As the first hour of the New Year was ringing in, The Ancient One was stirred
by the sound of a familiar bell. He rose from that form which is his home
for the present time, and soared back to The Spirit World, there to settle
outside The Hall of the Great World Council, where sit those who are his authority.
The guards came smartly to attention as he approached, and the great doors
were opened, so he might pass. The Great Hall was filled with many beings
from ordinary humans, to Havens and Hashons, and some visitors also, from
other worlds. Along one wall sat eleven figures; The High Council and The
World Speaker. The Ancient One approached, taking a position before The
World Speaker and bowing politely. "Those who I serve have summoned me," he
stated. "In what way, tell me, have I offended Them?"
"It is not a matter of offense," said The World Speaker, "for we know the
loyalty of Our Servant's heart, and that he would do nothing outside the Law
which we all cherish. There is merely a concern and a bewilderment. Here
are our allies, Abraham and Moses, representing their Children; Mohammed,
representing his people, Buddah, Krishna representing their followers. The
Chief Of Chiefs, Mississippi, and The Chiefs of all the nations. They have
come to us with a strange grievance saying that they offered unto you great
power in addition to that that you already possessed, and asked that you be
the seed-bearer in their cause. And to their astonishment, you refuse them.
Oh, Lord Of Light, one who is so precious to us, why do you not do service
to our allies? Why do you refuse that Gift they would give?"
Before The Ancient One could answer, a figure stepped from the shadows of
the Hall. "Did you not agree," he said, "you would speak for us, also? Why
did you not add us to the list of those that would do The Lord Of Light honor?"
The World Speaker bowed his head. "my pardon, he said, "I meant to plead
your case separately, but now that you have spoken he is also here who was
called Fuehrer to plead for his children who suffer in The Darkness and who
will know pain when comes the Hour of their death. He, too, has offered you
power, but he, too, have you refused. Explain to us, our true and faithful
servant, your reasons for such."
The Ancient One looked about him. He walked over to Abraham and Moses and
bowed politely.
"These," he said, "have offered me a judgeship over their people. They
desire that I turn them from their evil, that I make their land a just and
holy place. That I remove from their capitol all foreign churches, all foreign
faiths, and rebuild the temple of Their Fathers. But who am I to do such
things? I am not of their flesh, I am not of their blood. The judges placed
over their people should be one of their own, not an outsider.
It is not that I consider what they desire evil, it is reasonable and good,
and they would be fair to all that dwell in their land, making fair and generous
restitution to any that would have to be moved, and to make Bethlehem the
center of the Christian faith is more than reasonable. Is it not better to
worship a Lord where he was born, rather than where he died?
No, I mean no offense. All that they ask is good, but it is not my place,
and it is the same with Mohammed. He would make me," The Ancient One said,
as he stepped to the side of The Great Speaker, "his judge. The swift sword
of his vengeance. But who am I that I should be such? Your thunder, Great
Teacher, your lightning should come from among your own people. It should
not be put in the hands of one outside your faith. Find one of your own Children,
one who will take your banner. Let him go forth to the world and someday
I will stand with him. But it is not my place. And Mississippi," The Ancient
One continued, "Chief of The First People, The True Owners of the American
Land, he would have me be Medicine Chief for all the nations, but again this
is not my place. I am not of their blood. Truly all know the promises I
have made. That I will restore to the land the names of Their Fathers and
I will help the nations rise again. But these things that they ask are for
one of their own blood, and that, I am not."
One of the Chiefs stepped forward. "Never," he said, "have I heard a Lord
Of Light lie before this hour, but this day I have heard this one speak an
untruth. For I know that the blood of The Indian Peoples has flowed through
his veins. The Ojibwa knew him, and so did the Woodn Head and The Azcotin.
And when he was not of our flesh he was known by The Arapaho, The Commanche,
the Cheyenne and The Apache. He was welcomed in many forms to many council
fires. Now he says he is not of our blood? Who here, then, can say he has
done as much as Swift Deer, Walking Buffalo, Tunka Lin, Lame Wolf or Thunder
Leg? Do The Indian Peoples not speak his legends? Are there still not some
that pray he will keep his promise and return?"
