Chapter 68 - Small Bears and Skyward Leaps [https://cdn.midjourney.com/71d864d9-067c-4563-8d25-ed1597f9eb78/0_2.png]

Sore everywhere, Kennedy lay motionless on the ground, miserable, with only a thin blanket between her and the stone floor. If they were going to kill her, why didn’t they do it? The cold seeped upward into her bones. The floor smelled of carrots and potatoes. She breathed in the homey aroma. Had they placed her in an unused food cellar? Extending her arm, she reached out and touched the remnant of a shriveled and misshapen root. It had been missed by the last person to sweep. Spongy under her fingertips, she toyed with the ancient carrot.

In low voices, the two guards spoke to each other beyond the curtain. “It was only supposed to be two years. That is what we agreed to, Carl.”

“Keep your voice down. If Ba hears us speaking, she will take your balls for desk ornaments. All of us agreed to this. We voted. Lowering our risks made sense, we needed to take the time to solidify profits and expand.” Through the fabric, she could smell them. Visible beyond the gap, he brushed his nose. “She smells like death and blood.”

“We agreed to two years. It’s been four.” His voice was dark and tinged with anger. Carl said, “And why are we growing human drugs to sell to sheep? How is that lowering our risk?”

“What do you think buys guns? Red Ursa?” He shook his head. “We would barely keep the electricity on if that harvest was our only product.”

“Not if we sold in Europe.” Carl’s chair creaked as he shifted his position. “If we weren’t suppressing, like the townie cowards, we wouldn’t need guns.”

“It will end soon. With this cycle. There are four children here, ready for their first change.”

“Three of them are from outlying communities. And Jenny is old for her first change, almost sixteen. I know her mother. She had to beg to be allowed to take the girl off of suppression so that nature could work within her. It’s not right.”

“How many have we lost to a bad split in the last four years? None.”

“That doesn’t matter if we lose who we are. At least those fools in town do it because of their Jesus cult. We are forgetting ourselves.” The last part came out as a growl.

He leaned back, chair creaking. “How long?”

“What do you mean?” Carl looked away and shifted uneasily.

“How long have you been off suppression?”

“I’m not. Don’t insult me. I’m compliant.”

“Liar.”

“Did you hear something?” The curtain drew back, and she bared her teeth at them.

*

The familiar voice of the horsewoman woke Kennedy from a shallow sleep. “Bring her to the glen. Everyone has to be present for the ceremony. Even those who are marked to die. The council has decided to make the choice after the celebration so the kids don’t have to witness an execution. A first change is exciting enough.”

When the curtain parted, a tight-lipped Whist glanced down at her. “And you. You have caused enough trouble for a lifetime. If you care about your men at all and want them to live, keep your peace until the ceremony is over. They will decide about your situation after.” Her eyes narrowed. “If David gets hurt because of your actions tonight, the council won’t have to kill you. I will do it myself.” Before Kennedy could say anything, the angry woman snapped the curtain shut.

*

Walled in by the bodies of her two guards, Kennedy walked toward the bonfire and the gathered community across a recently mowed field. So many people and unfamiliar faces unsettled her. Some of them were angry. Fifty Shepherds, maybe sixty, waited. Shadows shifted amongst the trees. More? She couldn’t be certain.

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Bound, Jeremiah, and Terry sat slumped in the dirt, with a half circle of armed men standing around them. Her guards halted her at the outer ring and pushed her to her knees. The chains were heavy, and she let her hands sink into the grass. Within the innermost ring, four children stood before the elders, one girl towering over the others. Scrubbed clean and wrapped in blood red sheets, they stood tall and proud with their heads held high. Three girls and a boy. Parents, with fluttering anxious hands, stood behind them. Beyond Kennedy’s sight, a fiddle began to play in the twilight. The North star waited in the sky for all of its siblings.

