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Escape From Manitou Island: Part 14 |
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The Anachronist CHARMIAN GASPED WHEN Thomas knocked her to the ground, the two of them collapsing in the middle of the trail. She opened her mouth, ready to yell at him, when a brilliant plume of flame roared over their heads, and he shoved her face down into the soil. She felt a searing heat pass over them, and shivered as if from cold; then she heard a panicked yell, and lifted her head. The British soldier was backing away, frantically slapping at the edge of his coat, flames licking at the cloth. Charmian's eyes grew wide and she tensed to get to her feet, but thudding noises from behind made her pause. She pushed herself up anyway, Thomas glaring at her, just as a fourth party appeared, hand crooked as if to throw something at the soldier. Charmian flung up her own hand before she got a good look at him, then she blinked. "Moon Wolf--?" The fourth party turned his head--Moon Wolf, her old teacher--and his own eyes went wide. "Charmian--?" he managed to get out, before the butt of the British soldier's gun smacked across his cheek, spinning his head aside and making him collapse where he stood. Charmian's jaw dropped. "HEY!!" She whirled toward the soldier and clenched her fists. "What do you think you're doing, jackass--?!" His eyes flicked up to meet hers again and his look was livid. "SAVING you, probably!" he snapped in response, and lifted the gun to aim it at Moon Wolf. Charmian saw the confused look on his face, and glanced back to see that Moon Wolf was no longer there; surprised, she started glancing around, when--"Oof!"--another look showed her that the medicine man had reappeared, and his fist met the soldier's face. This time the soldier collapsed and Moon Wolf clenched his fists, glaring down at him, looking practically ready to hiss. "Moon Wolf!" Charmian exclaimed; she knew he didn't have a tendency for unwarranted violence, and so to see this was rather disturbing. "What the heck's going on?" Moon Wolf gave her an acidy look, but she could tell that his anger was toward the soldier only. "He attempted to KILL me!" he snapped. "When I was doing nothing but merely walking! I would not have even known he was there had he not FIRED that thing at me!" Charmian stared at him, then turned back to the soldier; he was pushing himself up and rubbing at his jaw with a wince. "You shot at him--?" The soldier winced, then blinked a few times when he realized that she was addressing him; his nose wrinkled and his grip on the gun beside him tightened. "I damn well did! And for a bloody good reason!" Charmian's brow furrowed. "WHAT reason--?" He scrambled to his feet and smacked a hand at his clothes before grimacing at the pain in his shoulder. "Because he's a SAVAGE, that's the reason! You need a better reason? Then I suggest you walk around this hellhole a little longer. It's crawling with them now!" He lifted the gun and pointed it at Moon Wolf. "What, so you took it over, too--? How long have you all been planning this, hah?" "Took over...?" Charmian rubbed at her head in confusion. "We have always lived here," Moon Wolf growled. "YOU are the one who comes in and trespasses!" He lifted his hand and flames started licking around his fingers; Thomas took Charmian's hand and slowly pulled her back a few steps, her eyes wide. Moon Wolf was a wabano, a medicine man who worked with fire, but she had never seen him use his powers until her last time on the Island, and then only a few times. The sight of him with blue flames leaping from his hands was something that she wasn't certain she'd ever get used to. She could feel their searing heat from where she stood, and one look at the British soldier's face told her that he could feel it, too. He paled a little and shifted from foot to foot, but then just scowled and held up the gun. "Nice trick, redman! But if you think something like THAT will scare me off, then you have to think again." He lifted the gun to his shoulder and aimed it between Moon Wolf's eyes. "I've seen plenty of other stuff worse than that!" "That's not a trick, moron!" Charmian retorted, Thomas still grasping her wrist. "Don't you see what it did to your uniform--?" "I should THINK you two would be heading back toward the shore and getting OUT of here!" the soldier hissed, with barely a glance at them. Charmian threw up her hands. "WHY? I wanted to come here, I'll have you know!" He gave her a remarkably incredulous look. "You wanted to come here--?" Thomas pulled Charmian back again, just a fraction in time. A cloud of fire surged over the spot where they'd stood, and the British soldier threw up his arms, dropping the gun and attempting to shield himself from attack. The fire passed over him, and seemed to surround him; he started screaming, but Charmian could tell that he wasn't being burned. If he felt such pain, it was likely mostly in his head; for she had seen Moon Wolf use a similar sort of fire on Thomas himself, and while