Now it was too late. He'd destroyed everything that was good in his life.
Everything.
Sick to his stomach, he went to Buffalo and knelt beside him to whisper a small prayer over his body.
A shrill scream echoed. Looking up, Ren saw Butterfly as she ran to her Buffalo. She sobbed hysterically, throwing herself down on top of him.
"Why? Why? Why would you hurt me so?"
Coyote curled his lip. "You tore my heart out."
"And you killed mine." She laid herself over the Buffalo and wept.
Ren rose to his feet and left her there to grieve while he confronted his brother.
That was his mistake. He didn't think about what would happen if Butterfly was allowed to cry her misery out to the gods and spirits. To wail and shriek for her lost Buffalo.
But it was too late now. A howling wind came screaming through the woods, dancing around their whitebuckskin-covered bodies. Those winds joined together to form two trumpeters who blew their horns to announce the most feared creature of all.
The Avenging Spirit. Something that could be summoned only by the cries of a wronged woman who wanted vengeance against the ones who'd hurt her.
Nebulous in form, he was bathed all in white. His hair, the translucent skin that covered his skeletal features. His feathers and buckskin. The only break from the color was the dark blue beadwork along his neck.
"Why was I called forth?" he demanded.
Butterfly looked up. Her beautiful face contorted by grief, she looked old and haggard now. Her hair blew around her body as her gaze pierced them with her fury.
"The Coyote killed my heart. So I want his as payment for what he took."
The Avenging Spirit bowed to her. Then he turned toward the men. His face changed from an old gaunt man with stringy hair to the face of ultimate evil. He opened his mouth and it dropped to the floor, contorting and elongating his features. Abigail shivered in terror.
Out of his mouth flew a giant eagle with a lone ghostly warrior on its back. The warrior lifted his spear.
Ren stepped back to give the warrior room.
With a discordant cry of vengeance that shook the very fabric of Mother Earth's gown, he let fly his spear at Coyote's heart.
One moment Ren was standing out of the way. In the next, he was across the room, where Coyote had been a heartbeat earlier. Before he could gather his wits and move, the spear flew through the center of his chest, piercing his heart. The force of it lifted him off his feet and pinned him to a tree.
Pain exploded through his body as he gasped for breath. The taste of blood filled his mouth. His eyesight dimmed.
He was dying.
The warrior turned his eagle around and flew back into the Avenging Spirit's mouth. As quickly as they'd come, they were gone.
His breathing labored, Ren stared at his brother. "I would have given you my life had you asked for it."
"You taught me to take what I wanted." Coyote closed the distance between them and snatched the bone necklace from Ren's throat that held his Guardian seal. He untied the pouch from Ren's belt where he kept his strongest magic. "And I want your Guardianship."
"You weren't chosen."
"And neither were you." Coyote seized the spear and drove it in even deeper. He laughed in triumph as Ren choked on his own blood.
With one last gasp, he fell silent.
The pride on Coyote's face was sickening as he turned his attention to Butterfly. "I'm a Guardian now. You can love me again."
She curled her lip in repugnance. "I could never love you after what you've done. You're a monster."