The Legend of Tyoga Weathersby (49 page)

Tyoga dropped his camping truck and picked them both up in his arms. Trinity, who was seated at the table, smiled.

“Hey there, Little Ones,” Tyoga said in his friendliest father voice, “have you two been good while I was away?”

“’Yeswhatdidyoubringme,” they responded in a one word sentence.

“Joshia, for you I brought the biggest acorn top I have ever seen in my life. I’ll show you how to use it as a signal whistle later on.” Whispering in his son’s ear he added in Tsalagie, “Eetsa tel-a yeh a eh a ho
(It will drive your mother crazy)
!” They both giggled at the impish secret they shared.

“And for you, Becky Jane, I brought some sasafrass root so your mother can show you how to make some tea. How does that sound?”

“Yeah!” was all she said as her father set her feet back on the ground.

“Children, go outside and help Sissy in the garden,” Trinity said. “Papa and I need to talk.” As soon as the children closed the front door behind them, she asked, “Tyoga, what is it?”

“Trinity, Tes Qua and Walking Bird and five of my closest friends from Tuckareegee are camped beyond the Beaver Dam. I was up all night talking with them. They will arrive here this afternoon.”

The news lit up her face while bringing tears to her eyes. She had longed to meet Tyoga’s Ani-Unwiya family. There was still so much that she wanted to learn about Tyoga. She was sure that Tes Qua would be generous in conversation. She had heard so much about him over the years that she felt as though she already knew him.

It was a dream come true for Trinity Jane. She did not have a moment to lose. Springing up from her chair, she ran to the front door on her tip toes.
She stepped out onto the steps and called, “Sissy, Rose Marie, Johnnnie-boy, Isum, Letty, come quick. Guests are coming. There is much work to do.”

She ran to Tyoga and jumped up into his arms. “This good news is wonderful. I am so anxious to meet your friends.”

As soon as she was in his arms and felt the swell of his granite hard biceps, her joy withered away. She dropped her bare feet to the floor. The smile left her face. She searched his eyes for answers. “What else, Ty. What has happened?”

He looked down at the troubled face that seconds before had been so alive with joy. “They have found Sunlei.”

Turning away from him, Trinity walked slowly toward the front window. She placed the palm of her hand on the cool pane of glass, and gazed out at the garden where their children were helping to pull out the remnants of the tomato vines and placing them in the compost pile.

The front door opened.

Jessey carried an armful of seasoned oak and apple wood over to the giant hearth and placed the firewood in the caddy. He stoked the fire into roaring flames and went back out the front door without saying a word.

Laughing in anticipation of the fun they would have preparing for their visitors, the workers that Trinity had summoned were coming toward the house.

Still looking out the window, she said, “We’ll talk about that later …” Giving up on speaking English as she often did when anxious or angry, she continued in Tsalagie, “Ut eh ya ota itsh-tay oh. Ye si-ya to hey to eh alo. Nitch ti.”

Tyoga turned toward the bedroom and disappeared behind the door.

Tes Qua, Walking Bird, and the others arrived in the early afternoon. Tyoga met them at the base of the stone steps that led up to the portico and the massive hickory door.

“Tsi-lu-gi, Twin Oaks,” Tyoga said with just a bit more fanfare than necessary.

Tes Qua and the others looked in wide-eyed amazement at the village that Tyoga had built. They stood at the foot of the steps and turned around to take it all in. A cool breeze floated down the slopes of the Appalachians to the west to rattle the hollow reeds that lined the banks of the Mattaponi River. To the north, the sounds of construction and industry poured from the cottage lined cobbled lane while the cooper, black smith, and tanner tended to their chores. From the south the scent of smoking meats, fresh baked breads, and pies emanated from the kitchens and brick ovens while the neatly clad ladies scurried from building to cooking hearth in their white aprons and caps.

Tes Qua turned and placed his hand on Tyoga’s shoulder. Grinning widely, he said, “You have done well, my brother. You do your people proud.”

“Come,” Tyoga replied. “Come into the house and meet my Trinity Jane. She is anxious to greet all of you.”

Turning toward the house he opened his arms and guided his visitors up the steps. He passed them when they got to the portico, stepped in front, and swung open the heavy front door.

