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“Come,” she patted my arm and then led me out the backdoor. There was a huge tent sitting in the middle of the desert. She pulled me, her eyes penetrating.
“You are to breathe in deeply. Slow, deep breaths. Your demons ride along with you and we must clear you if you are to fight this evil.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You will,” she stated, shoving me into the tent.
When we entered I was greeted by a cloud of smoke and three other men sat in a circle, chanting. It was a Native American sweat box and I was about to fight off my so-called demons.
15
SPECTRE
Iwas in that tent for days, sweating it out and hallucinating shit I never wanted to see in my life again. All except for one thing. A vision of my wife and daughter had appeared and, in that vision, I’d seen them laugh and dance. My wife took my hands and told me it was alright. It was alright for me to let go. That she wanted me to find happiness on my own terms.
The feelings had overwhelmed me and I cried for hours, maybe longer.
Elara wasn’t joking when she said I had demons. They danced around me, torturing me, laughing at me. Hatred, anger, guilt all lingered as I screamed and fought them out. The men around me only chanted harder as they too saw them.
By the time I stepped out of the tent I was exhausted, and I fell right outside the entrance. I was out for two whole days and when I woke up, I was being tended to by Elara.
“I thought you’d sleep longer,” she placed a cold tower to my head. As I sat up the world began to spin, and she pushed me back down into the pillows.
“Shhh, stay still, a while. What you just did isn’t something for the light-hearted.”
“What happened?” The entire scene was a vague smokescreen, and only glimpses of it came through.
“You did good, Bastard. Real good.” I looked over at the door at the Native American man standing by the foot of the bed. He was at least seven feet tall, his headdress was decorated in bird feathers and golden and blue threads. He was much older than Elara, at least two decades older, and wiser too, you could see it in his eyes. Perhaps he was her father.
“You were there?”
He nodded. “You fight a good fight. You’ll do well.”
We gave each other a nod of understanding and he left me with Elara. “I need to get to Raven.”
“Yes, I know. But you need your strength for what’s to come.”
“How can I protect her?”
“There’s one thing we can do. But you have to be sure about this.”
“What is it?”
She stood up and disappeared through the doorway. The room continued to spin as I waited for her to return. When she did, she was carrying a delicate gold thread which she placed in my hands.
“Bind her to you.”
I looked up at the older woman, her eyes offering warmth.
“I can’t do that to her. She’s been enslaved for years.”
“Then give her the option, either way, with this you will be able to protect each other. Without it, you're each on your own.”
“What do I do with it?” I held it up to the window, and it glinted in the sun.
“Take a lock of your hair and entwine it with hers. Say the words I give you, and your souls will be binded. She’s to wear the thread until the full moon and then the spell will be fulfilled.”
“You realize I have no idea what I’m doing?”
