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Escape From Manitou Island: Part 168 |
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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.)
DUBIOUS INTENTIONS AN ICY WIND whipped around everyone gathered in the woody clearing, making them cover their heads and stumble just to keep their balance. Charmian gritted her teeth and managed to peer skyward; it wasn't snowing, but she would have preferred snow to this frigid blast. "KABEBONIKKA!!" she shouted as loudly as she could. "IS THIS YOUR SMARTASS IDEA OF A JOKE?!" This is highly amusing, the North Wind replied almost cheerily, yet I myself can hardly take the credit. Apparently your company has managed to irk the spirits reigning in this region. Charmian gritted her teeth. "Reigning?" I had thought that perhaps your meeting with Wisakedjak had taught you something, Kabebonikka replied. I am the North Wind, but you and your friends have reached the limit of my domain. While I myself can use my medicine there should I choose to, I do not rule over the lesser spirits you are now meeting around you. You are in their land now...and I guess I hardly need try to deter you, since they seem to be doing an admirable job of it. She felt a mental shrug. Best of luck then...I suppose we talk again at the great plains, or not. And his presence faded away. This time she ground her teeth until they hurt. "Thanks for nothing, ASS!!" She peered at Manabozho, her eyes watering. "Manabozho! Any ideas--?" "Diplomacy?" he shouted back with a much-peeved look, echoing her earlier suggestion. "What makes you think I'm any good at diplomacy?" She clenched her fists. "YOU SAY YOU'RE SO DAMN GOOD AT EVERYTHING ELSE!!" "FINE!!" He clenched his own fists and went stomping to the edge of the woods, braving the gale--Charmian had to give him credit for that. "HEY!!" he bellowed. "WHAT SAY WE TALK ABOUT THIS--?" In response, he was knocked over by Black Elk Horn, who came stumbling back into the woods. Charmian glared at him as he passed but he didn't look at her, instead halting near the back of the group. Manabozho pushed himself back up, eyes livid, but promptly turned back west and flailed his arms. "I HAVE POWER TOO, YOU KNOW!" And Charmian knew that she'd made a mistake sending him out as ambassador, as he flung his hands at the ground, and hunks of earth immediately went flying into the windstorm. "I think I liked the whirlwinds better," Winter Born called from atop Mani's back. "At least they were manitous," Charmian muttered under her breath, brushing her hair back in irritation. "Mani!" she called, and he stepped toward her. She pointed toward Manabozho. "Maybe they'll receive you a little better--or at least you'll be able to hold your own! I think 'Bozho's a little too full of himself to try the whole diplomacy thing!" The manitou gave her a skeptical look. Really don't think so, he said, but will try. He went trotting off into the brunt of the winds and it was only after he was out of her range of hearing that Charmian flung her arms up and shrieked, making everyone jump. "WINTER BORN!!" She went running after them. "WAIT!! LEAVE HER HERE!!" A gust of wind knocked her flat and she sputtered in the snow. When she lifted her head she could just barely see Mani--Winter Born still perched atop his back--disappearing into the whiteness beyond as the wind was now whipping loose snowflakes up into the air. Charmian ground her teeth in a panic and pushed herself awkwardly to her feet, flailing her arms at the others as if possessed. "She's just a little kid! And if she tries using her power--" "What makes you think she will?" Thomas protested; even he was trying to shield himself from the bitter winds. "Remember--she only seems to lose her head when YOU'RE involved!!" "Which means you should stay here," Moon Wolf said, grasping her wrist and dragging her back. Black Elk Horn tried running into the wind again, but it was so strong this time that he couldn't get beyond the edge of the woods. Charmian tried looking for Mani but couldn't see him; she turned to Singing Cedars but all that he could do was shrug helplessly. "I already asked my okis to try talking with the spirits here," he called out, "but for some reason they won't reply!" "Why are they so irritated all of a sudden--?" Charmian yelled. "It's not like we attacked them first!" She scanned the group, then pointed. "YOU TWO! Out of all of us, YOU two should be able to handle this. Go out there and see what's going on with Mani and Winter Born!" Pakwa