Chapter Reveal for getting 6,000 followers on Twitter a tidbit from Chapter 6 of Here and Now, Way of the Horse, Book 2

Chapter Six

The Way of the Horse

The whole camp seemed to be holding their breath as they waited for news of the buffalo herd returning to the area. Black Moose had told no one about his dream except Old Crow and Blue Jay and they had not let on that anything more need be done. He wanted to ask but knew that they had heard his story and would answer him in their own due time. Still the camp seemed more edgy as the summer wore on with tempers flaring over petty things and even the children cautious and jumpy. When Black Moose would walk out to the horse herd to visit his horses and give them tasty morsels he pondered his dream and the two medicine people's reaction.

His mind would constantly flash back to the spring and the near starvation that nearly destroyed the band. His mind, always busy and fueled by his heart, would not let the worry rest. He felt his every waking hour was a waste if he wasn't somehow preparing for the coming winter. He also saw many of the men jumpy and jittery. These same thoughts infected their minds and hearts. More than one would look off to the southeast for a sign of the coming buffalo herd. Every day it was the same thing, not even a cloud on the southern horizon. He even caught Old Crow gazing off in that direction on more than one evening. But when the old man noticed Black Moose watching him, he would quickly look into the valley pretending to be looking there.

One afternoon Black Moose stood up suddenly. His heart had taken over. I am going to do something, he thought readying himself.

He approached his friend, Flying Hawk, "The buffalo are not coming and we must prepare for another winter without their bounty."

The young man jerked as his friend spoke as if he had been dreaming. "But brother, the elders, the chief and the medicine man counsel us to have patience."

"They can have patience, I will hunt while I wait!"

"HO! I will gather my gear and we shall meet at the horse herd."

Black Moose smiled at his friend and his willingness to be off on a hunt. "Where are Rising Star and Sacred Bear?"

Flying Hawk smiled turning and pointing across the camp at the far ridge to the south saying, "Chasing Lovely Rose's charms and long dress..."

"Who?"

"Lovely Rose" an accusatory arm flashing up towards the southwest.

Black Moose looked across the valley and saw two young men following a young woman as she walked west up the slope searching for tubers for the evening meal. Black Moose shook his head and said, "After you and our brothers, Flying Eagle and Little Antelope pack, meet at the horse herd, and are ready, ride by them on your way out south and laugh at them! The fools need to see that we are going and they can choose to stay here with the long dresses or come with the men!" Flying Hawk laughed heartily at the joke and set to quickly gathering his gear.

At this he turned to see another set of eyes on him, a set that he hoped would be on him for the rest of his life. Those dark eyes shone with that little something some called love. Black Moose smiled at her and signed that he was going hunting. She winked at him and smiled as she turned to enter the tipi. I know I break her heart when I leave, he thought, but she says she is proud of me. I must talk with her to see if that is real or not. Then he looked at the scrambling Flying Hawk, maybe he could tell me.

With a shrug, Black Moose set off for the other brother's family tipi, "Saying I will get the other two."

"Where shall we meet, brother?" came the question to his back.

Black Moose turned and signed, if you can't find me, you will sleep with the coyotes.

Flying Hawk laughed louder and set off for the horse herd with his gear slung over his back.

Black Moose smiled again, feeling the familiar Flying Hawk returning. He had not seemed the same since the attack on the camp. He had been badly beaten with his ego crushed as the result of that beating. Black Moose's actions that fateful night had become a sour memory of his failure but as friends usually do, they had gotten over it, mainly by returning to the things that they liked to do together.

As he approached Flying Eagle and Little Antelope's family tipi he yipped like a coyote and they tore through the flap in excited anticipation.

"Brothers, we hunt until the snow flies!"

They both yelled out, "HO!" and began scrambling scrambled for their possessions. The father, Summer Badger, strode out of the shade from the behind their tipi and stood watching them quietly. Both boys were almost exact copies of him, short and stout with high brows and round noses.

Black Moose signed with respect to their father. His slight nod was enough to let Black Moose know that he approved.

"Meet Flying Hawk at the horse herd."

"Ho!" came the dual reply.

Black Moose turned and set off for his gear at Old Crow's tipi. As he approached his tipi he whistled loudly and moments later his two favorite mounts came prancing up to the tipi with their tails high in the air and throwing their heads. Both anticipated his feelings and knew something exciting was in store for them.

