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Escape From Manitou Island: Part 108 |
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Between The Peaks AUGWAK'S HEAD POPPED up from the drift of snow and he spat a mouthful out, shaking his head so his ears flapped. He grimaced, then started pulling up his arms and legs, popping them from the snow and making certain that all of his limbs were intact. GeeBees had remarkably light and flexible bones--they had to, considering their size and speed--and he found himself grateful for this fact as soon as he realized that they were all unbroken. He let out a gusty breath, then turned his head to see the fleshling lying on her face in the snow not too far away, apparently unconscious again. He blinked, then a black scowl made its way to his face and after getting sufficiently steamed, he went storming toward her. "HEY!" he yelled, his voice bouncing off of the trees and making him jump and look around before continuing. "Don't tell me you're OUT again! What in the hell am I supposed to do if you keep PASSING OUT on me?!" He halted beside her and violently shook her shoulder. "HEY!" he barked, leaning over her and baring his teeth. He pushed on her and rolled her over onto her back, then yelled right in her face. "HEY!!" He even dared to slap her, though he made sure to dodge away a few steps afterward, fearing a fireball. When she did nothing he paused, then steeled himself, and stomped back to her side. He pulled up an eyelid and let it snap shut, lifted her arm and let it fall back to the ground, poked her in the ribs but didn't receive even a giggle in response. His scowl grew. "Useless pathetic human!" he groused to himself. "How many times am I going to have to save her neck just to get MY medicine back! If it weren't for the fact that I have no clue how to do that on my own--believe me--you would be on YOUR own!" He shook a fist at her. "Hear that, idiot? My world revolves around you ONLY so long as you're able to get MY medicine back!" With this, he reached down to grasp her arms, dragging her somewhat upright--she wasn't heavy at all for a GeeBee to carry, but in his weakened state, she felt like a sack of rocks--and stooped to pull her up over his back. He kept hold of her arms as they draped over his shoulders, pushing himself up a bit and bobbing in place, attempting to ready himself for flight. He glared at her over his shoulder but of course, she didn't even look at him. "The humiliating things I have to do..." he muttered. "All for a stupid favor! For all I know--" and he pushed himself up and away from the ground "--she'll just take it away HERSELF once it's back!" He had to suck in a great breath and heave himself upward just to make it off the ground. He grumbled and muttered the entire time that they drifted through the air, tilting every so often so she wouldn't fall off, scanning the area for any places to lie low in until she should come to. He tried sniffing the air for Pakwa but the stench that the Wendigo had left behind was too overpowering, and he couldn't smell anything else. He made a face. "At least I bother to pick my teeth ONCE in a while! I bet he even eats anything that moves! At least I have STANDARDS!" He hefted Charmian a bit, thought a moment, then scowled and picked up his pace a little. Too bad that if I hold up to them, that little brat girl or her father will likely do me in! Her ankle's messed up...you'd think I could be allowed to eat THAT one tiny bit...! He sighed, thinking of food...eaten raw and bloody, or cooked to a crisp over the fires which the GeeBees once in a while built at their own risk...he had to stop himself from wiping his mouth lest he let her go plummeting. He scanned the ground again, saw nothing but trees and rock and snow--he had no problem with just sitting tight down there, but he knew that she would find reason to complain. As if to verify this, he heard her mumble in her sleep--"Gee. Thanks"--and he gnashed his teeth. "You're NOT welcome!" he snapped, digging his claws into her arm. "All the things I've done for you on this one trip so far I can't even count! Meanwhile all the things you've done for ME I can count on one hand with room to spare! I wish you'd come to that Island a little bit earlier, fleshling, when we were TRULY strong! Then we would see whose head would be on a spit!" He bobbed in the air, grimacing as he lost some altitude. "Drat it! I can tell YOU'VE been eating far better than I have--!" He felt her slip from his back before he even knew what was happening, and gasped, reflexively jerking away as she toppled from him and started plummeting toward the ground. He goggled at her stupidly for a split second before gasping again and zooming