Shaxoa's Gift (4 page)

I sighed in frustration. There were still so
many unanswered questions. Why was the Matwau after me? Why were
Talon and the other desert animals compelled to help me? Why was I
able to speak so clearly with the animals now when I had never been
able to before? And why were so many people and forces telling me
that I could never be with Claire?

I had wanted to stay and demand answers from
Quaile, who had set off this whirlwind of change. After facing her
betrayals twice, I was not sure that I would be able to believe her
words, even if she had been willing to offer up an explanation. The
leather necklace Quaile had given me hung around my neck, the woven
pendant brushing my chest.

She told me to give it to the shaman in Hano,
and I would not be denied the help I was seeking, but would I be
denied answers? Perhaps a different shaman, one not so connected to
what had happened, would be more forthcoming. I desperately hoped
that would be the case. I needed answers as much as I needed
help.

Images began filtering through my mind,
showing the landscape barren, just as before. Talon’s messages were
not spoken with words, but with images, showing me what I needed to
know. The first time I had experienced the communication two days
ago, it had confused and frightened me. Now it seemed as natural as
breathing. Most of our conversations now flooded into my mind with
ease, the pictures interpreted so quickly that my mind registered
them as simple words.

Although every desert animal I came in
contact with was immediately drawn to my aid, Talon was the most
intelligent and understanding. He was able to empathize with what I
was feeling and offer the sage advice I was often in desperate need
of. Without Claire in my life, his presence was one of the few
things keeping me from rushing off to the Matwau and seeking the
death he had promised me.

“Do not think of such things,” Talon warned.
His thoughts were clear, even though I knew he was more than a mile
away. It was not that Talon could actually read my thoughts as much
as hear them. It seemed that whatever I thought was projected out
to him, regardless of whether I wanted it to be that way or not.
Perhaps one day I would learn to control my thoughts a little
better.

“I know, Talon,” I said wearily. “I know it
does me no good to think of the Matwau, but I also know he’s out
there waiting for me, and being without Claire is so painful.
Sometimes I don’t think I can hold myself together without
her.”

“The only chance you have to break the bond
is in Hano,” Talon reminded me. “If you are not strong enough to
make this journey, you will lose Claire forever.”

“I know.” Even though Talon was sympathetic
to what I was going through, he was still a hunter and fighter
above anything else. He would not tolerate whining or weakness from
me. When the pain became too great, he pushed me forward, reminding
me of what was at stake.

“I just wish I understood why all of this is
happening,” I said. “I don’t understand why Quaile wouldn’t just
tell me what she knew. If I had known about the Matwau before I
left San Juan the first time, things might have gone better for
us.”

“She did know more than she was willing to
tell you,” Talon said. Although Quaile was not able to communicate
with Talon as I was, Talon had been able to hear her thoughts and
judge them as truthful. Without Talon’s confirmation, I may not
have believed Quaile when she told me the Hano Shaxoa knew how to
sever the Twin Soul bond.

“Did you hear anything that she didn’t speak
out loud?” I asked.

“Nothing specific. She has known what you are
since the day you were born. She understands more of her visions
than she told you,” Talon said. “When she thought of you, it was
not as a young man, but as a warrior. She believes you are meant
for some great purpose.”

“How am I supposed to accomplish anything
when I seem to be the only who has no idea what’s going on?”

“You will discover what needs to be done,
Uriah. You must be patient,” Talon said.

Quaile said her vision had shown me fighting
through thick forests against some kind of monsters. They feared me
and were trying to stop me from doing whatever they believed I was
about to do. Then her vision had changed, showing me standing in a
desert valley surrounded by monsters as I tried to rescue a woman I
had never met.

At the time, her words had meant little to
me, but now I feared that I was beginning to understand at least
some of what she had told me. The Matwau was a shape shifting being
stepped out of a realm I had no understanding of. It claimed its
purpose was to destroy those seeking their Twin Souls before the
unbreakable bond could form.

