Obsidian Tears (Apparition Lake Book 2) Read online

  Two Ravens reluctantly reached for his door handle. Glenn reached for his. Two Ravens gripped his shoulder. “Perhaps…” the Indian said. “Perhaps it would be better if I went alone… first.”

  “Not sure how we'll be received?”

  “Completely sure how we'll be received. But her friends… Let me just–”

  “It's all right,” Glenn told him. “If Snow on the Mountains taught me nothing else, he taught me the art of contemplation in a parked car.”

  Music played inside the trailer. Not mystical pipes and drums as you might expect; Def Leppard with the volume set on 'Hiroshima'. Two Ravens knew Alice was home. He rapped on the door and waited. There was no answer and he turned to frown at Glenn waiting in the car. The ranger shrugged, Two Ravens nodded. He rapped again, harder. When there still was no answer, he tried the door and found it unlocked. He took a breath and opened it. Alice was there, sitting alone on her couch inside, surrounded by her stereo speakers. If she heard him, she didn't bother to look up.

  Two Ravens climbed the steps and stepped inside. She still didn't look at him. “You've heard?”

  Her red swollen eyes were open and, every ten or fifteen seconds she blinked, her chest was rising and falling; Two Ravens knew she was alive. But she made no added effort to prove it. The outfitter stepped to her stereo and turned it down. On second thought, he turned it way down. “I asked if you'd heard.”

  “Yes,” she said without emotion, still without looking at him. “I've heard.”

  He returned to the trailer's entryway, just inside the open door, giving her space. “And?”

  “And.” She looked up, staring at him with a tear running down each cheek. Without warning, she exploded. “And!” She jumped up from the couch, leapt into her little kitchen only a few feet away, and grabbed cups off their hanging racks with both hands. She turned and hurled them at him. Two Ravens bucked and weaved as china smashed around him. In a flash she had two more cups in hand. One sailed past, missing his head by an inch, and on out the door, while the other caught the outfitter sharply on the wrist. He took the pain without exclamation while she'd reloaded and was hurling a third volley. When she finally ran out of cups to throw, Alice ran at him, scratching, slapping, and biting. Two Ravens blocked the first few blows, then got hold of her wrists and wrapped her up, pinning her arms to her sides, and securing the works with a bear hug.

  “Let me go.”

  “I would love to.”

  “Let me go!”

  “I would love to!” He squeezed her close and held her until her anger was spent. Finally, she relaxed in his arms. “Are you finished?” She nodded but couldn't speak. Red rose in Alice's face. She made no attempt to calm it. Two Ravens couldn't help but notice her anger made her even more gorgeous.

  She began to cry. His hold eased to an embrace. She turned in his arms, wrapped hers around him, and vibrated as she cried into his chest. Two Ravens held her tightly.

  “Put it aside?” he asked. “For now. We have a more immediate problem.”

  “You and your white friend?”

  “Yes. Me and my white friend. And the Shoshone. And the Arapaho.

  “I'm not a holy man. Over the years that has been made crystal clear to me.”

  “You've been hurt. I know. I'm sorry. For my part in hurting you, I am sincerely sorry. But some of the pain you've caused yourself, through bitterness. Many of those you blame are blameless. Even if they weren't, even if we are all guilty of whatever crimes you hold against us, now is not the time for your vengeance. A hunter is dead. Climbers are dead. A ranger is dead. Snow on the Mountains is dead. Your friends are dead. The thing that killed them threatens us all. We need a healer, the Shoshone, the Arapaho, all of the residents and visitors to these lands, despite our collective ignorance. We need a healer, and right now, right here, you are the only one left.”

  “What do you want from me?”

  “To begin with,” Two Ravens said. “The truth. What you told us about the little people was not true; at the very least not all true. You told us a story for the tourists. We need the truth.”

  Alice shook her head. “I don't get it. What difference does a silly Indian legend make?”

  “It may be important.” Two Ravens leveled a thumb at the door. “Chief Merrill is waiting outside. Will you invite him in?”

  “It's my day of firsts.”

  “Firsts?”

  “It's the first time I invited you into my home.”

  Two Ravens eyed the compartment without moving his head, then nodded.

