The Last Sundancer (24 page)

Blankets were neatly stacked upon a sleeping place but there were not any personal items to show that this was a treasured home.  

Amara caressed her flute as she stared at the cold, empty walls around her.  Only when she was certain that she was alone, did she bow her head and allow herself to cry out her loneliness and grief.

“Where will I sleep?” Antuk
asked as he took in the sight around them. 

In many places the l
and was muddy and discolored.  The river that had always given them water and life was now their enemy.  It overflowed its banks, drowning the tender shoots and stalks before they had a chance to thrive. 

The location of their village had been chosen long ago when the river was quiet and calm.  Over time the land had changed though the people continued to hope that it would return to the way that it
had been.  

Kaichen studied the lodge where the young, unmarried men took their rest each night.   He knew that Antuk would not enjoy the boisterous group of men that made up the hunter’s lodge. 

“You can stay with me, but I will sleep under the canopy of the lights in the sky.” Kaichen knew that Antuk would find his response interesting. 

What man did not enjoy the wide open spaces and the night sky?  Antuk did not like to reside inside of the walls built to protect people from the weather.  Kaichen felt the same.  He also realized that Amara had been given the dwelling set aside for him. 

“Your mother asks a lot of questions.” Antuk’s voice broke into Kaichen’s thoughts and he almost smiled.

Kaichen did not immediately respond to Antuk’s words and soon enough his friend was busy eating the food that had been set aside for them. 

Kaichen took his place outside of the dwelling where Amara rested and he began to eat.  The food was well cooked and the flavors reminded him of his childhood.  His mind spun with thoughts of his brother.  The remembered pain of losing Siada was enough to cause his stomach to rebel.  Kaichen set the food aside and studied his surroundings.  

He was tempted to
look in on Amara, but he did not want to interrupt her rest.  His mother would not cause her harm while she was under his protection. 

Denoa wanted Kaichen to bend to her will and despite his desire to stay far away from his mother he felt a responsibility to the people that took shelter under the wide expanse of sky and red rock.  This wa
s his home.  This was his central place.

“You wanted to speak to me?” Kaichen did not know what it was about his mother that made him feel like a young boy seeking permission. 

For a moment,
Denoa’s eyes widened and then a shadow passed over her face and she turned her gaze away. 

“We have much to discuss.” Denoa was surprised that Kaichen had sought her out so late in the day.  She had expected him to take his rest and come to her in the morning when he was refreshed.  She did not expect to see her son, standing before her, tall and strong, shadowed in moonlight. 

“I want you to know that I returned here for the benefit of our people.  I did not return for you.” Kaichen knew that his words were bitter but he would not temper them with kindness.

“I am your mother.” Denoa felt her heart break as she studied her son.  During his childhood she had known that he would come to have the look of her husband.  But Kaichen was almost identical to Shale and for a moment she was cast back in time.  She blinked and the moment was lost. 

“I have not come here to argue with you. What is it that you have promised our people?” Kaichen dismissed his mother’s tears by not looking directly at her. 

He was a man, yet he was still her son.  The intensity of her imploring gaze burned his soul and he thought perhaps that was her intention.  He was not without compassion. His mother had lost her husband and then one of her sons.  Her actions had also caused her the loss of his love.  It was no small thing and he knew that she regretted the past, but it could not be undone. 

Denoa started to speak, she thought to invoke Siada’s name but one look into Kaichen’s cold eyes stopped her.

“Do not speak to me of my brother.” Kaichen’s voice warned her that she had gone too far. 

Denoa was a wise woman, she had been forced to grow in wisdom from the moment that she first took her husband’s hand until now.  She was not indecisive, she was not weak, but in that moment she felt weakness surround her.  She needed Kaichen’s cooperation, she needed his aid or all would be lost. Denoa closed her eyes and she thought of Shale. 

She did not allow herself to dwell on the sweetness of their love or the grief that his death had caused her. 
It was a simple thing to remember how stubborn and forthright her husband had been.   Kaichen possessed those same qualities.  The blood of warriors ran through his veins and above all else, he was his father’s son. 

“Your brother was also my son.” Denoa held up a hand to forestall Kaichen from speaking.  Her eyes told him that he must remember that she was his mother and he must respect her voice if only for a time.  “I ask only that you seek out
those that once claimed to be close friends of your father and speak to them of our plight.  Our crops drown.  The river continues to rise.  We will not make it through the cold season with the food that will come to us during the harvest.”

“You wish to have me act as
a mediator between our village and the nearby bands?” Kaichen remembered those that had chosen to live separately, breaking one large band into thirds.  Tamol and Farren had once been friends of his father and now they were leaders of their own bands. 

“
Tamol and Farren will listen to your voice.  They will not heed my call for help.  They do not wish to speak of fighting and death, but that is the world that we have inherited.” Denoa turned her face away as she looked to the moon.  It was almost full. 

“The attack will come during the darkest part of the night, when the moon is a round orb in the sky.  The raiders that roam this land came against us right after the first harvest and we were powerless to stop them as they took whatever we had stored for the time of long cold.  We will not survive another raid.  Our young women fear for their lives.  The young men seek blood and the older ones are not strong enough to fight.  We fear for the lives of our children.  We will seek our own death before we let our children starve. However, that fate is inevitable if we continue on this course.” The picture that Denoa painted was grim. 

