Pain

It is three days now. What did she do to me?

The pain in my testicles remains debilitating. I can barely walk, can hardly straighten. Truly, the feeling is like she’d caught me with the edge of her blade instead of the blunt back of it.

Fire Light, however, is more than happy to have his men carry my litter as well as Night Shadow Star’s. He is headed home, and nothing is going to stand in his way or slow him down.

Especially given that he has me and Night Shadow Star.

In his Dreams, he is already a lord atop a high palace mound overlooking the Great Plaza.

Our way has been north-northwest, following Joara Creek up into the mountains, then along the narrow canyon where the trail has been rutted into the soil by generations of Traders and war parties.

Fire Light is no fool. After that incompetent dolt, Field Snake, stumbled in out of the night almost shrieking that a Cahokian war party was hot on his heels, Fire Light used every trick in the book to hide his trail. Figured any pursuit would be less likely to tackle this route over the pass and down to one of the tributary headwaters of the Tenasee.

If only it weren’t for the constant burning ache in my testicles, I would be enjoying this: borne like the lord I am through this majestic, breathtaking scenery. I had no idea mountains could be so high, or so beautiful.

But the throbbing ache won’t go away. The mere act of standing is agony. And when I have to drain my water, it hurts like I’m urinating little shards of obsidian, and my piss comes in fits and dribbles. The warriors helping me look away, not daring to so much as make a face, lest I inflict some curse on them.

This isn’t funny.

My soul is aching to take Night Shadow Star, but my shaft and stones refuse.

This night we make camp at the summit of the steep pass; here people have camped for generations. A central fire is built, the warriors’ rations of hominy are being boiled.

The air is cool, the breeze blowing through the high saddle carries the scents of the forest, and overhead a hoary frosting of stars is glowing on the soot black of the night. I can hear the hooting of a great horned owl in the distance, and then the curious calls of a herd of elk deep in the woods.

This is not how I imagined I would celebrate my victory. But my day will come. As soon as I am healed, I will fulfill my Dream. I will have a special lodge prepared, have Night Shadow Star stripped and tied.

I will purify my body, paint designs of rebirth on my flesh to invoke vigor, and filled with the Power of the lightning I will mount Night Shadow Star. I will drive my shaft into her—a merging of Sky Power and Underworld Power. In that glorious moment, when my hot semen jets into her, I will possess her Lord’s Power and mine. Piasa and Thunderer, combined. Opposites crossed.

I will become the most Powerful man in the world.

When I do, not even Morning Star can stand against me.

I stare up at the sky, see a streak of yellow fire as a meteor burns its way from east to west. A sign that the Sky World has heard and approves of my thoughts.

Painfully I stand. Hobbling, I make my way to where Night Shadow Star is bound, her back to a sapling. She is dark against the white bark.

I try to bend down, to stare into her hard eyes, illuminated by the dancing firelight as they are. Can’t. Hurts too much. Her remarkably muscular arms are straining against the bonds, and I know that if she could get free, she’d strangle me in a moment.

Wounded as I am, she might even be able to do it. Fair, I guess. Once, in a wild rage, I tried to kill her that way.

I smile, savoring my victory. It will, after all, only be a matter of time before I am healed.

I say, “Hello, Sister.”

And then I proceed to tell her all the things I am going to do to her when I am well.

She listens, her eyes gleaming. Is that fear or anticipation?

To my surprise, she says, “Before I die, I will stand over your dead body. I swear it before the Powers of Sky and Underworld.”

She says it like she believes it.

As she does, I see a flicker of blue at the edge of my vision, and lightning streaks the cloudless skies.