Tainted Mountain Read online

  Heather disappeared down the back side of the building, following Alex.

  “But a bunch of other people went that way.”

  He stared at her. “Only Hopi are allowed. The next dance will start pretty soon. You can go down and look at the art or try the piki bread.”

  “Sure. Thanks”

  She felt the man’s painted black eyes on her as she sauntered toward the displays. She had to grab Heather before the girl got into trouble, get her to come back to town with her, and keep away from knife-wielding Alex. But Nora couldn’t just traipse off anywhere she wanted. Obviously, a white woman wandering by herself over the mesa spelled trouble.

  The mud-caked man watched her. Many of the spectators had disappeared, and those left in the plaza visited with each other. Nora acted as if she intended to wait for the next dance.

  She glanced behind her. The alley was empty. Wherever the audience went, they weren’t loitering there. She looked back to the center of the plaza, her muddy guardian now nowhere in sight. What to do? The rez was foreign territory—a misstep could get her into trouble and not help Heather.

  But Big Elk shouldn’t be here. Whatever he had planned might involve more explosions. Nora stepped out of the shade into the alley.

  A hand clasped her arm, squeezing her heart into her throat. Expecting Alex or another of Big Elk’s foot soldiers to drag her off and dismember her, Nora threw herself out of the grasp.

  “Come on,” someone hissed into her ear, “we’ve got to stop Big Elk.”

  Heather! Nora sucked in a breath. “Are you okay? Where’s Alex?”

  Heather pulled in a breath and straightened. She arranged her face into a calm mask. “I’m fine. You didn’t need to come rescue me, but since you’re here you can help. ”

  “How did you know I was here?”

  Heather gave her an “oh, please” look. “You don’t stand out at all.”

  Nice. “Let’s get out of here before someone decides to kill me.”

  “We can’t go. We have to save the dance.”

  Teenagers and their distorted sense of priorities. Big Elk plotting murder constituted a crisis, and Alex attacking Heather reeked of disaster; one ruined dance performance didn’t really matter. “It’s just a dance.”

  Heather glared at her. “You don’t get it. Nothing is ‘just’ anything up here. Follow me.”

  “There will be other dances,” Nora said, keeping close to Heather’s back as they walked.

  “Maybe there won’t be any more. Maybe this is the last test and we fail.”

  “What makes you think this is a failure?”

  “Big Elk. The guys need to be in their kivas doing whatever they do, and he’s got them listening to his stupid shit instead.”

  “Kivas? What do they do?”

  They wove between a rusty Ford pickup and a newer compact car. Heather said, “Every clan has a kiva they get into by a ladder through the roof. It represents the way people climbed from the Third Word to this one. I don’t know what they do in the kivas. Each clan does their own secret ceremonies. And now they aren’t doing it because of stupid Big Elk.”

  A young woman walked by with a baby on her hip. She nodded to Heather.

  They rounded a corner and Nora saw the backs of three or four young men, Alex among them. Big Elk spoke, his face red.

  Big Elk was nothing but a poseur out trying to stir up trouble to make himself important. As much as she’d like to charge into the center of the circle and wring his neck, her coward’s heart balked. Nora pulled back, trying to slow Heather. “What do you want me to do?”

  “I don’t know. I saw you ram Poppy’s car to prove a point. I thought you’d come up with something.”

  Nora felt her face flush in embarrassment. “That wasn’t one of my best moments.”

  “We’ve got to do something. You think Alex can hurt me, but Big Elk can hurt everyone.” Heather took Nora’s hand and dragged her forward.

  Bad idea, bad idea, her brain screamed. “Let’s just … ”

  “Hey!” Heather yelled.

  Clever plan, Heather.

  Big Elk barely glanced up. His eyes flitted over Heather and lowered to the men, his mouth never ceasing the sales pitch. “The way to power is wealth. White people with money crave the spirituality and connection of the Hopi. They’ll buy a kachina doll or pottery in hopes some of your wisdom will rub off. I’m telling you we can give them what they want and help the tribe at the same time.”

