The Unwanted Winter - Volume One of the Saga of the Twelves (58 page)

Kenai’s Labor

Day One, Thursday, A
Footstep Later…

Kodiak nudged the two
girls. They seemed scared to approach anything unknown. Their day
had been filled with enough uncertainty and misgiving. They clearly
weren’t in the mood to trust anything out of the
ordinary.

“
Go on, little ones,”
urged the bear-dog,

They shared a quick
glance, and then stared back at Kodiak.

Again, she
nodded.

Together, they stalwartly
walked toward what seemed nothing but a solid wall of rock. Just as
abruptly, they too vanished around the boulder.

Seeing it for the second
time, Joaquin saw through the optical illusion, realizing what he
was seeing. The lichen growing on the right hand side of the
boulder grew in between the seams that had formed where the boulder
rested against the other rocks and stones of the pile.
Meanwhile, the lichen on the left hand side,
which looked identical to the rest, was not in fact growing in a
small crack between rocks, because the rock wasn’t wedged or
leaning against anything on its left side. Since the lichen growing
behind it appeared the same, this gave the impression he was
looking at a solid face of jumbled boulders. What the configuration
masked was depth. It gave the illusion his companions had merely
vanished
into
the
rocks. To anyone looking from the front, and at a distance, would
see a solid face of rock. It wasn’t. When Joaquin walked closer to
the boulder, the illusion melted away. He found, as he approached,
there was indeed an open space behind it - about three and a half
feet of it actually. When he stepped into that space, he found
there was a narrow passageway before him, open to the sky above,
between two separate, sheer mounds of stone.

Ah dude, this is
freaky!

He took a number of steps
into the passage, until it turned abruptly to the left, into the
hillside itself. When he stepped next through the threshold of this
natural opening, he found himself inside a very large, sufficiently
round cave some ninety feet across and twenty feet high at the
highest point of the ceiling. Even from the entrance, through the
semi-darkness, he could see, at its’ middle, was a very
unremarkable ring of stones, gathered and stacked accordance with
what he envisioned would hold a good-sized campfire. He was
surprised, when he walked closer, to see there was wood stacked
“tee-pee”-like in the middle, covering a good amount of kindling.
Someone had prepared this place in advance!

But, how could that be, if
they didn’t know we were coming…?
Joaquin
shook his head in disgust.
Ah great,
quoting Lando Calrissian without even realizing what I’m
doing!
I’m losing it… I’m freakin’ losing
it, big-time! It’s this freakin’ place… It sucks!

The rest of their party
rambled in, remarking on the novelty of the hidden entrance or the
cave itself, while Joaquin continued to take stock of his
surroundings. As he’d noted before, the chamber was almost
completely circular, except for one portion of the wall - the one
directly opposite the entrance. It didn’t curve. Rather, it was
straight. Along this unbent expanse of the wall, wood had been
stacked, neatly, nearly five feet from the ground. This was
shocking, because there was enough firewood to last a month. He was
sure of it.

That made him wonder how
long they were going to stay here. Would they be there a
month?
Probably not
,
since we don’t have enough
supplies,
he admonished himself. Actually,
they didn’t have
any
supplies to speak of. Of course, they couldn’t stay here that
long.

He shook the thought,
noting there were also a few large logs, possibly for sitting,
conveniently placed around the fire pit. On the left hand side of
the cave, there were great piles of pine boughs and fern fronds
that looked comfortable, almost cozy, even from where he stood.
They were meant for sleeping. They had to be, they looked so
comfortable.

Maybe I’m just
tired.

Other than that, the cave
didn’t have much else to offer. The ground was relatively flat, but
there were areas where it looked as though something unnatural had
made it so. There was evidence some kind of stone formations used
to be there, but they’d been forcibly removed. It was scratches and
small gouges that gave it away. Add to the fact, the ground was
also a shade or two lighter in color in those areas as well. He
could tell their exposure to the air, in comparison to the other
areas of the ground, had been recent. Overhead was a different
story altogether. The ceiling resembled the type of ceiling typical
of any cave, very uneven and jagged with telltale stalactites
hanging from the roof here and there.

The boy noticed where many
of the newly smoothed areas existed on the floor of the cave there
was a corresponding rock formation hanging from the ceiling, not
everywhere, but in more than three-quarters of the cases. He knew
then, someone had been preparing this cave for quite some time.
This wasn’t a recent discovery, not at all.

When he voiced his opinion
to the group, Kodiak responded to his comment without hesitation.
“You are very bright, young man, and you are correct. My daughter,
Kenai, has been preparing for this day for almost five years
now.”

“
What did you say?”
interjected Anthony more intensity than the situation
warranted.

Kodiak turned to face
Anthony. She somehow smiled around her snout and formidable jaws.
“I know it was hard for you, Anthony, to let her go all those years
ago. I know you shed tears over your loss.”

Anthony started to shake
his head, but didn’t complete the gesture, choosing instead to look
at the ground and shuffle his feet.

“
As it was hard for me
too,” continued the bear-Dog, “having to sit and wait, not knowing
exactly how long I would have to endure the anguish of being
separated from her, while I aged and became evermore decrepit and
infirm as my life progressed. Often, I was quite sure I would
perish before I would be able to lay eyes on this head strong,
willful daughter of mine.”

Kenai chuckled.

Mikalah went up to the
huge bear-dog and gave her as much of a hug as she was able. The
beast’s neck was too large for her arms to completely encircle. The
proud looking creature rested her neck upon Mikalah’s small
shoulder as she sighed. Already, there were tears in the young
girls’ eyes.

