War Bringer (34 page)

He set her on her feet then led her back to the house. At the patio, he let her go. “Pack what you need for an overnight stay. I have everything else we’ll need. I’ll bring Blade’s Jeep out front.”

He noticed that there were several faces watching them from the living room. Once spotted, the women dashed from the windows.
 

Fiona hurried across the patio, then slowly turned to look at him. “Is the claiming ceremony secret? Something I shouldn’t talk about with the others?”

Kelan considered her question. “It isn’t secret, but it’s complex. Saying any part of it without giving the intentions behind the ceremony won’t do it justice—and it may cause your friends to have bad feelings about it. There is no one it must please but you, so handle their curiosity as you wish.”

She smiled, then came back over to kiss his cheek, which he bent to accept. He walked down the patio and into the house through the den, intending to find Kit to tell him he’d be out for a while.

The entire den was loaded to capacity with the team. To their credit, he couldn’t remember seeing them at the window. They looked up at him, faking surprise. He grinned. “Fiona has agreed to the claiming ceremony.”

“Hey, that’s great, Kelan!” Selena said.
 

“So that wasn’t the ceremony happening out there?” Val asked, only to get an elbow in the ribs from Blade. “What? I wasn’t looking. Okay, well, I was a little curious.”

Kelan’s brows lowered. “The claiming ceremony is a sacred event, not entertainment for bored friends.”

“Huh. Sacred like tantric sex?” Val looked hopeful.

Kelan took a step toward Val, but Kit stepped between. “Forget it. Forget him, us. Just go do your thing, feel me? I don’t expect to see you again until you decide to come back.”

Kelan held out his hand shook with Kit. “Thanks.” He was almost to the door when he looked back.
 

Owen nodded at him, a faint smile on his lips.
 

“Hey—congrats, K,” Blade said. “We love you, man.”
 

Kelan shook his head and chuckled, as did the rest of the room before he shut the door.

Chapter
 
Thirty

Kelan loaded Blade’s Jeep with the things they’d need: the trunk of ceremonial items, a cooler with food and drinks, camping gear, and his go-bag.
 

Fiona came out of the open garage bay. She put her stuff in the Jeep, then came over to him. She looked like a vision wearing a camp shirt over her tee, cargos, and hiking boots. Some sights just wrote themselves into your heart—this was one of them. Her face had none of the shadows that had darkened it in the last few days. She smiled at him. He lifted her hands and held them in his against his chest. He would never forget this moment.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Yes.”

He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “I already feel whole.”

“Me too.”

He opened the Jeep door for her. The soft-top was down, letting them enjoy the heat of the late summer day. When they returned in a day or two, fall will have started. It was an auspicious time for their ceremony.

Fiona pulled a baseball cap on as they left Blade’s driveway. Her blond curls danced and bobbed in the wind. Took everything Kelan had to tear his eyes from her and focus on the road.
 

“Where are we going?”
 

“The place I selected is on the BLM land that Blade’s estate leases.”

“I can’t wait to see it.”

They drove away from Blade’s for about a half-hour, then turned north onto a dirt road. The terrain was rough and the going was slow as they headed out onto the treeless, rolling hills of the open range. There was more grass than scrub brush. The green land rolled into the distant horizon, touching the blue, cloudless sky. To the west, large outcroppings of granite boulders became thicker and taller. They went down a hill, moving into switchbacks that seemed to come out of nowhere, over a wide creek, then back up the other side.

He looked at Fiona, curious about her reaction. Her eyes were big and awed. “I had no idea this was here.”

He smiled. They hadn’t even gotten to the best part yet. Another forty-five minutes of driving brought them to a narrow entrance into the huge rockface they’d been skirting. Soon the pass opened up to a small canyon. The road moved to the left, hugging the side of the cliff in what didn’t seem like a man-made road.
 

Fiona took hold of the roll bar. “Is this safe?”

Kelan grinned. “You’re strapped in, right?”

“Kelan!”

“It’s safe. I’ve been out here a couple of times.”

