Shadows in the Cave by Win Blevins & Meredith Blevins

Author:Win Blevins & Meredith Blevins [Blevins, Win & Blevins, Meredith]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781504033077
Goodreads: 29335268
Publisher: Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Published: 2011-02-01T00:00:00+00:00

“Every one of them has something to teach the seeker,” Tsola said. She held her torch as high as his own so Aku could really study the painted images.

He checked out Rabbit, with its split nose. “What does Rabbit have to say to me?”

“He’s the trickster. But every seeker has to learn the teaching from every animal. It’s like giving birth, or having sex. No point in knowing about it—you have to experience it.”

“I don’t understand.” Well, he did, about sex.

She didn’t respond.

Aku held his light close to Little Deer, who was only knee-high and entirely white.

“Do you know the story of the King of the Deer?”

“No.”

Tsola grimaced. Meli, had she lived, would have made sure her children knew the old stories. Shonan thought they were the ghosts of the past. “The seekers of wisdom who come to me, each one gets to know some of these figures and the spirits they represent. Seekers make different discoveries in different paintings—sometimes, in fact, within the same painting. Each seeker takes home his own wisdom, and usually they come back several times to learn more.”

Aku considered Rabbit for another long moment and passed on to Wolf. “That seems strange to me,” he said.

“What?”

“His fangs are showing, but his eyes, his eyes, they’re …” Aku rummaged through his mind. “Compassionate.”

“Very observant,” she said. “Wolf was the companion of First Man, the lucky hunter.” This was mere information—she could talk about that.

“That’s why no Galayi will kill a wolf,” said Aku, “except for the one man in each village who is given that power.”

At least her grandson knew some of the old lore.

Aku stopped in front of the drawing of Panther. Behind them Bola thumped his tail. “Look at the eyes,” Aku said. “They see in darkness but …” He considered the strange luminescence in the orbs. “Bola,” he said, “do you also see into the darkness of the spirit?”

“If you want the knowledge,” Bola said, “you have to take the journey.”

Aku turned and looked Bola straight in the face. “Can you see into the Darkening Land?”

Bola snapped out a roar.

Aku’s knees shook as he turned away. He pretended to study the next figure, Bear, for a long time, but fear lashed every thought out of his mind. Finally, he said, “Grandmother, why is Bear white?”

“If you walk with him, you will know.”

Aku cocked his head at Bear. “I think he looks like an uncle.” Among the Galayi, a boy’s maternal uncles were his particular guides and teachers.

He walked onward to look at Great Dusky Owl.

“Don’t gaze at him now,” said Tsola. “That’s for later.”

“Will these paintings last forever? Down here away from the weather?”

“I don’t think so, not on this limestone. I’ve already repainted some of them. Besides, I’d hate to think that in a hundred generations, when no Wounded Healer might be here, people would come and use the power of the paintings without guidance.”

Aku sidestepped to look up at War Eagle, the highest of all the paintings, curving with the wall so that its head and its amber eye glared down from the ceiling.

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