Guardian of the Hills by Victoria Strauss

Author:Victoria Strauss [Strauss, Victoria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2015-02-24T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

WHEN PAMELA WOKE THE NEXT MORNING, the entire excursion seemed unlikely, as if it was something she had imagined or dreamed. But there were blue dye-marks under her fingernails; she could still feel Mirabel’s hands and see the warmth of her smile. The mysterious cadences of the legend hung in her mind. She found herself wondering what came next, what had happened to Eater of Distances and his people, to Crow and Cougar.

Pamela waited impatiently for the morning to pass. At one o’clock she ran down the garden into the woods, her heart beating. She had to wait a few minutes before Seth materialized on the path, light and shadow moving over him as he walked.

“You’re back,” he said.

He let her walk beside him this time, setting a pace she could more easily follow. He was as silent as before, and Pamela sensed his wariness, but the hostility seemed to have receded.

Once again, Seth took Pamela to his own house first. He opened the door for her and told her to wait. Then he departed, disappearing into the incandescent sunlight. Pamela sat at the table and drank the sumac drink Judith served her. Judith waited on her, dusting off the chair before Pamela sat in it, pouring Pamela’s drink before she poured her own, jumping up to get more when Pamela was finished; Pamela found it a little embarrassing.

Judith told Pamela about her Indian family.

“Your great-grandmother had three children: two daughters, Mirabel and Celie, and a son, Silver Grass. Celie, your grandmother, married your grandfather, and they had only the one child: Elizabeth, your mother. Mirabel married too, but she was never able to have children of her own. And Silver Grass married and had five sons. My husband, John, is the youngest. All of those sons married, and they have … Let’s see.” She thought for a moment, counting on her fingers. “Fourteen children in all. All boys, if you can believe it!”

“So I have fourteen cousins?” Pamela said, bemused.

“More than that, child. These kin-lines are so complicated. My husband and his brothers are your cousins too.” Judith smiled. “Don’t worry, you’ll learn to keep it straight after a while.”

“How do you keep it straight? How do you remember everything?”

“We put it in stories.”

“Like legends?”

“A bit. Not as interesting. It’s how we remember things about ourselves.”

“Mirabel said that too.”

Judith nodded. “Mirabel knows all the legends. She is the Guardian.”

“The Guardian?”

Judith looked at Pamela. “Didn’t she tell you?”

“No. What does she guard?”

“Well …” Judith seemed suddenly uncertain. “The Guardian … the Guardian takes care of the people. She helps with medicine, with advice, with decisions that need to be made. She remembers things for us, our history and our legends. And she—” Judith stopped abruptly, pressing her lips together. “She’s the person who’s in charge. Our leader.”

“I always thought chiefs were men.”

“No.” Judith shook her head, emphatically. “Only women can be Guardian. Women of Mirabel’s line. It passes from mother to eldest daughter.”

“And my grandmother was the elder?”

Judith nodded.

“So that was what Mirabel meant.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.