Brave Warrior (12 page)

Maisie tried to remember if she had ever been completely alone before. The idea frightened her.

Felix is somewhere nearby,
she reminded herself.

Maybe it would be okay if she moved just a little bit closer to him, she decided. Careful not to make
noise, she walked along until she spotted her brother through the trees. Curly was up that hill, and Felix was right over there in a clearing. Satisfied, she sat back down and waited. Who would have imagined that going on a vision quest was so boring?

She watched as Felix stretched out on the grass and stared up at the sky.

That seemed like a good idea, Maisie thought.

She stretched out, too, and stared up at the pines. It was hard to really see anything. Of course Felix had picked a better spot, a clearing with wide-open spaces. He would be able to see birds and deer and just about anything. And Curly was up on a hill, with a view that went on for miles. She was never going to have a vision here.

Frustrated, Maisie got up and moved closer to Felix. She sat at the edge of the trees but on the grass where the clearing began. Yes, she decided, this was better. Once again she stretched out and stared up at the unobstructed sky. It had turned from blue to every shade of purple as the sun set.

Pretty,
Maisie thought.

She waited.

Felix woke with a start. All around him was blackness. Usually he would be afraid alone in the dark like this. But for some reason that he couldn’t understand, he felt calm. When he looked up into the sky, it was illuminated with a warm glow from the moon. The stars twinkled above him, and wispy clouds moved past. He had never really seen a face in the moon before, but tonight he could make out kindly eyes, a sharp nose, even a wide mouth.

“Hello, moon,” Felix said softly.

He sat up, stretching his back. Sleeping on the ground was not comfortable at all, and he ached everywhere.

Felix thought he heard footsteps. He listened hard. Yes, those were footsteps.

“Maisie?” he said, his voice sounding small in the night.

The footsteps stopped.

“Curly?” he asked into the dark.

The feeling of calm that he’d had moments earlier disappeared. He tried not to think of all the things that might be out here. Wild animals. Angry Comanche. Poisonous snakes.

“Hello?” he squeaked.

The footsteps resumed, pounding toward him.

A tall figure appeared in front of him. Felix could just make out the shape of what looked like a man walking slightly hunched over.

“Curly?” he said again, even though this guy seemed much bigger than Curly.

Felix blinked.

This guy was much,
much
bigger than Curly.

Suddenly, the figure dropped to all fours and moved slowly toward Felix, who scooted backward, feeling rocks and twigs scrape against his bottom.

Now it was only ten feet away, and it once again got to its feet, towering over Felix in the darkness.

Felix looked up and up, straight into the face of a brown bear.

He tried to think of what a person was supposed to do when they saw a bear. Once, he and his father had watched a
National Geographic
television special about bears. He couldn’t remember if he should climb a tree or roll into a ball and play dead. But he could remember that there were thirty bear attacks a year on people.
There must have been a lot more back in the 1800s,
Felix thought. Then he realized that the bear wasn’t coming any closer.

It just stood there, staring at him.

Felix wondered if it could actually hear his heart, which was pounding so loud that it rang in Felix’s ears.

The bear dropped to all fours again.

And then it turned around and walked away.

Felix stared after it in disbelief.

He sat, trying to slow his breathing, waiting for the fear to leave his body. When he finally stopped trembling, a thought came to him.

“Maisie!” Felix called, scrambling to his feet. “I just had my vision!”

Maisie was asleep when she heard Felix calling her name. She jolted awake. Something must have happened to him. His voice was so shrill and excited she couldn’t make out what he was saying.

Wait. Did he just say something about a bear?

She started to run in his direction, until she almost bumped right into him.

“It’s a bear!” Felix was shouting.

When she heard what he said next, Maisie’s heart fell.

“My spirit guide is a bear!”

“You saw something?” Maisie asked.

Felix nodded. “A giant brown bear. Maybe ten feet tall on two legs. He came right up to me and just stood there staring.”

“You probably dreamed that,” Maisie said.

“No, no,” he insisted. “It was
huge
. And it was
real
.”

“Well, good for you,” Maisie said, and she stomped off as noisily as she could, back to her spot.

“Wait!” Felix said, hurrying to catch up to her. “What do you think it means?”

“That you’re over
bear
ing, maybe,” she said. “Leave me alone. I need to have my own vision.”