and Augwak briefly glanced at each other, then Pakwa went ambling off toward the woods' edge. He passed beyond the trees without the slightest difficulty. Augwak started growling and muttering under his breath but followed suit; Charmian saw that he had to struggle a bit, but he wasn't nearly as deterred as everyone else was. Manabozho saw the two pass him and whirled around, fists clenched. "I SAID I HAD IT UNDER CONTROL!!" he screamed. Charmian clenched her own fists, ignoring the knowing looks that everyone else gave each other. "AND IT'S OBVIOUS YOU'RE WRONG, ISN'T IT, MR. SMARTYPANTS?!" Manabozho huffed and huffed and his eyes flashed blue. "I'LL SHOW YOU WRONG, SMARTY--SMARTY--WHATEVER!!" And he turned back to the gale and flung his arms skyward, letting out an awful yell that was even louder than the wind. Charmian noticed Peepaukawiss's eyes goggle before he vanished behind a tree, and gasped and frantically gestured at the others to seek cover--the only other time she remembered any of his brothers acting so was when he'd gotten ready to attack Chakenapok during their final fight, and she'd never seen him that angry before. Everyone ducked down into the snow. A crackling blue glow surrounded Manabozho from head to foot, and Charmian, peering between her fingers, saw whirls of wind spinning around him--and then all of a sudden he was falling over and landing flat on his behind with a startled yelp. Charmian almost screamed at the piercing noise that filled her ears, until she realized that it was nothing but silence. It had come so abruptly that it filled her ears with its ringing, and she saw several of the others wincing and rubbing at their ears as well. She blinked and pushed herself to her knees to peer around; the trees were perfectly still now, and the wind had utterly vanished. She furrowed her brow and scratched at her head. "Is it just me," Singing Cedars said after a moment, "or does wind not normally do that...?" Manabozho started pushing himself to his feet. "OW!" he yelled, rubbing at his behind. He cast them all a foul look. "All right, who did that? What sort of joke was that?" "Don't look at us!" Charmian retorted. "I thought YOU did it!" He blinked, then his face reddened. "Well--of COURSE I did!" he said after a moment's reflection, then brushed the snow from himself and straightened his feathers. "Of course. I told you I had it all under control!" "Oh really?" Charmian got up and stalked toward him. "Then how come it's such a surprise and all!" Manabozho snorted and crossed his arms. "Because I've obviously become more powerful since setting out from the Island, DUH as your people would put it! And obviously my medicine is such that it surprised even ME!" Charmian rolled her eyes. "Oh, whatever." "In any case," Francois said, looking warily at the trees, "the wind seems to be gone now. This could be a good thing or a bad thing." "At least when the spirits here were attacking us, we knew where we stood," Moon Wolf agreed. "Now..." "It can ONLY be a good thing," Manabozho protested. "What is wrong with you people? I do something nice and helpful and everyone turns into such a gloomy grouse! Look, I'll even show you." He turned back to the clearing and held up his hands. "See? The spirits here recognize the might that is Mana--" Splat--a gob of snow fell from an overhanging branch and knocked him to the ground. "Yeah," Charmian said, "looks like the spirits recognize something." She waved and started gingerly stepping forward. "Mani and Winter Born are still out there! I want to know what's going on--either the spirits here suddenly like us, or something else, and I hardly think it's the former!" They made their way past the sputtering Manabozho and peered out of the woods. This part of the woods was atop a small rise which declined before them, leading into yet another set of gently undulating hills dotted with trees here and there. Far ahead, there stood a fuller section of forest; it didn't look very thick, but from their vantage point it was impossible to see just how far westward it went. Charmian sighed--she was really starting to get tired of this landscape, especially with all the snow--but her anxiety grew when she realized that she couldn't make out any prints. The wind must have obliterated them. "Where did they go...?" she murmured, fiddling with her sleeve. "They must have sought shelter among some of these trees," Moon Wolf said after looking around for a moment. "They couldn't have made it anywhere else in such a short period of time. We would