Wolves among men (14 page)

When our father passed it was more
than just a little heartbreaking. You never really get over that
kind of pain in your life and I was happy to see kids that would
never have to feel that pain in theirs that they would always
remember their dad as the man who played in the dirt with him even
if it wasn’t appropriate for him to do so.

From what I could gather, Kayla and
Jeremy were twins. They were mirror images of each other and seemed
to get along wonderfully. I was truly happy for them. They would
always have a best friend.

We talked together but mostly I just
listened as the family caught up with one another. Billy got a new
job as a computer technician in the city and May was giving
parenting advice to the trying to conceive Maura. Marcus was quiet
and stared at me a lot and I tried to remember not to take it
personally as Robert had said. I watched as Cordillia showed the
twins how to make the perfect mud pie and I was happy to see that
she had found her place.

In everyone’s life there are nights
and there are days that take on a life of its own. First dates that
you wish would never end and parties that the world stretches time
for. As you laugh and enjoy the play of life unfold around you, you
feel the presence of something more and you know, just know that
this right here is what life is all about.

I sat and enjoyed the night as we ate,
laughed and played together. We took turns telling jokes and
playing hide and seek with the youngest of our group. We enjoyed
their innocence and they enjoyed our wisdom. It almost seemed as
though the stars had aligned to bring us together in this little
clearing and enjoy a time that was older than us.

I felt like it was moving too fast but
knew that we had all the time in the world. The fire began to
dwindle and everyone grew quiet. Even the kids stopped their games
to sleepily curl up at mom and dad’s feet. As the fire sparked
comfortingly, all of our attention was instinctively turned toward
Robert as he stood slowly from his chair. He walked over to the
small table we brought and returned with a white dish in one hand
and a bundle of straw in the other.

The dish was smoking and it smelled
like Christmas dinner. I took a large whiff of the air. It was
nostalgic and reminded me of Christmas with our mother. Cordillia
looked as though she was sharing the memory with me. Robert began
chanting in a language I didn’t understand as he walked around our
circle pushing the smoke toward us with the handful of straw. He
started with Cordillia and worked his way around. As he got to May
he began to speak in English.

“
My people used sage to
bless us and purify our lands. It is a sacred herb as well as a
powerful medicine.” I thought back to the green water he used to
clean Cordillia’s wound earlier and wondered if that was what was
in there.

“
I ask the great spirit to
bless our family.” As he approached me, he paused for a moment
before moving the smoke toward me. “I ask Him to bring our new
friends luck on their journey and help them to find what it is they
are searching for,” he finished and sat back down, placing the
white dish and the straw on the ground next to his chair. We all
stayed quiet as if we knew what was expected of us. Or maybe there
was just no need to break this peace with useless talk. Robert
cleared his throat and looked down toward the ground closing his
eyes.

“
Many years ago we were a
tribe of hunters. We believed that the woods were sacred and we
spent a lot of time learning from them. We learned to hunt by
watching the bear and the wolves. We learned the ways of medicine
by watching the deer. The forest had a lot to offer us and for that
knowledge we took care of her. We were careful never to over hunt
or take more than we needed and we took care of our brother and
sister creatures as we would have taken care of our flesh and
blood. It was a time of great peace and we were a prosperous
tribe.”

I scanned the faces of the group and
realized that we were all hanging on everything he was saying. Even
I couldn’t look away for long.

“
When the white man came,
we invited him into our tribe. We treated their sick and fed their
hungry. We even taught them to survive as we had and wished our
pale brothers well. We had more than enough to share and we were
not a greedy people. Eventually our hospitality was not enough and
our new brothers brought sicker and hungrier people with them. The
land could not take care of so many and she began to die. Trees
began to fall and plants began to wither. The bear left and the
rocks cracked as the earth cried, asking us to heal her pain. Our
pale brothers noticed that as the rocks cracked, inside lay jewels
and golden stones and all he saw was greed. We didn’t want them but
it didn’t matter to them, they wanted us gone just the same. We
wouldn’t leave and after a while they accepted that.

“
There wasn’t much to hunt
and a lot of the herbs we relied on were no longer there but we
managed to survive. Our time of great peace was gone and we were
learning to live side by side with a greed that had poisoned their
souls. As time went on, we realized that these were not our
brothers anymore but animals after nothing more than shiny
rocks.

“
As the news moved east
that there was gold and gems here more and more men came. Some
pale, some dark, some young and some old. It was too much for the
land to take as they polluted our waters, over hunted the animals
and drove the life away from our land. We held on as long as we
could but it was the coming of the great evil that made us finally
let go and leave our home.

“
After many months of
mining, a man arrived who was not like the others. He was dark but
not like us and his eyes were yellow, a color my people had never
seen before. He was cruel to the others around him and we were
careful to stay away from him. He beat those who were smaller than
him and yelled at those who were bigger. He held a man’s head
underwater and laughed as he choked only letting him up when he was
pulled off by a group of older miners.

“
When he hunted he was
cruel, causing as much suffering on the animal as he could and he
was even accused of killing many of his own men in the woods. The
others saw his cruelty and decided to use it to rid the lands of
us. He came into our camp one night and had an argument with one of
the elders. He told us to leave. He said that we would regret it if
we stayed but it was our home and we decided to fight for the good
of the land.