she was sure it had hurt, it hadn't injured him any. She supposed this had been merely to make the soldier stand down, which he did; he squeezed his eyes shut, holding his arms over his head. The fire licked at his shoulders and elbows and knees but seemed to do little else aside from that, and after a moment it started fading. As soon as it vanished Moon Wolf stretched out his leg and kicked the man's gun into the woods. The soldier lifted his head, looking confused, before shooting to his feet and glowering at him fiercely. "This isn't the way we handle things here!" Charmian cut in before they could begin tossing insults, and they both looked at her. Moon Wolf scowled but lowered his arm; the British soldier, on the other hand, on seeing this, whirled around and a moment later had his gun again. Charmian wanted to run her fingernails down her face. "Tell me what you did to the island!" he yelled, his voice cracking. "Tell me what's going on here! How did you put that street in? And those buildings? And what are all THESE brutes doing here!" He jerked the gun at Moon Wolf. "Tell me what you have to do with all this!" "Me--? I--I don't have anything to do with this!!" Charmian cried, baffled. The soldier spat on the ground. "Likely story! When you're wandering around in the company of one, and defending him, and all those other blasted creatures in this place..." He kicked aside a rock as if it offended him, and raised the gun once more. "Now tell me what you have to do with all this, since YOU'RE the one who seems to know things here!" Charmian didn't know whether to feel flattered or insulted. "I didn't HAVE anything to do with anything! You're the one with the problem! I'm not even FROM here!" "So you say you're from the mainland--?" "DUH!" Charmian threw up her hands. "Of COURSE I'm from the mainland!" She started and then took an involuntary step back, running into Thomas; the long barrel of the gun was pointing right between her eyes. She felt Thomas's hand squeeze her arm and felt his muscles tense; Moon Wolf, for his part, lifted his hand and let the flames come to life again. Her eyes fixed first on the opening in the barrel, then on the soldier's eyes; they were as blue as her own, but two of the most hateful, spiteful eyes that she'd ever seen. She felt her throat constrict. "Mainland," the soldier sneered, and gave a very odd smile--there was nothing in the least bit amused or humored about it. "I should've known they'd send somebody across to keep watch here, too..." "Across--?" Charmian racked her brain trying to think of what he meant but nothing came to mind; why wasn't he making any sense? He took a few steps back until he could instantly aim and shoot any of them, but they remained still where they were. Charmian thought she saw his hands shaking just a tiny bit, and took in a silent breath. "What's your problem?" she asked, trying to keep her voice as neutral as possible. "Why would you shoot at somebody for no reason? Why did you even come here if you hate it so much? Why don't you just go back?" The soldier's lip curled back. "Because there is no 'back'! Not now!" The gun shook and he had to steady himself. "And I have a DAMN GOOD REASON for shooting!" "Take a look, he's not even hurting anyone!" The soldier got an even more hateful look than before--which she really wouldn't have deemed possible, but apparently it was. "Looks can be deceiving!" he shot back. "You all look so innocent and well intentioned? Well funny how things can change just like that--" the gun swung around to point at Moon Wolf "--isn't it?" His eyes narrowed as he pointed the barrel between Moon Wolf's eyes. "A damned game, and all of us are had...truly tricky. But hardly a mistake to be made again." "Game...?" Charmian stared at him for a moment, then her muscles started untensing. "Fort." She let her hands go loose and her fists unclenched. She lifted her head and as soon as she met the soldier's eyes, he paused, frowning at the look there. Thomas and Moon Wolf looked at her as well, but she didn't return their stares. "Game," Charmian said again, her voice softer now. "You're from 1763, aren't you." The soldier blinked. Moon Wolf frowned even more. "Fort Michilimackinac," Charmian said quietly, and they all looked at her now. "It was King George's birthday...and all the natives were holding a lacrosse game in his honor. They played it right outside the fort. Everybody watched. They hit the ball into the fort and went running after it to get it back..." The look in her eyes shifted just slightly. "They killed almost the whole garrison. And took over the fort. All while playing a game. June 1763." The soldier blinked, then his gun rose to point at her again. "How--how did you know all this--?" he stammered, voice cracking. "It only just happened! News doesn't spread that fast!" Charmian gave him a sympathetic look. "Where I come from," she replied, "that happened over two hundred years ago." The soldier's eyes began to slowly widen. She saw all of the color drain from his face, and could tell that