Notes: The song used in this story is ‘Ia’s Song’ from the cd The Water of Life by Caiseal Mor & Friends. If you can get hold of any of his cd’s or books, I recommend them, especially The Circle and the Cross trilogy. This is his website:
http://www.home.aone.net.au//caismor/moon.html
Warnings: A women’s lunar ceremony is described in this story. Brief mention of female genitalia and blood – within the context of the ceremony only.
The man on the hill was watching when two men left the cave. He watched as they stopped and looked back to the cave, and he watched as they untied their horses and rode off. He was still watching some hours later when another figure left the cave. He knew who it was – one of the women from the saloon. He kept watching as she too went for her horse and, as the sun slowly began to make ready for a new day, she too rode off in the direction of Four Corners.
He stayed where he was, perched amongst rocks. Watching, waiting and brooding.
+ + + + + + +
Once back in town Chris and Vin went straight to their respective beds and fell into a deep, dreamless slumber.
Some time later, Loren O’Neill arrived back as well – alone. She walked into the hotel and up the stairs. She walked passed Tel’s empty room, straight passed her own and slipped quietly into another room. The occupant of that room didn’t stir when she let herself in, or when she quickly undressed. His eyes did work themselves open though when she pulled the sheets back and climbed into bed.
"Shhh" she whispered gently to him, "It’s just me, go back to sleep."
The blue/green eyes closed once more as one arm moved up to rest on the woman’s shoulder. She kissed his forehead gently and let her fingers trace a path down his smooth cheeks and quietly began to sing, her voice still little more than a whisper.
The king of the golden sun,
The king of all the shining stars
And the man began to dream.
The king of the seasons,
The king of all the heavens above
And in his dream he heard the distant notes of a harp.
This wasn’t a dream like J.D.’s had been though, it was simply a collection of images coming in and out of view, accompanied by the sweet sounds of the harp and a woman’s voice singing.
The first images were from his childhood. The faces of the many friends he’d made when he’d been shipped off to various relatives. Some were people who he hadn’t thought anymore about, he didn’t even remember their names, but he knew –without knowing why – that these people had considered him a friend, someone they could count on. This was a revelation to the sleeping man. He didn’t consider himself in that light at all.
The images moved on and he saw the face of his mother at different periods of his life. He realised that she loved him deeply and was, in fact, very proud of her boy. But she was alone with a child to support and the best way she knew how was with ‘business’. The ‘business’ didn’t allow for children underfoot and so she’d had to send him away for caring, first to relatives and then to boarding schools for a proper education. She missed him terribly and it hurt her to see how angry and rejected he felt but she knew no other way.
The voice sang on repeating the words over….
… if only I could take you away
to the Land of the Ever Young …
… the sleeping man tried to hear more but the images crowded into his mind. Now the images were of the war years – images he’d done his best to bury, he tried to bury them again but to no avail. The blood and the gore, the screams and the cries of men dying, the goddawful smell of death permeated his very soul. He started to thrash about trying to get away from the memories assaulting him but the music and the voice held him fast. He felt soft hands wiping his brow and he calmed.
The images were changing again and he thought he could see a flickering light burn through the tormenting scenes in his head. It was Four Corners, and the face of Chris Larabee the first time they’d met. More faces came to him but this time of people he knew well and trusted. There weren’t many of those in the world – only six, and as he slept scenes of all they’d been through – together, played out before him and he could see, hear and feel the mutual trust and respect that the seven men held for each other. He knew then who he was and who he wanted to be and that he never need be alone again.
The sleeping man smiled his tense body relaxed and he opened his eyes.
"This is my favorite way to awaken" he mumbled sleepily to Loren, "In the arms of a beautiful woman."
They held each other in a tight embrace then slowly, inexorably began to make love.
+ + + + + + +
It was the middle of the day, the sun and the moon both clearly visible in the bright blue sky. It had been thirteen days since the full moon. Josiah looked to the sky where he could plainly see both sun and moon – it was the time of the dark moon. This was the time Kojay had vaguely referred to as being of great import.
Something was going to happen tonight, he could feel it in his bones, but what? He didn’t think it could really have much to do with him. But why did they tell me about it then? He felt jumpy and ill at ease and, as the afternoon slowly wore on, the feeling grew that whatever it was, he truly needed to be there.
+ + + + + + +
Vin Tanner sat in the saloon waiting, his hands turning his harmonica around and around. He’d been as amazed as everyone else at the sounds he’d been able to coax out of it over the past week. He didn’t think of himself as musical in anyway. But then I don’t normally go tripping about the sky with the stars and moon either, he reminded himself.
