Journey to Ninas Twei Book One of The Earth Woman Tree Woman Quartet Read online



  Journey to Ninas Twei

  Book One of the

  Earth Woman Tree Woman Quartet

  Connie Pwll Walck Tyler

  Deep Hum Productions

  Berkeley, CA

  www.deephum.com

  Copyright © 2016 by Connie Powell Walck Tyler

  Deep Hum Productions (www.deephum.com)

  Berkeley, CA

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, Deep Hum Productions, 2322 8th Street, Berkeley, CA 94710

  Published in the United States of America.

  Cover art by Katie W. Stewart, Magic Owl Design (www.magicowldesign.com)

  and Connie Pwll Walck Tyler

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  The Earth Woman Tree Woman Quartet

  is dedicated to my ancestors,

  the tall, wise oak trees

  who spoke to me when I was a child,

  and to the wolf who lived back of a gas station in Alaska,

  who dances in my dreams.

  Acknowledgements

  My thanks go to Kenneth and Bridget Tyler, Lissa Dirrum, Holly Coats-Bash, Dan Ross, Allysson MacDonald, and Paul Dinas, Book Editor, for their willingness to read and suggest changes to the manuscript;

  to Tony Zaatari of Media Masters for all the help with the recording and mixing of the music;

  to Katie W. Stewart for her patience and willingness in creating the cover art;

  to InterPlay founders, Cynthia Winton-Henry and Phil Porter, for giving me a place to dance and sing my new ideas and dreams; and all the InterPlayers who have given me support through the years;

  to Katie Winton-Henry for singing for me and encouraging me.

  In memoriam, thanks go to Dr. Scott Coulter whose help with the music when I first started this musical novel changed my life forever;

  and my father, Henry Z. Walck, who read and tried to promote the first permutation many, many years ago.

  Table of Contents

  Invocation:

  Arise!

  Prologue: The Hunters and the Cat

  Dark of Hunter’s Moon

  Chapter 1 – Giselle Enters the Dance

  Full Ripe Corn Moon

  Prophesy

  Last Quarter Ripe Corn Moon

  Chapter 2

  Moon of Ripening Fruit

  The Earth’s Song: Breath

  Waxing Crescent

  The Tree’s Song

  Earth and Tree

  First Quarter

  Full Moon

  Last Quarter

  Chapter 3

  Moon When Acorns Fall

  First Quarter

  Waxing Gibbous

  Full Moon

  Rejoice

  Sunwarm Sand

  Waning Gibbous

  Energy

  The Flower’s Song: I Am Without Words

  Earth Woman, Tree Woman’s Song: Warm is the Earth

  The Tree and the Woman are One

  Last Quarter

  The Wolves Song: I Am the Wild

  The Cougar’s Song: I am I

  The Hawk’s Song: High Crier

  Butterfly Winging

  Anchored No Longer

  Waning Crescent

  Water of Life

  Answer the Call of the Earth and the Sun

  Chapter 4

  Dark Hunter’s Moon

  Water of Life Reprise

  Journey to Ninas Twei

  The Squirrel’s Song: Messenger

  The Coyote’s Song: Creation’s Echo

  Answer the Call

  Tsin Twei

  Dance of Life

  The Hunt: Missing Children

  Ninas Twei: Singing Swan

  Singing Swan’s Song

  The Hunt: The Forest Good or Evil

  Ninas Twei: Pain

  The Hunters and the Cat (Reprise)

  Ninas Twei: The Fall

  Tla Twein Forever

  Luhanada

  Tata

  Appendix I

  People, Places, Organizations, and Terminology

  Appendix II

  Ninas Twei and the Tla Twein

  Invocation

  Arise, arise,

  Open your heart!

  Open your heart to the Dance of Life.

  Arise, arise,

  Open your eyes!

  See the world in the Dance of Life.

  Beat your feet

  To the beat of your heart!

  Dance the Dance of Life!

  Peace, peace,

  Laughter and dance!

  Joy and life for us all.

  Sing your tears,

  Sing your fears,

  Defy oppression through the years,

  Dance the Dance of Life!

  Arise, arise,

  Open your heart!

  Open your heart to the Dance of Life.

  Arise, arise,

  Open your eyes!

  Dance the Dance of Life!

  Click here to listen to song

  Prologue: The Hunters and the Cat

  Dark of Hunter’s Moon

  It was midnight when the hunters tramped out of the forest and down the driveway to the Bidewell house, sitting shadowed and silent in the lee of the hill.

  “Hey, Amundsen,” one of the men called out. “How old’s your granddaughter?”

  Amundsen kept walking, silent and stony-faced, his old 30-30 swinging at his side.

  The deputy answered for him. “Nine. And the missing boy’s the same age.”

  “Old enough to get into some mischief,” the man muttered. The men beside him nodded.

  The young man walking at the front of the group stopped abruptly, causing a startled halt in the line. “What’s that?” he yelled pointing at something standing out near the edge of the cliff.

  The group spread out around him peering at the tall dark thing – something tree-like, and yet not a tree – inky black against the moonless midnight sky.

  The deputy frowned. “Weird.” Shaking his head he turned, leading them across the meadow toward the cliff path that wound down to the beach.

  A small gray cat slipped out from back of the dark house and followed them across the trampled grasses to where the object stood facing west over the ocean, watching as the men circled the tall wooden thing.

  “What is it?” they muttered.

  “A sculpture of something.”

  “A tree…”

  “Or a woman?”

  Amundsen’s eyes narrowed as he glared at the tree woman.

  “Evil,” he whispered.

  But they all heard, exchanging uneasy glances.

  The little cat sat, tail curled around his toes, head cocked to one side looking at them. Dickerson’s eyes widened. “Hey, look at the way that cat’s looking at us!”

  They all jumped as a shot rang out. The cat leapt in the air as a bullet hit the ground next to it, tearing across the yard to the house as two more shots followed before it managed to duck under the porch without being hit.

  A
mundsen lowered his gun.

  “Jees,” muttered one of the hunters.

  The deputy took a deep breath. “Amundsen…” He shook his head. "I don't think you needed to do that. It was just a cat."