still see them if they'd headed toward that forest." Charmian opened her mouth, then shut it when she felt a tugging on her elbow. Kenu pointed, and she looked to see two shapes emerging from one of the small stands of trees. Pakwa and Augwak made their way back toward the woods; Charmian was shifting from foot to foot by the time that they finally reached them. "Well?" she asked. "Did you see anything? Where are Mani and Winter Born?" "Impatient fleshling," Augwak grumbled, sitting down to rub at his foot. "Saw them just before wind stopped," Pakwa replied, much more helpfully. He also sat down. "But then the wind went, couldn't see them anymore." Charmian nearly pulled at her hair. "Then where did they GO?" "Those stupid spirits probably got them!" Augwak groused in response. When she glared at him he snorted. "I guess YOU didn't see them--?" "What did they look like?" Stick-In-The-Dirt asked. "Did they look like manitous?" "Couldn't tell," Pakwa said. "I didn't see them." Charmian kicked snow at Augwak. "Talk! We don't have all damn day! What were they like and where did you last see them?" The GeeBee bared his teeth. "You don't have to be so PISSY about it! Fighting that storm just made me feel even WORSE than I already did!" He pointed toward another stand of trees. "They were over that way. And no, they didn't look like manitous. At least not like any I'VE ever seen! They just looked like lights floating around." "Fireballs--?" Charmian blurted out, her heart starting to hammer hard. He rolled his eyes. "No, not fireballs. You think I don't know a wabano when I see one? They looked like lights floating around. They were very big lights though! Big and white and--fluffy. Just big white fluffy floating light-things!" Stick-In-The-Dirt gave Charmian a confused look. "Do any spirits look like that--?" "I'm guessing it's different everywhere you go," she admitted, feeling just as clueless. "And you think they took Mani and Winter Born?" "Well, take a look!" Augwak spread his arms. "Do YOU see them anywhere?" "This might explain why they deterred us," Moon Wolf said with a frown. "But--why would they be so interested in Mani and Winter Born?" Thomas asked, perplexed. "It could always be for the same reasons that everyone else seems so interested in Winter Born," Moon Wolf answered. "I would bet that we're not the only ones who sense her power. Whatever the case is, these spirits appear to be hostile toward us." He turned to look at Charmian. "They've already shown how powerful they can be--most of our medicine won't work against them. Yours will, but it likely won't be enough." "I didn't want to fight them," Charmian said, looking at her hand. "We'll never get west if we have to fight every spirit along the way!" "Wouldn't it be easier to figure out why they're being so hostile?" Singing Cedars suggested. "Perhaps if we knew, we could face them." "It is as she said--they attacked us first," Niskigwun countered. "As much as I detest the idea, it seems like they leave us no choice but to face them head on. Perhaps once we show them that we refuse to be intimidated, they will allow us through." "Doubt it," Thomas said. "All of you are overlooking the obvious," Walks-On-The-Shore said, and when they looked at him he stuck his fingers up to his head as if to give himself horns. "Remember who else was heading along this way? Perhaps these spirits have already had a run-in with our sort." "Mishosha and Makwaquae," Charmian said, and felt her face grow pale. "What if they beat us already? THEY could've talked to the spirits here, and convinced them to stop us! Or more likely FORCED them to stop us! Just like they did with Mishimakwa!" "But how would they know what sort of medicine to use over the spirits here?" Moon Wolf asked, brow furrowing. "Their knowledge is of manitous. As far as we know, they've never been this way before. Their understanding of the spirits here should be the same as ours." "After all the things you've said those two can do," Thomas said, "now you'd doubt that they're able to do something surprising--?" "He's right," Stick-In-The-Dirt added, gnawing on his own fingernail. "When one coerces the spirits to do what they wish they will hardly let such things as this get in their way!" "We should assume then that their intentions are hostile," Niskigwun said, "and proceed as if--" "Charmian--? Charmian! Everybody!" Everyone immediately ceased talking and whirled around to gawk at the snowy landscape. Another dot had emerged--Charmian couldn't even tell from where--and was quickly