Dark Silver Chapter X

Chapter Ten: Uneasy Relations

Over the past few days, David’s skill with a bow became very effective. Although he wasn’t the best, his performance was impressive even by Tokala standards. However, not being able to shoot anything except stationary targets became quite tiresome. He wanted to challenge himself.

One day when David was shooting with Wyanet he asked her if they would be able to go hunting outside the camp.

“Sure, why don’t we go tomorrow.” she answered.

“If you don’t mind,” said David, “I would like to go today. I haven’t left the camp since you brought me here. I mean, I’ve seen you go out and come back with huge game, while I’m stuck in here trying to impress your father and come up with new ridiculous games for Takoda that don’t involve me getting destroyed or sore by the end of the day.

“Don’t get me wrong here. I’ve never had a better home than this place and had so many care about me. I love playing with Takoda, and I really want Gahege to like me, but I need to get out of here if only for a while.”

“David, if you wanted to spend some quality time with me so bad, then all you had to do is ask.” Wyanet winked at David. He blushed then shook his head.

“It’s not that, though I will admit that I really miss going hunting with you like we did that one time with the moose. By the way, where are the binoculars that I gave you?”

“Oh those, I think I left them at the cabin.”

“Then let’s go get them while we’re out.”

“David, we can never go back to your cabin.”

“Oh yeah,” David remembered the little tussle with that huge werewolf, “but then why can we go out at all? What’s keeping them from coming here at all?”

“They never come here because it violates our treaty with them.” David was still confused.

“Something tells me that there’s a story behind this,” said David.

“Not only a story, but the history between them, us and humans.”

“Let me guess, the Tokala hated humans then too.”

“Actually, all three of us had a good relationship with one another. We knew nothing but peace and joy.”

“I find it hard to believe that any one of our people could co-exist with one another. But you might be able to convince me if you told me the rest.”

“The rest, but that would take nearly all day. And we would most likely not get the chance to hunt until tomorrow.”

“As i recall, you said that we could spend some ‘quality time’ together if I asked?” David winked at Wyanet the same way she had not to long ago. And just like David, her face turned red, though one would not notice with her thick coat of fur.

“Fine, but let’s go inside before we do,” David followed Wyanet into her teepee and sat across from her.

“A long time ago,” began Wyanet, “before even native man came into our lands, the Tokala and Tohopka clans lived peacefully not bothering one another. We all prospered watched over nature to make sure that everything was as it should.

“When we first knew about humans, we made our presence unbeknownst to them and observed them for many centuries. When it came to us that we were so much alike, we revealed ourselves. At first they were reluctant to trust in beings that they were at the mercy of, but learned to after we had taught them how to prosper, as well.

“It was through us that they used bows, spears, and axes for hunting; even the peace pipe derives from our customs. However, we didn’t stop there.

“Through an accident that is unknown to this day. A human was bitten by a Tohopka, which is when it was discovered that a werewolf’s bite could be used to turn humans into one of them. Of course this added a whole new twist to each of our roles.

“Even though many humans wanted to become Tohopka, only a few were selected. Not all were worthy of becoming one of them, which everyone fully accepted. It was actually considered an honor to be bitten.”

“Is that the only reason that some couldn’t become werewolves,” asked David, “it seems a little unfair that someone was denied what they wanted only because their guardians said so.”

“There is a reason,” answered Wyanet, “In order to become a Tohopka one must be pure of heart and thoughts. If a human with a dark soul were to become one of them, then things would become very problematic.”

“How could you tell who was worthy and who wasn’t? And what did you do to those that had corrupted souls?”

“I don’t mean to make the Tokala sound self righteous or egotistical, but we were chosen for that responsibility. Back then, believe it or not, we could very easily see people for what they really were.”

“Well, I guess knowing what you’re like I find that to be at least half believable.” said David.

“Thanks,” said Wyanet, “but anyway, those that were good went to the Tohopka and those that deserved death went to us. In other words, their bite was for giving others a new life, and our bite was meant to take the lives of those that did wrong.”

“Sounds to me that a lot could go wrong with that system.”

