she will understand it fully." He said, while waving his hand over
the fire, that seem to dance around every finger, without burning
him.
Red Moon; why did he call her that. My grandmothers name
is Lana, not Red Moon. I remember hearing a story as a kid about
the red moon.
All of a sudden I was dazed and confused again,
as the questions came rushing back to me. What in the world is
going on. Why is my grandparents here? I thought they were
gone.
Why was my grandmother being called Red Moon. Why
would these men call her that with my dad sitting right there; who
by the way said absolutely nothing.
"Mia; Tucker." Dad called as the elders and uncle Tom
disappeared through the shadows of the tall grass and shrubs that
crowded my uncle's yard.
"Dad?" I said still confused. He put his hand up stopping me
before I was able to say anything.
"I'll see you both soon, but for
now you two will go with your grandparents. Learn as much as
you can in those three days; show these men that you are capable
of holding the powers that have chosen you both." Dad said very
seriously; Then he turned and walked away slowly disappearing
into the darkness of the night as well.
Although I sat there confused and scared, I felt safe with my
grandparents and Tucker there with me.
"Mia, Tucker come with
us, we have a lot to do." She said quickly standing up. Grandpa
walked over toward the fire, and with a wave of his hand the fire
went out, leaving it as nothing more than smoldering wood and
smoke. I blinked in total disbelief.
How did he do that?
I thought
unable to take my eyes off the smothered fire pit.
"Grandma, I don't understand what is happening." I said, as
she and grandpa led Tucker and I down a tight small trail into the
forest. "In time my Mia, in time. Right now we need to get you both
to the camp. The moon should be out soon, so at least these bad
eyes of mine will be able to see the path." She chuckled. "Let me
Lana."
Grandpa said hurrying toward the front.
Tucker followed close behind me, gripping my top tightly. "I
see you've already begun your change Mia." She said, touching
the piece of the white hair that now streaked down my head. "I
guess so." I replied, not sure about what to say.
"Why did he call
you Red Moon?" I asked. "Never mind." She said with a smile.
"We're almost there. In fact I think you'll find that you know the
others that also stay at the camp training to enhance their own
abilities." Grandpa said pointing ahead. The moon light began to
show through the tree tops, lending itself as a light for the path. It
was like the light of the moon led us, as it stayed about a foot in
front of us never leaving the path. It was comforting that the moon
light appeared, I didn't feel so scared and confused anymore.
I
began to feel more curious than anything else.
4 THE TRIBES
Suddenly the path began to open up into a big clearing and
just through the trees I could see a bright fire burning. I was at a
loss for words, during the rest of our walk into the forest.
I was
utterly dumbfounded.
How could my grandparents still be alive?
How could they really be here right now?
Am I dreaming? I
pinched my arm until the pain made my eyes tear, just to make
sure that I wasn't.
How could my dad tell us they were gone and yet; here they
are and they spoke right in front of him. How could any of this be
real? So many questions floated in and out of my mind.
Others?
There are more people like us; and we would know who these
people where? No one I knew had any powers or knew about
magic, I guess you could call it.
I felt the confusion building in my
mind, the questions poured in like a waterfall; my body felt like a
overflowing lake of questions that was about to burst.
“We're here." Grandpa said breaking my deep train of
thoughts. Grandma tugged my arm bringing me closer to her. We
were in a small camp; a camp that was much like the one's we
used to make as kids in the woods behind their house. There was
tents set up; a fire pit with rocks surrounding it; there was a small
little creek that ran just beside one of the tents.
I didn't see anyone when we got there, and it looked like an
abandoned camp at the moment.
"I thought there would be
others?" Tucker asked stepping around me to get a better look.
"There are, but they're gone right now, they'll probably be back in
the morning like they always are." Grandpa answered with a
laugh. "You know kids these days." He said, while shaking his
head in disappointment.
"Come, you both need to rest and we'll talk more in the
morning." Grandma said, walking Tucker and I over to one of the
tents.
Tucker and I stepped in, looking around the tent; which was
rather large on the inside and it was nice and warm too. There
was animal fur all over the tent, there were two beds fashioned out
of more animal fur, one on each side. In the middle there was a
candle that burned brightly in a wooden carved plate that sat on
what looked like a short coffee table.
Tucker ran over to the bed on the left side of the tent. "This is
my bed."
He said, as he laid claim to that bed. "I'll take the other
one." I said, walking over the soft plush animal fur to get to my
bed.
I sat down and to my surprise it was soft.
I lifted the covers
to see what the bed was made out of and it was just a heaping
pile of dirt; compacted dirt that was raised out of the ground.
I
dropped the covers immediately.
"Tucker." I started. I stopped myself from talking when I heard
him starting to snore. "Wow, that was fast." I said softly, laying
down on the soft bed, the furs used as the pillow was even softer.
No wonder Tucker fell asleep so fast. I thought to myself as I
snuggled in. I wondered about what excitement tomorrow will
bring, as I slowly drifted off to sleep.
When the morning light peeked over the forest tree tops
Tucker felt the tent grow warm and sat up in his bed.
