Yelloweye
10
Day of Prayer
The Family
“DELTA OH NINER, this is base,” Cole said into the radio.
“This is Delta Oh Niner, base. Come in.”
“What’s the status?”
“No way to keep them from knowing we’re here and still keep them away from scattering the cattle. It seems that was their intent all along.”
“What’s the plan?” Cole asked.
“We had a parlay,” the voice on the radio said. “We explained the terms simply. They could run around their base with the ATVs all they wanted and we wouldn’t say a thing if they ran west. But we would stop them from approaching where the wranglers were rounding up the cattle they’d scattered.”
“How’d they take that?”
“About how you’d expect. A lot of shouting and waving their guns around. It’s all quiet now. We simply showed them that we had bigger guns. And more of them.”
“I don’t want any firefights,” Cole said. “I just want my cattle rounded up.”
“They’re sure to call in reinforcements,” the voice said, “but not right away. At the moment, they’re busy discovering their cell phones don’t work up here. By the time they send someone out on the west side of the mountain because the FS Road has been washed out, it will probably be nightfall before they can call for reinforcements. We figure they’ll have to go all the way to Rawlins to make a phone call.”
“The Forest Service Road was washed out? We haven’t had any rain,” Cole said.
“Local storm,” the voice chuckled. “I figure it was about fifty feet wide.”
“You guys know your business. I’ve asked too much already. Take care and be safe.”
“Roger that. Delta Oh Niner out.”
“Ramie, could we ask about our ride?” a young woman leading a chestnut mare said.
“Sure, Dawn. Everything is open except the trails up to the ridge. With the cattle getting ready to move down and the oil company acting aggressive, we don’t want anybody risking that ride,” Ramie said.
“That’s just it,” Dawn said. She’d been boarding her horse here for three years and a dozen of the regular riders were tacked up by ten on this Sunday morning. Another dozen had trailered in and all twenty-four or twenty-five horses and riders were gathered together. “We’d like to go someplace to… um… meditate with our horses. Sort of… consider the land,” she said sheepishly. Ramie couldn’t help herself. She hugged the young rider.
“Yes,” she said. “The land needs you.”
“Where would you recommend?”
“Take the south trail around the pond. Then bear east a little and you’ll hit the river. There’s a nice trail there and about two miles along the river, you’ll come to an open meadow. Not many people go down that direction because it’s not a mountain ride, if you know what I mean. It just meanders along the river. We’ve noticed a lot of pronghorn gathering in that meadow this summer. I think it would be a great place to sit and consider the land.”
“Thank you, Ramie. I knew you’d understand. We… we’re all concerned about what’s happening to the environment. At least this is something we can do.”
“Tell everyone to take curry combs, brushes, and blankets to rub their horses down with,” Ramie said. “There’s nothing that helps meditation like brushing your horse.” The girl grinned and went back to her friends. After scrambling to get their tack together, the long line of horses filed out of the yard and hit the trail.
“Let’s pause to consider the land,” Cole said as the family sat at the table for dinner.
It was a ritual that had been passed down for generations in the Bell family. Before each meal, whether spoken or understood, the family paused to consider the land. For generations, this land had supported the Bell and Alexander families. They weren’t religious, but they felt a deep connection. Markers on the hillside, expanded by Cole, Ramie, and Kyle to include people who had never found their way into the family Bible, lay on the hillside above the woodlot. Generations that went back to Laramie Wyoming Bell and Kyle Redtail Wardlaw, Miranda Lewis and Jason Wardlaw, Theresa Ranae Bell and White Horse. Six generations laid to rest. All tied to the land.
On this particular Sunday, people of many faiths and no faith at all paused with them to consider the land. The land that fed them, clothed them, provided the energy for their lives, and the pleasure for their eyes. Whether they were on the side of corporate exploitation of resources or conservation of the land, people paused to consider the land.
Fifth Live Report
“There is a different tone to the drums from Yellowstone Grizzly Village today,” said Evan Waitley, the NNN network newscaster. “It is soft. Humming. Even from here, a mile from the Grizzly Lake, we can hear the chants as they rise and fall. But it is not this that has made this moment one of awe. It is what lies in the valley around the village.” The camera swept away from the reporter and focused on a valley full of animals.