When we first encountered the Matwau, I had
assumed it was following me only to reach Daniel, but the creature
had been quick to correct me. While it wanted Daniel at the time, I
was his ultimate target. He never took the time to explain why I
was so important to him, a fact that still gnawed at me. I still
had no idea where these visions were taking place, or when, but I
had a sinking feeling that the woman I was meant to rescue would be
my own Twin Soul.

Before leaving my precious Claire behind, she
had begged me to find a way to free her from the Twin Soul bond
trying to tear us apart. With the hope that I would not fail her
again, I was racing to seek help from the powerful and feared
Shaxoa witch in Hano. Quaile promised the woman would be able to
give me what I needed, but I could not help but fear the meeting
Quaile’s vision foretold.

Was the vision telling me I would be
unsuccessful and sent off to save a stranger instead? Or would I
free Claire only to become ensnared by my own unwanted fate?
Shaking my head, I pushed the dark thoughts away. Talon was right.
Dwelling on what I couldn’t do anything about was hardly
useful.

As I rode my motorcycle through the desert, I
thought of Claire. I wondered what she was doing right at that
moment. We had made plans to drive down to Santa Fe, to celebrate
gaining permission from the Elders to marry. Instead of sharing an
intimate meal at the restaurant we had gone to the night I
proposed, we were now further apart than we had ever been in the
past year and a half.

The distance between us was painful. Every
mile I drove seemed to be one more strand of connection left
behind. Silently, I prayed that Claire would have faith in me. I
hadn’t been able to save her from her father’s poison, but I
refused to let anything stand in my way now. I would do whatever
the Shaxoa asked of me to sever the bond Claire shared with
Daniel.

A penetrating calm filled my body, banishing
my fears and worries. Talon’s presence always had the same soothing
effect on me. He claimed it was a talent he had possessed since
birth, making him a deadly hunter. That did not explain how he did
it, but I was somewhat disconcerted that the same trick used to
catch his prey also worked on me. Scanning the horizon, I spotted
his tawny colored fur darting among the piñon and juniper
trees.

“It’s getting late. We should begin looking
for a place to stop for the night. You need to rest,” Talon
said.

I had been going nonstop since Claire had
collapsed in her parent’s home, but I could not help but feel
guilty for acknowledging my aching muscles and tired mind. “We can
go a while longer,” I said.

Talon’s reply was patient but firm. “Your
bike is drifting on the road and your thoughts are beginning to
wander too much. It is time to stop for the night, Uriah.”

Sighing, I had the distinct feeling that
there was little chance that I would win the argument. Talon was
extremely protective of me and would not hesitate to find a way to
stop me if he felt it was necessary. “Fine,” I said, “let me know
if you find something defendable.”

The shape shifting Matwau had not been seen
since leaving San Juan Pueblo, but he was out there somewhere,
waiting for me to make a mistake and fall into his trap. The Matwau
feared me, but was compelled to destroy me just as strongly as
Talon felt the need to protect me. My guardians kept the creature
away for the time being, but eventually he would become tired of
waiting and attack. I was only hoping that we would make it to Hano
first.

The green and white of a highway sign
announced that we were less than an hour from Gallup, New Mexico.
My hopes of reaching Hano without stopping rose. Gallup held all
the modern conveniences a traveler could need, but I did not want
to stay the night in the city. It would be difficult to explain
Talon to the hotel manager, and I was not about to sleep without
him by my side. From the directions I had gotten earlier, I knew
Hano wasn’t much farther.

“Have you ever been this far from your
territory before, Talon?” I asked.

“I have rarely travelled this far from my
home, only when poor hunting has forced me to leave,” he said.

I wasn’t very familiar with cougar mating
habits, but I was suddenly curious to know whether Talon had left
anyone behind to come with me. “Do you have a family, Talon?”

The cougar’s answer was tinged with
amusement. “Not in the way you are used to, Uriah. I have many
offspring and mates, but cougars do not travel in packs. After the
mating season is ended, we part ways and go back to our own
lives.”

