Tribal Series Book 1: Timeless

Seven

I frowned, "Can you please tell me where I am?" I whispered. His glare loosened and for a split second, I thought I glimpsed sympathy in his eyes. Whether or not it was just a trick of the moonlight, I decided to milk the show of sympathy. "My mom will be worried, you know. She'll probably alert the police too and they'll come looking for me. So, you have to let me leave, or help me notify them of where I am."

His eyes narrowed and his glare came back in full force. I inwardly groaned at my habit of running my mouth when nervous.

"What is this po-leese you speak of?"

If not for his fierce glare, I would have found his pronunciation hilariously cute. But this dangerous, wild man was anything but. Something at the back of my mind clicked, and I suddenly realized what he was asking. I narrowed my eyes up at him, wondering how he could not know that. Even if he recently moved into the country, he'd know what the police was. He was either psychotic, or a very good actor.

"Don't pretend like you don't know." I scoffed.

His lips fell into a grim line, "I do not lie. And you cannot leave. Maheo has sent you to us."

I frowned. The name sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn't remember where I heard the name last.

"Mah-hay-o?"

"That is Great Medicine. You are definitely not one of the people if you do not know of Maheo."

I couldn't think of an appropriate response. His dark, revered expression hinted at his passion for whatever person he referred to, and filled me with dread. I was nowhere near Sheila's grandma's house, nor was I anywhere near my mom's house. This was definitely not a hallucination, or a dream. Maybe he suddenly had pity on me, or he detected something in my countenance I wasn't aware of, because his glare loosened again. His eyes were still guarded, but I wasn't going to complain. This man had a fierce glare. I'd hate to ever be his enemy.

"You are on Cheyenne territory."

I frowned, noticing for the first time his peculiar accent. It was thick, but strangely melodic. It put me in the mind of a steady stream. I gulped, as I took in his appearance again. Even in the low lighting, he looked like an authentic Cheyenne.

Mindlessly, I jumped from the horse, taking a deep breath as my feet hit the ground. Without looking back, I took off. The sound of his melodic voice reached my ears, and I picked up my speed. Even though the night was silent, his footfalls were hard to hear. Since the sound of horse hooves beating the earth didn't come, I assumed he was running after me. His mistake. In high school, I was on the track team, and even now I'd occasionally go for a run. The sound of his dark muttering kept me on my feet though. I was not about to screw it up for myself by underestimating his prowess.

All I had to do was make it far away enough. He'd eventually give up, and I'd eventually find my way back to civilization. I would be far away from this maniac and back home.

"J-just leave me alone!"

There was no response, but I hadn't really expected one. I tried to calm my anxious heart. It wouldn't listen. My legs started to burn, and a sharp pain in my stomach alerted me of a cramp. I winced. Not now, body. Just a little longer.

Suddenly, the earth tipped over. Right before I felt the sensation of falling, I felt solid arms wrap around my waist. All I could get out was a startled gasp, before the world was spinning. When it finally stopped, I opened my eyes.

The man hovered over me, his dark hair spilling onto my face. His warm breath fanned my face and his hair. I realized that even though the run and the tumble down the hill must have taken a lot out of him, his breathing was still even. I also realized that even though I had run from him, and fell, he fell with me and shielded me from the fall. Some of my determination to get away wavered, after all, if he meant me harm, would he have shielded me from the fall? I searched his eyes for some sort of affirmation, but they remained guarded.

"Thank you." I whispered.

"Save your thanks, foolish woman." He sneered.

He stood to his feet, and brushed himself off. Once done, he looked at me expectantly, but I could only stare. That earlier sense of dread came back, but I shoved it down. Even his manner of speaking was different. Where was this place?

I started to stand, but faltered at the sharp pain that needled through my ankle. I looked up at him to see his already annoyed gaze turn into exasperation. With one graceful stride, he had me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"What are you doing? Where are you taking me? I don't want to go back there, I want to go home!"

He remained silent, but tightened his grip on the back of my thighs. I went limp, knowing that there was no way I could escape. I couldn't fight, and I couldn't run. I was helpless.

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Maheo is what the Cheyenne call their creator god. The god has many names, (Great Medicine is one of them) and because I am not yet sure of the gender, (if it has one), I've tried to refrain from using gender-specific pronouns.

Mah-hey-o is how it is pronouced. (I think it sounds very melodic!)

www.native-languages.org is where I got that information from.

Btw, I've combed back through this story and noticed a lot of horrible verb tense mistakes! eek! I had it written in first person present at first, and edited it to past. Apparently a lot of the tenses still escaped editing! Sorry about that!