He tied his gear onto Lady and leaped onto Red set off for to the south for the rest of his horses who were meandering up the slope towards his. As they approached him, he gathered and tied their mane ropes into a train, and then he set off at a quick pace to the south.

Black Moose found himself alone with his thoughts as he ventured south ahead of his group of hunters. He wrestled with the idea that the band did not trade horses with the Dog People. It would seem that a horse would be able to command a better price than some of the skins and food stuffs that they had traded. He wondered what the People had missed by not offering to trade horses. Could better food be provided? How about better clothing or blankets for the winter? There had to be something that would make up for the loss of a single horse.

Many nights later, after the group returned to the camp, Black Moose quietly hung his endeavors on the drying racks by the light of the dying fire outside his old friend’s tipi. Before Black Moose touched the tipi flap, the old gnarled voice spoke from within, “Come in young brother.”

Black Moose shook his head thinking to himself, how does he do that? He opened the flap and slid into the interior space. His nose was immediately assailed by all the varied herbs and medicines that hung from the poles and ropes within. The smells always overpowered him when he first returned after several days but had begun to carry a welcoming feel to it at which his body immediately relaxed.

“Old brother, why do you not sleep. It is late.”

“Young brother, when you get to my age, you will s' that sleep is like the thunderstorms on the prairie, it comes when it wants, not when you want it,” the old man chuckling to himself at his wit.

Black Moose stood smiling at his old friend, then noticed that they were not alone. Blue Jay sat next to Old Crow with her eyes closed and humming a chant. Black Moose made to leave saying, “Sorry to interrupt...”

Blue Jay’s eyes opened and engulfed him in their warmth and love, “Hold son, do not go," her singsong voice light in the half darkness, "We both have been in discussions concerning you.”

Black Moose paused and sat back down with a curious look on his face. “You were waiting for me?”

The old man huddled deeper into his robes and nodded while Blue Jay continued, “The spirits whispered to us that you were coming,” her voice trailing off.

Black Moose sat back and waited as was the custom of the People. He knew that to ask questions would rush them and put a damper on whatever they wanted to talk of. He had learned much of patience since being adopted by the People, especially as he lived with the old medicine man. His mind leapt to the immediate questions he had of his vision of the buffalo herd and the answer that he was promised from the two before him. His mind wandered through the vision and his own determination to hunt until winter if need be. Perhaps they wanted to talk to him of following the counsel of the elders?

The silence spanned on for what felt like half the night although Black Moose was sure it was only half of what would be called an hour in the future. Finally, Blue Jay began looking up into the poles above their heads, “Something troubles your spirit. You have questions concerning the People and our ways. Your ways are as strange to us as we are to you. But we as the People have adopted you and you have taken well to being a part of our band”.

She paused and then went on more humbly, “I and my family have directly benefitted from your strength and skill. Your sacrifice on our behalf has caused me to become more of your kin than many of my own.” Her voice changed again, more humble if that could be accomplished, “I am proud that you have chosen my daughter as your lifelong companion.”

Black Moose sat listening to this introduction, remembering every part, knowing what each word meant and how much feeling she put behind each statement. His heart was once again full of the love for the People, but still doubt crept in.

“Yet, having been through all that, you are still troubled...” Black Moose looked up startled that she knew something about how he felt. Her gaze was fixed on him now and her eyes bore into his soul. He felt that familiar connecting of spirits as his spirit shared his memories and hers with him. He felt her fear of being a medicine woman, the fear of being called a...witch was the only word that he could describe it although the translation wasn't right. He could feel the fear of losing her family and of them losing everything, of them being cast out. But there was something else lurking in the background…a gift that she had, a gift to be able to discern the spirits and to see into a living spirit's soul and hear what they said. He marveled at such a gift. Then it was all gone.

Black Moose blinked as did Blue Jay but her sly smile told him that his secret questions were known to her. He looked down into the fire ashamed of having doubts and questions.

Turning she spoke up, “Old Crow,” at which the old man almost jumped out of his robes, “the young man is ready to learn of the Way of the Horse.”

