Onio (6 page)

Petal
turned toward her mother and her eyes were wide with panic. “Mother,” she cried
silently. “Help…understand!”

It
didn’t take a genius to figure out what she was trying to say. She was pleading
her son’s case but Ironhands was having none of it. What was more infuriating
to Mel was the fact that Ironhands was feigning ignorance. It was easier,
apparently, to claim innocence than to direct his attention toward what he obviously
considered an inferior being. Mel clenched her teeth in rage.

“Bouldar,
I have no idea of what this woman is trying to say. Why don’t you have her
removed? Her presence is disturbing my newest guard.”

A
large, very dark sasquatch stirred by Ironhands’s side. He looked distinctly
embarrassed and gazed at his feet in silence. Mel saw that he was an attractive
specimen with bulging muscles and a trim belly, unlike his king who wore a roll
of fat around his middle like an inner tube. His teeth were very white and his
long mustaches were adorned with teeth and claws.

Onio
gazed at him with hatred and longing. His mother, Petal, could not keep her
eyes away. She alternated between staring down at her own feet and glancing up
at him with worshipful eyes. Mel knew then that Petal adored her missing
husband despite his betrayal of her and her son.

“Petal
will stay, brother,” Bouldar said. “It is the fate of her son that concerns us
all now. I will not have you cast her away.”

“No
matter then,” Ironhands scoffed. “You have allowed your tribe to be weakened by
bad blood…blood you yourself have embraced! Now, it happens again!” He turned
his gaze upon Mel.

“Look
at what Onio brings into our midst,” he declared. “Another filthy small to
weaken our ranks; another risk of war with the small human soldiers! When will
the folly end, Bouldar…when all of our kind has finally been eliminated by you
and yours?”

Bouldar
heaved a great sigh and bowed his head. “Onio made a mistake, brother. Did you
never make mistakes when you were young? Be careful of your answer, Ironhands,
because I was there!”

Mel
heard the sounds of laughter echo around the cavern and in her mind. She saw
Ironhands glare through beady little eyes at his brother as though daring him
to tattletale on the exploits of their youth. Mel smiled.

Looking
at Mel, Ironhands eyes grew wide. “Does she understand us, Bouldar? I just saw
her smile at your jest!”

Mel
could have kicked her self. She had let her guard down and now all the sasquatches
knew she could understand their silent speech. She looked at Rain, who was
whispering something in her husband’s ear, and at Onio, who looked truly
frightened for the first time since she entered the chamber.

Even
Bouldar looked aghast, as though things had just become very complicated and
deadly. All the sasquatches were staring at her and, just like before, Mel
could tell that they were guarding their thoughts from her. Within seconds
silence filled Mel’s mind.

The
hostility in Ironhands eyes was raw and undeniable. She understood that she had
just condemned Onio and herself to death. “Onio, is this your doing?” Ironhands
snarled. “I have always known that your tainted blood has made you a liability
to your tribe, but this is a crime punishable by death!”

Suddenly,
a great clamor arose in Mel’s mind. Warriors from both tribes were screaming in
rage and defiance. Hidden weapons appeared like magic and now it looked as
though the bigger tribe was going to attack Onio’s people. It was bedlam and
Mel couldn’t stand it anymore.

“STOP!”
she cried.

The
noise died down at once as the sasquatches turned to face her. She lifted her
chin. Although her stomach quivered like jelly and her headache was back, she
faced the tribes with pride. “The only thing Onio did was save my life. I
cannot hear…my ears are broken. That’s why I can hear the soul song. But I
cannot speak words with my mouth. Don’t you see? Your secret is safe with me!”

Mel
saw many of the creatures turn toward one another and speak of what they just
heard. She saw Petal gazing at her, partly with hope and partly in confusion.
She saw Rain nod in approval. Bouldar, though, was staring at his brother.
Ironhands was quivering with rage. His eyes glowed red with wrath.

