The Mantooth
Copyright© 2018 by Christopher Leadem
Chapter 48
Together the weary lovers walked across the wounded landscape to the sea. Reaching its margins, Kalus drew out the remaining peyote buttons. The two exchanged glances, and both understood.
‘You have been both a teacher and a killer,’ he said. ‘But I have no further need of you, nor would I ask another to follow down your dark and treacherous path.’ And he threw them into the sea. Then together they knelt in the cool and cleansing waters, and washed the sins from their hands.
Then returning to the narrow stretch of sand, the woman-child lay back. She lay very still, and listened to the stories told by the waves, touching them all, and hiding from none. Until all that remained was the sun behind, the sea before, and the man she loved beside her. She stood up and embraced him, and her soul was restored to her.