As one, they listened to
Kodiak as she told the story. Her eyes seemed to drift off into the
distance. “It was a clear night at the time she was chosen for this
great work and a comfortable one as well. I was in a deep sleep
when the Great Yellow rose from the edge of the earth more quickly
than usual. Thinking it was day, I opened my eyes not bothering to
get up and realized it was still night. And yet, from behind me, I
could sense a light, brilliant, giving off the appearance of the
return of the day. I came to sitting position, turned to gaze upon
it, and was amazed to see it was my daughter who was glowing with
such an intensity, she was difficult to look upon. It was as though
she burned from within, a boundless surging of light that pulsed
with the beat of her heart. I became afraid and began to growl. I
wasn’t sure what was happening. I was hoping she wasn’t in pain. I
sniffed the air, the ground and still I couldn’t understand why my
daughter was aglow. I took a step toward my candescent baby,
growling a little fiercer.

“
Suddenly, this strange
warmth surrounded me, all at once, touching every inch of my body.
I think I shuddered involuntarily. Maybe it was an instinctual
attempt to shake it off. Regardless, I wasn’t successful.” Kodiak
paused, swallowing deeply.

Joaquin could see this was
hard for her. It must’ve been a bittersweet reunion between them,
he figured. Having been apart for so long must’ve been hard on
them. It seemed unfair though, after being reunited, to be banished
to this nightmarish world.

Though he never tried to
come across as tough guy, he was typically sensitive to what others
felt, had little problem with empathy. He might mask it at times,
but mostly he was a warm and thoughtful young man, perceptive and
caring of others. He hoped, at times, he didn’t show too much, but,
when he felt a lump rise in his throat, this time, he didn’t try to
force it down, worried he’d be embarrassed. He let it rise. He
tried to visualize the sacrifice the great bear-dog had faced in
the light of the greater good. He knew that he could never be as
brave (or as trusting) as Kodiak. It didn’t take him overly long to
come to that conclusion either. He was human. She’d been a dog, a
faithful pet.

I never thought I’d come
to realize we could all use a bit more trust with the help of a
canine. Your faith is amazing, Kodiak.

“
It was then, I heard his
voice,” continued the bear-dog. “The Lord of the Light did not
speak with his mouth, mind you. He did so with a voice in my head.
A voice that spoke to me and reassured me, but, most of all,
promised me, I would see my daughter again. I would merely have to
wait for a while.

“
After
the allotted duration, he said, I would see her again, but in
another place. Though we would look different and have a great
responsibility placed upon our shoulders, we would be together. We
would accomplish what we were born to do
together
– side by
side.”

Now, it was Elena’s turn
to give comfort. She placed her small hand upon Kodiak’s massively
muscled shoulder and stroked the beast softly, tears in her eyes as
well.

“
So, I brought myself
under control and watched as my poor daughter’s body began to
writhe and contort, but she slept and felt not a thing. I whimpered
as she began to fade, to become less real. Though I did not possess
the mental capacity I have now, I still had a notion, she was going
to a place far away, farther any of our kind could ever
imagine.

“
The pulsating light
emanating from her began to the flash faster and faster, as the
beat of her heart pumped blood through her veins. Each time it
throbbed, my daughter diminished, the light surrounding her grew in
strength. It became steadier and steadier as time progressed,
thrumming quicker than I could discern. Until, at last, it shone
continuously. It grew to such a degree, it almost blinded me. But,
I would not take my eyes from my beautiful daughter, knowing this
would be the last time I would set eyes upon her for a long, long
time. She became less substantial, less flesh, bone, gristle and
more a thing of light. I watched as she slowly dissipated as the
light grew until there was nothing left of her, only the light
remained. My beautiful pup was gone. The light flared twice more,
like the fluttering of a butterfly’s wings. Much too early, it
vanished too. I was alone. My baby, the last of my only litter, had
been taken from me. She was all I had.”

Joaquin wasn’t too
surprised to see a huge tear well in one of her large eyes and fall
to the floor with an audible splash.

“
I howled for a while.
When the Lady with the Long Hair banged on the window of her
sleeping chamber for me to be quiet, I went and found a spot at the
highest point of the back yard and resigned myself to begin the
long wait I would have to endure, in order to see my daughter
again. I whimpered and wheezed the entire night, for I was
completely alone, for the first time in my stunted memory. All of
my pups had been taken from me. It was the worst night of my life.”
She shuddered, releasing a quivering breath that echoed softly
throughout the cave.

Joaquin could see the
youngest of the girls was whimpering quietly into the neck of
Kenai, who continued to cuddle her with her giant chin nestled on
her neck and shoulder.

“
So you
have been here this
entire
time?” beseeched Anthony, his voice filled with
an intensity that reeked of accusation. His voice crackled. His
tone was edged with anger at reliving the hurt he’d felt back
then.

Joaquin could see it. It
was as plain as the granite surrounding them.

“
Yes, Tony, I have,
waiting and preparing, all this same time, for the day when the
Lord of the Storm would rise up and challenge the order of things
and bring you all into this world,” replied Kenai softly, so as not
to hurt the ears of the girl hugging her. Kenai’s tone was
consoling.

Joaquin knew she felt
guilty over leaving Anthony, her boy-master, behind.

What he didn’t know was
Kenai was the only dog Anthony had
ever
owned. Because, after she’d
left, he vowed to never again have a dog for a pet.

“
You must have been very
lonely,” he said, just as quietly, catching himself, reigning in
some of the misplaced anger he’d felt moments before. “Well, I hope
it helps knowing I missed you very much over the years. Not once
did I ever forget you were my first dog. You have always been
special in my mind.”

“
Thank you, Tony,”
muttered the bear-dog as Mikalah released her grip. She stepped
away, wiping her eyes.