“‘The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.’ Those words from the prophet Isaiah have never been more fully realized. As you can see, the animals in this basin—thousands of them—lie at peace with each other and at odds with man. All men except the two we have come to know as the White Wolf Twins wandering among them. We can see buffalo, elk, wolves, mountain goats, rabbits, and mountain lions all lying together, staring at the site of the Shale Oil Company well.” The camera picked up Earth Sister coming from the village, approaching the reporter.
“A Park Ranger was led by this couple to walk among the beasts a short time ago. The man and woman are different from those around them, both being fair-skinned and light-haired. Yet they wear only loin cloths and a robe made of wolfskin. When he returned, the Ranger said only, ‘It is all real. They are really here.’ Now Earth Sister approaches.”
Mandy had been clipped with a microphone as the camera watched, but no one noticed the technical maneuvering. Tears ran down Mandy’s cheeks.
“You called this a day of prayer to consider the land, Earth Sister. Is this what you had in mind?” Evan asked.
“I’ve lived in their heads for five years and never imagined they would do this,” she said. “In all that time, they have prepared for a war they did not want. Look at them. Prey and predator, all knowing their place in the cycle and accepting it. Except man. Except the corporations that hold man captive. This is what Néške'emāne wants for her children. My beloved Wolf Twins do not want this war, but they will not relent if the injury to Grandmother Earth continues.”
“The Wolf Twins are the two we see wandering among the animals and who led the inspection of the animals with the Park Ranger?” Evan asked.
“They are one aspect. The Twins span time, race, and species, I think. But this is sure. Tomorrow, Shale Oil Company has declared it will begin the pseudo-fracking operation that will force Earth Mother to give up her life blood for their greed. If they proceed, all those animals you see lying peacefully in the valley, and millions more than you can imagine, will rise to fight for their mother. Today, we mourn, for tomorrow, when the thunder echoes from the mountains, those who remain there—or at any other site where the corporation would harm Earth Mother—will die.”
The Family
“Radio Rafe,” Ashley said. “They need to start the cattle down from the ridge now.” Cole ran to the office and made the call to his surprised foreman.
“We won’t know for sure if we have them all,” Rafe said over the radio. “We could lose ten percent or more.”
“We’ve got two hours of daylight left. We’ll lose them all if you wait until tomorrow,” Cole shot back. “Don’t stampede them, but get them moving. Everyone gets a twenty percent bonus if we have four hundred head when you arrive here tomorrow.”
“We’ll move them, boss,” Rafe said. “I don’t think we can break and move the camp, though.”
“Leave it. Abandon everything and put every person on the drive.”
Cole switched bands on the radio.
“Delta Oh Niner, this is base.”
“Come in base.”
“We’re moving the cattle. Fall back as they move and get away from the ridge. Maintain a defensive position behind the herd. Do not leave anyone on the ridge.”
“Understood, base. Delta Oh Niner out.”
“If these wild ones get to be too much, I’ll take them to the kitchen,” Aubrey said as the family settled in to read. “It will be bedtime before long.”
“There’s six adults,” Mary Beth laughed. “Eight if we count you two,” she pointed at Kyle and Ramie hosting Jason and Miranda in their heads. “We ought to be able to ride herd on two little ones.” She flopped down on the floor with a bit of a groan and Theresa toddled over to her grandma. “When did the floor get so low?” she asked. “Never used to be that far down.”
“I think I’d better read today,” Ramie said. “It’s the only way I’ll be able to sit still. I want to ride up to the ridge just to see what happens.”
Ramie lifted the pages from the box.
Phile: Leaving Mandy
The battle at Greasy Grass didn’t all happen at once. It was four years from the time that we visited until Custer led his army into Crazy Horse’s trap. In the same way, we weren’t ready to march off to war, either. We didn’t even know yet who we were doing battle with.
