Tricked

footsteps crunched behind me, I felt foolish standing there with a naked sword, so I gingerly crept back into the circle, keeping my distance from the skinwalker’s body, and recovered the scabbard. I sheathed Moralltach and slung it over my back. Coyote tossed his manila envelope onto the ground behind him; whatever was in there wasn’t important to him right now.
    Inside Joe’s jish were some feathers, rattles, pouches of herbs, and two sacred buckskins. He divided the contents with Coyote.
    When Granuaile returned with two brooms, we carefully brushed all the caltrops to the south side against the wall. She saw Frank there and quietly said, » He was such a sweet man. How did he die? «
    » Heart attack. They didn’t get him, though. Other way around. «
    She didn’t reply, only nodded, and then leaned her broom up against the wall of the butte. The two Coyotes were murmuring to each other in their own language. When they finished, Joe set off toward the other skinwalker, who had fallen to his death some thirty yards away to the west. Coyote stepped closer to the blackened one that Frank had killed and motioned us over.
    » Wanna tell ya somethin’ in case somethin’—well, just in case, all right? See, in the beginnin’, me an’ Joe weren’t much differ’nt than that thing you see there. « He pointed at the boiling blackness of the First World spirit. » Except we were a whole lot sexier, o’ course. First Man and First Woman, they were spirits of the air too. We were people of mist, if you wanna think about it that way. An’ as we rose up through the worlds, we changed, an’ these bodies were given to us by the Holy People. « He tossed his head toward the spirits before continuing, » These fuckers, however, came up with us from First World, but they never got their bodies. They’re unevolved, see? Unless you wanna count the fact that they’ve turned from plain ornery to pigshit evil. Thing is, like Joe said, we can’t do anything to ’em when they’re spirits. So we’re gonna give ’em bodies. Their own bodies, not somebody else’s body they can possess and turn to the Witchery Way. Then we step on ’em. «
    » Beg your pardon? « Granuaile said.
    » They’re insects, « Coyote said. » Not sure what kind. Could be ants, could be those hard-shelled bigass beetles, could be dragonflies or locusts, but insects no matter what. When we get through with this ceremony, they’ll be bugs, and we can kill ’em easy and send ’em back to First World. They won’t be coming back, though. So you two can help by kinda standin’ over there. « He pointed to a space between the two skinwalker corpses. » Once they’re bugs, they’re gonna try to get away—they’ll skitter around or fly or somethin’—and we could use your help to chase ’em down. «
    » What if they do get away? « Granuaile asked.
    Coyote shrugged. » Ain’t that big a deal. What’s the average life span of a bug? They’ll die eventually. A bird will eat ’em if we’re lucky. They’ll be on the slow train to First World instead of the express, that’s all. The important thing is they’ll be mortal and won’t be able to harm anyone after this. We’re gonna get started now before the ch’áádii start to disperse, all right? «
    He bent down and grabbed a pouch of corn pollen and an eagle feather.
    » Um— « I said, but Coyote started to sing before I could form a coherent question, and I knew he wouldn’t stop for my benefit now that he’d begun. Joe’s voice joined in from over by the other skinwalker, and that left Granuaile and me with nothing to do but worry.
    My apprentice asked the philosophical question first. » Is he trying to create something out of nothing, sensei? Can he do that? «
    » I’m not sure, « I said. » Maybe. «
    » But how? «
    » I don’t know. Let’s go stand over there where he asked us to. «
    Granuaile kept talking as we moved. » Don’t you know how the stories went? How did First Man and First Woman get their bodies? You can’t tell me you don’t remember. «
    » Well, I’m fairly certain the process didn’t involve gasoline, « I said, watching the two Coyotes sprinkle gas on the skinwalkers’ bodies as they sang and danced around them clockwise.
    She snorted. » That’s a safe bet. «
    » I understand why they’re doing it: They have to unbind the spirit from the ch’áádii before they can shove it into a body. It just seems to be a very modern way to do it.