Chapter Twenty One

I told you this story begins with two sisters. I did not say it ends with them. Love requires compromise, if not sacrifice. I also didn't tell you if the world was changed for the better. People have different opinions on that, and all those people won't make it to the end. But you've read my story this far, so keep going. I remember what happens to honor all that was lost because those lost have earned the telling.

Two weeks had passed since Javin's rescue. The five remaining Elders looked after him and trained him. Normally they would have ushered escapees from the Sisters into a place of safety, but a living boy didn't belong in the beyond. He was a sign of hope.

The Elder, aptly named Shoots Paleskins, taught him how to use a bow. His skill allowed him to shoot arrows out of midair. He smiled more than the rest of the Elders put together. George Crow excelled at medicine and tracking. The gruff Papa No Clouds, who appeared older than any of them, knew a little of everything. Echo, best at hand to hand and small weapons, worked Javin the hardest. He considered the boy soft. Their leader, Rising Bison, carried a club the size of Javin's leg. He remained enigmatic and spoke only when he needed to, preferring to let the others train the boy.

Like all ancestors in these lands, they remembered little before the death that brought them to the Hunting Grounds. Their previous stories were lost to them. They earned their new names after their escape from enslavement. Their escape strengthened them.

The rest of their brethren, trapped by the Paleskins, did not have the same fortitude. Javin learned they had one thing in common. The five, which used to be seven before two faded into oblivion while rescuing him, had encountered the spirit of the White Buffalo Calf Woman, just as he had. All of them had resisted the temptation she offered, the thing they desired most. All of them awoke from their encounter as if it had been a dream. They all awoke with the ability to resist the Paleskin's control. Over time, they were drawn together to help lead a resistance. Losing their two companions had been devastating. But sacrifices had to be made to protect the living.

As they moved west, Javin learned a unique area existed which led through a wall made of black night to a wall made of bright sun. The Elders hid in a camp safely in-between, and they called it the veil. To pass all the way through the barrier allowed escape into a new place. The Elders knew little about it, other than Paleskins could not pass through the bright sun wall and no spirit that made it through ever returned. But the dream of the White Buffalo commanded them all to rescue their people and bring them through and they would be the last allowed to enter or the last to die here.

Javin participated in a rescue that brought two survivors across the border and left several pursuing Paleskins dead. The survivors called themselves Sue, Daughter of Earl and her father, who Seal had met. Javin learned from them that Seal lived and she was searching for him. The Elders also learned the patchwork man accompanied her.

"You were stupid to let him go with her," Papa No Clouds spat. "Should have died trying to stop him."

"She's as good as dead," Shoots Paleskins added.

Rising Bison stopped the harangue by lifting his hand. No use, he knew, of punishing the beleaguered dead and worrying the boy. "Let them have peace on the other side. This is valuable information. We know where the patchwork man will take her," he told Javin. "We will see what we can do to rescue your friend."

Javin spent time lobbying for them to leave sooner, rather than later, to help save Seal. They ignored him and spent their time training him to fight. "The right time will present itself. You are no good, stupid and useless as you are now," Papa would tell him, "now is your time to learn and listen. Not talk as much as you do."

Javin learned how to tie knots, how to throw an axe, how to breathe properly and aim with a bow before shooting an arrow. They played games that honed their skills together. Javin performed poorly at nearly all of them, except when they rolled a hoop across the ground and chased it. He moved quickly and could swiftly turn and follow when the hoop took unexpected turns. He was the best at diving through its center without touching the rim. Whenever he grew tired and wanted to quit, Papa No Clouds would remind him of his duty to his friend. Echo assisted by firing off several insults.

Even after daily practice, Javin remained incapable of using an axe effectively. When he hit the target, which was rarely, more often it was with the flat side of the axe head or with its handle. Echo gave up on teaching it to him and moved to hand-to-hand combat. He showed him how to dodge and to lessen a blow's impact. Javin preferred the insults to the body blows and resulting stiffness and bruises suffered at Echo's hands.

