Petroglyph

They swept the area and began to discover artifacts almost immediately. It seemed that the inhabitants had left everything behind when they disappeared. They found tools, jewelry and jars full of grain in the houses. Pottery was unmolested and still stood on tables. There were a couple of sealed doors that they decided not to open yet. They began to grow hungry and they took their lunch and swimsuits, descended the pole and went to the pool to their lunch spot.

They lay around for a little while and then Marley donned his gear and made a dive to the opening in the rocks. There was a little current coming out and he had to swim against it to peer into the opening with a waterproof light. He caught the glint of something green and shiny inside but he couldn't get to it. He was too wide and thick. He surfaced and called to the girls. They swam over and he gave Aden his gear and adjusted it for her smaller size. He dove down with her and braced himself against the rocks. She kicked into the opening and he saw her hand grasp the object. He pulled her back out by the legs and they swam back to their blanket.

She laid the object in her hand on the blanket and they gasped. It was a small, humanoid figure with horns and a stubby tail, seemingly made from a single, large piece of turquoise.

"This is the same figure from the symbol on the rock," Tobin told them.

It had bits of leather string around its neck as if it had been a pendent at some point in the past.

"What do you think it's a symbol of?" Aden asked.

"I have no idea. I'd like to talk about it to some people. I may need to take a trip for a while. Right now I'm going to lay on that rock and get my dose of vitamin D."

"I'm going topless," Aden announced. She took off her bikini top and Tobin was a little embarrassed. She couldn't help looking. Aden was very slender but very muscular at the same time. Her breasts were little inverted teacups; small and so firm they appeared almost hard. Her nipples were erect and they were little pink nubs, virginal and very cute. Tobin had mixed emotions. She had never really been sexually attracted to a girl before but their talk on the way home from town ran through her thoughts. Aden had said she like beautiful things and she was very beautiful herself, Tobin thought. Her own nipples hardened as she watched Aden out of the corner of her eyes. She liked this very frank girl and she decided to do something she felt was very out of character.

"I'll put the sunscreen on you, if you want, Addy," she said.

Aden glanced at her. "Okay," she said. "Don't miss anything."

"I won't." She took off her own top and saw both Aden's and Marley's eyes drawn to her breasts. Her nipples ached and she blushed. She slid onto Aden's legs and worked the sunscreen onto her firm back. When she reached the dimple just over her butt she hesitated and then slid her fingers just under the bikini bottoms. She couldn't help herself. Those tight little buns were right there and she gave them a squeeze. Aden flexed them under her hands and they both giggled. Marley watched, transfixed as she stroked Aden's smooth thighs, again running her fingers just under the leg bands. When she finished, Aden rolled over and Tobin smoothed the lotion onto her firm belly, slowly working upward to those small mounds and cupping them in her hands. Aden opened her eyes and watched as Tobin squeezed her breasts into points, rolling her nipples between thumbs and forefingers before bending to give each one a kiss.

Shen she finished Aden was a little flushed and Tobin allowed her to apply it to her. It had become more of a mutual, sensual massage by the time they were finished and both girls were very horny. Marley could hardly believe how sexy that had been and he needed to get a grip on himself. He dove into the water to regain some measure of control. He swam around in the chilly water for a while and then climbed out.

"Put some clothes on and let's go home," he said.

They gathered up their things and walked back to the cliff house. The girls climbed up while Marley held the pole steady. He had the odd feeling someone was watching him. He glanced around but saw nothing. When the girls reached the ledge, they turned to lower the rope for their things and Tobin screamed.

"Behind you, Marley!"

He spun around and a man was springing at him with a stone knife raised to plunge it into his back. He only had time to throw up an arm and the knife slashed into his forearm, the tip grating on bone. He swore and grabbed the knife hand in both of his. The two men grappled for a moment and his assailant howled and sunk his teeth into Marley's wounded arm. He swore again and did a quick pivot, sending his attacker crashing face first into the wall of the cliff. He bounced off dazed and Marley leaped onto his back, crushing him to the ground. He worked his uninjured arm under the man's chin and cranked it tight. He got his legs hooked in a body scissor and cranked the chokehold tighter. In seconds the man went limp and Marley held the choke tightly for another minute.