  But a few lines later, his gaze found Nora and his lips stopped moving. He straightened. The men in his circle turned to see what distracted him. Alex stiffened like a dog with raised hackles.

  “Well, well.” Big Elk swaggered past his posse to stand in front of Nora. “It’s not enough you desecrate the sacred peak, you have to bring your vileness to the mesas?”

  Heather shook her hair back. “I brought her here so she can understand the Hopi way. You’re the one destroying the ceremony.”

  Big Elk raised his eyebrows. “Miss McCreary, Uranium Princess. Maybe you look Hopi, but we all know you’re your daddy’s little pawn. You want to rape this land and disrupt the balance.”

  The exchange drew a group of women. Except for the four young men with Big Elk, the other dancers must have gone in their kivas. These young men looked like a pack of hungry wolves waiting for their Alpha to turn them loose.

  “I belong here,” Heather said with a touch of defensiveness.

  Big Elk turned to Alex. “What do you think? How dedicated is she to our cause?”

  Alex’s face looked as hard as his fingers around Nora’s neck, his voice as sharp as the knife that sliced her ankle. “I’ll take her back to Flagstaff.”

  “You want me to leave?” Heather’s eyes couldn’t hide the betrayal she felt.

  Alex looked at Big Elk, waiting instruction.

  Heather scowled at Big Elk. “The Hopi way is not one of in-

  hospitality.”

  “How would you know the Hopi way?” Big Elk spat out. He jutted his chin toward Nora. “You’re smoking the peace pipe with the enemy, babe.”

  “Nora is not the enemy,” Heather said.

  Big Elk shifted his malevolent force on Nora. “You killed your husband on sacred ground and the kachinas are punishing you. She’s here to bring discord to the peaceful dance of the Hopi,” Big Elk said, revving the angry men around him like race cars at the starting line.

  Nora hoped her words wouldn’t stick in the dry desert of her throat. “Big Elk has been desecrating the sacred peak himself.”

  “Enough talk,” Big Elk said.

  The young men crowded behind him.

  Nora heard a quiver in her voice. “The kachinas weren’t up there last night ‘bringing fire to the mountain.’ Big Elk manufactured the whole thing with some explosives and a couple of old white people.”

  Confidence oozed from Big Elk like blood from a tick. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “You made a good living by pretending. Why not tell them your real name, Ernie.”

  Big Elk stepped closer to Alex. “Don’t listen to her. She’s a deceitful pahana.”

  Her hands shook and her stomach churned, but Nora forged on. “Big Elk doesn’t know about Hopi or respect for your land. Before he became Big Elk, champion of indigenous people, he was Ernie Finklestein, robber of the helpless.”

  Heather made a fist. “I knew it!”

  Big Elk turned on Heather. “Go back to your white mansion. You have no business here.”

  Alex’s face roiled with anger like a thunderstorm about to break loose.

  Nora pointed at Big Elk. “He’s importing fake Native American art that he plans to sell to line his pockets and ruin your people’s reputation. Talk about angering the kachinas.”

  “I gave you a cha
nce to walk away. Now it’s too late.” Destruction flashed in Big Elk’s eyes.

  The mud-caked clown who had accosted her in the plaza pushed his way from behind Alex. “What are you even doing here?”

  “She’s disrupting the dance! Spreading lies and discontent!” Big Elk said.

  Heather sounded like a volatile teenager. “He’s the bad one! The kachinas won’t like what he’s doing.”

  Big Elk directed Alex. “Get her out of here or I will.”

  Heather folded her arms. “I’m staying.”

  “Do it,” Big Elk said.

  “All right.” The clown held up his hands in a calming gesture. “Let’s settle down.” He pointed to Heather. “She’s from a powerful clan and has a right to be here.” His gaze swung to Alex and the other young men. “I see some of you are Hopi. Go to your kivas.” He addressed the others, including Big Elk. “The rest of you are from other tribes. You’re welcome to observe the dance. But please stay in the plaza. This area is reserved for Hopi only.”

