Mountain Moonlight - By Jane Toombs Page 0,53

having a nine-year-old with them did put a crimp in romance.

He began looking early for the perfect spot to camp, needing to find one before they got too close to the flat. Old sharp eyes Davis might well pick up on his ruse if the kid realized they were practically out of the mountains. Along the trail a ways, he found a clear area with a few small palo verde trees growing on one side. "This is it," he announced. "The last night's camp."

The kid had gotten so good at setting up that Bram didn't have to tell him anything as they worked together. "I'd take you on as trail-help any day," Bram told him.

Davis beamed at the praise, then his smile faded. "Wish I could be," he said wistfully.

Bram cobbled together what remained of the food for the evening meal. "We'll have a late breakfast tomorrow at Brenden's Bronc Corral to make up for this," he told them. When everything was clean and put away, they sat on their sleeping bags in the gathering dusk in silence.

"How about a story?" Bram said finally. "Ought to be your turn, Davis."

"I guess so." The boy sounded far from enthusiastic. Then he brightened. "Maybe one Pauline told me, okay? It's about Wind Dancer."

He began telling about a young Ndee maiden and a young warrior who couldn't speak, but could sing, and how this warrior named Wind Dancer saved the girl from a wolf.

"She was hurt pretty bad, but he cured her by singing a magic song into her ear. They fell in love and were gonna get married, but then the warriors had to go and find some of the women who got trapped in a snow-storm. Wind Dancer tried to save the women from a bear that he fought single-handed. He and the bear fell over a cliff and they all knew he'd been killed."

"It was so far down, they couldn't go get his body. When they came back into camp with the rescued women, Wind Dancer wasn't with them and so everyone mourned, especially the girl who was gonna marry him."

"But pretty soon spring came and the girl was happy again. Some of the women followed her to find out why. They found her sitting in the wild flowers while a tiny little bird fluttered near her ear, like it was whispering to her. It was a hummingbird with feathers colored like the clothes the warrior who couldn't talk had worn. Then they knew Wind Dancer had come back to the girl he loved."

Davis glanced from Bram to Vala before adding. "There's a little bit more, but that's all I'm gonna tell tonight." Bram wondered why. Deciding not to pry, he said, "That'd be a sad story if it didn't end like it does."

"Do you know what comes after?" Davis asked.

Bram shook his head. "No, the story of Wind Dancer, the Hummingbird, was one I hadn't heard before."

Looking relieved, Davis said, "It's your turn now."

Bram said, "I know Mokesh told you Coyote stealing Fire was the first Coyote story, but my father told me the one about Coyote and the Wild Geese came first. So it won't really be out of turn if I tell that one."

"I guess not," Davis said.

So Bram told the story of how Coyote told the Wild Geese how much he admired their ability to fly and couldn't they help him to fly with them just once? Flattered, they lent him feathers and so he flew with the Geese for a while. "But Coyote had his own plan, one he kept hidden. As they flew, the Geese told Coyote never to look down while flying or he'd fall. Claiming he might forget, he wheedled a magic word from them that would keep him from being hurt if he did fall.

"So when they flew over the place where Coyote had wanted to get to all along, the Fireflies camp, he looked down and, sure enough, he began falling. Just in time he said the magic word and so he landed safely. After he took off his feathers, he began scheming how to steal Fire from the Fireflies."

Bram looked at Davis. "Know what this is supposed to teach Ndee kids?"

"I'm not sure."

"Vala?"

"How about don't believe the stranger who says he wants to fly with you just for fun."

Bram smiled. "Not bad."

Davis tugged at his ear. "Um--don't give away all your secrets?"

"Pretty good, too. My version is, if you already know someone is a Trickster--beware."

"Maybe that really is the