Trouble's Turn: A Mystical Animal Allies Short Story Read online

think what to do if the riders see Runs From Snakes or his mother.

  The riders approach, talking among themselves and scanning the area in all directions, including up. The leader gestures, apparently indicating silence, because conversation ceases. They stop directly below us. Have they seen Runs From Snakes?

  No, they have seen his mother. One of them points toward her hiding place. She crouches behind a boulder with trees beside it, but a piece of the covering she wears is visible. I jump down to the pale men in matching coverings. “It is only a chipmunk,” I tell him. Will they hear me? Will they believe me or discover that one of the People hides there.

  One of the riders speaks softly to the others. “I’m going to have a look. I can’t tell if that’s just an old piece of hide or if there’s someone there.”

  Think fast!...Horses are easily spooked…There are animals of the land all around and I think they will hear me and maybe help. I sing out, “Make the horses run!”

  Another song calls out in answer. It is not a wolf and the message is “make running water.” It is Runs From Snakes who is calling with me. He did well for one who does not speak Wolf.

  Squirrels and chipmunks dart from their hiding places and rush around. The horses flick their ears and stamp nervously. It is not enough to make them run. I sing out again and my One repeats the call..

  The chips and squirrels make a line on either side of the horses and chitter. Runs From Snakes’ mother has moved so that no part of her is visible.

  The baffled riders look all around and raise what must be weapons that look dark and deadly. If they see Runs From Snakes, he will not live to fulfill his destiny and he will not have time to get to safety. One of them looks right at where he sits in his circle. He points his weapon, making an arc in the area where my One sits. “Where’s that wolf?”

  “Be Still and know they do not see you,” I say into the mind of my One.

  I sing out again, “Spook the horses!” Lead rider swings his leg over his horse. A wolf of the earth, running from behind sings out a reply, “I come. I come!” Runs From Snakes sings out again. Squirrels and chips scatter in all directions. Earth wolf runs at the heels of the third horse. All three horses rear. Lead rider thuds to the ground. One of the other horses comes down on his chest with both front feet. He yells. Blood flies in all directions. The horses nay in alarm. Another rider dangles from the rope that goes through the horse’s mouth. The third points his weapon upward, toward Runs with Snakes

  The two riders point their weapons wildly in all directions. All three horses buck and bolt. The second rider is trampled and the other makes a loud noise with his weapon then crashes head first into the mountainside. His head splits open. I see a black mark and a spray of ash on the rocks below Runs From Snakes. He has lost his stillness, which I easily understand. His eyes wide, mouth open.

  “All is well,” I assure him.

  His mother runs from her hiding place. “My son!” She looks as if she is trying to decide how to crawl straight up the mountainside to him.

  He stands inside his sacred circle. “Wait there.” He appears uncertain. To me he asks, “Is it right for me to finish?”

  “You have completed your Vision Quest,” I tell him. It is right, now, to give thanks and unmake your sacred circle.” Again, there is much I want to say to him. “They did not see you. For them, you were not there. I am proud of you.”

  “The animals came to help us. I have never seen something like this happen.”

  Earth wolf lies on the ground, eyes closed, unmoving

  Runs From Snakes does not come down until he has sung his prayers and completed his sacred duty. It is good. He honors the ways of his People, the sacred path, even though he has been through his first test of courage. His sobbing mother wraps herself around him. He squirms in her arms. “You are smothering me,“ he protests. “I must give thanks to the wolf. “

  He kneels near the earth wolf and sings a song of gratitude.

  The earth wolf’s spirit is still with his body. There is a mark on his chest from where a hoof must have hit him, but there is no lifeblood spilling out. I lick his wound, wash his face. “Thank you, little brother, “I say to him. The wolf opens his eyes, gets to his feet with some difficulty and looks my One straight in his eyes. Then he trots off.

  I am pulled back to my own world so suddenly I feel as if I need a moment to catch up with myself. I sit alone in the middle of a circle of Wolves. This is either very good or very bad. “My One called to me.”

  Mother tackles me. “You are too young and untrained.”

  I scramble out from under her. “I was called. And I have asked to know how to serve. Nobody would train ne.” No hackles, no lip, but I am upset and angry. She shames me in front of the elders for doing my sacred duty?

  Pack Mother snaps at her, and she lowers herself in submission. “You cannot protect her from your past. She must fulfill her role, as we all must.” My mother slinks back to her place in the circle.

  Pack Mother comes to me. I sit before her, eyes low, waiting. “You have had a big adventure today.”

  “Yes.” I still don’t know if I’m in the biggest trouble of my life or what will happen next.

  “You may have interfered too much.”

  For once I manage to keep myself from saying what I want to say at the worst possible moment. I want to say that I have done no more than the Eagles and White Buffalo. “It is possible. I never can do anything right. But I came to my One and helped him stay safe.”

  “Is that what you should have done? Perhaps you should have appeared to him and left.”

  My heart is on the ground. She is showing neither anger nor aggression toward me, but I still don’t’ know if I’m in trouble. “When I asked inside myself for guidance, I felt I should help him. It is what seemed right.”

  “It is good. “

  “I did not know what to do next, but I kept asking inside, remembering what I had heard in stories, and doing what my inner guidance told me to do.”

  “You followed your inner knowing. That is all any of us can do, whether Ally or Two-legged.” She nuzzles me affectionately. “You have long since outgrown your whelp’s name.”

  My mouth drops. I look into her face but not her eyes. My heart comes up from the ground.

  “Hear me, all of you. From now forward, this one who is so brave and inventive shall be called by the name she has earned. Welcome Asks Within as an Ally of the People.”

  It is all I can do to sit still. The circle of Wolves all around me howls a joy song, and I sing in gratitude with them. I feel Great Mystery with me stronger than ever and I give thanks. My desire is to serve the People well.

  Nobody, neither Wolf nor any other Nation, calls me Trouble anymore. They call me by my true name, Asks Within. Some of the Pack Elders and even Allies of other Nations ask me to tell the story of how I met and saved my One.

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