Читать книгу The Guardian - Connie Hall - Страница 9

Patomani Indian Reservation, 1927

Tumseneha struggled within the human vessel, but couldn’t break free. Staked leather bands trapped the human’s wrists and ankles to the ground. The physical pain wasn’t his to feel, though he perceived it through the young man’s physical awareness; the stinging heat of the fire in the nostrils and lungs, bowed spine bent over the mound, tearing of skin beneath the leather bindings. No, what he felt was on a higher realm, the spiritual ancient power encompassing him. It battled with his own strength, bound it, and compressed his essence into a burning cinder within the human body.

“No, please,” the young man screamed over the roar of the fire.

That had been the human’s plea, not his. He would never ask for mercy.

The human gazed beyond the circle of flames, and he saw through the eyes of the young man. Ancient ones stood behind the flames, circling the human. An orb of glowing energy emanated from them. He sensed the origin of its power: the cursed witch. He couldn’t see her face for the brilliant white swords of light jutting from her body, but he knew what she looked like. He knew all her kind intimately, for they were the bane of his existence.

He could feel her white magic warring with his own black darkness. Shaman spirits from throughout the ages inhabited her body. She had the ability to call them forth at will. She was the Tsimshian, the Guardian, the only person on earth who owned the power to destroy him.

She stepped forward and clutched a heart-shaped wooden charm. She opened the box, pulled out an effigy of a bear and raised it above her head. Her power shot up to the magic talisman and through it, burning like thousands of suns.

“From night you are born and from light you shall be bound. I call forth all the magic of my ancestors. We banish you, Tumseneha, and send you back to the underworld where you belong. You will never again walk the earth and feed off darkness.”

She unsheathed a dagger, stepped through the ring of fire and sliced an area over the human’s heart. The human’s spine arched from the pain.

“Let the blood flow, and let it cleanse the earth and this innocent.”

“No, no, no.” Tumseneha felt the energy crushing him.

She continued to carve the bear symbol over the human’s heart. Blood glistened on the tip of the knife and oozed down the human’s chest. With each drop of blood spilt Tumseneha felt his power draining, being sucked into a current beyond his control.

At the moment she completed the symbol, darkness caught him and pulled him into the vortex. “I’ll have my revenge,” he vowed as the darkness melted over him like molten lava.