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Escape From Manitou Island: Part 155 |
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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.)
GUT FEELINGS BLACK ELK HORN stalked past Charmian, who didn't get to address him before he answered the question that nobody got to ask. "I got rid of that nuisance once and for all." Charmian's mouth snapped shut, her face going white. Everyone watched Black Elk Horn as he walked past, still wielding the gun, but he ignored their stares and went on in the direction that Manabozho had gone in. There was a long silence, then they began looking at each other very uneasily. Charmian actually began to feel sick in the pit of her stomach; Lieutenant Barrington had been a jerk, but still... More tramping noises came from the woods. The sound startled Baptiste and even Francois, and they both lifted their guns again. Charmian tensed, fully expecting to see a very irate Mishosha or Makwaquae--or even worse, both of them--come storming through with murder in their eyes--which was why when she saw some strange creature with the head of a wildcat she gasped and hopped back, lifting her hand to call up fire. "What the--!!" she managed to get out, before noticing that the strange creature was wearing a red coat, and then she blinked. "Didn't have to leave the bloody thing for me to lug about," Lieutenant Barrington muttered as he entered the clearing, a very large and very dead bobcat draped around his shoulders. Its head was resting next to his, and the way that he limped along--Charmian saw with some surprise that his feet, aside from snowshoes and his stockings, were bare--had made it look like the bobcat's head was his own. As soon as he saw them staring at him he halted and stooped forward, heaving the dead animal from his shoulders with a grunt so that it landed hard in the snow. Then everybody just stood staring at it, mystified. Winter Born blinked, then her face lit up. "OH! That's right!" She turned to Charmian, tugging on her arm. "I forgot to mention the bobcat that kept stalking us on our way back! It came right down into the tunnel after us. Father and Monsieur Barrington had to shoot at it a few times but kept missing. I guess Father's the one who got it after all!" Charmian stared at her for a moment, then her face went distinctly red. "You really need to learn to remember these things sooner," she grated, somehow managing to hold her temper in check. "Well?" Barrington snapped, waving at the bobcat when they looked at him again. He scowled. "Do I have to apologize to this one, too?" "Huh? Oh." Winter Born frowned. "I guess so...I mean, that's normally what we do..." "Oh, bugger it," Barrington growled, and stomped away from it. "That's YOUR people and not mine!" He reached a fallen tree and sat down upon it heavily, wincing as he removed his foot from a snowshoe and rubbed at it. "Hasn't anybody in this entire company an extra pair of something I can put on my feet...?" "I guess this is as good a place as any to take a small break before we get heading west," Charmian said with a reluctant sigh. "I don't think he's going to want to get up again quite yet, anyway. Cedars, do you think your okis can keep an eye out for Mishosha again? It's safe to say he's going to be coming soon, so we'll need a heads-up..." "O-ho!" two voices cried, and she looked down to see Kwemoo and Maang waddling around awkwardly in the snow; the two loons had been so well behaved for so long that she'd forgotten they were even there. "We, Kwemoo and Maang, shall keep alert for enemies as well! O-ho!" They started waddling even faster and flapping their wings, at last managing to take off, though it was by no means graceful to watch, and as soon as they flapped out of sight one of them exclaimed, "O-ho! OUCH! Needles where I do not like them! O-yike!" Charmian let out a breath and turned to look at Barrington as Baptiste rummaged around in his belongings to lend him a pair of moccasins, Mani and the two okis heading off further into the forest. "We're going to need a plan once we reach the plains," she said, "but I have no clue what it should be. I don't even know what to expect out there." "I believe we should worry most about what we will face before we reach there," Niskigwun said, and she looked at him. He nodded northward. "We still have at least a little way left to go, which means Kabebonikka still has at least a few more plays to make. Knowing him, he will not waste them making this any easier." "Drat. Forgot," Charmian said with a grimace. "Well, so far he's been the lesser of two evils; and anything he does delays Mishosha, too. Mishosha's who I'm worried about." "I have a feeling we won't be meeting him again until we reach there," Moon Wolf said, and now they looked at him. He had dusted off another tumbled tree and was crouching upon it almost like a GeeBee. "He would