Onio (23 page)

Mel
realized the only reason the craft was visible to them now was that they
recently observed the same thing, deep beneath the planet’s surface. The
spaceship was enormous and almost translucent except for the shimmering blue
and green lines that delineated its exterior. The ship hovered above the water
for a moment, spinning slowly in place. Then, as if gathering energy to charge
some unseen gate, the craft seemed to shrink in upon itself and then sprang up
and away into the heavens, faster than the naked eye could follow. Onio’s hand
found hers and they watched, dumbfounded and awestruck.

It
must be the little alien, Triku, going home at last
, Mel thought,
and held on to Onio’s hand for as long as she could before he was called away
by Wolf to look at and learn from the maps of tunnels leading to the king’s conclave.
Mel wiped a tear from her eye.

She
was honored, truly blessed, to see the world through the eyes and ears of her
new companions. She had seen more wonders and mysteries in the last couple of
weeks than most people saw in their whole life. Some things were horrible and
deadly yes…like the strange mutant rats and the frightening threads that
overcame the human beings in the tunnels below. Some things though, made her
knees go weak in a sort of primal joy; like the sasq themselves, and the alien
who had just left to go home. Tanah, the wild, tattooed human woman, queen to
the fierce northern tribes… and, of course, Onio, who was the most magnificent
thing she had ever seen in her life.

She
started at a gentle touch on her arm. “Let us go and find a private place,
girl. We will be heading down into the tunnels soon,” Tanah murmured.

Judging
by the shininess of Tanah’s beautiful blue eye, Mel thought that the queen
looked emotionally overwhelmed as well. They went around a stony out-cropping,
did their business, and within minutes of the strange spaceship’s sudden
departure were on their way through a different branch of tunnels that led
southwest through the Rocky Mountains. To Melody’s frustration, Onio stayed as
far from her as possible, choosing instead to walk by another young sasq called
Arrow.

Arrow
was, as far as Mel could tell, the youngest of the group and seemed to worship
Onio, following the mixed breed sasq warrior around like an exuberant puppy.
Given half a chance, she would do the same, Mel thought with an angry snort.
Deciding abruptly to get over her crush and continue with some dignity intact,
Mel moved to walk closer to the queen.

That
had been two days ago. Mel and Tanah had talked for many hours and now, when it
came time to bed down for the night, Mel cuddled close to the queen. Tanah didn’t
seem to mind but this morning, Tanah turned to her and asked, “Why do you
forsake your friend, girl?”

Mel
blushed and stammered, “Onio? I don’t forsake him, Tanah, it’s just that…well,
he’s busy. He doesn’t need me stumbling around underfoot.” Mel flushed,
remembering an old line by Shakespeare, “Methinks thou dost protest too much,”—or
something like that—and knew, at that moment, she fit the quote perfectly.

***

Tanah,
meanwhile, was watching Onio, who stared at Melody like a moon-dazzled rabbit,
and sighed. She remembered suddenly a terrible time of choice and indecision
when she was just a girl. She had spent four summers with Two Horses’s tribe,
making friends and learning the sasquatch ways of life. It was the summer of
her life, when everything shone with the golden light of the sun. Then her
monthly courses came.

The
wise ones took her aside, taught her how to take care of herself, and told her
that the mighty king, Two Horses, wanted to take her as a wife. She loved the sasquatch,
but suddenly the prospect of marriage seemed unbearably strange and
frightening, especially since she knew any wife of his would automatically lose
an eye and be marked, irrevocably, as the king’s most treasured property.

Confused
and in pain from her first moon-blood, she ran away from home. Tears leaked
from her eyes. She vaguely remembered her brother, who tried to keep her safe
from a wrathful father, but she had no idea where he might be now. For that
matter, she didn’t know where SHE was. Sobbing in confusion, she stopped
running long enough to gaze about in fright. She was lost. Fresh tears welled
up in her eyes at the thought of it and she wailed in fear, never knowing that
Two Horses and two trusted guards followed her every move.

