The Wolf You Feed Arc (29 page)

Kachina, I’m terrified Erik might find out Tore is alive. You have to tell him never to come back. In your letter, you told me how Rune was desperate to track me down and find out about where he came from. I sent you a letter to pass to him but now beg you to throw it into the fire. Erik can never find out that Tore and my son are alive. I fear he would not rest until he killed them.

Please destroy my letters, and keep this secret from my son. I thank you once again for your kindness in telling me about Annike. My one great regret is that I will never be able to say goodbye to her. Thank you for taking the time to tell me about Rune. It has brought me such comfort. I’m so grateful to you and your husband for loving him so much.

Please continue to love and care for Tore and the boys. I am forever in your debt,

Nea.

They exchanged another letter each. Kachina sent more photos, including one of a beautiful inlaid box that Rune finished just before he left. Nea kept her letter light, but Kachina worried that this woman’s life at the commune was harsh and a far cry from what Tore had grown up with.

Kachina wrote back, giving Nea her telephone number and Hania’s address. She told Nea she’d be in Casper the following week and invited her to visit Annike’s grave. By the time Kachina and the children left for Hania’s, she hadn’t heard back from Nea.

27

Johan: July 1997.

Kachina stopped the rental car in front of Hania’s cabin. She loved this place, missed the four seasons and clean air. She leaped out of the car and threw her arms around her father. He hugged her back and called to his grandchildren.

“My, how you guys have grown. You were only ten when I last saw you, Johan. Now you’re almost a man.”

His grandson blushed. He didn’t think he was much of a man. His body was still gawky and skinny, not like Rune’s and Kjell’s.

Hania turned his attention to Eveline.

“Oh my goodness, Eva! How beautiful you are. You’re so like your mother.” Eva and Kachina both blushed.
 

Eva embraced her Grandfather. “I’ve grown too, I’m nine now.” He dropped her back on her feet so he could take a proper look.

“So you have. Goodness it’s been longer than I thought.”

Johan helped him carry the bags into the cabin. They sat out on the porch drinking lemonade. His mom wandered off to the backfield to visit Annike. Johan shoved his hands in his pockets and looked around Hania’s land. Man, it’s so nice here, he thought. He couldn’t get enough of the place. He felt like something drew him here. He wished they could come more often. There was so much to do, hiking with his grandfather, fishing down at the river, helping in the fields. He didn’t even notice Hania’s house was stuck in the Dark Ages, with no TV or stereo.
 

Johan looked at the distant mountains and wondered where his dad and brothers were now. They would meet them here in a few weeks, and Kjell would have some brilliant hunting stories, though he was sure both his brothers would exaggerate.

He sighed. Despite loving it here, Johan was annoyed at being excluded from the trip. He felt they were treating him like a kid, sending him with the girls. He poked around in the dirt, thinking how that had been happening a lot lately. He was beginning to believe they were hiding a big secret from him. He’d noticed their furtive looks and watched his brothers sneak off with his dad. Johan had even seen Uncle Liam caught up in a huddle with them.
 

It was not that Johan was jealous, heck, who was he kidding? Of course he was but he wasn’t a kid anymore, not like Eva. They could trust him with secrets and man talk.
 

Johan immediately felt guilty. He loved his sister, would do anything for her, but surely he should be included in the guy conversations too. Like his grandfather said, he was almost a man.

***

The next morning, Johan felt more content. The sun was shining, and he was excited to go hiking with Hania.

“You ready to leave?” Hania finished packing water and snacks into a backpack.

“Yes, sir.” Johan flung the bag onto his back and they set off.

As they walked, Hania entertained Johan with stories about growing up on the reservation.
 

“Did you have horses?” Johan found Hania’s life fascinating and loved plying him with questions.

“Well if you could call them that. They were more like mules, though. All the animals were for work or eating. We hunted with the dogs, and farmed chickens, pigs and goats.”

“What about injun stuff? Did you have a feathered headdress and everything?”

Hania laughed. “I see you need some lessons, young man. You’ve been watching too many cowboy films.”

Johan grinned back. “Can I go with you to your powwow next week?”

“Not this time. I have a boring council meeting, but I’ll have a word with your Mom, see if we can arrange something for the next one. I’ll take you to the village with me and show you around, introduce you to some of your relatives.”

“Just me though, not Eva?”

Hania clapped him on his shoulder, “Do you think Eva would want to go?”

Johan kicked dirt around with his foot, he’d like to go with just Hania, but Eva would hate to miss out. He sighed. “Will your warrior friends be there?”

“Warriors friends?” Hania asked.
 

“The ones from your stories?” Johan winked at his grandfather.

Hania chuckled, “Oh yes, I dare say we might see some of them if they aren’t busy chasing Banshees.”

Johan rolled his eyes and stifled a giggle. “Well, Eva would definitely want to come.”

Hania kissed him on the forehead, “Yes, I guess she would. In that case I’d better organize a trip for three.” Hania threw his arm around Johan’s shoulders and looked up at the sun. “Goodness, look at the time. It’s past noon, we’d better get back to your mother and sister. I bet they have a feast prepared for us.”

After they ate lunch, Johan helped his mom prepare cornmeal to make the mouth-watering Hopi flat breads. Next she taught him how to prepare the goat meat for dinner. Johan lapped it up. They rarely ate traditional foods like this back at home.
 