have caught up with us by now," he said, staring west, "if he really wished to." Charmian frowned. "Gee, aren't you a bucket of confidence today. We've held him off this well so far. Who's to say we can't do it a little longer?" He turned and met her eyes. "The answer is simple," he said. "Up until now, he hasn't realized just who he's dealing with." Silence. After a moment Marten said, "You mean, that guy's just been playing before now...?" "He has even greater powers than that?" Charmian asked in disbelief. "I assume there's a reason why he is the most-feared human around Gitchi-Gami," Moon Wolf replied. Charmian could think of nothing to say in response to this, so just sighed again and found a spot to clear some snow out from under a tree and sit down. Winter Born sat nearby while Francois picked up the bobcat and made off with it. "If Manabozho finds anything he's likely to let us know," Charmian said. "We'll rest long enough to get our legs working properly again, then keep moving. If Mishosha's actions are any indication then I don't like what Megissogwun must be thinking." Everyone began murmuring to themselves and settling down in various spots, some shutting their eyes, some just resting their heads. Stick-In-The-Dirt scribbled in his journal and when Charmian craned her neck to see what Francois must be doing, she was pretty sure he must be skinning and gutting the bobcat, and she decided not to watch. "More waiting," she murmured herself, staring at Manabozho's tracks, and Mishupishu's story about seeing Turtle hung heavy in her breast like a leaden weight. "I'm sure she'll be okay," Winter Born reassured her. "You always say so." "Yeah, well," Charmian said, "I've been known to say things that aren't exactly so sometimes." She looked down at her. "By the way, seeing as we're going to be here for a little bit--maybe I can try teaching you a few things again. It might come in handy once we reach the plains; I have no clue what'll be waiting there." Her brow furrowed when Winter Born just shrank back a little. "Um...that's okay," she said, somewhat meekly. "You don't have to teach me if you don't want to. I don't mind." "Huh...?" Charmian blinked. "But...up to now you've always been so gung ho about it!" She turned a little bit. "Really, it won't--" Now Winter Born popped up to her feet and started wringing her hands in a way that perplexed Charmian. "Really!" she echoed Charmian's own words. "I--um--I should wait until I'm older anyway! That's what Father always says..." "Winter Born..." Charmian frowned, then patted at the melted area that Winter Born had been sitting in; Winter Born gnawed on her lip a little but then relented and reluctantly sat back down. "What's going on?" Charmian asked her under her breath. "Did something happen when you were out there with those two? Did they try to tell you not to use your power? Because I really don't mind teaching you, it's just..." "That's not it," Winter Born insisted, shaking her head; when Charmian gave her a questioning look she shrank in on herself and started fiddling her fingers. "It's...it's nothing, really," she said in a small voice. "I'll just wait until I get back home..." Charmian's confusion just grew; this wasn't at all like the Winter Born she was so used to. "What happened?" she asked again, trying to sound coaxing yet firm. "If something happened out there, you have to tell me, Winter Born." Winter Born flinched a little and fiddled even quicker. "It wasn't anything important," she said in an even tinier voice, not making eye contact. "Did you talk with somebody? Your dad? Barrington?" Winter Born shook her head to both of these so Charmian's frown returned. "They were the only ones out there with you; the others wouldn't say such things." She blinked when a thought struck her. "Did you speak with Chakenapok?--or the Red Swan?" The look that flitted quickly across Winter Born's face betrayed her and Charmian leaned closer. "You reached one of them? What did they say?" "I only talked with the Red Swan a little bit," Winter Born finally admitted. "It wasn't much." "Did she tell you to wait until you get back home to use your powers?" Winter Born shook her head. "No, nothing like that. Can I please go now?" she begged when Charmian opened her mouth to speak again, and this reaction nearly made Charmian lose her voice. Winter Born was digging her feet into the snow and biting her lip as if she were about ready to be called out to perform on stage; Charmian couldn't understand it. "What's going on?" she whispered at last, so that none of the others could hear. "What did she say to you, Winter Born?" When that resulted in no answer she tilted her head at an uncomfortable angle just to see the little girl's eyes. "Please tell me?" Winter Born winced a little, fidgeting. "She said...she said that I should listen to her," she said at last, her voice so soft that Charmian had to strain