A
voice spoke to her out of the darkness. She gasped and stared around with
alarm, finally spotting an old man sitting next to a tree, smoking a pipe. “Are
you lost, child?” he asked.

“No!”
she cried, defiantly. “Who are you?” she demanded.

Tanah
heard a chuckle and the old man said, “My name is Flying Crow, child. May I
know your name?”

“I’m
Tanah,” she replied and wiped her tears away with a fist. “Where are we, do you
know?”

“Yes,”
Flying Crow answered with a grin. “We are a few miles away from your king’s
village. Are you running away from him?”

Tanah’s
eyes went wide in confusion. “Not him, no, but the wise ones say that we are to
marry. I don’t want to marry anybody!” Her voice rose, startling a slumbering
owl in the trees overhead.

Flying
Crow cackled with glee. He stared past her into the trees and said, “I don’t
think that the wedding ceremony will be for some time yet, child. You need your
full growth to prosper, and I think your king knows that, as well as I do.”

The
old man seemed to be speaking to someone else and Tanah turned, looking around
in confusion. There was no one there but the silent trees and sleeping woodland
animals. Tanah decided the old man was a crazy person, but remembering her
manners, she bowed slightly and said, “Well, thank you, but I better be going
back now.” She turned to make her way back to Two Horses’s village, but paused
and turned back.

“Crow,
do you really think it will be a long time before I have to get married?”

That
was when she saw the king and his two guards standing next to the old man. Two
Horses bent over and gave the man a gentle hug, while one of the guards
gestured for Tanah to come closer.

Grinning
with delight and relieved that she didn’t have to find her way back to the
village all alone in the dark, Tanah ran up to the love of her life with her
arms stretched wide.

Looking
at Onio’s face now as he stared at Melody, Tanah saw the same fierce and loyal
devotion stamped within his tree green eyes as she had seen a lifetime ago in
her king’s gaze. She sighed once more and took Melody’s hand in hers. Then she
started walking down the tunnel that would soon lead her directly to the son
she and Two Horses shared.

Chapter 27

The
sasquatches dragged the bear to the far corner of the cave. The man, whose name
was Lieutenant Spiles, lay on the floor under the burial blanket. Mel, Tanah
and the warriors stood in a circle around the body while Blue held up the
bottle of sacred waters. Tears coursed down his shaved cheeks, but he held his
head high and his blue eyes gleamed. He opened his mouth, and Mel gasped as his
beautiful voice rose in song.

“Courage
comes in many ways,

Self-sacrifice,
the price one pays

To
defend the weak, to protect the meek—

Courage
is this man’s name.”

As
always, the sasquatch death song was short but packed with meaning. Many of the
warriors let tears trickle from their eyes, and the old sasq named Falling
Waters let out a cry in a language Mel did not understand. His words affected
those around him violently though, and a few of the sasq warriors uttered a
rejoinder, lifting their voices in a hoarse shout.

Their
queen gazed at them calmly for a moment and then lifted her voice. “My guards,
peace now. The time for vengeance is not yet at hand, although my heart yearns
for it as much as yours do. Please, settle yourselves and gather around to hear
my son’s story.”

Blue
Sky sprinkled the holy water over the blanket and he whispered, “Goodbye, Ann,”
before walking away with Tanah at his side. The others followed and sat in a
circle around the young sasq warrior.

Mel
noticed that, in many places, the sasq was shaved. His head was bald, only
blond stubble remaining, and it looked as if his back and chest were scraped
clean as well. Although his body was larger than Tanah’s, he seemed quite small
compared to the other warriors. His bright blue eyes were hollow with grief and
fatigue.

“Tell
us what happened, Blue,” his mother urged. She seemed unable to keep her hands
off him. She dabbed the healing waters here and there on her son’s back and
neck, while he gathered his thoughts. Then, looking up at his audience, he
said, “I’m happy to share what happened, Mother, but first tell me who your
guests are.” His eyes studied Mel, Onio and the guard named Wolf with
suspicion.

