Shaman Winter Read Online Free Page A

the juice of ripe prickly pears.
    The bowl spoke, a silent language from the past, a dream of the ancients. Its artistry was as complete as the story it held. The finely polished Calendar of Dreams was a heart throbbing in his hands, a new time being born.
    Then a vision of the vast land to the north swept over him. He saw the weary colonists following the Río Grande to La Nueva México, and he saw himself, a sad and disillusioned man riding across the vast desert, alone. Why alone? he thought, and clung to Owl Woman.
    No me dejes, he whispered, sensing something wrong.
    Voy a preparar, she replied.
    She was going to her people to prepare. The marriage ceremony had to be completed within the circle of her people.
    Esta Olla de Sueños es nuestra, she said, and disappeared into the brush of the river, taking the bowl with her, the bowl holding the seed and promise of their dreams.
    Andres felt a shiver as the sun set. A warning cry from a coyote cut the air. But he shook off the bad feeling. This was a time for celebrating. He had met and made love to a beautiful young woman, an enchanting woman. Something magical had happened between them.
    I have a wife! he shouted. Niños to raise in La Nueva México! He dressed quickly and hurried back to the camp.
    Early the next morning Andres Vaca sought out one of the Tarascan guides who had come with them from México. Juan Diego knew many of the languages of the Valley of México, and he had quickly added Spanish to his repertoire. He could converse with these natives of El Paso del Norte.
    Juan Diego would help interpret for him. Together they went to the girl’s pueblo, and Andres Vaca spoke through the guide to the girl’s parents. There was no need to explain, the pueblo had already begun preparations for the wedding feast. All knew that Owl Woman had chosen the young captain as her husband.
    The elders told Andres Owl Woman’s story. When she was only a girl, Owl Woman had journeyed south with a shaman to the land of the Aztecs. She had visited Tula, the ancestral holy place. When she returned, she brought with her the bowl the ancients called the Calendar of Dreams.
    The priests of Tula knew their time on earth was coming to an end and that their way of life would be ruthlessly obliterated. Their temples were desecrated, the ceremonies abolished by the Spanish friars.
    The dream of peace was dying, but the elders of Tula knew a new dream could be born. Owl Woman was chosen to carry the Calendar of Dreams north. She was instructed to wait for the man who could take her north to the old pueblos. There among the descendants of the Anasazis a new dream was to flourish. There she would give birth to a new people, and she would deliver the bowl to the priests of the pueblos.
    So Andres Vaca learned that his destiny became part of Owl Woman’s fate, and the two in turn were part of a greater destiny yet to be fulfilled in La Nueva México.
    When he reported the proposed marriage between him and the young woman to Oñate, the entire Spanish expedition was glad to have something to celebrate. The journey to the banks of the Río Grande had been long and tiring. The Chihuahua desert especially had been cruel to man and beast. Already the colonists complained of the suffering they had endured, and there was still la Jornada del Muerto to cross before they arrived in the northern mountains.
    Now we have allies! Oñate told his soldiers. Guides to lead us, men of this tribe to speak to the northern tribes on our behalf. Capitán Andres Vaca has done us all a great service. We will prepare a feast to celebrate his wedding. Like Cortes before him, he will wed an Indian woman and deliver sons and daughters to the lands of the north.
    The wedding plans rippled like a fresh breeze across the tired camp. The women warmed water and bathed, and they removed gowns and shoes from their trunks.
    Somewhere a fiddler tuned his fiddle, and the excitement of the