Tykota's Woman(25)

"Are you sure we aren't lost and you just don't want to tell me, Tykota?" Makinna asked, bending over to catch her breath. "No one could find their way across this desert with nothing to guide them."

He glanced down at her. "This land speaks to me. It is in my blood and in every fiber of my being. It would speak to you if you would listen."

"Well, it does speaks to me," she said, drawing in a scorched breath. "It shouts that if thirst, heat, or the Apache don't get us, those buzzards surely will."

"You are not in good cheer today."

She moved across the crusted ground. "So you noticed. I would be perfectly happy," she answered bitingly, nodding upward, "if I could personally feed you to one of those circling devils."

She heard him laugh aloud. "I probably deserve that. I will bargain with you, Makinna."

She gave him a suspicious glance. "What?"

"If you will conserve your strength by remaining quiet until we reach the foothills, I will allow you to ask me some questions, and I will answer them."

She was silent.

"Do we have a bargain?"

Still she said nothing.

"Makinna?"

"You asked me not to speak, so I'm not."

He laughed deeply. "You are quite a woman, Makinna Hillyard."

She mumbled to herself. Earlier, he'd implied that she was a weakling. Now he offered praise. Still, she was endlessly curious about him. There were so many things she wanted to know that she spent the next hour thinking about just what to ask him.

She did not see his smile grow wider or the softening of his dark eyes.

It was almost sundown when the mountain loomed before them. Tykota was exhausted, and he could only wonder how Makinna had made it this far. Today had been the worst. The desert had claimed many lives in the past, and he'd had to make her angry to force her to keep going.

When they reached the foothills, he dared to hold out another challenge to her, although he wouldn't blame her if she refused. "Makinna, if you can climb up past that rock face, there is a cave. No one knows about it but myself, my father, and one of my brothers. We will be safe there tonight."

She glanced at the steep mountain as if it were the enemy. "I can make it."

He handed her the gourd of water. "You can have as much water as you want. You earned it today, and we are almost within reach of a stream."

She raised the water to her lips. It was so hot it burned a trail down her throat, but she didn't care. It revived her, and she set her foot forward. "Do you climb, Tykota, or linger to rest?"

He was just about to take a sip of water, and he paused to look at her. "I climb," he said hurriedly, because she'd already started to ascend the mountain.

The cave didn't seem deep, but it was cool inside. Makinna leaned her face against the stone and dragged air into her lungs. That's when she noticed the ceiling. Crystal prisms formed strange formations. "This is beautiful," she said, allowing her gaze to roam the cavern.

"I was just a boy when my father brought me here," Tykota told her, looking around reflec tively. "I had the same reaction as you that day. 11

"Where is your father now? And the brothers you mentioned?"

His lips curved into smile. "Do the questions start already?"

"No." She shook her head. "I will choose a time when there is nothing to distract us." Her gaze locked with his. "I can ask as many questions as I choose, can't I?"

He nodded. "That was the bargain." He moved across the cave to a dark corner and rolled away a huge stone. "Follow me."

Makinna scrambled after him through a narrow passage and then a tiny opening to another chamber. She could see a light ahead, and speechlessly, she stepped into a huge, domeshaped room with a tiny opening at the top that let in sunlight. She gasped at the beauty of what she was seeing. There were more magnificent crystals, but these reflected the sunlight and sent rainbows dancing across the walls. Some of the crystals were shaped like palaces, while others were lacy, and still others looked like huge icicles. A small stream splashed over the rocks and emptied into an emerald-colored pool that had been carved into the stone over hundreds of years.

Her gaze met Tykota's. "Surely this is the treasure mountain Mr. Rumford spoke of." She reached out and laid her cheek against one of the prisms. "Do you suppose this could be the sacred mountain of the legendary Perdenelas Indians?"

He stared up at the opening and was quiet for a moment. Finally he spoke. "You will find nothing of earthly value here. No gold, no treasure. If you carried away everything in this particular cavern, it would not be worth your trouble. And, yet, some would consider this cavern itself more valuable than treasure, for in its beauty is food for the soul."