Until that night the harmonica had just been something he’d like to have around – like a good luck charm. He liked the feel of the metal in his hand and on his lips. The sound it made when he breathed into it reminded him of something – until now though, he hadn’t been able to figure it out. As he fidgeted with the small instrument a flash of memory came to him.
A memory from his childhood, of when he was a small boy and happier times before his mother, and even before that, his father had died. One single memory of his father and mother together – his father playing the harmonica and his mother twirling around the small house dancing with her baby son in her arms. All three laughing and loving and having a great time.
The grown-up Vin laughed, as quietly as he did everything else, then he wiped a single tear from his face, stood and left.
Vin met up with Josiah in the stables.
"Goin’ someplace Josiah?"
The preacher looked back at him. Vin knew a lot about Indian ways; he wondered why he hadn’t thought to ask him about it before.
"What do ya know ‘bout the time of the dark moon?"
Vin hesitated before answering, "Not much."
Josiah noticed the slight pause, "Ya were with the Indians a long time, ya must have heard somethin’. Kojay has been trying to tell me about somethin’ that’s gonna happen on the dark moon an’ as usual, won’t say it straight out"
"Prob’ly doesn’t know himself"
Josiah stopped waiting for Vin to say more but when he obviously wasn’t going to continued on himself.
"But he’s the Chief"
Vin sighed, "The dark moon is the time of death and rebirth, the time of the bleeding." He felt uncomfortable talking about it even now, "It’s tied up with the secret mysteries of the women"
"Hadn’t heard ‘bout them?"
"They’re secret Josiah"
"You know ‘bout ‘em"
"Not hardly – that’s all I know, all any man knows"
Josiah looked sceptical.
"Any man that would dare to get too close to the women in their time of Power would be tortured and put ta death – by the women"
"D’ya ever hear of that happenin’?"
Vin shook his head. "The boys were all told stories of what’d happen if they tried it. It was/is, strictly forbidden, no man would do it"
"I don’t understand"
"Understand what?" Vin had finished saddling the horse and was checking his guns.
Josiah leant one elbow on the saddle and put one hand on his hip as he thought.
"I got the feeling, that I’m supposed to be at whatever is happenin’ tonight"
"Can’t be right. There must be somethin’ else"
Vin put one foot to the stirrup and pulled himself up into the saddle. Josiah did the same and the two men headed their horses out the stable door and, though they hadn’t planned on it, they rode out of town together and headed into the hills.
+ + + + + + +
Once alone, Tel had restoked the fire then taken the time to stretch her stiffened muscles. It had been a long night and it wasn't over yet. The mysterious woman would get no more sleep this dark moon.
She stood up straight and stretched her arms out wide and high. She closed her eyes and felt the warmth of the earth under her bare feet. A dull ache throbbed from within her body and, even though she was a mile underground, she lifted her face to greet the dawn.
Her hands tingled, her feet burned, her womb ached. It was the day of the dark moon and by the morrow she’d be gone. Until then though, there was much to do.
Tel knelt by the fire once more and took a few leaves from a small pouch of herbs that hung from her waist. She placed them in her mouth, enjoying their bitter taste, and waited for them to take effect.
A few minutes later she began to chant in a low monotone. She buried her hands and feet in the soft soil beneath her, her chanting becoming faster. She brought her arms up above her head, her hands clutching earth; her fingers spread wide to allow it to fall back to the ground.
Her feet and lower legs disappeared into the earth as her voice grew louder, almost frantic. Her hands dipped back down to grab at the earth again and bring it back above her head.
Take me mother, unto they womb,
Lay me upon thy lap…
Tel had sunk now to her thighs and the earth opened beneath her to accept her body still further. Her skin burned from the hot earth but her voice was ecstatic as she travelled down to lay upon her mother’s lap.
+ + + + + + +
When Loren returned to the cave later in the morning she met only silence. The fire was reduced to a few embers. She quickly got it going again then began preparing for the day and night ahead avoiding the area of churned up earth on one side of the fire, walking right around it when necessary. She undressed and laid her clothes behind the same rock she’d used earlier. Tel’s clothes were still there along with her violin, and the harp and drum she’d placed there after Larabee and Tanner had left.
Loren momentarily wondered where Tel was and her eyes fell once more on the disturbed ground. But she didn’t allow herself to think about her friend’s whereabouts any longer as she returned to the fire to re-adorn herself with the symbols of Power.
