Children of the Dawn (40 page)

Kai El walked slowly to Gaia and sat beside her. Glad for all the time he’d spent to make the pledge band worthy, he put it
in her hand.

She gazed at it with wide eyes, then looked up at him. Airy wonder lifted her voice.

“This is the loveliest thing I have ever seen. Is it… a pledge band?”

He nodded. “Shahala men have always made them.”

“Who… who did you make it for?”

“For you, Gaia. I want you for my mate.”

“Oh, Kai El! Even though—”

He touched his finger to her lips.

“Even though. No matter what. I want to be with you forever. If you want me.”

“Yes!” she squealed, throwing herself at him.

His arms, loving the marvelous, new feel of womanflesh, took time enclosing her. Eyes shut, cheeks burning, breathing in all
the scent her body could make, he whispered her name.

She stopped him with a kiss… light, tentative, like a butterfly landing. They made one person in each other’s arms. Shooting
stars raced through him. The kiss became an urgent pressing of lips that could never get close enough. His heart beat so fast
it hurt and so hard it felt like it wanted out of his body. He never wanted to stop kissing, but she finally turned her face
away, saving their lives by allowing them to breathe.

She held him away from the second kiss that he wanted more than anything. Her voice was husky.

“My passion is fierce, Kai El. I won’t be able to stop.”

“We don’t have to stop, you know. We’re going to be mates. We can start right now.” His voice had a catch in it, like he’d
just run to the top of a mountain.

“I want to do it the Shahala way.”

“Oh, please, let’s just do it! It doesn’t matter how!” He could no more control the choke in his voice than he could stop
his desire.

“It matters to me,” she said. “Since I was a little girl, I’ve watched the Mating Dance and pretended
I
was being carried into the night by my mate… by you, my handsome, brave Sun River.”

He sighed. Defeated, his breathing evened.

“At the Autumn Feast,” she said in a dreamy voice, “on the Night of Balance, with the spirits of unborn little ones gathered
for moonrise, waiting to catch moonbeams to their mothers’ hearts… Kai El, that’s when I want to make love for the first time,
like lovers have since the Misty Time.”

She was right. More than that, she had a woman’s power of “no.”

“We’ll do it your way,” he said. “But could we kiss again sometime?”

She smiled. “Let’s try now. It may be dangerous, but we’re strong.”

Their lips touched. He tried holding back, keeping it light, but the kiss grew of its own will. It threatened to engulf them,
push them down on the sleeping shelf, force them where they
didn’t want to go. How could this power be fought? Why should it be?

Her voice was ripe with promise as she pushed him away.

“Wait, Kai El. The cliffs won’t crumble if we don’t, but it will be so much better if we do. It’s already late summer. We
can stop ourselves for two moons, can’t we? And then… oh, my love, we’ll belong to each other forever.”

He didn’t say what he
wanted
to say, but what he
had
to say.

“I’ll do anything for you, Gaia. Even wait.”

He tied his pledge band to her upper arm, as his Shahala ancestors had done since the Misty Time, then stood back to admire
her.

“The best-made pledge band for the best-made woman, ever in all of time!”

A blush lit her dark gold cheeks. Her eyes were like mist before dawn. She reached under her hair with both hands, and untied
leather thongs. Holding out her beautiful neckpiece, Gaia spoke as no woman ever had.

“This is my pledge band for you, Kai El. I want you for my mate.”

Pledge bands were made by
men.
They promised not only love, but strength and courage—promises no woman could make. But these were the times and this was
the place for
new
ways, even if their fathers and mothers might not understand.

Kai El took Gaia’s offering, held it in his hands, gazed at every detail. He’d never seen another like it.

Some people wore beads on a string long enough to go over the head, or a special stone on a thong. His mother told of a blue
neckstone Kai El had had as a baby, carved by Tor with his namesign, somehow lost. Now he didn’t wear things that dangled.
They could become snagged, get a man in trouble.

Gaia’s neckband was different. It clung tight to the throat, held by leather thongs tied in the back. There were three rows
of smooth-carved lengths of white bone, with polished beads of blue stone in between. A flat, round river stone rested in
the dip of the throat. The stone’s polished black face was scratched with four pointed white lines—the symbol of the Four
Directions.

