The Tower of Il Serrohe (57 page)

The falling Soreyes’ screams thunderstruck those on the ground. This jerked the clanspeople from their chants. More and more Soreyes plunged off the Tower as if in some kind of Niagara of falling bodies.

Though the chants stopped, their momentum continued to fuel the swirling cloud, which Don saw as commingled red and black tendrils so fine they enveloped him in a cocoon of calmness and security. Out of the mists of the cocoon, he began to see the outlines of the Rio Grande Valley interspersed with the contours of the Valle Abajo.

Soreyes, still falling over the edge, grasped frantically at the walls of the Tower. Their hands burned viciously as the adobes continued growing hotter and hotter.

The scant mortar holding the adobes together weakened and crumbled. The violent vibration of the Tower itself and the buckling earth around its base shook loose hundreds, then thousands of adobes.

The hot dirt of crumbling and falling adobes threw up a plume that merged with the great cloud enveloping the Tower. The violence of collapsing structure and the continuing press of Soreyes reaching the platform forced even the clanspeople to leap from it.

Being animals of agility and lighter than the Soreyes, Don’s protectors prepared to soar out from the Tower to the Earth.

Seeing Don was lost in reverie, Nersite, Netheraire, and the other Nohmin stretched out their legs. Like flying squirrels, they glided to a hard, but not deadly fall among the huts of the priests at the base of the Tower. The Linksmin and Loopohmin latched on to falling Soreyes, allowing them to break their fall. The Crotalmin wrapped himself around the neck of a frantic Soreye and soared down, using the Soreye as a cushion against the impact. The remaining Barbamin coasted on the wind of the crumbling Tower.

Since the Tower’s walls leaned slightly inward as they reached the pinnacle, the collapsing lower sections tumbled in, crashing against the great central pillar which supported the two top-level platforms like a giant toadstool.

The pillar and its platforms swayed sickeningly.

Unaffected, Don stood transfixed. He watched the Valle Abajo and the Rio Grande Valley meet in the same space in front of his very eyes. He witnessed them merge while each retained its individuality. He felt Raquela’s love and the press of her body next to his as he draped his neck over hers.

“
I love you, Raquela.”

“
I love you, Don.”

Turning from the Valle, he looked to his feet as the platform fell away, pulled down by the imploding walls. He saw the black, gaping mouth of the Tower open up to receive him. A wave of hot, moist air from the unfortunate Soreyes evaporating below blasted past him. Then, he turned to something else.

epilogue

It was all over in less than five minutes, but the aftermath lasted through the rest of the afternoon as the few remaining Soreyes were rounded up and imprisoned in their own slave cages. Others escaped to the far western hills. The Tower was now a thirty-foot pile of adobes with assorted Soreye body parts sticking out here and there.

The pile, hardly spread beyond its original foundation, smoldered with a heat so intense few could get closer than about ten feet before they had to back away. The Nohmin surrounded the ruined Tower, and, under Nersite’s direction, they conducted a mass Timeless chant while spreading the appropriate chewings over the smoking debris.

This effectively sealed the contents, including Don’s unseen body, from the passage of Time. To further insure the entrapment of the enchanted adobes, the Nohmin repeated their glassing chant to finish melting the dirt bricks into a massive earthen mound, which looked like a hill of cooled brown lava.

This, undoubtedly, cremated all who remained in the Tower’s ruin.

Nersite turned to the assembled clanspeople gathered together, for the moment, as one, not as separate clans of predators and prey.

“
Don, the Crazy and the Brave, lies among our enemies to be sure they will not rise again. Those Soreyes who have survived will be set out on the plains to travel far away to the west, never to return. Otherwise, we will meet them with another fight!”

The clanspeople set up a terrific tumult of yowling, howling, barks, roars, mooing, chirping, and every possible animal sound. Secretly, Nersite worried. Where would another like Don or Teresa come from?

As the crowd started to cautiously disperse, so that no one clan might decide to return to their normal instincts, Raquela worked her way to Nersite, who was quietly nuzzling against Netheraire. Both tired and sad, they perked up as they saw their friend.

Raquela longed to say something profound, but she, too, was spent emotionally and physically. She merely came close to the pair and lay down nearby, so she could look them in the eye.

Turning, she rested her head on her stomach and said softly, “I’m pregnant. It’s Don’s child.”

Nersite and Netheraire were too stunned and delighted to reply. After a few minutes of quiet, the trio roused themselves and began to hike slowly back down to the valley floor.

Accompanying them, overhead, came a barely audible sound:
whap, whap, whap
.

The End

* * * * *

Acknowledgments

Peggy Herrington, my highly skilled,

untiring, and supportive editor.

Ben Lowe, who provided “South Valley”

style Spanish translations.

* * * * *

Glossary

Adolfo:
Kastmin carpenter and glass-maker who patiently worked with Pia and Pita to construct various items to properly equip the Portal with large windows and frames.

Aspen Race:
A people similar to the Soreyes living in cliff dwellings on the east slopes of the Great Snow Mountains (equivalent of the Jemez Mountains of the Rio Grande Valley) one hundred miles north of Valle Abajo. They trade with the Soreyes for slaves from time to time.

Auntie Lupita:
Sister to Don’s mother, Rachel. Childless, she had a hand in caring for Don when his father was at work.

Auntie Shirley Marie:
Don’s other aunt (another sister of Rachel’s) who occasionally cared for him.

