Nitasi was surprised to see Innikihto leave the council house and make his way toward the children’s fire. This was Kihto’s first time attending the council and he would not have left it willingly. Nitasi watched the grave way that he addressed an old woman and knew that he meant business. The council must have sent him with a summons, but for whom? Only children and old women sat around the fire this night. Nitasi gulped as the old woman motioned toward him. Much to his father’s embarrassment, Nitasi had been summoned to the council before. Nitasi’s backside still ached at the thought of it.

Kihto hurried over to him and whispered, “Hurry! The witch woman is speaking and I don’t want to miss it.” He tugged at Nitasi’s arm. Nitasi could see how seriously Kihto was taking his first council. His long black hair was braided neatly and tied with leather thongs. He wore his nicest leather tunic, pants, and boots. At his hip, he wore the antler handled hunting knife and beaded sheath that father had given him when he became a hunter. Kihto wore the ceremonial headdress of a hunter.

“Why do they want me?” Nitasi asked nervously.

“I don’t know! Come on! We’re missing it.” With that Kihto started back toward the council house.

The village rested in the Jolon? Valley, where the Patamon? River emerged from the mountains and plunged into the plains below. Above the village towered the vanguard of the great Abahli? Mountains that stretched to the northwest. To the northeast sprawled the Asiola? Forest. Jolon represented the farthest that anyone from Bear? clan would travel since the north was home to spirits and monsters and something worse—Elves. A large herd of bison grazed in the plains below the village, plains that stretched far to the south until they met the Regency lands.

A ring of mud-chinked log houses surrounded the council house and fire pit. The council house as a large circular shaped building that loomed above the rest of the village.

Nitasi caught up to Kihto just as he reached the council house door. “Wait!” cried Nitasi, but he was too late. Kihto just smiled slyly and slid through the council house door. Nitasi felt betrayed that it was Kihto that brought him to the council. Innikihto had been his best friend for many years until several months ago when Kihto had become a hunter. Since then Kihto had spent little time with Nitasi’Kihto hunted during the day and spent the evenings sharing stories with the other hunters. Nitasi and Kihto had spent their days dreaming of the time when they would be hunters. Everyday they would rush through their chores with the hope that they might trail the hunters through the foothills looking for deer. They spent hours practicing with their weapons. Although Nitasi had become one of the best archers in the clan, he was still too young to become a hunter. Nitasi was younger than Kihto by a year. Now Kihto was one of the hunters, and Nitasi was alone.

Nitasi skulked through the door into the council house. The council house was a single room with a large fire in the middle. The room was large enough to fit all of the adults of the clan. An aisle led between the mass of his clansmen. On the far side of the fire, the seven elders sat on a dais. Nitasi’s father, Nitalocha, sat in the center of the council, which meant that he was the council speaker for the day. Nitalocha wore a heavy bear-fur cloak, and a bear-skull headress. His face was painted to look fierce, like a bear’s. Each of the other elders wore a similar costume representing an animal god—Crow?, Serpent?, Coyote?, Bear, Deer?, Eagle?, and Rabbit?. Nitasi’s father was dressed as the Bear god, which meant that he was the speaker for the council today. Nitasi blushed as their eyes met. Nitasi’s father examined him coldly for a moment and then turned his eyes back to the withered shape of a woman standing before the council. She was dressed in a simple gray dress. Her hair, face, and limbs were covered with the thick layer of ash worn by those in mourning. The woman was Tskilu the witch.

Nitasi sighed with relief that he didn’t have to face the council right away. He still had a minute to ponder what he had done. Nitasi thought of the irony that today it was Kihto who escorted him to the council, when a year ago, they stood side by side in judgment. It was a year ago that they had followed the hunters into the plains to watch the bison hunt. They had strayed too far and been trapped by the herd. Several of the hunters had to rescue them and as a result many bison were lost. It had been a good hunt, so the punishment had been light. Nitasi and Kihto had spent months in the camp smoking the bison meat, tanning the hides, and sewing with the women—he hadn’t even been allowed to practice with his bow. Finally after a couple of months the council decided that the punishment should be lifted. Of course the real punishment had been the feeling that he had disappointed his father. Since Nitalocha was a member of the council and honored as a great warrior, it was a great disappointment that his son had to be rescued from a herd of grazing bison and an embarrassment to see him working with the women.

