Journey to Ninas Twei
Book One of the
Earth Woman Tree Woman Quartet
Connie Pwll Walck Tyler
Deep Hum Productions
Berkeley, CA
www.deephum.com
Copyright © 2016 by Connie Powell Walck Tyler
Deep Hum Productions (www.deephum.com)
Berkeley, CA
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, Deep Hum Productions, 2322 8th Street, Berkeley, CA 94710
Published in the United States of America.
Cover art by Katie W. Stewart, Magic Owl Design (www.magicowldesign.com)
and Connie Pwll Walck Tyler
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
The Earth Woman Tree Woman Quartet
is dedicated to my ancestors,
the tall, wise oak trees
who spoke to me when I was a child,
and to the wolf who lived back of a gas station in Alaska,
who dances in my dreams.
Acknowledgements
My thanks go to Kenneth and Bridget Tyler, Lissa Dirrum, Holly Coats-Bash, Dan Ross, Allysson MacDonald, and Paul Dinas, Book Editor, for their willingness to read and suggest changes to the manuscript;
to Tony Zaatari of Media Masters for all the help with the recording and mixing of the music;
to Katie W. Stewart for her patience and willingness in creating the cover art;
to InterPlay founders, Cynthia Winton-Henry and Phil Porter, for giving me a place to dance and sing my new ideas and dreams; and all the InterPlayers who have given me support through the years;
to Katie Winton-Henry for singing for me and encouraging me.
In memoriam, thanks go to Dr. Scott Coulter whose help with the music when I first started this musical novel changed my life forever;
and my father, Henry Z. Walck, who read and tried to promote the first permutation many, many years ago.
Table of Contents
Invocation:
Arise!
Prologue: The Hunters and the Cat
Dark of Hunter’s Moon
Chapter 1 – Giselle Enters the Dance
Full Ripe Corn Moon
Prophesy
Last Quarter Ripe Corn Moon
Chapter 2
Moon of Ripening Fruit
The Earth’s Song: Breath
Waxing Crescent
The Tree’s Song
Earth and Tree
First Quarter
Full Moon
Last Quarter
Chapter 3
Moon When Acorns Fall
First Quarter
Waxing Gibbous
Full Moon
Rejoice
Sunwarm Sand
Waning Gibbous
Energy
The Flower’s Song: I Am Without Words
Earth Woman, Tree Woman’s Song: Warm is the Earth
The Tree and the Woman are One
Last Quarter
The Wolves Song: I Am the Wild
The Cougar’s Song: I am I
The Hawk’s Song: High Crier
Butterfly Winging
Anchored No Longer
Waning Crescent
Water of Life
Answer the Call of the Earth and the Sun
Chapter 4
Dark Hunter’s Moon
Water of Life Reprise
Journey to Ninas Twei
The Squirrel’s Song: Messenger
The Coyote’s Song: Creation’s Echo
Answer the Call
Tsin Twei
Dance of Life
The Hunt: Missing Children
Ninas Twei: Singing Swan
Singing Swan’s Song
The Hunt: The Forest Good or Evil
Ninas Twei: Pain
The Hunters and the Cat (Reprise)
Ninas Twei: The Fall
Tla Twein Forever
Luhanada
Tata
Appendix I
People, Places, Organizations, and Terminology
Appendix II
Ninas Twei and the Tla Twein
Invocation
Arise, arise,
Open your heart!
Open your heart to the Dance of Life.
Arise, arise,
Open your eyes!
See the world in the Dance of Life.
Beat your feet
To the beat of your heart!
Dance the Dance of Life!
Peace, peace,
Laughter and dance!
Joy and life for us all.
Sing your tears,
Sing your fears,
Defy oppression through the years,
Dance the Dance of Life!
Arise, arise,
Open your heart!
Open your heart to the Dance of Life.
Arise, arise,
Open your eyes!
Dance the Dance of Life!
Click here to listen to song
Prologue: The Hunters and the Cat
Dark of Hunter’s Moon
It was midnight when the hunters tramped out of the forest and down the driveway to the Bidewell house, sitting shadowed and silent in the lee of the hill.
“Hey, Amundsen,” one of the men called out. “How old’s your granddaughter?”
Amundsen kept walking, silent and stony-faced, his old 30-30 swinging at his side.
The deputy answered for him. “Nine. And the missing boy’s the same age.”
“Old enough to get into some mischief,” the man muttered. The men beside him nodded.
The young man walking at the front of the group stopped abruptly, causing a startled halt in the line. “What’s that?” he yelled pointing at something standing out near the edge of the cliff.
The group spread out around him peering at the tall dark thing – something tree-like, and yet not a tree – inky black against the moonless midnight sky.
The deputy frowned. “Weird.” Shaking his head he turned, leading them across the meadow toward the cliff path that wound down to the beach.
A small gray cat slipped out from back of the dark house and followed them across the trampled grasses to where the object stood facing west over the ocean, watching as the men circled the tall wooden thing.
“What is it?” they muttered.
“A sculpture of something.”
“A tree…”
“Or a woman?”
Amundsen’s eyes narrowed as he glared at the tree woman.
“Evil,” he whispered.
But they all heard, exchanging uneasy glances.
The little cat sat, tail curled around his toes, head cocked to one side looking at them. Dickerson’s eyes widened. “Hey, look at the way that cat’s looking at us!”
They all jumped as a shot rang out. The cat leapt in the air as a bullet hit the ground next to it, tearing across the yard to the house as two more shots followed before it managed to duck under the porch without being hit.
A
mundsen lowered his gun.
“Jees,” muttered one of the hunters.
The deputy took a deep breath. “Amundsen…” He shook his head. "I don't think you needed to do that. It was just a cat."