The Dove (Prophecy Series) (11 page)

Evan picked up the story. “It also means that these Vikings have already come to your land, and when they leave, they will go back and tell
their
people what a wonderful, rich land it is, and that will bring men from different lands who ride the great water, too.”

“Which means, my time in Naaki Chava is coming to an end even faster than I believed,” Tyhen said. “There is no time to waste. It will take a long time to walk from this place to all the other tribes. It will take even longer to spread the word of what happened and ask them to accept the New Ones who will stay and help them change.”

Cayetano listened without outward emotion, but his heart was breaking and Singing Bird was crying. It was not a good night.

Moments later, Nantay and the trader were escorted into the room and Singing Bird wiped her face and turned to face them. She would show weakness to no one but her inner circle.

“Singing Bird, this is the trader who brought the stone. His name is Izel,” Nantay said.

The trader was a short, squat man with wide shoulders and bowed legs, and it was obvious from the look on his face he was afraid for his life.

“Izel! Come forward,” Cayetano ordered.

Izel shuffled up to the chief and then dropped to his knees, shaking and moaning.

Cayetano frowned. “Your life is not in danger. Stand up and answer Singing Bird’s questions.”

Izel leaped up, nodding rapidly.

Singing Bird frowned and pointed at the bench. “Sit, Izel, before you fall.”

He plopped down onto the end of the bench, glancing nervously at the stone tablet beneath the leather cover and then staring at the twins. They were obviously from a different race, and their identical faces added to the mystery of who they were and where they’d come from.

Singing Bird shifted into her teacher voice. “Izel, look at me.”

He quickly shifted focus.

“That’s better. Now tell me, where did you find this stone?”

“I found it on my trading journey. It was in the jungle and lying on the ground. When I took it to the next village, an old man told me that when he was a boy, men in a canoe came to their shore. The canoe was very long and there were many men rowing it. They came ashore wanting food and water. It was given to them, but they didn’t leave. One of their men was sick, and after he died, they wouldn’t take his body with them. Instead, they dug a hole and buried him. Then they laid the stone on top to mark the place.”

Singing Bird frowned. This wasn’t Viking tradition, but Adam and Evan had already locked into the story.

“They didn’t want to touch him because he had a disease they didn’t want to catch,” Evan said.

Tyhen moved to where the little man was sitting, then laid a hand on his shoulder, just to see if her new gift still worked. The moment she touched him, she got more than she bargained for.

“The old man told you to put the stone back, didn’t he?” she asked.

Izel’s eyes widened and then his chin began to quiver. Once again, he feared for his life. “Yes.”

“Why didn’t you?” she asked.

Izel was shaking. “I couldn’t find the grave again, and I thought it would be better to keep it than to mark the wrong place.”

“Do not lie. You thought you could get something in trade for it, didn’t you?” Tyhen said.

Izel put his hands over his head, slid off the bench, and dropped to his knees again. “You have magic! I did not know you had magic!”

“It doesn’t matter,” Singing Bird snapped. “You lied to Cayetano. You lied to me, and you have lied to my daughter.”

Cayetano pointed at the two guards who’d escorted the man into the room. “Take him to the steps of the temple and guard him until sunrise. Once the sun is up, make sure he leaves Naaki Chava.”

Johnston Nantay looked at Singing Bird, and then at Cayetano. “Great Chief, unless you have need of me, I will walk with them through the city. It is not a good place to walk alone after dark.”

“You may go, and we thank you,” Cayetano said.

Nantay nodded, but instead of leaving immediately, he turned to Tyhen. “You will not make your walk alone. We all knew this day would come. The New Ones have talked and many of us will make the walk with you, just like we made the Last Walk with your mother.”

Singing Bird’s eyes welled both with gratitude and added sadness. Once again, she would be losing people she loved, but it was good. The more people accompanying Tyhen, the safer she would be.

Tyhen nodded. “I knew. I have already seen you walking with Yuma in my dreams, and I thank you for the sacrifice you will make to leave your homes.”