Nitasi was jarred from his thoughts when the witch cackled, “And that is the doom that awaits Bear clan or so it was revealed by the gods.” Nitasi was disappointed in himself, he had been so wrapped up in his own thoughts he had missed the witch’s prophecy. The council huddled together for a minute to discuss the matter. The crowd buzzed with excitement, many made dismissive gestures, many more made sights to ward off evil magic.

After a moments discussion, Nitasi’s father stood and said, “Tskilu, you have served us well for many years. You have healed our sick and led us to many bison. But you have also seen many dreams that have foretold of the doom of Bear clan. This is the judgment of the council. That this is another of Tskilu’s Coyote-dreams. That the trickster god of your clan has sent this dream to deceive us. We are at peace with our Nature-Brothers to the North and the Regency is leagues away. Your Coyote god is jealous of our hunt and the peace that we have made with the Elves, and he seeks to destroy us. The council grows tired of the your Coyote-dreams and has decided that you should return to the Coyote people.” Nitalocha sat down, indicating that the discussion was over.

Tskilu screamed “Fools! Be warned. This prophecy will come true and you will regret that you didn’t listen.” She whirled in a fury and stomped down the aisle towards the door. She glared hard at Nitasi as he scrambled out of her way.

When the commotion died down, Nitalocha stood up and with a pained expression said, “Is the one called Nitasi, son of Nitalocha, here?” Nitalocha’s cold eyes descended on Nitasi.

Nitasi walked slowly down the aisle with his head bowed. “I am here honored fathers to hear your council and accept your judgments,” Nitasi recited the traditional greeting of one on trial—the same one that he and Kihto had recited a year earlier. The room was deathly quiet.

“Nitasi, can you justify your recent actions to the council?”

Nitasi was stunned. He stammered, “I - I - I’m sorry, honored one, but I know not of what you speak.” He had barely remembered to use the formal speech one used with the council. He snuck a glance at Kihto to see if he could get a hint. Kihto would not return his glance. He glanced back at the council and all the members turned away as he tried to meet their eyes. Every one, except, for Nitalocha.

“Isn’t it true that you have continued to use your bow? Isn’t it true that you have continued to follow the hunters?”

“Yes, honored one,” he muttered. He could still not figure out where this was headed. Kihto started to snigger.

Nitalocha’s face broke into a broad smile. “Nitasi, the council has decreed that you should have the opportunity to become a hunter.” Nitasi looked baffled and the entire clan burst into laughter, especially Kihto, who was slapping him good-naturedly on the back. “This is a great honor for you, since it is a year before your time. You have shown this last year that you excel in your hunting skills. Your mentors and Innikihto have spoken to the council in your behalf. To become a hunter, you must travel into the wilderness to find your spirit guide. When you have found your guide, you may return to the village to be named. Once you have received your man name from the council, you will become a hunter. You will leave tomorrow morning.”

Coyote had visited more than just the witch this evening.

* * *

Nitasi left the village the next morning and began the steep climb to the Medicine Rock. For the next several days he would sit on the high outcropping of rock and meditate. He would build a fire and feed it with wood and Walking Medicine, but would not eat or drink until an animal spirit guide had chosen him. Once he had found his animal guide he would return to the village and the council would give name him. He would no longer be know as Nitasi, son of Nitalocha, but would have his own name’a man’s name. He could hardly control his excitement and was practically running up the narrow trail through the foothills. When he was halfway up the mountain, he realized that he had forgotten to ask about the witch’s prophecy.

* * *

On a ridge high above the village, Coyote was laughing…

* * *

Bear was threatening to eat Coyote. Bear thought that it was Coyote not the man-things that stole fire from the gods. Eagle was afraid of what might happen if Coyote and Bear fought, so he sent Crow to gather the gods. When Crow left, he built seven stone benches on a high cliff. The gods sat on the benches around a blazing bonfire. Eagle demanded peace among the gods and eventually they all agreed, even Bear and Coyote. The gods decided to live in harmony with the man-things as well. They divided the man-things and each god took a clan.

