Stormfeather Ch 04

Over the next two weeks, Amy had her dreams of the mysterious man almost every night. She'd watched him as he'd occasionally interacted with animals and humans. Any contacts with humans were mostly peaceful, whether he'd been noticed or had sensed their proximity and had simply slipped by without being noticed at all. There was one where a group of men had tried to cause him trouble because of his appearance. With nothing else for it, and facing their attempts to kill him for nothing, he'd laid them all low, and then moved on.

There had been two contacts with plains Indians. In one, he'd bartered for a bit and bridle for his horse, and in the other, the tribe's shaman had knelt in fearful respect of him. In all cases where he'd tried to converse with anyone, he was always humble and respectful.

Many of the dreams had been about nothing at all. They were just of him traveling or eating. Amy had been astounded at the mundane nature of these ones, as though she really was just looking in on him somehow.

There were two episodes that had flat-out amazed her. In the first, she'd seen him sitting and looking out over a landscape from a high vantage point in a daytime setting. He wasn't searching for anything, he was just watching. This went on for several minutes, but something came to his mind suddenly, and he turned his head to look toward Amy's point of view, as though he was looking right at her with a fair bit of surprise.

Amy knew that he was no longer looking at the scenery -- he was looking at her directly across whatever distance separated them. His face didn't harden or stare, but rather it softened as though he had just fallen into some sort of reverie. He'd smiled a tiny bit, and then whatever connection had existed between them had been severed.

The second dream of this type had been both unsettling and exciting to her at the same time. She'd found herself trying to see him, and at first, nothing seemed to be forthcoming. There was only blackness. But after a time, she saw a pinpoint of orange-colored light in the distance. She felt that she was approaching it somehow, but as she neared it, she knew that she wasn't approaching it so much as she was being drawn to it.

At length, she found herself looking at a small campfire in an inky dark place. The smoke from the fire swirled everywhere around her, but she did see something even darker behind the fire. She strained to see what it was, and with a sudden shock, she saw him. He was in that animal-like form of his and he was staring into the flames. This lasted for what felt to her to be several minutes, during which she found herself feeling privileged to be able to see him in this way.

But then he'd looked up suddenly -- again, directly at her, his yellow eyes making direct contact with her own. They held each other's gaze for a time, neither of them even blinking. She saw that his lupine face was beginning to smile at her.

When she was certain of it, sure that he was smiling, and not in any untoward or threatening way, she felt her heart leap, and he nodded as though he was recognizing her in some manner. The smoke filled in between them, and she was alone again.

The next morning, she decided to go to her family's deserted home and began to plan for it. She wanted to be alone with her thoughts, and she was hopeful to be able to connect with him again, if indeed that was what it had been between them. This time, she didn't want any possibility of her being disturbed, and the old farmhouse would give her all the opportunity that she needed. She was now absolutely certain of something that interested and fascinated her to no end.

She now knew for certain that he existed, and for whatever reason that she couldn't fathom or surmise, she felt that he'd seen her as surely as she'd seen him, and that he considered her to be an equal.

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From his point of view, the first of these connections had been a surprising confirmation of something that had been bothering him to a small degree. For some time, he'd felt as though he was being watched. The thing of it was that it hadn't been accompanied by the usual sense of warning that came to him if he became aware that his actions were being observed. This had been a lot less definite. That was what had bothered him.

When he'd been looking out over the valley, it had come to him very strongly, and he'd sensed the direction of it. Turning in that direction, he'd finally seen the one who was watching, and the sight had taken his breath from him. He was saddened that the bright light of day reduced the clarity of the vision, but for someone to be able to look across some distance even though the time of it had been distorted impressed him. He wondered why anyone would want to see him this way.

For the rest of the day, she had been on his mind. He went over each instance in his memory where he'd felt her gaze and hadn't known it for what it was. He found that he wasn't disturbed by it, only surprised. Once he'd thought about it, he'd become curious himself and now wanted to see her more clearly. If she could seek him out to watch him, then he knew that he could capture her searching thoughts the next time that she attempted it.

It was something of a trap that he was setting for her, he knew, but it was the easiest way for him to see her more clearly without having to try to search her out. In any event, it wasn't a cruel trap, it was only a way to ride the same connection that she established.

He'd prepared himself and waited in the dark. When he'd sensed that she was seeking him, he found her far off the mark without any visual clues. He had no doubt that she'd eventually find him, but he thought to save them both some effort, and lit his fire. With her attention on the light of it, he'd pulled her in close. He could have done this violently, but saw no need to be disrespectful by capturing her view against her will. That might only upset her and she'd likely react in fear or anger, and he didn't want that. He only wanted to have some contact with her so that they could see each other clearly. He wanted to know if she feared him or had any hostile intent.

With her beautiful visage before him, he made sure to draw her in more by deliberately avoiding her gaze, keeping his eyes downcast. He looked up and locked his eyes on hers. If there was any fear or animosity, he'd feel it from this distance, but there was none. He was amazed. They only looked at each other and he smiled. He'd never seen anyone like her, and wondered what sort of creature she might be with such pale skin and brilliant green eyes under flaming red hair. The soft smile that he saw returned to him filled him with something that he was completely unfamiliar with. He'd never seen a human with this ability before with the exception of his own mother.

