People of the Fire (5 page)

 
          
 
Ducking through the low doorway, Two Smokes
cradled the Bundle so carefully wrapped in a beautifully tanned wolf hide. The
pelt gleamed gray in the faint starlight.

 
          
 
"If you don't believe me, why did you
come for the Bundle?" He pointed at the furry gray mass Two Smokes pressed
to his heart. But the
berdache
simply brushed past,
heading for the birthing lodge.

 
          
 
"Well? Why did you?"

 
          
 
The sigh from Two Smokes' breath lingered.
"One day, Little Dancer, I'll tell you."

 
          
 
"But I want to know now. I can't see
why—"

 
          
 
"You've seen the eagles nesting on the
high cliffs. You've climbed up to look down on the newly hatched chicks."

 
          
 
"Uh-huh, and Eagle's a Power bird. I
could feel that. I know what newly hatched chicks look like, all fuzzy
and—"

 
          
 
"Would you push one of those fuzzy chicks
out of the nest? Simply because he's an eagle, would you expect him to fly
because of it? Because of the Power in him?"

 
          
 
"I . . . No."

 
          
 
"Then don't push yourself out of the nest
until your feathers are ready to support you."

 
          
 
Perplexed and confused, Little Dancer tried to
make sense of it. Does that mean I, too, have Power? The question dazzled him,
a warm glow forming under his heart. For the briefest moment, a tingling thread
seemed to wind between him and the Bundle tucked so tightly against Two Smokes'
heart. The pattern snapped as neatly as a sage twig underfoot as Dancing Doe's
miserable cry penetrated the walls of the birthing lodge.

 
          
 
"Wait out here—and out of sight, if you
please." Then in a louder voice: "Sage Root? It's Two Smokes. I have
something to help."

 
          
 
But Little Dancer had already raced for his
peephole, ducking through the sage, hunching over the little opening.

 
          
 
He could see his mother's anxious look at
Chokecherry. In a subdued voice she said, "He's
berdache
.
He knows a great deal. Among his own people—"

 
          
 
"I know." Chokecherry stroked her
chin. "The
Anit'ah
say the
berdache
have Spirit Power. Myself, yes, I believe it." She raised her voice.
"Come, Two Smokes." Then quietly, "By the Blessing Power, we
could use any help we could get . . . besides Heavy Beaver.''

 
          
 
Two Smokes ducked into the dimly lit lodge,
the Bundle still pressed to his heart. "If you would, let me use the Wolf
Bundle." He extended it reverently, a plea in his gentle eyes.

 
          
 
"The Wolf Bundle?" Chokecherry
cocked her head, still fingering her sagging chin. "Yes . . .
perhaps."

 
          
 
Dancing Doe looked up, a new fright in her
eyes as she saw Two Smokes. "No! Not a man. Not here where—"

 
          
 
"
Shhh
!"
Sage Root soothed. "He knows Power."

 
          
 
"I want Heavy Beaver!" The fear in
her eyes deepened.

 
          
 
"I'm
berdache
,"
Two Smokes appealed. "I've done this before."

 
          
 
"Trust him," Chokecherry urged.

 
          
 
Dancing Doe didn't have time to respond;
another contraction racked her. Chokecherry nodded curtly to the
berdache
and backed to allow him room.

 
          
 
Two Smokes settled next to the whimpering
woman, careful fingers undoing the wolf hide. He laid the hide out as a
protective mat to keep the sacred bundle from contact with the earth. As he
began to chant in the melodious tones of the
Anit'ah
,
Little Dancer leaned forward, eye pressed to the peephole to see.

 
          
 
From the outside, the Wolf Bundle didn't look
like much, only a skin bag tightly bound and painted a deep red along the
pointed end. The top had been left white, traced by lines that resembled veins.
A heart! That's what it was, a heart fetish!

 
          
 
Two Smokes took sage from the pouch he
carried, dipped it in water where it hung from a tripod, and sprinkled it into
the fire. Behind him, Chokecherry and Sage Root exchanged nervous glances.

 
          
 
"Here, this needs to be made into
tea." He extended a hand containing cleaned phlox. "She must drink
some, the rest will be rubbed on her. Sage Root, wash her down there where the
baby will come."

 
          
 
Then he lifted the Wolf Bundle up to the smoke
hole, singing in the language of the
Anit'ah
, eyes
closed, face serene.

 
          
 
From where he sat, Little Dancer watched, and
a sudden giddiness swelled within, raising his soul to the haunting tones. The
familiar feeling of Power wrapped around him.

 
          
 
Reeling, he barely noticed when Two Smokes
touched the Bundle to Dancing Doe's perspiring forehead. The woman quieted,
breathing easier. Two Smokes then touched the Bundle to her heart, just above
the turtle effigy, then to her protruding navel and again to the swell of her
pubis above the point of the yellow stripe.