to hear it, even though she was just inches away. "She said that I shouldn't trust Chakenapok and I shouldn't...I shouldn't trust you, either." Charmian could only stare at her for a moment, eyes wide and mouth slightly open. "The Red Swan said that...?" she said at last, confused. Winter Born nodded, keeping her eyes down. "She said that Chakenapok's been getting to you and that I should just listen to her, because you're afraid that if I use my powers, I'll destroy the Island." Charmian's mouth fell completely open now. "She said that--?" she blurted out, so loudly that Moon Wolf, still seated on the fallen tree nearby, glanced at them with a small frown. Winter Born flinched. "Why the heck did she say that?" Charmian asked now, forcing herself to whisper. "I never believed any such thing!" "But that's why you didn't want to teach me, isn't it?" Winter Born said, peering up at her; Charmian searched for any anger or sullenness but saw none. "Because of what I did to that manitou and everything. You don't want me becoming so powerful that I threaten the Island, do you--?" "I never thought that, Winter Born," Charmian insisted. "I mean, sure, I'm a little nervous that you might get a little out of control or something...but nothing like THAT! You don't even have it in you to destroy the Island! Geezhigo-Quae even wanted me to train you so you could look out for it. Would I agree to that if I thought you might destroy it--?" "The Red Swan mentioned that too," Winter Born pressed on. "She said that you didn't want me getting too powerful because if I do, then you won't have any reason to come back to the Island." Charmian's mouth fell open again in utter disbelief. "I really don't want you to have to stay away!" Winter Born exclaimed, turning toward her. "If you don't train me, then you can still keep watch over the Island and then you can come to visit me! Right--? I don't want you to have to leave..." "Winter Born," Charmian said, trying to keep her thoughts from colliding all over with each other, "Geezhigo didn't say anything like that. Sure...I felt a little confused at first...but she only wants somebody who can watch over the Island fulltime, what with how often I have to be away. I'm not going to stop coming to the Island! I have no clue where the Red Swan got these ideas! Trust me, I'm not going anywhere, and you're not going to destroy the Island. You like that place just as much as I do." "But she said that you nearly destroyed it yourself once, because of what Chakenapok did. She said he got in your spirit and you were scared that you'd end up like Ocryana." Charmian flinched. She immediately regretted this, as she saw the look that flitted across Winter Born's face. "If you thought you could destroy the Island," she said, "then what about me?" "That was different," Charmian said flatly, and stood up. "Nobody has control over you," she said. "And as long as it stays that way, there's no way that you could destroy the Island. You never could." She turned and started tramping through the clearing. "And I don't know where the Red Swan gets off giving you such ideas," she added under her breath, starting to feel an odd mixture of perplexity and anger. There was a small thud and the sound of footsteps came after her. She slowed her step a little, expecting Winter Born to appear at her side, but it was Moon Wolf who joined her instead. She let out a breath and kept walking westward so that they had an excuse to keep moving. "I have to ask your advice on something," she murmured. "I really don't think I can talk to anybody else about it." "You're certain you would trust me with such things?" "I honestly don't know what I can trust anymore. But I have to tell somebody." They were past the main area of the little camp, so she slowed down again and raised her voice a little. "It's about the Red Swan," she said. "I know I've already talked about her a few times but I don't know how much you know about her yet. She and Chakenapok have been keeping me in touch with the Island...kind of off and on, because it seems they don't really like each other that much." "I can't say that I would blame them," Moon Wolf returned. "Chakenapok's been pretty open from the start," Charmian went on. "He told me upfront he doesn't trust her, and that I shouldn't trust her either. And she was pretty upfront about the same thing. But from the sound of it she's been talking to Winter Born and telling her not to trust me, because supposedly Chakenapok's got some kind of hold over me!" Moon Wolf pursed his lips. "This was true, at one point." "I know that! But not now. At least...I didn't think so..." She bit her own lip. "I had some trouble reaching her a while back and she said it was because Chakenapok had trapped her," she said. "And I practically saw him do it myself so I know she wasn't lying about that. He gave a reason, but...I really don't know. They're both acting