“That’s why we were so very careful in our judgments. One slip up would cause us many problems. Which is exactly what happened.

“As is turns out, there were these twin brothers of a tribe. When one was chosen to become a Tohopka, the other was not. This made the later one jealous of his brother. In his anger he killed his brother’s wife and children and tried to frame him so that he would seem unworthy, but the Tokala could see right through his act. So he was immediately sentenced to death.

“Later that day, both the execution and the ceremony were to take place.” David had an idea where this was going to happen. “During this time, the brothers somehow got mixed up. So being so similar in looks, we didn’t believe the claims of the one we thought to be the murderous brother that he was not who we thought he was. But being as dark as he was, the other brother did nothing to set things right, which might have actually redeemed his actions.

“By the time that we realized that we had made a mistake it was too late. During the next full moon, the brother who lived transformed into the largest and most powerful Tohopka that anyone had ever seen. He was absolutely unstoppable; no one who faced him lived to tell about it.

“From then on, he created his own tribe of murderous beasts and wrecked havoc wherever they went. Countless battles took place to destroy him, some were lost and some won, but in the end even the evil brother couldn’t hold his own against the rest of the Tohopka, Tokala, and humans.”

“What became of him?”

“He fled during the last battle that took place when he realized that he had been beaten. Nobody saw him after that.”

“So why didn’t werewolves, Tokala, and humans continue living in harmony like they did before?”

“The humans didn’t trust either one of us to make the right choices after that. They believed that if it hadn’t been for either one of us, then so many lives would not have been lost.”

“What happened between the Tokala and Tohopka?”

“We both began to distrust each other as well. None of us would take the blame for what happened.”

“But it was only an honest mistake,” said David, “it wasn’t like anybody wanted it to happen.”

“Even so, we both decided that the best solution was complete separation from one another. However, when the white man came it turned out to be the worst possible decision. Next to none of them were pure, but that didn’t stop some Tohopka from biting and turning them into wild beasts as well. Removing what honor their people had left. It was during this time that the Tohopka clan had lost it's noble title and became the werewolf.

“Through the years, the few remaining werewolves that were pure of heart lived amongst the humans trying to change them, while the rest only saw them as food or other possible candidates for destruction.

“Soon things got out of hand and the Tokala had no choice but to get involved once again. Even though the werewolves didn’t like our terms of agreement, they ultimately followed through.”

“What were the terms of the treaty?”

“The land that had not yet been taken by the white man was divided among us. However, if any of our land was invaded or inhabited by humans was to be surrendered to them without hesitation. Unfortunate for us, more of our land was taken then that that belonged to the werewolves. Eventually, the tribes of Tokala were completely cut off from each other, unable to contact one another without revealing ourselves to humans again.”

“What did you do?” David seemed very into the story at this point.

“We did the only thing that we could, we hid.”

“What became of the werewolf?”

“They also were separated from each other.”

“Then why do you share this land with them? It doesn’t make sense.”

“It was just bad luck for our tribes. The humans basically encircled us, preventing any from leaving and forcing us to live so close to one another.”

“If that’s the case,” wondered David, “then where is the line that divides your lands?”

“The spring marks the line between our boarders.”

“Are you saying that this whole time, I’ve been able to leave here to go for a dip?”

“Yes.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me? And don’t say I never asked.”

“But you didn’t.” David was so frustrated with this; he was going to ask more questions from now on.

“Aaah,” groaned David, “whatever, let’s just get out of here, go hunting and swim afterwards.” Both of them quickly got their things and headed for the gate.

“Oh, David,” exclaimed Wyanet, “I almost forgot to give you this, I wanted to give it to you yesterday, but it wasn’t finished.” She held out Tokalan hunting knife made from bone. Like the bow, it was so strong and yet so light.

“Thanks again,” said David, “so, let’s go get some game.”

David, just as he was back at the camp, was a real natural with the bow and arrow. Always hitting his targets, though some needed more than one shot.

Wyanet, on the other hand, still showed of her skills with a knife. She even managed to take down bear with next to no effort in the same way she did with the moose from the last time they hunted together.

“We’ve already got enough to carry as it is,” said David, “how are we gonna get that back to camp without scraping it all up on the ground?”

