The Dove (Prophecy Series) (13 page)

Tyhen thought of the comfort of the palace and the dwellings in the city and shuddered. She hadn’t thought about a more primitive style of housing, which made her realize she hadn’t given much thought to anything except what
she
had to do.

“These are some of the stronger metal weapons we have been making,” Johnston said. “There are better axes and hatchets than what was here, saws to cut down trees for building, knives and spears to protect and feed ourselves. We have bows and arrows with metal arrowheads like the kind your mother brought from the past. Here are cooking vessels and this table has clothing for different kinds of weather.”

He unfolded one and showed her how it worked.

“It’s made from jaguar skins,” she said, as she slipped her arms into the sleeves then frowned and quickly took it off again.

Yuma grinned. “What’s wrong?”

“It makes me sweat,” she said, wrinkling her nose.

“You won’t be sweating when it becomes necessary to wear it,” Johnston said.

Tyhen eyed the grin on Yuma’s face and remembered the fight they’d had months earlier. “Is this for cold and frozen?”

He nodded.

She sighed and handed it back to Johnston, then followed the men around the room, then up to the second floor, amazed at what they’d thought of and wondering how they would carry it all, when he answered the question before she asked.

“We made packs to carry on our backs with basic equipment for each person, plus some packs we can drag, and look at these,” he said, pulling out some rolls of tanned animal skins.

Johnston handed one to Yuma. “Unroll that,” he said.

Yuma moved a stack of packs aside and carefully unrolled the supple skin, then looked in disbelief.

“It’s a map! Are all of those maps?” he asked, pointing to the other rolls Johnston was holding.

“Yes, but they aren’t maps to a specific destination. They are maps of specific landmarks and mountain ranges, things that would not necessarily change shape all that much over a thousand or so years.”

“This is amazing and very important,” Yuma said.

Johnston beamed. “The tribal elders thought of this.”

They were talking of things of which she had no knowledge, but this time it didn’t matter. As long as they understood, she was satisfied. She was watching Yuma’s face and thinking how much she loved him when she heard Adam’s voice in her head.

“Go to the temple now.”

I do not go into that place.

“You can now. It has been cleansed. But you must hurry. A visitor is coming just for you, and you must go inside alone.”

Who?

“I think it is your father.”

But Cayetano is-

“Cayetano is not your father.”

She gasped.

“I have to go,” she said abruptly.

Yuma frowned. “What’s wrong?”

She just shook her head.

“Go,” Johnston said. “I’ll close up. You know where we are if you need us.”

Still carrying her moccasins, she took the steps down from the second floor as quickly as possible with Yuma right behind her.

As soon as they got outside, Yuma asked. “What happened?”

“Adam told me to go to the temple.”

“But he knows you don’t want to go in there. Did he say why?”

“They did a cleansing of the temple. He said it will be okay.”

“But why—?”

She grabbed his hand. “Walk faster.”

He lengthened his stride. “Tyhen, what is going on?”

“I am supposed to meet a visitor there.”

“Then I’m going with you.”

“I have to do this by myself, Yuma.”

“That is not going to happen,” Yuma said. “We cannot trust—”

“He said it was my father.”

Yuma frowned. “Why would Cayetano want to speak to you at the temple?”

“He is not my father,” she said and then started running.

Yuma’s heart began to race as he hurried to catch up.

When they reached the temple, Tyhen stopped at the doorway. The day was hot, but she could feel a breeze and knew it had nothing to do with the weather. She turned around, then handed him her moccasins to hold.

“You cannot go any farther,” she said and hugged him. “I am sorry. It is not my decision to make.”

He nodded to reassure her he understood. “I will stand guard here and wait for you to come out.”

She turned and then hesitated before going inside.

“Are you afraid?” he asked.

“How would you feel?”

He sighed. “I cannot begin to imagine.”

