Shadows in the Cave Read Free

but she felt it again now, not just the fear of human warfare, but that odd feeling she’d had since she and her husband talked about it the morning of their argument, that hint, that sense of something else wrong, something worse. If only she’d paid more attention to what her grandmother said and developed her second sight, the eye of the spirit.
    To the devil with Shonan. At least she could take a look at the dangerous present, could use the other gift, the one she’d never given up, regardless of what he said—this was the timeto defy him. The sky was beginning to shade from black to gray, so she would have to act fast.
    She padded, one slow step and one gentle shift of weight at a time, to the back of the boulder. She crawled up toward Shonan, deliberately making a little noise. He turned around with brows furrowed, concentration broken.
    She pointed to herself, made a flying motion with her arms, drew a big circle around her head, and pointed to her eyes.
    Shonan shook his head vigorously— No! He understood well enough. But he didn’t want a spy in the sky, not if it was magical. He didn’t want women to do men’s fighting. Most of all, he didn’t want his wife at risk.
    Meli backed away from him on all fours. When she felt grass beneath her feet, she raised to her full height and began. She was pleased to see how he fixed his eyes on her. Did he object to what she was doing? She didn’t care.
    The twins crept close to her and watched intently. She was glad of that. Salya had been the one who guarded her secret. Meli turned her attention to Aku. Look , she thought, behold this power that also belongs to you .
    She shifted the shape of flesh to feather. Nose became beak. Feet turned into claws. Arms became wings. Blood and brain, eyes and instincts became an owl’s. She raised her wings, took two quick steps, and launched into the air.
    She loved flying. As a child she dreamed of nothing else, not that she could remember. Her first flight as an owl, when she was twelve, had been the most marvelous experience of her life. Her heart shot higher than her wings. She jiggle-jaggled in the air. She dived, just to feel the exhalation. She soared.
    She turned her head back toward the twins and her husband and let out a single hoot. It was a pretend bit ofplayfulness to relieve her fear. Of tonight’s owl hoots, only hers were genuine.
    She turned her disc of face to business. Owls saw well in the dark, and in the half-dark around her now. She would spot their enemies, count the number, note their positions, and signal the news to her husband. Her gift would protect her family.
    Aku watched from below. His mind didn’t believe or disbelieve—it flamed in amazement. His mother an owl. The mother he loved, a hoot owl. By her will. By her power. Awe lifted him higher than her flight. Salya smiled and squeezed his hand.
    Meli arced to the left and sailed a graceful line across a sky the color of dove feathers. When she got to a gully, she made three quick dips of her head.
    Three enemies in that gully, no doubt creeping downward.
    Aku looked at his father. Shonan was glaring at his airborne wife. He certainly didn’t mind knowing where the attackers were, but…
    Meli turned and flew straight down the trail the party had walked. Two dips—two enemies right on the trail.
    She circled behind the boulder where Aku and Salya were hiding. One dip there.
    In a flash the enemies ended the game. A voice barked a sputter of ugly, guttural words, like axe blows. A gang of voices erupted with the same sounds, a war cry. Men—Brown Leaves, Shonan saw—dashed into camp and swung weapons at empty bedding. Finding nothing, they looked at each other in mystification. Shonan decided they should die puzzled.
    He sucked in oceans of air and howled them out in the Galayi war cry— Woh-WHO-O-O-ey! Woh-WHO-O-O-ey!AI-AI-AI-AI! His comrades joined in at horrific volume. At the same time they bounded down from boulders, out from behind