Qaletaqa (37 page)

At that, Talon’s ears perked up. His eyes
bounced between me and Claire. No sense in dragging this out any
more than it already had been. I turned back to Claire, but she
beat me to the first question.

“Are you talking to Talon?” Claire
interrupted.

I stared at her for a moment. Was there any
guilt in her for the things she had decided not to tell me? She
stared at me as if waiting for a question to be answered. Had she
been saying something while I argued with Talon?

“I’m sorry, Claire, I had something to
discuss with Talon. Did you say something?”

“It’s okay,” Claire said. “Talon will
probably be able to explain it better anyway. Let me know when
you’re done.”

Taking my hand again, though the pain of her
touch seemed more poignant than in recent times, Claire turned to
look at Talon. She seemed to be focusing on him very hard. I
couldn’t help but wonder if she was speaking to him, reminding him
of something? Telling him to keep his furry mouth shut? What had
they had discussed without me? I wondered if Talon already knew
everything Claire did.

“Talon, what did you find?” I asked, trying
to keep my suspicions reigned in.

“There was a trap, and I believe there will
be more of the same if the first one fails,” Talon said.

“What was the trap?” I asked. Listening to
the details of what Talon saw, from the scouts to the bloody shirt
and little nook that hid the creatures, I found myself searching
the bond. Even the idea of blood stole a piece of me away. I had
felt nothing recently to tell me that Melody had been hurt in any
way, but I felt the need to search every inch of the bond just to
be sure.

Nothing but the usual hum of underlying fear.
Relief flooded through me. Thoughts of who had been made to supply
the blood made my stomach churn. The unknown person was added to my
list of people I had hurt. I hoped I could get through this without
adding anymore names.

Before I sent Claire off with Harvey she had
asked me to consider letting her follow me to the end. Her request
had been eating away at me all day. A couple of times I came close
to giving in, but now I was more adamant than ever before that I
would face the Matwau alone. Whether her power was the key or not,
I wouldn’t let her die for this. What I had to do next was the only
way to protect her. Even if she was right, I couldn’t lead her to
face the most evil and dangerous being in the world. I refused to
lead Claire to her death.

“I didn’t make it any further than the first
trap,” Talon said, pulling me back into the conversation. “I had no
more time to search. There will be other traps, I’m sure. Probably
similar traps that will cause you to fear for Melody and tempt you
to make rash and foolish decisions. Be wary and listen for the
creatures thoughts.”

“I will, my friend. Thank you.” He had
already done so much, and was ready to do even more. “Now it’s your
turn to listen. I believe you when you say you’ll protect Claire,
but mine and her ideas of how to do that are pretty different. I
need you to back me up on this.”

“Uriah, listen to yourself as well. Yours is
not the only way,” he said.

I tried to guess what exactly he knew. It
must not be everything or he would never be arguing with me.
Bracing myself for a fight, I turned back to Claire. “I need you
three to drive back down the mountain, take my truck with you, and
wait for me at Pueblo de Taos.”

Claire’s face hardened and her hands sprang
up to her hips while Talon observed me carefully. Talon had said
they were about to do just that, so I hoped it would soften the
blow about to come.

“You three are to be ready to help once the
battle is over. Not until then,” I said. “You absolutely cannot
leave the pueblo before the fight has ended. I don’t care what
reasons you think you have, but it would have been too dangerous.
You could interrupt something or stumbled on one of the
creatures.”

I paused, holding Claire’s gaze sternly. “I
do not want any of you on the field. You’ll know as soon as the
fight is over. Then, Claire, come to me as quickly as possible.
Alright?”

“I will bring Claire to you,” Talon promised.
I felt that same queasy feeling that I was not getting the promise
I wanted, but Claire’s voice stopped me from getting a better
answer.

“How can you think I’m wrong about this?” she
demanded.

I stared at Claire, daring her to bait me
into this fight. “I’m not saying you’re wrong. I…”

“You’re not? Then what are you doing?” she
argued. “Did you even think about what we talked about?” Her
features had not softened at all.