strange. And there was something I think Tal Natha and Chakenapok tried to show me. They seemed to be saying that the Red Swan's spirit is dark." The words came out of her mouth without her even thinking them, and she jerked to a stop, eyes going wide. What would make me say THAT--? her mind exclaimed, when the dream came rushing back upon her--the brilliant red tree, changing into a black spirit stone--and what Geezhigo-Quae had told her not long after, about Chakenapok appearing in the Sky Tree, before fading away...she knew already that he and Tal Natha had been the ones to send her that dream, not the Red Swan, so why else would they want to circumvent the Red Swan like that just to show her such a strange thing--? Moon Wolf stopped as well and looked at her. "How would they know this?" he demanded. Charmian shrugged and shook her head, bewildered. "I--I'm not even sure if I'm getting it right! Probably the same way I would--? Chakenapok does have the power to see spirit stones. And I doubt Tal Natha would have gone along with it based on a hunch! Unless the whole thing was a trick--?" She winced. "NONE of it makes any sense! Both of those two were absolutely trustworthy--until I stuck them together. And now Tal Natha's mixed up in it, and I have no idea where it's going! If the Red Swan's spirit is dark then why would Mishosha have her trapped? Wouldn't he be using her? And how is it that NOBODY seems to know exactly who or what she is?" "Perhaps this is his exact reason for keeping her trapped," Moon Wolf interrupted, and she fell silent, staring at him. "Have you seriously considered yet," he said, "that perhaps she's his secret weapon? And has been all along?" When Charmian blinked he added, "She's done well enough confusing you this much, hasn't she? It's exactly the way of someone such as Mishosha to send along someone to cast doubt among others. Take a look what he's managed with Little Wind." "But he didn't send Little Wind here--" "He always could have. And that isn't what I meant anyway. What I meant was take a look how he did the same thing to Little Wind. You heard what he called him. 'Expendable.' And that boy still calls him Grandfather." Charmian chewed on a fingernail. "But...if all this is so..." Her brow furrowed as she tried to wrap her brain around it all. "Something in it just isn't right. I don't even know how to explain it. It's like a gut feeling--and I hate gut feelings because they make no SENSE!" Moon Wolf's mouth twitched. "Perhaps you'd best go with it for once, then. You only asked for my advice. What do you think should be done?" Charmian made a face. "I have no CLUE! How can you leave such a decision to me?" She forced herself to take a breath and try to clear her thoughts. "Something...something's telling me to trust Chakenapok," she murmured at last, and flinched again. "I really hate saying that...and I know I'll probably regret it..." "Just tell me what your 'gut' is telling you." She took in another breath and even shut her eyes this time. "I know he messed with my spirit stone," she said, "and I don't altogether trust him. But I saw his spirit and it was clear. And Tal Natha trusted him, and I know others would vouch for him too. And at least he hasn't tried pitting Winter Born against me--yet." She bit her lip. "And if that dream of mine was true--and I have no reason to think Tal Natha would have sent it if it wasn't, unless he was tricked too--" Moon Wolf nodded at her to move along "--then I know already that the Red Swan has some kind of darkness in her...even if not what...and even if Mishosha's keeping her prisoner, still, he must have something in mind because even Little Wind warned me about her...and even Geezhigo-Quae doesn't know who she is..." She trailed off and her eyes slowly opened so she frowned at him. "There was something else Geezhigo told me," she said after a moment. "She said that the Red Swan looks just like she did when she was a lot younger." Moon Wolf's own brow furrowed now. "They look alike?" he asked, obviously perplexed. Charmian shook her head, then nodded, then rubbed it. "Yes and no. Truthfully, when I think about it...the Red Swan really does look like a younger version of Geezhigo-Quae!" She blinked as this realization hit her. "Her eyes, her wings, everything...her hair is the wrong color, but Geezhigo is pretty old now...and Geezhigo even said she used to dress like her when she was younger. She told me a story that Megissogwun kidnapped her when she was around that age, and wearing that same red outfit. Ishkode gave the same story--only his was about the Red Swan herself!" The blood drained from her face. "He said that she was imprisoned so she wouldn't destroy the Island that Geezhigo-Quae created!" She whirled toward Moon Wolf in a near panic. "Moon Wolf--what the heck does this all mean?" Moon Wolf took her wrist when she grabbed at his arm. "I do not know," he admitted. "But