“It’s beautiful,” he said in awe, handing it back. “Will you put it on for me?” He leaned forward and lifted his hair.

She put it up to his neck. It reached halfway around. She smiled and said, “It will never go around that huge neck.”

Gaia tied her band to his upper arm. Kai El felt what men had never been allowed to feel, as the band of love and power became
part of him, like his skin or his heart.

That night in Teahra Village, people cheered to hear of the pledge of Gaia and Kai El.

Only two moons till the Autumn Feast…

G
AIA KNEW SHE WOULD ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW
wonderful the rest of that summer was as she waited to become Kai El’s mate. The sounds, colors, and smells of crisp mornings
and warm afternoons. The warmth inside her when they looked at each other. Their long talks—at the village, because she was
afraid she’d give in to passion if they were alone. Awake or asleep, she dreamed of the life and love they would share: things
she’d do for him; the comfortable place she’d make of their home; the little ones she would have.

Kamiulka, the Autumn Feast, finally arrived—three days and nights for celebrating beginnings. Gaia cared most about the first
night, and the mating ceremony.

In the gray light before dawn, she had watched the First Warriors leave Teahra Village… a sight to steal the breath from any
unmated woman. The seven best hunters, proud and skilled; handsome in red face paint that spoke of manhood; with spears in
their hands, and bear claws hanging around their necks. Most handsome was Sun River, her Kai El. He was one of the youngest,
but Gaia could see him telling others what to do—her almost-mate was that smart.

The warriors would return with antelope for the first foods ceremony. The One Drum would begin the songs that people called
the heartbeat of the rituals, and the ancient celebration called Kamiulka, the Autumn Feast, would be changing people’s lives
as it did every time.

It was late afternoon. Gaia wondered if the First Warriors were home yet. She turned toward the village and listened for the
drum. But the women’s washing place was too far away; all she heard was rivernoise and the laughter of her friends.

Absently stroking the pledge band braided from Kai El’s shiny black hair—she never took it off, not even to bathe—she smiled,
thinking about how she would look tonight.

Gaia had never thought of her looks until three days ago. She’d dressed in her mating clothes, gone to the Great River, and
stared into a quiet pool. She had made a short dress from a rare white cougar fur that Kai El had brought her. White leather
fringe sewed to the bottom brushed the ground when she moved. A headdress of swan feathers trailed down her back. She wore
knee-high moccasins with winter fox fur around the tops. White against dark gold skin and black hair… there was no denying
the beauty of the creature who looked back at her from the deep water.

Gaia thought about the mating dance, and her heart jumped. Her whole life had been leading to this night. All the men and
women of the tribe would dance, but she and Kai El would see only each other. When the drum’s slow throb rose to a mad frenzy,
Kai El would wrest her from the women pretending to guard her, and carry her to his home in the cliffs. They would make love.
Finally… she would
do
what she’d been dreaming about.

Gaia had a feeling that an unborn spirit was up there in the sky, just waiting to join the new lovers.
Our baby,
she thought, touching her stomach.

“How lucky I am!” she shouted.

Her twin flung a handful of water at her, laughing.

“You’d think you were the only woman who ever got a mate.”

Summer warmth lingered in the Great River canyon, as if the migrating geese barked lies. Downriver from Teahra Village, the
tall willows that hid the women’s washing place were still in full leaf, though the leaves had yellowed. A large flat rock
at the water’s edge was strewn with capes, skirts, and moccasins.

Five almost-women of fourteen and fifteen summers played
in the waist-deep water, being sillier than usual. They’d bathed together since they were little ones, but it wouldn’t be
the same after this. After tonight, Gaia and Bree would be women. The others would still be girls.

Sitting on a rock in swirling water, Gaia washed her toes. She was so warm from thinking of Kai El that she barely noticed
the autumn-chilled water.

Bree sat on Gaia’s rock and hugged her.

“Oh, Gaia! This is our day! I thought I’d be too old to care before it got here!”

