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Escape From Manitou Island: Part 147 |
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(DISCLAIMER: This part, and all parts hereafter, are works in progress (WIPs) and have not been proofread or checked for plot inconsistencies. I've decided to present them "as is" for now, as there is a significant amount of unfinished material; yet this story has been on hiatus for a long while, I've forgotten certain details, and I have no plans to resume work on it any time soon. Please keep in mind while reading that details may change in the future. Should you spot an inconsistency, however, please feel free to point it out to me for possible correction.)
THE NEW DEAL THE LAKE WATER was as cold as ice, but that didn't bother Mishupishu, who was used to swimming in deep cold. Although most Underwater Lynxes slept in the winter, they didn't hibernate, and the cold, while not being terribly desirable, didn't adversely affect them much. He'd grown even more used to swimming through colder-than-average water as he found it easier to make his way around then without being assailed by other Lynxes. As such, he carefully navigated his way along the bottom of the little lake, whiskers twitching against the mud, without much difficulty. His spines waved from side to side, both testing the currents and lighting his surroundings a bit, and he at last noticed what he'd come down here to look for. Just barely distinguishable from the rest of the muck and mud and submerged wood and boulders at the bottom, he spotted something that looked like a wide branch protruding from the mud. He nosed up close to it and could detect the scent of manitou fur. His spines lit up its eyes, which gleamed dully in the greenish light; dark wounds marked its neck, and its fur swayed like seaweed. Mishupishu nudged at it a bit with his muzzle but all that happened was a small plume of mud and sand arose before settling again. Mishupishu bit the inside of his mouth, then lifted his head and waved his spines again. A current of water was heading westward from here, not too far ahead of him. That must be one, he thought, and rose and swam toward it. Even his spines couldn't fully illuminate it over here, and he had to crane his neck to see the gaping hole in the murk. Water flowed past him and into it, and he tried sniffing for any distinctive scents, unable to pick any up. He peered up at the lake surface, invisible from way down here; the lake might have been small, but it was deep. His spines quivered indecisively. Manabozho said to stay near...but if his wolf friend went down one of these tunnels... He blew a few consternated bubbles out of his nose and swam in a circle, trying to decide what to do. Deciding important things on his own had never been his strong suit; he'd always had someone like Manabozho--or Charmian--to tell him what to do. He slowed down to a halt, though he did keep his fins and spines moving to avoid sinking, and his eyes stung a little. He turned to peer back at the tunnel, then swam around and with just another small pause, entered it. It was narrow, even for a small Lynx like himself, and he had to be careful to avoid scraping his sides or bending his spines against it. More than once a glut of seaweed tangled on his horns and forced him to slow down and work it off just so he could see, until at last he couldn't clear it all from his head, and had to continue practically blind. He sighed inwardly. At least he could still smell and sense things, which was better than nothing, he supposed. He used his whiskers now to feel his way around and avoid bumping into outcroppings of rock and mud, and was so busy doing this that it took him a long time to notice that something was changing. He furrowed his brow and waved his spines a bit more. Now that he focused on it, it was unmistakable. The water was warming up. Mishupishu frowned now, perplexed. Why would it be warming up way down here...? he thought. That doesn't seem to make any sense...goodness, have I gone straight to the UNDERWORLD? He began to quiver in fear, then forced himself to shake it off. Snap out of it, Mishu! If that's where Wolf Brother went then that's where I must go as well! I promised Manabozho I would find him. No matter what. He quivered again, just a little bit. I didn't expect to find him in the UNDERWORLD, though... he thought miserably, and sighed, bubbles blowing out around him. He proceeded on his way. The water grew ever warmer, until it was pleasantly cool, just the way he liked it, and that relaxed him a little. He sniffed at the rock to try to pick up strange scents, but