The Unveiling by Paul Eslinger

Author:Paul Eslinger [Eslinger, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-11-30T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19 – Healing Touch

The sun was far enough down in the western sky that the bottom of the canyon was in shadow when I arrived back at the cave. I took a deep breath and walked in quietly, hoping Ara didn’t blister my ears for being gone so long. In my mind, I could picture her sitting with her arms folded, her lips pressed tightly together, and a pink flush on her throat. No words greeted me, and I was surprised to see her huddled under one of the furs, sound asleep with her doll clutched in her arms.

Moving so silently not even an owl would have heard me, I picked up the two bowls and tiptoed towards the entrance. We wouldn’t have any fresh food for dinner unless I fetched it.

Once outside, I paused under a huge cedar tree and looked around. My magic kicked in without any conscious effort. Zephyr was still close, but she was near the top of the ridge behind me rather than on the path where we had met. Even more importantly, the King’s Hunter had forded the river and he was moving quickly away from us. I gave a deep sigh of relief. Even though he had crossed the river at least a day before I expected, he had not stopped to investigate in the side canyon.

With the hunter hiking down the valley away from us, we no longer had a reason to eat cold meals. I shifted both bowls to my left hand and pulled out the sling. Anything small with meat on its bones had better hide or it would land in the skillet.

Even though twilight hadn’t yet arrived, the shadows were getting deeper when I reached the blueberry patch with four large camas bulbs in my pockets, one bowl of drinking water balanced in both hands and an empty bowl tucked under my arm. I had quit looking for animals, but suddenly a rabbit darted across the clearing. Without thinking, I grabbed for my sling and dropped both bowls. Moments later, they were on the ground and I was hopping mad with both moccasins full of water. I was glad no one was around to hear the words I used.

Water squished between my toes as I disgustedly stripped berries from a bush and filled one of the bowls. A flicker of movement caught my eye as I leaned down to pick up the full bowl. Moving slowly so I didn’t lose all of the berries, I left the bowl on the ground, pulled the sling from my pocket and fit a stone in the pouch.

Several quail hopped out of the knee-high grass and landed one behind another on a small log with peeling bark. They strutted along the log as if they didn’t have a sense of any danger. I reached lightly for the magic, concentrated, and threw the stone.

Always before, I had watched the stone home in on the chosen location. This time, it flew so fast I couldn’t see it move.

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