Free Moonstone Promise by Karen Wood Page A

to Tyson.
    Tex smacked the man on the back of the head with an open hand and growled something at him. Tyson mumbled back and Tex whacked him again. He grabbed Tyson’s arm and ran a thumb along the small cut on his shoulder.
    â€˜Am I s’posed to go cut a little white fulla now?’ he said, clearly agitated.
    Little white fulla? Luke walked over and handed Tex the knife, staring him straight in the eye. ‘It’s my cut, I earned it,’ he said, turning to present his shoulder. ‘And what about him?’ Luke gestured towards Tyson. ‘Doesn’t he get a cut on his back?’
    The faintest smile slipped across Tyson’s face and Luke caught an answering flash of humour in Tex’s eyes. Tyson handed his knife to the older man and presented his back.
    Tex took the knife and slowly ran the flat back edge of the blade across Tyson’s back, leaving not a trace of a cut. He turned to Luke. ‘Happy?’
    â€˜What?’ Luke twisted his body, trying to glance over his shoulder at the site of Tyson’s hit. ‘Didn’t he even cut me?’
    Luke didn’t know whether to be grateful or severely insulted. He straightened up and glared at Tyson. ‘You reckon I’m soft or something?’
    He turned his shoulder to Tex again and held out his knife. ‘I earned it.’
    â€˜Okay, Luke. Come and sit by the fire,’ said Tex, opening Luke’s knife and walking to the pile of ashes. Luke followed him and sat cross-legged where Tex pointed.
    â€˜It’s important you realise this is only done at the right time, in the right place and in the right company,’ Tex said. He glared at Tyson. ‘You’re open to the spirits now.’
    Tex glanced at Tyson’s upper arm once more and then swiftly slashed Luke’s shoulder. Luke clamped his teeth together against the searing pain as blood trickled warmly down his arm. It felt strangely good.
    Tex bent to pick up a handful of ashes.
    â€˜Is that to make it like an initiation scar?’ asked Luke.
    Tex scoffed. ‘It’s so tiny. Don’t want it to heal away and you forget the lesson it taught you.’ He smeared the ashes through the cut.
    Tex picked up another handful of ashes and gestured for Tyson to come over. ‘You don’t forget this lesson either!’
    Bob interjected something in his own language from the sidelines, causing the other two men to snigger.
    â€˜What?’ Luke demanded.
    Tex flicked open the knife again and looked down at Luke’s crotch with a wicked glint in his eye. ‘Bob says we should initiate you properly.’
    Luke gasped and grabbed his crotch. ‘Umm, somebody already beat you to it,’ he said, feeling grateful to his parents for the first time in his life.
    The men disintegrated into peals of laughter.

    That night Luke wrapped his blanket around his shoulders and curled up next to the fire to sleep. The night sky was thick with clouds, bringing a darkness over the river crossing that felt strangely claustrophobic and unnatural. Beyond the glowing coals he could hear the sounds of the river – the plip of a fish as it jumped at an insect, water running over tree roots – but he couldn’t see it. The darkness built walls around him, making him toss about restlessly.
    He ran a hand over the scar on his arm and the gentle pain somehow brought order to his mind.
    Rules, there’s got to be rules, a code.
    He pulled the moonstone out from under his shirt and glanced down at it. It took on new colours from the glow of the fire, as though the flames had leapt into it and come to life. He moved it around slowly in his hand, watching the colours flash and change. It was beautiful, alive and sparkling, like Jess.
    He laughed quietly to himself as he thought of her clambering around on the back of Legsy, hanging off the side and laughing like an idiot, waving madly across the valley. ‘Dad’s slashing the