The Legend of Tyoga Weathersby by H L Grandin

shore. “I’m getting out!”
    “Oh, no, you ain’t,” Tyoga playfully replied.
    Tyoga dove down, grabbed her ankle and pulled her down into the crystal clear turquoise water.
    Releasing his grip, he let her swim to the surface, all the while holding a protective hand beneath the soles of her scissor-kicking feet. If she ran out of strength before reaching the surface, he was ready with a helping hand. Her legs were muscular and strong. He watched her legs frantically propel her to the surface. Her bronze skin glistened in the clear cool water as the noonday sun ignited her arching back with flashing amber hues. He gave a gentle shove just as her head broke the water’s surface.
    He reached out to put his arm around her waist and pull her naked body to his to keep her head above water. Coughing and spitting water at him, her protests about being nearly drowned were met with the laughter borne of a friendship ordained in unquestioned devotion. Tyoga would permit no harm to come to Sunlei as long as he held her in his arms.
    More than knowing it, she felt it in his embrace.
    Fighting to break from his grasp, Sunlei screamed, “You almost drowned me, Ty!”
    “No, Sunlei. To hi ju—you’re fine.”
    Tyoga remembered hearing Tes Qua laughing while tossing stones into the water around them from the bank.
    “Ha le wi s ta, Tes Qua!” (Stop it) Sunlei screamed at her brother.
    He recalled how she suddenly stopped struggling to let him hold her afloat.
    Quietly, their eyes met. By the time Sunlei finally looked away, their relationship had been forever changed.
    Tyoga gripped the handles of the litter with such force that he felt the blisters on his hands burst when he recalled the magic of that special moment being shattered by the splash of a large stone hitting the water menacingly close to their heads.
    Glancing up at the rocky rim of the pool, Tyoga saw the outline of their tiny tormentor, Seven Arrows. Two years younger than Tyoga and Tes Qua, the eldest son of Chief Yellow Robe of the South Fork Shawnee reveled in antagonizing his older Cherokee peers with impudence that he was certain protected him from reprisal. Careful to never travel alone, he was surrounded by a cadre of obedient pawns who submitted to his orders without question or hesitation. His derisive laughter descended from the banks of the sunken pool to fill the crater with sarcastic disdain.
    Tyoga recalled the feeling in the pit of his stomach as their eyes locked in a seething sizzle. His face contorting into a menacing grimace, Seven Arrows bent over to pick up another large stone. Tyoga felt his eyes well with the anger of the recollection.
    “Ne yeah ya at alo, descop-te,” (Don’t touch that stone) Tyoga cried out. When he finished the words he looked over to the far side of the pool where Tes Qua had been standing. He was nowhere to be seen.

    Ignoring Tyoga’s command, Seven Arrows continued with his taunts.
    “Sunlei, why are you in the arms of the smelly white dog? You should be with a strong Shawnee brave.” He smacked his open palm against his naked chest. “Move away from the white dog and let me see if he can catch this little stone.”
    At these words Tyoga gently pushed Sunlei toward the shore. At the bank with only two kicks, she lifted herself from the pool.
    Tyoga floated on his back and closed his eyes. “Seven Arrows,” he said, “throw the stone. Go ahead and throw the stone at me if you dare.”
    At this challenge, Seven Arrows lifted the heavy stone over his head with both hands. Tyoga did not change his posture but continued floating gently on the surface of the pool.
    “But you will not throw the stone,” he said. “You will not throw the stone because you are a coward. Look around you, Seven Arrows. You are a coward standing alone.”
    Seven Arrows’s eyes darted all around the pool and then toward the woods behind him. He did not know that his three companions had scurried away at the not-so-gentle urging of