Joe didn’t have a television or an internet connection, but he did have a little radio on an end table beside an old couch that was covered in a Navajo blanket. That blanket had covered the couch the first time I’d been here. It looked as new as it had forty years ago and I knew Joe had spelled the blanket to keep it clean and intact since unprotected wool would have worn through decades ago.
Joe motioned us toward the couch while he continued across the room and into the kitchen.
“How have you been, Joe?” I asked.
“I am well.” Joe popped the lids on three bottles of a local beer and returned to where we sat by the fire. He offered one to each of us and then sat down in the old rocking chair that he favored.
Tess held her bottle in both hands as she watched Joe carefully. After a minute, in which Joe and I sipped beer and studied each other, Tess spoke up. “Rafe tells me you built this house yourself, a long time ago.”
Joe nodded. “Yes, in my youth.”
“You did a good job,” Tess said, as she took in the cabin’s interior.
“Thank you, Tess. I have had to update it a few times. The city required interior plumbing in all homes; I think it was in the thirties.”
“Gees, what did you do before then?”
“Nosy much?” I asked.
“It’s okay, Rafe. Tess, I started with a cistern and a septic tank. Once a month I would pay a man a dollar to bring his wagon up the road from Cheyenne Creek and refill my cistern. The tank was above the house. I had a gravity fed faucet for showering and the toilet and another for cooking water.”
“Wow, that’s something. I’ve never met anyone who grew up without proper plumbing, at least in this country.”
“I also acquired electricity about the same time. I guess you’ve never seen anyone who didn’t have electricity either.”
“Just in Afghanistan. There were plenty of villages that didn’t have running water or electricity in their homes.”
Joe nodded thoughtfully and then asked. “Ah, that’s where you died?”
Tess reddened across the face and down her neck. “You know about that?”
“Rafe and I have been open in our friendship. We have our secrets, but only those that are important for us to keep. The saga of the Wanderers would have made great tales around the campfires of my youth.”
I laughed. “Joe likes to tell those stories. If you aren’t careful, he will keep you up all night relating them to you.”
“That sounds interesting. I’d love to hear some of them,” Tess said.
Joe sipped at his beer and then nodded. “And I will be happy to tell you some of them, but I’m sure Rafe has business to discuss before we relax.”
“That I do. You mentioned visions. Would you like to elaborate?” I asked.
“Yes, I’ve been seeing creatures that don’t belong here. I did a sweat yesterday to determine what was causing these visions. I had thought my mind was just wearing out, but my spirit totem came to me and warned me of great trouble.”
“Your spirit totem?” Tess interrupted.
“A great bear, what you folks call a grizzly. When a shaman calls on his spirit animal, it will guide him on what actions he must take to maintain his way. Mine told me that Rafe was coming and bringing a stranger. I assumed the person would be your apprentice, but from everything you have told me about Wanderers, I assumed it would be a man.”
“I get that from everyone,” Tess groused.
“Ah, well, times are changing,” Joe said.
“You were talking about your spirit animal,” I said to try to get the conversation back on topic.
Joe nodded. “Yes, the bear told me that there would be tremendous strife and a rift in the world that would allow creatures that have not been seen here in millennia. He said that you were a great warrior and, with help, could close the rift and turn back the hordes.”
“I’m glad he thinks so highly of me,” I said with more than a little sarcasm.
“He said ‘hordes?’” Tess asked.
I glanced at her and saw that she was frowning.
“That was the description. Sounds bad, right?” Joe replied.
“The only hordes I’ve ever read about were the Mongol hordes. Back in the day, they overran most of the known world,” Tess said.
Joe nodded. “Yep, that sounds about right. Of course, there’s also hordes of locusts if your bible is to be believed.”
“I don’t think that’s in doubt. They’ve had hordes of locusts in many parts of the world just in my lifetime,” I said, just to get in on the conversation. I wasn’t really concerned about hordes of locusts but didn’t like the idea of a horde of creatures entering our world any more than Tess did.
“You make light of the problem?” Joe asked staring at me.
I shook my head. “Not light, but there’s no point in wringing my hands and crying over things that might happen.”
“Might?” Joe said. “The great bear spirit has never spoken falsely.”
“Oh? And did he say who this help was? I don’t want to sound picky, but if I’m supposed to have help, it’d be nice to know who to ask,” I said.
Joe shook his head. “He wasn’t specific. I’ll do what I can, but I’m no longer in my youth. I know a few tricks, but we shamans don’t usually participate in battles with demon hordes. We’re more like healers and prognosticators.”
“Demon hordes? Prognosticators?” Tess asked.
“Basically anything that isn’t natural in our world can be referred to as demons. I haven’t