all that he could smell was manitou scent, and that must have come from the dead one back in the lake. He snorted to try to get the odor out of his nose but it just got stronger so he gave up. He could feel the tunnel growing narrower, and that worried him, as it was already pretty snug. He bent his spines down as far as he could and they still scraped the sides a little. If this is the way to the Underworld, I doubt I'll EVER make it there in one piece...! He twitched his whiskers forward to try to get a better sense of what lay ahead, then gasped and jerked to a sudden halt--though it wasn't sudden enough, as his muzzle slammed straight into a rock wall, and he yelped in pain as the rest of his body bunched up into the small space and wedged tight. Mishupishu quailed and started wiggling to try to loosen himself, and at last managed to straighten his body as much as he could so he could at least breathe, and this he did, taking in big gulps and letting out bubbles. He gingerly bent his whiskers forward again and palpated the hard surface just before him, feeling rather cross that he hadn't sensed it in time. Who put this wall here? he exclaimed. It's almost like it just dropped in out of nowhere! His confusion grew. If there's a WALL here, then where is that current going...? He kept feeling at the wall, but there were no openings, not even a tiny one. He could no longer feel the current which had been so strong just a moment before--in fact he would have even said that it had been getting stronger, until he'd run facefirst into this barrier. Frustrated, he backed up a bit and shook his head as much as he could, then rubbed it against the sharp rocks, trying to dislodge the seaweed that obscured his vision. He still couldn't get it all off, but he did succeed in scraping off one hunk of it so that he could see from his right eye, and he blinked a few times, arching a spine forward as much as he could to examine the wall by sight. It looked like an ordinary rock wall, and he guessed that the tunnel must have collapsed on itself even as he'd been winding his way through it; an unfortunate accident, and he hated the thought of returning to Manabozho with such news. Then he saw that someone was staring back at him, and his visible eye grew. It was so faint that he could barely see it, and had in fact almost missed it...but just barely visible in the stone surface, he could now see the hazy image of some sort of cave, and a mound, and a small face, peering back at him. Its eyes were just as wide as he imagined his were. Even as he stared at it, its mouth began opening and closing like that of a fish, and a second later it was jumping up and running toward him. Mishupishu's brow furrowed to see a little girl so far under the water, and he stared at her, mystified, as she halted right before him and began beating on the rock wall with her fists. His own mouth fell open. She can see me too--? He waved his spine at her, and her face lit up and she waved back; suddenly feeling quite cheery to see a friendly face again, Mishupishu wriggled his whiskers, and the faint image of the little girl grinned from ear to ear and wiggled her fingers at her face. They did this back and forth a few times until she seemed to come to her senses, and put her hands up against the stone again, saying something to him; but Mishupishu couldn't hear a word. What's that? he thought at her, but she kept talking obliviously. Speak up! I can't hear you. He frowned to see that she didn't even seem to notice that he was addressing her; he moved his own mouth, and she stopped talking at last, but when he made a few dull blaat noises, the only sounds he could make underwater, he could tell that she couldn't hear him either. She said something else and all that he could do was shake his head; then they just stared at each other helplessly. She began biting her lip and her eyes filled with tears; Mishupishu's spines sank and he wished that he could make her feel happy again. He wriggled his whiskers but she didn't even notice. Poor thing, Mishupishu thought. She seems so lonely way down here. He poked at the rock wall with his whiskers. Wish I could find some way through this! When she saw him doing this she did the same, exploring her own side of the rock carefully but apparently finding nothing. Her lip quivered and Mishupishu waved his spines at her to try to cheer her up. Don't worry! he thought, still not sure if she could hear or not. I'm sure we'll run into each other somewhere! After all, I was just looking for a wolf, and I ran into you instead! When her brow furrowed he used his whisker to trace an invisible outline