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Escape From Manitou Island: Part 165 |
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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.)
ENTRANCED THE WHISTLED SCREAMS of manitous in fear and pain filled the Red Swan's mind, and her eyes opened. She was kneeling on the floor of her cavern, her arms wrapped over her head so that all she could see was a section of the floor just below her face. The cavern was as silent as ever...but the screaming noises of the manitous didn't fade away. If anything they only grew louder and more strident, and her brow furrowed in confusion, her head still hazy. What's...what's going on...? My spirit stone... Her eyes shifted down and she looked at her chest, but it wasn't visible, nor did she want it to be. She remembered what it had looked like when the lost spirit, Chakenapok, showed it to her, what now felt like eons ago; she remembered the rage and panic that she'd felt; but after that, things were cloudy. It took her another moment or two to remember how the winter-haired girl had screamed herself awake, ending the dream...since then she must have just been sitting here by herself, still trying to shake off the feelings the incident had given her. She ignored the faint screaming sounds for a moment and lifted her head, still looking at her chest. She peered anxiously at the place where Megissogwun had been standing, but there was still nothing there. She could feel the vague presences of the others with whom she'd been in contact, but she shut them out now, not wanting to face them. Taking another look around herself to make certain that she was truly alone, she held up a hand and bit her lip, gingerly willing her spirit stone to present itself. A faint bluish flicker emerged, and she started to relax, until the cloudy black coils emerged to cover it up, and then she gasped and jerked her hand away so that the image disappeared. She wrapped her arms around herself, whimpering a little as she rocked back and forth. How can it be like that? How can I be like this? I would never hurt anybody! All I ever wanted was to be free of this place...! That spirit must have done this to me! He had that power once, he would surely do it again! But...he lost that power so long ago...and I never felt him do anything to my spirit...wouldn't I have noticed something? How could I not notice...? The faint screaming whistling noises again came into her consciousness, and she lifted her head again, trying foggily to focus on them. "Manitous," she murmured aloud after a moment or two. "Something...something hurts them." The little winter girl...I can feel her medicine. It's horrible... But why would she be hurting manitous? She's not like that at all. Did that spirit get to her, too? What's going on out there? Why is she so angry? Why would she do such awful things...? A sharp pain suddenly spiked through her heart, and the Red Swan gasped and huddled over, blinking in surprise. As she did so, the sight of the cave around her abruptly vanished as something else flashed before her eyes. Everything she saw lasted only as long as she didn't blink, and so the images flickered before her in rapid fire, one after another, barely distinguishable. She saw a great lodge...images of birds and clouds...a blue sunny sky... The sounds of small beads clicking together...footfalls striking the ground...faint laughter... She felt that there were many beings around her, powerful beings, but they were moving further and further away, and the world bobbed around her... She glanced down and saw her own red dress, her own red shells and beads, the figures of birds and clouds adorning her moccasins, only she seemed smaller somehow... She felt wind against her skin, and lifted her head to look up, seeing a huge shadow before her, its eyes glowing baleful blue... The Red Swan gasped and shot to her feet, staring at the cave floor with goggling eyes and willing herself not to blink lest she see anything else. Terror and dread surged up inside her, squeezing her heart--but those weren't the only feelings--she felt enraged all of a sudden--like sending blasts of power at the cave walls, and tearing the stone apart, and destroying everything within sight-- What--what is this?! What's going on--? She stumbled backward, glancing down at her chest as she did so. Unbidden, her spirit stone flared horribly, the black swirls glowing with a dreadful light all their own so that they overpowered the dim blue. At the same time, it seemed to throb and pulse like a hideous heart, and she let out a cry as she beat her chest with one hand, her other hand pressed to her throbbing head. When she ran into the cave wall she sank to the floor again, chattering and shaking like a leaf. She curled up in a tight ball, arms over her head, shooting fearful glances around herself just as she did-- --just as I did when I was hiding-- --Hiding--? Hiding from what? She'd always been here. There'd never been anything to hide from. She shut off that part of her mind and