“You’re alive!” Javin exclaimed. Seal’s body had remained limp for some time, and he danced for joy when she woke up.
“You survived too!!”
“Well, of course I did,” Javin replied. He hugged her and they both yelped as thorns pressed into them.
“Oops,” he said.
“Can you free me?” she asked.
Javin ran behind her. Everything had devolved into chaos around them. The people continued their dance, caught up in the moment, their eyes upon the sky. She heard a chopping sound behind her.
“I’ve almost got it.” Javin clumsily aimed for each of the sharp vines and, after several swings, they fell away.
Seal dropped to her knees and rubbed at her legs, willing strength back into them.
Evadine, with an arrow still embedded in her shoulder, stalked towards them.
“Kill them,” she screamed. “All of them!” Her voice echoed.
The dark throng at the back surged forward against the dancing Lakota. Evadine couldn’t decide which of the two to kill first. Javin made her choice easier. He stepped in front of Seal, wildly swinging the axe.
The Paleskin stepped into his swing, blocking it with an upraised arm, but another arrow stopped her momentum. Shoots Paleskins and Echo charged, long knives drawn, forcing her attention on them.
Javin and Seal ran to safety, away from the close melee. She grabbed Javin by both shoulders.
“I’ve been looking all over for you.”
“It’s good to see you, too. This place is dangerous. We have to leave.”
“We can’t. Not yet. The ball I threw. I need it. Help me find it. And don’t let the spikes touch you.”
The two parted once more to comb over the surrounding area.
The dancing ancestors were caught up and distracted by their reconnection to the world under their feet. They could feel it again and they remembered the stories of their people. They knew the purpose of their dance and they continued despite the danger. Others turned to face the oncoming Paleskins.
They were overmatched without weapons. Occasionally, a larger group overwhelmed a Paleskin by crippling its legs or breaking its neck. The hungrier attackers could not resist the temptation and tried to feed on the people.
The scene repeated throughout the ceremonial grounds and the white-clothed ancestors became interwoven with the black-clothed Paleskins. The people did not cower, continuing to fight back. Others danced.
They pounded their chests and called out to the sky. Their footfalls shook the ground, and the shaking grew strong and loud. The shaking grew beyond the dance. Something else was happening.
A rumble swelled across the earth. Faces vibrated and ears rang and the Paleskins stopped their slaughter to witness a great cloud of dust rise towards them.
***
Echo and Shoots Paleskins fought Evadine to a standstill. Her powerful strikes wounded them over and over. They could keep her at bay just enough to avoid her killing them. She suffered only minor slashes, and another arrow that barely penetrated.
Then they all felt the ground rumble. The two Elders nodded at one another and decided on a strategic retreat.
Javin and Seal were out of sight and presumably safer. Evadine pursued, but a great cloud of dust made her pause. She looked for Merrivale, who had been absent during her fight. Her servant guide likely took her away from immediate danger. But they needed to work together to make up for the loss of Perdita.
Echo and Shoots Paleskins returned to Papa No Clouds.
“Turn, and fight, overwhelm them,” he yelled.
Papa No Clouds led the charge into the opposing black mass. The weaker Paleskins halted their progress as the dust cloud moved closer. The rumbling grew thick until the clear snorts of angry beasts called out.
Emerging from the cloud, a towering white bison stampeded through. It led hundreds of brown bison that had once been spirits. The bison were restored.
They trampled over the Paleskins with fierce hooves that stomped hard on those they knocked down. They head butted the feeding Paleskins, saving many. The stampede stopped before reaching the dancing ancestors so as not to cause any harm to them.
A few brave people ran to the bison. Heat radiated from their bodies and warmed them. The bison kneeled and allowed themselves to be ridden into war. It was the most alive any of the riders had felt since they had come here. They turned the beasts upon their enslavers.
The white bison continued running through the crowd of Paleskins, leaving the other bison to fight. It moved through the dancing ancestors, causing no harm. Its stomping feet shook the ground, and they recognized the symbol of their Lady of Light as she made her return known.
As the ground shook and rumbled, so did the sky. It cracked into lines of light like a hard-boiled egg rolled against a counter. The world brightened by a few shades, restoring more hope.