upon the rock. Wooooollllllf, he thought as he did so, just in case. The girl tilted her head puzzledly but put her finger up and traced the outline along with him, until both whisker and finger came back to the starting point, then her face lit up again. She promptly turned away from the wall and went running back into the cave, then came back, lugging something heavy along with her. Mishupishu frowned a bit as she struggled to heft it up into his line of vision; when he suddenly found himself staring at the glazed sightless eyes and lolling tongue of a skinned wolf, he let out a blast of startled bubbles, and banged his head upon the tunnel wall trying to turn around. He blinked, dazed, as the rest of the seaweed floated free of his horns, and took one last glance at the rock wall, but there was no more image there; in fact, there was no more rock wall, just the tunnel and the current of water. But Mishupishu no longer wished to keep heading that way if that was what would end up happening to him. He whimpered and had to swim backwards until the tunnel grew wide enough for him to squirm around and swim forward again, and then he raced back toward the lake, which despite its strangeness felt much more welcoming than this place right now. Turtle gasped and hopped back from the cave wall when the wolfskin was yanked out of her hands. Megissogwun waved his hand at the rock wall and her view of the Underwater Lynx abruptly vanished. She shrank in on herself when the big manitou bent down to glare directly in her face. "If I find you trying something like that again," he said, "then you will end up not much different from this fellow here." And he lifted the dead wolf by its scruff, giving it a shake. Turtle bit her lip as she stared at its sightless eyes, then Megissogwun tossed the fur into the pile at the other side of the cave. "Now sit," he ordered, and without any protest she dashed back to the fur pile and scampered atop it. "You didn't have to take his fur off," she mumbled. "He was already dead." "Yes, but people have a strange way of coming back to life when your father is concerned," Megissogwun replied. He turned to stare at the blank wall for a moment or two. "How was it that you saw through this thing in the first place?" he asked, not looking back at her. Turtle frowned. "I don't know! It just came on. I didn't do anything to it!" "And you expect me to believe you kept your hands to yourself for once?" He looked at her over his shoulder, then back at the wall, and waved his hand again. Turtle craned her neck to see around him. First she saw a dark shape swimming through the water, then a small lodge near a frozen lake, then various people tramping around in the snow. She couldn't really make heads or tails of any of it. "Dallying around like always," Megissogwun said, and waved the image away. "I seriously wonder now why I did not just kill all of you and destroy the Island in the first place if this is how it is to be." He looked at her again. "If your friends do not find themselves in the west very soon, I believe this is what I will do. This wait is growing tiresome." Turtle began gnawing on her lip. A moment later she popped up to stand atop the furs, then yelped as she promptly tumbled to the ground. Megissogwun watched her blandly as she staggered to her feet and hurried toward him, halting directly at his feet and glaring up into his face. "If--if you do that early then you're a COWARD!" she exclaimed. He raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And how do you come to that conclusion?" "You said you weren't scared of Papa or ANYTHING!" Turtle retorted. "You said you'd give him the chance to find Grandfather and have him fight you. Papa took you on already! You just won't fight him again 'cause you already know he can have you beat!" "Your 'papa' indeed took me on already, small child, and lost very woefully. You forget?" Turtle's lip stuck out. "That's just 'cause he wasn't ready yet! Trust me! Papa can get a WHOLE lot more powerful than that. He told me all the stories!" "I believe your father is rather biased," Megissogwun said. "Uh-uh!" She shook her head adamantly. "Why else do they all tell stories about Papa and none about YOU?" The look on Megissogwun's face changed just slightly, and Turtle cut herself off, shrinking a bit again. When he didn't immediately tear her head off, however, she swallowed hard and went on. "They--they don't tell stories about YOU because you'd rather just get everything over with instead of FIGHTING people like you said you would! You promised Papa you'd fight Grandfather before you tried destroying the Island. If you go