  “And you, Ranger Glenn. In fact, outside of my…” She took a breath to control her emotions then finished the thought. “Outside of my dancers, you are the first two men to set foot inside.” Without waiting for a comment, she moved on. “I was, for the first time, consulted for something other than flu, an infection, or hangover, almost as if I were a real 'medicine man'.”

  “I'm willing to help,” Alice said. Red-eyed and tired, she looked across her trailer at Two Ravens and his friend, Ranger Glenn, the first white man that had ever been within a mile of her home. “I want to help. But I don't know how. You want to know more of the little people. But I can't tell you. I don't know anything.”

  “So,” Glenn said, too loudly, raising his hands in surrender. “It's back to square one?”

  He was speaking to Two Ravens but it was Alice who answered him.

  “No, not square one. I don't know about those things. But I know where and how I can find out.”

  “Where?” Two Ravens asked suspiciously. “How?”

  “The same place Snow on the Mountains went to find out. The same way.”

  “What do you mean?” Glenn asked. “What do we do?”

  “We don't do anything,” Alice said. “I must finish that which was started long ago by our ancestors. I must complete Snow on the Mountains' journey. I must go to Legend Rock.”

  “A vision quest?” Two Ravens asked.

  She hesitated, considering his question then, as if she'd reached a dead end, nodded sadly. “There is no other way.”

  “There is too much danger,” the outfitter said. “No.”

  “Is there another way?” she asked.

  Two Ravens didn't even consider it. “No,” he repeated. Trembling, afraid and making no attempt to hide it, he stepped toward her, reached for her. “I don't want you to do this. I… Alice…”

  She touched her fingers to his lips, halting his words. “Abeque,” she told him. “My name is Abeque. You were right all along, John. I've allowed my bitterness to destroy my nature and my love, to separate me from everyone around me. I have been my only concern. I don't know what this is you and Chief Merrill are talking about. If it really exists, for all I know it's already too late to stop it, this thing, this evil. What I do know is that I must try. All that has come before has led us here. My name is Abeque. I am the daughter of my people's holy man. I am the daughter of a Cheyenne princess. I have 'Stayed at home'. Now I am called upon to help save that home. Our ancestors call to me to think of the people instead of myself. Would you have me do otherwise?”

  What could Two Ravens do but agree. Still he insisted, “You cannot go alone.”

  The softness vanished from Abeque's eyes. She twisted her lips and cocked her head. “Johnny Two Ravens, I don't have to tell you that a vision quest is a personal journey. One goes to God alone.”

  “Yes,” he agreed without enthusiasm. He took another moment of silence to accept it. “But there are holy places all around. All of the earth is comprised of spirits. Why must it be Legend Rock?”

  “Snow on the Mountains was killed there. An Indian holy place has been defiled. It is right that I try to meet the Great Spirit there. It is right.”

  Two Ravens nodded glumly then, suddenly, brightened. “You will purify the site first?”

  “Of course,” she said. “There is no other way–”

  “The purification is a sacred rite,” he told her eagerly. “But not a
solemn rite. Wouldn't that part of the ceremony be easier with a drummer?”

  “Certainly. But–”

  “I will drum for you,” he said emphatically. “I will assist you in purifying the site.”

  Abeque frowned and cast a narrowed eye in Two Ravens' direction. She started to shake her head.

  “Wait,” he said, stopping her. “Snow on the Mountains was a wise and powerful shaman. He was killed doing that which you wish to attempt. You are our last 'medicine man'. We need you, Abeque. I need you.”

  They stared deeply into each other's eyes. “All right,” she said, nodding. “If… If… you will withdraw when the purification is completed.”

  “Agreed. I give my word.”

  “I'm coming too,” Glenn called from the other side of the room.

  Abeque's, “Absolutely not!” was all but drowned out by Two Ravens' commanding, “No!”

  Chapter 35

  They came to an agreement, Abeque and Two Ravens. He went with her as far as a hill overlooking the Legend Rock valley. From there, he would beat the drum for her to purify the site. Once that was accomplished, he would retreat over the rocks and leave her alone to seek the Great Spirit. Two Ravens refused anything less. Abeque refused anything more.

  High up, in the distance, Two Ravens beat the drum.

