Chapter 1

The boy cried.

Great Bear did not fault the child for his tears. It would be many years still before the boy would learn to stand proud, enduring such pain with a stoic expression of bravery. Now, his tears were the natural expression of a boy with a broken leg.

Calling up the power of the tribal magic, and giving the boy a drink of potion already prepared, Bear waited for the child to calm. When the magic and the pain killing draught took hold, Bear nodded to the boy's father. Fox held his son down, preparing for what was to come.

Bear set the leg with a practiced motion, causing the child to scream out in pain. The flash of agony caused the boy to lose consciousness, which allowed Bear to check and wrap the leg without interference.

Once the wrapping was complete, Bear once again called upon the tribal magic, and his own personal magic, to further dull the pain, and hasten the boy's healing. Bear knew the child would be up once again within days.

"He will require rest, and should not walk for a time. He is young, and strong; he will heal quickly. Return him to me if the pain becomes great," Bear informed the child's father.

Fox nodded in approval, lifting his slowly rousing son from the ground carefully. "Thank you, Dark Beast."

Bear nodded in acknowledgement of the gratitude, not wincing from the title Dark Beast as he had in times past. Though the new name was one of respect and awe, it reminded Bear of his curse. The years had dulled his aversion to the name, however, and now Bear was just as comfortable with his new name as the one of his birth. Having seen thirty winters now since the revelation of his curse, time had brought much wisdom to the Shaman of the tribe. His curse served the people, and the will of the Great Spirit. In light of that, his desires were insignificant.

Seeing all calm in the village, and seeing from the position of the sun that his meditation time drew near, Bear stepped into his teepee to remove his ceremonial garb. Stripping down to only a simple loincloth, the Shaman of the tribe vanished, replaced once again by the man.

Though nearing his fiftieth year, Great Bear was still fit — his frame packed with lean muscle. Were it not for the wisdom in his eyes, and his iron gray, shoulder-length hair, one could easily mistake him for a man of thirty. His family was blessed with longevity and strength, and the man known as Dark Beast was no exception.

The interior of the teepee showed no signs of female habitation, strange for a handsome and respected man in the tribe. Many women still sought to find their way into his heart — young and old alike — but Bear politely brushed the advances aside. Despite the loneliness that gripped him as he lay in his furs at night, he would not expose another to his curse. He chose to let that burden fall to another of his family.

Stepping outside once more, Bear took a deep breath and stretched, preparing for his run. Long ago, the Great Spirit had revealed the place of meditation to him, and the run to reach it was one ofBear's few joys in life.

So Great Bear ran — his strides long and steady. The village shrank rapidly behind him as his powerful legs ate up the distance, easily leaping creeks with banks nearly as wide as he was tall. The path was well known to him, and his body undertook the motion of running without conscious direction. This allowed Bear simply to enjoy the feeling of the wind in his face, and the last rays of the setting sun warming his back.

The steep hill proved to be no more of an obstacle than the tall grasses and creeks between it and the village. Soon, Bear stood at the top, gazing at the setting sun. Just before it slipped beneath the horizon, he retrieved a hide-wrapped bundle from within a hollow of a nearby tree. After tucking the bundle in his loincloth, Bear gathered up wood for a small fire, adding some to the store within the hollow tree as well. The dry wood within would be a boon when next he came to meditate after a rainstorm, when the fuel lying beneath the trees would be too wet to burn.

Removing the fire-starting tools and tinder from the hide bundle, Bear soon had a small fire burning, to which he added ceremonial herbs. Shedding his loincloth, revealing his generous manhood, Bear sat, inhaling deep the scent of the burning herbs, slipping into a meditative state.

How long he sat, lost in commune with nature and the Great Spirit, he did not know. The vision which had come to him was the most vivid he had ever experienced. He knew the place shown to him in the vision, but the nature of the vision was puzzling — a buck with a shiny glint flickering at the tip of the creature's tallest tine. One thing was certain, Bear knew he had to visit this place, the vision nearly screamed that to him.

Girding his loins once more, Bear doused his fire and replaced the hide bundle to its protected niche. Returning to the village at a slower pace, he determined that he would leave at first light. He knew that sleep would be difficult to find this night, as the vision brought with it a sense of urgency and wonder that Bear could not shake.

The next afternoon Bear strode into the small wood, coming to stand next to the spring-fed pool at its center. This was the location revealed to him in his vision, which had filled his dreams and awakened him before the dawn with an anxious need to leave immediately.