making its way toward them. Charmian let out a breath of relief to recognize Mani, with Winter Born still safely atop his back; the little girl was waving, her face seeming both excited and anxious at once. As they drew close she saw the way that Mani was bristling, and knew that they must have run into something among the trees; the manitou's attitude brought a bit of the anxiety back. "Are you okay?" she exclaimed as the two came to a halt, Winter Born clambering down from Mani's back. She landed on her feet and whirled around, waving again. "I'm okay! But you should've seen what's in the woods!" "Big glowing white things--?" Charmian said without thinking. Winter Born blinked, then furrowed her brow. "Well...yes!" She tilted her head. "How did you know...?" "Augwak saw them. Did they do anything to you two?" "Huh? Oh! No, they didn't hurt us or anything! I don't think Mani and they liked each other. I think they were talking, but I couldn't hear anything. Mani said that we should go then, though. But when we tried to leave they stopped him, and started flashing really bright; I got down to look at them, even though Mani said not to, and they surrounded me and I think they were looking at me and trying to talk to me but I couldn't understand them! So I said so, and they started moving west a little bit, and I think they wanted me to follow them, but Mani scooped me back up--they tried surrounding him then but he ran out of the woods and we came back here and..." She trailed off and glanced over her shoulder, then gave a puzzled shrug. "And I guess that was it." "Are they trying to separate us all, then...?" Moon Wolf asked, frowning. "It sounds like they were interested in her power," Charmian said. "If they were trying to separate her from Mani like that. What would spirits do with a human's power? Do you think Mishosha could've convinced them to get her for him?" Winter Born's eyes grew wide. "Mishosha? But--I didn't see HIM anywhere!" She shook her head adamantly when they looked at her. "Uh-uh, Mishosha didn't tell them to do anything! I just know it. I know they weren't trying to be mean or anything, they actually seemed quite nice when they were trying to talk to me, I just couldn't understand them!" "And trying to kidnap you from Mani was 'nice'?" Thomas asked. Winter Born's lip started to stick out. "They weren't kidnapping me! They were just trying to tell me some--" Mani let out a loud whistle, his fur bristling again. He backed up so abruptly that he nearly knocked Winter Born over, and Charmian grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to the woods. "What is it?" she asked, craning her neck to see. White spirit ones, Mani replied, shaking an antler toward the stand of trees they'd vacated. Everyone crowded forward to look, and sure enough, after a moment several large white shapes emerged. Charmian frowned a little on seeing them. They were just as Augwak had described them--large white fluffy amorphous masses, somewhat like sentient clouds drifting over the hills. They flashed now and then as they moved, and even when dim Charmian could see the way that they lit up the areas around them. She moved closer to Mani and put her hand on his shoulder. "Are they windlings...? Or something?" He shook his head. No...don't sense any elemental medicine from them. Which is strange! What spirits have no elements--? "Can you tell what they're thinking?" No. Even in woods could not understand them. Only thing could tell was they wanted Winter One! "But--I thought all spirits spoke the same language--?" He shrugged a little. Don't know what to say. They did not really "talk"--just got feelings from them. And feelings were strange, so could not understand them right. But interested in Winter One. He bobbed an antler at her. "What would they want to do with me?" Winter Born asked. "I don't even know them!" "Seems like everybody's interested in you, little girl," Lieutenant Barrington said, lifting his gun. He aimed at one of the drifting cloud-things, then gave Charmian and Moon Wolf a perplexed look. "Ahm...are we expected to try shooting those things if they should attack us? Because the last I knew, guns have little effect on clouds." "I think Black Elk Horn proved that already," Charmian said under her breath, hoping that he wouldn't hear. "No, no shooting unless we REALLY have to. All we've got is our hands and feet and whatever medicine we have ourselves." She looked at her hand. "I have fire...Thomas and the GeeBees have ice and wind. 