Shadows in the Cave (25 page)

He did not see Salya begin to move. Her lips compressed, then opened. Her tongue ran along them.

Aku played.

Salya’s eyelids fluttered, opened, shut, opened, shut.

Aku played.

On Salya’s hands random fingers waggled. She bent a knee.

Aku breathed the last of his song through the flute. He held the instrument across his legs.

“Look,” said Iona.

Aku looked, and saw Salya’s eyes gazing at him.

He kissed her lips gently.

Weeping, Kumu took her in his arms.

Aku walked to Shonan, knelt, and saw that his father’s eyes were fixed, unmoving. Aku could not bear to look into his father’s face again. He took up the red flute and marched into a grave and stately music.

At the end of the song, Aku said, “I have failed him.”

“I don’t think so,” said Oghi.

Aku touched the slack face of his progenitor and shed a tear. “Father, come back to us.”

He walked over and started to sit beside Salya. Instead Kumu stepped in front of him. The warrior of the crooked tooth held out a prize to Aku—the eye of the dead Uktena, the diamond that foretold the future.

“You earned it,” said Kumu.

Aku cupped it in his hands.

“Wha …?” Salya said. Aku and Kumu sat down next to her. “Who? What? Tell…”

It was such a long story. Aku, Oghi, and Iona took turns telling it while Kumu held her. Salya remembered walking down the dune. She remembered one whack on the head, and thought maybe a second whack sent her into the darkness. She remembered nothing else.

They couldn’t tell her about the ceremony where her life-fire was stolen—none of them had seen it. They could tell her how she looked when they found her in the Underworld. They told her some of what they saw and heard down there in the Darkening Land—the people writhing in agony, the imaginary causes of their pain.

Here Salya perked up and began to ask some questions. They promised her all the answers tomorrow, when she had rested.

When she protested that she’d had months of rest, Kumu said, “And now I’m going to see that you get some real rest.”

Oghi went to check on Shonan.

The others told Salya about the Great Dusky Owl, the Tree of Life and Death, how Yah-Su died, and how the Master of Life and Death determined that the other adventurers had passed the test and could return to life, carrying Salya. How they bore her for many days’ walks, from the Emerald Cavern to the Tusca village to this spot.

Then, in considerable detail, with pride stirred into grief, Aku told how they’d fought Maloch the Uktena and killed the monster.

Salya laid her head back against Kumu, took his hand, closed her eyes, and seemed to be at peace.

Footsteps grabbed Aku’s attention, and he turned toward Oghi. In front of the sea turtle man, his steps a little tenative, walked Shonan.

Aku jumped up and embraced his father. He trembled in the big arms.

Shonan broke the moment. “All right, I give in.” He chuckled and patted his son’s back. “I guess maybe magic works.”

Aku said, “You know it does.”

“Hey, you two,” said Salya.

They separated. Shonan squatted and took his daughter’s hand. Tears ran down both faces.

“There’s one more thing,” Salya said.

“Yes,” said Aku and Shonan at once.

“I want to know.”

“Yes?”

“What took you so long?”

Aku and Shonan laughed and clapped each others’ backs.

E
PILOGUE

T
he next moon was momentous—Aku knew he would remember every day separately, an occasion to be honored.

The people of Amaso first elected new leaders. Oghi was named chief and Shonan war chief. Because Aku possessed the diamond eye, they chose him as seer.

Oghi called for the rebuilding of the huts brought down by the storm.

Shonan recommended sending runners to ask the Equanis for help.

Emboldened by his new position, Aku said he had a better idea. Everyone liked it. He led a group of Amaso men and women to the Brown Leaf village and met with the women, children, and elderly people left there. Since they were defenseless with their warriors dead, and facing hungry moons, he proposed that they join the Amaso people.

The Brown Leaves instead offered their own houses to the Amasos, stout houses of wattle and daub, a bay better protected from the ocean, and the security of a joined community.

Aku immediately transformed himself into an eagle, flew back to Amaso, and gave the word to everyone. They applauded the offer.

