CHAPTER FOUR WOUNDED KNEE #3
Greyeagle shook his head. This was Kade, but he’d gone so far beyond where he’d been when they were boys. Kade was a zealot, and Greyeagle doubted there was any way to bring him back.
“How is it you’re alive?” asked Greyeagle.
“Well, you see,” Kade replied, “Grandfather taught me more than he did you. He thought he was losing me, so he told me of the Great Ghost Dance. He also told me stories of the Hotamétaneo’o.
He hoped I would see the true path and follow it.
But he wasn’t really teaching us the true path. He was teaching us his path.”
“The way of the Hotamétaneo’o is the true path,” Greyeagle said.
“No, it is A path,” countered Kade. “Not the only path.”
“What did you do?” asked Greyeagle.
“I learned the songs and the dance,” Kade said.
“I also learned of the Makhótaneo’o. Then, I went into the woods alone and sang the ancient songs.
I danced the Ghost Dance, but it was not the spirit of the wolf who heard my cries.
It was something older. Something stronger.
A path that our people turned away from long ago.
A path that might have saved us from all of this. ”
Kade gestured around at the graves surrounding them.
“The path of the Makhótaneo’o,” Kade finished. “Our people weren’t meant to lick the boots of the white man. They were meant to rule the plains. To hunt the buffalo. To live in the old ways. To teach our children that this is OUR land.”
“So, you received a vision when you danced,” Greyeagle said. “Did you not question it? Did you not feel the darkness of the thing that answered you?”
“I did,” Kade said, “and it matched the darkness within me. It promised to give me the strength to fight back. The strength to reclaim what was once ours. And soon, we’ll do just that.”
“So, you were already Makhótaneo’o then,” Greyeagle said. “You do realize that the Makhótaneo’o are just a perversion of the Hotamétaneo’o.”
“No, brother,” said Kade. “You’re wrong.
The Makhótaneo’o came first. Yours is the abomination.
The corrupted path. Mine is pure and strong.
Yours is weaker. Diluted from the true path.
You protect the weak. We control them. And that’s what our people need.
A strong leader to unite them. Don’t you dare tell me that Sitting Bull wasn’t like me.
He fought against the invaders. He shed his blood and the blood of our people, trying to force them back. ”
“He also saw the need to stop the killing,” Greyeagle replied.
“He knew that if our people were to survive, we must not take up arms against an enemy we can’t hope to defeat.
Our people were scattered, starving, and lost. He gave us a chance to live by surrendering.
He knew that continued war would only lead to our annihilation as a people. ”
Kade frowned.
“He surrendered because there weren’t enough of us left to take the fight to the cavalry,” Kade countered. “He surrendered to buy us time to grow strong again.”
“Brother,” Greyeagle said sadly. “You studied the same lessons as I did. How can you be so blind to the reality of it? Even now, if we combined our packs, we couldn’t hope to defeat the US Government.
There are teams out there who specialize in eliminating threats like us.
They kill the Oolonga-Doglalla, the Gugwe, the Wendigo, and the Genoskwa.
And there are far more of them than there are of us. You have to see that.”
“You lie,” Kade said. “There are no such teams.”
“They’re called The Wild Hunt,” Greyeagle replied. “And yes, they do exist. I was part of one of them called Team Odin. We hunted creatures all over the world. Not just here. They can and will stop you.”
“They can try,” Kade said darkly.
“They’ll succeed,” Greyeagle said. “That’s what they do.”
“My pack is strong,” Kade said defiantly.
“I don’t doubt that, brother,” Greyeagle said, “but they can bring the entire might of the US Military against you. No pack can stand against that.”
“If our father were here, he’d agree with me,” Kade snapped.
“He is,” Greyeagle replied. “He’s alive.”
“That’s not possible,” Kade snarled.
“That’s what we thought about you, too,” Greyeagle said.
“Where was he all this time?” demanded Kade.
“They weren’t killed by a drunk driver,” Greyeagle said. “Grandfather told us that because he thought it would be easier on us. They were both Hotamétaneo’o. They fell to darkness and became Oolonga-Doglalla. We found them near Eminence, Missouri. They were both alive.”
“Where’s mom?” snarled Kade.
Greyeagle could see Kade’s control was slipping.
“She fought through the darkness for a brief time,” explained Greyeagle. “For a few minutes, he was herself again. But she couldn’t hold it. She begged grandfather to release her while she was still herself. Reluctantly, he did as she asked. She died Hotamétaneo’o.”
Kade turned and slammed his fist into a stone monument, cracking the stone and the bones in his hand. He winced and flexed his hand. Greyeagle heard his bones crack back into place almost instantly.
“And dad?” asked Kade, suddenly calm again.
“I thought he’d fallen back to the darkness,” Greyeagle said. “But he found me, months later. He had fought his way back, although it still has a hold on him. He’s getting better, but he’s got a long way to go.”
“He won’t have to fight it if he joins me,” Kade said. “The power of the Oolonga-Doglalla is nothing compared to the Makhótaneo’o. I can free him.”
“Come back with me, brother,” Greyeagle said. “If there’s hope for him, there’s hope for you.”
“No, brother,” Kade said. “You waste your time. You see, with the Oolonga-Doglalla, there is no control. Anyone would want to fight their way out of that prison. I chose this, and I’ve never felt more free.”
“But you’re not free,” Greyeagle said. “You’re a slave to this new power.”
“Aren’t you?” asked Kade. “If I asked you to join me, could you give it up?”
“If it brought you home, yes,” Greyeagle said.
Kade took a step back, stunned.
“I could always tell when you were lying,” Kade said softly. “And you meant that.”
“I did,” Greyeagle replied.
Kade stood there for a moment before speaking.
“No,” he said, finally. “This is too important. I won’t walk away from this. This is how our people will be free.”
“Free or simply under your rule?” asked Greyeagle.
“That’s the nature of things, brother,” Kade said. “Someone has to be in charge. If not me, then who? Some random chief who isn’t even willing to fight for our people? I don’t think so.”
“I won’t join you,” Greyeagle said.
“Then you’re a fool,” Kade said, anger rising in his voice.
Before Greyeagle could even register the movement, Kade struck him in the face.
He felt the sensation of flying through the air, then striking something hard.
He tried to call upon Old Wolf, but darkness was already taking him.
The last thing he saw was Kade leaning over him as he shifted into a massive beast, like nothing Greyeagle had ever seen.