“Like this,” Wyanet picked up the bear and hung its body over her back. David knew that she was strong, but he had no idea that she was that strong. Again, David was so glad that Wyanet was responsible for him, though he thought of her more as his personal guardian than as his caretaker.

After David and Wyanet brought everything back to the camp they began to head out for the spring.

“Hey, guys,” yelled Takoda, “where are you going? I was hoping that we could have some more fun today.”

“Well, Takoda,” said David, “we were just headed for the spring. Would you like to come with us?” Takoda nodded and ran to get Wematin. When they were all ready they raced to the spring, David being the last one there of course.

It was as refreshing as David had remembered. As he was swimming David noticed that the bruises and blisters on his arm from archery faded away. This spring had healing properties.

“Wyanet,” said David, she looked in his direction, “I never did ask, how did you save my life after I was injured?”

“I brought you here to stop the bleeding and heal your concussion.”

'I had a concussion,' David thought, 'Well, that would explain why I barely remember fighting that werewolf.'

“Dude,” said Wematin, “you’ve taught us so many game that are played outside, do you know any that are played in the water?” David thought about it for a minute, but it didn’t take long for him to come up with the prefect game.

“Have you guys heard of a game called marco-polo?” They all shook their heads.

“It’s kind of like hide and seek, except the one who seeks can’t use their eyes while everyone else tries to avoid them. And whenever the seeker says ‘marco’ everyone else has to yell ‘polo’.”

“Sounds like fun,” said Takoda.

“To be honest, I’ve never played it.”

“Then how do you know about it in the first place?” asked Wyanet.

“I read it in a book back at the orphanage. I guess it was yet another way for Ms. Proulx to make sure that we knew what we were missing from the outside world.”

“How do we know who seeks first?” asked Wematin

“The last person to say ‘not it’ has to…” at the same time everyone yelled ‘not it’ before David could say ‘go’, making him it.

“God, will any of you guys ever cut me a break?” they all shook their heads.

Knowing that they weren’t going to change their minds, he counted to ten and began calling ‘marco’.

As usual, David found himself performing poorly even at his own games. Every time he heard someone say ‘polo’ right behind him he would lunge to find nothing there and hear someone else pop up behind him.

David was getting so frustrated that he found himself opening his eyes from time to time; luckily they never caught him cheating. Eventually he was able to get someone and took hold of them to make sure that they would not get away. “Gotcha!” he yelled.

When he opened his eyes David saw that he got Takoda. He was so happy that the next seeker was the slowest of the rest. From then on David was never tagged again; though he did manage to swim underneath them, touch their feet and get away before they could dive down to get him. Maybe David had found his element.

It took Wyanet the longest to get tagged, being as agile as she was both in and out of water.

David decided to have a little fun with her. He signaled for everyone to get out of the water and walk around yelling in response to Wyanet. It took her quite a while before she caught on to their little game. However, she played along for a while and followed David’s voice.

Once, when she got close to the edge of the spring where David was standing, she opened her eyes and pulled him back in the water and began to dunk him, though not badly enough to potentially drown him. Wematin and Takoda got in and it basically became a wrestling match.

Later when everyone took a quick break David told Wematin and Takoda about the first day that he saw Wyanet. About how he hid from behind the waterfall and jumped out when she got close enough to see him. Takoda was enjoying it more than anyone else.

“Tell it again Dawvid.”

“Again,” said David, “but I’ve already told it to you like three times.”

“So, it gets better every time.”

“Yeah, and I get more tired every time I tell it to you.”

After everyone was dry, they headed back to camp. David on the other hand, told them to go on ahead. He wanted to be alone and out of the camp for a little while longer. What little did he know, two beasts hiding behind some foliage were watching him.

“Come on, let’s get him.” said the first one.

“No.” denied the other.

“Why not, he’s all alone. This is our chance.”

“Because the chief said so. He doesn’t want us to do it yet.”

“Damn it, why are we going through all this trouble for an insignificant little human? What makes him so damn special?”

“I don’t know, but I do know that if he wants him, then it is for a good reason.”