down after her. CHARMIAN!! What--?! FLESHLING!! If she wasn't ready to break her neck, he would have slapped himself. Instead he reached out and grabbed her arm, yanking her to an abrupt halt so her head snapped back. He made a face and carefully pulled her up toward him, lifting her by her arm and looking her over. He poked at her neck but when her head lolled to the side he could tell that she was still breathing, at least. He let out his own breath. "M--my medicine!" he made himself say out loud, flushing crimson. "If I lose you then I lose my MEDICINE! If you do that again, I'll wait until you get it back, and then I'll--KILL YOU MYSELF!" His grimace grew and he pulled on his ear. "I'LL KILL YOU ANYWAY!!" Another gust of wind buffeted them, but he made sure to keep hold of her arm even as he yelped and fell. They weren't that high from the ground that the fall should hurt him much, though he wasn't sure about her--fleshlings tended to be weak creatures. She hit the ground first in a puff of snow, and he landed several paces from her, considerably harder. They both lay in silence for a moment, then he pushed himself up, spitting out a mouthful of snow and feeling serious déjà vu. He crooked his fingers at her with a malevolent glare, then resorted to simply grabbing her wrist and starting to drag her along after him as he shuffled across the ground on all fours--or all threes, seeing as his one hand was occupied with pulling her. He shot her many dirty looks as he went. "You think I don't know what you had that pathetic wannabe excuse for a GeeBee do to me--? Dragging me as if I'm NOTHING! Just because I don't have my medicine doesn't mean I'm not STILL the ogimah of the GeeBees, fleshling brat!!" Why in the hell do I have to keep reminding myself that this is about my MEDICINE?! He shrugged the little voice off--it had done nothing but peeve him this entire time. He did sidestep an outcropping of rock so her head wouldn't bounce off of it, though he did find a particular pleasure in the thought of her head doing such a thing. Then he felt guilty. Then he felt remarkably irked with himself. Then he felt like hitting his own head on the rock. Then he really wished that he had something to eat. Then he looked back at her, and then felt guilty again. He ground his teeth so hard that his jaws ached. "Dammit!! If I had my MEDICINE back then I could THINK clearly!!" A low howling noise came and he froze, letting her arm drop limply to the ground. His eyes grew wide and he peered around himself, then up; nothing was in sight, but the noise seemed to be growing closer. He shifted nervously from foot to foot and started gnawing on his fingernails before a snapping noise from the nearby stand of pines made him gasp and bolt for the furthest stand of pines, clambering up one of them and perching in its highest branches. He peered out, quaking, fully expecting a gigantic hairy version of himself to come storming through. Is this how she felt when I came after her--? Another snap. Only too late did Augwak realize that Wendigoes didn't make little snapping sounds--and he instead saw a small human figure emerge from the trees, peering about itself before spotting the mainlander lying in the snow and making a beeline for her. Augwak's dismay grew as the figure halted and stooped beside her, poked her in the side as he had done, then grasped her arms. A moment later, it was walking off with her over its back, just as he'd been doing, and his mouth fell open as he watched them moving further away. He blinked. "Did--did he just--take her--?!" he asked in disbelief. He watched them for a moment or two more before shaking his head and clenching his fist. "He DID just take her! He took my medicine! The only way to get my damned MEDICINE back!" Suppressing a growl, he jumped down from the tree, then convinced himself to try to use some caution. He halted in midair, forcing himself to hover--it was difficult, but not quite as hard as it had been while carrying her--and drifted along after them as quietly as he could, considering that he wanted to scream by now. He shot evil looks at them as they moved, hoping that he could cause the stranger's head to cave in, or his legs to fall off, or--something--yet of course nothing happened because he'd never had that kind of power. If he had his medicine, he could do more than this. If he hurts or kills her, I'll kill him myself! Wha--? --And then I'll kill HER!! Augwak threw up his arms and yanked on both ears now, letting out a strangled sound. He ducked behind the top of a pine tree when the stranger turned to look behind himself, saw nothing, then moved on. Augwak made sure to keep himself quieter now, though the longer he followed them, the more he