “Adsila?”

  Utterly confused, Chloe gawked at the older lady and everything else around her.

  It couldn’t be! She was at the tribe in her dreams, but she didn’t remember falling asleep.

  A thunderous sound demanded her attention. It also made several tribesmen stop whatever they were doing. At first, Chloe couldn’t distinguish what it was or where it was coming from, but she finally saw them. From the depths of the dark forest, hundreds of armed men on horses galloped toward the village. They wore navy jackets, sky-blue trousers and black boots. Chloe recognized them at once―this was the white men’s army.

  Without any warning, the soldiers opened fire on her tribe. They burned the huts and slaughtered men, women and children―anyone who dared cross their way. Chaos ensued in the village.

  Caught completely by surprise, the tribesmen had no chance of fighting back. The few who managed to arm themselves found that their heavy machetes were no match for the white men’s powder guns and long swords.

  Like everybody else, Chloe ran for her life but didn’t get far. Large hands gripped her braids and dragged her down. On the impact, the stone totem flew out of her hand and the two segments scattered apart on the dirt floor. The metallic taste of blood flooded her m
outh when her face hit the ground. Chloe ignored the blinding pain and tried to crawl away from her captor when something hit her hard, knocking the air from her lungs.

  Before long, she found herself on her back, pinned down on the floor by heavy hands. Wild blue eyes stared back at her. The man who owned them was heavily built with wide shoulders and a blond goatee covered his hard jaw. His black felt hat fell off his head, revealing a thick blond mane that was cut very short. The dual silver bars on his shoulders revealed he was the captain of the blood-seeking battalion, but the double breasted coat he wore had seen better days.

  “We gonna ‘ave some fun togetha, love.” His putrid breath stunk of death and stale beer.

  Bile rose to Chloe’s mouth and she gagged reflexively.

  “Don’t ya throw up now, sweet‘art.”

  Despair swallowed her up as she felt his callused hand lift her dress up and reach between her legs.

  “Help!” she screamed while struggling to free herself, but the man had put all his weight on her, making it impossible for her to breathe, let alone flee.

  The more she cried, the more he laughed, consumed by lust and madness.

  She couldn’t believe this was happening. Why were the gods punishing them?

  Her father had promised the gods would protect them, so why did they allow this massacre to happen? The anguish that threatened to consume her will to live was too great.

  “Don’t give up!” someone screamed inside her head.

  Desperate for a way out, she searched the dirt for something, anything that could save her.

  Her small hand scraped a solid object, triangular in shape―one of the segments of her Binding Stone.

  Chloe didn’t think twice. Locking it in a firm grip, she said a short prayer to Dai-mo and thrust it into her attacker’s exposed throat, as hard as she could. The tip of the stone broke off with the impact and blood poured out of the large wound.

  It worked.

  The captain rolled off of her, his dirty hands clasping the overflowing cut in an attempt to stop the loss of blood.

  But Chloe didn’t care if he succeeded or not, she didn’t waste a second.

  Fighting back tears, she jumped on her feet and ran as fast as her legs could go, as far away from that horrible nightmare as possible. She fled straight to the hills where she knew the trees, the daughters of Elo-hi, would protect her.

  Heaving deeply, she stopped for a moment to catch her breath and turned around for the first time.

  The sight of her tribe in flames down in the valley below crushed her heart. Tears streamed down her face.

  Why? Oh, mighty Dai-mo, what had they done to deserve this?

  Movement by one of the short bushes near her made her jump.

  Chloe crouched low, hoping to be veiled by the darkness from the enemy that lurked in the shadows. It took a few seconds for her eyes to identify who the muscular man was.

  Kaye, the love of her life, was crouched on his heels, his hands covering his face.

  “Kaye!” Chloe ran to his side. “Are you hurt?”

  His glazed eyes barely acknowledged her. “This is all my fault,” he mumbled between sobs.

  “No, Kaye, you shouldn’t blame yourself,” Chloe said softly, enveloping him in her arms. Her own tears streamed down her scratched cheeks. “You tried to save us. You warned the Shaman about this and he ignored you. He banned you.”

  “No, it was me, Sila. I killed our tribe,” he replied.

  Chloe opened her mouth to ask what he was talking about, but her body was shaken hard as if an earthquake was taking place.

  Horrified by the thought of yet another attack, she tried to hold on to Kaye but her hand went right through his body, as if he were a ghost.

  “No! Kaye, come back!” she cried out.

  “Chloe!” Kaye’s thick lips called her name. Suddenly, his long dark hair shrank into a short-cut style, the deer-skin poncho he was wearing turned into a cotton T-shirt and a black leather jacket. “Chloe, wake up! Please!”

  She blinked a few times and found herself once again on the moss-covered floor inside the cave, cradled by Mason’s strong arms.

  “Oh, thank Dai-mo,” Mason mumbled under his breath, holding her tight. “I thought I had lost you.”

  Chloe sunk into Mason’s warm body, trying to shake away the images of the awful dream. “What happened?”