“Maisie,” Felix said, and she caught a glimpse of him standing helplessly, his hands raised as if in surrender, before she lost sight of him in the dark.

Maisie’s stomach grumbled with hunger. She could see red berries hanging from nearby bushes, and nuts littered the ground. But she refused to eat anything. The idea was to go without food or water for four days. If that was what it took for a real vision quest, then Maisie was going to do it, even though she felt dizzy and weak after just two nights. So
dizzy and weak that she tripped easily over a rock and landed hard on her back.

Tears sprang to her eyes.

After Felix woke her up, she’d spent the rest of that night angry at the unfairness of life. She hadn’t fallen back asleep until the sun came up. Then she’d wandered, dispirited and hungry, studying the rocks and the trees, desperate for a sign, an omen, anything.

Last night she’d fallen asleep soon after dark, and she had woken this morning disappointed. No bear had come to her. Nothing had. She hadn’t even had a dream. And now here she was, flat on her back, defeated. Hot tears stung her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.

You’ll get tears in your ears from crying on your back
.

Maisie balked. She thought she heard her father’s voice, as clear as if he were standing somewhere nearby.

She listened hard. But all she heard was the wind whistling across the plains.

Sighing, she stared up at the blue, cloudless sky and watched as a bird made lazy loops above her. It almost seemed that with every loop, the bird came closer to the earth. No, it
was
coming closer, she
realized. She could see its sleek, gray body clearly now. With a few more circles, she could make out its long, pointed feathers. And then she could even see its small face and beak.

A hawk,
Maisie thought.

As soon as she thought that, she felt her pulse quicken. Was this it? Her spirit guide?

The bird slowed.

Maisie could actually hear its wings slicing through the air.

Suddenly, the bird was close enough for her to touch it.

Maisie held her breath.

The bird glided just above her, its wings brushing her face.

It seemed to hover there for a long minute before it reversed, making its lazy loops upward and away until it became just a speck far up in the sky.

Maisie lay there, straining to see it in the sunlight. Long after she could not find it there any longer, she stayed motionless, the touch of the bird’s wings still on her cheeks.

Maisie’s elation over her vision quickly evaporated
when she finally returned to the village and found the women taking down the tepees.

“What’s happening?” she asked Felix as soon as she saw him.

“They’re moving,” he said. “They heard that the soldiers are coming.”

Maisie and Felix watched as the women removed the buffalo hides and dismantled the poles.

“There’s Curly,” Felix said, pointing. “He’s been with his father.”

Curly saw them, too, and walked over to Maisie and Felix, his eyes glazed and distant.

“Once my father got over being angry at me for not doing the proper rituals, he interpreted my vision,” Curly said, slightly dazed.

“What was your vision?” Felix asked him.

Curly shook his head, as if he was trying to clear it. Then he spoke slowly.

“I saw a horseman floating above me. He had long, light hair that blew in the wind. Hair like mine. The horse was dancing, and the man was not painted at all. I have never seen a warrior like this. He was plain, and he told me that I, too, should not adorn myself. Just a small brown stone behind my ear.”

At this, Curly lightly touched a spot behind his ear before he continued.

“I saw a battle. The horseman’s arms were held by his own people, yet neither arrows nor bullets touched him.”

Again, Curly shook his head, trying to make sense of this vision.

“He said that I must take a handful of dust from our sacred ground and sprinkle it on my horse before battle, and then I must rub it into my skin and hair.”

Curly rubbed his arm.

“And he told me that after battle, I must never keep anything for myself. I must never boast about my victories.”

“Wow,” Felix said. “All I saw was a big bear.”

Curly smiled. “A bear is a good spirit guide, Felix. It tells you to be more tolerant and to keep your optimism. It tells you to stop finding fault with people and things around you.”

“What does your vision mean?” Maisie asked. “What did your father say?”

“He listened carefully,” Curly said, his voice serious. “He said to listen to my vision. To dress plainly. To put the stone behind my ear. To throw
dust on my horse before battle and on myself as well. He said I should be a man of charity. He said that I could only be injured if one of my own people holds my arms. And he said that people would sing about my courage someday. That I would be a brave warrior.”

Maisie and Felix stood awed by the importance of Curly’s vision and his father’s interpretation.

“Did you have a vision?” Curly asked Maisie.

“A gray hawk with pointed wings came to me,” Maisie said, touching the place on her cheek where she’d felt its wings.