Once Caitlin and I left Kyle’s spirit walker, we just turned and headed toward the mountains. We’d planned to take more with us, but the revelation of what we’d done hit us hard. I didn’t know who he was beyond his name, Jason, but we’d both done our deeds and he seemed to be at peace with Kyle. It was news, though, that Kyle and Ramie were spirit walkers and they had been inhabited by people from the past. There were more bridges being built than just our simple drumming.
Caitlin and I just needed to get to Mandy. We met at the thermal spring up on the ridge. We’d been coming here, it seemed, for centuries. It gave us a focus on the land. We could feel it in our bones.
We waved at the hands watching over the cattle in the summer pasture, but we didn’t stop to talk. We rode on up over the ridge and Mandy was waiting for us. Cait and I jumped from our horses and wrapped that girl in our arms. We linked and projected every soft touch and kiss to Wolf Rising and Wolf Riding Woman. Caitlin got herself naked before she helped me pull Mandy’s dress over her head. I was still working on getting Mandy’s brassiere unfastened when Caitlin hauled my pants down my legs and sucked my cock into her mouth. I felt Wolf Rising gasp and knew Wolf Riding Woman was giving him the same treatment. I kissed Mandy and caressed those beautiful breasts that we all loved so much. I guess we were all desperate because in fifteen minutes we’d come in every combination we could and rode in the heads of our partners while they came. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of experiencing a woman come. It’s so different than the way I spurt. Well, maybe it’s partly because it always makes me spurt at the same time.
We ate cold rations from Mandy’s saddlebag. We didn’t want to start a fire that night because we didn’t know how long we’d be there. If everything worked like we expected, we’d all be gone by morning. We stayed naked, but stowed all our clothing in bundles on our horses. We cleaned the site and made sure our waste was buried deep.
We’d taken to carrying prayer drums attached to our rifle scabbards wherever we went. They were flat and about ten inches across. They looked like decorations, but we took them off and began a steady rhythm. Mandy had a slightly bigger one that she tapped at. Wolf Rising and Wolf Riding Woman had a bigger drum and we could feel it setting the rhythm over the centuries as we fell into a dance and made the thunder that would let us open the gate.
We were going visiting.
It was an hour before sunrise before we opened the gate. Three people and three horses with all our gear intact stepped into the clearing in front of Wolf Rising and Wolf Riding Woman. The drumming ceased and we collapsed into each other’s arms.
Our two other selves, of course, wanted some hands-on time with Mandy. I could feel and remember everything those two had done, but it was still different to be physically in touch. While Wolf Rising, Caitlin, and Mandy got in every position imaginable, Wolf Riding Woman took me in her arms as well. I looked into her eyes.
“It is strange, isn’t it?” she said. “I look into your eyes and I see the same spirit as Wolf Rising’s looking back at me. Yet the body excites me because this body does not know it well like it knows Wolf Rising. Do I excite you as much in this body as I do in my now-time body?” she asked.
“Caitlin/Wolf Riding Woman, I know you are one person, but you excite me in different ways. I know that as I enter you, it will be as if I have never been there before and it excites me beyond measure. If ever there was meaning to the term soulmate, this is it. No matter what body we occupy, our souls have been mated from birth. Twice,” I said.
Our loving lasted most of the day. It was curious as we switched partners and loved in all the combinations. And I mean all of them. I watched Caitlin as she crawled on hands and knees between Wolf Riding Woman’s legs to eat her. I found myself stroking Wolf Rising’s rising erection as he stroked mine. I guided his cock into Cait’s waiting pussy, caressing his balls. It felt good. It was my cock. As he bent over Caitlin’s back, pumping into her, he sucked my cock into his mouth. It didn’t feel weird. Like most guys, I’d wondered what it would be like to suck my own cock. Some guys I’d heard in the locker room had said if they could suck their own cocks, they’d never bother dating.
Mandy kissed me as she petted Wolf Rising’s hair.
“It’s a new dimension of masturbations, isn’t it?” she asked. When we’d kissed each other thoroughly, she turned and sat on Wolf Riding Woman’s face. When I came in Wolf Rising’s mouth, I tasted myself and decided that it was good, but I’d rather have any of the women. Nonetheless, I would never shy from giving myself such a satisfying come.