  In the Legend Rock valley, Abeque began the Purification ritual by centering herself, with the intention of driving away all negativity from her energy and to purify her soul. To aid the endeavor she would smudge, Abeque's version of Snow on the Mountains' sacred smoke bowl blessing. She'd had no time to secure Mugwort, an herb much desired for stimulating psychic awareness, for aiding the arrival of prophetic dreams, and as a powerful agent to banish evil spirits. Likewise, she'd been too rushed to get hold of the Hoja Santa she wanted to set and protect boundaries against the evil. No matter, she would make do with the items at hand.

  She laid her smudge kit out, each piece representing one of the Earth's vital elements. Her various unlit herbs, beyond their medicinal qualities, were symbolic of the Earth itself. An abalone shell to represent the water from which it came. Matches, she'd never got the knack of starting a blaze without them, obviously, to burn the herbs and represent fire. The smoke would be the symbol for the air. And three eagle feathers tied together into a fan would drive the smoke and stand-in for spirit energy.

  She put the herbs she'd been able to gather in the abalone shell, rosemary a healing herb to bring clarity to the problem, sagebrush to chase away the negative spirits and influences, sweetgrass to attract positive energy, lavender to restore balance and bring peace, tobacco to restore the land to the people, juniper to make Legend Rock safe and sacred again. She lit them and immediately felt her spirits lifted by the amazing fragrance. She gently blew out the flame so the herbs continued to smolder. A few gave her all the smoke she needed. As Snow on the Mountains had done, she took handfuls and held them over her heart, over her eyes, and over her head. She visualized herself being surrounded by gentle, loving energy. She breathed in positivity, courage, and love. She chanted while she spread the smoke with the eagle's feathers, purging the negative energy from the valley and inviting in purity and light.

  Abeque stared up at Two Ravens in the distance. The purification was ended. He'd given her all the help and protection the situation allowed. Now, as they had agreed, as he had promised, the time had come to retreat and leave her alone to her vision quest. Reluctantly Two Ravens rose, waved to Abeque and, drum in hand, started over the rise out of sight.

  Abeque sat on the firm ground in that dark valley of rocks and lit a pipe. She chanted softly and smoked until her spirit vision came. The clouds above Legend Rock shifted and began to descend. They separated into four distinct formations that began to take on familiar shapes. Still smoking, still chanting, the mesmerized Abeque rocked slowly in place. Somewhere in her hazy thoughts a question occurred… Was this how the vision appeared two hundred and fifty years ago to Nakos the Arapaho legend? Was this how it appeared to Snow on the Mountains before his death? Was this…?

  In her delirium, Abeque's chanting rose in volume and strength. She had a sudden feeling of weightlessness and she opened her eyes to see she was rising into the air, over the prairie, and above the mountains. The sky darkened as the four clouds swirled defining themselves. Despite her nerves at floating like smoke, Abeque felt a wave of delight and awe as the clouds moved in. Then lightning blasted the sky all around and, suddenly, she was afraid. Her fear grew as a storm built round her and the clouds, coming on, began to change their shapes becoming more than clouds, becoming four living creatures moving toward her across the sky. And, as they changed, the ancient Arapaho names of each of the creatures – in the resonant voice of an unknown speaker – thundered in the healer's head. The first cloud rolled into the likeness of the wolf as Abeque heard the name spoken, “Hoo-chay.” The second cloud became a living fox as “Ba-ch-o” rang in her ears. The third cloud took the shape of the bobcat as the voice cried, “Ta-uu-tha-bech-au-gaa.” The fourth became a cougar, and she heard, “Thio-guu-taw.” Another instant and the images were much more than likeness, more than shape; the four creatures of the clouds came alive and, as one, from their places in the sky, between flashes of lightning, stalked ever-closer to Abeque. The wolf and the fox came boldly on. The bobcat and the cougar padded stealthily in her direction. All four stared with yellow unblinking eyes and terrible toothy grins. They surrounded Abeque in the sky.

  The shaman's daughter had ceased her chanting… terrified as she was.

