Winter Spirits (Work In Progress) by Forest Ostrander (best free ebook reader for android .TXT) 📕

A man walked out of the animal skin tent. His skin as red as the dust in a desert. Sitting down by the fire he began to feed more wood into the diminishing flames. The man was Swooping Crow, an Indian warrior of his tribe and a much respected one at that. Looking up at the sky with his milk chocolate eyes, he let out an ear piercing howl to the full moon above. Soon he was listening in to the quiet woods around him. An owl hooted in a tree above him before taking off into the night on an unknown journey. A few seconds passed when a lonesome howl answered in return, soon followed by another howl. The man smiled and watched in the direction the howls were coming from. It was his turn to meet up with the spirits of the land and ask them for good luck for his people and their hunts. A few tense moments later, the bushes on the other side of the fire began to rustle as two white wolves stepped out side by side. One had the brightest blue eyes while the other one had a blue and green eye. The wolves were somewhat close to the same height though the one with the brightest blue eyes was an inch taller than her sister. Both wolves sat on the other side of the fire looking down at the man. They were bigger than normal wolves and much more smarter as well. A normal human would think the man insane to not be frightened by the two huge wolves in front of him but not Swooping Crow. He has learned to accept these wolves and knew they would not harm him.

"Greetings wise ones," Swooping Crow said in a deep, baritone voice. The eldest sister nodded her head at him while her little sister sat there with a wag of her tail. Swooping Crow watched as a bright light encircled the two wolves only to vanish later leaving two human looking girls. The only difference that made them stand out was both of them retained their ears and tails. The eldest one stepped forward with her sister following close beside her.

"You have called?" The eldest asked. Both sisters eyed him with curious eyes.

"Yes. My people, they need advice and luck." The youngest spoke up this time, her voice was a lot lighter, showing her age through it.

"What do you need from us?"

"A strange man came to our village today. He is seeking the two white spirits. We need advice on what to do." The sisters looked at each other before turning back to Swooping Crow.

"Do not let him by," the eldest said. "He is not worthy of our presence." Swooping Crow nodded.

"Now what luck do you wish of us tonight?" The youngest said.

"My wife and my son. My wife is expecting. She is sick and is weak. My son has his first hunt tomorrow and needs the strength of the wolf to help him see his way." The eldest nodded and in a swift movement, pulled something out of thin air. The capsule looked to be nothing more than a leaf wrapped up in a tear drop shape. Reaching out his hand, Swooping Crow accepted the gift that was placed in his open palm.

"Boil the nectar from the flower within and you wife will be healthy and stronger. You baby will be blessed with an easy birth and will come out healthy." Swooping Crow smiled graciously. Stepping back to let her sister through, he watched as she leaned down in front of him. Her eyes were glistening with an unknown power as she reached her hand out and touched his neck. A white flash appeared and when she took her hand away, there, around his neck on a string, was a wooden pendent with a wolf paw in the middle. Leaning back up she said.

"Give you son the pendent and he will be able to learn the ways of the wolf on his hunts. It will only work one time so he must use it wisely. When he has made his first hunt and has fully learned the ways of a wolf, the pendent will disappear and return back to us." She stepped back next to her sister and they both once more were swallowed up by the bright light before it disappeared and they were once more in their wolf forms. Standing up, Swooping Crow bowed low to the two wolves before they disappeared and he headed back to his village.

