Always With You 3:4A
Always With You Part Three by Watcher Tara
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Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Roswell.
Summary: Max and Kyle have to team up to save Liz from an unexpected threat. Meanwhile, the rest of the gang returns to Marathon, Texas looking for answers and finds more than they anticipated.
Category: Max/Liz
Rating: PG
Chapter Four
Riverdog had warned them that using the Healing Stones could be dangerous. “The balance can pull you in. It's a force that can change both your body and your mind unless you navigate it properly…” Maria had used the stones twice before in the past year, once on Michael, once on Max. Neither time she’d done it had she experienced anything like what was happening to her now.
Of course, both times before the others had been with her. Using the Stone by herself left her open for the Stone to take over the healing. She lost all sense of time and place while she sat on the floor in Atherton’s hidden room next to Michael who was badly hurt. The stone glowed brightly in the room. It was in fact the room’s only illumination.
While she sat there, focusing her thoughts on Michael, something strange began to happen. She thought she felt another presence, not in the room, but calling to her from inside the Stone itself. The light began to glow brighter and brighter. Maria didn’t know it, but the balance in the Healing Stone was pulling her in, just as Riverdog had warned her it could. She didn’t fight it, and soon she was immersed in the healing.
After a time, her vision cleared, and she was running through the desert. A part of her knew that her body was still at Atherton’s, but her mind had joined the mind of another. She knew without questioning it whose mind she occupied. It was Riverdog. Without trying, she was aware of his thoughts, and more, his whole state of consciousness. It was as if she was Riverdog.
He was about fifteen years old, and was trailing after Nasedo as he fled into the desert following the Indian’s test to see if he was an evil spirit. They had unknowingly triggered a reaction in the man that could result in his death.
Riverdog followed the visitor up the slope. There was something terribly wrong with his friend. He was panting and weaving his way through the brush. The boy didn’t know what was wrong, but felt compelled to follow him. He didn’t announce his presence, curious as to where the man was going. He’d always respected his privacy in the past, never prying into where the man went each night, or what he did, or why he chose to live in the desert away from everyone and everything. A part of Riverdog was scared of what his friend would say when he discovered that he’d been followed.
He couldn’t imagine what had happened in the sweat lodge to cause this kind of reaction. Of course, he’d heard of people that have severe allergic reactions to things. One of the women in the tribe was deathly allergic to fish. The last time she’d eaten some she’d nearly died. However, what was there to be allergic to in the sweat? The heat? The smoke? It didn’t make sense, but obviously, something was wrong with the man.
Riverdog didn’t know why the Elders of the tribe were so suspicious of the stranger. He never did anything to bother the tribe. Quite the opposite in fact. From the first time he’d mentioned that he’d made a friend who lived in the desert, they’d been anxious. Riverdog knew that the stranger meant them no harm. In fact, they’d met when the stranger had come to his aid, when he’d fallen down the side of a ravine, and lay at the bottom of the slope amid the rubble.
As he walked, he thought of the events and conversation he’d overheard between his father and the tribal Elders a few weeks ago that had precipitated tonight’s test.
As was bound to happen, he had begun to mention his new friend from time to time at the dinner table. His parents were curious about the stranger that the boy was spending so much time with. When they found out that their son didn’t even know the man’s name their curiosity turned into caution. Riverdog’s father, Fire Shadow, made it a point to mention the stranger at the next tribal meeting.
“It is strange,” he said to the tribal elders, unaware the Riverdog was within earshot. “Why would a man want to spend so much time with a boy Riverdog’s age? Why would he not share his name?”
“You are right. Something is not as it seems with the man.” Chief Moon Gazer agreed.
“From what Riverdog has said, I believe that he is living on tribal land. Perhaps he is running from the law and wishes to use the tribe as a shield from the authorities.”
“Perhaps it is something else.” The chief was silent for a moment before announcing, “I have dreamed.”
There was a sudden stillness over the group of men. Moon Gazer was known near and far for the accuracy of his prophetic dreams. When the man began to speak again everyone was listening. Riverdog held his breath and strained to hear every word of what was being said.
“Long have I dreamed of a stranger to this land: a visitor from further away than any of us have ever traveled. Nasedo. He is sun and moon. He carries with him hope of life and threat of death. Already he has created and yet he has killed.” The chief used a stick to stir the glowing embers of the fire that was crackling in the middle of his lodge.
“Where does he come from, Chief Moon Gazer?” one of the other men asked.
“It is strange, but the signs and my dreams tell me that he is from the head of the ram.”
“The head of the ram?” Moon Gazer’s dreams were often cryptic but this was strange even for him. “What ram?”
The chief grunted. He wasn’t sure what it meant himself. Someone in the back whispered, “Is he a new form of head lice?” Moon Gazer shot him a glare.
“How long have you been having these dreams?” Fire Shadow asked.
“For a long time. Years.”
“How many years, Chief?”
“Three… maybe more. They come most often in the spring.”
“Spring?” another man asked.
“Yes. It has puzzled me for many months. I can not seem to make the connection or understand what the spirits are telling me.” Moon Gazer stared hard into the fire recalling his last dream about the stranger. It was as cryptic as all the others were.
“Wait a minute,” Fire Shadow said. “He is from the head of the ram, and his coming is associated with spring… That sounds so familiar.” He thought for a minute.
Lost “Call me Joe” Willow said from beside him. “Yeah, it’s Aries the Ram, one of the constellations. The vernal equinox is associated with it because the sun is in Aries at that time of the year.”
“Hey, that’s right. How’d you remember that, Joe?”
“At our spring festival last year, I had to wear that old ratty Ram suit. No offense, Moon Gazer. My boy, Rodney, wrote a school paper on why the Ram was important to spring.”
“You’ve got a good memory. Joe.”
“Yeah. Well, to tell the truth, it was an interesting report.”
“So wait a minute,” Moon Gazer’s son interjected. “What does the constellation Aries have to do with Riverdog’s new friend? Are your dreams telling us that this man, this stranger is some kind of visitor from outer space?”
There were some chuckles in the tent until Moon Gazer said, “It is possible.”
“Father…”
“No wait,” Fire Shadow interrupted. “Three years ago, wasn’t that about the same time that that weather balloon fell out on Puhlman Ranch?”
“I heard it weren’t no weather balloon.”
“Yeah, I heard it was some kind of space ship that crashed that day,” said someone from the back.
“You know, old man Jake at the feed store told me his brother actually saw the ship before they cleaned it up. Then the strangest thing… his brother just disappeared. Rumor has it that the government came and took him away one night because of what he’d seen.”
There were general sounds of agreement as everyone recalled the excitement of three years ago when something fell out of the sky that sunny Fourth of July. The army had crawled all over the hills for weeks supposedly to do some surveying. Everyone knew at the time that they were searching for something or someone.
“You think maybe this fella survived the crash, somehow got away from the government, has been hiding out here for three years to suddenly become best friends with Riverdog?” the voice was skeptical.
“It is possible.”
“But not very likely.” Moon Gazer’s son put in.
“Maybe the elders can devise a test to prove it one way or another. If he is a visitor, nasedo, then we should find out.”
“If he is nasedo, do we want to risk making him angry by testing him?” Joe asked.
No one had an answer. Finally, Moon Gazer said, “I will think on it.”
“What do we do in the meantime?” Fire Shadow asked.
“Stay away from him.”