I was still
fast asleep. He looked around to get a better look at the tent and
what was in it. He found a clean pair of pants and a shirt, and
quickly changed into them, it was a rather tight fit but he put them
on anyway. The candle burnt out sometime in the night, so he
pushed the plate further onto the table.
On the side of the tent that he slept on there were weird
markings on the wall right above where his head laid. There were
swirls and circles all around. He stared at it for a little bit confused
I guess confused at what they meant; but he smiled and looked
over at me. I feel someone was staring at me sleep so I slowly
opened my eyes. I hoped that I was gonna wake up in my bed in
my own room in my own house. But I was mistaken.
I looked
around then at Tucker.
He plopped himself down at the bottom of
my bed.
"Mia, so what did you think about last night?"
"Wait so this is all real?" I said, with a smirk.
"No, really what did you think about it?" He said excitedly.
"I don't know, in fact I really couldn't tell you because I'm not even
sure what the hell happened last night, let alone what happened at
uncle Tom's house." I said, wiping my eyes.
"Oh man Mia, it was so cool. Like you just started freaking out and
floating around, then you shot white flames at the roof of the
house." He said with big excited eyes.
He hopped up and down on the bed like an excited little kid.
"What?
White flames?" I said confused.
"I know that I was mad, then I remember getting angrier, I think
someone hit me at that point, but after that it's kind of a blur." I
said, trying my best to recall what took place at uncle Tom's.
"Wait, didn't you do something?" I said, pointing at his hands.
"Yeah, watch this." He said with a proud look on his face.
He pulled his hand into a tight fist. A ball of energy appeared
just above it; the room grew cool.
The ball of energy began to
grow and as it did the animal fur's that decorated the tent began to
lift off the fabric walls; as the wind blew stronger the fur lifted
higher. My hair began to swirl around as the wind grew too.
Tucker released his tight grip and slowly opened his palm, I
watched the energy slowly disappear, and as it did the wind slowly
disappeared. "You can do that?
What is it? How did you do it?" I
asked very intrigued by the sudden swirling winds around the tent.
"Well, uncle Tom said that I had the power to control the wind." He
said, with a very big smile on his long brown face. Suddenly the
tent flap flew open.
"Hey there, you're both awake." Grandpa said, peering into
the tent. "Yeah." Tucker said, jumping off the bed in a hurry to get
outside. He took a few steps out of the tent while still holding the
flap door; but he slowly backed into the tent. "Um.... Mia I think
you should put something more decent on before you come out."
He said still staring at something outside. "Why?" I demanded.
"Trust me, change your clothes, and wash up or something." He
said with a chuckle. I swear sometimes you wouldn't even know
that he was older than I was.
Just then grandma pulled Tucker out and came into the tent,
lowering the flap. "How was your sleep Mia?" She asked so softly.
"Grandma, what happened? I thought you and grandpa died?" I
asked confused all over again. "That is a story for another time
Mia, right now I need to you get yourself washed, changed and
ready for a long days work."
She said, placing a big round
wooden bowl on the small table.
The water was very cold, as it touched my face I felt refreshed
and awake. Grandma laid out a long sleeved red dress. It fit me
perfectly, with every inch snugged to my body. "Is this yours?"
She asked picking up a feather off the floor next to the bed. "Yeah,
I got it from a little friend of mine." I said taking it from her. "Good,
keep it close your gonna need the good luck." She said with a
smile.
"Here try this." She said passing me a small bowl of red
paste. "What is it?" I asked, leaning over smelling it. It smelled like
roses and berries. "You put it on your lips dear." She replied with a
chuckle.
I did as she said, then she picked up an old brush and
began to brush my hair. "You have beautiful hair Mia, at one time
in my life I had beautiful hair just like yours and it was as red as
yours too. That is of course until I got old and blessed with this
white hair." She said with a soft laugh.
"Grandma, you are just as beautiful as I remember." I said
softly. "Ha, ha, ha. That's what your grandfather keeps on telling
me." She laughed.
"There you look amazing." She said slowly
walking around me with her eyes looking at every detail.
"Grandma really."
I said sarcastically. She walked over to a bunch
of old boxes that sat in the corner of the tent, and pulled out a
shiny golden mirror, with beautiful designs and inlaid jewels.
"Look, see for yourself." She said placing the mirror in my
hand.
I gazed at the mirror and I jerked back a little. The white in
my hair was still there but it was fading back to a dark blood red
color. My eyes were different too it wasn't so red anymore, it didn't
look like I was crying for days. "Come on dear let's go outside,
you've got to meet the rest.
I took a few steps back, and looked at the ground not wanting
to move any further.
"Grandma, can you tell me what's going on?"
I asked, sitting back onto the bed. She looked at me with a sad
look on her face, then a compassionate look. "Mia." She began.
"Do you remember the stories I used to tell you; about the
Weeping Mountains, and the tribes that protected it?" She said as
she sat next to me on the bed.
"Well those stories aren't just stories; they were real.
Everything I told you and your brother really happened. One
person from each of the four tribes that live around these
mountains was given a special power to use in order to protect the
mountain, and what lies within it. Remember the story of the red
