Because it, too, was a stupid question. Jess had known that before he asked it.
Still ...
He ran his hand over his face as he tried to think of some kind of plan or action to save Choo Co La Tah and get rid of their current pest problem. "We need someone else who can control the weather. You know anyone?"
"I do." Jess heard Sasha in the background. "Give me a few, and I'll be back with help."
Ren said something muffled to Sasha, then uncovered the receiver so that Jess could hear again. "I have to say, Sister Fortune has ridden out of town on us, and I don't like it."
"Gotta say, I don't blame you. I'm not exactly sending roses to her either." He let out an aggravated breath. "So do we have any intel or insight as to what we need to do for Choo Co La Tah and to stop Coyote?"
"Not really. I don't know what else Coyote will come up with. He's unpredictable at best. A bastard at worst. And when cornered, he's lethal beyond measure and will do whatever he must to win. His heart lives in a place best left untrodden. All I know is we have to get to the Valley by sunrise."
"I know."
"No, Jess. You don't. We have to beat Coyote to Old Bear's magic. If we do, we might be able to keep him from unlocking the next set of plagues."
That would be good. But it wouldn't be easy. "What exactly is his magic? Other than the Grizzly?"
Ren sighed. "You should have listened more to your mother's stories, boy. Your lack of education offends me."
He glanced over to Abigail, who watched him with a penetrating stare that said she was dying to know what they were talking about. He was grateful she didn't interrupt them. That was something he'd always found rude and extremely annoying.
Jess returned his attention to Ren. "My mother didn't talk that much about her beliefs or tell me many stories." She'd been too sick for too long. For the last three years of her life, every breath had been a precious struggle for her. So she'd conserved them for living and not for talking. "And when she did, it was in a hushed tone." Because she'd been terrified of anyone hurting him over their heritage.
Better to blend in than stand out, penyo. The one who flies against the flock is always flying into opposition. No matter how strong the beast, sooner or later, he tires from his ragged journey.
And when he falls, he falls alone.
His mother's words were still with him.
Even so, he'd never been one to conform. But all that had done was prove to him how wise and right his mother had been. In the end, he had died alone and he was tired.
Then and now.
He cleared his throat. "So you'll have to forgive me my ignorance."
"A wise man never argues a mother's decision for her child. Not unless he wants to face her claw, and there is nothing sharper than a mother defending her young."
Jess definitely concurred with that.
"You probably want to put me on speaker so that Abigail can hear it, too."
"All right." Jess pulled the phone back to comply. "We're here."
Abigail frowned.
"At the beginning of time when the Code of Order was being established, the First Guardian locked away all the evil he'd found in the world. Things that had been created by the Dark One for no other purpose than to plague man and hurt him. The First Guardian knew that mankind wasn't strong enough to fight it. So he banished it all to the West Lands where the sun lay down on that evil every night and kept it weak."
Ren paused. "But Evil is always resilient and ever resourceful. In time, it bred with Father Sun, and a tiny piece escaped to find an embittered warrior whose heart was blackened by jealousy over his own brother. He took the evil into him and was seduced by its promise that if he hurt others enough, their pain would make him stronger and drive his pain away. It succored him like a lover, and he embraced its insanity with everything he had. And so he went on a killing rage, and he consumed the lands until he ruled all from his bloodied fists."
"The Grizzly Spirit," Jess said quietly. He knew this legend from Choo Co La Tah.
Ren continued. "His war brought him to the realm of the Guardian, and the two of them fought for a year and a day-a battle so violent, it left a permanent scar on Mother Earth."
The Grand Canyon. It was said the red color came from the blood of the wounds they'd given to each other while they fought.
"Finally, the warrior made a mistake and the Guardian was able to pin him down. He stripped the evil from the warrior, but it was too late. They had sweated and bled so much over that year on the earth that the very fabric of Mother Earth's gown, the granules of sand that carry man on his life's journey, was saturated with it and forever stained by it. There was no way to take all the evil back or to make her gown white again. The damage was done."