Papa No Clouds, the tallest among them, seemed to relish focusing on Javin's weaknesses. Where Echo had given up, Papa would force Javin to throw the axe hundreds of times more. When they weren't doing that, he would trade wits with him, throwing insults and trying to get him to admit secrets, similar to a game of 20 questions. Javin never won. Papa No Clouds always figured out the answer. "It's about finding your opponent's weaknesses and exploiting them. But you're better than I would have expected."

After earning extra bruises from Echo, and then more from Papa, Javin's day would move on with Shoots Paleskins. His fingers would be rubbed raw from the training with the bow. "We will not be here long enough to grow you hard fingers, but now is as good as any to start." With each pull and release of the bowstring, more skin would wear away until he could no longer hold the bow. Unlike with the axe, he improved with shooting arrows.

After training with the three Elders, he mercifully moved along to George Crow. George used foraged roots and his knowledge of natural cures to help to soothe Javin's bruised muscles and bloody fingers. He taught him how to recognize certain roots and their properties. "They lose potency with death, and everything here is dead, so you have to use more."

Javin also helped him forage through the barren land, although by order of Rising Bison, Javin was not allowed to roam in the wilds.

"Do not tell him how far we went, or I won't have enough to heal you next time," George Crow warned. Javin never felt in danger while with George Crow, the only Elder that listened to him and didn't cause him pain.

Javin spent little time with Rising Bison, who often left the camp solo, scouting and, he guessed, looking for Paleskins to kill. Occasionally the others took turns scouting with him, but they made training the boy a priority. "There is a reason you are here, and we will not waste it by coddling you," Papa No Clouds said.

After the second week, Rising Bison returned after being away for three straight days and called the Elders together. "I have news. We must prepare."

Javin overheard them argue.

"This is the sign we have been waiting for. There can be no doubt." It was Papa No Cloud's voice.

"I'm not sure it is best to bring the boy," George Crow said.

"We can't leave him behind. You didn't train him to be worthless," Shoots Paleskins said.

"Yet he remains worthless." Echo's opinion stung Javin. Soon after the arguing stopped, they came to wake him up.

"We have word from the slave pens that all Paleskins have been summoned and are gathering at the Sisters' palace."

"What does that mean?" Javin asked.

Rising Bison spoke. "This has never happened before. The Sisters have captured your friend, as we expected. But they mean to do something to her that cannot be good for any of us. It is time to go and see if we can help. It will be dangerous for you. We must hide you as long as possible."

"We have ways to hide you," George Crow said. "But you will come with us."

"Bah," Echo interrupted. "He is still mostly useless." Papa No Clouds nodded.

"His story is intertwined with hers. With ours. We must bring them together and see what happens," George Crow said. "They have been separated for too long. Now we must pull tight on the threads to bring you back together again."

"Humph, to your superstition and belief in better powers. There are none here," Papa No Clouds chided.

"There will be many enemies, some too powerful for us to fight," Rising Bison said. "But to not go would still bring defeat upon us. We made a vow to the White Buffalo." He looked at each of them. "We will either rescue her or find a way to stop the Sisters' plan. If we save her, it will be by cunning, not brute strength. Do you understand? Now is not the time for revenge."

He turned his attention solely to Javin. "We will hide you both where they cannot find you until we can get you home. But it is dangerous for all of us. If the three Sisters have found a way to use your friend in a ceremony, it will give them more power. They would not otherwise go through all this trouble and make a show of it."

George Crow put his hand on Javin's shoulder, "it must be of your free will to come with us to help you save your friend."

Javin did not hesitate. "Seal is my only friend. I have to help. We must save her."

Papa No Clouds nodded at the boy's words, pleased with his courage. Echo still looked doubtful. The Elders let out ebullient cries as Javin grabbed his things from the small tent that he slept in. He looked at the Elders swinging their weapons around in mock battle and wondered what he had gotten himself into.

***

Not far away, on the dark side of the veil, a figure listened to the Lakota Elders call out as they prepared. He approached as close as he could to the wall of black, not wanting to pass through. His arm hung dead at his side. It had taken a long time to heal enough to track the group down. It had been an even longer time since he had fed. But Butcher Briggs intended to make his next meal the interloping boy and when that fully healed him, he would kill the remaining Elders that dared to defy him.