  He turned to Heather. “Sikyatsi, I’m glad to see you.” His gaze held affection, then he shifted gears to business. “You’re welcome here, but bringing her”—he nodded in Nora’s direction—“wasn’t a good idea. She should go now.”

  Gladly. With relief, Nora took a step backward.

  Heather didn’t move. “She’s not leaving until he does.” She pointed at Big Elk. “He shouldn’t be here.”

  The clown sighed. “He’s helping us to save our sacred mountain.”

  “He’s ruining the dance and messing up the balance.” She might as well have been stomping her feet and crying.

  Since Heather wouldn’t allow them to get away while they could, Nora added, “And he’s using Hopi beliefs to manipulate you.”

  Big Elk’s face turned redder than his usual sunburn. He looked over the clown’s head to the young men behind. “We can’t let this evil pahana destroy Hopi. Where will the kachinas live when the mountain is clear cut for skiing and water is pulled from the veins of the Mother and She is trampled on by white men’s skis?”

  When had the crowd multiplied? Where there had been four young men and some curious spectators, now what seemed like a large group of Native Americans glared at her.

  “Everyone calm down,” the clown said again, but his voice disappeared in Big Elk’s bellow.

  “Our ancestors didn’t allow the pahana priests to destroy our way of life. In this time, when the Fourth World hangs in the balance, we need to have the courage of our grandfathers.”

  The clown held his hand up to silence Big Elk. “Hopi people value a humble life, self-respect, respect for others, compassion, integrity, self-control.” He inhaled. “We are not activists in the white man’s way. We protect the world by carrying out our clan responsibilities.”

  Nora took hold of Heather’s arm. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Heather pulled loose. “I’m not going.” She raised her voice. “I belong here, and I won’t let Big Elk ruin it.”

  Big Elk’s shout rose above the mesa. “Lies from the rich white girl! This was foretold in prophecy—it’s our duty to stop you.”

  “Now, Heather!” Nora said.

  Any attempt at calm was drowned in Big Elk’s ranting. Of course the people listened to Big Elk. In their eyes, the money-chasing whites—that would be Nora and Heather—had set out to destroy their sacred lands. They had lived and worshipped here for over a thousand years. The courts wouldn’t listen, the governments wouldn’t listen. Now frustration built to the breaking point.

  Add a dance that was deeply rooted in religious significance, being on their own ground with their own people, and a talented instigator, and this combination could lead people to forget their normal sensibilities, embrace the mob mentality and …

  Big Elk continued to stir the pot. “We need to take extraordinary steps, like our grandfathers did when the white priests tried to ruin Hopi with their baptism. If we don’t, it will be like the time of Lololama, when they took our children to their white schools and tried to wipe us out. But we won’t let them this time.”

  Nora grabbed Heather’s arm and tried to run.

  Heather fought her. “We’re responsible for the balance of the world. I can’t let this bastard ruin it all!”

  Alex lurched forward and grabbed Heather around the waist. He jerked her backward, pulling her into himself and off her feet.

  Heather’s arm was wrenched from Nora’s grasp. “Heather!”

  Alex backed into the growing crowd. They closed ranks and Heather disappeared. Two of the young men moved with purpose toward Nora.

  Twenty-Nine

  “You shit!” Though Nora couldn’t see Heather, there was no mistaking the fury in her voice.

  Nora lunged after Heather only to face a wall of thugs. No way could she get through them. Rescuing Heather became impossible. Rescuing herself was up for grabs as well.

  “You disrupted our sacred ceremony and brought evil to the mesa.” Big Elk’s words diced the air like a razor through flesh.

  One young man pulled back like a ball in a pinball machine, ready to fly forward, grab Nora by the neck, and draw her into the pack to be torn limb from limb.

  She spun away before he could spring.

  Nora wove through the cars and bumped startled women, certain she outpaced the younger, stronger men by only a few steps.

