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By Ronda Thompson


Excerpt

The Legend...

All became quiet around Jason. Tala stood in the center of the cavern. Flaming torches were mounted along the walls, and a fire burned in a pit at the room’s center. The soft light silhouetted her slim form, cast her shadow long against one wall. God, she was beautiful, he thought. The soft buckskin dress hugged her lush curves. Her hair hung down her shoulders like black silk. She was a mixture of innocence and sensuality. Irresistible.

Her head had been slightly bowed, now she glanced up, her gaze moving over her tribal members before it came to rest upon him. "A time long ago, when the Tribes Of All People first roamed the land, Father Sun forsook his mate, Mother Earth, and left her for another. Without Father Sun’s love, Mother Earth grew bitter and cold. All that sprang from her union with Father Sun began to disappear. The trees died, the rivers froze, and darkness fell over the land. The Tribes Of All People began to die, as well. They could not stay warm against Mother Earth’s chill. They could not find food to eat, or wood to burn for fires. They forgot about their petty wars with one another, and all joined together, appealing to Mother Earth’s mercy."

Tala walked a line of those listening, pausing before Jason. "Mother Earth heard their wails of hunger, carried to her by the sacred North wind. She looked into her empty heart, and found a small place that still lived. In her mercy, Mother Earth granted the Tribes Of All People a special wish to help them survive the destruction her broken heart had wrought upon the land. She told them to choose a few among them, and she would make them into whatever animal would most serve their needs."

The fringe on her bottom of her dress made a soft swishing noise against the rock floor when Tala paced before her audience. "The Tribes Of All People thought long and hard about their decision. They argued among themselves. Some said the mighty mountain cat should be their choice, others, the deadly badger. But when the decision was made, all agreed that the wisest choice would be the wolf. The wolf was a respected hunter. The wolf hunted for the pack, and not for itself. The wolf taught and cared for its young. The wolf fed those in the pack too old to feed themselves. The wolf protected the pack from intruders. The wolf lived a life almost parallel to their own."

Jason felt a prickle of unease, but found himself enraptured by Tala’s voice, by the melody of her words. He wondered if her people had trouble following along since she told the story in English for his benefit. Jason also felt that Haidar had chosen this particular legend for his benefit, as well. Tala’s voice recaptured his attention.

"The Tribes Of All People then chose a group of its most seasoned warriors, and the same number of its strongest women, and placed them inside a circle. The People chanted for Mother Earth to keep her promise and change those chosen into wolves. But they asked for more. Afraid the ones chosen would not remember the human within them and recognize the tribe as their pack, they asked Mother Earth to give those chosen the power to become both wolf and human. Mother Earth warned The People that no man or woman she changed could ever drink of human blood, or eat of human flesh, or their human souls would be lost.

"Mother Earth said that in order to give the rest of her creatures still living a chance at survival, those chosen could only change by the light of a full moon. The Tribes Of All People agreed to Mother Earth’s laws, and she granted them their wish. The ones chosen were changed. By day, the chosen were humans who helped with the duties of the tribe, but by night, beneath a full moon, they shed their human skins and became wolves. They hunted for the tribe, they protected them against other animals, and soon, they became the tribe’s most valued ones."

Tala paused, Jason assumed for effect, before she began her pacing again. "For many years, those who had been chosen provided food for the tribe, pelts from the animals they had killed to keep The People warm, and protection against predators. They were treated like gods among the tribal members, and all were happy to serve as Mother Earth intended. But then, one day, the world changed again."

Tala’s gaze moved over every face. He supposed the tribal members had heard this story many times, but when he glanced around him, the group looked as if they were hearing it for the first time. He waited, like the others, for her to continue.

"Father Sun came back to Mother Earth. He seduced her with the warmth of his touch, the brightness of his smile, and he melted her cold heart. Life returned to what it had once been. Trees shot from the soil, rivers formed from ice that covered the land. The Tribes Of All People could hunt again. They no longer needed the thick pelts that had kept them warm against Mother Earth’s chill. Soon, they no longer needed the chosen among them."