The Chief fell silent and backed away, and all eyes fell again on The Ancient
One.
"The words of Red Jacket honor me," The Ancient One said, "but he forgets
that when I speak of not being of their blood I mean that I am not from this
world. I am foreign to it. What you say is true. And I have also served
Mohammed and Krishna and Buddah and even The Children of Abraham. But for
me these were just excursions, little sidetrips that I went upon while tending
my true Cause.
I am a Child of These Lords. Those visits I made to your peoples to reach
and guide them was all part of our own purpose. You give me credit when it
is not due, when I was merely doing that which was to my own and my people's
benefit."
Another Chief stepped forward, "But while serving your own people," he said,
"you serve ALL people. For your cause is the freedom of ALL men, and in that
battle we ALL share. Does it do harm that we wish you to share your wisdom
with our kin? To help them return to The Glory that is rightfully theirs?
What you have to give is mighty; the greatest of all medicine. Why would
you keep it from our people?"
"Never," said The Ancient One, "did I say that I would keep The Glory Of
The Lords from your people! It is for all men everywhere, just as it was
GIVEN to all men. It will be there, for them to hear. Understanding will
be given them, that they may know, but acceptance must come from the heart
to the soul. Truth will be there for them to have. But they must choose
to possess it. These contracts that you offered me were well intended, but
they should not be for me."
The Ancient One turned and stepped towards the one who stood in the shadows.
"This one," he said "I would help if I could. I understand his pain. I
understand his need, but I cannot be his new Fuehrer. I cannot undo what
he did. It is for another to hear his message, not for me. When I began
this mission I was told I would have a simple task...write a Book. Yet again
and again more has been added to that task...first a National Speaker, now
I am to run the whole Church!
This was supposed to be the position of my brother, he who I faithfully
serve. Already too much has been put on me, and I can bear no more. I am
not a young Spirit. My power is not limitless. What you ask is too much!
"It is within your power," said The First Speaker, "to be their Seed Bearer.
Will you at least do that?"
The Ancient One threw his hands into the air and brought them down to his
side with a hard slap. Folding his wings tightly to his body, he stood for
a moment, in silence. Then, a golden light entered the room and all of the
Council swiftly rose, bowing politely. The Ancient One turned, facing the
golden-skinned winged man who approached.
"What do you do now, North?" the man asked. Bowing, The Ancient One answered,
"Oh, Lord of Morning, brother of my heart, him who I respect above all others,
it is not what I do that is the problem. It is what I will NOT do!"
The Lord Of Morning smiled. "For one-hundred-thousand years," he said,
"it has always been what you WILL NOT DO! Be considerate, my brother. If
you will not take that which is offered you, at least plant the seeds that
they wish you to distribute, for you will be given the power to do that."
"And may I ask, Lord Of Morning," The Ancient One said, "why you do not
do this task? And why it is you have not take the place that was meant for
you? Why instead, have I been given it?"
"Perhaps," The Lord Of Morning answered, "it is because the time has come
for you to be first, not second, for you to have that place of authority that
is long overdue. Now, let us not argue any more. Our friends would like
to depart to their own celebrations of The New Year. Go forth, my brother,
and plant the seeds you will be given!"
The Ancient One smiled. "Why do I resist?" he asked, "Why do I oppose?
I know sooner or later I will give in. I always do!"
"The love in your soul is so great," said The Lord of Morning, "that you
can do little else."
The Ancient One bowed to The First Speaker. "For each," he said, "that
is here I will deliver the seed. Let them depart."
Those gathered in the Great Hall turned and departed. Where each of them
had stood, a shimmering mass of little twinkling lights remained. The Ancient
One went to each mass and reaching out, drew it into himself. When he got
to the one standing in the shadows, he still waited.
"Why have you not left your seeds?" The Ancient One asked.
"You know, surely," the man said, "many of them could not survive if they
entered this much light. You must come to The Darkness. They will gather
there."
The Ancient One nodded, and followed his guide to the lonely edge of The
Spirit World. Here the final cloud of lights gathered. "I must make haste!"