certainly felt like bashing SOMETHING against a rock. A shifting noise came from somewhere behind Charmian. She blinked a few times to see that she seemed to be lying in a tunnel or cave entrance, the rock gouged out roughly around her. She put her hand down and it dug not into stone, but fur. Her brow furrowed. Fur--? A shadow fell over her and she blinked once more to clear her hazy eyes. And found herself staring up into the face of the stone-throwing man from before. Her eyes grew round. A split second later, she was sitting upright, her hand crooked and fire licking at her fingers. She fully expected to feel a rock hit her between the eyes--but she blinked again when she saw him gawking at her in what looked to be genuine fear, stumbling back and away toward what she assumed was the entrance. He threw his own arms up to shield his head. Charmian stared at him for a second, able to get a better look. It was definitely the same man--he wore the same sort of skins and furs as she now did, only they were worn and discolored. His hood fell back and she saw his hair, lank and disheveled as if it hadn't been properly tended to in ages. When he peered out from between his arms she saw again how thin his face was, his eyes the only things still alive in it, and even they were sunken and glassy, his arms quaking as they both stared at each other. Charmian realized that he appeared to be frightened--and seized onto this, getting to her feet--she winced when her ankle throbbed--and raising her hand. "I'll throw it again!" she snapped. "Believe it!" In response he held up his arms again, shaking even harder. He started waving his hands frantically and her brow furrowed when she realized that he seemed to be telling her to stop. The anger rose in her chest when she remembered how he'd hurled the rock which had made her snap her ankle. "You think I won't take the chance now that I have it--?" she shouted. "You were trying to KILL us! Just like that OTHER Wendigo! You've got me on a REALLY bad day and I'm ready to USE this!" As soon as the word Wendigo passed her lips she saw him blink, then he stood upright, nearly banging his head on the low ceiling. He waved his hands and shook his head wildly. She frowned in confusion when he started making signs with his hands; as soon as he saw that she didn't seem to understand, he began gnawing on his lip, then his face lit up. He patted at his chest, then pointed at the entryway behind him. "Huh--?" Charmian snapped. In response he hastened to the entry and scooped something up, carrying it back in. She watched as he held up a handful of snow to his chest, shook his head, then scattered it on the floor. She began to understand the gesture, but that wasn't what caught her attention. What caught her attention was how the flakes remaining on his hand had vanished into droplets of water. Her brow furrowed further. "It's melting," she said, and he noticed her confusion, for he nodded vigorously, picked the snow back up, and cupped it in his hands. Charmian stood and watched it turn into water. Her hand slowly lowered and the flame began to die away. She looked up and met his eyes. "You mean you're not a Wendigo--not a Whittiko--?" she asked. Relief filled his eyes and he shook his head. He made a grasping gesture at his chest, then repeated the gesture, only aimed at her, and made an awful face that she assumed was meant to mimic the giant Wendigo they'd seen. Her own face nearly screwed up. "You thought I was a Whittiko?" she exclaimed in surprise. "But I was throwing fire! What the heck made you think I was one--?" In response he pointed at his head, and made a sweeping gesture over his shoulders. Charmian imagined that she saw braids and her eyes grew. "Winter Born--? The little girl with the white hair," she said, and he nodded. "You thought SHE was a Whittiko?" He nodded, again looking relieved. Charmian let out a breath and felt her shoulders relax. "We thought YOU were one!" she exclaimed, and both of them sighed at once, looking ready to sink right where they stood. Charmian decided that it was worth the risk to do so, considering how much her ankle hurt, and he followed suit, sitting back down. She was surprised to see that a tiny fire was smoldering between them. If she'd noticed it earlier, maybe this exchange could have been avoided. She blinked at it, then at him. "So--you weren't trying to kill us and eat us?" He shook his head. "You were just looking out for yourself?" A nod. Charmian frowned a bit. "Why aren't you talking?" He blinked, then his face went slightly red. He pointed at his mouth, keeping it shut tight as he shook his head and made a cutting gesture at his throat. "You can't talk," Charmian interpreted, and received a nod in