 
          
 
Dancing Doe gasped, this time in relief.

 
          
 
The tea finished, Sage Root filled a
buffalo-horn spoon, placing it to the woman's lips. Dancing Doe drank, and
grimaced.

 
          
 
Resting the Wolf Bundle on the protective
hide, Two Smokes dipped his hands in the steaming water pouch, now full of tea.
"This is the way my people have taught me. The phlox tea soothes the
flesh."

 
          
 
Hands dripping, he began to massage her heavy
belly. At Two Smokes' nod, Sage Root copied his motions, working down. Dancing
Doe bit off a cry as another contraction pressed through her.

 
          
 
"Easy now," Two Smokes cautioned,
his fingers probing the woman's shuddering body. "The pressure must be
just so. Too much and the insides can tear. Bleeding can't always be
stopped."

 
          
 
"We tried massage," Chokecherry
added. "It didn't seem to work."

 
          
 
Two Smokes nodded, eyes going to the Wolf Bundle.
"Perhaps this will." With that, he reached for the Bundle and touched
it to Dancing Doe's navel where it protruded like a knob.

 
          
 
Dancing Doe cried out, another contraction
wrenching her.

 
          
 
"There." Chokecherry nodded,
crawling to get between Dancing Doe's legs. She positioned herself. "We've
got fluid. A little bit of blood."

           
 
Two Smokes held the Bundle in place, eyes
closed, still singing in his lilting tone.

 
          
 
"Child's coming," Chokecherry added.

 
          
 
Craning his head to see, Little Dancer didn't
hear the soft steps. He jerked as the flap lifted and Heavy Beaver ducked in,
caught sight of Two Smokes and the Wolf Bundle, and stopped dead.

 
          
 
Shock registered for only a moment before a
dull rage filled his black eyes and rearranged the planes of his flat face.

 
          
 
"So, this is what's happening?"

 
          
 
Sage Root shot a look over her shoulder, a
flickering of fright in her eyes. "The baby is coming."

 
          
 
Two Smokes didn't break stride in his chant.

 
          
 
"A little more," Chokecherry coaxed,
hands placed.

 
          
 
Where he crouched outside, the blackness
twirled with the Power. Heavy Beaver! He could feel it, a subtle whiff of anger
and hatred. The effect stung him like a sulfur breeze on a green meadow,
grasses and flowers wilting and smothering. The Wolf Bundle remained a powerful
brilliance in the miasma.

 
          
 
"Ah-ha! Bear down!" Chokecherry
cried, reaching where Little Dancer couldn't see. "That's it."

 
          
 
Dancing Doe shuddered as her belly flattened
and Chokecherry lifted the infant, streaked and wet in her hands. The squalling
cry of new life filled the lodge.

 
          
 
Two Smokes inhaled deeply and dropped his
head, pulling the Wolf Bundle back to his breast, stroking it reverently as he
whispered a prayer of thanks under his breath.

 
          
 
"It's a girl," Sage Root whispered, looking
furtively toward Heavy Beaver.

 
          
 
"Why am I not surprised?" Heavy
Beaver loomed, crouched under the low spread of the shelter. The look in his
eyes tickled a cold shiver down Little Dancer's spine.

 
          
 
"Another girl? And born under the
influence of malignant Spirit Power?" Heavy Beaver crossed his arms.
"A wondrous gift to the People."

 
          
 
Dancing Doe worked her mouth dryly, too spent
to do anything but stare with fright-wide eyes at the Spirit Dreamer.

 
          
 
In his accented speech, Two Smokes said softly,
"The Wolf Bundle isn't evil. It's—"

           
 
"Just what I'd expect from
Anit'ah
—and from something the likes of you. What are you?
A woman in a man's body like you claim? Surely a curse if I've ever heard one.
And yet you'd pollute the birthing lodge?"

 
          
 
Two Smokes closed his eyes, expression pained.

 
          
 
"Leave him alone." Sage Root turned
where she rested on her heels. "The Wolf Bundle freed the child."

 
          
 
"Another girl. A mouth to feed while men
go hungry."

 
          
 
"So you say!" Sage Root colored.
"You can't keep blaming starvation on women. We're the People! Why have
you turned your hatred against us? What's your purpose? To drive the People
apart? Then you're succeeding! We're not animals."

 
          
 
"Oh? And you think the Wise One Above
hasn't—"

 
          
 
"I think your Dreams are false. "

 
          
 
Stunned silence filled the lodge as Sage Root
realized what she'd said.

 
          
 
Where he crouched in the night, Little Dancer
started, gasping. Immediately eyes went his direction.

 
          
 
"Who?" Heavy Beaver wondered,
"Another pollution?" He reached for the flap, and in that instant,
Little Dancer jumped to his feet, vaulted the sage, and sped into the darkness.