some part of what she'd just said made sense to him, even while his expression showed that he didn't--couldn't--believe it. The gun shook in his hands; she sensed Moon Wolf readying himself to grab it, but sent him a mental note not to try. The soldier's head turned and he stared into the woods as if something were waiting out there; then he looked back at Charmian. "What..." His voice was as thin as paper. "What sort of trick is this? Two hundred years? What sort of fool do you think I am...?" "I don't," Charmian said. "It's true. We learned about that in history books. Michigan History!" She gestured at the woods around them. "That fort you're talking about--? It's a state park now. People visit it every year for fun! They have reenactments of the massacre every year!" She waved her hands. "People BUY SOUVENIRS from that place!" The gun started practically rattling but the look in his eyes was livid. "You're JOKING about it now--?" "I'm not joking!" Charmian snapped. "That's how it is where I come from! That island you think you're on--? IT'S a state park, too! They sell FUDGE there and there's a BIG HOTEL!" She jerked her hand at the trees again. "This ISN'T that island, stupid!" He bared his teeth. "THERE'S ONLY ONE DAMNED ISLAND IN THIS PLACE, LITTLE GIRL, AND THIS IS IT!!" Thomas let go of Charmian's arm and he and Moon Wolf both stepped away from her. Charmian, for her part, took a step toward the soldier, the gun nearly pressing against her head, and bared her own teeth at him. "THIS ISN'T IT, JACKASS! IN CASE YOU DIDN'T NOTICE IT'S DIFFERENT! AND I'M NOT A LITTLE GIRL!!" The gun lowered--Moon Wolf and Thomas blinked--but this was only so the soldier could step forward and look Charmian in the eye. They both fumed at each other. "Try explaining THIS to me then, Little Missy!" he shouted. "Why it is that there's a big ARCH over the shore, and an INDIAN VILLAGE near the town, and the EXACT same woods and trees and rocks as there have ALWAYS been--?" Charmian glared right back. "That's because this Island LOOKS just like that other island, stupid! But didn't that TOWN and those STREETS and all these NATIVES and FIREBALLS and stuff kind of tell you that this ISN'T the same place--?!" "It's damned well EASY enough to move in and set up camp in a matter of days!" Charmian threw up her arms. "IS IT SO FRIGGING EASY TO BUILD A TOWN, THEN--?" The soldier's voice grew just as strident. "I SUPPOSE IT'S SO MUCH EASIER TO BUILD A BIG ARCHED ROCK!!" Charmian felt Moon Wolf grasp her wrist this time, and forced herself to take a breath and let it out. "For the LAST time, moron," she growled, "this isn't Mackinac Island. It isn't Michilimackinac. Or WHATEVER you call it!" She spread her arms. "You honestly mean to tell me that you can't see the difference--?" A loud whistling noise cut through the air and her spine stiffened; she saw the same happen to the others. The soldier nearly dropped his gun, before remembering that he held it, and swung it up into position again although it rattled as loudly as before. If Moon Wolf hadn't mentioned him already using it, she'd have wondered if the thing even worked, it looked so clunky. She turned her head slowly, recognizing the noise and the meaning, if not who exactly it was coming from. "Wh--what--what was that--?" the soldier gasped. Charmian gave him a foul look. "A warning," she said. "Basically, if you don't shut up, you'll have even MORE reason to start yelling." He blinked a few times, then a scowl started to come to his face and she suppressed a sigh. "Another trick--?" he managed to get out, before something stepped out of the woods, and his eyes goggled and he let out a shriek, firing the gun. He hadn't been aiming it, so it blasted into the branch of a tree, sending it crashing to the trail below; everyone jumped. The branch fell with a tremendous thud at the hooves of the creature now standing in the middle of the trail; its ears flicked and its nostrils flared but other than that it did nothing. They all turned to look at it and its eyes glowed blue--it snorted, and Charmian let out her breath. What's this noise? Mani whistled, ears swiveling. He turned his head, giant mooselike antlers swinging from side to side. "WH-WH-WHAT IS THAT?!" the soldier screamed, stumbling backwards into the woods. Charmian glared at him again. "A manitou! This Island is FULL of them!" "M-manitou--?" The soldier blinked furiously, then his eyes grew even wider than she would have thought possible. "Manitou? That's--that's the word the savages use!" He managed to get to his feet, shaking and as white as a ghost. He looked the large brown manitou up and down a few times, then his shaking started to subside a little. His lip curled back and he picked up his gun. "A manitou? What sort of bull are you trying to sell me, Missy?" He lifted the gun and aimed it at Mani's head; the manitou flicked an ear. "It's just some sort of funny elk or something!" Charmian's jaw dropped. "LOOK AT HIM! Does he LOOK like any kind of elk you've ever seen--?!" "I'm no zoologist," the