"Marley, you're killing him," Aden called down.

He released his hold and the man crumpled to the ground. "He was trying to kill me," he said. "What are we going to do with him?"

"Tie him up and give him to the sheriff," Tobin said.

The man appeared to be one of the local Native Americans. He was dressed very strangely with only a leather rag covering his genitals. The stone knife appeared to be his only weapon and Marley slipped it into Tobin's backpack. He tied the man's arms and legs tightly and stuffed a rag into his mouth, securing it with a piece of rope.

"Let's see you bite someone now," he told the unconscious form.

With a great deal of trouble, they lifted him to the canyon rim and loaded him into the back of the truck. He was awake and struggling furiously as they loaded him into the truck.

The two girls hugged Marley and he felt them trembling. "It's okay," he told them.

"No, it's not," Aden told him. "Jesus Marley, you're bleeding all over me."

"It hurts like hell," he told them. "He got me pretty deep. I figured it was better to be stabbed in the arm than in the neck. You got a first aid kit, Tobin?"

She rummaged around behind the seat and came up with one. They cleaned up the knife wound and the place where he had been bitten. He sucked in his breath when they poured disinfectant into the wound and they bound it tightly.

"I think you need stitches," Aden told him. "We should go let Mom look at this."

"No, let's get rid of our prisoner and then I'll check and see if she's at the office."

They took the turn toward town and in 40 minutes, they pulled up in front of the sheriff's office. They went inside and explained the situation to him.

He followed them outside to Tobin's truck and looked their prisoner over. "Take the gag out and let's see what he has to say."

"Keep away from him," Marley advised the sheriff; "he bites."

He cut the rope and the man pushed the rag out of his mouth with his tongue. He began to rave in a language none of them understood.

"What is he saying?" the sheriff asked.

"I have no idea," Tobin said. "I know a few words of a lot of Native American dialects but this is new to me. It sounds a little like a Numic dialect of some sort. I doubt there are a hundred people alive that could understand him. Surely, he speaks English. There aren't any young people that speak the language I know of. Most of the people that remember are well up into their eighties and when they die the language is dead."

The sheriff leaned closer and spoke to the man. "What's your name? Why did you attack these people?"

He leaped back as the man lunged at him, teeth snapping in an attempt to bite him. He went back inside and came back with leg irons and a leather mask that would prevent him from being bitten. He cuffed the man's wrists and ankles and cut the ropes off. The prisoner kicked out at him wildly and raved, spittle dripping from the mask.

"Marley, you're bleeding like a stuck hog," he pointed out.

Blood was streaming down Marley's arm and dripping off his fingers on the ground. The girls were very alarmed at the amount.

"He needs another bandage, sheriff," Aden said. "Do you mind if we use your kit?"

He led them inside and opened up the first aid box on the wall. They took Marley to a sink and they girls began to take off his bandage while the sheriff locked the prisoner in a cell.

Blood began to pump as soon as they took the bandage off. "The knife must have nicked an artery or a big vein and it's opened up with all the exertion," he said. "Girls, I need to sit down."

They pressed a large wad of gauze over his wound and quickly taped it off. He took one step toward a chair and began to slump to the floor. The girls sprang to help but his weight was too much for them to support and they only managed to keep him from falling by easing him to the floor.

"Sheriff, help us," Tobin called.

He came running in and called for help from the front of the office. Two deputies came running in and they carried Marley to the truck while Aden applied heavy pressure to the wound.

"Put him in the back," she told them," and I'll ride back there with him. Could you follow us to Mom's office and help me get him out?"

"Sure, he weighs a ton," one of the deputies said. "There's no way you'll be able to get him out."

Tobin drove quickly to Lila's office and she was in. They carried him inside and put him on a table. Lila wrapped a rubber tube around his forearm and removed the bandage. "Pull on this tubing," she told her nurse.

She probed the wound and got forceps and reached inside. She was forced to cut the wound wider so she could see and she removed a piece of stone from inside. She found the cut in his artery and stitched it closed. She cleaned it thoroughly, stitched inside the wound and closed it with more stitches on the outside. It continued to bleed and she became worried.

