Chapter Forty-TwoThe Door Redux
Three days later, the five visitors departed from Winten-ah. Alex had directed them toward Danta-ah and Rinta-ah. He asked Wenta-eh to accompany them on their journey. Like her brother, she was always anxious for a new adventure and gladly accepted the assignment.
Before they left, Bista and Alex decided where the new door would be. They placed it behind the waterfall that fell into the clean water pool next to Alex’s small cabin. It was positioned in such a way that no one—and just as importantly, nothing would accidentally stumble into it and be flung back in time.
Knowing it was there, and that he could leave at any time, Alex drug his feet somewhat. He returned once again to Prata-ah to say his proper goodbyes to the spirt of Lanta-eh. He visited the grave of his beloved Senta-eh. Her grave was unmarked, except in Alex’s mind.
Just as importantly, he spent several days talking to Sanda-eh. She was only four years old, with a yearning intellectual curiosity, so he was sure she would be able to adapt to the strange new world he was taking her to. Still, he wanted to do as much as he could to prepare her.
Alex made sure that he included Monda-ak in these conversations as well. He knew that a three-hundred-pound dog—Monda-ak had gained a few pounds as he matured—was going to have a tough adjustment period in the twenty-first century. He had never known a collar or a leash and it would have broken his heart if Alex had tried to use one. Still, Alex needed him to know that it was not acceptable to launch himself at people in Oregon in 2019, then look for permission to crunch their craniums. He had a series of conversations with the dog about this.
Alex considered taking the trip to Danta-ah himself, but in the end, he didn’t want to postpone his leaving that long.
As when he had prepared to leave five years earlier, there weren’t many souvenirs to take back to twenty-first century Oregon with him. The half-circle necklace that Tokin-ak had given him. The two-bladed axe that he had been gifted by Versa-eh. Dan Hadaller’s diary. He longed to have a photo to remember Senta-eh by, but that was impossible.
The morning he decided to leave, he sat down with Reggie. Tinka-eh and Sanda-eh played together in the grass just below them. Reggie and Alex dangled their legs over the lowest edge of the cliffside.
“Any thought about coming back with me?” Alex asked.
Reggie shook his head. “Seriously. I didn’t leave anything there that I feel a need to go back to. Here, people accept me for who I am. There, I was just another thug that people looked at suspiciously. Here, I am the greatest musician in the world.” He squinted a bit and smiled at Alex as he said that.
“I spoke to Sekun-ak. He gave me permission to give you my house.”
Reggie’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? Hey, are you saying my house isn’t that great?” He pointed to the small version of Alex’s house that sat on the ground below.
“You know what they say about real estate. Location, location, location. My cabin will get you up off the ground, there’s more room for you and Tinka-eh, and it’s got indoor plumbing! Well, kind of. Indoor water, anyway.”
“Thank you, Alex. Seriously. That means a lot. Tink and I will put it to good use.”
“You know what I’m most worried about? I have no idea what I’ll be walking into. It’s been eleven years since I stepped through that door. That means that my house has been foreclosed on and someone else is living there. Since no one ever came through the door, I assume whoever bought it was smarter than me and bricked it back up.”
“What happens then?”
“What happens then is, I’ll be trapped in a very tight space with a little girl and a massive dog. I’m bringing my hammer, though. I don’t care how many walls someone put up, I can knock them down. I just don’t want to run into a scared homeowner seeing someone who looks like me bursting through a wall in their basement. They might shoot first and ask questions later.”
They sat silently for a few minutes, watching their girls run and play in the field below. In the far corner of the field, the small group of young female archers practiced their craft as Senta-eh had shown them.
“I’m not sure what they’re going to do without you,” Reggie said. “What will happen the next time the princess needs rescuing, or a battle needs to be fought?”
“The same thing that happened in the eons before I stepped through the door, I would imagine. Sekun-ak is a great chieftain. He will lead the Winten-ah just fine. Now that the curse is removed from the land, I expect there will be a baby boom over the next few years. There’s a lot of pent-up parenthood longing.”
Alex stood, stretched, and said, “I guess I’ve put it off as long as possible. I better find Sekun-ak and tell him goodbye. Will you two keep an eye on Sanda-eh for a few minutes?”
“Sure, of course,” Reggie said. Monda-ak did not reply.
Alex climbed the ladders and switchbacks and found Sekun-ak in the uppermost chamber, sitting alone. When Alex had first arrived, he recognized Sekun-ak as an obstacle. He had been hesitant to let Alex stay in Winten-ah. When Alex had wanted to become a hunter, Sekun-ak had designed the challenges to be as difficult as possible.
And then, they had escaped from slavery in Denta-ah together. They had been forced to throw their lots in together and rely on each other to survive. They had emerged from the experience as brothers. Alex knew that he would miss the quiet wisdom and support of Sekun-ak more than anything else.
Alex sat down opposite. Typical of
