The Gathering Read online

  “You have grown so much in strength and power,” Adam said. “You are becoming as powerful as the Windwalker.”

  Tears suddenly spiked her lashes but she blinked them away. Sometimes the burden of her existence was overwhelming.

  “Enough about me. Is there anything to eat?” she asked.

  “I heated up the rabbit stew,” Yuma said.

  “Did you eat?” she asked.

  “Yes, we ate. What’s left is yours. Eat it all. Soon we’ll have to find a place to ford this river or many will drown as we try to cross.”

  Adam frowned.

  “You forget. You have us now. We will find the safe crossing and won’t have to get our feet wet to do it.”

  “And we are so glad that you are here,” Tyhen said, and took the small cooking pot of stew Yuma handed her and sat down to eat as he and the twins walked away.

  Gecko slipped up beside her, handed her a spoon he’d made from a dry gourd many weeks ago, and then sat, intending to watch her eat.

  “Thank you, Gecko,” Tyhen said, and took a big bite of the stew.

  As she chewed, she scooped up a second bite and handed it to him. He popped the bite in his mouth and then handed back the spoon and so it went until the stew was gone. When she was finished, she leaned over and held out the spoon. He took it, then sat without moving.

  Tyhen could tell he wanted to talk but she had yet to hear his voice.

  “What is it, Gecko?”

  He fidgeted for a few moments and then stood abruptly. They were now so close Tyhen saw her reflection in his eyes.

  “My name is Dakotah,” he said, and then lifted his chin and walked away.

  Tyhen was so taken aback she didn’t know how to respond. Even though he was just a boy, she’d just seen the man he would become. She didn’t know what would happen in the years ahead, but there was a link between them that had yet to be named.

  ***

  The men were down at the river, staring at the dark moving water. Adam and Evan were side by side, quietly conversing, while Yuma stood behind them. It wasn’t the first time he was seeing differences between the twins, but they were much more noticeable now than when they’d left Naaki Chava.

  Adam used to be the one who stepped up first, the one who spoke first. Now Yuma was seeing a new side of Evan, but the most noticeable thing were the weapons. Before, they would never have considered being armed. They were nonviolent in every aspect of their lives, and the only power they wielded came in their psychic abilities. Now Evan had a big knife strapped to his leg and at any time would have a bow and a quiver of arrows on his back or be carrying a spear.

  Yuma glanced back at the camp. People were packing up and getting ready to leave.

  “So, what can you tell me?” Yuma asked,

  Adam pointed up river.

  “There is one place we can safely cross, but it’s a long walk upriver.”

  Evan pointed down river.

  “That way,” he said.

  Yuma eyed the confident expression on Evan’s face and then grinned.

  “Who are you, my brother? Not the same twin that I left back in Naaki Chava.”

  Evan shrugged. “I nearly died when the mountain blew fire. Tyhen saved my life. I had no memory for a while and who I am now is how I came back.”

  Adam grinned. “I’m still the smartest one.”

  “But I’m the strongest,” Evan said.

  Yuma grinned.

  “So, my brothers, just so you know, the Nantay brothers scouted the river about a mile in either direction yesterday and said it was too deep to cross. Is the crossing you see a safe one, Evan?”

  “There is a place. I will walk it and show you, then we’ll mark the boundaries,” Evan said.

  “I’ll tell Tyhen to get them started. You two will lead the way and we’ll mark the crossing after we get there.”

  “We need to get our packs,” Adam said, and started to walk away then stopped. “I don’t know exactly what it is yet, but there will be danger ahead for Tyhen. Someone wants her dead.”

  The hair crawled on the back of Yuma’s neck. Just because she couldn’t die, didn’t mean she couldn’t be hurt.

  “Is it someone at The Gathering?”

  “No. This person is what you would call a renegade. He is an outcast from his tribe.”

  “Is he alone?” Yuma asked.

  “He has men who follow him,” Evan said.

  Yuma sighed. They had already been that route when they ran into the warriors who had captured Little Mouse. They did not fare well with the Windwalker’s daughter and he had no doubt these would suffer a similar fate. The problem was how Tyhen had suffered afterward. She had been born to unite a nation, not bury its people, and yet when it came down to fulfilling her destiny there could be no mercy for those who got in her way.

  “I will talk to her. She needs to be aware,” Yuma said.

  The news was sobering.

  The twins went to get their packs.

  Yuma went to find Tyhen. When he got to their camp he saw that their tent was down and their packs ready to go, but she wasn’t there.

  Tyhen. We are ready to leave. Where are you?

  Stanley Bluejacket is dead.

  Yuma felt like he’d been sucker-punched. He’d been so sure the old man would make it all the way to the Gathering. He’d tried so hard to get there. This hurt his heart.

  What do we need to do?

  Oh Yuma, he asked to be left on the highest point of land.

  Yuma heard her pain.

  I will help you. Just tell me where you are.

  Only I can get him to the highest place. It won’t take long.

  Yuma waved the twins down.

  “Wait!” he yelled.

  They stopped, and when they turned around noticed the people were all looking in the other direction. They came running back.

