CHAPTER 42
Onendah holds his hand up to silence them both.
"No, that spark did not burn my wife. Instead, it worked like a divine needle and sewed the fabric of our souls together. My greatest enemy, Time, worked his magic against me. He gave the Cheyenne many moons to brew a terrible hateful spell against me," Onendah confesses with supreme sorrow in his eyes.
If you cry, how can you have the greatest magic? Kiowa wonders, as his uncle speaks up.
"What is this spark you speak of?" Paw asks, genuinely curious.
"It is what costs you the things you love most," Onendah answers, looking for his pipe.
"So you hate the Cheyenne because they are the spark that took your wife and children from you?" Kiowa boldly asks.
"I have not had such good talk in a very long time. I am struggling for the words." Onendah looks down like he's searching for something. When he finds it, his face brightens. "Yes, the Cheyenne are my enemy, but so much time has passed that I cannot even remember their faces. Even though we found some of them and scalped them"—he waves his hand over the wall of trapped souls—"I could not even tell you which soul is in which prison."
"So who is your enemy?" Paw wonders.
"Time is the spark that took everything from me. That old devil even took my hate. Time is the enemy of everyone! With all these many moons, I have almost forgotten my wife's face. But she comes back to me sometimes, and that is nice, because it helps me remember her face and the love I have for her. That is our flame."
"A flame you can hold?" Kiowa desperately asks, reflecting on Anoki's words.
"A flame you both hold. A flame that does not burn out. Sometimes it is blue with sorrow, when one flame goes out. Sometimes it is red with passion, when both flames mix. Most of the time it blazes like the sun and it moves all about. I find it on my wife's lips. Her hands. I sometimes see it move into her eyes. She says she sees it the same way. It is always traveling from one Indian man to one Indian woman."
Kiowa and Paw listen to the old sage release the poetry of his soul.
"What is this flame?" Kiowa wonders.
"Not even I know that. No words can describe it. It is not even seen with your eyes, but these eyes." He points to his forehead. "It is not heard with these ears, but this one." He points to his chest. "To feel it is to truly be alive."
"Listening to this, I trust, with all my heart, that your magic is pure and true. I believe you will guide my heart, and so I put these things in your hands." Without realizing it, Kiowa signs that he has literally put his heart in Onendah's hands.
I will test your heart, Onendah signs back. See if it is true.
As he and Paw leave the smoke-filled tent, Kiowa can't help but notice how different the smoke and light mix in Onendah's tepee. He senses the old man's magic and trusts in his uncle's words.
"Do you think we would have gotten a different answer if we hadn't given so many gifts?"
"What do you think?" Paw challenges.
"I just don't know why I should care," Luther snarls, sharpening a stick with his Woodcraft Indian's knife. He holds the tip in the fire and watches it catch flame. Blowing it out, he inhales the smoke as he imagines the Onendah would. It stings his young lungs. He coughs and hacks till tears well in his eyes.
"You are so stupid!" John says, turning to Charlie. "Who is 'Earth He Made It'?"
"The Kiowa call him Naukolahe. They call him, 'Earth He Made It.' He had two sons, Fire Boy and Water Boy. They came down here and killed all of the enemies so that the first humans could crawl out of the earth's naval."
John wipes his nose. He raises his hand with one arm and pokes his belly button with the other.
Charlie acknowledges him with a nod.
"Why couldn't Kiowa just marry whoever he wanted?"
"Normally, Kiowa could, but because he and his father were such great warriors, the tribe wouldn't allow him to marry a woman who didn't have Kiowa blood. To them it would be like breeding a wolf with a Labrador: Maybe you'd get a warrior, but chances are, you'd get a sweet dog that would lick an enemy's hand instead of a wolf that would bite an enemy's hand off. Since the Kiowa were a warrior tribe, they needed warriors."
Kevin swats at glowing embers that crackle from the fire. He raises his hand. "What if they just ran off and got married?"