I think your 'gut' is right in not trusting her just yet. Something tells me that even she may not be aware of what power she possesses." Charmian blinked yet again, then let out a sharp breath. "Her memory," she whispered, and he looked at her. She let go of him. "She said she has no memory before she was trapped," she said, staring off into the trees. "Like she hadn't even existed. Megissogwun doesn't seem to know her--but Mishosha seems to be acting like he's keeping her locked up for a purpose. Like it's his job. It's almost like...she was created to be a weapon." As soon as the words were out, she hated the sound of them...but they made some kind of bizarre sense. She'd seen how threatening the Red Swan could get when she was angered, and even the Animiki had warned her about the strange manitou. "I don't think Mishosha's keeping her imprisoned so he can unleash her on us later," she said at last. "I think he's keeping her imprisoned because even he's afraid of her. I think they all are." Crunching noises came in the snow and Moon Wolf halted in front of her. "You realize what you're saying--?" he whispered with a sharp look. Charmian nodded, as if in a dream. "It's the only thing that makes sense out of all this. I don't think Mishosha even had anything to do with what she's doing now--she's acting on her own. Whenever she thinks somebody's going against her, she starts to get dangerous. She's even trying to convince Winter Born not to trust any of us. Even if she's trapped, she could always use one of us to fulfill her plans. I really don't believe Winter Born would ever destroy the Island, accidentally or on purpose--but if somebody else got control of her, who knows what she could do? Chakenapok nearly did it to me. If the Red Swan is even half as powerful as everybody's hinting, she could easily do it too. Mishosha..." "He is proud," Moon Wolf said, a troubled look coming to his face as it dawned on him as well. "He would never allow another to steal his own chance at making a name for himself." "So even you think he wouldn't use the Red Swan to beat us," Charmian said. They halted just beyond some particularly snowy trees so the others were out of sight. "Moon Wolf," Charmian said, and started gnawing on her lip. "What if I got us into even worse trouble...?" "You had no way of knowing," he said, frowning at the ground pensively. "And worrying over it will get nothing done--so stop worrying, and start thinking. Maybe there's something you've missed. Tell me how you first met the Red Swan." "Well...it was in this dream--she was in the Stone Canoe, on Gitchi-Gami, and she told me she wanted us to come find her in the north...I assumed it was Mishosha's island, and Little Wind pretty much said that's so..." "So that seems like the truth so far. Describe this dream you said the Dreamspinner sent you. As well as you can remember it." "Well--it started out like that old dream of mine that Ocryana took--" "I take it this dream is personal for you. It sounds like the Dreamspinner must have been trying to communicate something only you would understand. Keep going." "There's this fountain, and I see my reflection in it, and I saw her spirit stone--" "Back up," he ordered, and she fell silent. "Describe it exactly as you saw it." Charmian bit her lip again but obeyed, again shutting her eyes. "It was my reflection," she said. "Usually I see somebody else's reflection, like Ocryana, or Red Bird..." "So the dream wasn't about you, otherwise something in your appearance would have drawn your attention. Keep going." "Well...a little glowing tree appeared where my spirit stone would usually be." She paused. "When I described this to Geezhigo-Quae...for some reason it made me think of the Sky Tree. But I don't know...maybe that's just because that's where I was..." "Keep going." She bit down her irritation at being ordered so. "It was kind of bluish-greenish at first..." Her eyes lit up. "The Sky Tree is blue. Maybe that's--?" She cut herself short at another sharp nod from Moon Wolf. "It shifted down to bright red and then turned into a black spirit stone," she finished. "And that's when I woke up in the canoe. If you want a shot at it, Sigmund Freud, go right ahead." "The color red must be what made you think primarily of the Red Swan. The tree is another story. That image would not have been sent unless it meant something." "Chakenapok told me I had to figure it out on my own. I even asked and he wouldn't tell me. And I'm kind of leery of asking the Red Swan to help me get in touch with Tal Natha. When she found out I'd been to talk to Geezhigo-Quae, she nearly--" Her voice abruptly died in her throat as something sparked in the back of her mind, but Moon Wolf was the one to speak up before she could. "Geezhigo-Quae," he said, meeting her eyes with a frown. "She's what keeps coming back into this. Somehow, she and the Red Swan must be connected." |