  “What’s wrong?” Evan asked.

  “Stanley Bluejacket died. Tyhen just told me. She also said he wanted his body left on the highest point.”

  Adam frowned. “There are no high points on this prairie. Just rolling hills.

  Yuma pointed at the line of mountains far to the north just as a whirlwind came up over a ridge. It hovered among a group of people for a few seconds, and then it was gone.

  A drum beat broke the silence. The mournful, repetitive yi-yi-yi cry of singers picked up the drummer’s rhythm.

  The New Ones stared transfixed at the whirlwind as it went farther and farther away until it was completely out of sight, and all the while the voices rang out, singing to the Old Ones, letting them know Stanley Bluejacket was making his journey to the Great Spirit.

  ***

  Tyhen held Stanley within the eye of the whirlwind as if they were in an embrace. Even though the New Ones were far behind her, she heard the drums and the singers and knew the song was for him. Hot tears that she could not stop began rolling down her cheeks. She couldn’t remember when she’d last cried, but it had been pent up so long that it felt like she was drowning.

  Stanley’s small stature was not a burden to hold. His body had withered to little more than skin and bones from the arduous trek. His long gray braids brushed the backs of her hands and the deerskin jacket lined with rabbit fur his daughter had made to keep him warm had not held the magic to also keep him alive.

  Tyhen remembered him from when she’d played the New Ones’ game in Naaki Chava. He had been the man who stood behind home plate and called himself the umpire. She’d had no notion as a child that this end would come their way, but they were here and the mountains were there and they still had a ways to go.

  Stanley slipped a little bit in her arms and she shifted position for a better grip, as she did the sadness of this trip overwhelmed her. The farther they went, the harder she cried until sh
e was blind with tears and didn’t understand why. She’d lost other people she knew better and had not come undone like this. Maybe it was the suddenness of the discovery of his body, or maybe her endurance had reached some kind of limit.

  “I am sorry your people could not come, Stanley Bluejacket. I am sorry you will not see the Gathering. I know you wanted to rejoin your mother’s people, the Absaroka. I will tell them of your walk. I will tell them how far you came. I will tell them that you lived.”

  Stanley had no comment, but since she was fulfilling his final wish, his approval was understood.

  And so they flew until the blue mountain turned grey, and the black crevices and sun-kissed ridges came into view—closer yet until she could see the changing colors of the trees on the south side of the slope. She rode the whirlwind up to the snow-covered peak and when she began to come down, sent a blizzard of icy shards flying into the air. Moments later she was, for the first time in her life, standing in snow.

  She looked down and remembered a vision she’d had once back in Naaki Chava of wearing clothes like this and walking in snow, but she had not known that Stanley Bluejacket would be with her.

  She took a deep breath and then gasped as the cold air burned her lungs. Now it was time to make Stanley’s final wish come true.

  She looked at where she’d landed and then turned with Stanley’s body in her arms so they were facing the east and with a clear view vista before him.

  “Do you see this, Stanley? You are on the highest point. You are as close to the Great Spirit as a warrior can be.”

  Then she carried him a few yards forward to large boulder sticking out of the snow and laid him down upon the surface. The tears began to freeze on her cheeks as she straightened up his clothing, laid his braids down across his shoulders and then brushed the hair back away from his face.

  A few flakes of snow began to fall in Stanley’s eyes but he didn’t seem to mind. She reached down to close them and then stopped. If she closed them, he could not see, so she walked away, looking back at how far she’d come. This was the farthest she had been on her own. And except for an old man’s body, was as alone as she would ever be.

  Her heart started thumping and the urge to be gone was so strong she started shaking. She needed Yuma. She needed to see his face. No sooner had she thought his name than she heard his voice.

  Come back to me, Tyhen. Come back to me now.

  She lifted her arms above her head and began to chant, and as the wind began to turn, so did the snow. It turned with the wind until the peak was in a white-out and Tyhen was in the air.

  She looked back once.

  Stanley’s body was slowly being covered by the settling snow, but he was still on the rock and looking up.

  ***

  The drummer was still drumming. The high-pitched cry of the singers echoed the rhythm of Yuma’s heartbeat. He had watched the whirlwind until it was out of sight and he was still standing in the same place, waiting for her return. When his chest began growing tighter, he knew she was on her way.

  He couldn’t imagine what this had been like for her, holding that small withered body in her arms all that way alone. And he was only going to add to the emotional beginning to her day by having to warn her that sometime in the near future someone was going to try and kill her.

  ***

  Tyhen was high above the earth, cocooned within the spinning wind, when she heard the drumming and the singers. They were calling her to them, just as they’d sung Stanley Bluejacket home. She pushed the whirlwind to its limit, ready to be back among the living, and flew through the sky without hesitation until she could see the encampment. The drumbeat was loud in her ears. The singers’ cries were a balm to her aching heart. Yuma was somewhere nearby. She could feel him.

  She landed on the backside of the hill and paused a moment to wipe the tears from her face and straighten her clothing. It would not do for the Windwalker’s daughter to show emotional weakness. With that river yet to cross they were still not out of trouble.