  The cougar moved forward. As it did, its great yellow head became a thunder cloud, then it changed again and became the head of an Indian brave. Its paws were suddenly human hands. “Do not be scared,” the half-Indian, half-cougar said in the language of the Arapaho. “Don't be scared of the bobcat, the wolf, or the fox. Do not fear me. We are the spirits you've summoned.”

  The spirit asked her what she wanted; and heard her plea for help. They spoke together of Nakos and the Nimerigar. They spoke of Snow on the Mountains. The spirits made demands of Abeque. She gave them promises from her people. Then the spirits told her a secret nobody else on earth knew; a secret that Nakos and Snow on the Mountains had heard before her – and taken to their graves.

  Abeque sat again on the valley floor of Legend Rock. Breathless and confused she dropped her pipe and grabbed the ground for balance. She caught her breath, allowing a horrible dizziness to pass. Then she sat for a very long time, unmoving, considering all the spirits had said. Eventually she lifted her head, looking through the smoke from her smudge bowl, to see the final rays of the sun glinting above the ridge. The ridge… The spirits had said it. She needed to climb.

  Without knowing why, with no knowledge Snow on the Mountains had done the same, Abeque climbed the escarpment to a corner in the rocks that turned away from the valley. She stopped there, not only because she felt compelled, but because she could see someone had stopped before. The thought it could have been Snow on the Mountains sent a chill up her spine. The dirt around the base of the flat facing stone had recently been dug away and she had only to look. It was an odd place for a picture for it faced away from the valley floor. But there it was, a rude and ancient drawing, carved into the rock; a drawing done in Nakos' own hand. She recognized the image immediately as a simple depiction of the four cloud creatures from her vision. Abeque gasped, struck suddenly by the majesty of it all. She'd truly had a vision, a holy man's vision, the same vision Nakos had experienced two hundred and fifty years before. There it was, carved in stone, and undeniable. She lost her balance in her excitement and grabbed at the rock, holding on. Her balance regained, Abeque shook her head in embarrassment. Only she of the twisted fortunes could make a quest, succeed in communing with the spirits in a vision, then end the perfect adventure by falling to her death before she could tell anyone.

  Getting a grip, physically and emotionally, she returned her excited attention to the petroglyph. In the carved
image the four spirits of the clouds hovered above an Indian… No, it wasn't. She strained, hand upraised to shield the red dying light of the day, trying to make out the partially flaked picture. No, there wasn't one figure, there were three. The creatures of the clouds hovered above three stick figures closely overlapping one another. Three Indian braves, together, holding one long bow in their outstretched hands. Another item completed the picture and, though rudely drawn, completed Abeque's understanding of the vision as well. She bit her bottom lip. It was crazy but it all made sense.

  A horrifying shriek startled Abeque and sent a chill through her. A rock shifted above her head. She grabbed the mound again, to steady herself, then jerked up to see she'd been wrong. The rock hadn't moved; something above the rock was moving. It was dark and indefinable, lit from behind by the red ribbon of fading sunlight. Whatever she saw, it was a foot tall standing on the rock above her. She blinked as her eyes adjusted and looked into the sneering face of one of the Nimerigar. That's what it was, one of the 'tiny people eaters', with blood in its golden eyes. But what startled Abeque most was the thing was shouting in a hysterical guttural voice. It took a moment to realize, it was yelling in the language of the Arapaho and, in her terror, took an instant longer to translate the words.

  “This is our land!”

  Other creatures, looking like the one above her, eased up from the rocks and weeds around her. She heard skittering below. Though too petrified to take her eyes off the hollering monster, perched on the side of Legend Rock as she was, Abeque imagined herself being surrounded. Worse, the creature above had drawn a stone hammer from its belt and was raising the weapon. It intended to lethally crack her skull. Abeque screamed.

  It happened in an instant, the creature's appearance, its frightening shout, Abeque's startled scream in reply. Over the rise, on the opposite hill, Two Ravens heard it all without knowing what he'd heard. He threw down his drum and scrambled up. He topped the rise, looked to the escarpment across the way, and came to a stop. He couldn't see Abeque. And then he did. On the end of the site rise, she'd climbed to near the top of the projection and was… Two Ravens caught his breath. He saw them now, Ninimbe, the little warriors, below her, around her, one on a rock above her… holding a hammer.