We couldn’t spend all our time making love, though most of the day was spent in some stage of undress. We had work to do and five pairs of hands would be better than two pairs. Even living in two times and knowing what life was like in primitive times, our bodies were not accustomed to the level of hardship. We had to hunt. We had to gather. We would need a good shelter before snow flies.
And we needed drums.
Wolf Riding Woman had prepared two skins that we planned to stretch on frames Wolf Rising had prepared. We laced rawhide strips through carefully cut holes in the skins. These were threaded through a rawhide disk in the back. The skins were stretched wet. That way they would tighten after we had laced them tight. Wolf Rising tested the head by tapping it lightly when it had been stretched. We tightened the braided rawhide by twisting a stick in the disk to tune the drum. Then we set it aside to dry. We would not be able to use it for at least a week as it dried. To beat a drum too soon would stretch the skin and it would lose its timbre.
As Merv had indicated, we would need more rawhide. We needed a big drum that Merv would make, but we needed drums for the whole Oxėse village. Fortunately, with five of us to feed and winter supplies to put in, we had no difficulty using all the meat we killed. We had bows and spears, but Cait’s and my Remington 700s had come through the portal with no trouble. We didn’t use them until the day we saw a moose. Wolf Riding Woman backed us away.
“There are certain animals that we cannot take. Moose hide is very tough. Piercing it with a spear would only make him mad, and a rampaging moose would most certainly kill at least one of us.” I nodded, pulled my Remington from its scabbard and drew a bead. In the best of all worlds, I’d prefer something a little more powerful, but I was confident that I could bring him down. The bolt on the rifle drew the big bull’s attention and he looked straight at me.
“So, you have come across time for my hide!” he screamed in my mind. I was so startled by his contact with me that I lowered the gun. He pawed at the ground. “Let us see who dies!” he challenged, and began his charge. I was not more than fifty feet away and barely got the gun to my shoulder. He was lowering his head and the round went into his skull. He didn’t stop and I sent the second round into his chest. He stumbled forward, still trying to reach me as I jumped back and he fell. His heavy antlers hit my leg and pain lanced up into me.
“You are mighty, Popóhpoévėsémo'éhe. It has taken the weapon of the future to bring you down,” I said. “I praise your might and your bravery. I thank you for the life that will feed my family and will help us to sound the call to defend Mother Earth.” He looked at me with the light fading from his eyes. I felt much as I had when Wolf Rising shot the yellow-haired soldier. There was acceptance and sadness.
“You will eat my heart and my liver,” he said in my mind. “And when we defend the Mother, you will ride my spirit into battle. Be strong in battle.” And with that he died. It took all four of my companions to shift his head so I could pull my leg from under him. Mandy examined it and I screamed in pain. If my leg was broken, I knew that we would have to drum ourselves back to now-time so I could get a cast on it. If it healed in Oxėse, I would bear the limp for the rest of my life.
“You’re an idiot,” Mandy declared, scowling at me. “You didn’t even know if your stupid gun would work in this time!” In fact, it had never occurred to me. All I had seen was the opportunity to have a very large, thick hide for our drums. “I don’t think your leg is broken. But you are going to have trouble walking for a while.”
That was the short of it. When we opened the guts, and I found the liver and heart, my companions refused to share them. Eating the warm organs was a task. The heart alone was almost as big as my head. The first shot had hit the pedicle, the point from which the antler grows. It had stunned the big bull, but did not penetrate the skull. It was the second shot that hit the heart and as I ate the huge organ, I found where the bullet had hit and expanded. I pocketed the slug.
Despite their reluctance to share in the organs, my companions immediately fell to work dressing and gutting the kill. The moose weighed close to three-quarters of a ton and it took all day to cart the carcass back to camp. The hide alone weighed more than I did. Even with travois, it was difficult to transport. I was not much help as I could barely walk.
I had fevered dreams that night. I had gorged on the heart and liver, but I did as the moose had commanded and during the night I felt his spirit enter into me. I was not big enough to contain the spirit of the moose and thought I would explode. I had visions of riding into battle with my head lowered as I charged my enemies.