back on this now, then--then--then you're going back on your word!" She stomped a foot. "REAL manitous NEVER go back on their word!" There was a very long silence, and she cringed inwardly. "You realize," Megissogwun said after a while, "that if you were just a few years older, and thus in your right head, I would have removed that head by now for saying something like that to me?" Turtle opened her mouth, then shut it. "I--I don't know what that means!!" she blurted out. "But if it means you won't give Papa the chance you promised you would, then I'm RIGHT!" She crossed her arms and turned her back on him with a flounce. "You'd have NO honor!" The silence resumed for a moment before he spoke. "You honestly believe that your father is going to succeed in convincing Kabeyun to come fight with me?" he asked, and she peered back at him over her shoulder. He gave her the same bored look as always. "When Kabeyun has not shown the least bit of interest in even seeing or speaking to your father," he went on, "you think he will care one bit to endanger himself in this way?" "Well..." Turtle gnawed her lip again and slowly turned around. "Why wouldn't he? I mean--if YOU don't believe he'd come to fight you--then--then why did you even ask?" "You are a very simple child," Megissogwun replied. "While I have every intention of defeating Kabeyun, I in no way believe your father is going to succeed in dragging him out to meet me. You truly put this much faith in someone who is not interested in your fate in the least?" Turtle's brow began to furrow in confusion. "I merely wish your father to point me out to where Kabeyun lives, so that I may go there and destroy him myself once this is over," Megissogwun went on. "And by then I will have already destroyed your father, and you, and that Island you seem to like so much." "But--but why did you give Papa a chance then?" Turtle asked, confused. "Why did you say all that if you don't believe it?" "Because," Megissogwun said, "no matter what I believe, all of you are going to end up dead anyway." He crossed his arms and looked again at the wall. "I merely thought it good form to at least give the appearance of making it fair, even though none of you stand a chance whatsoever against me, and none of you ever did." "I don't believe that," Turtle insisted, clenching her fists. "Papa's got friends and powers and everything! You'll see! And Grandfather will beat you too! BOTH of them! You'll get beat TWICE! And then--and then I'LL beat you too! Phhhbbbttt!" She stuck her tongue out at him, earning a frown. "And then everybody else will! And that'll be that. Phhhbbbtttt!" "Your argument leaves much to be desired," said Megissogwun. "Yes, well..." Turtle scratched her head. "Whatever that means, we'll still beat you either way!" "You seem quite certain of something which stands no chance of happening," Megissogwun commented. "That's 'cause I KNOW it'll happen!" Turtle retorted. "In fact, I'd--I'd BET on it!" She shrank meekly. "Though Papa doesn't like me betting...he says little girls shouldn't." "And what exactly, if your father allowed it, would you be willing to bet?" Megissogwun inquired. Turtle blinked in surprise, not having expected him to reply to that. She hopped forward again with a gasp. "I'd--um--I bet PAPA could beat you easily, WITHOUT Grandfather's help!" she declared. "I believe it so much I'd bet--um--I'd bet--" She trailed off and looked around herself, then started patting at her dress. "Would you take a string of beads I made--?" "I am not in the least bit interested in beads," Megissogwun replied. "You have absolutely nothing I would be interested in." He crossed his arms again. "I do find your bet itself interesting, though, that you place such faith in a mere half-manitou whom I have already defeated. What makes you think he somehow still has power to defeat me at a later time?" "I don't know!" Turtle said. "But I know he does!" "How about this, small child," Megissogwun said, and knelt down in front of her so that she gasped and hopped back toward the pile of furs. Even kneeling, he towered over her. "How about we amend this agreement I made with your father," he said. "I know already that the North Wind is having sport with his company, and attempting to keep them from reaching the west, which is giving me an advantage I would rather not have. Let's say that your father and his company do somehow reach the west, and find Kabeyun. Let's say that all goes as I expect it to, and he refuses to assist. At this point, I had planned to simply destroy everyone and everything as I vowed to. But seeing as Keewadin-Nodin is already interfering, and this