just curled up even tighter, squeezing her eyes shut--thankfully, the strange images didn't repeat themselves, and she was able to imagine herself surrounded by walls of wood--although she had no idea why this thought comforted her--and for the longest time she simply stayed there, trying not to think of anything at all. The hideous image--of the great swath of snow being flattened as if in the path of a tornado, the trees snapping and collapsing as if a giant invisible hand swept over them--flickered dimly in the glowing cabochon, and Geezhigo-Quae's eyes widened in disbelief. She stood and silently watched the destruction that Winter Born so easily wreaked, and even though she couldn't tell what the others in her company were thinking, she was certain that she felt what they felt. She saw several of them--the mainlander included--shoot to their feet, and could imagine their stunned reactions--for it was the exact same reaction that she was having. I knew she was powerful...but this...? I never knew she would DESTROY so much...! "What if..." she murmured, staring at the rushing swath of devastation, the white-haired girl looking quite small as she stood behind it, "...what if...she can't be taught to control it...?" Have I made some kind of awful mistake...? She felt a sudden twinge, and actually took an abrupt step back before even stopping to think about what it might be. She blinked a few times, then put a hand up to her heart, brow furrowing. What was that...? Perplexed, she looked down and waited until the glowing image of her spirit stone appeared. It shone like a blue topaz with a pearly iridescent sheen, and she stared at it with a frown, unable to figure out what she'd just felt. It was almost as if her spirit had just been...clenched, or something. She looked up at the vision in the cabochon, but the two didn't seem to be related, as far as she could tell. Not that it would have made sense if they had been, anyway. She held up a hand to try to draw the image closer, when another sensation came, but this time it was different and more concrete. She looked up at the walls of the main room of the Sky Tree, her frown growing, and then moved to the balcony to peer outside. It was late afternoon here, just bordering on evening, and the sky was just beginning to turn purple in the east. The trunk of the Tree should have been deep blue to match the sky, and the leaves should have been shimmering like sunlight hitting clouds...yet for some reason, both carried a dull leaden hue instead, and even as she watched, the colors were dimming even further. Her spirit and that of the Tree were connected, and so she could even feel its distress, weighing inside her like a stone, so heavy that even her wings drooped. She placed her hand against the smooth wood just inside the room, trying to figure out what was causing the Tree to do this, but she could tell that even it was confused. "What causes you to feel this way...?" she murmured, running her fingers down the smooth wood. "What causes me to feel this way as well...? It feels like...the sky itself is falling, and covering us up." She peered up into the interior of the Tree. "But this is impossible...so what could it be?" She turned again to one of the cabochons and held up her hand. "Can you tell me? Even if you don't know...I know that you can feel things. Maybe, if you try to show me, I can see." A breeze rustled the leaves, but the sound that they made, as well as the creaking and groaning of the branches, wasn't quite the same as it usually was. Geezhigo-Quae shut her eyes briefly as she held her hand out toward the cabochon, hoping that, if the Tree couldn't show her an image in the crystal, perhaps it could show her something in her mind. She focused on what she and the Tree were feeling and tried to make sense of it. I feel heavy...distressed...afraid of something... I feel...almost like something is missing...or separated from us...and whatever it is, it's in pain too... But what else is there aside from us? And why am I afraid of the thought of finding what it is...? She opened her eyes and touched the crystal. "Even you are confused," she said softly to the Tree, and the crystal glowed, again showing the image of what was taking place in the northwest. She stared at Winter Born for a long moment. "Somehow I know this hasn't to do with her," she said, "but for some reason, I think I know what she feels..." How would I know? I've never destroyed things the way that she's doing now-- Geezhigo-Quae blinked. For some reason, another image briefly flashed in her mind--herself, as a child, running along while the elder manitous watched, her red dress as bright as roses in the sun--but then the image vanished, and she was left staring at the crystal, wondering why she'd remembered that all of a sudden. My red dress? Charmian said that strange spirit woman was dressed as I was...does this have something to do with her? Brow furrowing, she waved at the cabochon to the left and tried to bring up an image of the Red Swan--wherever she might be--but