It took several days to cure the meat and stretch the hide. But it was during this time that we discovered that just having the hide stretched on a drying frame made for a resounding thud when it was struck. We were going to need a huge drum frame to use this hide.
We worked for nearly six weeks, preparing the camp for winter and the hides for drumheads. We made use of every part of the animals, including mixing dried and roasted meat into pemmican and stuffing it into cleaned intestines.
“I’m staying with Wolf Rising and Wolf Riding Woman,” Mandy said as we made love the night before we would return to now-time. Even with our link, I was surprised. Caitlin rolled to us to embrace our lover from the other side. Our other selves held us together. I could not fault her for her decision and the joy I felt from Wolf Rising fought with the sorrow I felt in my now-time heart. “You must return and prepare for our coming task,” she said. “But there is much I need to learn here before you take me to Lame Deer. Come for me at midwinter. Love me with your other time selves.”
Caitlin, too, was conflicted as our halves seemed torn apart. We held each other through the night. In the daylight, Mandy, Wolf Rising, and Wolf Riding Woman pounded on the drums, calling thunder echoing from the mountain as we joined their rhythm on our prayer drums and rode into now-time.
Caitlin: Moving the herds
Pa and Moms never questioned our decision not to go to college. I think they were happy we made it through high school. We’re not dumb. We just had so much other stuff to do.
We got hit with a bunch of questions about where we’d been for six weeks, but when we said we had to get our heads on now that school was done, we just got the usual big sigh. Mom Mar inspected our clothes and couldn’t believe we’d been gone for six weeks and they didn’t look worn at all. I guess they hadn’t been worn much. We all wore loin cloths and moccasins when we were together in Oxėse. Of course, Mandy had been prepared with clothes for a few weeks, but she didn’t have stuff for winter. We’d spent part of our time making sure all three of them had warm skins to dress in with deep furry boots to keep their feet warm. Those bighorn sheep piled on a lot of wool as they headed toward winter. Their hide was too soft to make a decent drum out of, but it felt good against our skin. Phile and Wolf Rising talked a whole bunch of them into standing still while the others of us used our knives to shear them. The hut was packed full of wool and it kept them warm when snow flew as well as giving them something to do as they carded it and turned it into yarn.
We still didn’t know what our lives were supposed to be like, but Mandy insisted that we start writing things down so there would be a record. We bought an old silverware chest with a lock and key at a flea market and as we wrote stuff down, we put it in the box.
Ramie turned twenty-two and was happy as all get-out with that new stud she got. The five of us linked together and agreed that we should give the box to Ramie. Ramie’s got a lot of patience. We were afraid that if we gave the box to Pa, he’d open it and read it all right away. Ramie agreed to just keep the key and we kept the box. I think Phile scared her when he told her she couldn’t open the box until she was ready to accept that there could be a dead cat in it. See, Pa? We did listen to some of your stories. We just kept writing pages and putting them in the box as things developed.
We went to talk to Merv Longsteer early in December to tell him the moose hide was eight feet across. It would have to be a really big drum and we didn’t know how to make a frame that big. We’d been down several times to let him know how Mandy was doing and tell him that she loved him. He listened to everything. And then he told us that it sounded to him like Yelloweye expected us to move a lot more than just a couple horses and ourselves through time. We needed to start practicing moving bigger groups. Finally, he said he wanted to go with us.
I tickled at his mind a little and he opened up so I could pop right in. I figured that the whole riding with someone else was part of being able to travel. Once we established that we could make a link with him, we agreed.
It was getting on toward Christmas and Mandy said she was ready for us, so we told everybody we were going to do some winter camping. It wasn’t that unusual. We’d all done winter camping for years. We promised we’d be home for Christmas. We set off up the mountain with our horses and two pack mules. We had a bunch more supplies, too, including a few sweets to give to our other selves and the one thing we’d always thought was missing while we were visiting: salt. The last time we’d crossed to Oxėse, we’d been naked and led our horses with only the supplies that Mandy had thought to pack.