plan is going much more dully than I had hoped, I find this conclusion already quite uninteresting." He crossed his arms a third time. "Let's say that when Kabeyun refuses, your father gets one last chance before I destroy him for good." "What...what sort of chance...?" Turtle asked uneasily. "The chance he himself and you keep asking for," Megissogwun said. "The chance to fight me once more, on his own." He lifted his head. "Well, small child?" Turtle fiddled her fingers. "You...you really mean you'll give Papa the chance to fight you on his own...?" When he nodded her lip began to stick out suspiciously. "Mean it?" "I have no reason to lie about such a piddling thing, small child," Megissogwun replied. Turtle gnawed on her lip now. "Well...normally Papa would have to agree to this but..." She lifted her chin as high as she could without falling over. "But he's not here, so I guess I have to speak for him! And Papa says YES!" She held out her hand, and Megissogwun looked down at it for a moment before taking it in his own. His hand was so big that hers disappeared in his palm. "We have an agreement, then," Megissogwun said. "And your father will have one more chance to be humiliated before you all die." "We'll just see!" Turtle replied, and hopped back into the fur pile. She grasped onto the neck of the dead wolf and hugged it to her despite its grisliness. "And when that happens you're gonna be sorry for what you did to this poor wolf!" "Your faith in hopeless things would be quite sad, if I cared at all," Megissogwun replied, getting to his feet, "but I do not." He turned once more to the rock wall and stood staring at it for so long that Turtle at last curled up with the wolf's skin wrapped around her, one hand petting its head. She peered at the big manitou from the corner of her eye as she scratched it behind the ear. Can he see Papa out there? What's taking him so long? Her eyes blurred and she hugged the wolf tighter, burrowing her nose into its ruff and ignoring the faint smell of blood and murky water. I want to go home... "I know you saw me for a moment, Lynx," Megissogwun said aloud, making her gasp and flinch a little. She looked at him, but he was talking to the wall, which she found rather strange. "I do not know how," he added, "but I know that you did." He waved his hand and the image of more snow appeared; Turtle couldn't make it out very well from here. "As for you two," Megissogwun muttered, "I begin to lose my patience with you as well. Why I ever sent humans to do a manitou's work is beyond me. As if you will ever become the manitous you hope to be, and take my place." He waved the image away. "When I destroy the Island, and Kabeyun, and everything else, that means you as well." Turtle stared at his back, her eyes wide. When he began to turn around once more, she slipped the wolf fur over herself and burrowed down into the pile as if to vanish from sight. The atmosphere in the little lodge by the lake was tense, to say the least. Everyone who hadn't gone out searching for either the missing Charmian or the missing Winter Born, Lieutenant Barrington, and Black Elk Horn had returned to the wigwam, and aside from Mani and the wolves, who kept watch outside, everyone was gathered inside along the walls and near the fire, huddling in on themselves and peering at their newest addition. Thomas was kept closest to the fire, and everybody seemed to be keeping as good a distance away from him as they could; he was still hogtied, his hands knotted up behind his back along with his feet, and lying on his side. He continuously strained against the ropes, which were cutting into his skin, but he didn't even seem to notice; Stick-In-The-Dirt kept shaking his rattle but made sure to keep on the other side of the fire. As for this latter, Thomas didn't seem to appreciate being placed so near it, as every time it flared up he grimaced and jerked away with a hiss. His eyes were as yellow as Kenu's, and his fingernails seemed to have formed into claws, but other than that he seemed...mostly normal. "He doesn't look like a Whittiko," Kenu said doubtfully. "Looks can be deceiving," Moon Wolf said. He was again near the entryway with Francois, who had his gun lying across his knees. "If he is going Wendigo, then how come he doesn't just...well...do it?" Baptiste asked, nervously rubbing his own gun. Moon Wolf frowned. "I've been wondering this myself. But there's something which is perplexing me." He pushed himself to his feet and gestured at Francois. "I would feel better talking about it outside." The voyageur caught his hint and got up. They left the wigwam. The others began looking