“Would
you listen to this filthy small human and take her words over mine?” he
growled, “Don’t you know that she is a spy sent here to gain intelligence of
our whereabouts? If you trust this female and the traitor Onio, then we will
all surely perish!”

It
was like flipping a switch: immediately all the members of Ironhands’s tribe
roared with rage. Spears were raised and the females of Bouldar’s tribe
gathered and fled toward the back of the cave. Mel was left alone with Onio,
Wolf and Bouldar. They stood together and waited for the tribe’s decision.

Ironhands
stood as well. He seemed self-satisfied and smug. Mel hated him then and her
heart twisted with grief at what she had caused for Onio and his people.

“It
is time now, Bouldar, to admit defeat,” Ironhands declared. “You are old,
brother, and frail. You know as well as I do that the small humans move against
us. That you allowed one of them into our sacred enclave is testimony that your
leadership is in question. I would have you surrender your tribe to me, after
the traitor Onio is put to death!”

A
great soaring sigh blew through Mel’s mind and a chorus of grief overwhelmed
her senses. She looked up into Onio’s beautiful green eyes and fainted dead
away at his feet.

Chapter 7

Petal
stepped into the shadows and saw her mother, Rain, cast a swift glance in her
direction as she bent down to assist the fallen small. Every member of both
tribes stirred with emotion—anger, sorrow, excitement and triumph—with the news
that First Son…her son…was to be put to death.

Over
my dead body
,
she vowed. Petal noticed that, as usual, no one paid her any attention. In
their minds, she was as unimportant, as foreign, as the small female. She could
not communicate properly and her looks were far too different from theirs to
ever be accepted as an equal. For once, she was happy with that fact.

When
Petal was small, her foster mother, Rain, noticed things about the child that
were unusual and strange. Although the child could not speak, she was
developing extraordinary telepathic and telekinetic abilities. When she wanted
water, Petal would simply hold her hand in the air and the bowl would drift her
way like an obedient puppy. When she was cold, a snap of a finger would send a
cooking fire into gouts of flame.

Rain
was frightened. Not only was the half-sasq a social misfit, she was an adept.
The tribe was always on the lookout for children with extra mental powers.
These young ones would often be sent to live with the wise ones. The ancient
instructors endeavored to teach these promising students the art of healing,
weather craft or animal husbandry. The wise ones were also reluctant to allow
too much mental power into the tribal blood-lines.

In
past years, the advent of extraordinary mental power sometimes signaled the
onset of intellectual deficiency. Many times these children grew up only to
live in a fog of hallucinations, paranoia, and unbridled power. Many times over
Rain’s long lifetime a berserker had run amok, screaming incoherently, maddened
by demons only he or she could see. Inevitably, these sad creatures were put to
death.

Rain
was essentially a gentle and kind female. She adored her husband, although she
still resented him and the child he had thrust into her care. At one point, she
gave serious consideration to killing the girl herself. After all, she was a
medicine woman; she knew a hundred different ways to kill the child without
arousing the slightest suspicion. There were plants, mushrooms and deadly
venom. A simple fall would solve all her problems. But the way Bouldar looked
at his daughter was enough to quell those thoughts.

Men
of the tribe rarely spent time in the females’s kitchens or living quarters.
Her husband was an exception to that rule. He was gone most of the day,
hunting, gathering wood or visiting the neighboring tribes. Nevertheless, when
he arrived back home, Bouldar always came directly to Rain’s quarters to visit
with her and his daughter. He delighted in his little girl’s antics and
marveled at her strange, exotic beauty. He encouraged Petal to develop her
psychic abilities and laughed at the half-breed’s tricks. Finally, Rain could
stand no more. “Bouldar,” she cried. “You are putting your daughter at risk!”

Her
voice was far too shrill. She hung her head in shame as her husband eyed her in
consternation. “What do you mean, wife?” he asked softly.

Rain
wrung her hands. “Maybe you have forgotten, Bouldar, what happens to the adepts
in our tribes, but I have not. I care for the child in my own way, and would
not see her put to death by the wise ones!”