He'd finally severed the tie because he felt that he wasn't ready for the next step.

He needed to think before he tried to actually communicate with her. He sat back in the small cave in wonder, hoping that she would try again to reach out to him very soon.

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Amy sat in the kitchen with Ximena late the next evening. The lamps had been turned low and they'd planned to have just one more cup of tea before they each turned in for the night. Ximena had known that Amy had been thinking of going to the old farm once more before the winter, and she agreed that it would be best done sooner rather than later. Together they'd packed Amy's saddlebags with the exception of the food that would be added the next morning.

"I don't really understand what you want to do besides relax and be alone," Ximena said.

Amy smiled, "I guess it must sound strange. I want to draw and walk around just like I told you. I want to remember my family and the times that we were all together there. I also want to be alone to do that, and I want to try to see him without dreaming if I can, Ximena, without the possibility of being interrupted by anyone coming to call or asking you to make tea and such."

"That's what I mean," Ximena said, "How do you expect to do that?"

"Well I don't even know it I can do it," Amy replied, "but the last two times, I found out enough to be sure that he's really alive someplace. Oh, and Ximena, for damn sure, I know that he's not crazy."

Ximena took the kettle from the hearth and poured the tea. Amy's thoughts drifted for the moment as she remembered seeing him in the dark in her dream. Oddly enough, she felt the same feeling in her breast now as she'd felt then.

Many miles away, he sat in his small cave, watching through his closed eyes. He understood little of their conversational topic. He was pleased only to be able to see her again. From the saddlebags that he could see, he gathered that she would travel and he now wished to know where, but he supposed that it didn't matter.

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"Why do you want to go back there now?" Maeve asked the next day at breakfast, "You've got the headmistress position at the school to think about and you need to prepare for the new classes."

Amy nodded, "I've got it all in hand, Aunt Maeve. I've been working my tail feathers off at it. For the next little while, there's not much more that needs doing and my mentor wants a little time to relax this summer as well. We'll meet again a couple of weeks before the start of classes to finalize everything before she heads off to wherever she wants to go."

She looked up as she stirred her morning coffee, "I do have a bit of property to look out for now, you know. I just want a little solitude for a short time, that's all. The fellow who looks in on the place has already written that someone seems to go there now and again. They never disturb things at all, but he's noticed that some of the hay that he's placed in the barn for my horse has been eaten and one stall needs cleaning -- after he'd cleaned them all out. I just want to know what's going on, and enjoy myself at the same time."

They'd argued over it gently, but Maeve knew that Amy was Amy. The same stubbornness that she'd been given had landed on her great niece's head as well and there was no point raising a stink about it. She was a little worried for her, that was all. She was very proud of Amy, and thought perhaps that she'd said it to her a bit too often and that maybe it had gone to her head, but she doubted it. She liked how Amy could do the things that she herself had never managed to be able to do.

Amy pulled Ximena aside later and asked her to see to her great aunt carefully. "You know how I love her to death, Ximena. Please take good care of her for me."

Ximena had smiled, and nodded, telling her not to worry on that account, but she had a request, "Don't forget to take your sketching paper along. I so love the things that you draw."

Amy smiled and said that she'd come up with something just for Ximena, and they'd hugged before Amy shed the trappings of a young lady of Santa Fe and left as a smallish, gangly-looking youth on horseback with her hat pulled down low over her bright green eyes.

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Stormfeather's attention was drawn away from Amy by the appearance of an old one from the other cave. This one had introduced himself as something of a gatekeeper, and Stormfeather's presence had been noted. When questioned, Stormfeather said that he knew little of the place and was a bit hesitant to enter, since he didn't know if he would be able to return.

The old one smiled and replied that he'd be able to return once he'd entered if he wished, but that most who passed through had no wish to. With a finger in the dirt, Stormfeather was drawn a crude map of the cave, "Take the left passage, and you will find yourself in a land where almost everyone goes. It is a new land, and bears no real mark of man, though men are there in an older form," the old one said. "Take the right passage, and it leads you to a land of men ruled by old gods. In either world you will find food and magic in abundance."

The rest of the day was spent teaching Stormfeather the things, rules and laws that he would need to abide by in either of the worlds, and then the old one listened with interest to Stormfeather's tale of his life.

"It is always good to ask about a traveler's life, though for you it gives strange answers," the silver haired one said, "I have no knowledge of this princess that you ask about. It may be that she has stopped calling to you for some reason. It may also be that she is dead," he shrugged. "But in hearing about you, I think that you would find a better life for yourself by taking the right fork in the path. The old gods who rule there are the same ones who your father worshiped long ago, I think." He pointed to the amulet which hung from the younger one's neck.