The road started to move away from the rockface, dropping down into a treed area. They drove through a grove of aspen and cottonwood, then came out into a clearing by a fast-moving creek. Willow shrubs grew up from the banks.
 

Kelan drove across the water and up the other side. A small pool had formed at the edge of the creek, its water steaming in the cool valley air. He pulled around the pool and stopped just past the wide entrance of a cave.

“What is this place?” Fiona asked as she got out of the Jeep. “How did you ever find it?”

“Finding you was harder than finding this place.” He reached for her waist and pulled her close. Her hands moved up his chest to hold his neck. She took her hat off, and he kissed her lips. For a long minute, he lost himself in her eyes.
 

“You know, we are just like my grandfather and Bear Paw Woman.” He brushed his hands over her pale curls. “But our coloring is opposite.”
 

Fiona smiled. “Do you think they’re happy for us?”

“I know they are. We’re why they began the claiming ceremony.”

“What happens now?”

“I’ll prepare the cave.”

“Can I help?”

“No, but you can watch. I’ll explain as I go.”

Fiona went to stand at the edge of the cave. It looked as if someone had already swept it out and cleared any debris. It wasn’t a very large space, maybe ten by fifteen feet.
 

Kelan stood before the cave opening and lifted his hands, his arms spread wide. He said something in a language she didn’t understand. He lowered his arms and smiled at her. “I asked my ancestors to bless and protect this space and us while we unite our lives.”

Fiona smiled back at him. “It was beautiful.”

“It’s important, while our spirits are bare and our souls are open, to have their protection.”

He lit his sage and set it to smoke in his abalone shell, then walked into the cave. Making a circuit about the space, he spread the smoke, saying something else she didn’t understand. The hushed reverence in his words was mesmerizing.
 

He picked up a stick then drew a big circle in the dirt, and then a smaller one in the center. Checking the compass on his phone, he broke the circle into four quarters, then drew a line from each quarter to the inner circle.
 

He retrieved four small paint cans from the Jeep, along with four wide brushes. “This is the part of the ceremony Bear Paw Woman’s father had my grandfather add.” He gestured in the air. “We have the four elements represented already—air, water, earth, and the fire we’ll set. This circle represents the four directions, the four seasons, the four stages of human life. Including them in this way shows we accept that we become one from separate parts, just as you and I will become one from two separate beings.”

He painted the outer edge and one inside line for each color, explaining what he was doing as he went. “Yellow is for the east. It represents awareness, insights, and understanding. It’s the color of our souls and of spring. Red is for the south. It represents the struggles we have in our lives, transmuting negative to positive. It’s the color of our hearts and of summer. Black is for the west. It represents harvesting what we’ve sown, introspection, and life lessons. It’s the color of our minds and of autumn. White is for the north. It represents the skills we use to survive, the positive behaviors that help us live long and healthy lives. It’s the color of our bodies and of winter.”

“What’s the circle in the middle for?”

“That’s where we’ll sit during the ceremony, in the middle of these powerful energies.” He brought in rocks and placed them in a smaller circle in the middle. He collected kindling and wood for a fire and set it in the ring of rocks, along with a box of matches.
 

Kelan went back to the trunk and retrieved the small iron brands. Fiona frowned looking at them. How she wished the branding wasn’t part of the ceremony. He set them next to the fire ring. He must have noticed her concern when he came outside.

“Fiona, it will transform us both, uniting us. I’ll have the scars on my body, but you’ll have them in your heart. We’ll each remember the vows we had seared into us during our claiming.”

Fee blinked a tear away.

He went over to the Jeep and withdrew the last things from his trunk. His go-bag, which he set outside the cave entrance. And then two outfits—a white deerskin dress beautifully embellished with colorful beadwork, and a set of deerskin leggings and tunic. There was also a wide leather strip and what looked like a long, fringed scarf with more of the beadwork on the ends.
 

He went over to the cooler and pulled out two bottles of water. “Thirsty?”
 

“I am.” She cracked hers open and took a long swallow. “What happens now?”

“I start the fire, and while we wait for the irons to heat up, we bathe in the spring. When they’re hot, we begin.”