“Me too!” Gaia said, as if she’d almost
died
from waiting.

Bree dissolved in giggles. Selah splashed her, and the others joined in. The river exploded in sun-bright drops, the air in
girlish shrieks.

Splashing couldn’t silence the two almost-brides.

“I’m the happiest woman ever born!” Gaia said.

Bree said, “I’m so happy that pain wouldn’t make me cry!”

Tahna said, “Am I the only one sick of these two?”

Nissa yelled, “No!”

Selah made a throwing-up sound.

“They’re just jealous,” Bree said. “They wish they had men.”

Tahna snorted. “I already take care of a mean old woman. Why would I want to take care of a man, too?”

Bree gave Gaia a knowing look. “I expect better rewards from a man, don’t you?”

They all laughed. They were only teasing. No one was really jealous.

“Tahna, would you do my hair again?” Gaia asked.

“Yes, little sister.”

Water cascading from naked skin, Tahna stepped onto the flat rock at the river’s edge and took soap leaves from her waist
pouch. Back in the river, she stood behind Gaia, rubbing mashed leaves into her wet hair, using a little too much fingernail
on her scalp.

“Owww!”

Tahna dug harder. “You want to be
really
clean for Kai El, don’t you?”

Feeling full of mischief, Gaia dived, curled under, grabbed
Tahna’s ankles, and pulled her down. Tahna came up sputtering. Sometimes that would make her mad. Today she laughed, and they
all laughed with her.

Laughter changed to terrified screams as two men pounced from the brush, grabbed the girls, and threw them down, thrashing
and choking in the churning water.

Gaia ran on the slippery riverbottom. A hand seized her ankle. She pitched forward and cracked her head on a rock. Red light
flashed behind her eyelids. She sucked in water. Yanked up by her hair—gasping, coughing—she was slammed into Bree. A rope
whipped around their arms, and another around their waists, so if one fell, the other would too. Dragged through water and
onto the bank, jerked to her feet, she was shoved forward in a jolting run—without ever seeing her attacker.

In front of her, another man forced Selah and Nissa down the trail.

Glancing back, she saw Tahna running away.

“Tahna! Help us!” she screamed.

Gaia was spun around, and punched in the face. She reeled, but the rope kept her from going down. With savage roughness, she
and Bree were thrust after the others.

The fear of beating stopped Gaia from screaming. Bree sobbed. Jerking her hair, the savage showed her a wad of leather. But
Bree couldn’t stop, and he crammed it into her mouth. Branches whipped Gaia’s face and cut bleeding scratches in her naked
skin. Rocks cut her bare feet. The savage pushed faster than they could go. She stumbled, taking Bree down with her. He yanked
them up. She tried to slow them by limping, but he kicked her, making her run. He knew as well as she did that someone must
be after them.

On the trail ahead, Selah and Nissa were kicked and punched if they cried or struggled.

Terror consumed Gaia.
Where are they taking us? What will they do to us?

Tahna ran for help,
she told herself.
Kai El is coming. He knows this land. These men don’t. He’ll catch them. He’ll save us.

They came to a sandy beach. A large, flat
thing
floated in the river, made of trees lashed together with rope. Hope
drained from Gaia. Her mother had seen these things. They carried men on water. Kai El would not be able to follow when it
carried her away.

Now she knew: These men were Masat. Instead of a bride, Gaia would be a slave.

She yelled, “Fight!” Struck in the head, she kept yelling. “Fight for your lives!”

The savages dragged the four screaming, struggling women to the raft, threw them down, beat them into silence. One hauled
on a rope and brought up a rock that held the raft in place. The other pushed with a pole against the shore.

Then they were out in the river, rolling and lurching. Gaia cowered on her stomach, stupefied with terror. Caught in an eddy,
the raft spun round and round. The savages struggled to straighten it with their poles.

So many times I thought I would die. This time I
know
it.

With the thought, a strange calm settled on Gaia. Maybe they did not
all
have to die. Maybe she could save the others.

The men were too busy to see her untie the bindings holding her to the unconscious Bree. She got to her knees, glanced at
the blurred shore from the spinning raft, and almost lost her balance.