Barbahill:
Apartment-like complex of the Barbamin, shaped like a flat-topped pyramid set in an open plain of farm fields west of the Dream River about five miles south of Il Mote.

Barbamin:
A large community of farmers, who work in teams. Their clan chiefs are always female. Occasionally aggressive, they usually keep to themselves except when cooperating to fight the Soreyes. In addition to the language of the Valle Abajo, they communicate using scent as well as produce incense for the Nohmin. The smallest in stature of the clans, they are black complected.

Bats:
They live on an island in the Dream River bosque called Lookgosee. Almost the same size as Don in Valle Abajo though much lighter in weight and bone structure. They are reclusive and the only ones who can pass between both valleys (Rio Grande and Valle Abajo). Helpful when necessary, but they are not anxious to cooperate as they know many clans do not trust them. They can sense the spiritual qualifications of someone from the world of the Rio Grande who can pass into the world of Valle Abajo.

Bess:
Don Vargas’ wife who is divorcing him and having an affair with a worker at her real estate agency. Career-driven and materialistic, her disgust for Don’s drinking and lack of ambition long overwhelmed her lust for him. Rather than hating Don, she has little use for him.

The Big House:
Large meeting house/watering hole in Il Mote.

Bernie:
Nickname for Bernardo, a jovial, big chested, and prominent member of the Ursimin. He is a devout follower of the Ursimin religion and a successful hunter and warrior.

Bissy:
Taurimin woman. She is the hardworking, devoted wife of the Taurimin chief, Toroth.

Black Lava Mountains:
The volcanic mounds in the far west that helped created the ancient lava flow and west mesa rim the Tower sits on overlooking the Valle.

Blue Meadow:
This is an outdoor ‘room’ defined by thick tree walls on three sides arching to a sparse overhang that allows indirect sunlight to filter through. Its fourth side is a sheer granite wall, part of the Tohmay Steeples, towering above while curving to the north and south. The meadow is covered with a thick carpet of blue asters, giving it its name.

Blue Lizard:
A high ranking priest who greeted Ho-La, a presumed visitor from the Aspen Race. Blue Lizard is a wheeler dealer much like a slick used car salesman, but also an effective diplomat.

Càhbahmin:
A clan that farms cooperatively with the Taurimin doing most of the heavy labor. Big and strong, yet fast, fairly intelligent, stubborn, they’re great at teamwork for a male leader who exerts clear authority. They can be great warriors and are capable athletes.

Corvimin:
The ‘black sheep’ of the Valle Abajo, they are seldom mentioned by the clans. They are not held in high regard. They share some characteristics with the Sianox but aren’t as friendly or cooperative though they are cunning.

Crotalmin:
A clan of relentless hunters who will not stop at anything to survive. They are enemies of most of the clanspeople, especially the Nohmin but only threaten when driven by starvation. They will form uneasy truces with the clans when confronting a common enemy. Single minded, but few exhibit individuality. The clan has no central location, but they live in small families across the Valle Abajo.

Deadeye:
Antagonist to Teresa as chief of the Soreyes at the same time as Friar Fang.

Don Vargas:
A college English instructor whose wife left him because of his alcoholism, indifference, and lack of ambition. After moving to the old Casita after being kicked out of his Albuquerque home, he discovers it is inhabited by the talking bat, Nightwing, who sends Don on a quest to an alternative valley, Valle Abajo. He spends much of his time doubting the reality of what’s happening or that he can be of any use to the clanspeople of Valle Abajo.

Donna Marie:
Grandmother of Don.

Dream River:
A mile-wide river that forms the Valle Abajo surrounded by bosques (narrow forests of cottonwoods and willow bushes along with other riverside flora and fauna) all along its shores. Several sandy islands have been formed by currents along its entire stretch. It runs in the same track as the Rio Grande River in the ‘Other Valley.’

Flit:
A female Sianox, a lively and energetic rival partner of Jasin. Both help Don, Nersite, and Raquela convey messages to the clans.

Florentine:
An older Pirallt curandera, she is Raquela’s kind and wise mother.

Friar Fang:
Head priest of the Soreyes when Teresa visited the Valle Abajo during the Drowning Plague.

Friar Scale:
Soreyes head priest in the time of Nersite and Don. The friar is as unpleasant and arrogant as his chief, Sydewynder.

Gert:
Female leader, third in command of the Barbamin, in charge of social relations and Barbahill security. She is a formal, no-nonsense leader.

Goodwood:
The clan leader, chief carpenter, and glass-maker of the Kastmin during Don’s time. He is a skilled craftsman who is smug about his abilities.

Gomin:
Physically larger clanspeople distantly related to the Nohmin who lived many generations back and no longer inhabit the Valle Abajo. They left still useable tunnel systems and root homes, mostly around the Tower and near Barbahill.

Great Snow Mountains:
Another vast mountain range that can be seen in the distance nearly one hundred miles northwest of the Valle Abajo. The Aspen Race, similar to the Soreyes, lives there. They are the equivalent of the Jemez Mountains of the Rio Grande Valley.

“
The Great Tree” or The Portal:
The legendary cottonwood Portal between the Rio Grande Valley and Valle Abajo. According to myth, it was once a great spirit which tried to guide and protect the original Great Forest of the Valley. It opened a portal between the valleys allowing the bats free passage along with those who have the “right spirit” to come into the Valle to protect it and its people. Pia, Pita, and Teresa refined the capability of the Portal to allow their passage between the two valleys. It is located in the Casita Teresa built and where Don lived after separating from Bess.