response. "Were you just born that way?" Another nod; she sighed a little and relaxed. "Well...my name's Charmian. I'm not sure how to ask you your name, though, since I can't read your language." The stranger frowned a little, looking pensive; then his face lit up and he held up one finger. He opened his mouth and showed her his tongue, pointing at it. "Tongue?" Charmian said, and he nodded, then shut his mouth and hurriedly covered it up with his hand. "Tongue gone?" Charmian said; he shook his head and her frown deepened. "Mouth closed...? No tongue?" He dropped his hand and quickly nodded, eyes lighting up again. "Your name is No-Tongue?" Charmian echoed, and received another nod. She let out a breath. "Well then...nice to meet you!" She smiled at him, and felt a mixture of surprise and pity seeing him smile back; he looked as if he hadn't smiled in years. Her own smile faded a bit. "How did I get here? Did you bring me here?" He nodded, then frowned, then shrugged a little. He stood up and pointed toward the corner of the cave nearest the entryway. Charmian craned her neck and could at last make out a vague heap lying beside the wall. She blinked on seeing Augwak curled up like a dog, his tongue hanging out of his mouth and his limbs twisted at strange angles. She looked at No-Tongue. "You mean he carried me partway here--?" she asked, confused. No-Tongue nodded, then made gestures indicating something falling from the sky and hitting the ground, then pretended to be dragging a heavy load behind himself. He stepped outside the cave, then came trudging back in, and pantomimed dumping Augwak beside the wall before dusting his hands and letting out a breath. "Huh," Charmian said, rubbing at her head. "If he keeps this up he's going to be turning white soon..." She saw the anxious look that No-Tongue gave her, and quickly shook her head. "Oh--don't worry! He's weak. He's a Wend--um--Whittiko, yeah, but he can't hurt us. Oh!" She pushed herself forward a bit. "There's another one like him, with the girl! Have you seen them--?" He shook his head and she sank a bit. "Oh...well..." She looked around at the cave. "You mean to tell me you live here? Why way out here? There's a camp down at the bottom of the mountain, you know..." No-Tongue gnawed on his lip a bit, then meekly stepped toward the fire. He clenched his hand in front of his chest just as before, paused uncertainly, then pointed back at Augwak. He gave her an uneasy look. Charmian tilted her head, puzzled. "You mean they thought you were a Whittiko, too...?" He nodded. "They threw you out? Or ran you off? And you live way up here now?" More nods. "You mean you've been living up here all this time--? How long have you been here?" No-Tongue peered ceilingward thoughtfully, wagging his fingers. He finally held up four of them. "Four years?" A nod. "Cripes." Charmian instantly felt guilty for having troubled him so much, and grasped at her backpack, lying beside her. "You know, I have some food in here--not much--but still, you could use it more than I could right now! All you have to do is help yourself..." She trailed off as she stared at the contents of her pack. "Oh," she said, and pursed her lips. "I guess you already did." No-Tongue lowered his head and started fiddling his fingers, looking quite guilty. "Well...that's okay!" She dug in the pack and pulled out a couple of the remaining granola bars, glad that she'd brought so many. "I can always get more stuff down in the camp later on." She held one out to him, seeing his face light up; an instant later he'd already swallowed it, almost whole. Her eyes grew and she decided against eating the other one herself, instead handing it over. "Go on. You're the one who did all the heavy work anyway!" He accepted this one a bit more reluctantly, though he did eat every crumb. "No wonder they thought you were a Whittiko!" she exclaimed. "The hunting up here must be awful...I can't even imagine having to handle it for four years." She sat and watched him lick his fingers and then lick out the wrapper, feeling a twinge and wishing that she'd brought something more substantial. "So you just hang out here and look out for yourself," she said. "Don't the Whittikos cause you trouble?" He nodded, then tilted his head with a frown and pointed at her. "Me?" she said. He formed a triangle with his arms, then kept one arm raised while walking the fingers of his other hand up it. "What are we doing going up the mountain?" A nod. Charmian chewed on her lip. "Well...basically, we're looking for the North Wind." No-Tongue's eyes grew wide. He craned his neck forward as if to say, "Are you serious?" Charmian made a face. "I know it sounds weird! But it's important. The place where I came from