“How do you know how to do this ceremony?”

“I read and memorized it long ago. When I told my parents about you, my mother reminded me again of all its parts.”

“You told them about me?” Why that made her feel a bolt of dread, she didn’t know.

“They love you already, because I do.”

“Really?”

He came over and pulled her into his arms. “Absolutely. When things calm down, I’ll have them out to meet you. Or we’ll go see them.”

“I’d like that. It’s nice to have a family again.”

“Have you selected your vows?”

Fee nodded. “Do we discuss them first? What if I chose bad ones and you have to sear them into your skin?”

Kelan smiled. “Are they tenets you’ll live by?”

“Yes.”

“Then you can surprise me with them in the ceremony. Ready to begin?”

She nodded then touched her hand to her chest. “My heart is beating so hard.”

He kissed her, then went into the cave and lit the fire. Once the wood had begun to burn, he set the irons in the fire. His face was solemn when he returned. He met her eyes, then began undressing.

The air was cool in the ravine—she couldn’t wait to get in the hot spring. She removed her boots, then the rest of her clothes, feeling the chilly breeze whisper about her. Kelan took her hand and led her into the steaming pool. It was shallow and hot. Big rocks, rounded from the water, lined the edges. Smaller ones were across the bottom. The pool was too hot for anything to grow. Minerals bubbled up from the sand and river gravel. The water had a pleasant scent—like heated dirt and rock.
 

Kelan picked up a handful of sand and rubbed it on her chest and arms. She did the same for him, then lifted his forearms and kissed the insides of both wrists. They didn’t talk; their silence was tense. She splashed the water over her arms and body, listening to the nearby stream and the sound of the birds in the little valley.
 

After a while, Kelan took her hands. He led her from the pool. The cool air seemed much colder now. He handed her a big bath sheet. She dried herself then watched him dress. He tied the heavy strap about his hips, then pulled on the leggings and tied them to it. The leather framed his sex in a pleasing way. She smiled at him, but he didn’t return it.
 

He tucked the leather scarf over the strap in back of him, then pulled it between his legs and tucked it in up front, leaving the decorative edge out. She realized what she’d thought was a scarf was really a breechclout. She’d never seen one on anyone before.

He didn’t put the tunic on. He needed to keep his arms clear for the ceremony. She looked from his bare feet to his face, struck by his beauty and fierceness. She’d seen him in operational gear, casual wear, tuxedoes, and now this—and this was by far her favorite attire for him.

“If my heart wasn’t already yours, it would be now.” She couldn’t do more than whisper. The smile he gave seemed sad. He must be feeling the same overwhelming emotions she was.
 

He picked up her dress. “Your turn.”

Fiona removed her towel, which she’d been using as a blanket, and tossed it over the side of the Jeep. He lifted the dress over her head. It felt like heaven. Light, but warm and soft. “This is beautiful.”

He took her hand and began leading her into the cave. “Wait!” She ran back to her purse and removed a piece of paper. “I wrote my vows down. I was afraid I would forget them in the heat of the moment.” She bared her bottom teeth in a worried frown. “Is that allowed?”

“Of course. I’ve memorized mine, but I’ve also written them down.”

“Good. I don’t want to forget anything about this ceremony.”

They went into the cave and sat beside the fire, facing each other. Kelan checked the irons. The tips were glowing red. “We’ll do your vows then mine.” In his beautiful Lakota language, he said something—a prayer, she supposed.

He looked at her. “I asked the spirits stand guard while we exchange our vows.” He rearranged the irons in the oven. “We’ll say them in this order: our bodies, our hearts, our minds, our spirits.”

Fiona felt a knot in her stomach. She wanted to race through the next few moments as much as she wanted to move slowly so she could remember all of it.

“Let’s begin.” Kelan removed the first of her irons from the fire, the one that represented her body. He held it above the base of his left wrist, then nodded at her.

Her hands shook as she lifted her paper over her folded legs. She glanced at him, then said, “Kelan Shiozski, I vow to ensure that our physical lives exist in a place of peace.”