Her eyes narrowed as she walked inside. The passageway was low and she was tall. If she raised her arm, she could easily touch the ceiling. It made her feel like she was walking into a trap. At the least, she would need light. She lifted a torch from the wall before making her way through the maze of tunnels.

It was a relief to know the angry spirits she’d felt before were absent, but there was a stronger, more urgent reason guiding her steps. She’d never imagined this day would happen, but now that it was, she was curious, excited, and more than a little anxious.

The farther she walked, the darker it became, until all she could see was the space immediately in front of her. Despite the distance she’d gone, there was still a wind at her back, a warning that her visitor’s arrival was imminent.

A few moments later, a faint light appeared out of the darkness and she took heart and hurried toward it. She soon found herself inside a large, open chamber. Sunlight had painted a wide swatch of light on the floor in the center of the room. She looked up to find the source coming in through a small opening from up above.

The air began to shift around her as she waited, her heart pounding. Then it moved faster, shifting dust until the beam of sunlight was teeming with it, and still she waited, motionless. When the air began to spin around her, it blew her hair first one way and then another, spinning so fast it was hard to breathe.

She was gasping for breath when suddenly he was before her, his long, black hair floating in the air around his face like the feathered headdress of a Naaki Chava warrior. He was beautiful, and at the same time so fearsome she wanted to run away.

“Are you my father?” she asked.

He nodded once, still silent under her stare.

Moved by the fact that she was actually standing with him, face-to-face, her voice began to shake.

“I thought you did not exist anymore. I thought when the curse was broken, you were gone.”

Yet I am here.

Even though he didn’t speak, she heard his words.

“What is wrong? Why are you here?”

I came for your mother when it was time, and now I come for you. You have powers, but you will have need of more.

“Then how do I get them? What do I need to do?”

Do nothing. Close your eyes.

She did as he asked, waiting to see what happened next. At first she heard nothing, felt nothing, and then his hand was on the back of her neck, pulling her forward into his arms.

She could still smell the dust stirred by his arrival and the scent of heat from the sun on his skin. She was so anxious about what was going to happen that she had yet to connect with the fact she was in her father’s arms. Then his cheek was against her forehead, and when the first of his tears touched her face, she moaned, then staggered. Had he not been holding her, she would have gone to her knees. They held the memory of everything he’d suffered to leave her mother behind and it broke her heart. Then she heard his voice again, rolling through her like water.

You are Windwalker’s daughter. You and you alone will complete the change for our people. I have given your story to the nations. The shamans and the medicine men know of you and your quest. The sign of your coming will be marked when they see a white dove, then they will begin a march, leading their people to you. It is your story they will hear. It is your power they will see. End the warring. Build the nations. Make them stronger than the strangers who have already set foot upon our shores. In seven sleeps you must be gone. Now you have heard, and so it is done. I have given you my power. Now I give you my heart.

Heat shot through her, burning so hot and so fast that she thought she would die, and then she did not. When he began pulling away, she wanted to open her eyes, but was helpless to move.

“Wait! Don’t go! Will I ever see you again?”

As you see yourself, so you will see me.

The air inside the chamber swirled softly, shifted against her body as if reaching for a final grasp, and died.

The hold he’d had on her will was gone. Tyhen opened her eyes as the sadness swept through her. She took her torch from the wall and began retracing her steps. When she came out, Yuma was still standing in front of the doorway with her moccasins, but the sun was already moving past the top of the sky. She’d been inside for hours and it felt like only minutes.

“I’m ready,” she said as she touched Yuma’s shoulder.

He turned around, started to speak and then stared. “Tyhen?”

“Yes it’s me. Who else would I be?”

“You look... you look different.”

She shrugged.

“Was it the Windwalker? Did you see him?” he asked.

“I saw him,” she said softly, and slipped her hand in his. “I want to leave now.”

Yuma gave her the moccasins, then took a deep breath and stifled every question on his lips.

They began the walk back through the playa, then through the marketplace toward the hill that led to the palace. Twice Tyhen stopped to talk to people trading their goods, once accepting a piece of sugar cane to chew on, and another time to ask about a new baby.