was unsuccessful. She did notice, however, that when she did this both she and the Tree felt more listless and dull than ever, and so she made herself stop early, pulling her hand away. She leaned against the wall and waited for a few moments while the Tree slowly seemed to regain a little of its strength, herself along with it, and stroked the wood pensively. "How can that woman be connected to me," she said, "when I don't even know who she is?" Her troubled look grew. "And what is she doing to us--and why?" "No," Moon Wolf said, his voice cracking, "I don't think she can control it." Charmian and all of the others stood staring in horror at the mass destruction that Winter Born had wreaked, and was still wreaking, a huge swath of snow plowed flat and stands of trees falling straight to the ground like villages of matchsticks. The attack that she'd sent out just grew wider and wider the further it went, and it was now headed straight for some low rocky hills to the north. Winter Born herself stood at the narrow beginning of the swath, watching it proceed as if she were merely staring at animals in a zoo. "What--what did she just do?" Charmian croaked. "Some sort of powerful medicine," Moon Wolf said, rather needlessly. "I would say it was some sort of wind attack--which would make sense, since she was fending off those whirlwinds--but...I've never seen wind medicine like this before." He got a perplexed look. "It's almost like..." Charmian winced when another stand of trees was flattened "...some sort of--shockwave or something! Like it's just--pure energy!" She whirled to face him. "What do we do now? I wanted her to fend off the winds, yeah, but--this is kind of overkill! Why is she just destroying EVERYTHING like this--?" "You heard what she shouted before she attacked," Moon Wolf said. "I think she's trying to get Kabebonikka himself!" "What?" Charmian and Stick-In-The-Dirt both cried at once. The medicine man started pulling on his feathers while Charmian turned back to stare at Winter Born, mouth hanging open. "She--she doesn't have THAT kind of power!! She was just supposed to fight off the whirlwinds!" She made a dash for her. "Cripes!! I have to stop her before she wrecks EVERYTHING!" She got only a few steps before something grabbed her by the pack so abruptly that she yelped and her feet flew out from under her. She fell with a thud into the snow, rubbing at her behind with a wince. She looked back to see Moon Wolf still holding one of the pack straps; he let it go and she slumped forward, brow furrowing in confusion. "Hey! Why did you stop me? Somebody's gotta stop her!" "If you stop her now," Moon Wolf retorted, "then she'll lose her attack, and go back to normal, and completely forget everything she just did! I thought you wanted to teach her how to control it!" "Well, yeah, but--!" Charmian grimaced. "How the hell do I do that?! If I DON'T snap her out of it, she'll just keep destroying things!!" "You have to reach a middle ground! Try to get through to her without breaking her concentration. That's the only way you're ever going to teach her to control this medicine. Otherwise--" He gave a savage shrug. "She'll just keep destroying things every time she gets angry!" Charmian made an awful face. "Cripes...when I went through puberty I just threw books at my walls!" She pushed herself to her feet, fiddling with the fringe on her outfit as she stared at Winter Born's back. Winter Born hadn't moved an inch since sending out the blast, and when Charmian took a few steps to stand somewhat off to her side, she saw the odd, impassive look on the girl's face. She seemed bored, almost. Though Charmian was fairly certain that she was still in whatever trance she went into whenever she got this way. She opened her mouth to call her by name, then shut it and thought again. Calling her would likely snap her out of her attack. So would grabbing onto her, or otherwise trying to put an end to the destruction. Charmian gnawed on her lip and shifted from foot to foot uneasily. She considered sending a thought at her, but even that could have the wrong effect; then an idea finally struck her, and she gasped and turned back to the others. "A dream state!" She looked to Stick-In-The-Dirt and Moon Wolf. "A dream state is similar to a trance state--a waking vision--right?" When they both frowned and nodded she said, "Does this look anything like a trance state to you--?" They both gave each other puzzled looks, then looked at Winter Born. After a moment Moon Wolf's frown grew but Stick-In-The-Dirt shrugged. "I...suppose so," he said, hesitantly. "Why...?" Charmian let out a breath. "I'm already in a long-term waking vision...maybe I can connect to her that way!" She shut her eyes. "I just hope Chakenapok's still willing to help after all the crap we've put him through!" Chakenapok--? she thought, feeling around for his presence. She knew that the Red Swan had a closer connection to Winter Born, but after the last time she and Winter Born had apparently parted ways, she wasn't too willing to try