Rise of the Death Walkers (The Circle of Heritage Saga) (15 page)

He smiled and chuckled softly. "The answer to your question is within the question you ask Pasche. You cannot be completely responsible for the safety of Katie for her entire life. Let's assume for a moment that you let her go back to her life and that she actually lets you send her away. What happens the first time she gets in a dangerous situation that is not avoidable? Can you stop a car from hitting her if you are not with her. Can you catch the ladder she is on when she falls from it? If you are not there you cannot protect her but if you are together then you can at least attempt to save her from any danger she might be in. You have said yourself that you love her."

I thought for a moment about what he said. "Grandfather, I understand what you are saying but I am putting her into a situation where our enemies can target her. Before they attempt to control this world they will take out the watchers first."

"This is true. We must uphold our sacred duty to ensure they do not take out the watchers." He tossed the stone onto the ground and stood up. "Follow me Pasche."

I stood up and followed after him. "Where are we going Grandfather?" I asked him.

"To the Circle of Heritage. Grandson. It is time you performed the ceremony to contact the spirits of the old. I believe the wisdom of your line will show you the answers you seek." He broke into a run and I easily followed him.

We reached the Circle and sat down to begin the meditation required to perform the ceremony. I thought he was referring to the beings of Origan but I was wrong.

The first being I consulted with was the man who had been chief at the time of our return to Earth.

“Why did we choose to follow the path that was chosen.”

He looked at me for a bit before he started.

“Grandson many times removed. We could no longer bear the thought of not being able to fight the beings we had confronted. We lost so many of the people in our tribes. Young, old, the beings did not fear who they killed. We had to do something. When the people of Denastis came to us, we saw for the first time, a chance to not only protect our brothers and sisters. We also saw the possibility of defeating them and driving them from our world. We welcomed this chance.”

He paused for a moment and looked into the fire.

“My forefathers were the first to be taken to Denastis and the stories of the initial days there have been told to our people since our return. They were kind and beautiful beings. I myself have seen only one of them in my lifetime but what I saw was beyond joy or beauty. They could have posed as the Great Spirits had they wanted to. Instead they chose to come as equals and teach us what we needed to know for our defense.”

The next spirit I talked to was the Great-mother of the tribe during the time when the first white man settled our lands and began slowly to take from us what was ours.

“When the white man came they opened up the floodgates for the Soul Reapers to feast. We had difficulty holding back the advance because our talents had not developed to a point where we could effectively fight. We were constantly losing ground because we had not only the Soul Reapers to battle but the white man too. I lost many sons and daughters during this time. My first husband was gutted before my own eyes as I was forced to watch.” She looked at me with pain evident in her eyes.

“You will without a doubt lose loved ones in the battle but you cannot let this defer you from your goals. We have to have victory over this enemy. Years of suffering calls for revenge and this charge I lay on your shoulders. Avenge all the people who have been lost during this war.”

I bowed my head to her and replied. “The blood of the enemy will be on my hands to provide fuel for vengeance, Great-mother.”

During that long night I conferred with the people of my family line. Answers were provided by learning for the first time just how long my family line was. There were chiefs from thousands of years before the white man came to this land. Many examples of the problems and solutions that my ancestors faced. The last spirit I spoke to was the medicine man from the time of the first great war.

“Grandson. We saw the evil in the eyes of the enemy on the front lines. They were not Germans, but they were possessed by feeding Soul Reapers. The war we fought beside the white man of America was just another battle in the long line of battles we fought. Every conflict from the beginning of this war had been sparked by the enemy the white man is unable to see.”

“You mean that during the second World War that Hitler was being fed on by Soul Reapers?”

“Actually considering the way the war has changed recently we believe he may have been one of the first primitive Death Walkers. When he no longer could be fed on, he committed suicide leaving the horrors of the war behind for men to clean up.”

This session was long and detailed and it was midmorning the next day before we withdrew from the Circle to go home to prepare for the wedding dance.

I thanked my grandfather and withdrew to my room to prepare for the wedding dance.

My clothing for the day would be all self made. I donned the traditional wedding suit for the males of our tribe. It had been difficult to find the proper deerskin for the ceremony and when we finally had enough together it had taken nearly two months for me to put the suit together properly. I would be wearing the traditional buckskin vest and pants with a sewn cotton shirt. The wolf emblem on the back depicted the white wolf of a chief done in beautiful white beads.

I carefully braided my hair and entwined the white tail father of the eagle in the last few strands.

Katie had chosen the traditional white doeskin dress the females of the tribe wore and the only difference would be the footwear. Traditionally the male would make the footwear for the woman but Katie had chosen to wear the footwear that my grandfather had made for my grandmother. Mimi was excited that Katie chose to honor her in the way she did. The wedding dance was one of my grandmothers most cherished memories.

The ceremony itself was simple. The bride would arrive in a canoe across the large pond behind my grandfather’s place. My arrival would be on a white horse that belonged to my uncle. I walked to my uncle’s farm to get the animal, having already timed when I would need to leave. The requirement of the state for witnesses would be covered not by a couple of people but the whole tribe. The actual ceremony would be not carried through by the elected chief of the tribe but by my grandfather who had been the last chief before elections who had been chosen in the traditional manner of the great mother choosing.

I had asked Katie months before if she wanted a traditional ceremony of the tribe complete with wedding dance or if she would prefer to have her own minister marry us. She said because she was already an honorary member of the tribe she wanted to do it our way. Mimi had taken great pains to instruct her in the proper steps of the dance and I had looked on a few times as they practiced. Katie had a ball learning and Mimi seemed to enjoy it as well.