Yuma felt her sadness, but there was also a maturity that had come out of nowhere. When she handed him a piece of sugar cane, he took it with a smile and thanked the trader, promising to bring something from the palace as compensation. But the trader refused, happy to have been the one chosen to give the chief’s daughter a treat as they walked away.

They walked in silence for a few minutes more as they chewed on the chunk of cane, and then Tyhen suddenly tossed hers aside and took Yuma’s hand without looking at him.

“He told me to leave in seven sleeps.”

His heart leaped. This was a shock! Only seven days.

“He told me the shamans will know of me and will be looking for the sign to tell them I am coming.”

Yuma tossed his sugar cane away. “What is the sign?”

“A dove. He said they will see a white dove.”

A chill ran up his spine. “The same name Johnston Nantay gave you.”

She nodded. The rest of what Windwalker said was hers to know. They would see her powers when the need arose, and they had no need to know that he’d died for her, giving her all that was left of him.

It was a sacrifice she would not waste or ever forget.

The palace was in an uproar when they arrived. Singing Bird was trying to calm Cayetano, but it wasn’t doing much good.

Tyhen and Yuma could hear him shouting all the way down the hall toward the throne room.

“It sounds as if the news Adam gave Cayetano has upset him,” Yuma said.

Tyhen tossed her head, impatient with the fact that Cayetano always rejected change. A mountain on fire was out of his control and that’s what had set him off.

“And what I have to say is not going to make him happier,” she added.

Even the guards looked nervous as they passed them in the hall, which wasn’t surprising. They weren’t deaf. They could easily hear what Cayetano was saying.

Yuma glanced at them warily then lowered his voice. “It does not appear there will be a need to announce the need to leave Naaki Chava. Word is going to be all over the city before nightfall.”

She glanced at a guard as they entered. He looked ready to run and knew she needed end this. “This has to stop,” she said.

“Look! There’s Tyhen now!” Adam said, pointing toward the doorway.

“Where have you been!” Cayetano yelled, then spun and pointed at Adam. “This one talks of death and fire and burning rocks and you are gone without a word to anyone. We have important things to discuss before the people can be warned.”

“You are not going to have to warn anyone,” Tyhen said sharply. “You have frightened everyone within hearing distance. I am sure the servants are already spreading the word down in Naaki Chava. You need to speak to the people immediately before a panic begins.”

Cayetano blinked. Tyhen had never spoken to him in such a tone, and as his temper cooled, his perception heightened. Something was different about her. She looked older, but it wasn’t her face that had changed. He looked closer, then stifled a gasp. It was her eyes! The child he’d known was not in there anymore. Shocked by the realization, he sat down on the bench with a thump.

Singing Bird was so focused on Cayetano that she missed the exchange between them.

“See. It is as I told you. Your anger goes before reason and the people will be afraid.”

“They already are,” Yuma said. “I saw it on the guards’ faces in the hall.”

Cayetano’s world was crashing down around him. He had nothing more to say.

Adam was pacing, but Evan was standing quietly aside, cowed by raised voices and anger.

Adam focused on Tyhen, and even though he didn’t speak aloud, she heard his voice.

“
Did you see him?”

Tyhen glanced up at him.
Yes, but say nothing.

“
I didn’t tell anyone.”

There is no need. It will only make things worse with Cayetano.

Adam’s focus shifted to Yuma, surprised by the calm, almost fatalistic expression on his face. There was something more they weren’t telling, but what was it?

Tyhen took her mother’s hand and then squeezed it gently, remembering all the times Singing Bird had wiped her tears or put medicine on a scrape. All the nights her mother had held her when she cried from dreams she didn’t understand.

Singing Bird saw her daughter’s face, and like Cayetano, immediately saw the change. But unlike Cayetano, she recognized something he did not, and jerked her hand away. She wasn’t seeing her daughter. She saw Niyol. What had happened? Why was this so?