Bowing her head, as if saddened by the turn of the events, Tala let her words sink in. Somewhere in the group, Jason heard a woman weep softly. When the storyteller glanced up, he saw tears shining in her dark eyes.

"Much returned to the way it had once been. The Tribes Of All People began to war amongst themselves. They split into bands, separate from one another. None wanted the ones chosen among them. They were different. They were outcasts. Given little choice, the outcasts formed their own band, but there were those among them who were angered by The Tribes Of All People. Angered by the sacrifices they had made in their behalf.

"The angry ones wanted to be treated as if they were special again, but instead, they were sneered at, laughed at, forced from contact with those whose lives they had saved. Some of the chosen one’s hearts turned bitter, and to punish The Tribes Of All People, they began to hunt human prey. They ate of human flesh, they drank of human blood, and they became the beasts that Mother Earth had once warned The Tribes Of All People against.

"The Tribes Of All People remembered their promise to Mother Earth and they hunted the sica. But the evils ones had the cunning of the wolf inside of them, and they spread their curse among those who hunted them. The Tribes Of All People came together once more. They begged the outcasts whose hearts had remained pure, to help them kill the beasts. The pure of heart agreed, and in exchange for their sacrifice, Mother Earth blessed the ones chosen with special powers. She gave them wings to fly, and the ability to become anything their minds envisioned.

"But still the evil ones spread their curse, and grew in numbers greater than those who hunted them. They lost their human souls and were no longer ruled only by the moon, but by the stars, as well. Mother Earth lifted the moon’s power from her warriors so that the evil one’s did not hold an advantage. But it was not enough. Many were slain by the evil ones, or turned to the dark side. Only a handful of the former chosen remained true to their cause, for Mother Earth had blessed them with one thing greater than all of their powers combined. She had not taken their human hearts, or the trials that came with such a gift. She knew that some would falter upon their paths, and some would lose their way, but Mother Earth did not fear for her chosen warriors. It was the way of the world for good to conquer evil, because evil had no heart, no spirit, no wings to fly."

There was a short silence, then Tala walked away. The tribal members began to whoop in appreciation of her story. Jason clapped his hands and whistled, although doing so received several baffled glances from those seated around him. Tala’s uncle leaned close.

"She is not so good of a storyteller, my niece," he said under his breath. "She left out some parts of the story."

He wondered which parts. Jason also wondered why Tala left when he saw her slip from the cavern. Although Jason had enjoyed the sound of Tala’s voice more than the story, he understood the reason Haidar had chosen this particular legend. It was to remind him that he was an outcast. The leader didn’t want him getting too comfortable among his people, or too friendly with his younger sister.

Although Tala’s story was only a legend, from what she’d told him, what he’d seen with his own eyes, it was one that followed the beliefs of her people closely. She called herself the one chosen. She said she had powers, and he had seen some of them. Because Tala had been born with some type of special abilities, had her tribe placed her in the role of an outcast? As a chosen one from their ancient legends?

The drums started again. Shadows moved against the rock walls of the cavern as The People took up their dancing. Someone snatched his hand and pulled him up into the circle of dancers. Jason wanted time alone. Time to think. Tala’s story had started suspicions in his mind. He wanted to talk to her--to tell her he was sorry if he hurt her earlier. Maybe to discuss the injustices done to her by her own superstitious people.

As he was prodded into a circle of dancers, Jason decided that would have to wait for another time. Tonight, Tala’s people honored him for his courage. Tonight, he felt accepted again for the first time in a long time. Tonight, he would dance, because tomorrow, he would still be an outsider. Tala was not the outcast. He was. She believed that she could save him because of the silly teachings of a legend made up long ago. A legend about the pure of heart. She couldn’t help him. And if she couldn’t help him, Jason realized that it was time for him to leave. Before he did, however, he would talk some modern-day sense into her.

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