Read Online Norton, Andre - Anthology by Baleful Beasts (and Eerie Creatures) (v1.0) - Free Book Online Page B

             Her voice was bitter as she said, "A
shaman trains with suffering for two years. One dies before becoming a shaman.
I did not leave of my own will."
                   Her answer left me even more curious about
what could have driven her from her people into a routine of house help for Dad
and me. A shaman understands the demands and needs of the spirit world, Dad had
explained, and through spirit magic protects the people who look to the shaman
for leadership. I wasn't surprised that Jinell was a
shaman. I'd always sensed an unusual power in her.
                   Shrill cries burst from the fig tree not far
ahead of us. Both my hands gripped Jinell's as I
pulled back in alarm.
                   "Howlers, Nan- cee ,"
she said, and at once a spiteful chorus of the resonant howls of male monkeys
and the harsh barks of the females challenged us. I tried to laugh, for the
howlers—with all their infernal noise— were quite
harmless. But as we walked toward the fig, the screaming gained in volume. Jinell's eyes met those of the dominant male who crouched
on a lower limb. His shaggy neck was swollen with the force of his horrible
howls.
                   At once all noise ceased. The
silence of the forest 66 seemed unreal, more frightening than the noise. "Why did the monks stop howling?" I asked, moving closer to Jinell .
                   "I told them to stop."
                   "How—how did you tell them?" I'd
heard no sound from her.
                   "My total spirit, Akwalu ,
holds power in the forest. It speaks to forest creatures like one to one. Stand
quiet, Nan- cee . I give you spirit stones."
                   I "stood quiet," waiting. Jinell took three stones from her sling of Jaguar skin—two
the size of Brazil nuts, the third a tiny red pebble no bigger than a fresh
pea. She rubbed the stones between her palms, then blew deeply on them.
                   "Swallow this." She gave me the red
pebble. When I hesitated, she insisted. "Good to swallow. It stay with you all the days you live. Always you can hear the
words of my total spirit and always you can speak to me."
                   The red pebble went down my throat like
nothing at all. She put the crystal stone in my hand. "This will free you
from bad spirits. And this. . ." The third stone was polished quartz
shaded with green. " This . . . think well what I
say. This stone will call my forest spirit to help you."
                   "But Jinell ,"
I protested. "How can I need help from bad spirits when I am with
you?"
                   "What will be will be. "
She held open the right-hand pocket of my denims. "Put your stones in
here. You will feel the rough of the freeing-stone and the smooth of the
call-stone. When you face trouble, blow your spirit into the stone and throw it
far. My spirit will take it from the air."
                   We walked on. "We go to my people as I
promised you. But Ekjojo , the shaman who leads them
now, is the man whose spirits fought my spirits and outwitted them. He made me
leave my people. His total spirit holds power in the plains, the mountains, and
the water. You and I do not know what he feels against me, but my young
brother, grown to full man since I left the Akawai ,
tells me with his red speak-pebble that Ekjojo's magic
grows weak. Time calls me back."
                   Jinell's voice
gained a strange power. "Keep close, Nan- cee . Do
not go beyond the touch of my hand. I hold great fear for you."
                   Light filtered through the trees. We heard the
distant sound of laughter. Uncanny and mocking, it grew louder as we reached
the forest's end. Though the sunshine splotching the ground was cheerful, the
wild unearthly laughter came in sudden peals, and fear rose in my throat.
                   Jinell must have
felt me shrink