Tanah
nodded and said, “I’m sorry Blue, I forgot. These people are members of Bouldar’s
tribe, except for the small human, who is…a guest of theirs. This is Onio,
Wolf, and Melody.”

Blue
studied Mel for a moment, then Wolf, then Onio. His eyes grew wide as he saw
that Onio was a mixed breed like himself. His pale face flushed with pleasure,
but then his expression darkened and he turned back to Tanah. “Mother.” His
voice shook with grief. “I am so sorry about my father…was it a fine burial
service?” Tears streamed from his eyes and his shoulders hunched over with
grief.

Tanah
shook her head, lifting her son’s chin to see into his eyes. “Blue Sky, your
father is not dead! Please don’t fret so!”

Blue
stared at her in shock and muttered, “But I saw him get shot by the soldier’s
guns!”

Tanah
nodded. “It was a close thing, but Melody saved him with her magic pills! He is
resting now but will survive the injury.”

Smiling,
Blue wiped the tears from his eyes and said, “Thank you, Melody, for saving my
father, the king.”

Mel
smiled in return and listened while the young sasquatch recounted what
happened.

“As
you know, Mother, my friends and I were hunting when the small soldiers in
their black birds came. Father was hunting as well, but he and his group were
too far away to do anything besides watch as we were rounded up and taken away.
The last thing I remember was my father being shot before a man in a white suit
sprayed some sort of cloud on us. I slept then, and woke up to find myself and
my friends in a faraway place of white walls, rolling beds and terrible sights
and smells.”

Blue
started crying again in remembered fear. “Oh, Mother, it was awful!” he sobbed,
while the sasquatches who listened stirred uneasily. “There were fifteen of us
and, one by one, they were taken away. I could hear their screams as they died
and their soul songs were silenced forever!”

Falling
Waters offered a jar of water to the heartbroken sasq warrior. Blue gulped it
down, trying hard to gather his wits so he could resume his sad tale. A few
moments later, Blue continued speaking, “Five of my friends and cousins were
dead when the medics came to get me. That is when I met Ann.” The young warrior
studied the diminishing shape under the funeral blanket.

“I
was afraid to speak to any of the small humans in that place of death, but I
saw something in the lieutenant’s eyes that made me think he cared about what
was happening to our people. He was very sad, Mother, and horrified by what was
taking place. I spoke to him then, and he.…” Tears fell again from Blues eyes. “He
saved me at great personal risk to himself!”

Blue
Sky sat up straight and rubbed his hands over his face. Apparently, the time
for grieving was over. When he looked at them again, his eyes were clear and
anger glittered instead of tears. “Ann and I escaped and drove in his car for
many, many miles. We were chased by the black birds, but managed to make our
way here to the tunnels. I would have asked him to join our tribe but the bear
came first…I tried to fight the beast but I was too weak!” He sat now, spent
and dried-eyed, miserable in his shameful weakness.

There
was nothing but silence for a moment and then Onio spoke. “I hear that Blue Sky
is very cunning and performs feats even the mighty sasquatch dare not try.”
Every sasq warrior turned to face him. He grinned and added, “I hear that Blue
Sky swims like a trout in the raging waters!” Murmured chuckles rippled through
their ranks. Onio gazed down at Blue and continued, “It is said that, with Blue
Sky’s help, Two Horses has never suffered a defeat in battle.” The sasq warriors
stirred with pride and many of them stabbed their spears onto the floor in
approval.

Onio
lifted his voice and shouted, “It is said that, when the son of Two Horses and
his queen Tanah was born, the moon hid her face and the stars shone red in the
sky…the prophets say that Blue Sky’s birth proclaims a new era for the sasquatch
people!”

Tanah
was on her feet now, her eyes bright with pride, and the sasquatches raised
their spears and hammers in tribute. The young sasq warrior named Blue Sky
stared up at Onio with gleaming eyes, and a small smile etched his lips. He
stood up and addressed the audience.