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shaman poked the red embers, freeing glowing sparks
ascend into the night air, mixing with the cold blue
and white points of light which blazed, brighter and
more vivid than ever before in the sky.
“I know you two are star dancers,” the patriarch
said evenly, his wrinkled features augmented by the
cavorting flames. “You have the powers of the
ancient ones. For many generations these skills have
been lost. It has been hidden from your tribe and now
only return in our time of great need.”
Diane said nothing, wondering if the great need
had something to do with the fighting that had been
going on between the tribal leaders. And the visits of
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the Dark Ones, she thought with a shudder.
“Star dancing is just pretend,” Karen protested,
breaking her sister’s line of thought. “Our mother
says that your stories are just make believe and that
you are—” She stopped with a gasp as her older
sister’s elbow caught her in the ribs. She fought back
tears rather than continue.
The medicine man pointed his smoking stick
toward Diane. “You had no need to hurt your sister
for speaking the truth. There is nothing wrong in
telling the facts. It wasn’t that long ago that I, too,
believed the same thing your mother does. But I’ve
been watching you two and I know.” He paused and
stirred the embers, raising another storm of sparks
that flew skyward, dying as they rose.
Diane held their breath, wondering if he really
knew about what they had been doing. So far she’d
been able to keep it hidden from everyone. Even
Karen didn’t realize what had been happening, even
though she was a part of the whole thing. Karen
thought she had only been dreaming, not that the
two were actually traveling while they slept.
“I’ve seen you two in the fields when you thought
no one was watching. You can do things others can’t.
And you’ve been invading my dreams with regularity
now — yes, that hidden lodge with the ancient tools
where you two like to venture. It’s right here.” He
tapped his head. “And I know about the flint knife —
and how you, Diane, cut your finger in the dream.
You were star dancing.”
Diane gasped at the revelation that exposed her
secret. There was only one way he could have known
about the razor-sharp obsidian that she had foolishly
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grasped by the blade.
“That’s right,” he said, reading her thoughts.
“You and your sister were careless. You played with
something you knew nothing about and you got hurt.
And I know the wound emerged not only in your sleep
but in your waking as well, didn’t it?”
Diane held her finger behind her back, as if trying
to hide the truth.
“In fact we are all in one dream now,” Ravenfoot
continued. “Don’t look so surprised. Each time the
dreams contain more and more that is real. One day
soon, you two will star dance when you’re awake — if
you don’t continue to repress your skills.”
“And if we can keep you hidden from the Dark
Ones,”
Ravenfoot
added,
poking
at
the
last
smoldering fire The crickets around them grew silent
as if terrified at the mention of those that Diane tried
not to think about. A cloud blotted the stars from the
sky.
“I only hope you remember to help your people
and not just yourselves,” Ravenfoot added as the last
of the embers sputtered into blackness. “If you let
me, I can help you learn the ways of our ancestors.”
There was a snap of dry leaves behind Diane. She
turned saw the form moving through the shadows.
She tried to warn the others, but her voice was
trapped in her chest; she wanted to get up and run,
but was paralyzed. She turned toward the campfire.
Its flame was extinguished and the shaman and Karen
were gone.
Then she was lying on the white sheet, strapped
to the table, the leather belts preventing her from
escaping as the shade stepped toward her. Diane
73
screamed, fighting her bonds.
Then she was suddenly free. She sat up in her
bed, throwing off the covers. Only a dream, she
reassured herself, catching her breath. She glanced
toward the clock in her windowless bedroom.
Five thirty. It was still too early to rise. She
needed her rest for the task that was coming up.
It never happened. Only a dream. She was a
searcher, not a star dancer. Yet somehow she wasn’t
so sure. The Dark Ones had never been a part of her
childhood. At least she didn’t remember that they
had. And she and her sister had never gone anywhere
with Ravenfoot.
Becoming conscious of the pain in her finger, she
snapped on the light next to her narrow bed, and
examined the digit.
“What?” she asked. She rubbed the wound in
disbelief. There was the open cut that Ravenfoot had
seen. Only now it was new, as if it had just occurred.
I must have cut it earlier in the day, she told herself.
A lot had happened. It would have been easy to miss
in the excitement of her race for the front door of
the apartment.
Yes, that has to be it. She switched the light off
and turned over, snuggling her head against the
pillow while trying to force the troubling thoughts
from her mind.
74
CHAPTER 12
T
the M-2000 in low, skimming up the southern slope
of the new Kansas Mountain range. Moist air rising
from the Colorado plains to the west was suddenly
cooled as it reached the summit, creating tiny ice
crystals of angel dust that shimmered and pranced in
the air around the chopper, flashing tiny rainbows at
the pilot’s eyes.
The newly formed volcanic craters ranging
northward through the western boarder of Kansas
created the perfect hideaway. Not only was the
terrain inhospitable, the threat posed by the
scattered radioactive waste the volcanoes had
haphazardly strewn across the area years before, as
well as the random eruptions of the active region,
posed
too
great
a
threat
for
even
Mexican
infiltration operations. That meant the criminals
should have the peak all to themselves.
75
he golden rim of the rising sun sent crimson
light streaming across the mountain peaks and
glimmered off the glaciers as Smiley brought
Smiley circled the crater once more, inspecting
the area just the same. He hadn’t stayed alive and
free by being careless. He never took chances if he
didn’t have to. “Anyone see anything,” he asked
over the intercom. “I don’t want to land and
discover some fool bandito band has decided to set
up camp down there.”
“Looks clear from back here.”
“All right then. We’re going in.” He brought the
control column back to the left to straighten his [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]