  She looked up. The sky was clear and the sunshine was a welcome sight after the cold wind and storms of the day before. Still, there was no amount of sunshine that was going to make crossing a river of dangerously cold water a simple task.

  Her head was up and her stride was long as she came over the hill. The drumbeat stopped the moment the people saw her and the singers stopped with it. They acknowledged her presence with reverence, whispering softly to each other as she passed. She was searching the faces looking for Yuma when she heard his voice.

  I am here, on your left.

  She turned, walking blindly in that direction until he came into view and the moment they were face to face, he wrapped his arms around her.

  “You did a wonderful thing,” he said softly as she went limp against him.

  For a few precious seconds Tyhen pretended she was just a woman being held by the man she loved. She hugged him back and then kissed him quickly before letting go. By the time she looked up to face him again, she had all of her emotions under control.

  “Do we have a safe place to cross the river?” she asked.

  Yuma held out his hand and she took it.

  “Evan says yes. Tell everyone to follow the twins.”

  She nodded, and with the innate power of her voice let the wind carry her words and gave the order that all could hear.

  “For those who do not yet know, my brothers Adam and Evan joined us last night. We are most fortunate now to have Chief Cayetano’s two wisest shamans to guide us the rest of the way. We will leave now. Follow the ones who follow the twins.”

  A cheer went up throughout the camp that made Yuma smile.

  “That will go to their heads,” he said, and led her through the encampment to join up with the twins.

  Tyhen and Yuma soon caught up and as they began walking downriver the three men began talking. Tyhen let the conversation go on without her input, satisfied just to be back with Yuma and her brothers.

  As she walked, she thought of her mother and wondered if Singing Bird was sad that the twins were gone, too.

  Mother? Can you hear me?

  The silence after her question was telling. Singing Bird was either too upset to tune in, or had lost the ability to hear her daughter’s voice.

  Tyhen lowered her head and hid the sadness. It was one more thing she had to accept.

  ***

  After all the concern, the crossing was anti-climactic. Evan led them almost two miles downriver to the widest part, which because of its breadth had also lowered the depths. At the deepest, it was only waist high on an adult and because it was so wide, allowed for more people to cross at one time.

  Most of the riverbed consisted of gravel-sized pebbles, so the danger of sinking into sandy depths was also averted. Yuma and Tyhen had gone across with the first wave while the twins and one of the Nantay brothers stayed on the other side to help.

  It took hours for the last of them to get to the other side. By the time it was done it was past mid-day and their numbers were strung out for a good three miles with the stragglers at the rear.

  Montford Nantay and Evan had stayed behind on purpose, following the oldest and the slowest. Adam had walked ahead with Johnston and Susie Nantay, then jogged for a while until he reached the front where Yuma was leading.

  “Hey, brother, where is Tyhen?” Adam asked, as he slowed his pace to a walk.

  Yuma pointed to a rise a few hundred yards ahead, to the lone figure silhouetted against the sky.

  Adam saw her, and was once again struck by how she had changed.

  “Is she this way all the time?” he asked.

  Yuma frowned. “What way?”

  “Alone. She holds herself apart from the rest.”

  Yuma shrugged. “Emotionally, this is difficult for her. The more her power grows, the more distant t
he people become who were once her friends. They love her, but they also fear her. We are all stretched to our limits daily, but she is not allowed to be gentle. There is no place in her life to be a woman now. She is just the Windwalker’s daughter fulfilling what she was born to do.”

  Adam sighed. “I feel her sadness.”

  “As do I,” Yuma said. “It will be different once we reach the Gathering. Most of her responsibility will end once the New Ones are assimilated into their old tribes and return to the lands of their people.”

  Adam hadn’t thought past the Gathering and it occurred to him that he didn’t know where he and Evan would belong.

  “Where do you go, my brother?” Adam asked.

  Yuma glanced at Tyhen one last time and then focused on the land before them.

  “My people were in Oklahoma when Firewalker came, but the original tribal lands were in what was the state of Georgia on the East Coast. I think we will go there. We need to build up all of the coastal tribes first so that the white men do not get inland easily. You and Evan are our family. You will come with us.”

  Adam nodded. It made sense, and it was good to have a stopping point in mind.

  “Where is Evan?” Yuma asked.

  “He and Montford stayed behind with the old ones. They will be the last to make camp tonight. On another note, have you talked to Tyhen about the danger?”

  “Not yet. She was so sad when she came back without Stanley Bluejacket that I waited, and then before I knew it she was gone.”

  Adam frowned again. “You can’t wait to tell her something like that. I don’t know when it will happen. She could be attacked while unaware of the threat.”

  Yuma glanced toward Tyhen as Adam dropped back to talk to one of the young men he’d grown up with.

  Hey, little whirlwind, I need to tell you something.

  I heard Adam talking about me. Why am I in danger?

  Yuma sighed. I forgot you heard their words, too. All I know is what he told me. There is a band of renegades. The leader plans to kill you.

  Does he say where this will happen? Tyhen asked.

  No, only that it will happen before the Gathering.

  So I have been warned. It is enough.