Qaletaqa (33 page)

That had been Quaile’s biggest problem. She
said she couldn’t understand most of the book because she didn’t
have the power she needed. Well, I had the power, but none of the
training. She said you needed power to understand power, but I was
sure it was more difficult than that. I watched myself gather my
power and give it to Uriah. I understood how it was done, but
actually doing it…I had no clue where to start.

I pushed through Uriah’s bond to get to his
soul, but it was so thin and wispy. How was I ever supposed to
gather it up and strip it away from me? I needed those basic
lessons, the kind you always start with no matter what you’re
trying to learn, like the thousands of pliés I was forced to do in
ballet before being allowed to move on to something more difficult.
Was grabbing hold of something insubstantial one of the lessons I
would have been taught had I been apprenticed to a shaman years
ago? I sighed. It didn’t matter. I couldn’t go back. All I had was
right now and a few lessons over the phone on using my power. I
would have to make it work. The alternative was simple not
acceptable.

Harvey sat next to me in silence as I
brooded. He was too focused on the road, too focused on reaching
Taos in time to pay any attention to me. I looked around for Uriah
out of habit and found Talon instead. Glancing back at the big cat,
who was stretched out across the backseat enjoying the rest, I
wondered whether he could hear my thoughts as he laid there. A
quick twitch of his ears and a dip of his head seemed to say that
he could. I smiled.

“Do you think Uriah should face the Matwau
alone?” I thought, hoping Talon would hear.

Talon bared his teeth and shook his tawny
head. A low growl escaped through his teeth, causing Harvey to
jump. Glaring warily at the animal in the back of his car, Harvey
eyed Talon for a few seconds before turning his attention back to
the road.

Good, I thought, then I wouldn’t have to
worry about Talon trying to stop me when I went after Uriah. I
already knew Harvey would come as well. All that left was figuring
out how to keep everybody alive once we reached the desert.

I looked down at the book again. It was
somewhere to start at least. Picking it up, I opened it at the page
I had dog-eared before closing it the last time. Skimming the
words, I glossed over another few pages of Quaile’s thoughts. All
they were about this time was her wondering and complaining about
not seeing any of the signs in Uriah or herself at the time. The
book held so much that would have made the last few weeks
infinitely less difficult and dangerous if we had only known it
beforehand.

We should have been taught since childhood
and prepared for this moment. It frustrated me to no end that Uriah
and I had both agreed to this destiny, but were then thrown in with
the most prideful, arrogant people in the world. I would never
forgive the gods for sending Quaile down as the one meant to help
us. What had they been thinking? They couldn’t have picked a worse
shaman. She did everything wrong. How did you screw up Fate so
badly without even trying?

My dad was at least a little more
understandable. He was trying to mess up my destiny. It was
probably one of the only things he had ever failed at. Still, why
couldn’t the gods have sent a talented shaman like Kaya, or given
me a supportive and loving father like I needed?

I would never know. It wasn’t what I needed
to be thinking about anyway. Turning my attention back to where it
should have been, I held the book up to see it better and started
reading. The portion of the book still unread got thinner and
thinner. I just wanted a few more hints, a few more answers. Time
and paper were running out. Reluctantly, I turned another page.

Hasty and jumbled scribbling sprawled all
over the page. Quaile’s writing was usually very slow and careful.
The mess on the page before me was shocking. It was dated the day
Uriah and I spoke to the Elders, the day she refused us and started
the chain of events that led to this moment.

Reading the scratchy letters quickly gave me
a headache, but I felt like I had found something Quaile truly
wanted me to know. The first three pages of the hasty writing
described in detail everything that happened at the meeting with
the Elders as well as what happened later that night. Her account
was interrupted every few sentences as Quaile complained that she
thought she would have more time with Uriah.

Turning the fourth page, I started reading in
earnest. Every sentenced revealed her panic. The vision she had
seen at Uriah’s birth, the one that had revealed him to her as the
Qaletaqa, had been added onto. She had seen that his path to
destroying the Matwau had been set that night.

She didn’t seem to understand why everything
had happened so suddenly. She raced through thought after thought,
trying to figure out what to do. I think what scared her most what
that by this point in her writings she had realized she wasn’t the
chosen shaman, but she had no idea who was. She sent Uriah off to
face the Matwau without the one integral piece of help he needed
the most. I was losing hope in Quaile’s entry telling me anything
new, but another turn of the page brought out one of the most
interesting secrets of all.

The Matwau’s origin story. His creation and
birth.

I fell into the story immediately.

***

The gods of light had always had their
heroes, men they created to protect their world and their people.
These heroes only served half the gods. The dark gods felt their
ambitions were not upheld as much as the gods who loved beauty and
light. And the gods always strive for balance. They two factions of
gods debated much about how to rectify this imbalance. A suitable
answer could not be met for quite some time.

Heroes were born to the earth when they were
needed to complete specific tasks. The dark gods argued that they
should be able to do the same. The gods of light did not like the
idea of the dark gods creating their vile creatures whenever they
wished to stir up the people into wickedness and depravity. Such a
liberty could be abused too easily.

One of the gods proposed that a dark creature
could only be created when one of their heroes was born to earth,
but the dark gods did not want only to try and stop the gods of
light’s plans. They had plans of their own which they wished to
fulfill. Another of the gods suggested the dark gods be allowed to
create their agents whenever they wished but each one could only
fulfill a single purpose before its earthly body died. The dark
gods rejected that as well because they would then spend too much
time designing each wicked creation for its one specific
purpose.

In the end, the two sides finally reached a
decision. The dark gods would be allowed a single creation that
would aid their plans and desires. One single being that would be
granted long life and would hold a wide enough variety of talents
so it could fulfill many missions in many ways. But to protect
themselves from the dark gods trying to overthrow the balance of
the world, the creation had to be subject to certain laws.