 The man was standing in front of his mirror. He had found a relatively cheap hotel for a perfect price. He would only be needing the hotel for three weeks, enough time to hopefully get the story he was assigned to. Looking once more at his clean, shaven face. He marveled at his green eyes, so much like his mothers. He had the looks of his father with thick brown hair and blue eyes. His face was nicely proportioned and his teeth as straight as rail road tracks bleached white. He had one diamond earring in his left ear, another gift from his mother before her passing for his birthday. He was the ripe age of 20, fresh out of his teen years and just getting into the role of an adult. When the man straightened his tie around his neck, he checked out his new suit which was graciously offered to him by his boss. The black material made him look professional and he stood up straight, puffing out his chest. Turning off the light of the bathroom, he picked up the piece of paper on the night stand by his bed. He read his assignment over and wondered how he had managed to get assigned to this myth. He had read up on stories about the white spirits of Northern Woods and had never really believed any of it. He found it hard how two white wolves could possibly go through the woods without being spotted by a single soul or help people without really being there. He also did not believe in werewolves either. Sighing, he tucked the slip of paper into his front breast pocket and picked up his brief case from the dresser, making sure he had his room key tucked in his wallet he headed out to find the location of his informant.  Pushing the down button on the elevator he waited for it to arrive from the 17th floor. He unfortunately had a room on the 15th floor as the more expensive rooms were on the highest upper levels. That's where they kept all the condos for the highly rich and expensive people. He had the meek pay of a middle class man and could only afforded rooms under the price of 2,000 dollars. With a loud ding signaling that the elevator had arrived, the doors creaked as they rolled back on rusty wheels to allow the man in. Stepping into the metal box he pressed the ground floor and was about to hit the closed door button when a shout came from down the hallway. Stopping the half closed doors with his body he looked to notice a much younger looking man running down the hall. His hand held out as if he was trying to mentally stop the doors from fully closing. Reaching the elevator, the man stood aside to let the boy though before letting the doors close. Huffing and gasping for breath, the boy nodded his thanks to the man and offered his hand.

"My name is John. What's yours?" The man hesitated for a bit before taking up the hand shake.

"Josh. Josh Silverstream." The boy straightened up.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Silverstream," the boy said grinning.

"Nice to meet you to John. Tell me, how old are you?" Josh asked.

"I'm 19 turning 20 in a week," the boy said beaming as if that was something spectacular.

"Uh-huh, and where are your parents?" Josh asked.

"I'm not living with them anymore. But they are back in Oregon. I'm here to find a job and make something out of my life."

"I see. Well good luck with that kid. The real world is a whole lot harder then it seems."

"Oh I know sir. I'm well prepared for it. I got my masters degree in being a Forest Ranger."

"Ah. Well that is an excellent choice. I would have been one myself if I hadn't fallen in love with being a reporter."

"A reporter? What are you here to cover?" John asked.

"Some myth my boss has decided was important enough to investigate." Josh shrugged as if he could care less.

"About what?" John persisted.

"About some white spirit mumbo jumbo." The boy's face lit up.

"Ah! The Winter Spirits!" Josh looked at the boy in shock.

"You heard of it?" Josh asked. The boy nodded eagerly.

"Ya. In fact I know the man who has seen them before. His name is Swooping Crow. He says that they have the power to do everything, even change the weather. They even saved his wife from death and helped give him a beautiful baby girl." Josh was now looking at the boy with a new light to his eyes.

"So you believe they are real?"

"Well ya. Everyone here does. They are major legends in this part of the town. In fact, they are practically worshiped by the natives." Josh rubbed his chin. He was contemplating on asking the kid more questions but the elevator dinged and the doors squeaked open once more. Stepping out, the two men looked around the well polished lobby. Fake palm trees were almost in every corner with real and fake flowers mixed in. The ceiling produced an expensive glass chandelier with a magnificent gold coated ceiling with intricate swirls. Pictures on the wall displayed white wolves howling, playing or even a pack of them running. In the biggest picture of all stood a man in a portrait. The secretary told him when he first arrived that it was the owner of the hotel who is said to have been blessed by the Winter Spirits and healed from his cancer only to live to the ripe old age of 100 before slipping away in his sleep.

"Well, I guess this is where we part." Josh was snapped back into reality as John spoke.

"I guess but can I ask you a question kid?"

"Sure," John said turning around. "What is it?"

"Where do I find this Swooping Crow man as you call him?"

"He is in the least occupied part of the town, deep in the woods. You will have to take a jeep to reach his village but I should warn you. Unless you have been blessed with a white lily, there is highly no chance he will see you."

"A White lily?" Josh asked confused. John nodded.

"He said that he will only see the man destined to find the Winter Spirits if he has a white lily. And you can only get those if you are blessed by the Winter Spirits themselves." Josh groaned. There goes his story.

"How does one