soldier replied, putting his eye to the sight. Mani looked at him, then took a step forward. Everyone stared as he removed the gun from the soldier's hands in one sweep of his antler, and they all looked at it as it ascended, caught between the points. Mani whistled, then tossed his head; the gun went sailing through the air, into the treetops and out of their sight. They heard it smashing through the branches some distance away, and the thudding crash of its landing, but it could have been halfway along the West Bluff, by now. There, Mani whistled, and flicked his ear again. No more noise. Perfectly on cue, the soldier's face turned white, and his shaking returned in force. Charmian crossed her arms. "Now do you think this is the same island...?" "It's--it's some sort of trick." The soldier's voice was weak, and he took a few shaky steps backwards, looking as if he wanted to shrivel away into nothing and die. Charmian sighed gustily. "Look--even with what happened at the fort--do you really think somebody would want to trick you this badly? Do you really think anybody would be able to--?" The soldier clenched his teeth. "After seeing what that game ended up as--? I think I could believe anything!" Charmian opened her mouth to retort, but the look on his face made her pause; he went gray, then his eyes glazed over and he started to slump to the side. Alarm lit up inside Charmian and she dashed at him, managing to grab his arm, but he still fell anyway as he was bigger than she was. She nearly fell over him and glanced up at the others, who were all staring at her as if in surprise. "The camp!" she exclaimed, tugging on his arm. "He's bleeding again. We have to get him back!" Thomas and Moon Wolf just stared at her, until Mani whistled; then they blinked and snapped out of their daze, hurrying forward. They helped lift the soldier upright, and Mani knelt down on one knee as they placed him upon his back. He stood again and whistled to say that he was ready; Charmian gestured and started walking eastward. "I think the Dupries place would be better," she advised. "The only native there is Little Dove, and Justin can probably help him quicker." She bit her lip. "I don't like the look of this wound. It might get infected if it stays like this. He must've gotten an ax or a knife to the shoulder." Mani whistled and started walking. See this now? A good lesson. Mainlander ones, sometimes dangerous, and not always quite so bright. The other three looked at him, brows furrowing. He stepped past them and along the eastward trail; Charmian jumped back with a gasp when three little shapes seemed to appear out of nowhere, following him. She and Thomas and Moon Wolf gawked at the small slate gray, russet, and white-and-brown spotted manitou calves which trailed behind, tails flicking and legs almost too long and gangly for their bodies. They let out little whistling noises as they passed, and picked up their pace to keep up with the other disappearing manitou. Charmian's mouth slowly fell open, then she and the others hurried to catch up as well. "Mani!" she cried, trotting alongside the big manitou; then her voice stuck, and she glanced back at the three little manitous. Her fingers knitted together and a huge smile came to her face. "Awwwww...!" She started pacing in circles around them as they walked and whistled amongst themselves. "They're so cute! I can't believe how cute they are!!" She reached out and scratched one's ear, then hurried to the next and scratched its chin, then hurried to the third and scratched its neck, then started hopping up and down. "Eeeeeeeee! I wish I could have one!!" Thomas rolled his eyes. "Charmian--they're manitous." "I know!" Charmian gave him a huge-eyed look. "But aren't they the cutest? Wouldn't you want one?" She grinned from ear to ear and looked them all over. "I can't even decide which one! Do they have names--?" Mani whistled. First Flint One, second Winter Apple One, third Speckled One. Boy, boy, girl. "EEEEEEEEE!!" Charmian threw her arms around the speckled manitou's neck. "I WANT THIS ONE!!" Thomas and Moon Wolf both rolled their eyes this time, and Thomas reached out to gently pull her from the calf's neck. She kept pace beside them still, waving and giggling the entire time. At least the little manitous didn't seem too bothered by her attention, and just continued their random whistling. "Charmian," Thomas said after a few more moments spent thus, "you're acting like a girl." "So?" Charmian at last managed to snap a bit out of her sappy mood and gave him a look. "I can act like that sometimes! There's no law that says..." A slight rustling noise in one of the trees ahead made her cut herself off and glance upward. She thought she saw something move, but wasn't sure; then she realized that she could just barely make out the gabled roof of the Dupries house, peeking through the greenery ahead. Just as they picked up their pace, the rustling noise came again, and then a voice called out seemingly from nowhere, making her pause. "Papaaaaa! The mainlander's back!" |