“Of course I thought about it! I’ve thought
about very little else since we split up. Especially after I talked
to Quaile and she told me everything you just so happened to leave
out!” My hands came up to my head. I scrubbed them through my hair,
trying to rid myself of the frustration threatening to make me
implode.

Claire’s jaw dropped, and then firmed into a
razor-straight line. “What?”

“I have to break the bond completely in order
to gain more power. You have to give me your power-which might kill
you. Oh, and how about there being a whole other freaking vision
you never bothered to tell me about?” I snapped. “Does that about
cover it, Claire?”

Her own anger suddenly spiked. She actually
stamped her foot. “Of all the times for Quaile to suddenly open up!
I thought if there was anyone I could count on to keep her mouth
shut it would be her.”

“You’re admitting it?” I asked, a little
surprised. She just faced me down, silent. I glanced over at Talon,
but he looked just as startled. He knew none of this, either. It
made me wonder what he was hiding, but I put that thought on hold
for the moment.

“Claire, why didn’t you tell me all of
this?”

“Because you had enough to deal with, and I
was afraid of how you’d react. I was scared that you’d try to stop
me for real.” Shame crept into the corners of her expression, but
determination kept it from gaining much purchase.

“You promised you’d stay behind.”

Now her head dropped. “I never said for how
long.”

Her sullen composure pulled at me, but not
enough to make me change my mind. “You’re still staying back.”

“What?” all three of them shouted at me.

“I have to give you my power right before you
face the Matwau, and if you have to somehow get out from under the
bond at the same time, you’re going to need both me and Harvey
there to help you and Melody turn away from each other. Nampeyo’s
vision said you’d need me there!”

I think Talon and Harvey were making their
own arguments on top of Claire’s, but I tuned everyone out but her.
“I can’t take the risk. Bhawana was the shaman, the one trained to
receive these messages. I have to trust her over the vision of a
child.”

I actually did believe that. Whoever this
other woman was, she was an apprentice. She came after Bhawana. Her
version could have been tainted by any number of influences. “Me
fighting the Matwau alone would have been a huge detail for Bhawana
to get wrong. She saw me fighting alone and she saw me kill him. I
can do this without anyone else’s power. I have to.”

Tears glistened in Claire’s eyes. “Why are
you arguing with me on this? The second vision, it added to the
first one. It didn’t contradict anything. It gave you more of a
chance to win!”

“At what cost, Claire? Giving up your power
will kill you. I won’t let that happen.”

“Facing the Matwau alone will kill you!” she
shouted.

“I made this choice! I accepted the risks
before I came down her. If I can’t beat the Matwau, my life is the
only one lost. I won’t walk out there knowing I’m putting anyone
but myself at risk. You’re all staying behind!”

“I made the choice, too,” Claire said
quietly.

I pulled her close to me, burying any more
arguments against my chest. For the second time today I felt tears
slip down my face. “I’d rather see the Matwau go free than let you
die, Claire.”

Claire pulled away. “No you wouldn’t, Uriah.
Think of all the lives he’ll destroy. You can put an end to all of
that if you’ll just listen to me.”

“If I fail, someone else will come along.
Someone else will finish him. It doesn’t have to be me. Seeing you
die isn’t worth it.”

Her bottom lip started trembling. Burying her
face in my shirt, I held her knowing I had finally gotten through
to her. I may have made one choice before I came down to this
mortal life, but I had made dozens of promises to Claire since then
that I would never let anything happen to her. I failed her once,
and it nearly killed me and her. I wouldn’t fail her again.

I could feel in the way her body shuddered
that Claire’s pain was real. She knew nothing was going to change
my mind, and it clearly terrified her. But I had to make sure.

My left arm slipped free of Claire, straying
to my back pocket. The thin rope was easy for my fingers to catch.
Slow enough so as not to alert Claire, but fast enough to keep
Talon or Harvey from reacting, I hooked my hands around Claire's
wrists and yanked them behind her back. The rope looped around them
like I had done to dozens of sheep over the years and cinched tight
before she knew what I was doing.

