Page 63 of Their Property
I hopped down from behind Grudge, the solid ground a bit disorienting to my feet. “What can I help with?” I asked him.
“Mm-mm.” He shook his head and made a shooing motion at me before unbuckling his saddlebags.
“Aw, come on! Let me help.” I grabbed hold of his forearm and looked directly up at him, my best pouty lip and wide, innocent eyes on display. “Please?”
The corded muscles jumped under his tattooed skin. My fingers itched to explore up the length of that arm, to his bicep and shoulder where the valkyrie tattoo was hidden under his sleeve.
Grudge smiled bashfully while looking away from me, huffing out a soft laugh. When he met my eyes again, it was with a look that said,Oh, alright.
“Yes!” I fist-pumped the air with my victory, and he laughed again before handing me a stack of folded tarps from his saddlebag.
Once Chris and T-Bone checked out the canyon and made sure it was clear of critters, I spread out the tarps where we’d set up tents and sleeping bags. I hunted down a few heavy rocks to hold down the corners while Tiff set up a cooking fire in the center. The guys got tents set up with sleeping bags inside, and once night fell, the six of us were cozy around a roaring fire.
Chicken thighs sizzled on a cast-iron cooking grate over the flame. Next to the meat, a pot of rice bubbled as it cooked. It was a simple dinner, but perfect. A collection of seasonings and sauces stood off to the side for when the food was ready. The logs crackled, and in the distance, coyotes sang their song.
I pulled the blanket tighter around my shoulders and couldn’t stop grinning. It was just us and the open, wild wilderness. Everything about this was so unlike anything I’d ever experienced. I was among friends, safe while also free. And there was just enough danger, just enough wild and unknown in that endless darkness beyond our campfire to send a thrill up my spine.
“Hey, Dyno,” Chris called across the fire from where he cuddled up with Tiff. “You bring your thing?” He wiggled his fingers in a motion that suggested some kind of musical instrument.
Dyno smiled as he poked the fire with a long tree branch. “Never go anywhere without it.”
“Has Kyrie heard you play?”
“Nah.”
“Play what?” I asked. “I want to hear.”
T-Bone finished turning over the chicken thighs and plopped down next to me. “He acts like a shy motherfucker but he loves it, and he’s actually really good.” Then louder, “Just play the damn thing, D.”
Dyno set aside his branch and scooted back to sit next to Grudge, folding his legs in front of him as he reached into his cut. “Kyrie, have you heard of Kokopelli?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
He produced a slim, wooden flute from his cut, long fingers automatically placing over a few of the holes. “Kokopelli is a fertility deity of my mother’s people, the Hopi tribe. He presides over agriculture and childbirth.” Dyno raised the flute toward his mouth, still smiling. “He’s also the spirit of music and is always depicted playing a flute.”
“He also used to be depicted with a big ol’ boner,” T-Bone added informatively.
I nearly spat out the water I’d been drinking. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, because of the whole fertility thing. That is, until his image was cleaned up by the prudes that colonized this area. I always did find interesting that the Hopi had a male fertility god, because it’s usually a female—”
“Will you let the man play some damn music?” Tiff threw a pebble at T-Bone.
“Anyway,” Dyno said with a laugh. “I hope you enjoy, and if Kokopelli moves you to join in, feel free.”
Silence fell over the camp as Dyno brought the mouthpiece to his lips. There was a beat of silence as he took a breath, and then the music began.
The flute sounds were lower-pitched than I expected, warm and with a rough texture to the sound that had to be a result of grooves in the wood. It sounded like a wind whistling through trees and canyons, wild and ancient, but controlled by Dyno’s breaths and his fingers moving over the air holes.
I didn’t realize I started swaying to the music until my shoulder bumped into T-Bone’s chest. I looked up at him to apologize, but he just smiled and started moving with me, the heat of his broad chest sliding gently against my back.
Chris and Tiff moved too, their bodies shifting every time Dyno hit a different beat. Chris started drumming a matching beat on his knees while Tiff hummed along with the song. Their eyes closed as they swayed, letting the music take them.
I couldn’t find words to describe it. The music was beautiful, yes, but also passionate as the notes rose and fell. It had started gently but I could feel the intensity of the song as it went on, and Dyno’s concentration as he played. Someone started clapping along, I didn’t know who because my eyes had fallen shut too. I clapped too, the strike of my palms against each other adding to the vibrations thrumming against my skin. The air felt almost solid, tangible, like it was a living thing.
It felt magical.
The song hit its climax, the notes transitioning faster than ever before. Somewhere distantly, I swore I could hear the valkyrie from my dream drumming against her shield to the music too. Everything was connected and alive, so why shouldn’t she join in? If I let my eyes slit open, I would not have been surprised to see Kokopelli himself dancing around the fire as he played his flute along with Dyno.