To this day Medicine Rock is used by Bear clan to seek the council of the gods. The God Council had only taken place once in Nitasi’s lifetime. When Nitasi was a child, the seven plains clans had met to discuss the war between the Elves and the Regency. The clans had always lived in peace with the Elves. Legend claims that long ago they were the same people, until the Elves forgot the ways of the old gods and were seduced by the nature goddess they worshipped now. The Elves of legend were a enlightened people, but the Elves had changed. They were now a dark and dangerous people that hated outsiders. The People feared the Elves, but learned that Elves would keep themselves to themselves if you let them. And then the new people—the people who called themselves the Regency—arrived. The People also feared the Regency, because they were a greedy and fearsome people. The People had a difficult problem. Both the Regency and the Elves wanted to make treaties with the People. If they made peace with the Elves, they made enemies with the Regency and vice versa. If they made peace with neither they made enemies with both.

The Bear clan council did not know what to do, so they sent the elders to the Medicine rock to council with the gods. It was decided that Bear clan would make peace with the Elves since they shared a border and the Regency was far away. The clans to the south chose to make peace with the Regency for the same reason. And so the tribe was split. Coyote stayed neutral.

Nitasi was out of breath when he arrived at Medicine Rock. He had been hiking for most of the day. The steep climb was made more difficult by fasting and failing twilight. He sat on the bench and breathed heavily until dark, then he rose and walked carefully to the cliff’s edge. On the edge of the cliff, it looked like the edge of the earth with the dark sky above him and the black plains stretching below him. The stars shone brightly above him, but it was a single star-like light that his eyes searched for—alone in the valley far below shone the star of Bear clan—home. He wondered if each of the other stars represented another hunter’s home. Although, he had been away from the village many times, he had never been alone. Finally, he sighed and returned to the fire pit.

Nitasi took some of the wood that was stockpiled near the pit and used it to build a bonfire. He wondered if his father or Kihto were gazing up at the light on Medicine Rock. Nitasi slipped out of his buckskin pants and tunic. He took out a small clay jar of mud and began to rub it in designs all over his body. He would go on his dream quest clad in nothing more than a loin cloth and mud. After he had covered his body in the ceremonial designs, Nitasi took out a pipe and a small leather pouch. The pouch was full of Walking Medicine. The Medicine would send him on him on his way to find his animal guide. Nitasi prepared the pipe and began to smoke…

* * *

The world was contracting quickly into the flames. Already he had seen the stars inhaled and swallowed by the fire. Outside of the flickering orange firelight was nothingness. Nitasi was on an island—he could feel the waves of oblivion crashing just outside the shrinking light. Out in the darkness, he could see the movement of void-beasts waiting to devour him, moving in and out of shadow. Waiting for a momentary lapse of consciousness, so they could pounce.

His island lurched sideways as he felt the storm surge of darkness wash over him. He tumbled in the warm undercurrents….

He came to the surface, gasping. In the deep currents of the night, he had been fleeing the rending claws of a horror. He was unsure what the horror was. Nitasi shivered. His vision wavered sickeningly with the fire.

Nitasi felt he was being watched. He looked up and noticed a large eagle sitting on a eagle sitting on a bench across the fire, watching him.

The eagle would be a good guide—it was strong and swift, a good hunter. He stammered hopefully, “A - A - Are you my guide?”

“No, Child. That honor belongs to another. We have merely come to see you.”

“We?” The shadows slipped away from his eyes. A different animal sat on each bench—Deer, Eagle, Rabbit, Crow, Serpent, and Coyote.

“Man-Child, we have come to watch your passage into manhood’and power,” Eagle said, and realization of the animal’s identity washed over Nitasi.

A dream quest was considered the most sacred experience and was rarely shared with others. Nitasi asked, “Great Spirits, do you always attend the dream quest?”

“We are here for all who seek us, but few do.”

The shifting shadows reminded Nitasi of the creatures that had pursued him. Another wave of realization hit him. “Where is Bear?”

Coyote winked and said, “Nearby.”

Eagle glared at Coyote. “Bear has always been with you. He already knows you are worthy of an animal guide. He did not need to be here. Seek carefully and you will find your guide. Now, we must go.”

