Chapter 18: A Small Army

Ben watched the three men ride towards them. He allowed himself to see their auras and was surprised. Their auras were nearly as clear and bright as Han's. The blue green shimmered around all three Cherokee's. He allowed his focus to expand as he looked around the rim of the valley. Almost all of them were surrounded by the blue green shimmer. There were two that showed a yellowish bruising in the blue-green field but Ben could see what caused the anomaly in both of them. One man liked to drink too much and got angry when he was drinking. Another had lost his family to white men and was particularly cruel to white men when he caught one alive. Ben could tell the angry Cherokee wasn't happy about helping a white man. His only reason for being in the group was that he had a chance to capture other white men. He used to be a loving father and husband but now his only mission in life was to inflict his less than tender mercies on white men. Ben knew that one would be a problem unless he could fix it at the start of their association.

The Cherokee Indian chief in charge of the 32 man band was called Bear Brother. That wasn't the Indian word for his name but Ben had trouble pronouncing it. Wasa'pe Ba'vi was as close as Ben could get to the chief's name in Cherokee. Han didn't even try to pronounce the Cherokee words. Bear Brother understood and spoke English as well as Ben did. He told Ben to just call him Bear.

"We don't have time to stop now," Ben told Bear after the introductions had been made. "We need to reach Wolf Creek tomorrow. We can talk while we ride and tonight we can plan. There are a couple of things we need to understand between us before we start though. First, we are on a mission for our God. I know I may call him a different name than you do but, can we agree on that?"

At Bear Brother's nod Ben continued. "This is not a war with the white man. This is a war against evil men. Your men must not harm innocents. If they do I will have to fight them."

"My men will not attack innocents," Bear said stiffly.

"Even him?" Ben asked pointing to the angry brave that only wanted to kill whites.

Bear Brother frowned and after a moment's hesitation motioned the indicated man to ride down.

The brave whooped and rode into the little valley to stop in a cloud of dust beside his chief. Bear said something to him in Cherokee that earned Ben a scowl and a harsh retort.

Bear nodded and turned back to Ben before asking, "I've told him what you said. What do you know of him and why would you point him out."

Ben sat his saddle calmly and thought of the best way to answer. He knew how he would answer if this were a bunch of white men. He would have to lie because they wouldn't follow him if they thought he was crazy. If he told a bunch of white men that he was on a mission from God they would all ride away laughing. These were Indians though and they believed differently than white men. He didn't have any experience with them.

"Joseph, how would they react to the complete truth?" Ben asked in his mind.

"Better than your own people because they are much more spiritual," Joseph said. "It might even win you a friend or two that would prove valuable in the future."

"That's assuming I have a future beyond tomorrow" Ben grumbled to God. Ben took a deep breath and let it out before saying aloud, "Joseph said that you are more apt to accept the truth than my own people would so that is what you're going to get."

Bear looked around then back at Ben and asked puzzled, "Who's Joseph?"

Han snickered and Ben glared at her before looking back at Bear. "Joseph is what I've been calling God for the last five years," He explained. "He has given me certain abilities in exchange for protecting innocents."

"Ah, so you are on a spirit journey," Bear Brother said in understanding. Bear started speaking in Cherokee, translating what Ben said as he said it.

"One of those abilities is to see people's auras or you might call it people's spirit. I can see what kind of person I am dealing with when I look at their aura. You and most of your men have a strong blue-green aura of good honest men. I can see that all of you have killed men while protecting your families and your homes but you don't kill men out of cruelty." Ben pointed to the man that liked to drink and said, "He likes to drink."

There was general laughter among the braves after Bear translated Ben's words.

"And he always turns into a mean drunk. Any time he has alcohol available he can't resist drinking it," Ben continued. "We'll need to make sure he stays away from the booze on this mission because we are going into the den of temptation."

The braves quieted at Bear's translation and looked thoughtful.

Ben looked at the angry brave intently for a long moment. He knew the man's name and what happened to him in the moment of studying his aura. Ben felt tears threaten as he saw what Walking Elk saw when he returned to his family. He saw how Walking Elk's wife had been raped, killed and his children's heads crushed and felt his heart twist in his chest at the agony of the memory.

Ben nodded towards the angry brave and quietly said, "Walking Elk likes to torture and kill white men for what he believes are good reasons."

The braves could hear every word of Bear's translation despite Bear pitching his voice to the same level as Ben's voice. There was a murmur among them because there was no way Ben could know the man's name.

Ben's voice was compassionate. "Evil white men killed his wife, son and two daughters. My job, my mission from Joseph, from God, is to protect the innocents of this world. His wife, son and daughters were innocents and if I could have protected them I would have with my life."

The braves had grown quiet at Bear's translation. The wind had died and even the horses were remaining still. It was as if the world was holding its breath.

"What he doesn't understand is that all white men are not evil," Ben continued quietly. "The Adversary, the Evil One, sent those men to kill Walking Elk's family. The Evil One knew that by killing those four innocents he could cause Walking Elk, a good and noble man, to kill other innocents. That's the way the Adversary works. He revels in destruction, killing and hate. He caused Walking Elk to hate so he would kill other innocents, white innocents. Then, in return, more whites would kill more Indian innocents. Walking Elk thinks he is getting revenge for his family but he isn't. All he is doing is the Adversaries work, the same work the men that killed his family were doing. What is worse, the hate is eating his soul." Ben nodded towards Walking Elk and explained, "His aura is a bruised yellow color and I got that information from his aura; from his spirit." He nodded back towards Bear and said, "Your aura and most of your men's is a bright blue green color. There are still traces of God's blues and greens in Walking Elk's aura. That means there is still hope for him if he gives up his hate."

Ben sat back in his saddle and gazed around the rim of the little valley. There was a shuffling of nervousness among the braves as his gaze swept over them. In a stronger voice he said, "Tomorrow we will be riding against an agent of the Adversary. Joseph, our God, calls him a Red Agent. That means I will need to focus my attention on him because I am the only one that can match him in strength, speed, or endurance. I will need you and your men to take care of the Red Agent's men. Remember, the Adversary and his agents are experts at delusion and temptation. If you can be tempted by greed and only want more ponies then you will be tempted and we will fail. If your weakness is alcohol then he will entice you with it and if you give in we will fail." Ben looked directly at Walking Elk when he said, "And the Adversary is the essence of evil and hate. If you are already consumed by hate then you are already under his power. The Adversary can follow our actions and planning through your eyes." His voice dropped almost to a whisper when he said, "You have to cleanse your spirit or the Adversary will defeat us through you."