With agreement from Stands-Tall-Against-Storms I led the way to the encampment of the unnamed. At first Yousheng wasn't sure but when I started to explain he acquiesced. I told the story almost as Stands-Tall-Against-Storms had told me altering it only in light of what I had learned about her during the past 24 hours. Yousheng was as appalled as I had been and wanted to know why I wasn't storming the embassy and laying waste to the occupants. I told him that the time wasn't yet right. When he asked when the right time was I admitted that I didn't yet know. If it hadn't been for Stands-Tall-Against-Storms' intervention at this point I think he'd have stormed off to do something about it himself, as it was she led him off to the tepee leaving me to sit alone by the fire.
Apart from the obvious what to do next, the other questions that I now didn't have an answers to were what would happen to the unnamed once I'd gone and what would happen to Stands-Tall-Against-Storms now she did have a name. There was also the matter of the other girl who'd helped me yesterday who also deserved a name; "Guides-Traveler-Seeking" I felt would be fitting.
Yousheng and Stands-Tall-Against-Storms emerged a couple of hours later. Both looking relaxed and comfortable. Yousheng moved to join me whilst Stands-Tall-Against-Storms crossed the clearing and disappeared into the brush border.
"So did you help her with her predicament?"
"No! We just talked. For all she has been through she is remarkably unscarred. The name you gave her is most suitable. In talking she has persuaded me to trust in my own instincts, as she trusts in predictions made by her brother when he was but a small child. There are things happening here that are completely contrary to the teachings of my youth, yet instinct and experience tells me to trust in both you and her."
I didn't answer immediately since I didn't really have anything new to add. Eventually, more to break the silence than anything else, I said "In that case we wait, what for I don't know until it happens, but I have a feeling we're not going to have to wait long."
The problem is that long is relative. The events of this morning are now long passed and tomorrow is nearly upon us. The moon is bright, although it rose red tonight. A blood moon even for those of a non-superstitious nature, is not an auspicious omen.
It is said that writing a journal is carthartic. I certainly find that it enables me to review events, spot patterns, and determine a course of action when I need to so, as I do now. As I start this I find myself a pawn in some powerplay betweeen Random and his sisters. But I get ahead of myself. I need to start at the beginning, two days ago local time or about 40 hours Amber time. This takes us back to the evening of the 35 th Apravich, Ambertime, although Dakota like all Golden Circle states runs on Ambertime.
Rather than returning to our lodgings Yousheng and I chose to remain at the tepee. We retired to the sleeping furs around midnight. We were woken by the hurried arrival of one of the unnamed at about 3 in the morning, who proceeded to wake Stands-Tall-Against-Storms and the others. They had found another victim and time was of the essence. The girl I had my own name for, Guides-Traveler-Seeking, was sent to fetch Red-Stag-Takes-Hinds and Crys-Like-Owls and were to meet us close to where she had been found. The rest set off directly for the place.
The victim was lying on a slight incline facing east, her legs spread and her ankles tied to stakes. She was lying, resting her head in the lap of another girl who was holding her left hand. The girl was sitting so as to block the moonlight from striking the hilt of the bladed contraption inserted between her legs its curved tip protruding 3 inches from her belly. I was surprised that she was conscious.