"Has he been taking a lot of aspirin?" she asked the girls.

"Not that I know of," Aden said. "Why do you ask?"

"He's still bleeding. Clancy," she told her nurse. "Take that piece of stone down to Tim in the lab and have him test it for heparin or an anticlotting agent."

She continued to apply pressure to the wound. "He's lost quite a bit of blood, but if we get the bleeding stopped he should be okay," she reassured them. "We'll give him a transfusion if we need to."

In ten minutes, Clancy returned carrying a paper in her hand. "The piece of stone tested positive for Brodifacoum," she said.

"What is that?" Tobin asked.

"Something bad," Lila said. "Clancy, we need to give him a vitamin K injection and I need injections to take home. We'll start him on massive doses of pills tomorrow. Make sure they are in my bag."

Clancy quickly returned with a syringe and Lila injected it into Marley's other arm.

"Brodifacoum is a powerful anticoagulant," she told them. "It isn't used in medicine but it's used to poison rodents. It disrupts the vitamin K transformation and prevents the blood from clotting. Where did this piece of stone come from and how did he get hurt?"

They quickly filled her in on the events at the canyon and followed the narrative until they reached her office. "The piece of stone must have broken off that knife, but I have no idea where the poison could have come from." Tobin told her.

"Obviously the knife was treated with Brodifacoum to cause bleeding. How a man in a loincloth with a stone knife had access to a second generation anticoagulant, I have no idea," Lila said.

"Where does that poison come from?" Aden asked.

"I believe it was first discovered on moldy clover hay," Lila said. "I suppose that it might be possible that some local tribes might have known about it and used it as a poison."

"Not that I've ever heard of," Tobin objected. "I never heard of any Native American tribe using poison of any kind. They used some for medicinal purposes or in ritual magic, but not as a poison."

"Well, someone did. You should have come here first."

"We wanted to, but Marley wouldn't hear of it. He said he was fine."

"I'm not blaming you girls; but it was a bad call. Oh, well, it's done now. He's going to be fine. I'm going to give him some blood. Aden, do you mind giving him some?"

"No, I don't mind. I want him to have mine."

"What is his blood type?" Tobin asked.

"He's a B positive. That was his father's type. So is Aden. I won't give him blood out of a bank when I can get it from her. I know she's clean. Are you a donor, Tobin?"

"Yes, for myself. I have an exotic O negative type. I don't know what it means but I don't have D, C or E factors."

"It means you have a very rare blood type. I doubt there are 100 people in the country with that type."

"What did Marley do with the artifact we found?" Tobin asked Aden.

"I think he put it in his backpack. Do you want to show it to Mom?"

"Do you want to see it, Lila?"

"Maybe when I get home. I'm going to see a couple more patients while Clancy gives him the transfusion. He'll probably wake up in a minute. You girls go on home. Marley can ride with me."

He woke up when the nurse inserted the needle in his arm for the transfusion. He was a little disoriented, not knowing how he came to be in his mother's office, but Clancy managed to calm him and let him know that his mother had fixed his arm and would take him home as soon as the transfusion was complete.

He rested comfortably for perhaps half an hour and Lila was ready to go. The drive home was full of speculation about where the man who attacked him came from and what the artifact might be about.

When they arrived home, the girls rushed out and made a fuss over Marley. "Stop," he fended them off, "I'm really fine. My arm hurts like hell, but I'm fine. I want to thank you for taking care of me, but I really don't need fussed over."

"What's the use of being injured if you don't let beautiful women fuss over you?" his mother told him. "Take advantage of it while you can."

Marley really hadn't thought of it that way and became a docile patient for two days. He took large doses of vitamin K and mostly rested while the girls revolved around him. Tobin announced that she was going to Boulder, Colorado to speak with a team of researchers at the University of Colorado. A team there had presented a paper detailing the collapse of the Chaco Canyon culture. She felt that they had a lot of insight into the religious dynamic and wanted them to take a look at the turquoise figure. She had remembered that Chaco Canyon had apparently been a clearinghouse for turquoise and hoped that they might have some idea as to the date and purpose the horned figure might represent.