"See, you boys are looking at this through little-boy eyes and not through Indian eyes. So let me put it into Indian perspective. Yes, it is true that Kiowa was free to do whatever he wanted. So he could have run off and married Anoki, but the tribe was equally free to do what it wanted. In this case, they would probably just hunt the couple down and kill them."
"He just told us that!" John shouts.
"Sorry! Gosh dang," Kevin shouts shrilly.
Charlie hushes his troop and continues. "For three days and three nights Onendah went without food and water. He did this to cleanse his body. Then he entered the wicker sweat lodge, so that he could cleanse his soul. All this he did so he would be purified before Naukolahe."
Zack gulps. "Did he see him?"
Charlie finishes his cup of coffee and pulls his lips up to his gums, sucking air through his teeth. "He sure did!"
As the final preparations are completed, Onendah strips down to his loincloth.
"Nat aye, nah hay." The medicine man begins singing an ancient song and beating an old drum.
Outside of the sweat lodge, the Dog Warriors cover the woven wicker walls with buffalo hides. They weave strips of leather in and out of punched holes, stitching the skins together. One hide at a time goes up, until Onendah is sealed inside the earth's womb.
Inside the wicker hut, the temperature instantly rises.
By a camp bonfire, girls place meat down and line up in white deerskin skirts. With their faces painted white, they rest their arms on one another's shoulders and begin swaying back and forth. They offer one united prayer to Naukolahe.
"When he listens to your prayers, you will be happy. When he listens to your prayers, he listens to you. When he listens to you, you will be happy. When he listens to your prayers, you will be happy."
While they sway back and forth, the men fasten sage grass wreaths to their wrists and ankles.
Some of the Dog Warriors tie ropes to horned buffalo skulls. They march to the beat of a drum and shake their gourds. The skulls drag behind them, and buffalo teeth leave eerie grooves in the soft soil.
The elders begin beating a broad drum, while warriors quickly paint their faces and bodies.
Since Kiowa's family was keeper of the Taime, he paints his entire body with cold yellow paint that causes his skin to prickle. Everyone else paints their bodies green. He dips his fingers in green paint and draws his them across his forehead and down both cheeks until he forms a triangle at his chin. The warriors do the same, but with yellow paint.
When he's ready, his mother paints a green sun and moon on his chest and back. He leans down when she finishes and allows her to slide a necklace with two eagle feathers over his head. He opens his mouth, and she places an eagle-bone flute between his lips. He blows on it and mimics the eagle's cry. After four blasts representing north, east, south, and west, she crowns him with a rabbit-skin cap and sagebrush wreath. Finally, she props a single eagle feather in his headband and whispers a prayer. "Follow your heart and release your prayer when you know exactly what to ask for."
Except for their body paint, the warriors are all decorated the same.
Concealed inside his tepee, Onendah shouts, "Naukolahe, Father of the Heavens, we thank you for creating the earth that all living things walk or crawl upon. We thank you for the creatures that fly and the winds that carry them and cool us. We thank you for the water and the creatures that swim. We know not why you created these things, but we know that we are your children and they are here to sustain us. We are grateful for your creations and their many spirits. We know you require us to kill and provide for ourselves and our families. We love our families as you love us, and we know that this time on earth is to prepare us for the greater worlds and better hunting grounds ahead, which you have also created over the vast heavens."
"Hi ya!" the warriors shout. Then they jump up and down, sending the girls and the entire tribe into action. The women call out, flicking their tongues and encouraging their men.
"Who has the courage to dance on the troubles of men?" Paw points to a large mushrooming boulder.
Kiowa and several Dog Warriors race up to the twelve-foot towering boulder. They fight one another for the right. With great difficulty, they claw their way to the top, until there is nowhere left to stand.
"You few have been found worthy. You many are not. Go back to the circle," Paw shouts.
"Why ya, yi, hey ya!" Kiowa cries out as he begins dancing on top of the mushroom rock.
"Hey ya, hi ya," the warriors reciprocate in a chorus that makes the women and children smile.
And so the dance begins.
A word: For those of you wondering how this ties in to Rhett and Scarlet, give me 20 more chapters of prelude and their worlds will collide