Stands-Tall-Against-Storms' first action was to throw several blankets over the girl, which apart from restoring a certain amount of dignity would serve to keep her warm. Two of the other girls then proceeded to create a screen before Stands-Tall-Against-Storms started examining the position of the blade. After several minutes she stood up restoring the position of the blankets. She walked some distance away, out of the girls earshot, and was joined by several of the other girls. "The blade is well embedded but the side blades are not fully extended. Provided she has not bled too much and has no desire to cross to the Hunting Grounds she should live. We must now wait for Red-Stag-Takes-Hinds"
It was about 5 minutes later that an out of breath and alone Crys-Like-Owls arrived. Stands-Tall-Against-Storms and the other girls reaction was one of surprise. One of them made to say something but Stands-Tall-Against-Storms silenced her, as Crys-Like-Owls unwrapped the bundle he carried. He handed 4 slivers of something white to Stands-Tall-Against-Storms then began to draw on the ground around the body. It took about 20 minutes for him to complete his drawings both on the ground and on the girls body, singing and dancing slowly as he did so. Stands-Tall-Against-Storms and two of the other girls then removed their dresses and Crys-Like Owls began painting them. As he did so I could feel power being drawn and focused in the three of them. By the time he finished the power level was palpable. He placed one girl to the outside of each leg, their opposing hand resting just inside the inner thigh, the other resting on Stands-Tall-Against-Storms' shoulders as she knelt between the girls legs. Crys-Like-Owls began singing and dancing again. As he did so Stands-Tall-Against-Storms inserted the slivers one by one in time with certain repeated phrases in the song into the holes in the hilt of the blade, before pulling it out in a spray of red blood. There was a surge of power and Stands-Tall-Against-Storms pushed her hands into the girl replicating the position the blade had been in. Crys-Like-Owls was dancing at a frenetic pace now. Each somersault he performed and landed sent a surge of power like a wave through the three girls. After what seemed like several minutes there was an ear splitting peel of thunder and then silence. Crys-Like-Owls, Stands-Tall-Against-Storms and the other two girls lay on the ground some distance from the staked girl. Slowly the girls, including Stands-Tall-Against-Storms, sat up. The girl tied to the ground moaned softly. The other unnamed were beginning to move now, covering the girl in blankets again, cutting the ropes that bound her legs, and passing dresses and blankets to the other three. Crys-Like-Owls remained where he was, untouched by any.
I walked slowly across to where he lay, an instinctive feeling waring with logic and experience gained over the past few days. As I reached the body, still alive with power, instinct won and I knelt down placing my finger against his neck to check for a pulse. As I made contact the world swam momentarily as a large multihued bird looked at me before taking wing and vanishing in a plume of fire. Crys-Like-owls gasped then gave a groggy low moan. I picked him up and began the long walk back to the bamboo grove.
When I reached the grove it was strangely silent and cold. As I crossed the gravel the feelings of foreboding grew along with the chill. The silence pressed closer with each step. When I reached the clearing on the far side of the bamboo I knew something was definitely wrong. There was no fire and a single naked figure was sitting cross legged by it. Between her and the silent and cold embers were a pile of sleeping furs. I crossed the clearing, my presence not registering on her consciousness, and entered the tepee. It was significantly colder inside than out, and Crys-Like-Owls began shivering violently. Putting him down I searched for some furs. It took me several minutes before I located the chest, which despite me having been here for an extended time previously I had never noticed. Opening it I found a dozen new and unused furs, an ornate dress, an ornate girdle, and a large Trunnii. Taking most of the furs I covered Crys-Like-Owls who'd now stopped shivering and appeared to be resting peacefully.
The remaining fur in hand I went outside. Guides-Traveler-Seeking hadn't moved since I'd last seen her, but now I could see that covered by the furs was Red-Stag-Takes-Hinds. Instinct told me he was already dead. Somehow I also knew the moment he'd passed on. Guides-Traveler-Seeking didn't move as I draped the fur about her, obviously in a state of waking catatonia. I knelt down and turned head head to face me. It a barely audible whisper, barely able to contain her sense of guilt, she said "He made me a woman and I killed him, I killed him."
I forced her to look at me making eye contact. Her mind was in a destructive spiral of denial. Sorting through her recent memories I found what I was looking of and forced her to relive it. She had rushed into the clearing to find Red-Stags-Takes-Hinds sitting on his furs in front of the fire. She had delivered her message but he seemed strangely unconcerned. She'd become angry and tried to strike him finding herself pinned to the ground by him. She'd tried to struggle but the more she did so the more he confined her. He'd forced her anger down a different path and rather than resisting him she'd now wanted him but still he resisted her, speaking now, explaining that she was to be his last, that his time was fast approaching, that she was the chosen one, and she would know what must be done. She hadn't heard this, her conscious mind overridden by her subconscious desires. He'd relented then, and rolled over, and she'd straddled him, and at the moment of fulfillment he'd died.
She gasped, wrenching her gaze away, tears beginning to appear in her eyes. I put my hand under her chin and gently turned her to head to face me one more "You know what must be done?". She nodded.
Choking back the tears she said "I must get some things. I'll be as quick as I can then we can begin." I sat as she stood and made her way into the tepee. By the time my brain put two and two together it was too late, my entrance coming at the same time as her scream of pain.
Momentarily frozen by the vibrant return of my memory of the same event and stunned by the fact that she'd done it voluntarily without the aid of ceremonial magic, I was brought back to reality by her request through gritted teeth of "the spirits will thank you for some assistance".