'Bozho has earth, and Mani has water. I guess that covers it." She gave the drifting clouds a skeptical look. "I have no idea though what works best on something like that." "Wait, wait, wait!" a voice called, and Kenu scrambled to the front of the group, hopping up and down. "You're forgetting ME! I still have my medicine, too!" He turned toward the cloud-things and lifted his hands. "All I have to do is transform, and surely I can defeat such puny--" His words cut off when Niskigwun picked him up and placed a hand over his mouth, letting out a gusty sigh. "Sorry, Kenu," Charmian said, "but violence is usually the WORST first response! We should at least try communicating with them first--if they even know we're here..." She drifted off and watched the cloud-things more closely, seeing now how they were floating toward them with a definite purpose in mind, not just aimlessly. As soon as they must have noticed her attention, they moved faster, more of them emerging from other stands of trees until they were forming a great semicircle which cut off the woods from the area to the west. Charmian bit her lip. "Okay," she said, "I guess they know we're here. Step two, figure out if they're hostile, and what they want." "I think the first part of that's already been answered," Barrington muttered, still keeping aim on one of the bigger cloud-things, but Charmian ignored him and took a tentative step or two forward. She waved, trying to get their attention, though she had no way of knowing whether they were looking at her or not. They were about the size of small cars and just hovered in formation, bobbing slightly and occasionally flashing. She tried looking for any pattern in the flashing but there was none; it could be random for all she knew. She cleared her throat. "Um...greetings," she said, feeling a bit stupid. "We come from the east." She pointed eastward. "Way, WAY to the east...and we're heading west," she pointed again, "to look for somebody we lost. We wanted to head past the great plains." She spread her hands out to indicate something wide and flat. "We don't mean to cause any trouble. We're sorry if our medicine antagonized you or anything." She bit her lip again. "Are you here to hurt us...?" A couple of the bigger cloud-things started flashing even more brightly. She frowned and stared at them for a moment before shaking her head and shrugging. "Sorry--I don't speak cloud," she said, then something struck her--mentally, not physically--and she gasped and took a tottering step backward. "Charmian--?" Thomas called out, stepping forward abruptly. She held up a hand and waved it at him. "I'm fine! Just...kind of startled." She let out a breath and looked back at them. "I think they communicate via empathy. It's not thoughts, and it's not words, it's more like feelings. They speak the same language, just differently. The Spirit Road communicated in the same way. Maybe I can understand them better. Could you repeat that...?" she asked, turning back to the cloud-things. "A little...slower this time?" Everyone stood silently and waited as she stared at the cloud-things for a moment, then looked over her shoulder again. Her expression was puzzled. "I guess...they aren't here to hurt us," she said, "but I'm still kind of confused...because they seem to be saying they won't let us go with Winter Born." Winter Born's eyes went wide. "What did I do--?" she cried in dismay. "I get the feeling they aren't upset with you or anything," Charmian was quick to say. "But that's just it--they seem to be saying that we shouldn't have her with us." "Because of the power she has," Moon Wolf said. "We know that! That's what everyone who's been trying to stop us has been saying all along." "No," Charmian said, shaking her head in frustration. "That's not it either! Cripes--you think walking the Spirit Road for four days would've taught me something!" She looked at the cloud-things again as if concentrating hard. "It says," she said, "that we don't deserve Winter Born in our company...like...we're not good enough to have her with us...or something like that. That's honestly the closest I can get it. They seem kind of peeved, I don't think they really want to sit around talking slow just so I can understand them!" "So they're upset with us?" Singing Cedars asked, brow furrowing. "Will they let us head west or not?" Barrington asked. Charmian stared at the cloud-things. "They say that's not their business," she said after a moment. "The spirits here will decide to let us go, or not. That's weird." Her face screwed up as she turned