“How will I know when I have found it?” Nitasi asked, but the gods stared back mutely. The fire flickered and the gods were gone.

Nitasi stared into the flames, trying to conjure the gods, until dawn.

* * *

Nitasi spent most of the day hiking down to the timberline to collect firewood. Most of the medicines effects had warn off, but it was strong medicine and his vision still shimmered occasionally. He watched every animal he encountered closely, but noticed nothing special about any of them.

* * *

Nitasi held the ceremonial torch. It was quite an honor to have been selected as the torch bearer. He held it proudly as he walked towards the village.

The path ran through a small meadow as it descended to the village. As he entered the meadow, he noticed a bush full of ripe red berries. He was hungry from his fast and the berries looked so good. He gauged the position of the setting sun. He had time. He had been moving quickly and would only eat a few. Nitasi set the torch against a rock and stepped toward the bush. He picked a berry and put it in his mouth. The berry was sweet and he was so hungry. Nitasi started to pick the berries and shove them greedily into his mouth with both hands.

He noticed another bush on the other side of the meadow with even bigger berries. Nitasi went to that bush and started devouring the berries from it as well. Berry juice was running out of the corners of his mouth, staining his dark skin. The greed and lust for the berries consumed him.

When he had eaten nearly all the berries, Nitasi noticed that it was starting to get dark. Suddenly he felt sick with horror. He would be late. He could not carry the torch in the ceremony covered in thick red berry ichor. He had a strange sense of deja vu. He glanced over at the torch. It was gone.

Nitasi read the tracks quickly and started after the thief. The tracks led away from the village into the deep forest. He ran swiftly to catch in pursuit. After several minutes of running he was starting to catch the thief—he could see the torch glimmering between the trees in the distance.

He ran wildly through the trees after the light. Nitasi hurtled into a small clearing just in time to see a withered gray figure scuttle out of the clearing with the torch. “Tskilu!” nitasi called, but she did not stop. He ran after her. At least, he thought, this will be a short chase. She can’t get far. But when Nitasi entered the forest, she was gone. He ran deeper and deeper into the forest, searching for tracks. Tskilu had vanished—and with her the torch of the gods. Nitasi sank to his knees in despair.

After several minutes, Nitasi felt something watching him. The forest was dark now and he had trouble seeing. He stood up and glared into the darkness. As he stood, the surface of the darkness rippled and waves of pale orange light flowed from him into the trees around him. In the distance, Nitasi could see many eyes starring back at him. He couldn’t tell if his eyes were adjusting to the pale light or if the light was strengthening with his attempts to see into the darkness. After a minute, he could see the dim form of a stag watching him suspiciously. Nitasi’s heart leapt. This was part of his dream quest. The fear and embarrassment left with the realization that there was no torch. The Walking medicine had made him imagine it. He would have to remember this dream and find its meaning, but now he concentrated on the stag. It was swift and graceful and proud. He could do much worst for a guide—Kihto’s was a hedgehog. The tribe never belittled anyone’s guide, but he knew that Kihto was more than a little disappointed. As he stepped toward the stag, it turned away as if it expected him to follow. Nitasi took another step forward, and the stag bolted away. He ran after it for a moment before he realized that the stag was fleeing him, not leading him. Nitasi’s chagrin deepened when he realized that all the animals were running. Nitasi took this personally. He felt that none of the animals in the forest would be his guide.

Nitasi stopped to breathe for a minute. The light that surrounded him—emanated from him’was growing. Around him, trees had began bursting into flame. Nitasi was relieved to realize that the animals were running from the fire, not him. Nitasi fled, trying to escape the wall of flame that surrounded him. Try as he might, he could not escape the fire. He changed directions often and once even tried to run through the flames in the direction he had come from. The flames would withdraw before him, but always left him surrounded by a ring of flame in the dark forest. The flames faded and died a few hundred feet in every direction. When he moved, the flames moved with him. When he stopped, they stopped also. Nitasi was the fire—another mystery of the dream quest.

* * *

Nitasi awoke the next morning, uncomfortably close to the bonfire. He walked over to the edge of Medicine Rock and stared into the abyss at the dim points of light. The morning cook fires of home.