Draped in red, dark skin gleaming, Ba entered the clearing and everyone grew still. As she stepped in front of each child, her lips moved. Getting lost in the night sounds, the words did not carry all the way to Kennedy. They weren’t for her. From the other side of the circle, Old Joe was led forward by Snow and his smile was warm as sunlight as he cupped each child’s face.

With his thumb, he anointed their foreheads and cheeks with oil. When every child had been blessed, Snow slid Joe’s hand into Ba’s. Ancient and eternal, together they bowed to their community, the gathered council, and the four children. Snow drew her simple shift up over her head, exposing her bone white body, the moon embodied. Her blue eyes glittering like gemstones, as she reached forward and took the smallest child’s hand.

One by one, they linked together in the cool mountain air until they had formed a ring of five, unified, hand in hand. It started with Snow. Red lines, thin as a razor’s slice, snaked up the side of her calves and broke open at her wrists. The smallest girl whooped with joy as a bead of blood rolled down her ankle. A red line slid slowly upward along her calf from that small breach.

All around Kennedy, slow and quiet at first, the people began to sing. Love and support radiated from the population toward the children. She felt the sweep of their gathered energy spiral through the circle, building. One of her guards threw his head back and roared into the night. Her own ankles and wrists tingled. The sky tinted itself with pinks and purples like a painted shawl above the darkening tree line.

Once it had begun, there was a cascade of change. Children twisted and fell to the ground, rolling into themselves. Snow completed first. She rose to all fours, ruddy brown, the tips of her paws dipped in ink. The shake of her head moved down through her body as she settled into her heart’s shape. Patient in the moonlight, she sat back on her haunches and watched the others.

The youngest, the quickest to start, turned easily. When she staggered to all fours, she could not contain her joy and threw her body into the air, exploring her new strength. Her vibrant delight caused a sprinkle of laughter through the gathered crowd. Because she was only seven or eight, asking for somber restraint in such a charged situation wouldn’t be fair. The little bear took a step, seeking her balance, and began what could only be described as a wobbly joy dance. Her mother hissed at her in bear as relief laced tears poured down her cheeks.

When the mother tried to step forward, two fathers drew her back to keep her safe wearing fond protective smiles. The little bear plopped down onto its bottom, shaking with bear laughter. She tilted her adorable head and swung her face toward her fellows. One after another, they changed until there were four brand new bears in the center of the circle with Snow. Moisture glittered their fur, catching the firelight, bright as the stars arriving above to witness them.

Ba spoke, and the crowd quieted. In bear, she addressed the people, and praised each child. When she raised her hand, the crowd cheered the little ones. The smallest girl shrank back from the noise and Snow moved closer to her, nosing her toward the others. After gathering them together, Snow began the change back. Electric and metallic, the scent of change intensified. The speed Whist’s daughter managed a transformation was like a hallucination, a fleshy magic trick.

Soon the oldest girl was sprawled on the ground, and Snow drew a blood red sheet over her shivering body. Old Joe was led to her. His gnarled, paper-soft hands came to rest on her back. He announced, “Whole,” and the crowd erupted with joy. Happiness radiated from his face by the time he announced the third child had made it safely through the journey. When he reached for the fourth, there was no human body to place his hands on.

The smallest and the most joyful of leaping bears, struggled, starting and stalling, body twisting oddly. Blood pooled in the grass. A surge of need to go toward the child overwhelmed Kennedy. The pull of the stuck place within the little girl drew Kennedy forward, even with the weight of the chains. She crawled toward the little girl. Ba’s eyes went wide, but before she could demand that they stop Kennedy, her husband raised his hand. Behind the trapped and dying child, the community held the girl’s parents. The mother cried out, frantic. “Help her.”

Blind Joe turned toward Kennedy. “I can’t. Can you?”

David cried out to her, “No!”

“Please,” Kennedy begged. As the weighty hands of her guards fell on her, she reached toward the child.

“Do something.” The mother yelled.

“Release her,” said Ba.