that route again just yet. Can you still hear me? Did the Red Swan boot you out again--? No, she did not "boot me out," she heard Chakenapok's thoughts after a moment. But I'm still trying to regather all my power after using it up on that Pearl Feather! Not that she was too grateful about that...and then there were all those cracks... I need you to help me out again, Charmian interrupted, and sensed a question. I've got Winter Born right here and I need to get through to her, she explained, only without snapping her out of--whatever this is she's in! She kind of goes out of her head every time she uses her full powers, and when she snaps out of it, she can never remember what happened. And this is a bad thing--? Charmian scowled. It is if we plan to use that power against Megissogwun! All we needed her to do was fight off some windlings--NOW look! She opened her eyes to let Chakenapok see the ever-growing swath spreading out before them, then shut her eyes again. See? I suppose, Chakenapok said doubtfully. If I just grab onto her or talk to her she'll probably forget everything she's used so far. I thought maybe I could reach her in a trance state--a vision state--without jarring her out of it so abruptly that she forgets. Do you think you can get me through to her? I'm not sure how to do it on my own. I'll try, Chakenapok said, but I can't guarantee this will work. Her thoughts feel strange right now. He paused. She feels almost like an Ocryx. Charmian bit her lip, this comment filling her with fresh anxiety. Another moment passed before Chakenapok said, I'm going to send you through to her now...but you might want to prepare yourself, at which she nodded and steeled herself. She wasn't prepared, however, when it felt again like she'd slammed into a brick wall, and she gasped before crumpling to her knees, a wheeze escaping her throat. I told you to prepare yourself, Chakenapok said. The dull sound of footsteps came running up behind her, but she held up a hand and shakily shooed them back. "Fine," she managed to get out, and prodded again at Winter Born's thoughts. She was surprised to find that there were no real thoughts, per se, but more of just a state of emotions which writhed and seethed like angry vaporous snakes. It made her shiver mentally to feel it; it wasn't normal for such rage to come from such a young girl. Whatever this power was, she'd surely inherited it from her mother's side of the family. Winter Born...? she asked tentatively, still feeling around. She didn't exactly see anything, but she easily envisioned angry red and yellow swirls and spikes all around her, and shivered again. Can you hear me...? Humans like you think in literal terms, Chakenapok's voice came. If it helps you any, try to envision things. You're already seeing something that isn't there. How do you mean...? Recall that dream of yours with the big stone spring? You've just been granted access to Winter Born's vision state. Think in terms of vision. Maybe then you can get through to her. Vision... Charmian frowned, then blinked...for as soon as she frowned, she understood what was meant. She had no way to know if she was really frowning, and that was just it--even now, in here, she was thinking in visual terms when she could in fact see nothing in particular. Focus on this...? she thought, and mentally shut her eyes. Where would I normally find Winter Born and talk to her? she asked herself, and when she opened her eyes, the answer was presented to her. She stared in surprise at the familiar landscape around her. She was standing among the trees, and just barely visible some distance ahead was the top of Arch Rock, with Lake Huron glittering beyond it. "Manitou Island?" she said, then remembered that she wasn't even talking. "That's right! Winter Born!" She looked around. "Where would I find her? I thought it would be the camp, but..." She bit her lip and looked back at the Arch. "That reminds me..." After only a moment's hesitation, she started in that direction. Her first time on the Island, she'd fallen from Arch Rock and had first met Manabozho after experiencing some sort of strange vision--she'd been told that the Arch was the Passing-Over Place of spirits, which made it a particularly powerful place to seek a vision. Her second time here, she'd sought her own vision atop the rock, and had come across Stick-In-The-Dirt doing the same thing by a mini-arch down below the main span. Ever since she'd first met her Winter Born had been talking about wanting to go and seek her vision soon. So... She reached the gravelly slope and, swallowing down a sudden fear of heights, began scrambling downward, grasping onto bushes and clumps of grass whenever possible. The lakeshore lay nearly one hundred and fifty feet below, and even though this was just a vision, she was in no mood to go plummeting just yet. She wound her way around the brecciated formation until the miniature Sanilac Arch came into view, and just as she'd half expected, a small figure was sitting beneath it, staring down toward the