+ + + + + + +
It was late afternoon when Josiah and Vin found themselves at the entrance of the cave where Loren sat waiting. The horses became unsettled and shied away but the men kept them under tight control.
"What is it Vin?"
"Reckon we ain’t meant t’go no further" Vin replied, he had a definite feeling of dread forming in the pit of his stomach. He looked around for signs but saw nothing.
"D’ya know what’s in the cave?"
"Me and Chris were here las’ night. We were welcome then but we sure ain’t welcome now"
He pulled on the reigns to turn the horse away from the cave entrance and the animal immediately settled. Vin turned to Josiah, the big man looked confused, listening to something he couldn’t understand.
"Josiah!" Vin called to him, "JOSIAH"
Josiah slowly turned to the other man, "What is it Brother Vin?"
"Dunno what it is but we gotta leave this place, now, c’mon Josiah"
The preacher turned his horse and followed Vin through the trees.
"There was someone camped up here yesterday. Let’s go see if he’s still ‘round" Vin told the still confused man behind him, "Stop thinkin’ ‘bout it so much Josiah. It’ll come to ya when its ready"
Josiah looked up then remembering Tel’s words of just a few days ago, go with the flow Josiah, and he shivered.
The men reached the now abandoned campsite within minutes. Vin dropped from his horse to check for signs of where the man might have gone. He could see where he'd had been pacing back and forth in his rage. He could see where the man had alternatively laid then sat as he watched the comings and goings below him, and he could see where the man had smashed a bottle of whisky against the base of a nearby tree.
Vin walked into the trees and returned with the man’s horse and all his belongings. Josiah just watched, Vin seemed to be very on edge about something. When Vin brought back the horse he could see a troubled expression on the usually unreadable face.
"D’ya know who it was Brother Vin?"
"That loudmouth son of a bitch from the saloon. The one Tel had words with"
"I thought he’d cleared out. What would he be doing up here?"
"There’s a good view from here down to the cave and the clearing."
Josiah looked over the edge to where Vin indicated, "Reckon he was spying" Vin added.
"On what?" Josiah asked, "You and Chris?"
Vin shook his head, "Would’na seen me but he mighta seen Chris. An’ probably Tel and Loren too"
"Tel and Loren were here?"
"Far as I know they still are" Vin’s face paled slightly.
"What happened Vin?" Josiah asked him now getting worried himself.
"I thought we were interruptin’ women’s business then but we weren’t. It must be tonight"
"What must be?"
Vin didn’t answer just walked back to the ledge to look down.
"Don’t like that fool still hangin’ ‘round" he finally said.
"Reckon we might have ourselves another situation’?"
"Jus’ might be the case Josiah"
Josiah started to speak again but was immediately shooshed by the tracker who had become completely still as he looked out at the woods below them. A long line of flickering lights was making its way through the trees in their direction. The lights were still a fair way off so Vin went to retrieve his scope from his saddlebag.
He slid it open and looked through quickly finding the lights that shone brightly through the glass. He breathed in sharply and through clenched teeth hissed to Josiah, "Look at this."
Josiah took the glass and looked in the same direction. The line of lights they could just glimpse through the trees was a line of rush torches burning brightly, each one held by a woman from the reservation. Each woman was naked from the waist up and had strange markings painted onto her face, arms and breasts.
The procession was led by a young girl of about 12 years. The girl had no such markings and was completely naked as she led the women directly towards the cave.
Both men gulped nervously.
"What sorta things do they do if they catch us?" Josiah asked.
"Ya don’t wanna know Josiah, trust me on that, ya jus’ don’t wanna know"
Vin took the glass and looked again.
"We’d better get hid," he said turning back to the horses and leading them back amongst the trees.
+ + + + + + +
Deep in the cave Loren began to feel the same dull ache in her loins that Tel had felt earlier and she knew it was time to begin.
She picked up her drum and began to play, slowly at first then faster and faster until the sound was lost within its own echoes. As she gave herself to the beat she stood and started to dance around the fire, her feet matching the beat of the drum and burning when she walked across the soft soil patch she’d avoided earlier.
The beat of the drum and the stomping of the feet reached down far into the earth and a rumbling commenced. A ball of dark energy burned hot and began to push itself upwards irresistibly drawn by the dancing woman above.
+ + + + + + +
The procession of women led by the girlchild finally reached the cave and started in. Every second woman held a drum instead of a torch and, as they entered the cave, began to tap out their own beat, their voices, previously silent, now raised in song.