"You have no reason to want to accept it," the old one said, "but our wise ones would ask a boon from you while you stay outside here. It concerns a prophesy of this place. It was said long ago that there would be two travelers who would come to this gate. They are very important to us all if the prophesy comes to pass. One of them was born here, the other was not. One was born with strong sight and wisdom, the other with wisdom also, but with might and power. They are to come here, and must journey in good time to the land ruled by the old gods. There are ones there who need help and protection which we cannot give. We ask that you watch for them here or anywhere that you may travel while you wait before you enter here."

He nodded and agreed to watch for the travelers. "How soon, old one, before they come?"

There was good-natured laughter from his companion, "If I knew the answer to that, I would only come here myself at the right time, would I not?"

After wishing him well, the old one returned to the cave, and Stormfeather found himself with much to think about.

When he turned his thoughts back to the red-haired female who had sought him out, he found that she was closer now. All that he'd known was that she was to the west of him and that she would travel. His pulse had quickened and it surprised him a little to feel it.

Now he knew that unless her road took her in another direction, she was coming toward him. He grinned hopefully. He didn't know anything about this strangeness, but he now really wanted to see this seer with his own eyes.

He stood up and stretched in the early light of dawn before whistling. His answer came to him in the sound of hooves approaching. He smiled, and gently slapped his large friend's shoulder.

"We must make a small journey of our own today," he said quietly as he fitted the bit and tossed the reins over the ears of the horse. Together, they picked their way down the path past the old house. Out on the road, the horse, now grown and happy to be traveling again, began to canter. Stormfeather laughed at the eagerness that he felt below him and allowed his friend to gallop.

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Amy found that the trip wasn't going anything like she'd planned it. She'd noticed a group of men approaching from the front late on the second day. Amy turned her horse off the road where it crossed a shallow stream and had splashed up the stream-bed and then gone far around to come back to the road farther on and rode warily until well after dark.

That night, she didn't light a fire and set out early to be sure that she'd left them behind, but toward evening she saw them a good distance behind her now trailing her. She was sure they were the same group and that they'd doubled back. Once she'd crested a small rise in the road, she urged her mare to quicken the pace once she knew that she was out of their sight for a brief time.

She tried a few other ways to open the distance, tried in two places to cut off long corners in the road, but every time that she looked back, they were closer. Amy was certain that they were the same men and that they were following her. There had been a large man in the group the day before, and she could see him clearly now whenever she looked.

She was stuck between them and the town of Portales. It was another two hour's ride from there to her family's farm. It was where she wanted to go, but she had doubts for her safety in the town after dark. The town had turned a little wilder over the years since she'd left to live with Maeve and to get through unobserved, she'd need to ride hard through some alleyways in the dark. Even if she got to the farm by some miracle, what safety could she find in that lonely place now? The only advantage to be gained there was that she could shoot first at long range -- and besides following her, they'd given her no reason to.

Getting to the farm was out of the question anyway. She knew that they'd only follow for so long, and then make their move. That was the reason that they'd been slowly closing the gap. She thought of the road ahead and wondered which hollow or gully they had in mind for it.

An idea came to her and she made for the abandoned Spanish settlement nearby, turning behind a group of trees and out of sight of the men to ride toward the place. She had no doubt that they'd figure it out. The thought crossed her mind that it might very well be the place they'd had in mind all along, but to her it offered at least walls where she could stand them off if worse came to worst.

If they wanted to get her alone, she thought, well that was fine -- at least for as long as her ammunition held out.

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Inside a house in that deserted ghost town, in a half fallen-in ruin with a broken back wall and one window, he waited for her, pleased that she'd decided to hide here. If she'd decided to go on past, then he'd have waited for the men to pass by as they followed her. He was certain that they'd have been rather surprised to learn that they had a pursuer of their own if that happened.

But ideally, it was too early yet to deal with eight men out on the road. He could manage it, he knew, but he wanted a place where she could hide in the meantime. The pieces of their thoughts which had come to him had left little doubt that they weren't exactly what he'd call good men. He only wished that the sun had already set. She'd be more difficult for them to find and he would gain even more of the advantage. He turned to leave the ruined house.

Amy rode down the deserted main street and turned down an alley toward the rubble that had once been an inn. She'd been through here before and knew that she could hide her mare in the stable out back.

Once inside, she tied up her horse, slung the small pack that she used for shooting onto her right shoulder and pulled her rifles from their scabbards. The rifles went over her left arm with care, and with her right arm steadying the strap of the pack, she was about to turn to look for a place where she could command the encounter from if it came to that.

He'd caught the briefest glimpse of her leading her mare into the old stable as he rounded the corner into the alley at a cautious trot. He knew why she'd chosen this place since it offered hidden shelter for her horse, but it wasn't the best place for her to be. The best plan would be for her to be some distance from her horse -- far enough away to engage the threat to her from the men out of earshot of any sounds which her horse might make wanting to be away from here or in its confusion at being left alone. He didn't know how to make this clear to her if she jumped out of her skin at his approach.

He decided that it couldn't be helped. They had no time for polite introductions. As he'd entered the building behind her, he'd had to make a conscious effort to avoid sucking in his breath. He wasn't at all prepared to see her from this distance. The clothing might have been chosen to hide at least some of her shape, but there was enough of it coming through to him to make itself known.