His guests entered the house to see Trinity Jane, dressed in her most ornate doeskin tunic, and fox fur boots. A long auburn braid fell in front of her right shoulder. Her thick lustrous brown locks on the right side cascaded over her face to hide her scar. Large silver and gold hoops adorned her ears and she wore a beautiful necklace of precious stones and puka shells.

Expecting her to be dressed in her finest colonial taffeta dress to meet their guests, Tyoga’s eyes opened wide at the sight.

Trinity had made the wise calculation that that would have been a mistake.

“Eh-ya-to, mi yaga
(Welcome to our home)
,” she said in Tsaligi. “Da gwa do a, Acohi Yutsa
(My name is Acohi Yutsa)
.”

The Cherokee seemed unsure about this unexpected entrance. They knew that Tyoga had made a home with a white woman, and they fully expected to meet someone who would have set themselves apart by dressing differently and certainly not speaking in their native tongue.

An awkward pause caused Trinity to look down at the floor.

Tes Qua stepped forward rather formally, extended his hand and said in his most perfect English, “Hello, Trinity. I am Tes Qua.”

Smiling, Trinity reached out to take his hand. He grasped it firmly before picking her up in a joyful bear hug that welcomed her into the Ani-Unwiya clan. She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. At this, the others stepped forward and threw their arms around the both of them. Walking Bird held tightly to her tiny hand and would not let go. Overjoyed to be with their boyhood hero once again, Coyote and Paints His Shirt Red greeted Trinity Jane just as enthusiastically.

Dancing Mouse and Morning Sky were awestruck by the grandeur of Twin Oaks. While they too were happy to see their old friend, they were mesmerized by the household goods the couple had come to possess. Furniture, iron skillets and knives, glass windows, spinning wheels, linens and down filled pillows left them speechless—and wanting.

They spent the afternoon talking and laughing and eating. They feasted on lamb, venison and duck. They tasted fruit from far away lands, and drank bottles of Bordeaux wines and Spanish Madeira. After their bellies were full, the laughter died down as the sleep inducingeffect of the wine took its toll. Some of the guests retired to their quarters to rest while others stretched out on bear skin rugs in front of the hearth.

Trinity Jane, Tyoga, and Tes Qua stepped into the parlor to speak in private.

Tes Qua could tell from the look on Trinity’s face that Tyoga had told her about his discovery of Sunlei’s whereabouts. He recounted his attempt to find and rescue Sunlei, and explained in a way that his brother Tyoga would not have been able to do, the life or death situation she was in as the result of Tyoga’s scheme to save the Mattaponi village of Passaunkack.

Understanding, Trinity Jane knew exactly what it meant. “So, Ty, when will you leave?”

“The day after tomorrow,” he replied.

“I am going with you this time,” Tes Qua demanded.

“Yes, Tes Qua, you will go with me to save your sister,” he said. “But we will separate at Tuckareegee. I will go into Kaniataro alone to get her. You will follow after me to help with our escape. We will work it out along the way.”

“Ah-ho,” Tes Qua replied.

“Will the rest of our friends stay here with T.J. and the children?” Tyoga asked “We’ll be gone for several weeks, and I will be obliged if Paints His Shirt Red and Coyote stay here at Twin Oaks until I return.”

“They will stay,” Tes Qua said. “All of them will stay.” Leaving Trinity and Tyoga alone, Tes Qua excused himself from the parlor to retire to the guest quarters for the night,.

Quickly getting up from her chair, Trinity crossed the room to where Tyoga was sitting. She knelt down in front of his chair and placed her tiny trembling hands on his knee. Her eyes welled with tears as she began speaking. “Tyoga, I know that you must go to rescue Sunlie. Your heart tells you that this must be done, but I do not think that you understand why. Dhitili, the why is what is important. If you go to find her to protect her and her child from harm and to return her to her people, then the reason is good and just and the right thing to do. But if you go to find her thinking that your heart will once again be whole, then you are mistaken.”

She paused to look around the room. Taking him by the hand, she stood him up and led him to the magnificent fireplace that lit the room with its warming glow. Stepping to the side of the hearth, they gazed out the window together at the land and the river and the mountains beyond.