I was surprised by his answer, though I
supposed I shouldn’t have been. I knew that very few animals mated
for life, but Talon seemed to understand everything I told him
about Claire and Twin Souls. I had assumed he would have been
different in some way.

“Does any of this make sense to you?” I
asked. “I mean, me dragging Daniel back to San Juan to save Claire
and now going to Hano to speak with the Shaxoa?”

“Of course, Uriah. I may not be familiar with
love in the way you see it, but I have felt your devotion to
Claire. I understand that you are bound to her more than Daniel
will ever be. You cannot abandon her, now or ever. I understand
responsibility,” Talon said.

“I almost did abandon her,” I said. When I
felt the bond form between Daniel and Claire, I made the decision
to step aside and free Claire from her promises to me. The
heartbroken look on her face had stolen my will to go on.

“You were only doing what you thought best
for Claire at the time,” Talon said. He was not trying to make me
feel better. He was simply stating a fact as he saw it. “If Quaile
had been more forthcoming about what she knew, you would never have
left Claire’s side.”

“I still wonder whether I’m doing the right
thing,” I said.

“Claire asked you to do this,” Talon
said.

She had. Claire had begged me to rescue her,
to keep our love whole, but still I wondered. She would be giving
up so much for me. Was I wrong to let her put aside the happiness
she might have without me? I debated the question many times, never
coming to a satisfying answer.

Coming out of my thoughts, I realized how
much the traffic had picked up. We were nearing the city. The low
profile of Gallup was visible on the horizon. Surrounded by red
rock bluffs and deep canyons, Gallup looked much the same as I
remembered it. Even though I had already been to the Albuquerque
Balloon Festival several times, the trip to Gallup for the Red Rock
Balloon Rally had proved very memorable for me. My father had
volunteered to help crew one of the hot air balloons, earning a
ride for the two of us.

Having never even been on a plane, sitting in
the open air basket had been thrilling. My mother had waited for us
on the ground, not as excited about flying through the air with
only a wicker basket to keep us safe as we had been. The flight had
only lasted about twenty minutes, but by the end of it, I was ready
to commit my life to being a hot air balloon pilot. I smiled at the
memory, glad that the idea had proven only a passing fancy. The
memory of that day was still strong in my mind as we drove through
the city.

“It’s only another two and a half hours from
here,” I said. “I think we should keep driving and just get there
tonight. It’s only eight o’clock. It will be too late to talk to
anyone, but I don’t want to stop.”

“We’ll keep going as long as you can stay
awake and alert enough. You haven’t had a restful night’s sleep
since we met,” Talon said.

That was certainly true. Even when I did get
a chance to sleep, my mind was immediately filled with dreams of
Claire and nightmares of the Matwau hunting me. Even with the
exhaustion, being so close to Hano made me reluctant to stop before
reaching the village. I had no idea how long it would take to
convince the Shaxoa to help me, but there was no point in wasting
any time.

“I’ll be fine,” I said. Talon’s answering
thought seemed to say he would be the judge of that. “Has there
been any sign of the Matwau?”

“No, there has not.”

“Where is he?” He had attacked us three times
before we made it back to San Juan with Daniel. His threats to come
after me were certainly more than idle words. Why hadn’t he
fulfilled his promise? I was glad that I hadn’t had to deal with
him again, but his absence was starting to worry me.

“I do not know, Uriah. I had feared that he
would attack as soon as you were far enough from Quaile, but none
of the sentries have seen any sign of the Matwau,” Talon said. “I
am beginning to wonder if he is limited in some way.”

“You mean like he can’t come after me for
some reason, like when Quaile said Daniel was under her
protection?” I asked. Somehow Quaile had been able to repel the
Matwau when he tried to attack Daniel in her presence. I wished I
knew how she had been able to do that.

“I do not think Quaile can protect anyone who
is not very near her person, but I think there is some reason the
Matwau is staying away,” Talon said.