The pinch of the rope on her flesh snapped
Claire away from me. The fury in her face shocked me enough to make
me step back. I expected a torrent of anger to spill out, but all
she did was stare at me, her eyes boring holes into my flesh. It
was ten times worse than any pain her touch had ever caused me.

I saw Harvey move from the corner of my eye
and grabbed him before he could do something stupid. Knowing what
was coming, he struggled a bit more. For all his hiking and biking
around Colorado he got his face smashed into the dirt and his hands
tied behind his back just like Claire. I plunked him down behind
her and tied them both together. When I stood up, my eyes fell on
Talon.

“If you try, you’ll be facing the Matwau with
only one hand,” Talon warned. His razor sharp teeth reinforced the
threat.

“Did you listen?”

He nodded.

“Claire thinks she has to give up her power
in order for me to kill the Matwau. Giving up her power will kill
her. Every story I’ve ever heard of someone attempting it ended the
same way. I won’t let her kill herself for me.”

“Claire is not like others.”

“Maybe not, but she’s had all of two days to
develop her talents,” I reminded him. “Do you really think she can
do it with so little training?”

Talon didn’t answer, but his uncertainty
filled the space between us.

“Look, I’m not asking you to keep them here
forever. Melody and I will both need them with us when we have to
choose between them and the bond. Just give me some time to do this
without anyone else getting killed. Losing Claire to the bond was
one thing, leading her to her death is another. I’ll never survive
it.” I walked over to him and gripped his face in desperation.
“Please, Talon.”

His eyes drifted back to Claire once, then
met mine. The slow bob of his head was all I needed. Whether I was
making the right choice or not, it was made.

***

Riding my motorcycle into the trees without
Claire was harder than I expected. I could feel her watching me
leave her behind once again. I kept looking back to make sure she
hadn’t found a way out of her bonds. I wasn’t sure if Talon would
hold out as long as I wanted him to, but I was at least comforted
in knowing Claire would never catch up to me on foot. It was more
than ten miles over rugged terrain to the desert valley where the
Matwau was waiting for me. I only had a few more hours to sunset,
so making the trip on foot was out of the question.

My motorcycle darted through the trees at a
reasonable speed. I knew from the vision that I would face the
Matwau before the sun set, and I refused to spend another night
waiting to fulfill my destiny and find the true path of my future.
Hoping that Claire would stay safely out of the way until I needed
her, I tried to push her to the back of my mind and pull Melody to
the front. The bond was a steady beacon now, leading me straight
into the Matwau’s hands.

Dried pine needles spit out behind me as I
rode, but my mind was carefully going over Ahiga’s lessons. The
precise movements and techniques had been ground into my mind in
that one short session. Knowing them all by heart did not keep me
from wondering whether Ahiga had known about the Matwau’s
advantages when he came to me. If he had then I was as prepared as
I could possibly be. If he hadn’t… Shaking my head, I rehearsed my
attacks again and again. Until the soft whispers of the Matwau’s
creatures crept into my mind.

“I hear him coming.”

“He is on a vehicle.”

“He must see us. We must lead him on.”

Not slowing down went against everything that
seemed reasonable. But if I slowed down they might suspect I knew
they were there. Peering into the woods ahead of me, I kept up my
speed as I searched the trees for the sentries.

Their shifting grey coats among the last
summer greens of the forest gave them away quickly. They were
obviously not trying to hide. I was meant to see them. Waiting
until I reached some unseen point on the trail, they suddenly
abandoned their posts and lunged toward me. They quickly reached me
and took up their duty to drive me forward.

Grime coated teeth snapped at my legs while
vicious snarls drowned out the roar of the engine. I would let them
drive me, but I would not make it easy for them. Jerking the bike
to the right, I crashed into the animal’s tough hide, the back tire
rolling over the creature’s paw. Fury raged through its mind. An
angry yelp escaped its jaws, but even limping he was quick to catch
back up.