Johnston’s smile was gentle, but he shook his head in denial of her words. “We all know that nothing will be the same, but we look at it as going home, not leaving one. When you can, come to my house. I will show you things we have made to prepare for the journey.”

“I will come tomorrow,” she said.

Cayetano glanced at Singing Bird in sudden fear. Would she want to go back, as well?

Singing Bird saw the look on his face and immediately took his hand. “We will miss you, but we understand.”

Cayetano’s panic ended. “This is so,” he said and then shifted focus. “Take the trader to the temple and give Nantay a torch to light his way.”

Moments later they were gone.

Cayetano eyed the people who’d become his family and then his gaze moved to the twins. “Do you go, too?” he asked.

Adam and Evan wouldn’t look at Yuma and Tyhen.

“No, Cayetano. We stay with you until you no longer need us.”

Singing Bird was startled, but relieved.

Cayetano nodded, obviously pleased with their answer.

Yuma was shocked. All they’d ever talked about growing up was protecting Tyhen, and now they were backing out?

“Go to bed! All of you,” Singing Bird said. “There is still time to discuss details in the days to come.”

Tyhen dropped her gaze and stared at the floor all the way out of the room. By the time they reached the hall, tears were running down her face.

Yuma took her hand, but they kept walking.

The twins were right behind them and soon caught up. “There’s something you don’t know,” they said quickly. “We will stay with Singing Bird for a while, but not forever. We will be joining you at a later time.”

“You two can’t find your way through the jungle without someone leading you, and you know it,” Yuma snapped.

Evan’s voice sounded as sad as he looked. “We have a way, and we will find you. Just know that we will never abandon you, Tyhen. Never.”

She couldn’t talk without sobbing aloud, and didn’t want her mother to hear her, so she said nothing.

When they got to her room, she walked inside, leaving Yuma in the hall with the twins.

“What’s going on?” Yuma asked.

Adam put a finger to his lips to indicate quiet. “We’ll tell you everything we know tomorrow, when we can talk beyond these walls.”

He had to be satisfied with that and went in after Tyhen, leaving the twins in the hall.

“This is harder than I thought,” Evan whispered.

“But we have no choice. We owe our lives to Singing Bird. We have to see them to safety first,” Adam said.

“Agreed,” Evan added. “So let’s go to bed. I’m exhausted.”

Adam sighed. “I miss the days when we could watch television in bed.”

“And the cookies and ice cream,” Evan added.

Then they shrugged in unison.

“But there’s no more Landon Prince, so it’s a fair trade,” Evan said.

“A very fair trade,” Adam added.

Although they were satisfied with their lot in life, Tyhen was still trying to come to terms with hers. She turned to Yuma as he closed the door behind him, shutting the torchlight out and leaving the room bathed in moon glow.

Even in the shadows, he saw tears glistening on her cheeks, but when she spoke, her voice was firm, almost commanding.

“Tomorrow I will go to Nantay’s to see what the New Ones have made.”

“We will go,” he said, correcting her.

She nodded, then dropped her shift on the floor and crawled back in her bed, turned her face to the wall and closed her eyes.

Yuma unwound his loincloth and crawled into the bed beside her and then slipped his arm around her body and pulled her close. He could feel the tension in her muscles and thought she was still crying, but he didn’t try to comfort away the tears. Now was time to cry because in the months to come, tears would be a waste of time.

****

It was just after sunup and the twins were in the kitchen, ignoring the giggling servants as they rummaged for food when Yuma came striding into the room.

“We talk now,” he said shortly and led the way out into the early morning.

It had rained during the night and the sound of dripping water was constant. The air was already steaming and insects abounded, feeding off the rotting fruit the monkeys had dropped from the trees above.

They walked in silence all the way past the north end of the palace and out into a clearing before Yuma stopped and turned to face them.

“Is Tyhen all right?” Adam asked.

“Is she mad at us?” Evan added.

Yuma waved away their questions. “What do you know that we don’t? Why are you staying behind? What did you mean when you said, ‘until you don’t need us anymore?’ Are Cayetano and Singing Bird going to die?”

Adam stared intently into Yuma’s eyes without immediately answering.