Merv was waiting for us at the ridge with a string of pack animals and a couple spare horses. It took us all working together to link up with Merv, the horses, and the mules. Then the Twin Wolves started beating on drums. They had a bigger sound than I remembered from before. We started riding and went straight from our little hot spring on the ridge into the clearing where their camp was. Moving all our gear and stock and Merv wasn’t a problem once we managed to make the link.
I found the difference in the drums was that they’d moved them to the entrance of White Mouth’s cave. The big bear hadn’t shown up this fall, but we didn’t move into his cave. You just don’t want to be in a bear’s home when he shows up. I learned that from Goldilocks.
Mandy was thrilled to see Merv and the old man held his granddaughter for a long time whispering to her. We took care of the livestock and unpacked all we’d brought across with us. The big thing, of course, was steel hardware. Axes, saws, drawknives, and hammers would make our jobs easier. And Merv had a plan for building the huge thunder drum. The moose hide was still stretched on its frame and Merv was pleased with the size. We’d all had our work cut out for us when we stripped all the meat, fat, and fur from the skin and stretched it to dry. The big difference between this and the sheepskin coats we all wore was that the moose hide was raw and not leather. It was stiff and even on the drying frame it made a satisfying boom when we thumped it.
After Merv got used to seeing us in two places at once, he took over the task of building the drum frame. He sent Phile and me to go find a herd and move them someplace. He was vague about that, but we got the idea. It was almost as if Merv had become the voice of Yelloweye.
Whatever Yelloweye had in mind for us to do, it was going to involve moving a lot of animals from one time and place to another. I thought about the number of animals in now-time that were rare or near extinction and wondered if our task would be moving those that remained into a time and place where they could multiply and thrive. It was sad that they’d disappear from the earth, though.
Phile and I headed down off the mountain and started casting about for any herds we could find that were wintering nearby. There was a lot of thermal activity a valley over and it kept the air warmer than up where our camp was. Once we got down there, we saw elk, whitetail, and buffalo browsing on the grass that still pressed through a light covering of snow. Phile and I made camp and settled in to watch them for a while. We’d ridden herds as Wolf Rising and Wolf Riding Woman, but even then, we hadn’t actually moved them from place to place.
We probed around and found it was easy to enter individual minds that were intent on grazing. Spreading into a small herd was almost as easy. We could give them a nudge and they’d move to some new ground. We managed to get a couple dozen elk to just lie down for a nap, but we got them up and ready to meet trouble when we saw a pack of coyotes headed their way. Coyotes don’t usually hunt big animals like wolves do, but they are opportunists. They slunk off when the elk stirred and stood up.
“Where are we going to move them to?” Phile asked.
“Or when?” I answered. “Let’s try just moving them to the other valley and back.”
And so we began. We took a surprised herd of whitetail deer to the valley with Wolf Rising beating a drum to match our own. Then we flashed the herd back to the thermal valley where it was warmer and had more forage. We split and picked up a herd of pronghorns and a couple dozen buffalo on the next trip.
Things worked well and before long we were moving several dozen elk back and forth. We discovered that if we weren’t moving between Oxėse and now-time, we only needed one set of drums. Wolf Rising and Wolf Riding Woman could stay focused on helping Merv Longsteer.
An old bull looked up at us where we watched the valley and bellowed in disgust. But we were still missing something. I could enter the minds of a herd of one species, and Phile could move a herd of another species, but from what Yelloweye had told us, we weren’t going to have the luxury of moving a herd at a time. We would need to move all of them at once. Moving an entire herd of buffalo hadn’t been too difficult. But the buffalo were all of like mind. Moving a herd of buffalo with a pack of wolves was a little more daunting. We ended up transporting the buffalo back to the valley and leaving the wolves with a couple cows so they could feast.
But it got better. Before long we were moving a hundred animals of various species at a time. We’d discovered that linking our minds together gave us many times more power than what we’d had before. We linked with Mandy, Wolf Riding Woman, and Wolf Rising and the power multiplied. Finally, we moved all the animals in the winter pasture to the summer pasture and back. We were exhausted, but we were ready to head home.