Suddenly,
Rain realized that she did care for the little half-breed sasq. She was sweet,
intelligent, curious and kind. Petal knew nothing about the cloud of
controversy that surrounded her and her father. She was friendly to everyone
she met, and she was stunned when her advances were inevitably rebuffed. Many times
over the first eight years of her life, Petal had asked why the other sasquatch
children hated her, and why she looked different from them as well.

Rain
spoke softly, “Bouldar, it is time we tell her what she is and why the others
spurn her advances.”

The
little half-breed stared at her father and at the kind woman known as Healer
Rain. Her heart twisted in fear at the solemn expressions on her parent’s
faces.
What have I done wrong
? She wondered frantically.

That
was the day Petal finally understood what made her so different; it was also
the day she learned to hide her abilities from the others. Rain made no secret
of what could happen if the tribe turned on her, or thought she was a risk to
herself or to them all as a whole.

She
began to hate herself that day. She was puny compared to the other children and
naked without the fur that covered the rest of them in luxurious abundance. She
was always cold and her large green eyes stared out from the furs she wrapped
herself in like a scared mouse.

More
than once she walked to her mother’s quarters with the catcalls of the tribe’s
children trailing after her like a noxious odor. “Mouse…Shy Mouse stay away!”
they shouted, and laughed as she buried her face in her furs and scurried home.

Rain
took it upon herself to teach the little half-breed how to hide her talents.
While she gave instruction and comfort to the heart-broken child, she also
watched carefully for signs of psychosis or uncontrollable spikes in her
psychic power. The little girl not only grew in intelligence but also seemed to
handle her developing telepathic powers with aplomb.

Many
years passed and one day Rain realized that she was pregnant. Her joy was
tempered by the fact that her baby would be a full-blooded sasquatch. She
couldn’t help but wonder how Petal would adjust to this newest alienation. She
needn’t have worried. When the baby came, another female named Sunshine, Petal
embraced her with joy and excitement. They were inseparable, until the day came
that the other children informed Sun that her big sister was a freak…an
abomination.

Overnight,
it seemed that Sun’s affections cooled. She no longer wanted to associate with
her bigger sister, and sometimes when the other children hurled taunts in Petal’s
direction, Sun’s voice was the loudest. It was heartbreaking, both to Petal and
to the parents who loved her.

It
was a surprise when Bouldar decided to send his youngest daughter away to
mingle with his brother Ironhands’s tribe. Rain was shocked and, in many ways,
furious. How dare he send her flesh and blood daughter away like an unwanted
dog? She seethed.

She
understood the need for it, though. Sunshine would do fine with her cousins and
possibly meet a future mate in Ironhands’s tribe. The tension within Bouldar’s
living quarters had grown intolerable. More than likely sending Petal away
would only ensure her exposure and death.

Five
seasons passed before Sunshine came back to Bouldar’s tribe. Her new mate, a
young sasquatch named Strong Sapling, and his cousin, Hunter, accompanied her. Sunshine’s
behavior toward her half-sister was changed. She no longer glared at Petal with
loathing, and sought her counsel whenever possible. Rain was relieved and
joined in Petal’s joy.

For
Petal’s part, she had never been happier. Not only was her beloved sister the
loving sibling she had been before the children turned against her, but she was
in love! Sapling’s cousin was a dream come true. Young and handsome, Hunter seemed
to share her affections. A month after they first met, Petal and Hunter were
joined in marriage.

For
three years, their marriage was blissful, but one miscarriage after another
soured their intimacy. In addition, Hunter caught Petal using her psychic
powers once too often, and thus the seeds of distrust were planted.

Finally,
she gave birth to a son. Onio was a fine boy, straight and strong, but like his
mother, he was eerily hairless and his bright hazel eyes regarded the world
with a cunning intelligence, which frightened the wise ones and made the other
children shrink away from him in fear.