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People of the Nightland(147)

By:W. Michael Gear


Her inquisitive fingers snaked down past his navel to find him. She had greater powers of persuasion than logic.

When they finally lay spent, the glow fading from their loins, he propped himself up to stare down at her. “If anything should happen, if we are separated, I’ll wait for you at the Tills.” He arched an eyebrow, “But I wouldn’t travel there dressed in a Nightland war shirt.”

She laughed. “Come, let’s get on with the day.”

“War Chief?” a voice called from outside.

“Silvertip?” Windwolf asked. “A moment please, and then I will be out.”

“I need to see you both,” the boy said. “Call me when you are ready.”

“How long has he been out there?” Keresa whispered. “He would have heard everything.”

“I don’t think he heard anything he didn’t already know,” Windwolf muttered, reaching for his war shirt.

Keresa pulled on her dress, running fingers through her hair. What she’d give for a proper washing. The miracle was that Windwolf didn’t hold his nose when he was coupling with her.

“Enter, Dreamer,” Windwolf called.

Ashes ducked beneath the hanging, her careful eyes taking in the room’s contents. The war club filled her hands.

Silvertip followed, his face expressionless, but when Keresa looked into his eyes, it was like staring into deep pools, knowing that the bottom might be an illusion.

“Dreamer,” Windwolf greeted. “Can I help you?”

Silvertip walked over and settled by the cold fire. “I am leading my people west, War Chief. Some insist on staying, though I have told them the price they will pay.”

“People must make their own choices, Dreamer.”

He smiled. “That they must.” His young face lined. “Wind, Water, and Fire. It is a Powerful combination. Opposites crossed.” He stared right at Keresa, and her soul shivered. “When you are in the north, you will find the Earth.”

“The Earth?” Windwolf and Keresa asked in unison.

Silvertip smiled. “Power comes in fours: the directions, the great forces, the seasons, it is all part of the unity.”

“Some say six, Dreamer,” Keresa replied. “The four directions, and up and down.”

“Or light and dark,” Silvertip agreed. “Darkness and light. I am one; the Guide is the other. Do you begin to understand?”

Keresa frowned. “He is Raven Hunter’s. You serve Wolf Dreamer.”

“I walk in the light,” Silvertip told her, a question in the set of his lips.

“ … And he walks in darkness.”

“Opposites crossed. We all serve Power.”

Windwolf nodded, as if some great revelation had been born in his soul. “What is my role, Dreamer?”

“To serve Power, War Chief.” Silvertip leaned his head back. “In the end, our peoples will have paid the cost of disharmony, as Wolf Dreamer and Raven Hunter are paying.”

“I don’t understand.” Keresa frowned. “How do Spirits pay?”

“By finally understanding that neither can win.” He smiled. “Opposites cannot exist without the other. Can men exist without women? The very existence of light can never be pure by itself. Look beneath the rock, Deputy, and you will find shadow. Revel in the blackness of midnight, but it will yield to morning.”

“And Wolf Dreamer and Raven Hunter are bound by this?” She gave him an uneasy look.

“Oh, yes. Though it has taken time for them to realize that while they must, by their very nature, oppose one another, they are brothers, born of the same womb. Is it possible, Deputy, to receive without something being given?”

Windwolf took her hand, giving it a press. “We understand, Dreamer.”

“Good. The lesson is surprisingly simple, but infinitely difficult at the same time.” Silvertip pressed his palms together.

“Isn’t that always the way of it?”

“The final pieces are in place,” Silvertip told him. “Opposites crossed. When you find the Earth, you must head south. The west will be impassable. I would urge you to make all haste. You will not have time to tarry. Once across the river, you will have to follow the southern margins of the lakes to the Tills.”

“I see,” Windwolf replied.

“What of my people, Dreamer?” Keresa asked. “We have heard that the Guide has found the way to the Long Dark.”

He smiled at her, eyes seeing somewhere in the distance of his Dream. “The Sunpath People ignored Raven Hunter, and cast his teachings from their souls. They have paid dearly for that.”

“But my people have turned their backs on Wolf Dreamer!”