Shonan said, “I set out to add fifty families to our tribe, and my son has added another hundred and fifty.”

Aku was flattered, but more impressed with what had to be done. He, Shonan, and Oghi organized the trek to the Brown Leaf town—every Amaso went.

On the seventh evening they made camp and looked down at the distant village of their onetime enemies. “It’s a good place,” Oghi said to Aku and Iona, “better protected against storms than our old village, and with more fields to plant.”

The three of them rolled up in their elk hides. Aku looked distracted.

“What’s on your mind?” said Oghi.

“Two weddings to be held at the ceremony.”

Iona squeezed his hand.

“What’s really on your mind?” said the sea turtle man.

“My responsibilities,” said Aku.

“Which ones?” said Iona. Her mind was on their coming child.

“To be a good seer, I have to go back to the Emerald Cavern many times and learn much more.”

Iona sat up and slapped him lightly on the shoulder. “To be a good husband you need to give me lots of loving, raise our kids right, and hunt enough food for all of us. Think you can keep your mind on that?”

Aku kissed her, then caressed her. He said, “I don’t think that will be a problem.”

Acknowledgments

Hundreds of hands and minds go into the making of a book, more than I could ever mention. For this book, I am especially grateful for the frequent consultations, abundant information, and educated judgment from my friend Vincent Wilcox, retired curator of Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation. The Honorable Clyde Hall of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribe has been my guide along the red road and cherished friend for a quarter century. My brainstorming partner, my source of inspiration, and my wellspring of joy every moment is my wife, Meredith. A deep bow of thanks to you all.

About the Authors

Meredith Blevins is the author of six books, including the acclaimed Annie Szabo mystery series. The first installment,
The Hummingbird Wizard
, was
Library Journal
’s best mystery book of 2003, and its sequel,
The Vanished Priestess
, was named a top mystery of 2004.
Publishers Weekly
praised the final book in the trilogy,
The Red Hot Empress
, for “weaving humor, zany characters, and the occult into an entertaining story with serious undertones.”

An award-winning travel writer and photographer for numerous national magazines, Blevins previously wrote a syndicated financial column and worked as a creative arts therapist. Today, she and her husband, the novelist Win Blevins, live in Utah’s quiet canyon country and write books together. Their strengths complement each other, plus, they like hanging out in the same world of imagination. Through their website, www.meredithandwinblevins.com, they teach various aspects of publishing and writing, and they also give creativity and writing classes at universities and writing retreats. Meredith and Win have five children and many grandchildren, and are passionate about adventuring—they travel often, always with laptops, sketchbooks, and musical instruments.

Win Blevins is the author of thirty-one books. He has received the Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Contributions to Western Literature, has thrice been named Writer of the Year by Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers, has been selected for the Western Writers Hall of Fame, and has won two Spur Awards for Novel of the West. His novel about Crazy Horse,
Stone Song
, was a candidate for the Pulitzer Prize.

A native of Little Rock, Arkansas, Blevins is of Cherokee and Welsh Irish descent. He received a master’s degree from Columbia University and attended the music conservatory of the University of Southern California. He started his writing career as a music and drama reviewer for the
Los Angeles Times
and then became the entertainment editor and principal theater and movie critic for the
Los Angeles Herald Examiner
. His first book was published in 1973, and since then he has made a living as a freelance writer, publishing essays, articles, and reviews. From 2010 to 2012, Blevins served as Gaylord Family Visiting Professor of Professional Writing at the University of Oklahoma.

Blevins has five children and a growing number of grandchildren. He lives with his wife, the novelist Meredith Blevins, among the Navajos in San Juan County, Utah. He has been a river runner and has climbed mountains on three continents. His greatest loves are his family, music, and the untamed places of the West.

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2012 by Win Blevins

Cover design by Mimi Bark and Amanda Shaffer

978-1-5040-3307-7

This edition published in 2016 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

180 Maiden Lane

New York, NY 10038

www.openroadmedia.com