Now standing next to the pool in the peaceful twilight created by the thick canopy above, Bear felt the sense of urgency ebb within him. His brow furrowing, he looked about, seeking the buck from his vision, or any sign of deer in the area. Not a single hoof print revealed itself to his keen eyes.

Bear cast aside the feelings of frustration welling up within him, trusting in the vision given to him, but this proved more difficult as time passed and still no reason for his visit here appeared. Shifting his medicine bag, inspiration struck. Bear opened the bag, thinking that meditation might perhaps reveal his need to be here. Perhaps the deer was but a sign not yet understood, and communing with the Spirit would reveal its meaning.

With the speed of a lifetime's practice, Bear cleared a spot near the pool, and gathered wood for a fire. Shortly thereafter, he fed the ceremonial herbs into the fire, shed his clothing, and sat cross-legged in meditation.

As always, Bear was unsure how long his senses were turned inward, but the sound of a snort pulled him back from the world of visions. Opening his eyes, Bear saw the deer from his vision. It was a magnificent buck, and the eighteen points of its antlers seemed to reach for the sky. The creature showed no concern about Bear, the fire, or anything else around it. Bear's eyes widened when he saw a reflection of light winking from the tip of the tallest tine on the deer's left antler. As he looked, a ray of sunlight filtering through the blowing leaves above illuminated the deer brighter, further enhancing the bright spot that drew Bear's eyes.

Somehow sensing the action was appropriate, Bear stood. Part of him expected the deer to bolt instantly, the other part of him knew the animal was here for a reason, and would not leave before revealing that purpose. The buck appeared to be studying him, and so he put his hands out to his side, palms facing toward the deer.

With another snort that carried a nearly human tone of satisfaction, the buck stepped forward toward Bear. A few steps later, man and beast were an arm's length apart, looking deep into each other's eyes. Bear could see intelligence far beyond that of a mere animal within the deer's eyes, and knew that it truly had been sent by the Spirit to guide him in some way.

At last, the buck blinked, and took a single step backward. It bobbed its head once, giving Bear the impression of a respectful nod from a human. The creature then lowered its head, and Bear saw the source of the flickering reflections for the first time, a band of gold with an amber stone.

The stories of his youth — the tales of his family — all returned with perfect clarity to Bear in that moment. Can it be? Reaching up slowly, Bear touched the ring. When the buck made no move to flinch away, Bear closed his fingers over the ring and tugged slightly; the ring slid into his palm.

The deer raised its head, looking into Bear's eyes, before bobbing its antlers one last time and bounding off into the forest. Bear looked down at his closed hand, and then slowly opened it to examine the ring. It was exactly as his family legend described it.

"Laresa."

Within her ring, Laresa felt the presence of a human nearby at last. After the difficult emotional parting with Nathifa, Laresa had been content to rest in reverie without a Master, but now she hungered to see the outside world again — for good or ill. Despite the difficulty in dealing with the steadily increasing — and hard to push aside — dark feelings concerning her slavery as a Djinn, Laresa was a social creature by nature, and she could not help but hope to soon meet a new Master.

Her ring was in contact with human skin, that much she knew, but it was not yet on the person's finger. Sighing, she relaxed back into her cushions, hoping that whoever possessed her home would discover her soon.

The story had been passed down from his great-grandparents, told only to those of his blood, and never to any other. The silver-haired Djinn, Laresa, had brought his great-grandmother amongst the people, and played a part in bringing them the prosperity the tribe now enjoyed. Bear's great-grandmother, Firetop Bird, had freed her friend from service, wishing the Djinn away to find a new Master, in hopes that Laresa would find the way to attain her own freedom.

The ring in his hand now could be no other. The tales told to him as a youth by his father described it so perfectly that he had been able to picture it in his mind, exactly as he saw it now.

Bear contemplated why the ring would return now to the tribe — to him — and why the Great Spirit had directed him to come here and acquire it. There could be only one answer, but that answer brought only more questions. Obviously, he was to be the genie's new Master — but to what ends?

Again remembering the story, Bear slipped the ring onto his finger. His eyes fell upon the bracelet around his wrist, passed down through the family from Firetop Bird. Bear's mind reeled as he considered the fact that the ultimate mother of his special family had once been enslaved within the ornament. Firetop bird had been a Djinn as well, named Nathifa, but found freedom in part through Laresa's actions.

Though he had little reason to doubt the tales, especially considering the magic the bracelet possessed and his curse, Bear knew there was but one way to confirm the story. "Laresa," he said, and felt the ring warm as soon as the word passed his lips. Now that it was on his finger, the ring, and the genie within, responded to his call.