The old man glanced up quickly, eying her closely then looked back to Black Moose. “THAT is reserved for only the one or two in the band to learn and guide us. H' has not been selected."  Blue Jay stared steadily at the old medicine man.

The silence stretched on as the old man finally filled it with, "H' is young. H' will not b' able to retain what h' is taught."

Her look told the old man her answer as he looked back at Black Moose, “It is like I am married to her, not her to Brave Elk,” he grumbled as he retreated back into his robes.

Black Moose’s interest stirred and he felt his attention drawn to this new concept, “What is this Way of the Horse?”

Blue Jay looked to the old medicine man who seemed to be hiding in his robes now. “If you do not tell him, I will.”

The old man grumbled something intelligible about only men knowing of such things. Her stare softened as a knowing smirk crept across her face. As it lit up her face, the wrinkled old face changed to doubt, then question, then disbelief and finally to astonishment.

“You don’t…” his words burst forth from his furs.

“My grandfather taught me,” was the soft reply as she turned back to stoke the dwindling fire.

“HOW! Your grandfather was not of the Way of the Horse. I knew your father and his father. They may have been medicine men but they could not have known.”

She looked down and smiled into the fire, memories dancing in her face while her eyes glowed. Old Crow watched as she turned back to him, “I had two grandfathers...” letting her voice trail off.

Old Crow sat up straight and blinked and sputtered as if he had been doused in the ice cold water from the nearby mountain stream. Black Moose sat watching the exchange forgotten.

“Your mother’s father?”

She turned back to the fire nodding.

The old medicine man watched her closely. He searched his mind but it betrayed him now. It did a lot of that lately. He dug through old memories but still found nothing.

When she looked back to him, tears rolled down her cheek. Her eyes glistened as she said, “You were not part of the band when he was with us. He moved on with another band sometime after he and my paternal grandfather began teaching me the ways of the medicine man. He was a sacred Elder of the Horse as well as a powerful medicine man and he taught me much of their ways long before I knew what it all meant. I have never known what ever happened to him or where he crossed over to be with our ancestors. It is the one thing I never forgave my mother for.”

Old Crow sat listening and piecing things together. “Why would h' leave the band and where did he go?”

Blue Jay looked back into the fire, “My mother would never tell me. She only said that grandfather had left and would not be returning. That was the only explanation I ever received. My other grandfather saw the devastation that this had on my young mind and realized that I needed to focus my talents on things that were more to my liking instead of my ill feelings for my mother and her secrets. He listened to the spirits and they told him where I needed to be led to keep me safe. He focused my mind on much of their teachings."

"How long have you known this?”

"I have probably known it my whole adult life, but it wasn't until after you selected me to be your student that I realized what my paternal grandfather had done for me," her cheeks wet in the dim firelight.

The old man sat thinking, knowing the story of her father, the old medicine man knew better than to ask why he did not offer an explanation to her.

His old mind returned to the problem at hand. To teach a man the Way of the Horse would need the approval of the elders and the chief, in fact he did not even know who the present Master of the Horse and Apprentice were. Those were closely kept secrets only the elders and the chief knew. Their acceptance of Black Moose as a member of the band was enough in their eyes. To ask to teach this stranger the Way of the Horse would not be looked upon with any kindness and could damage a lot of what he had built over the last season. His status in the band was not enough to be elevated to that. He may be ready but the band was not.

His mind went on, but Blue Jay knew the Way of the Horse and therefore could teach him. If she were found out her family could be cast out but she was already on the same path in preparation to be a medicine woman. She had nothing to lose but what would the band gain by having Black Moose learn of the Way of the Horse? Old Crow could see nothing, the spirits refusing to whisper to him on these thoughts. He looked at Blue Jay, she would not offer such a thing if the spirits did not whisper it to her. His skin began to crawl at the realization, the student may not be the student much longer, he thought. The spirits began dancing and singing around him.

“Black Moose, Blue Jay has something important to teach you. You will need all your skill to keep from revealing these things, for it is forbidden knowledge, to b' shared only with those prepared and ready for such things. It is dangerous to even speak of it. Blue Jay feels you are ready, therefore I do as well,” at which the old man sat back in his robes and began chanting. Black Moose noticed that this chant was different from any he had ever heard. Blue Jay noticed it as well.

Blue Jay spoke up louder than before, "Enter my dear sister."