Dr. Grant agreed to the ceremony we would hold with the one condition he be allowed to film it in its entirety. This caused a storm in the council because up until now the ceremony had never been recorded. Grandfather put his foot down and the council let him have his way as long as the film went no further than members of both families or members of the six nations.

They had a firm resolve that outside of Dr. Grant and his family no white man would ever see the sacred wedding dance of our tribe.

I waited until the proper time and rode out on Spanky toward the ceremony. Katie and my arrival at the ceremonial fire was on time to the second. My youngest brother took the reins from me when I dismounted. I approached my grandfather and stood before him facing my family who was gathered to the right of my grandfather. I would not be allowed to face or even look at Katie until she danced the acceptance dance.

The drums began the wedding dance. I performed my part with my eyes to the ground. Katie had the more difficult pattern to the dance. When she moved into my sight I was mesmerized by her perfection. She was not only beautiful with her looks but performed the dance as well a woman who was a member of my tribe.

My heart raced as I watched her graceful dance. When she finally came to a stop in front of me and looked at me, I looked up to meet her eyes. My throat was dry. I feared I would be unable to respond to the questions my grandfather was about to ask me. I took both Katie's hands into mine and my grandfather bound both sets of hands together with the wedding beads.

The traditional wedding questions were asked and answered in the ancient language and Katie spoke the ancient language well and only stumbled in a few places. The pronunciation of some of our words was strange to her, so sometimes she struggled to get the word right. The questions were deeper in details than what would have been asked at a ceremony off the reservation and we had translated and explained them to Katie and her parents long before the wedding dance took place.

Once the questions were answered Katie and I began the steps that would conclude the wedding dance. We moved as one because we were now considered one. The members of the tribe and Katie's relatives stared in slack jaw amazement on how well we danced together. Only occasionally we would stumble or step on each other’s foot during the dance. Usually when Katie's foot hit the ground in a beat mine was right with hers even though we were staring into each other's eyes. The final step of the dance was made and then our lips sealed to each other with the traditional first kiss.

There was a moments silence and then an enormous cheer went up from everyone. Katie and I were finally man and wife.

The whole dance had taken close to forty-five minutes and we were both gasping for air when the crowd rushed to us for the congratulations.

Katie's mom reached us first and gathered us both into her arms. "That was so beautiful you two. I am happy you decided to do the wedding like this."

My grandfather pounded me on the back and leaned to Katie and kissed her. "Welcome to the family Granddaughter."

Katie's face had tears of joy on it and she actually replied in the ancient tongue. "Thank you Grandfather." My grandfather seemed to swell up two times his own size in pride and his eyes were twinkling.

Dr. Grant came in and hugged both of us. He leaned forward and whispered loudly in my ear. "No need for that shotgun anymore is there Jason."

I laughed at him and said. "Well I hope not sir because that would make the honeymoon rather difficult."

Laugher broke out from both sides of the family and then my grandfather invited everyone to the reservation social center where the reception would take place. The whole group waited for Katie and I to depart on the horse I had ridden to the ceremony. As we were riding Katie hugged me tightly and whispered in my ear. "I love you, husband."

My chest swelled in prided and I cut loose with the traditional shout of victory. Almost in the same breath I declared my love to her. "It was a long time in coming love but what started four years ago with a beating ends now in a victory ride for me."

She slapped my shoulder and murmured, "Showoff, I wish you had not reminded me of that."

"If you're the reward for taking a beating like that lover than I would gladly do it over." I cut loose with the victory shout again and It was echoed by the tribe riding behind us. I had been surprised that enough mounts had been found for the whole wedding party. I did not find out until later that my grandfather had driven all over two counties to gather enough horses for the ceremony.

We reached the social center first, but were the last in because it was our duty to welcome all the guests. When we finally entered the hall the dancing had already started. All traditions were broken from this point on due to the diversity of guests included in the wedding party.

There was dancing to modern music that was sampled from many forms. There was country and western, soft rock, hard rock even the classical waltzes. Food was in abundance but alcohol was completely absent. This was a condition I had made. I had not wanted a bunch of drunken fools to ruin what was the happiest day in my life.

I was dancing a waltz with Katie when she asked me, "Now will you tell me where the honeymoon is?" I had refused to tell her where her father would be sending us. Dr. Grant had approached me months before with his offer to finance the honeymoon in its entirety. I had only agreed to it if he would not say a word to Katie about it.

I smiled at her and teased. "Are you sure you want to know?"

She stomped on my foot and said. "I demand to know right this instance Jason?"

I hopped up and down for a minute then gathered her back into my arms. "We will be going to Niagara Falls for two week love. I just hope I will be able to walk after you wrecking my foot."

"Niagara Falls? Oh Jason that is perfect!" She beamed at me and gripped me in a bone crushing embrace.

I leaned forward and kissed her deeply. "Be sure and thank your father for it he insisted on covering the whole trip." She started to break away when I said this and I gathered her back into my arms. "Not right now silly I am not done dancing with you."

She giggled at me and settled back into step. "I can't wait till I can get you alone. When are we leaving?"

I smiled at her and replied. "Tomorrow, on the bus. For tonight Grandfather and Grandmother booked the best suite in the hotel in Massena for us. Of course that won't be until much later there is a celebration going on right now if you care to recall."

"Darn!" she laughed in reply. I escorted her back to the table and sat down with her to watch the next dance and rest for a bit. "Jason? Who is that older woman next to Mimi?"

I looked where she pointed and said. "That's her mother. I did not expect her to make the trip down from Canada." I grabbed her hand and said. "Come I will introduce you to my great grandmother. Make sure you do what I do because it's a great honor that she is here." I pulled her over to where Mimi was and knelt down before my great grandmother then grabbed her hand and kissed it, "Grandmother Cara may I please introduce you to my wife Katie?"