Tribal Series Book 1: Timeless

Four

I placed the knife back on the shelf that it fell from and my eyes immediately fell upon a medium sized book. The cover seemed to be made of some kind of sturdy cloth, perhaps buffalo hide or buckskin. It was decorated with beautiful but old beadwork, with smaller shells around the edges. Centered, there was a Cheyenne word that I could tell was barely decipherable even though I couldn't speak the language. Whatever was used to write it on the cover was pealing off.

"Hey." I called to Sheila, not taking my eyes away from the book, "What is this?"

I heard her light footsteps come my way. She took the book from the shelf and held it in her hands with a thoughtful frown.

"I actually don't know."

Neglecting to reply, I ran my hands over the cover, once again feeling that giddiness surge through my body from my fingertips. I pulled open the cover and skimmed the first page. It was blank. I turned over the next few pages that were also blank, or rather had wording that faded over the ages. I flipped to another page-it was not blank. There were small words etched onto it and right underneath those words were what I assumed was the English translation. I started to read:

"And when The People's spirits have been crushed, there will come a young woman from a distant land who has the knowledge of the great spirits and shares the blood of The People. She will descend like rain from the sky with a sound of might. Through her, The People's spirits will ride free again and the shadow of the White man will be banished."

The words gave me chills and rubbing my arms was all I could do to keep from shivering. Those words had meaning to them but I could not even begin to wonder what they could mean. What was the shadow of the white man? Was this supposed to be some kind of prophecy? I looked at Sheila; she also wore an expression of bewilderment.

"That-I don't know what to say. It feels strange looking at these words. I'm going to read it again."

She read it again, and as she did, I felt a strange light, feathery sensation throughout my body. For a moment, I could swear that I began to float but when I looked down at my feet, they were still on the floor. She will descend from the sky like rain...People's spirits will ride free...she will come...she will come. A young woman shall come...come-

"Kat, what's wrong?"

I perked up at the sound of Sheila's voice but for some reason it was louder than normal. I turned to look at her to see if she was in my ear, but she wasn't. She hadn't moved. I felt dizzy for some reason.

"Uh, no. I feel weird."

She frowned, "Is it the fumes from all this old stuff?"

I shrugged, "I don't think so."

A small silence passed between us.

"Well I'll go get you some cold water. Can you hold this?"

I nodded and held out my arms as she placed the book in them.

"Thanks." I called after her.

I turned my attention back to the page and something strange happened. The letters came alive and began swimming around the page. I stared at them with widened eyes, knowing for sure that I was imagining it but I couldn't put the book down and get my head together. It held my attention, despite the insanity of it all. The words formed new sentences.

"Come, young woman, from a distant land. Descend like rain from the sky, she who has the knowledge of the great spirits and shares the blood of The People. And The People's spirits will ride free again."

My heart did a few flips once the new sentences were completely formed. It was almost as if...the words were calling me. As if they were calling me, addressing me. Even stranger than the words reforming themselves was the sudden brightening of them. The page took on a kind of light that could be compared to the sun and the more I stared the more I felt as if my eyes were burning. I could no longer see anything else but the blinding light that seemed to be all around me. I heard strange voices chanting something. At first, they were low, as if they were muffled by something but they were steadily becoming louder, until all I could hear were their voices.

At that moment, I no longer had a sense of where I was. It was almost as if I was floating through a void. I tried to move my body but it wouldn't obey me. All I could do was simply listen. The voices were still there but instead of the chant and the continuous thumping that I realized was a drum of some kind, there was a lone female voice.

Ah, it was Sheila's grandmother. Why was she addressing me in Cheyenne? Didn't she know I couldn't understand? Oh well. Even though I couldn't understand her, it felt as if she was trying to get me to open my eyes. I did my best to open my eyes, or even move my fingers but the command was not understood by my body.

Suddenly, I felt as if I was floating again, but this time, I felt arms. They were hot arms that felt as if they were scalding me. I wanted to scream at whomever they belonged to and tell them to put me down, but the words would not come from my mouth.

Again, I heard the melodic language being spoken but the owner was undoubtedly male. Sheila's grandfather, perhaps? He put me down and laid me across some fur blanket, I guess. Sheila's grandmother addressed me again, or at least I assumed because of the soft touch to my cheek. Her voice was soft as well, almost pleading. I felt tired suddenly and the blinding light behind my eyelids was replaced by imminent darkness.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Any thoughts?

I adore this story, but I guess it can't be helped if no one else does.

*sits in corner and cries

Thanks for all of you who did read though. :)

<3 Parables