+ + + + + + +
"Can ya understand what they’re singin’?" Josiah whispered across to Vin.
"Nope. Not a single word"
"Y’think they gotta secret language too?"
Below them the voices and the drums started to fade as the last of the women entered the cave. Vin argued with himself as to whether he should leave his hiding place but the instinct to move won out and he crawled forward till he could once again see the clearing below in the rapidly fading light.
In the last rays of sunlight Vin saw a familiar figure leave his hiding place among the trees and dart furtively into the cave.
"Shit!" he said, "Stupid shit!"
"What is it Vin?"
"Idiot from the saloon jus’ went into the cave"
Josiah’s eyes widened, "We’d better go stop him".
But Vin shook his head; "No way in hell I’m goin’ in there" he stated firmly, "If he ain’t got the sense to stay away he deserves what he gets"
"Brother Vin, we can’t let the man go to his death just’ cause his stupid."
Vin backed away, he looked uncomfortable with the thought but not so much he was going to go against this particular Law.
Josiah tried another tact, "What about Tel? She should be warned"
"She’ll know. She’ll have felt his presence"
"Maybe, maybe not. She might be distracted by this other stuff goin’ on"
The tracker thought about that possibility, there was a good chance Josiah was right. Shit! Now what do I do? He sat down abruptly, cross-legged in the dirt and closed his eyes. Just be, he told himself, just be!
Josiah watched the other man wrestle with his conflicting desires but time was running out so he stepped forward and put one hand on his shoulder.
"Vin? We gotta do somethin’ now."
Josiah was beginning to think he’d have to go it alone when, just as abruptly as before, Vin opened his eyes and stood.
"Let’s do it!"
+ + + + + + +
As the sound of the women’s voices and drumming reached down into the cavern Loren stilled her own instrument and laid it aside. Still within a semi-trance state, she returned to the fire to begin a new dance. She reached down to grab handfuls of dirt. Bringing her hands up as she straightened, she smeared the dirt into the skin just above the pubic area.
Earth my body
Water my blood
Crossing and uncrossing her hands she brought them up above her head.
Air my breath
And fire my spirit!
She spread her fingers wide and allowed the soil to escape her grasp and fall to the floor.
Woman am I, spirit am I
I am the infinite within my soul
I have no beginning and I have no end
She repeated the chant and the actions as she circled the fire gaining in speed as she went. By the time the girlchild took her first step into the cavern Loren’s face was red from the exertion and sweat poured from her body. The gathering women put out their fires and walked forward to join the whirling woman, their feet stamping the rhythm of the drums and their voices ringing through the caves and tunnels.
+ + + + + + +
By the time Vin and Josiah made it down to the clearing they had company, in the form of Ezra, Buck, J.D., Nathan and Chris. Vin wanted to yell at them to stay away but seeing their determined faces he understood that they were all exactly where they were meant to be.
Josiah quickly explained the situation to the listening men who all started forward together.
"Wait!" said Vin, "We can’t go rushin’ in. Me & Josiah’ll go first. Rest of you followin’. Ya gotta stay hid and ya gotta stay quiet – don’t even breathe too loud. If those women see us we’re dead meat"
"Literally or figuratively?" Ezra enquired.
Vin drew one finger across his throat, "I mean, dead, an’ it won’t be pleasant"
"But they’re just women, they wouldn’t really …? Would they?" JD asked.
Vin glared at him, "That an’ worse" was all he said before disappearing into the cave.
It was dark out now, all sunlight gone, even the stars seemed dim. Josiah looked to the moonless sky and gave a quick prayer before he too disappeared into the even darker cave. He was followed by Chris, then Buck, JD and Nathan. Ezra had a last look around; he thought he could hear drumming and felt a strange vibration underfoot.
"Oh well, into the fire" he said to himself and strode into the cave.
+ + + + + + +
The earth in the long tunnel was once again glowing redly as it led the seven men down into the depths of the earth.
The women’s drumming and singing grew louder with each step the men took. They finally came to the small cavern that had been lit by torches the day before. The torches were now unlit and the room appeared even eerier. Vin glanced nervously at the walls as the desire to sink himself into them returned. He was prepared this time though and fought the compunction off. He automatically veered in the direction he and Chris had followed previously and came to a sudden stop. The tunnel was not there. His stomach knotted up and he looked back the way he’d come. Josiah started to speak but Vin put his hand over his mouth to keep him quiet. Chris looked confused when he realised why they’d stopped. What the hell?