Hania sat with Eva at the kitchen table. He showed her how to braid leather thongs into bracelets. They added colorful glass and clay beads into the intricate patterns as they worked. As they created the traditional jewelry, Eva swung her legs back and forth.
 

“Grandpa tell me a story,” she pleaded.

 
Johan listened in, not wanting to miss out. Hania was a great storyteller and spent hours weaving these tales. They were brilliant fantasies with exciting adventures and epic battles. They always involved weird monsters and a group of brave Native American characters. They were so good that Johan thought his grandfather should write them down and publish a book.
 

The reason he liked them so much, was because Hania cast himself as one of the heroes and told the tales as if they were real. In his stories, Hania was a strong warrior with strange magical powers. He could take on the appearance of animals and used his disguises to save the world.
 

“Okay. Now that you mention it, I do have a new story.” Hania put down the beads and sat back, making himself comfortable, ready to tell his tale.
 

“Is there a new warrior?” Eva’s eyes twinkled with delight.

“Why yes there is. As you remember, Lars perished in the village in Mexico.”

“The one with the fearsome witch birds? La ch…ch…”

Hania patted his granddaughter’s hand, “La Lechuza. Yes that’s right. So now, the Black Walkers have found a new warrior. Of course, he is handsome and the youngest of them all. His name is Pilan.”

Johan smiled to himself. Eva craved every detail of each hero. It would be a while before Hania got to tell his tale. She would ask him all sorts of questions about what the hero looked like and what his skills were. Johan was amazed at all the background stories that Hania invented to answer Eva. When he’d finished with her questions, these characters always sounded like real people.

“Will this story be about the warriors fighting a den of Basilisk serpents?” Eva asked. It was one of her favorites. She loved how the Black Walkers defeated the Basilisk with a crowing rooster and the scent of a weasel.
 

“Oh no, this is a new story, they go to Greece to rescue a village from an army of Centaurs.”

Eva’s mouth hung open in anticipation. Johan leaned against the counter, his chores forgotten. Even Kachina pulled up a stool, leaving the rest of the cornmeal unground.
 

***

Later their grandfather took a nap. Johan sat with his sister and drew a picture of the creatures from Hania’s latest story. Eva advised him on how the Centaurs should look, telling him the exact shape of their cloven hoofs, the type of fur they had. Johan drew what she pictured. Eva then spent ages coloring it with crayons.

When the drawing was complete, Eva showed it to her grandfather. He sat her on his knee while she chatted about it. Johan stood in the doorway watching Hania as he listened. Eva described her reasoning behind the shape of the Centaurs’ horns and why she chose that exact color of blue for their hair. Hania asked questions and nodded in agreement as she rambled on.

After she finished, he praised the accuracy of the depictions. “Johan you are an amazing artist, and Eva your coloring is unbelievable.” Hania winked at Johan then looked back at his granddaughter, “You know. This one has definitely got to go in the gallery.”

Eva clapped her hands. “But Grandpa are you sure it’s good enough? You said only the best can hang there.”

Hania looked at the picture again. He got out his magnifying glass and peered at it for several minutes. “Yes, yes, this definitely has to go in. I think this is the most accurate picture so far.”

Eva beamed, “But what if the gallery gets full?”

“Hmm. We might have to look over some of the others and reassess them. Maybe there was one that was not as good as I first thought and we can remove it.”

Johan didn’t think Hania would ever remove any of the pictures. They’d hung on his bedroom walls as long as Johan could remember.
 

Hania took Eva out to his workshop and they made a frame and after supper, they hung it in his room.
 

***

A week later, Johan woke late and went in search of his family and breakfast. His mom was out on the porch, the phone to her ear. She was nodding and uh-huhing to someone on the other end. She held up a finger for him to wait. A few minutes later, she ended the call “Okay, I’ll see you then.”

“Was that Dad?”

Kachina shook her head. “No, it was Rune’s mom.”

Rune’s mom? Why was Rune’s mom chatting with Kachina on the phone he wondered, Johan racked his brains to see if he could ever remember anyone talking to her before.

“I…I thought we didn’t know where she was.”

“Well, we didn’t, but I got a letter from her a few weeks ago and it seems she lives about four hours away from here. Her name’s Nea and she was Annike’s best friend. She didn’t know that Annike had died. We wrote back and forth a few times.”

“Does Dad know? Or Rune?”

“No, just me and now you. She wants to come and see Annike’s grave. She is going to get here later this afternoon.”

“Will she stay to see Dad and Rune when they come?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Rune will be so upset, Mom. You have to persuade her to stay.”

“Look, Johan, Nea is risking a lot coming here. The people she lives with, they — I don’t know the details — but there is some sort of feud with your father. She’s married now and her husband and family would be angry if they knew,” Kachina said.

“So you need me and Eva to keep this secret?”

His mom nodded. “I know we don’t keep secrets, Johan, but this is important. We need to keep this from your father and Rune. Nea will be in danger if her family finds out.”

His dad must have done something bad to have Nea’s folks on his back
.
like…

The penny dropped. Did his dad get her pregnant! Maybe Rune was his real brother after all. How cool would that be? “Okay, Mom, I’ll explain to Eva. She’ll be on board.”