People of the Fire(104)

The air roared and rushed to feed the tremendous inferno. Entire trees cracked like thunder as the trunks split, steaming and whooshing flammable gasses into the wall of racing flame.

The heat of it beat down like a fist, crushing him into the parching soil, grinding him down flat as the world burned around him.

In the heart of the roaring incineration a figure moved, stalking the white ash like a shadow.

Heart pounding, Little Dancer watched as Wolf pulled up, pointed ears pricked.

"Why don't you burn? What are you?"

"I'm the Dreamer of the People." And the figure blurred as a wall of flame swept past, searing an afterimage onto the back of his eyes.

Shielding his gaze with an uplifted arm, Little Dancer squinted, expecting Wolf to have been charred to sizzling grease and blackened bone. Instead, a man stood there, tall, handsome, the gaudy light of the burning world reflecting on his smooth skin.

"Wolf? What . . . Who are you?"

"I'm you, Little Dancer . . . and not you. I'm the Dream and the reality. I've led you here . . . and followed you. I'm who you will be one day, and who you'll never be. I'm the Way, the Spirit of the People. I drank from the Wolf Heart. I Dance among the stars and beneath the rocks. I Sing with the winds of the Sun, and hear the sigh of the Moon. I am Wolf, the guardian of the People."

Fear rose within while the roar of the fire grew louder and softer with the vision's words. With a throat gone dry, Little Dancer tried to swallow. He turned to run. Flames whipped and popped as sparks twirled like mosquitoes in the lee of summer willows. Fire leapt, searing tortuous paths across the crackling landscape.

"We're One, little friend," the warm voice cooed. "You see, I'm within. I am everything you are . . . and all that you are not."

"Go away! Leave me alone! Vm not the one!"

"Go away? And leave you to burn?" The voice mocked him, taunting with reality as a spear of fire lanced Little Dancer's heart. He yipped, jumping back only to feel a searing on the nape of his neck.

"Join me. I'm your path through fire. I'm your path through Power. Live in me. Dance in the One, and you'll rise above the world that deludes you, but you must prepare. One day you must answer for yourself. What will you give for the Power? What will you give for justice? What will you give to Dance with Fire, and heal the burns? Are you strong enough?"

"I’m not the one!"

"I'll give you all the time I can, little friend. Then, when I can no longer wait, I'll have to test you. In the meantime, prepare yourself. You can't help who you are, or what you'll be. You can only prepare . . . and Dance the Spiral. You can only prepare . . . prepare ..."

'Tm NOT the one! NOT THE ONE! NOT-"

Fire blasted up with the clapping explosion of lightning, beating him into the heat, burning him into the very skeleton of the tortured earth, twisting. . . .

"Little Dancer!" Elk Charm's cry pierced his horrified sleep like a frosty dart.

He gasped and jerked awake, sitting up in his sleeping robes. He gulped to fill his lungs with the crisp night air. Around him, the others sat up in their robes, staring with wary eyes. Makes Fun talked in cooing voices, soothing Mouse Runner, who'd awakened echoing Little Dancer's cries.

"You were dreaming again," Elk Charm told him, placing a cool hand on his sweaty shoulder. "You're here. We're all here. It's all right."

He shot a frightened look into her worried eyes and swallowed, feeling his throat burn, as if still in the Dream.

"Sleep now, son," Hungry Bull called from where he and Rattling Hooves sat up in their robes.

"You bet!" Black Crow called from the bed he shared with Makes Fun. "Any of those dream beasts come in here. Three Toes will dart 'em one right after another/'

"Hey!" Three Toes cried. "You dart those dream monsters yourself. Me, I'm running faster than an antelope with an angry wasp on his tail!"

No one laughed despite the effort.

Elk Charm had gripped his hand in hers. He took a deep breath and nodded. "Just a dream, that's all. Everyone go to sleep." I'm just being strange again.

Rattling Hooves stared intently at her daughter, a look that communicated something private. Two Smokes watched, eyes like slits where he lay curled in the corner. To Little Dancer, he might have been a knowing predator. His manner smacked of a bobcat waiting over a rabbit hole.

Little Dancer lay back down, watching the rock overhead where it glowed dully red from the embers in the remains of the night fire. Like the reddish billows of blackness that rose from the burning forest in the Dream.

Elk Charm settled herself next to him, pressing her body reassuringly against his, snuggling close and hugging him tightly.