Star People Legacy by Smith, T.L. (feel good books to read .txt) 📕

seemed important for me to face alone. It confused me. I’d already agreed to do this. “Please ask me, Mother.”

She nodded. “We have been of this world for thousands of years, sharing mortal bodies and mortal lives. The only release from this world is battle with a Maxa’xak. Some Ci’inkwia may give so much of their energy to destroy our enemy, that their Spirit is too diminished to remain. Yet they may want to, if they have attached to a mortal.”

My mother glanced to the star glittering in the south. The distant star flashed a little brighter. “Before every battle the Ci’inkwia must make the conscious choice, should this be their time.”

A sound drew my eyes away from the star, away from the humming. The elevator doors opened and my father stepped out, followed by Casey. They had dressed him in little more than a breechcloth. I resisted laughing as he realized the roof was packed with people and he was almost naked. He dropped his hands down over the breechcloth.

CHAPTER

23

Casey stood silhouetted in the rising moon. He saw me and started to take a step towards me, but my brothers seized him. Casey tensed, but didn’t fight them, instead glanced back at my father, who only nodded.

“Din’ah.” My mother’s voice called my attention back to her. “We are the children of the Great Father, of the Great Mother. We came from the stars to defend the people of this world from the Maxa’xak. We will face one of their kind soon in battle.” Her eyes glistened. “As the Ci’in, it is your task to vanquish this Maxa’xak. If it is the last, our people will be free. All Ci’inkwia Unbound will be free to return to our home.” Her arm drifted to the south star.

“Those who are Bound will live out their lives with their mortal mates. If this is truly the last Maxa’xak, all Unbound Ci’inkwia will leave this world.”

She repeated herself, slowly. I heard what she said, but it didn’t register. My Spirit showed me nothing. My eyes drifted to the flickering southern star, feeling a deep yearning to reach out to it. I looked to the first circle of dancers. Men and women mixed together. All Ci’inkwia. Dressed like my brothers, like my parents.

Behind them were the tribes we protected, the tribes we pretended to belong to. Stephanie and Olivia stood there, and their children. Married to Daniel and Frankie. Chucky’s wife was here too, looking very pregnant. They were Navajo, but all my nieces and nephews looked like their fathers, like the Ci’inkwia. I never noticed that before.

An uneasiness crept into the calmness the earlier ritual had created. I looked to Casey. His expression looked odd, pained. What was he afraid of?

Suddenly I knew. I felt it as strongly as I felt the pull of that southern star. I had to choose. I had to choose now! “You are asking if I want to be married. If I know what will happen if I’m not when I face the enemy and kill him.”

My mother nodded. “If you vanquish him, your Unbound Spirit will be released from the burden placed upon us. If he is the last of our enemy, all Unbound Ci’inkwia will be released.”

I swung my head around to meet Casey’s eyes again. “I’ve already given my promise to Casey. He is the man my heart is already… Bound to.”

His fear disappeared and my mother gave a soft sigh. Her eyes glistened just a little lighter, just a little more of the woman I knew. She raised her arms to the sky, lifting her robe of feathers. “This woman choses to be Bound to an earth Spirit and live out a mortal life. They must be Bound now.”

“Now?” I twisted around as my brothers tied a rope around Casey’s waist. “What’s happening?” I got no answer from my mother, or my Spirit, but the circle of Ci’inkwia shifted. All the men stepped forward into a tighter circle as my father took the rope and pulled Casey into that circle.

I felt the brush of feathers as my mother was on her feet, stepping past me. She went to Casey, facing him, staring into his eyes. “Din’ah is to be the Ci’in. Only a mortal man of pure Spirit can marry one such as Din’ah, and survive when she comes into her full power. You are of pure Spirit. Are you pure enough of heart to be Bound to one of our kind? Strong enough to hold her to your world?”

Casey bowed his head to my mother. “My heart has always been Bound to Din’ah. It always will be and I will stand with her, as herself or as the Ci’in, in this and all challenges. I will stand with her and protect her until my own death.”

“You must face the tribe, who will test your claim upon Din’ah.” She stepped out of the circle and the song changed, to one of challenge. Each man withdrew an arrow from their quivers. I wanted to protest, but my Spirit prevented me from moving.

I was forced to watch as the men turned ferocious, screaming war cries as they lunged at Casey, jabbing him with their arrows. They drew blood, daring him to flinch, daring him to run. I suspected the worst of what would happen if he failed, but I knew my man. He didn’t run from anything. He wouldn’t run now.

Still, tears edged out as blood ran down his body. I could see his pain, even feel it, but he stood his ground until the song ended and the men withdrew. Casey looked ready to collapse. My heart ached for him, pounding hard in my chest. There were places where arteries ran close enough to the surface to be accidently nicked. Casey could bleed out and I was frozen in place.

Mother took the rope and the women stepped forward. They held long white feathers. I half-expected them to drive the quills into his flesh, but