around. "They're spirits, but they're talking about some OTHER spirits, too! I get the feeling they're talking about what passes as manitous here. The ones who stopped our medicine from working. I guess these guys didn't do that themselves, but I feel like they're connected somehow. I guess that's why these ones have no elements to them..." she turned to face the cloud-things again "...but that doesn't explain what they are, or what they want with Winter Born!" "Will they let Winter Born pass?" Manabozho asked, and Charmian felt like slapping herself for not thinking of that question herself. She listened to the cloud-things and relayed their message. "They say Winter Born's more than welcome to pass and they won't stop her at all." Several of the others looked at Winter Born, who blushed and shrank behind Mani. "Well, that hardly sounds fair," Peepaukawiss groused. "So whatever this issue is, it does center on her," Moon Wolf said. "I think we'd best discover exactly what it is before continuing, because I don't like the sound of it. Why would spirits be interested in someone they've never met, if not because of her power?" "They aren't feeling hostile toward her," Charmian said, "unless they're good at hiding it. They seem really open toward her--it's us they're suspicious about. Like they think..." She paused, then frowned again. "Like they think we're the ones endangering her!" "Can't we just tell them that's not true?" Winter Born asked. "I mean, I can tell them, if it helps." Charmian peered at her, then looked at the others once more and shrugged. "Best idea I've heard all day," she said, and waved at Winter Born. "Come on and let them know you're with us willingly and stuff." Winter Born hesitated for a second, then walked forward tentatively. She halted beside Charmian and the two of them stared at the cloud-things when they began flashing even brighter as if agitated. Charmian frowned a little to see them bob up and down and side to side; their motions reminded her of horses getting ready to leave the gate at a race. "I think they like you," she said, earning a look from Winter Born. "Too bad it isn't the same for the rest of us!" "Maybe I can put in a good word for everybody?" Winter Born suggested, and before Charmian could say anything she stepped toward the cloud-things, holding up a hand. "Hello! I know you mean well..." She trailed off when the cloud-things started moving, and within seconds she was in the middle of them, as they formed a large ring around her. She blinked and looked at Charmian from between them, eyes wide. "Er...is this a good thing?" she called out in surprise. "I do not like this," Niskigwun said under his breath, grasping his spear. "Do I shoot them or not?" Barrington asked. Charmian waved her hand frantically. "Shhh!! Just try talking to them!" she called back to Winter Born. "I'm sure we can clear this whole thing up if we use our--" Her words were promptly drowned out in a cacophony of noise. Everyone in the group goggled, then clapped their hands to their ears and dropped to the ground as if a bomb had just exploded. That was certainly what it sounded like, and Charmian thought that she'd gone blind as well when everything went stark white for a split second and then dark. She gasped for breath, trying to figure out what had happened; it felt like her head was ready to split in two. "DAMMIT!!" Augwak's voice screamed. "THAT STUPID BRAT IS MORE TROUBLE THAN HE'S WORTH!!" "Whuh--?" Charmian blurted out, still reeling. Somebody grasped her arm and she heard Manabozho's voice next to her ear. "I told you it'd be bad news traveling with an Animiki, and especially an immature one like him! I doubt TALKING is going to do much good now!" "Kenu?" Charmian cried, staggering to her feet. She could see again, though she had to blink a few times; the sky had gone terribly dark, and clouds were roiling so low that they looked ready to scrape the treetops. They were flashing and booming and when she squinted she could just barely make out Kenu's Thunderbird form hovering far overhead, his beak open and lightning twisting all around him. Her eyes nearly fell out. "BEHOLD!" Kenu bellowed. "I, THE MIGHTY KENU, KNOW NO ENEMY WHO IS GREATER THAN I! OUR PROGRESS WEST WILL HARDLY BE IMPEDED BY SUCH TRIVIAL BEINGS AS THESE! WATCH AS I DESTROY THEM WITH MY MIGHT!!" "Oh crap," Charmian said. "So--this isn't a good thing--?" Winter Born called out, as the cloud-things surrounded her even more closely and flashed like mini lightning balls themselves, obviously on the defensive. |