Nitasi’s stomach growled. He thought wistfully of the berries in his dream. Again the feeling of deja vu rushed over him. He chuckled. He had been a fool not to recognize it. He had heard the story of the berries and torch from the time he was just a young cub. It was the story of how Coyote stole fire from Bear and gave it to the clans.

* * *

Thick ochre gasses clung to his essence as he willed himself across the expansive panorama. The hazy distorted landscape of men and elves rolled by below him. Jagged mountain peaks divided the forest from the grasslands. He could see into their world, but the opposite was not true. It had been ages since he was here. The mountains had softened, the rivers had cut deeper into the land and man had expanded his holdings.

Much had changed but the bald precipice below him was unchanged. The primitive tribes referred to this place as Medicine Rock. Karuk had fed here before, the barrier between worlds was worn thin here. In times past, the spirits would come here to commune with man. The barrier was weak as a result of the frequent exchange between planes.

His earlier encounter with the man-spirit was a disappointing reminder of how much his hunger had drained his powers. Few had escaped him in the past. Here before him was the wound between the worlds. It would be simply a matter of time.

Freedom was a commodity that had eluded him these many centuries. Now that he had been freed from his prison it was time to exact his revenge on those who imprisoned him. Here he would feed and regain his power.

* * *

A heavy mist embraced the village, diffusing the dim blue light of early dawn and casting a pallor over the buildings. The wind wailed between the houses. The air was filled with the banging of unsecured doors on their frames and the moaning of their rope-lash hinges. A murder of crows had descended on the village, seeking shelter from the wind. Every nook and cranny now sheltered the unearthly blackness of a crow.

Nitasi walked confidently out of the forest and toward the council house. As he approached, his clansmen gathered along the path’to welcome him Nitasi thought. It was not until he got to the square that he realized that something was wrong. His clansmen were shambling slowly behind him. He began to look into their faces, each one he knew and did not. Their faces were pale and reproachful, their eyes dull. Nitasi began to suspect another of their coyote tricks like the council meeting. He looked up and saw Kihto and his father at the door to the council house, flanked by the other council members. He smiled and headed toward them.

Nitalocha looked at Nitasi with dull obsidian crow eyes, filled with an anger and lust that caused Nitasi to stop dead in his tracks. His father’s face was ashen. Several deep gashes raked across his father’s chest. His clothes bulged oddly as they strained to hold Nitalocha together. Blood leaked from the seams of his clothes.

Kihto had a single slash that ran across his neck. His mouth was trying to work, but he was having difficulty speaking through his torn windpipe. He finally managed, “We were friend—” Behind him stood the council in their ceremonial garb, each one mauled in a more gory way than the others.

The clansmen were still staggering behind him. Some of them with missing limbs, or eyes. Some torn beyond recognition. Nitasi turned back to his father. “Who did this?” he demanded, shaking with rage. He could not tell. Was this the work of man or elf—or the dark revenge of Coyote? The wind died and the banging stopped. Nitasi was met with a sepulchral silence. The clan began to constrict around him tightly. Hands began clawing and his clothes and face.

On a ridge high above the village, Coyote was laughing…

* * *

Nitasi screamed in his sleep, and awoke covered in sweat. He was relieved to find himself still on Medicine Rock, to find that it was just a dream. He shuddered at the thought of what he had seen in last night’s dream quest. He wondered if this had something to do with Tskilu’s prophecy or if it was the effect of the double dose of walking medicine he had taken the night before.

Nitasi had become depressed about his search for his spirit guide and had become very hungry after three days of fasting. Not that three days was particularly long for a vision quest, but Kihto had returned on the second day’then again Kihto’s guide was a hedgehog. Nevertheless, Nitasi felt he was equally worthy. After all, hadn’t the gods them self came to great him? Nitasi was starting to take the delay as a slight. The gods were mocking him. Raising his hopes and now laughing as he struggled. Surely Coyote was behind this. The thought had strengthened his resolve. He would not let Coyote, that insolent trickster god, cow him. And so it was that Nitasi had doubled his dose of Walking Medicine.

This morning was a different story. Nitasi felt strangely confident and satisfied. Perhaps he had finally found peace with the fast. He walked to the edge of the cliff to gaze down at the early morning firelights in the village far below and saw that the village was burning….