She invited Aden and Marley to go with her and Marley quickly agreed. Aden had ranch business that she had been putting off and reluctantly declined. Marley couldn't get enough of Tobin. She fascinated him in a way that he had never experienced with another girl. She was so competent, self-assured and yet so vulnerable and innocent at the same time. She trusted him completely and without reservation and he realized that he was falling in love with her.

For her part, Tobin was confused. She had led a sheltered life. She had always enjoyed a special place in her parents' life. Their constant battle in coping with her sister's nearly psychotic personality had focused their parental urges on her and she had reveled in it. Her grades at school had been at or near the top of her class throughout high school and academics had been her focus. She wasn't much interested in the adolescent games of her fellows. Dating pimply faced teenagers had never appealed to her and between schoolwork and swimming on the school team; she had little social life outside her parents.

College hadn't changed that much, although she had a brief relationship with a graduate student who had taken a group on a couple of digs. It never went anywhere and when she discovered that he was using the work of his students as his own research, she moved on. Marley was a whole new ball game. He was the most thoughtful and insightful young man she had ever met. His free and easy lifestyle appealed to her a great deal and already she felt that she was becoming a part of something in his family that she didn't fully understand. It was as if they were a single entity that had opened up and enveloped her.

His rescue when she was hurt in the canyon and the intertwining of their lives since had made such an impression on her mind that she found she had difficulty thinking of her life without him in it. She was very attracted to him. Sitting on the sofa with his huge arm around her made her feel like a little girl, very safe and warm and not wanting to move. His laughter was infectious and she loved hearing him talk. It was as if a grizzly bear could speak, low and rumbling. She wanted to snuggle and press herself against him all the time. Physical contact with him made her heart beat faster and she spent every moment she could reveling in that contact. She wanted more, but she was afraid. It would be so easy to lose control and just be with him and that was not how she had her life planned. That plan seemed sillier the more she thought about it. It was sterile and although she loved anthropology, she had discovered there was more to life than old bones. There was Marley.

Aden was a fascinating complication. Tobin felt about her much the same way she did about Marley. She had her parents and now Marley, and then Addy had also occupied a place in her life. She was realizing that she had something special here and she decided that she was going to take advantage of the total package. She was going to love this new family to whatever extent they would allow. Even Lila was now a precious new addition to her life and she was happy as she had never been before.

The marvelous series of accidents had opened up a completely new opportunity for her to be part of something she had been longing for her whole life but never knew she was missing.

She called the researchers she wanted to talk to, a couple that had published several papers and discussed with Marley the logistics. He insisted that she leave travel plans to him and she surrendered her normally detail meticulous schedule to him.

Chapter Five

The morning came, fair and promising beautiful weather for traveling. Tobin came downstairs with two suitcases and Marley immediately sent her back up to combine them. He explained that he didn't have enough room for two suitcases. She was very surprised and complained that he was being silly. He told her that she didn't know what she was talking about and that he had a surprise for her.

When she came back down, he made her wear a blindfold until they were outside. He led her carefully down the front steps and she felt the sidewalk give way to the asphalt of the driveway under her feet. He stopped her and took her suitcase. She was surprised when he then took her in his arms and kissed her thoroughly.

"Marley? What are you doing?" she asked.

"You just looked too cute in your blindfold not to kiss," he told her. "You can look now."

She pushed up the bandanna and gasped. The most beautiful, midnight blue, car she had ever seen was sitting in front of her. "Marley, I love it! Is it yours?"

"Yep, Mom bought it for me as a graduation present. I don't drive it much, but I thought it would be fun for us to take it to Boulder."

"What is it?" she asked.

"It's a 2006 Ford GT," he told her. "It will do 0-150 in 17 seconds. We don't have the roads for that around here but once we get on the interstate we can let the ponies gallop a little. Would you like to drive it?"

"I'd love to, but why don't you let me ride in it first and watch you. I see now why I could only take one suitcase. I thought we would take your jeep or my truck. Let's get in, I can hardly wait."