“I will stay,” Merv said. “I like this drum making. But it will take me until spring to get a good start at a drum this size.”
“I worry about you,” I said.
“Do you not trust yourself to take care of me?” Merv laughed, looking at Wolf Riding Woman. I couldn’t argue with that. “And I will have my granddaughter here. At least part of the time.”
“Part of the time?” Phile asked.
“I need to start making trips between here and the village at Lame Deer,” Mandy said. “There are rituals that need to be performed and they need to start seeing me show up unexpectedly from nowhere. Like on Christmas Eve. We can do this, even when we are all in different places. Can’t you feel how strong our link is becoming? It kept getting stronger as you moved the herds. I can feel it inside me all the time now.”
“I love you, Mandy. I want you cradled in my arms again tonight,” Phile said.
“Well, no one is going to complain about that,” she giggled as she kissed him. I turned my head and was met by Wolf Rising’s lips.
“I think I have an appointment here,” I said.
“Here, there, everywhere,” Wolf Riding Woman said. “Sorry, Grandfather Longsteer, but things are likely to get noisy tonight.”
Phile: Moving in Time
Our work wasn’t over for the winter, or the next summer for that matter. It took all of us drumming to move Mandy and us back to now-time. It only took Caitlin and me to move Mandy and her horse to Lame Deer. We didn’t stick around, though. There were a lot of surprised Elders when we showed up at the mid-winter powwow and appeared out of the mist. Mandy stepped forward with her horse and mule and Cait and I stepped back and disappeared.
We saw the reaction through Mandy’s eyes, though, and in five minutes, she was on her way to becoming a spokesperson to the People of now-time.
We were exhausted when we got back to the ranch and slept through most of Christmas.
It came in a dream.
That was unusual. Yelloweye and Creator Wolf usually spoke to us directly, but for the first time, we saw a vision of what we would have to do. I can only tell it like the dream it was.
I stood in a village. Wolf Rising had visited this village often, but this time I was pale and felt uncomfortable in the wolf skin robe. It was many years after Yelloweye had led them to Oxėse, though time meant nothing to us in this strange place. They called Caitlin and I the ‘day wolves’ and Wolf Rising and Wolf Riding Woman the ‘night wolves’. Now many sacred drummers held a steady beat as Caitlin and I danced around the circle and summoned the animals. As we danced, the village was surrounded by buffalo. The buffalo waited.
Then we danced the elk around our village. The elk joined the buffalo and waited. Then we danced the wolves and the great Creator Wolf answered our call, howling at the moon. And as we danced and all the four-leggeds of the earth waited, the winged ones appeared and Yelloweye landed before us in the village.
‘You have summoned your warriors. Now you must lead them into battle. Open the gate from Oxėse and take them to the war.’
And as I watched, and danced, the drums of the village were joined by the drums of the mountain thunder and a pathway opened and war was upon us.
Pa had no idea how many times over the next two years, his herd of cattle ate of the fresh grass of Oxėse. Nor did our sister Ramie know how often the rescued horses found fresh untamed fields to play in. We had to move the herds as easily between the two realities as we had moved Mandy over distances.
The Family
“Our little brother and sister…” Ramie sighed as she closed the lid of the box. “Is it all just a fantasy? Moving herds from one valley to another in a place and time that we can’t possibly know is somehow more believable than that they moved 500 head of cattle out of our fields here into some fantasy world and back without us knowing. And a hundred head of horses. How are we supposed to accept this?”
“I don’t think we’ll be given a choice,” Kyle said, holding his sister/wife. “We saw it on television. We saw a million animals of every species appear in that valley and all lie down together. How can we not believe them?”
“Why does it have to be so hard?” Ashley said. “If they said they’d raised a militia and were going to conduct guerilla warfare against Shale Oil, I wouldn’t have had a problem. Hell, I’d have joined them. But I don’t understand how they are going to win this war with animals. I just don’t understand.”
“That must be the same thing that the executives are thinking,” Cole said. “For thousands of years, men have been developing machinery, fences, weapons—just to keep the animals out. What do they have to be afraid of?”
“They need to be afraid,” Mary Beth said, “of our children.”
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