The End - Part Two

PART TWO

            I nodded and grunted in agreement. I put my head down and trudged on.

            We came to another sudden stop and I nearly ran into the savage again. I stopped in time and raised my eyes to see what the interruption was. All I could see was Coimirceor’s back, so I stepped to the side. I gasped. We faced a long steep hillside that seemed to go on forever. I couldn’t see the top from where we stood.

            “It looks like a pyramid” I offered.

            “Can we go around?”

            “Guys…”

            Coimirceor began to sing. I couldn’t understand the words and there wasn’t any translation, but the rhythm was like a marching song.  He beckoned us forward with the spear and he began the long trek up the long slope.

            I watched, but not for long, Intoit goosed me with his nose and Wiley growled out, “Let’s get going.”

            I heaved a long sigh and began the ordeal.

            We climbed and climbed, the slope became steeper the farther that we went. My heart pounded like an old steam engine, I wondered if the others could hear it, it beat so loud in my own ears. My breath roared in and out. I was just at the point where I was about to collapse, when Intoit and Wiley moved closer and put their heads beneath my hands.

            “Hold onto our fur and we will help you.” Wiley said. I couldn’t say no, my breathing was too rapid to speak. We went on. For about another 50 yards. Then we topped the brow of the hill so suddenly I lost my footing and fell on my face. The coyotes used their noses under my arms to help me rise.

            When I got to my feet and raised my face, the sight before me was so amazing, my mouth dropped open. My eyes widened to their maximum size, I am sure, for they were barely able to ‘see’ what stood before me.

            The most beautiful tree that I have ever seen rose to the sky. It was covered with large leaves of every shape and every color imaginable. The tree stood in the exact center of the flat top of the hill and spread it’s limbs in a huge circle that shaded the largest part of the space. Birds flitted in and out of the limbs and spaces between the leaves, their song in perfect harmony with Coimirceor. Intoit and Wiley began to sing the coyote song and it harmonized as well. The sound swelled in volume, I tried to match it, but could not.

            The song came to a sudden end, the silence was deafening after the crescendo. A sudden pain ripped my chest along the angry scar and a tearing cough forced its way past my lips.

            Coimirceor turned to me, his hands flew in a blizzard of signs. “You have crossed the vale, I have met the expectations of the Voice. I hope we do not meet for many turns of the wheel of life yet to be. If we do, the trip across the vale may not be so easy. Try to learn some things before you come to this place again. It will make our job easier. Thank your brothers for their help before you leave us.” He spread his arms in a sign that had no translation, then he made a chopping motion with his spear hand. “Enough!”  With that he grasped the spear that he had leaned on his shoulder and raised it in to the air, a sudden “Ky-yi-Yippee-i-oooo” burst from his lips and he was off at a fast trot.

            As I watched his form disappear over the edge of the hill, Wiley said, “Follow me”, and he led me across the hill top under the tree.

            As we reached the other side and left the shade thrown by the huge tree, I asked the coyote, “What is this place?”

            Wiley let the superior canine grin cross his face before he answered, “You don’t recognize it? You have been here before you know, only going the other way.”

            “NO, I don’t recall being here.”

            “This is the Tree of Life” Wiley said this with some seriousness and reverence.

            Scared, I asked, “Have I died?”

            “Not this time, if you had, you would be riding with the knights of the vale and that goofy Yellow Hair. Instead, you got to hang with the savage.” With this, Wiley burst into coyote laugh.

            “What’s next?” I asked somewhat relieved.

            “Follow me” and he led me over the edge of the hill. I slipped and started sliding down the grassy slope. Wiley and Intoit raced beside me as I gained speed. I slid forever, I gained so much speed that I began to leave the coyote’s behind. I saw that I was heading toward the edge of a drop off and I tried to slow down by spreading my arms and grabbing at the grass. It slipped through my fingers, the scared feeling  returned, I cried out.

            “Don’t fight it, just let it happen…don’t fight it…”

            I slipped over the edge and fell.

            “Don’t fight it…”, and I hit the bottom in a flash of light. My eyes flew open, and slammed closed again when the bright light bored into my eyes. I opened them carefully to see an angel in my face, she was pulling a tube from my throat.

            “Don’t fight it…cough…harder”.

            A racking cough rumbled in my chest, it felt like hell, I couldn’t breath. Then pop, the tube was free, I coughed and gasped. My chest hurt.

            I looked at the nurse, then saw other angels standing around the room. They had tears in their eyes, I wondered why. The first one said, ”What do you think of this.” She pointed to my chest.  An angry red scar/cut marked my chest from throat to the bottom of my ribcage. It throbbed. I closed my eyes, the room faded for an instant. The fading echoes of a yipping coyote song teased my hearing.  Then Wiley’s face floated in front of me, grinning that damned canine grin. He barked like any other coyote but the yips translated into, “Do you understand now?”

            I groaned, and opened my eyes. “How bad was it?” I croaked.

Just like that damned raven.

THE END