The white bison continued and disappeared into the distance. The Paleskins, although stronger, found their progress slowed. They had no choice but to continue forward or they risked a sure death by the bison herd behind them.
***
Javin and Seal further separated until they lost track of one another. It was by necessity, not by choice. The Spirit Seeker should not have been so hard to find. She had only thrown it over her shoulder, but they had no luck so far.
That was, until Javin tripped, spilling over the hard shell of the ball. Its spikes had melted and bent over sideways like thin slices of cheese. He grabbed it.
“Here it is!”
But Seal did not answer. He had to find her because he didn’t know what to do next.
He called her name again, then stopped when he saw Butcher Briggs running towards him. The Paleskin came at an impossibly high speed, ready to complete his hunt for the boy. Ready to take his revenge. His one arm swung uselessly at his side.
Javin, cut off from his companions, had no way to circle back. Butcher would intercept him if he tried. He only had his axe and backpack and the object Seal needed so desperately. He didn’t think any of it would help stop the one-armed raging monster.
Javin chose to flee.
“There’s no escape this time, boy. I am faster. I am crueler. I am stronger. And after I slaughter you, I’m going to drain your little girlfriend, too.”
Even injured, Butcher would always be faster. It was like trying to outrun a wolf. Each footfall closed the distance across the open ground. Nowhere to hide. No more games left to play. Just a quick and satiating kill for Butcher.
Javin puffed hard, his throat burned from the effort. This was no life for a boy that liked to play video games. As he fled, he risked a glance. The assassin gained quickly. Javin tripped briefly and lost his grip on the ball. It fell. He would have to come back for it later, if he survived.
He returned his focus ahead of him. A white pavilion tent stood nearby, surprising him. It had not been there before. It was his last hope. He would hide by the door inside and swing at the assassin’s knees with the axe when he entered. He reached the tent and dove inside.
Butcher had been concentrating intently on his pursuit and saw the tent only when Javin was close to the entrance.
“Go inside,” Butcher whispered.
And sure enough, the boy had trapped himself. Stupid boy will die now. Butcher saw the object the boy had dropped and recognized it for what it once had been. He picked it up and tucked it into a satchel.
He walked carefully through the entrance.
“I’m coming in for you, boy. Hope you’re ready.”
Butcher stepped through the threshold, ready to dodge if the boy had any more tricks. But none came.
Javin lay on the floor, holding his twisted ankle. An axe sat to the side, out of reach. It would have done no good, anyway.
Butcher stalked towards his prey.
“Am I what you desire?” Javin asked.
The words confused Butcher, not by what he said, but in the tone. They were not defiant. They were inviting.
“Is this what you want?” the boy asked again.
“Yes,” Butcher answered. “I have wanted to feed on you for a long time.”
“Then take me,” the boy yelled at the assassin.
The cruel Butcher reached down to the prone boy with his good arm and lifted him up by the clothes around his neck. He leaned forward, fangs bared. They would finally taste the sweet blood of the boy and he would be healed.
Butcher closed his eyes and smelled Javin’s neck and it smelled sweet, not pungent like the garlic that had nearly blinded him.
His fang touched the boy’s skin and grew warm, then hot, then searingly unbearable. It grew so hot he could feel the teeth in his face crack and chip and then fall away to ash. The heat felt like the power of the sun spread throughout his body.
He screamed as the pain overtook him. His flesh fell away, burning in strips down to the bone. His eyelids, which had melted shut, burned away, exposing his eyeballs and instead of Javin, he saw he had been lured in by a beautiful woman. The most beautiful he had ever seen. And the last recognition he had before he fell to dust and charred bone was he had met, and become the victim, of the Lady of Light.
Javin emerged from behind her.
“That was a great trick!”
The woman stood tall and held her head with confidence.
“You have proven yourself worthy. Now take the ball and return to the Storyteller. She needs your help.”
Javin spotted the ball in the middle of Butcher’s ashes. He rushed past the Lady of Light and gave her a quick embrace. Its brazenness shocked her, but its intended sweetness stayed any ire.
Javin disappeared out of the tent, leaving the dust of Butcher Briggs behind forever.