H
er tone of absolute certainty was even more chilling.  For the first time, Kaichen saw the plight of their people through his mother’s eyes.

“Is there more?” Kaichen questioned as his mother looked steadily at him.

Her voice was the voice of song, stirring memories and dreams together.  He remembered the sound of his mother’s voice, the soothing sound of her whispered words was an integral part of his earliest memories, just as she had intended.  

The men and women of their band treasured their children.  Even today
, Kaichen had caught sight of women with little ones cuddled in their arms.  The women of their village were never separated from their young children.

“At first
, the raiders were leaderless and in a sense they were weak.  Yet, over time they have grown in size and strength, now they threaten our very existence.  We have no protection against their attack.  They are free to pillage and plunder if that is their desire.  We have no defense against them now that they have chosen a leader, a man that unites them under a single purpose.” Denoa’s voice trembled over the last word and she cleared her throat as if to deny such weakness.

“Where are your warriors?” Kaichen’s question was not meant to be answered. 

He knew the stories of his father.  Shale had been born of a savage leader that sought to dominate the land.  Strong warriors were bred from the battles that his father fought.  Shale was a strong warrior, a leader of men and his mother had come from a village of people that lived off the bounty of the land.  There had not been a warrior amongst them.  

Kaichen knew that the people had returned to their land dwelling ways, leaving the way of the warrior behind.  There were able bodied hunters, but they were not hunters of men.  

Even as he reasoned this out, he realized that his mother had sent him to Azin and she had to have known what the wise warrior would teach him.  Azin did not believe in leaving anything to chance, he had taught Kaichen everything that he knew and in doing so, he created a warrior of unparalleled skill.

“I will appeal to the nearby bands
.  I will ask them for help so that our people can survive the cold season, but you must prepare the people to leave this place when the weather warms or they must stand and fight.  Otherwise, you will not survive here.” Kaichen told himself that he would seek out the nearby bands for the sake of their village.

“Our people
would rather die than to leave the land of their birth.  This is the land of their fathers and mothers.  This is the land that our people fought for, so long ago.  Your father is buried in this ground that has betrayed us.” Denoa stopped speaking when Kaichen turned to face her with unmistakable fury burning in his eyes. 

“You speak of the land as if
it has a will of its own, but it does not. It is simply dust piled upon dust that rests in one place.” Kaichen did not doubt that the ground that he walked upon was sacred to his people. 

He could feel the power held within the confines of the rocks that surrounded them.  He understood the need to remain in a place that was familiar.  He had never known a time when the land did not hold sway over the future of those that dared to live upon it.  The moisture of the soil decided the life and death of those that
called green shoots forth.  The trails known to the herd animals held each hunter’s life within its fickle hands. 

Yet, his people had to change their way of life or face starvation and death.  It was a
s simple and as terrible as his mother had envisioned.  His mother’s voice brought his attention back to her. 

“The people believe that you
have a special purpose.  They believe that you can request a blessing from the heavens on their behalf.  Balance has been lost and it must be restored.  Are you the bringer of balance? Is that your purpose?” Denoa spoke of the drought that was common to the land, but the drought that had once plagued their people when his father lived had lasted for season upon season. 

Long ago,
the rains came and they did not cease until the ground was nourished and the people had enough to fill their water catches for many moons.  Now they faced flooding during the rainy season and their crops and plants could not survive if the flooding continued. 

Denoa asked Kaichen the questions that plagued him night and day.  Her dark eyes pleaded with him to listen to her words. 

“You speak nonsense.” Kaichen’s eyes narrowed in distrust as he watched his mother, the woman that gave birth to him.

Denoa called upon the depth of wisdom that had never failed her and could not fail her now.  Ho
w could she explain the needs of their band and help Kaichen gain an understanding of his place amongst them? How could she reason with him when he did not trust her and he rejected her words before measuring the truth that they held? Hopelessness filled her, but she called upon the strength inherent within her as she formed her thoughts into words. Bitter words.

“The people need something to believe in and
you are a symbol of their combined hope.  Is it so wrong that they seek a way to soothe the anxieties common to their lives?  Is it so wrong that they wish to have a sense of security given to them as a promise that they can hold with both hands?” Denoa would have said more but Kaichen held up his palm, facing forward, requesting her silence. 

He was so like his father in that moment that a physical pain lanced through Denoa’s heart. 

“You do not even believe the words that you speak.” Kaichen had always been able to read the truth in his mother’s eyes and he did so now. 

“It is true, I do not believe that one man can call the rain or bring forth the sun.” Denoa’s admission caused Kaichen to pin her with
a cold stare.

She knew that he sought the truth and he would not believe it if it came from her lips.

“I do believe that your father was especially blessed.  I believe that you have been given that same blessing.  Perhaps it is you that does not believe.  Perhaps it has been you all along.” Denoa’s voice was tired and strained with hurt.  Her son looked at her with anger blazing in his dark eyes and she wondered how she could have ever thought that his gaze was cold. 

For a moment
, Kaichen felt deep regret, he did not wish to bring his mother pain.

He understood deep loss and the agony that came with it.  He kept his deepest pain concealed from others. 
The death of his father, a man that he would never know and the murder of his brother filled him with regret.

Siada
should have grown to manhood at his side.  Regret faded as anger took its place.  Kaichen turned and found that his feet carried him away where he could breathe free of the burden that was his birthright.