The Ancient One told his guide. He passed through the barrier seperating
The Spirit World from the material world and dropped quickly towards the southwest
of the land where he lived. His burden was great, and he must be rid of
some of it quickly.
He landed in a ravine. A short distance away sat a pickup truck and a fancy,
expensive car. Four men lounged in the car, drinking and laughing. In the
gully lay six bodies with dark skin; four males and two females. The Ancient
One approached the first. It had been shot through the heart. A pale blue
beam emerged from The Ancient One's hand. The wounded flesh and bone pulled
itself back together. The wounds sealed themselves, blood again began to
pump through the body. The pale blue beam covered it entirely. It began
to shiver. Its eyes and mouth opened and it began to breathe. The beam went
out and The Ancient One went to the next body. The process was repeated until
finally all six forms sat, adjusting. The first one rose.
"Easy!" said The Ancient One. "You will be a little weak. I could not
replace all the fluid you have lost. It will take awhile for your body to
compensate."
The man nodded. "I am Natchez," he said, "Chief of The Apache. this is
Cochise, Shuna and Geronimo. This is my woman Shome and Geronimo's woman
Sharine. These bodies you have given us are good, though the color of the
skin could have been lighter; they will do."
"The four who killed these people are up above," said The Ancient One.
"They make a habit of this. They lure young Americans to these lonely places
promising to sell them drugs, then they kill them, taking the money they
bring and their car. They are celebrating now."
"Their celebration will be short-lived," said Natchez. "It is permitted
for us to kill them, is it not?"
"It is permitted for you to destroy evil and profit from it, but you must
never harm the good, or the
agreement between us is broken, and that life you have been given will be
taken back."
"We understand the rules by which your people live," said Geronimo. "We
will not violate your ways. Lame Wolf. I learned enough from the last time
we met to respect your power no matter what form you have!"
"Good!" said The Ancient One. "Two of these men have women. they are
in a shack just down the road. They will make good wives, and good treatment
will make them loyal. There is also an old dry well there; a perfect place."
"As always," said Geronimo, "you think like an Apache!"
"I will leave you then," said The Ancient One.
"For now," said Geronimo.
The Ancient One spread his wings and soared off as those he had left behind
slipped off into the darkness toward the pickup truck where the rifles of
the men in the car carelessly lay.
The strong beats of The Ancient One's wings carried him swiftly and far.
At a burning house where the owners had escaped the flames but not the smoke,
he left seven Commanche. At an auto accident he left six Souix. Other places
he left Arapaho, Commanche, Cheyenne, Blackfoot, Crow. Though the night was
yet early, he had done an incredible amount of work. Yet not even one-third
of the charges he carried were delivered.
He was about to speed east when from the city below two forms rose to greet
him. Their pleas made The Ancient One veer towards them, and as they hovered
in the sky high above the city, he listened to their tales. Finally, he descended,
following the first to an expensive house on the outskirdts of the city.
The door was tightly locked, but The Ancient One easily slipped through
the crack, around its edge and stood in its livingroom. To his left was
a hallway. The final door along it stood open and The Ancient One walked
down, peering in the room. A naked boy of perhaps twelve, and a much older
man were on the bed. The boy was crying. "Please, daddy," he was saying,
"don't do it any more. It hurts!"
"How many times have I told you," the older man said, "I don't like it when
you whimper about it. You're a big boy. Lie there and be still 'til I'm
done. Your whining spoils my fun."
The Ancient One backed off. The door to another room stood ajar and he
peeked in. It was the bathroom. A tub of warm water already waited and
an electric heater warmed the room. The man and boy emerged from the bedroom.
"Now get to your room," the man said. "I'm going to take my bath. You
can take your shower in the morning before school."
As the boy entered his room and shut the door, the man walked passed The
Ancient One, entered the bathroom and climbed in the tub. A look of extreme
pleasure and joy was on his face. The Ancient One entered the bathhroom,
sat on the toilet and materialized, picking up the electric heater and holding
it over the water. The man's eyes had been closed all this time, but as he
opened them, a look of bewildered terror came on his face. He pulled himself
up a little. "No!" he said, "No! Don't! Please!"