I crossed the intervening space and helped her attach the Trunnii to the girdle before helping her to stand. "We need wood to relight the fires. There is a supply behind this house over there." She pointed in the relevant direction.
Having lit and banked the fire in the tepee, we moved outside, and she relit the fire outside. I fetched wood and added it to the fire until we had a raging blaze that threatened to engulf Red-Stags-Takes-Hinds body. Uncovering it, she picked it up, before commanding me to throw the furs on the fire. Immediately a thick plume of smoke began to issue from the fire. I could now feel power being drawn. The smoke changed color, first to white, then to lilac. We waited.
After a few minutes, there were answering plumes, from across the city, and in the distance drums began to beat. More minutes passed the distant drums growing in intensity, until they were answered by another beat, this one close by. Guides-Traveler-Seeking turned and spoke again. "Step only where I step. Say nothing until the time comes." As if to answer my impending question shed added "You will know when"
We passed through the bamboo, and crossed the gravel. Where she passed fresh drops of blood, marked the path. We exited the grove and were met by the unnamed. Unlike for Stoops-Over-Crystal-Waters funeral, they wore no paint, but all wore Trunnii. Yousheng stood just behind Stands-Tall-Against-Storms. He moved to speak but she stopped him. On a litter lay the girl we'd rescued not three hours earlier. She was naked, her wounds vibrantly red and black against her pale skin.
The unnamed fell in behind us as we headed, not for the burial hill but for the center of the city. As we passed dwellings, people joined the procession, not in the limited number as for Stoops-Over-Crystal-Waters, but in profusion, each marked by slight differences in pattern and style of Headdress and war gear or girdle and Trunnii. Passing through the center, Guides-Traveler-Seeking chose the path that would take us past the Embassy. With each wheel passed more would join the procession. By the time we passed the Embassy half the city must have joined. The guards no longer looked smug in their Black and Red jackets. Their would be a confrontation later but for now the procession passed in silence, other than the rhythmic beat of the drums.
By the time we approached the foot of the burial hill, the sun was approaching its zenith. My time sense told me we would enter as the sun passed directly over the arch. Arrayed ahead of us, before the arch, were 6 figures, each in the garb of a medicine man, each garb reflecting their chosen totem spirit. Guides-Traveler-Seeking continued up the hill, until in unison the figures struck the ground with their totems. "Who guides the spirit of the Thunder Bird to the Hunting Grounds?"
Instantly the drums stopped. No one spoke. The totems struck the ground again and the question was repeated. No one spoke, no one moved. A third time the ground was struck and the question repeated. Something changed and I stepped in front of Guides-Traveler-Seeking, "Guides-Traveler-Seeking guides the spirit." The totems raised and struck the ground again. "Who dares name the unnamed?". "Bears-Thunderbirds-Claws-by-Moon-Shadow" I responded. A second time they asked and a second time I replied. When they asked a third time I was fuming, drew my sword and stuck it point first into the ground in front of me. A deafening retort of thunder echoed off the surrounding hills and rolled across the city. Guides-Traveler-Seeking stepped past me and the medicine men parted to let her pass. I pulled to sword from the ground and followed her, the medicine me falling in either side of me.
As I crossed the threshold under the arch, I was mobbed by spirits. A voice behind me hissed "use your sword", and I responded accordingly. It was somewhat of a frenetic battle for the first dozen steps then it dropped of as they lost interest or tried to find other targets. Guides-Traveler-Seeking put the body on the pyre then turned to face the rising sun, beckoning me to stand next to her. I sheathed the sword and did as bidden. Time passed as the column wound its way into the burial ground, filling it bar a 20ft diameter circle about the pyre. Behind us the medicine men began to dance. Given a cue the drummers began to drum once more, and the assemblage began to chant.
The ceremony was remarkably short, at least compared to my previous experience. As the last drum note died, I felt a pain similar to that had occurred two nights ago, and sank to my knees in response. Guides-Traveler-Seeking bent down and assisted me to my feet. "It is done. Now you must guide as all are blind. You must clear the rocks and return the Thunder Bird." She wiped fresh blood off the Trunnii she wore and drew a line across my forehead. For a fraction of a second the world blurred before springing back into clarity. The time had obviously come to deal with the Ambassador.
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