  She raced to the path, dodging rocks and pits, praying she didn’t slide off the side of the steep slope. Her legs stretched and she felt the impact of each footfall up her back. Her blood pounded: faster, faster.

  Shouts melted into a roar. Even though she ran past the vendors and crafts booths, no one tried to stop her. Nora dashed forward, not knowing where she headed.

  Pot holes and ragged concrete made the road treacherous, and she concentrated on each step to keep from crashing into the dirt. She dared not slow enough to look behind her, but she heard feet pounding and heavy breathing. Any moment a hand would slam on her shoulder, grab her shirt, drag her to the ground.

  Then what? They’d take her to the mesa ledge and toss her over to dash on the rocks below. Maybe Hopi believed in peace and hospitality, but some of Big Elk’s guys belonged to less friendly tribes. Her shattered death would bookend Scott’s.

  Nora turned off the main road onto a path that narrowed into an alley between two stone houses. This part of the village looked as if it had grown from the desert of its own volition. Ancient, crumbling; ashes to ashes, dust to dust. No one here would help her. Nora’s last moments on this Earth would be spent running for her life.

  The dirt path of the alley T-boned and Nora ran to the right. The houses crumbled away until there was only a low wall on either side. The last turn proved to be a fatal mistake.

  The walls ended. Nothingness lay beyond them. Nothing except the edge of the mesa … and death. She faced the same fate as those priests four hundred years ago. Broken and bleeding under a culture they didn’t understand.

  She ran on parallel to the edge, hoping to see a path down the side of the mesa. The sheer cliff wall dropped impossibly far to rocks below. Like a cornered dog, she turned to face her enemy. Panting and frantic, Nora could do nothing but watch them approach.

  Two young men stopped about fifteen feet away. The taller one squinted at her. “Now where’re you gonna go?”

  The other one, sweat dripping through the dust on his chest, said, “She’s goin’ down.”

  “You insulted our Mother.”

  They walked toward her. “You shouldn’t have messed with our peak.”

  They blocked all paths of retreat. The mesa formed a point and she stood at its apex, nowhere to go but the rocks below. “This isn’t the sixteen hundreds. You guys will ruin your lives if you kill me.”

  The tall one shrugged. “If we let you make snow, our kachinas will turn th
eir backs on us. Then the lives of all the people will be ruined.”

  The sweaty one took two quick steps, his arms up, ready to push her.

  Nora swung to the side and he missed, losing his balance. He didn’t go down, but humiliation burned in his face. He let out a growl and lunged for her again.

  Nora sidestepped, but he wasn’t fooled again. The man crouched like a football linebacker and moved with her. His hands connected with her shoulders.

  She couldn’t scream. Could only understand that her life was over. Her body anticipated free fall. The painful crush of pointed rocks. Blood, broken, death.

  But she didn’t fall backward. Strong, small hands on her back held her upright.

  The man in front of her staggered backward himself, as if she had shoved him instead of the other way around.

  The little kachina salesman stepped from around her. He glared at the two younger men and spoke in a quiet voice. His Hopi words carried an obvious message of shame.

  They paled. Stepped back. Lowered their eyes.

  The little man barely moved his head but he made eye contact with Nora and, in a gesture so slight she wasn’t sure he did anything, he indicated she needed to follow him.

  Dizzy at the prospect of escape, Nora struggled to keep up with the man’s sure-footed gait, especially since she kept turning around to see if the men chased them.

  This little man must be a revered elder to have such an impact on the thugs. Maybe he could make Alex let Heather go.

  The kachina man trotted around the last corner and pointed to Heather’s RAV4. Alex must have driven Heather out here using her car after the lava tube explosion near the ski resort.

  Heather paced in front, looking the opposite direction. Like warm honey, relief spread through Nora.

  He nodded in dismissal.

  Nora bowed her head, not sure how to express gratitude to him. “Thank you.”

  He nodded again.

  “What did you say to them?” she asked.

  He spoke slowly, his words halting. “I said this is not the Hopi way, to harm people. We are a people of peace.”