Part XIV - The Warrior Eld Awakens Jenny Dawn, in cloak of starlit tombs, now came by our small fire, she whispered me a little tune, I'll admit to my desire. Then she settled down between us, as we huddled by the flame, now and then she'd squeeze my penis, and they'd giggle at the game. But woven through her playful tryst were strands of power's guise, and in the turquoise on her wrist, three fiery moonlit eyes. Soon the moment turned to silence, and the silence turned to words, "It was on the day of violence, I'd a visit from those birds." "The mayor, judge and dairy boss, the preacher was there too, sunup passed, the boys looked lost, the girls around were few." "Their condolences were boiled, in the tar they brought along, that grew more foul and soiled, in its brew of Christian song." "The judge just tapped his papers, while the preacher said it would prevent 'certain exposures' in the past of Emma Good." "The judge said he would expedite, and treat the matter fair. Assured me it would be all right and I would get my share." "Then I turned to face the preacher, he wouldn't get off light, 'you'll return the turquoise feature you stole that sin-filled night?' " "His face contorted with alarm, his story lines were bent right to the gate of Emma's farm where Christmas Eve was spent." "He'd been there on that fateful day, my bracelet was his bait, as he made his brazen schemey way right up to Emma's gate." "Oh, it wasn't him who killed her, there's bigger things at stake than a small extortion thriller by some clergy on the make." "You should have seen them when I mentioned it was still an empty room; just like a sheep convention, when I said, 'Bring up the goon.' " "By hand I had to take the judge, and walk him over there, so scared he'd hardly even budge as I pointed in the air." "You've lost your silly glasses judge, can you see all that far? Way over their my judgie-wudgie, to that newly laundered car." " 'Go and get that corporate guy who's sitting in the back, tell him Jenny wants him to drop by, the party's getting slack.' " "The judge returned with the tarry suit, he was the perfect jewel, 'It's a pleasure Jenny Dawn, but moot, I can see you're not a fool.' " "I said, 'You bet your little bucket,' as we watched our faces change, 'Straight to the bottom of your pocket, 'cause this ain't the Farmer's Grange.' " "And that's exactly what the mover did, he reached into his shirt, pulled out the final offer first and handed me the dirt." "I read the figures, read his eyes, then saw the truth undaunted, how the ones who make the lies can walk as though anointed." " 'Jenny Dawn, there's been some accidents, that's why I'm here today, though there's sizable investments, the valley-folk won't pay.' " " 'Some will go and some will borrow ' " but whatever they will choose, Our mission's not to cause great sorrow, and we'll help the ones that lose.' " "I slowly gestured without words, (a message and a test) 'What about these nervous birds? they're among the valley's best!' " "Corporate looked upon his flock, understood the line I drew, even tar that's backed with cash and stock must justify its due." " 'You know what's most dependable, with tarring institutions, everyone's expendable; the controlling resolution.' " " 'We've got no problem doing crime, at times that's how we play, but prefer to bend the rules sublime, and make things seem ok. ' " " 'Our concern is not with punishment, that's tar laid over tar, best left to local sentiment so vengeance isn't ours.' " " 'I imagine some will do some time.' he sympathized his looks, 'They'll get paid well for petty crime, the smart ones will write books.' " "His appraising eye then turned on me, we both had had our say, there was nothing there for him to see, I was the unknown day." " 'Jenny Dawn,' he said, 'that leaves just you, and what's beneath your layers. We don't know how you keep from view, you are a vexing player.' " "We left the rest to haw and hem, and spoke to dark conclusion. The Beast does not belong to them, there's gonna be confusion." "You saw him in his shadowing the night at Nan's Saloon. A thousand years are gathering the first will be here soon." She took a slip of folded paper and handed it to Bill, "This will help to keep the mesa and the nothing they would fill." Now my memory did the coaching, like a chain fit on a sprocket, spent fuel-rods were approaching in some politician's pocket. A cloud obscured the risen moon, on a night of emblem dark, and we, but co-conspirators at the stone that time had marked. "Bill," she said, I've known for years, such secrets never keep, her crown was made to catch the tears, that fell from nightmare'd sleep. " "What I didn't know, till recently, and thought you were sole source of my unnamable facility when you were held by force." "I learned the night of Emma's dance, the double-dose of tar she had bargained for my radiance, thus, killed her own bright star." "Again, the day that I was born, a sacrifice was fated, by her own hand her heart was torn and bracelets separated." "And, finally, on this Christmas Eve she faced extortion's bane, the preacher lead her to believe my danger was her shame." A stolen bracelet was his show, the treachery of love. What the Beast could not do from below, they'd now try from above." "Three fire-opals in her band were not a mere reflection, but prophecy of her great stand - a warrior's selection. "And so, as soon the preacher left, her plan was implemented; not chance nor impulse in her step, it would go where she wanted. "The blood of Isis thus was poured to mark a sacred trail, two-thousand years of tears to ford, then raise the final veil." "She rose before the eye of dawn, awash in mists of time, called forth an ancient warrior's song entombed in tarry rhyme." "She made her call to these dark hills though not a word was spoken and, though her life was thereby spilled, the warrior Eld had woken." "Through twenty centuries of tar, of slaughter and deceit, the warden of an ancient crime now walks his earthly keep. "Three times has Emma Morning risen, three times the Beast has learned, that from a blood-dimmed earthly prison the warrior has returned." "Bill, sacrifice was Emma's grace, and now she's past all fear. Her remains I've buried in this place, her radiance is here."

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