shore. Charmian recognized Winter Born's white braids immediately--though they were strangely smudged gray--and crabwalked her way toward her. "Winter Born?" she called out freely now. "Hey--can you hear me?" She received no response, and this worried her. "Winter Born...?" she called again, and pressed herself close to the rock side as she crept down to work her way around to the girl's side. She blinked when she saw Winter Born's face. It was nearly black. She dropped to her knees and crawled over to her and shook her arm. "Winter Born--?" Winter Born's eyes popped open and she promptly put a finger to her mouth. "Shhh!" Charmian gasped and jumped back, nearly falling over. "You have to be quiet!" Winter Born whispered. "You're not even supposed to be here! I've been sitting here forever and I can't mess it up now!" And she shut her eyes again. Charmian blinked, then let out a breath. She remembered now how Stick-In-The-Dirt had rubbed ashes over her face before she'd sought her own vision atop the Arch; apparently Winter Born was familiar with this custom as well. The little girl's hands were black with ashes just like her face, and her dress and feet were smudged. The remains of a small fire lay before her but other than that there was nothing, no food, no water, no bed. "How long have you been here?" Charmian whispered. "I don't know," Winter Born murmured back, "but I'm going to stay as long as I have to!" Her eye opened a crack and she frowned. "What are you doing here? I'm supposed to do this alone." Charmian opened her mouth to tell her that this wasn't real, then decided against it--at least for the moment. "It's hard to explain," she said, "but believe me, I'm not putting your vision in danger just yet!" She sat down beside her, having to pull her legs out from underneath herself to avoid cramping. Winter Born frowned a little but finally opened both eyes and relaxed. "I came to talk to you about your power--you know what I mean--don't you?" "That's why I was looking for my vision," Winter Born said. "I don't want to keep hurting and scaring people. I thought maybe, if I came here and did this, everything would be okay." Charmian sighed to herself. Well, at least her memory didn't seem to be terribly impaired. "I'm glad that you're working on this," she said, and saw the way that Winter Born's eyes lit up a little. "Because that's why I came here. I think I know a way to help you work this out, but it's going to take a lot of effort, and it might not be pleasant." "Visions aren't supposed to be pleasant," Winter Born said matter-of-factly. "Yeah, well..." Charmian realized that she had no real response for that, so just shrugged. "I know what you have to do to work on this, but this isn't it. Seeking a vision right now isn't going to help you deal with this power." Winter Born's brow furrowed. "But...what else am I supposed to do?" "Well, for starters...you're going to have to learn to face that power instead of running away from it." "But I didn't run away," Winter Born insisted. "I just came here to try to figure it out." "Here--?" A nod. "Manitou Island!" Charmian bit the inside of her mouth. "Winter Born...this might be kind of hard to believe, but...well, this isn't Manitou Island. We're nowhere near Manitou Island right now." Winter Born blinked, and Charmian paused when her face slowly went pale, visible even beneath its coating of ash. "We're...we're not...?" she said in a small voice. She turned to look out at the water. "But...where are we, then...?" "We're still in the northwest," Charmian reminded her, "fighting off Kabebonikka's winds...and trying to find Kabeyun so he can defeat Megissogwun. Remember?" "Northwest...?" Winter Born echoed, and her eyes went glassy. Charmian stared at her for a moment, frowning in puzzlement. A brief silence passed, and then Chakenapok's voice came to her again. Mainlander...you're being incredibly stupid right now. "What--?" Charmian exclaimed, head popping up. Her face grew hot. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" If you don't do something now, he replied, she's going to snap out of her trance state, and forget all her attempts to control it. "Oh...crap." Charmian's heart sank. "I'm working so hard on this, too!" You might want to fix this problem as soon as possible, because that's just the least of it, Chakenapok added. Charmian's face screwed up. "What do you mean by that--? How can it possibly get worse?" Something from the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she looked down at what little she could see of the lake. She blinked, then her eyes grew when she saw that the lake was no longer there. Instead, there was a great black void where Lake Huron had been...and it was spreading. She watched in disbelief as the black void ate up the shore, and the sky, and started spreading up toward Arch Rock like some kind of monstrous inky infection. When she snaps out of her vision state, you could very well be left inside it, Chakenapok said, just as Charmian felt her skin go cold. That's how it could get worse. |