The room had become a dead end.
+ + + + + + +
Far below, the dark ball of energy grew larger as it burned its way to the earth’s surface. It flickered and pulsed in unison with the drums and stamping feet, and grew stronger as it responded to the words and intonations of the voices above it.
Beloved Mother of the ageless womb
From which the many worlds, at once, were born!
I call upon thee of the gentle Earth -
From whose breast, and whose belly our bounty is shorn.
Beloved Wisewoman, spinner of fates!
Weaver of dreamwebs - the bearer of death!
I call upon thee of the waning skies -
Grant me your vision and open my eyes!
Goddess - I ask thee to live within me!
Grant me your knowing, and show me to see!
Lend me your wisdom and love for all things -
Goddess of magick, I call unto thee!
The girlchild now danced beside Loren and, as she bent to pick up the soil and smear it on her body, she felt a sharp stabbing pain rip through her uterus. Her whole body shivered in response and she smeared some of the soil inside her thighs. She brought her hands up her body, her fingers brushing passed her throbbing vulva to rest briefly on her dirt-stained stomach before travelling higher. Arms in the air she twirled around before dropping to the ground to start again.
As her hands dug into the earth she felt a tearing from within and blood started to trickle from her vagina to mix with the sacred earth rubbed into the skin of her thighs. Her hands came up and felt the blood now flowing down her legs, she smeared that too into her body, then bringing her blood-soaked hands up high she began a new song.
The women around her stopped their dancing then trilled their welcome to the woman – a child no longer – and joined in her song. Their voices singing of creation and the earth, of death and birth, and of the Great Mother – The One – who held them all upon her lap.
+ + + + + + +
The seven men were beginning to feel trapped in the small room and turned back to retrace their steps. To their amazement and utter confusion they found that the passageway behind them had also vanished.
"I don’t like weird" JD and Buck said together.
"Vin?" Chris looked to the other man for some sort of answer.
"Everybody be quiet, keep calm, and listen" Josiah ordered them all, "Can anyone hear anythin’?"
The sounds of drumming and singing had vanished as well and once again the only sound to be heard was the men’s own panicky breathing.
"This is what happened last time" Chris hissed through clenched teeth. He looked at Vin, the walls, both men thought simultaneously. Vin looked around him but the smooth walls gave no clue as to what needed to be done.
"I hear somethin" Nathan whispered. Ever since the picnic he’d been practising real hard to listen to the sounds around him, "Cain’t ya hear it Vin?"
Vin paused and cocked his head.
"Well, I don’t hear a thing," said Ezra, "Would you care to enlighten the rest of us?"
"Listen harder" answered Nathan; "It sounds like fiddle playin’"
"I hear it" agreed Vin.
"I hear it too" said Buck, a little surprised.
"I hear somethin’ but it ain’t music, its …. Sarah’s voice" added Chris, bewildered.
JD and Ezra looked at each other and shrugged.
"Listen harder" Josiah urged, "I think this is very important. I can almost hear somethin’ ain’t sure if its music or a voice whisperin’ though"
The two concentrated as hard as they could, their brows creased with the effort.
JD’s eyes flashed, "I hear it now! It’s the fiddle playin’ from my dream"
He turned to Ezra, "Listen Ezra, its there"
Ezra closed his eyes, wondering why he was the only one who appeared to be deaf. He was just beginning to think he should have stayed at the saloon when a gentle voice reached into his mind and sang to him about the golden sun and the Land of the Ever Young. He opened his eyes and nodded to the other men.
"I hear" was all he said.
"Now what?" asked Buck. They all turned to Vin and Josiah.
"Vin?" Josiah asked him, "What next?"
The tracker was looking distracted and didn’t answer, his eyes flicked from the wall to Chris and back again until they locked at last onto one patch of the smooth wall. He walked forward to place his hands on its surface, hesitating for a brief moment when he felt the heat radiating towards him. He sucked his breath in and touched his fingers to the earth.
A deep languid voice sent tendrils of longing through his entire being. It called to him as before, stripping away his will and pulling him into the earth.
The other six men watched in disbelief as Vin’s hands slowly sank into the wall.
"Vin!" Chris called as he started forward to stop him. The voice filled Vin’s mind blocking out all else as it drew him in. The earth around his arms grew hot and started to move as his body met its touch.
Josiah was holding Chris back; "He has to do this." The other men stood motionless, mouths open in horror as they watched their friend be consumed by the living wall of earth.
As It Should Be [Next]