  “I have no idea,” Mason answered and kissed her forehead. “One minute you were fine, the next you were screaming in pain. All I could do was hold you tight.”

  Chloe then realized that she hadn’t fallen asleep; she had fallen into a trance. How that had happened, she had no idea, but one thing was as clear as the waterfall feeding the pond beside them: it hadn’t been just another dream. The attack, the massacre, the burning, the deaths had really happened.

  Mason took her chin between his thumb and index finger and lifted her lips to his. Large brown eyes met Chloe’s, full of sorrow and regret. Instead of comfort, they only brought revulsion to her heart.

  Ice settled in the pit of her stomach as she finally understood the vision, her dreams and her strange connection with the man before her. The past forty-eight hours came crashing down on her like an avalanche on a thatched hut―her invisible friend, Lady, standing next to Mason at the Hot Springs Mountain Tower, the feeling of having met him before, her compulsive need to be with him, the black and white photo at the Indian Museum―everything suddenly made sense now.

  “Oh my gosh, you were there,” she whispered in horror. “You’re Prince Kaye.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Mason was at a loss for words. The relief he had felt when Chloe came to quickly turned into utter shock when she spoke his real name.

  The moment she collapsed on the floor screaming in pain, he knew they were in big trouble, but all he could do was hold her tight and keep her warm.

  He remembered feeling this helpless only once in his centuries-long life, when he watched his tribe burn to the ground. For the first time in years, Mason had found himself praying for his gods again―to save her; to help her get through that weird trance she fell under. And now, with Chloe standing safely in front of him, he would give anything to erase that look of horror on her beautiful face.

  He knew exactly what it would take, though.

  Mason drew in a deep breath and motioned for her to sit on a nearby rock. Chloe narrowed her eyes at him. He hated seeing how suspicious she had suddenly become of him. The fantastic night they’d spent together had been completely forgotten and disregarded.

  Yes, it was time to tell her the truth.

  After a moment of hesitation, she complied―chin lifted, spine stiff as a rod. Mason sat opposite her, cross-legged on the ground, but it was no use―his emotions were riding too high on his nerves, so he stood back up. If he were going to see this through, he would need space.

  “We were the best warriors in our world,” he started. “And for that, the safe keeping of Mantaka was laid upon us. We had sworn to protect the Sacred Mountain and the Valley of Vapors. For centuries, no one dared to defy us, but then gold was found in Uka-had―I mean, Georgia. In no time, the white people invaded our neighbors’ lands and in less than a decade they started showing up in the Valley of Vapors.”

  Mason looked away and focused on a small pebble on the moss-covered ground. Gods, this was hard, but Chloe deserved to know the truth.

  “So after a long night of rituals and consulting with the gods, my tribe’s elders decided to move deeper into the Valley of Vapors in order to better protect the Sacred Mountain. I was just a kid, barely walking, but I remember the long days of travel. My forefathers set the new village just a few miles from here, concealed by the deep forest. Then the grand Chenesi and his apprentices cast a powerful spell that hid the entrance to this mountain, and vowed to never reveal it to anyone but the next generation of chenesis. They swore to guard the secret with their own blood if necessary. Years went by and I grew up training to become th
e next shaman. My father was a very…arresting man.”

  “You resented him.”

  Mason was surprised by Chloe’s comment, by how accurate it was. “We had our differences,” he replied, not wanting to open the wound any more than he had to. “We received occasional news through travelers about how some of the other tribes had sold their lands to the white people’s government and how a new treaty was being forged, but my father didn’t waste any sleep over them.”

  “He truly believed no one would be able to touch you,” Chloe said, as if reading his mind.

  Mason nodded in agreement, then added, “But the world was changing. The white people were spreading out like weeds, and they had weapons that could kill a full-grown buffalo from far away. Our tribe was already dwindling. The new location wasn’t good for the crops and animals to hunt were growing scarce. Nonetheless, the elders were still in denial. They thought we would never be found out, while some younger leaders, like myself, were terrified and, at the same time, mesmerized by those smelly people with pale skin.” Mason emphasized those last words, remembering his own first impression of the newly arrived Europeans. He closed his eyes, trying to suppress the painful memories that had haunted him for so long.

  Chloe’s soft touch over his clenched fists startled him, wrenching him from his dark recollections. He opened his eyes and saw sincere sympathy staring back at him.

  “Please, go on,” Chloe requested softly.

  That gave him the fuel to continue.

  “The Choctaws were the first to succumb and were removed from their land. After them, all the other surrounding tribes of the southeast were expelled to the west. Bit by bit, the land that had been rightfully ours, that we had fought so hard to conquer and protect, was taken away.”

  “The famous Trail of Tears,” Chloe murmured, using the infamous title given to that horrific political campaign. “Many Native Americans suffered from disease and starvation on their way to the reserve.” Her voice carried the weight of the role her own people played in that dark moment of history.

  A spark of hope grew inside Mason’s chest.