Misty vapors intertwined with the smoke from his fire, swirling together and congealing into the form of Laresa. Bear's eyes widened, as even the vivid tales told to him could not do her justice. His heart raced, and he fought against the flow of blood rushing into his manhood, only now realizing that he still stood nude from his meditation.

Laresa was surprised to see a man much akin to the very people amongst whom she had last walked the world outside her ring. Though his hair was gray, his body was that of a much younger man, sun-browned and well-muscled. She had a good view, because he stood nude before her, cloaked only in the faint wisps of smoke from a small fire. "Greetings, Master. I am Laresa, how may I serve you?"

"You have truly returned to us, Moon in her Hair," Bear responded to her greeting.

Now it was Laresa's turn to be surprised. Shaken out of her fascination with the attractive man's generous endowment by the sound of her tribal name, she asked, "How do you know that name?"

"It has been passed down to all those of my blood, from when you last walked with the people. I am Great Bear, called Dark Beast, shaman of my people, and of the blood of Firetop Bird," Bear replied.

Laresa could not speak, and could barely think. Never before had she come into the possession of a Master so closely related to a previous owner, let alone in an unbroken chain. Before her stood a descendant of her friend Nathifa, whom she had only left not so long ago.

Seeing Laresa's confusion and unrest, Bear took the opportunity to gird his loins once more while the genie was distracted by her thoughts. The barely hidden curves of the woman's body were quickly overwhelming any attempt to control his manhood's reaction to them. The vest she wore exposed large expanses of her firm breasts, and the strange, thin, billowing pants she wore did little more than hide her most private treasure behind pleats of thicker material.

It took no imagination to know from whence the genie's tribal name had come. The white-blonde tresses cascading down to the Djinn's shoulders truly looked as though they were moonbeams filtering through the night sky. She was truly beautiful, so different from the women of the tribe, and Bear realized he was once again staring at her. Beneath his loincloth, he was fully erect, and so shifted to cause the garment to hang away from him, making the outline less obvious. "The Great Spirit sent a vision unto me, and so I have come."

"I don't understand," Laresa muttered quietly.

"Nor do I. In time, the Great Spirit will reveal all things." Part of the story told to him by his father popped in his head, and Bear smiled as he finished dressing. "I grant you the freedom to choose your own path, as my great-grandmother did before me."

The power of Bear granting her free will washed over Laresa, burning away her confusion in an instant. She shivered and said, "Thank you." Remembering his introduction, she asked, "Should I call you Great Bear, or Dark Beast?"

Bear frowned slightly, "Both are true, though I prefer the name of my birth, Great Bear."

"Then that is what I will call you. Thank you for granting me free will, Bear; few have done so in my centuries of servitude." Looking Bear over, Laresa realized she could see hints of Nathifa in the man's features now, as well as those of Hawk, the Brave to whom her friend had joined her life. "What are we to do now?"

"I do not know," Bear replied. "My grandfather, Eagle Soaring, is still among us. Long has he desired to know the one who delivered him into this world from his mother's womb. In his last days, it would be a great gift to fulfill that wish for him."

Laresa could still see the baby's tiny face in her mind's eye as though it were only yesterday she beheld it. Laresa found it difficult to imagine him as a grandfather, despite her having traveled back and forth through time regularly, and having watched Masters grow old while they possessed her. "We shall grant him that wish, then. I think it would be best if the rest of the village, other than your family, was unaware of my presence, if you do not disapprove?"

"Your thoughts and desires are your own, Moonhair. Perhaps this is wise," Bear agreed. "Come, we shall return to my people."

Reaching out with her senses, Laresa easily found the village, "I can take us there within a heartbeat, if you would like."

Eager to see his grandfather's reaction to Laresa, Bear nodded his approval. A moment later, they stood just beyond sight of the village. Turning to the genie, Bear saw Laresa gazing in wonder at trees she recognized, though they were far larger than when last she had beheld them.

"I have seen places changed by centuries, traveling through time, but to see this place again, after having just left it, is wondrous," Laresa mused. "So little has changed, and yet the changes are so profound. Nathifa and I sat under that tree our first day amongst your people."

"Would that I had known Firetop Bird. I was too young to remember her when she went to join the Great Spirit."

Laresa's eyes were misty when she turned back to Bear. The shaman could see pain and joy in those entrancing violet orbs, reflections of the bittersweet memories the genie held of this place. Smiling, she said, "Let us go grant your grandfather's wish."