“
When we gave him our
answer the man became angry and he changed into something inhuman.
He became a creature as black as pitch and some say that a fire
burned in him that threatened to destroy our people.

“
The creature attacked our
chief and the few others that were with him. The others died but
the chief’s heart wouldn’t stop beating, his soul was too strong.
As the creature turned on the white settlers, our warriors were
able to sneak past and save our leader. They took him into the
woods and did the best they could to treat his wounds but he healed
faster than any man we had seen before.

“
After the massacre of our
tribe and the miners, the creature claimed our land for his own and
we had no choice but to leave. We traveled many miles to the north
carrying our wounded and stopping to rest only a few at a time. Our
chief got better and so did the others. We thought of this healing
as a blessing and we were happy. But the evil followed
us.

“
When our hunters went to
gather food sometimes one would not come back. As our young
disappeared, our chief became angry and one night he changed into a
creature much like the strange man from the east. His fur was gray
as slate and his eyes blue like the sky that covers us, we feared
that he would become evil like the man that created him but like a
blessing our leader became a protector of our tribe. We were
blessed with a great warrior and a feeling of safety. Some of the
wounded began to change after him. Some gray and some black but the
black ones were always killed. We had no other choice as they
turned on us or ran away to the south.

“
After a while, the beast
left and some of us went back to our lands. A small number of
people chose to stay behind. Many months passed and our chief drove
away all of the evil spirits. We made more warriors as we needed
them and we were again in a time of peace.

“
Some decided to go and
visit our brothers to the north but they had gone back to the Great
Spirit. Their camp was torn apart and their bodies became food for
this creature and the family he had made for himself. Our men
counted the tracks of seven of these beasts before they decided to
return to the safety of our lands.”

He paused for a moment. I hadn’t
realized how long we had been here as I scanned the sleepy faces of
the people around me. The kids were snoring away and I caught
myself in a yawn.

“
Like my dream?” Cordillia
asked in barely more than a whisper.

“
Yes.” He met her eyes. “I
believe you were attacked by one of his sons. That is why you saw
our history. A history only shared by us and the great
evil.”

“
Robert, come on you know
it’s just a story. Don’t scare the poor girl now,” May chimed in
sleepily. Robert winked at Cordillia and stretched letting a yawn
escape him.

“
I think that is enough
for tonight but I will say this, May. We were not the only tribe
who met this great evil and the man with yellow eyes. His story is
told as far as Canada so do not think me a crazy old man, just one
who believes in the legends of my people.”

We all took our time cleaning up the
clearing before shuffling back to our cars. We hugged and said our
goodbyes and I took a moment to thank Robert for his story. It had
given me a lot to think about and a feeling of hope as I realized
there was a difference between what I had become and the monster I
had destroyed. I led Cordillia to the truck and held the door for
her as she climbed in and rested her head in her hands and it
wasn’t long after that her eyes fell shut and sleep took
over.

We made it back quickly and I carried
her back to our hotel room laying her down and feeling surprised
that she never woke. As I lay in my bed, everything I had heard
tonight went through my head like a game of cat and mouse. I
thought about the yellow eyed man and Cordillia’s dream but before
I could put things into place, my world went black and I drifted
off to sleep.

Chapter Ten

Waking early I felt better than I had since
we left California. There were no dreams last night and that meant
no nightmares. I was relived and I could only hope that they would
be gone for good but I was smart and I knew that it was just
wishful thinking. Cordillia was sound asleep and the room was quiet
aside from her soft snoring and occasional talking. I hoped that
she was happy and that she didn’t feel like she had to come out of
some sense of loyalty to me. I knew she would never tell me the
truth so there was no sense in asking but at least with her by my
side I had a reason to keep moving, keep searching for an
answer.

I looked over and the clock flashed ten
thirty two. It was early, too early. I groaned and rolled over
hoping to get back to sleep. I must have laid there for only a few
moments before the phone started to ring and Cordillia rolled onto
her side with a groan and pulled her blanket over her head. I
chuckled and reached for the receiver.

“
Hello?” I said
groggily.

A sharp familiar voice came through the
other end, “Ethan, are you and your sister safe?” I was confused.
What the hell kind of question was that?

“
Who is this?” I barked as
I sat up. This got Cordillia’s attention too as she sat up and shot
me a confused look.

“
It’s Robert, just answer
my question. Are you safe?”

“
Yes of course,
why-”

He cut me off, “Did you leave the hotel
early this morning?” he asked his voice becoming more and more
worried as we spoke. I hoped this was a joke but the seriousness in
his tone suggested otherwise.

“
No we’ve both been here.
What the hell is going on?” I demanded. I was done with being
cryptic. I wanted an answer.

“
What is it Ethan? Is
everything okay?” Cordillia asked groggily as she combed the
tangles out of her hair with her fingers. I shook my head and
shrugged, I really didn’t know what to say. I was just about as
lost as she was at this point.

“
The police are headed to
the hotel. They are looking for you.” My eyes grew wide as the
thought finally hit me. Is this what Robert was talking about the
other night when he said I might be in danger? Even that didn’t
make sense because the police wouldn’t get involved. If there were
people who knew about me and were afraid it would be more likely to
find a lynch mob outside the casino. Unless…