The debate began again about what those laws
would be and who would make them. The gods of light insisted that
they should be the ones to make the laws, but the dark gods thought
that would render their creation all but useless. The wisest of the
gods then stepped forward and gave his opinion on the matter.

“The dark gods may choose but one purpose for
their creation to fulfill. It may fulfill that purpose in any way
it sees fit, but the law will see to it that it cannot deviate from
this purpose in any way.”

The wisest then sat down, and all those
around him began to nod and agree with his balanced proposal. When
the agreement was reached, the wisest spoke again. “Choose your
creation’s purpose.”

The dark gods gathered together, and in
whispered tones argued about how they could bring the most pain and
sadness to the world. One by one, ideas were given and shot down
until one suggestion was made that shocked even the dark gods.
Still, shocked as they were, they agreed, for it was the one thing
that would bring the most misery and prevent the most blessed
happiness the people could ever have. The circle broke apart and
announced their decision.

“Our creation’s purpose will be to hunt down
and kill Twin Souls before they can form the bond of true and
everlasting happiness.”

Startled gasps and choking sobs echoed around
them. Some cried out that it could not be allowed, but the wisest
hushed them all.

“We gave them the chance to choose their
creation’s purpose and they have chosen. Now here are the laws.
Only one of the Twins Souls may be killed, for the bond cannot form
with only one. Only Twin Souls may be harmed by this creation, but
even this creature cannot step past the shaman’s blessing of
protection.”

One of the gods of light stood before the
gathering, trembling in anger. “We cannot release such a
monstrosity on our people. It will rob them of their hope. They
must have hope.” The other gods nodded, even the dark gods, for
even in their evil machinations they still sought for balance. “We
cannot doom our people to an eternity of fear,” the god continued.
“There must be the hope that the world will one day be rid of this
abomination. There must be hope that happiness and love will
endure.”

The wisest stood and addressed the gathering.
“To preserve hope and balance, each set of Twin Souls will be given
the chance to destroy the dark gods’ creature. They will be given
the power to end his reign, but a sacrifice will be required of
them in order to use their power. They must give each other up
during their mortal lives. The shamans of our people will be gifted
with a prophecy of a warrior that will one day defeat this creature
of the dark gods when a suitable pair is sent down to the mortal
world. When a warrior strong enough to fulfill that prophecy is
sent down, he will bring back hope of happiness and joy to the
world.”

With everything decided, the gathering
dispersed and each side went to work. The dark gods gathered up all
the evil of the world and formed it into a beast of no determinable
shape or size. Into the writhing mass of evil they added every
talent and gift they could devise to ensure it would never fail. In
secret they added one more very special gift before calling their
work complete, a gift that could only be used once to corrupt the
animals of the world below and create allies unbound by the
troublesome laws. In the end, they looked upon their grotesque work
with vicious smiles and called it complete.

Far away from the dark gods, the gods of
light and beauty began work on the gifts that would be given to
Twin Souls. Like the dark gods, they added something more. They
fashioned another set of gifts to be given to a shaman willing to
suffer alongside the Qaletaqa, for they knew he would need more
power than they could give him alone. Opposite from their
counterparts, they gathered the love and kindness and compassion of
the world and formed it into the core of their gifts.

Each of the gods choose the powers and
talents they thought would aid the warrior and shaman the most, but
instead of merely tossing them in as the dark gods had, they buried
each talent deep within the spirit, ensuring that they would only
be fully released at the right time when the commitment to destroy
the creature had been made by turning aside from the Twin Soul
bond. They smoothed and shaped their gifts until they resembled the
hope of happiness which would one day restore harmony to the world.
Stepping back, they smiled peacefully at what they had made and
were confident the gifts would fulfill their purpose.

While the gods of light and beauty held their
gifts back for those who were worthy, the dark gods were eager to
unleash their creation. Carefully, they searched the world for the
perfect spot to awaken the monster. The world was big and held many
gnarled and grotesque places that would suit such a birth, but the
knowledge of the gods led them to a dark forest that ran up to meet
the dry desert sand and heat. It was a place of death and pain,
where many of the gods’ people had entered battle and lost their
lives, making the piece of desert ideal.

The dark gods descended and felt the presence
of some of their people. Twin Souls who were nearing each other for
the first time made the dark gods twitch with insidious glee. These
Twins Souls had been born too early, without the newly prepared
gifts of the gods of light. They would be helpless. Sickening
smiles crept onto their faces. They knew this place would hold
special power for their creature, the site of its birth and the
site of its first kill.

Quickly they laid down their sleeping
creation. They reached out with their power and woke it roughly.
Blinking in the glaring light, it stared at its masters, filled
with a desire to destroy. As his senses woke up and attuned
themselves to the world, it felt the desire to kill and feed so
strongly it’s body writhed and quivered with anticipation.

“Your name is Matwau, the Enemy. You are the
enemy of happiness, the enemy to this world. You know your
purpose,” the most evil of the gods said. The quiet steps of two
separate humans, a male and a female, reached the Matwau’s ears.
Dancing with anticipation, he regarded his masters, waiting for
permission to act. The gods smiled.

“Go, Matwau. Fulfill your purpose.”

***

I closed the journal. Taos. The Matwau had
been born, and made his first kill in Taos. That was why he refused
to move the location of the battle despite the issue of the prairie
dogs. I knew that had to be the reason. A special power. The dark
gods said that place would hold special power for the Matwau. What
did that mean? Would he be even stronger than when Uriah had faced
him in the past? Would it make Uriah weaker? I wanted to
scream.