at each other, then at Thomas, then also got up and all filed out, except for Kenu and Little Wind, the latter of whom still tended to the fire. "As much as I LOATHE to say it," Peepaukawiss murmured as they exited the lodge and stepped out into the snow, "I find this stuff much more tolerable than what's now in that LODGE!" "What is it that's troubling you?" Francois asked Moon Wolf. Moon Wolf looked back at the entryway with another frown. "The fact that he isn't a Wendigo yet. I fought him once when he transformed, and while he was still part human, it was as if he'd forgotten that half of him. He was fully willing to kill Charmian before I stopped him." "And this is a bad thing--?" Manabozho asked, brow furrowing. "No." Moon Wolf shook his head. "I just find it strange that, if Mishosha has control over him with this medicine doll, he isn't going fully Wendigo yet. Why would Mishosha start the process and not complete it? Especially when he has us all together right where he wants us?" "He doesn't have Charmian or Winter Born," a voice said, and they looked to see Little Wind standing a little distance away. "I thought they were the ones he was most interested in, after all," Francois mused. "Well," Puka offered, "he was starting to chase after Charmian, at least, when we stopped him..." "It still doesn't make sense," Stick-In-The-Dirt said, and they looked at him now. He wrung his hands, obviously hating to be the center of attention. "He was chasing after her because he thought he'd seen her in the snow--isn't that it?" When they nodded he pressed on. "He was calling her name and saying he had to save her--wasn't he?" "He's right." Moon Wolf's perplexed look grew. "He wasn't chasing her to kill her--he thought he was going to protect her." He turned to Francois in confusion. "Why would he be doing this if he were going Wendigo? Wendigoes live only to eat humans--not protect them!" "Perhaps it's a trick," Manabozho said. "Or perhaps Mishosha didn't make his purpose clear enough," Francois countered. "I heard stories spread, on the Island, about when Augwak went Wendigo and such--that Chakenapok had wanted him to kill Charmian and destroy the Island. But this didn't happen, as he got caught up in his own things..." "I think that also happened with Sooleawa Chepi," Manabozho added, straightening up. "But he had near-total control over me," Moon Wolf said, nearly scowling. "How would his control over Thomas be less--?" "Easy," Manabozho said, crossing his arms. "Thomas is in love, and you're not." "Ooooooohhhh!!" Puka cried, clasping his hands together. "How SWEET!!" "Whatever the case is," Moon Wolf said, looking incredibly peeved by now, "love won't be enough to keep him from losing his mind, if this keeps up. You all saw how the fire was bothering him. It never did that until now. If Mishosha senses that his plan isn't working, he'll step it up until it does work. We'll need better--" A horrendous exploding noise made him cut himself off, and everyone gasped and ducked their heads, Puka crying out in a very girly manner. Splinters of wood and ice went flying and rained over them; several of them blinked and lifted their heads to see that the entryway of the lodge no longer existed, and Thomas was crawling out of it, his ropes loose. Moon Wolf had enough time to blink in surprise and then throw up his hand to hurl a fireball, but a blast of icy wind smacked him first, and he ran backwards into Francois and they fell into the snow. "Baptiste!!" Francois yelled, and the other voyageur swung up his gun, the barrel shaking crazily as he tried aiming. It went off but Thomas merely flung up his hand again, and the ball halted in midair before plunking to the ground, coated in ice. Baptiste's mouth fell open and they helplessly watched Thomas go running off toward the trees. Moon Wolf clenched his fists, pushing himself up. "When I get my hands on him," he growled, "I am going to beat his head in!!" "If he insists on running away like that, then maybe he can lead us to Charmian!" Manabozho exclaimed, and turned on one heel to go running after him. "Don't you think it's at least worth a--" His words cut off and he promptly toppled to the ground with a loud thud. A gale of wind snapped at the tree nearest him and even Thomas whirled around and shielded his face, blinking in surprise. Everyone glanced around when more thudding sounds came, and in no time at all the dark shapes of mitchi manitous lumbered into view, antlers swinging and eyes flashing blue. Manabozho pushed himself up, rubbing painfully at his head. "Well..." he muttered with a wince, "...I guess maybe it's not worth a shot." |