“Tyoga, we have built a life here together that I cherish above all things. Because of who, and what we are, we bridge the white world from which we have both come to an Indian culture that burns within our hearts and ignites our very souls. The day may come when you must choose between the two. You have told me many times that in all things there are but two outcomes. And the one that is chosen is the right one because it will lead to the end that was meant to be. If that day should come, what will you choose? Will you choose the white world we have created on the edge of the frontier here, with me and our children; or will you return to the life that you led as a member of the Ani-Unwiya?”

Turning away from the window, she peered up into his face.

He continued to stare out the window.

“Tyoga, there really is no choice at all. This is your home. And this—” she added taking his hand and placing it over the new life swelling her abdomen. “This is what makes your heart whole.”

He looked down into her face aglow in the light of the roaring fire, and then gazed out the window to the mountains gently glazed in the supple moonlight.

The call came from far away. Maybe all the way from Keyser’s Ridge. Carried by the chilly autumn breeze, the haunting moan sailed down the jagged mountain slopes and through the hidden caverns and undiscovered valleys. The wail grew in pitch and intensity until it came in unending waves that penetrated the night with an urgency recognized by the wild things and those in whom the promise lives.

Trinity Jane looked up into Tyoga’s face and recognized the vacancy of his eyes and the slight smile that tugged his lips.

He was already gone.

Epilogue

The Search Begins

I
t had taken Tyoga, Tes Qua, and Brister, a week to cross the Appalachians to the Ani-Unwiya village of Tuckareegee.

Tyoga stood alone on Carter’s Rock.

He could see in the distance that the early morning mist was shrouding the jagged edges of Craggy Gap in a cloak of gossamer grey. Standing alone on the rise, he raised a knowing hand to shield his eyes from the piercing rays of the rising sun.

As he had done since he was a child, he bowed his head and looked away at the moment of sunrise. His Ani-Unwiya brothers had taught him that to intrude upon the privacy of the dying dawn was an act of which no man was worthy, but to revel in the splendor of the morning’s birth was a covenant of being.

Through eyes squinted to razor edge amber slits he watched the dawn bow to the caress of the blazing orange ball. The morning emerged from the glistening folds of the jagged gap, and flooded the new day with currents of prisomed newness. Brilliant colors of every texture and hue poured over the dawn’s pastel shadows to reveal the splendors hidden by the blackness of the night.

Far beyond were the rolling foothills of the Smokey Mountains. A step away and thousands of years below were the deep valleys and secretive hollows he had once called home.

He struggled to stand tall and to keep his feet. His papa would want him to stand tall. It was from this very spot that the awakening had occurred all those years ago.

On this day, the hallowed ground held no promise.

His senses were alive with the pulse of the wild, a second nature
urgency that without taking notice was uncontested and free. He listened to the whispering breeze annoy the pines that surrounded him into a chorus of sensuous sighs. He could feel the musty loam beneath his feet quiver with promise, and the unforgiving certainty of its timeless age.

The kiss of the predawn air, moist and gentle upon his face was as intoxicating as a lover’s lips inviting him to enter while warning him to stay away.

He had never been so alone. He had never been so filled with dread.

He dropped to a knee and clutched the earth with his strong, calloused hand. For a long while, he knelt while his fingers burrowed into the dirt.

The pine needles pricked his fingers and the sensation awakened memories of those cold gray December afternoons when the family would venture into the woods around South Henge in search of the perfect Christmas tree. It was always he who would lie on the freezing snow covered ground while awkwardly wrestling the saw blade and tree trunk to a chorus of giddy squeals imploring him to hurry with the murderous deed.

He heard their voices now. As he raised the handful of dirt to his face, its loamy underbelly triggered the memory of plowing the fields with his papa in early spring and late fall. He remembered stumbling behind the mules and falling more times than he could count. His father’s strong hand would reach down to grasp him by the waist band of his britches just before the forward motion of the rig would drag him face first through the newly lacerated earth.

Bringing the clutch of earth to his face, his powerful grip released the pungent scent born of birth and decay. He closed his eyes and deeply inhaled its life giving essence. He held the dirt away from his face, gazed at it for a long moment, and dropped his hand to his side.