Yuma glared. It had happened plenty of times before, but he was in no mood for it today and shoved him backward.

“Stop it! I know when you’re reading me. Answer my question.”

“You don’t tell this to Tyhen,” Adam said.

Yuma threw up his hands in frustration. “She touched the trader and knew he’d lied. I keep nothing from her, ever. Whatever it is, she has to know. Her journey is too important to withhold secrets.”

Adam’s shoulders slumped.

Evan put a hand on his brother’s arm in comfort and picked up the conversation. “The mountain that faces the temple is a volcano. It has been asleep for nearly five hundred years, but it is going to wake, and when it does it will spill burning rocks and fire down into Naaki Chava. Many will die, but most will escape because we will be here to give warning. We have to stay or Cayetano and Singing Bird
will
die, along with everyone else.”

Yuma spun toward the mountain, imagining the horror. When he turned around, his jaw was set.

“How long before this happens?” he asked.

“We can’t be sure, but it will be after Tyhen leaves the city.”

“You can’t wait until the last minute to tell people. They will need time to pack belongings and find a new place to live. They can’t just go running off through the jungle and trade one death for another.”

Evan frowned. “We know this. We are staying behind to handle this in the proper way. Cayetano will know. Singing Bird will know. They will tell the people. But you and a lot of the New Ones will already be gone.”

There was a knot in Yuma’s belly. The knowledge of this was yet another burden to carry. “How will you ever find us?”

“Do you remember how we escaped Firewalker?” Adam asked.

Yuma’s eyes widened. “The spinning cube! It opened a portal!”

“We will find you. That is all you need to know,” Evan said.

Yuma blinked away tears. “You are my brothers. I did not want to lose you.”

“You are our brother, too,” Evan said softly.

“And we won’t lose you,” Adam added.

“Tyhen is looking for you,” Evan said.

Yuma glanced over his shoulder, half-expecting to see her coming toward him.

“I’m telling her what you said.”

“Don’t tell anyone else,” Adam said. “We have to tell Cayetano and Singing Bird first and now is not the time.”

Yuma nodded and headed back to the palace at a lope.

****

Tyhen knew Yuma was talking to the twins. She could have gone, but she didn’t want to. If it was bad, she didn’t want to look weak by crying again.

There was a part of her that was already walling off emotion. It had to happen or she would never be able to make the journey. As she moved about the room, washing the sleep from her face and choosing clothing for the day, she thought of Yuma. The magic of being with a man was new and amazing and even better than her dreams. But crossing that line from childhood into maturity had done more than give her pleasure. She’d felt the shift the moment she’d touched the trader last night and knew it for what it was. The Windwalker had given her more than life and a quest. He’d given her many special gifts to help make it happen, and when she crossed the bridge from child to woman, even more had been activated.

Instead of waiting for Yuma to come back, she went in search of food and was eating a piece of fresh bread and thinking about eating another piece of coconut when Yuma entered the kitchen through the back entrance. She tried to read the expression on his face but couldn’t. And then he smiled and her heart skipped a beat.

“Have you eaten?” she asked.

He shook his head as he wrapped his arms around her. When she offered him a piece of her bread, he opened his mouth like a little bird waiting to be fed.

“Ummm, good, but not as good as you,” he said and then grabbed a handful of nuts and a banana. “I’m ready to go whenever you are.”

“Did you talk to the twins?” she asked.

He nodded. “I will tell you once we’re outside.”

Her eyes widened. “You don’t want others to hear.”

As usual, her perception was on target. “You are right. I don’t want others to hear.”

“I need a drink,” she said, but Yuma was way ahead of her. He dipped a cup into a jug of water and handed it to her.

Her hands were shaking as she took the cup, but her gaze was steady. “Thank you.”

He cupped her cheek then brushed a crumb of coconut from the edge of her lower lip. “You’re welcome,” he said softly.

He waited as she drank, then took her by the hand and walked her through the palace and out into the sunshine.

The streets in the city below were laid out in straight lines that intersected in perfect squares like white ribbons of icing, and the buildings in which the people lived were like the tiers on the birthday cakes from Yuma’s past.