is in trouble if we don't find him." She paused. "You live up here! Maybe you know where to find him? Have you ever seen him?" No-Tongue shook his head, but then turned and hurried to the edge of the cave. He picked up a stick standing against the wall and brought it back, shoving the end of it in the smoldering fire. He drew it out just as it started smoking and lifted it to rub it against the smoothest wall, somewhat above Charmian and to her side. She leaned forward and looked back to see that he was drawing something. She stood and watched silently as he dipped the stick in the fire a few more times, until a very stylized drawing was left on the wall. Charmian felt a little uneasy on seeing it. It looked somewhat like a Wendigo, only it stood upright and was dressed in robes. It had long hair which floated around it as if caught in a breeze, and long crooked fingers, and a line leading from its head down into its chest, where a small black circle had been scribbled. What bothered Charmian the most was that No-Tongue had colored in the face completely black but for two empty eyes and a gaping grinning mouth. Even as she watched, he leaned forward and scritched little lines for its teeth, then turned back to her and pointed at it urgently. "I thought you'd never seen him," Charmian said. No-Tongue nodded, then waved at the drawing. "You mean that's what he's supposed to look like?" Nod-nod-nod. "Like a Whittiko--?" She cut herself off when Geezhigo-Quae's voice suddenly echoed in her head: I had not ever even seen him until I called for him; he looks much like one of the old Wendigoes, himself... No-Tongue merely nodded again, eyes wide. He dropped the stick and commenced raising his arms, crooking his fingers and opening his mouth in an awful grimace. He started blowing loudly, pretending to stomp around the cave. Charmian had to remind herself that he wasn't doing this for her amusement, and she waved at him as he finished making his circuit and came back. "Well...thanks for the warning, but I still really need to find my friends, and then find him. We're supposed to climb the glacier and find the opening into the mountain." No-Tongue's eyes grew wider on hearing this; he stared at her for a moment, then hurriedly erased the drawing on the wall and rubbed something into the black smudge it left behind. He drew the outlines of two mountains, then wavy lines going up between them. Charmian leaned forward. "That's right! The glacier!" No-Tongue rubbed a little spot away on the small mountain to the left. "Is that where we are--?" He then moved on to the bigger mountain and rubbed out another little spot toward the bottom. "Oh! That's where you first ran into us! Right--?" He rubbed out a third spot near where the glacier vanished between the mountains, and Charmian lost her voice for a moment. "Is...is that where he lives?" she murmured, unable to believe what she was looking at. No-Tongue took a step back and gave her a quizzical look; Charmian approached the drawing and stared at it for a few minutes. "This is a map," she said. "You just drew a map right to him." She looked at him. "You've been there? Inside the mountain?" No-Tongue gnawed on his lip a little, then shook his head. He rubbed something else into the image, then pointed at the third spot. Charmian studied the drawing. "You've seen Whittikos come through there," she said, and he nodded. She shivered and rubbed her arms. "So Kabebonikka does send them...I can't believe this guy is related to Manabozho." She turned and went to pick up her backpack. No-Tongue watched her somewhat disconsolately as she slipped it on, testing her ankle. It had been jarred, but the splint had held up, and she assumed that he'd even strengthened it, as new cords were wrapped around her leg. It didn't seem to hurt quite as badly as before. "Is it terribly steep up there from here?" He bit his lip, then slowly shook his head. He made a few signs again; she couldn't read them, but could guess what they were saying. "I'm really sorry," she said. "But I have to go. I don't even know where Pakwa or Winter Born ended up. And when the heck will he wake up--?" She craned her neck to scowl at Augwak. "I don't know how long it'll take to even do all that, and the guy who's making us do this is on a tight schedule! I do hate having to leave so soon when you've been up here so long..." She started limping toward Augwak, lifting her bad foot to nudge at him and wake him up. The GeeBee's eyes popped open before she could, however, and she paused to see his pupils dilate, then dart to the side to focus on her face. They suddenly dilated further, and before she knew it Augwak had leapt to his feet, hissing and reaching out to grab her by the neck. |