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Escape From Manitou Island: Part 170 |
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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.)
STRANGE SPIRITS "THOSE MANITOU EQUALS you were talking about?" Manabozho said, turning to Charmian, and she nodded. His own face formed into a near-scowl. "Well...I think they're coming." "Did I do something wrong?!" Winter Born cried, hopping up and down in the midst of the cloud-things. Mani stood before her, antlers lowered and fur bristling, but the cloud-things didn't seem to be acting aggressively. Charmian could only bite her lip in confusion. "They called up the manitous of this area?" she said, casting Moon Wolf a perplexed look. "I thought the manitous' business wasn't theirs!" "Apparently they've changed their stance," he replied, staring at the two okis, who were also bristling. "Just keep calm!" Charmian called to Winter Born, then turned to Manabozho. "Where are they coming from? Can you tell? And are they mad at us? They wouldn't let us use medicine before." "I'm not sure what they're thinking," he said, and looked vaguely northeastward. "But they seem to be coming from that way. We passed them already, in the woods." "I wish I knew how to deal with them!" Charmian started gnawing on her fingernails. "I only ever read a lot about the Indians from Michigan and stuff! Never the ones way out west! I barely know a thing about this area." "I'm afraid I've never communicated with any spirits this far west," Francois admitted. "I assume they share some similarities, but as for how many..." He gave a helpless shrug. "OOOHH!!" Peepaukawiss suddenly cried, grabbing onto Manabozho so abruptly that he hissed. He threw up an arm to point. "They're COMING! They're COMING! From THAT way!! OOOHH!" Everyone turned to look, Black Elk Horn and Lieutenant Barrington lifting their guns. Charmian could just barely see a muted flickering approaching, and furrowed her brow when three more cloud-things emerged from a stand of trees, making their way over the snowy hillocks. She cast Puka a foul look. "I thought manitous were coming! Those are just more ghosts!" "No," Manabozho said, slowly shaking his head and not taking his eyes from them. "They're different. They feel like manitous, but different. They're not ghosts like these. They have medicine to them." "Then..." Charmian looked at them more closely. "How come they look the same...?" Manabozho squinted, then looked right at her, so intently that she started. "You want to talk to a manitou?" he said. "Then why not let me talk to them for once? Mani looks busy, and Puka, well, he's just an idiot." "HEY!" Puka yelled. Charmian frowned. "You promise you won't go pissing them off like you USUALLY do--?" He rolled his eyes and let out a gusty sigh. "Look! They're not threatening us, yet. Sure, I'm rather peeved that they didn't want us using our medicine, but when you think about it..." He frowned a little. "I'd probably feel the same way if they came sauntering into OUR land! I just want to figure out where they're coming from and how we can most quickly get out of here and keep heading west." "Wow," Charmian said after a brief pause, and when his brow furrowed a little she said, "You're actually empathizing with someone else for once. I'm...I have to admit I'm surprised, Manabozho!" Manabozho started scowling at her, his lip curling back to bare his teeth. "Be irritating if you want! I'd actually like to get some things DONE so I can get Turtle back home!" He stormed away from her and toward the three newcomers, though Charmian noted that he did slow his step so as not to antagonize them. She felt a little guilty at the mention of Turtle's name; of course he was just as desperate to reach the west as quickly as possible, even if he didn't show it all the time. "It's funny," she murmured to Thomas when he joined her. "Before the crap hit the fan he seemed really annoyed by her, but now I feel like he'd do almost anything for her after all." "Well, she was a cute little tyke," Thomas said, "if rather something of a chatterbox." Charmian bit down a sigh; Turtle had annoyed her no end before her abduction as well but she found that she missed her, now. Manabozho halted before the three new cloud-things and stared at them for a moment, then crossed his arms. She tried sensing what he was thinking but there was a mental barrier around the four of them, and she felt that they were communicating privately. She did sigh this time, feeling a bit frustrated at being left out. "I do have to wonder what they're talking about," Thomas said, as if reading her own thoughts. "With the way he usually goes on, I wouldn't be surprised if he's calling them and their mothers all sorts of names!" "I don't know..." Charmian started to say, when Manabozho reached out and stuck his hand right into the foremost of the cloud-things. Everyone took in a breath; Charmian didn't know why, but she expected something really bad to happen as soon as he did that, and called out, "Manabozho!! What are you doing--?!" He looked at her over his shoulder, not removing his hand. "I said they should show their shapes if they want to talk to us!" he exclaimed, as if she should know. "Because what self-respecting manitou hides behind a shield like this--?" I KNEW I shouldn't have let him do this...!! Charmian railed at herself, when the cloud-thing flashed and Manabozho abruptly jerked his hand back. He stared at it and its companions as they began flaring and flickering, the other cloud-things--the ghost buffalo--following suit although they remained huddled around Winter Born and Mani. Manabozho frowned a little and tilted his head as if curious, then took another step back when the cloud-thing that he'd touched began to swell and expand outward, growing even bigger. Everyone stared at it, fascinated, as if it were a balloon getting ready to pop. "UH-OH," Kenu boomed from overhead. "THIS ISN'T GOOD, IS IT--?" There was another moment of silence, then Manabozho put his hands on his hips. "Well, out with it already!" he snapped at the swelling cloud-thing. "You already know us! I hardly think this is equal ground by any means!" "MANABOZHO!!" Charmian yelled at the top of her lungs. He cast her another look, this one irritated. "I said I wanted to talk to it, manitou to manitou!" he shouted back. "If these things think they can just come puffing up to us like big bags of wind then I'm hardly going to talk to them like EQUALS! Either they show their real faces, or the claws come out!" And he reached out and stuck his hand in the cloud-thing again, and with a blinding flash it apparently popped. Everyone let out a startled yell and jumped; Charmian was surprised that she didn't hear guns go off en masse. Almost immediately her vision returned, and she was surprised that her ears weren't ringing; it took her an moment to realize that there had been no enormous BANG to accompany the flash. In fact, Manabozho still stood exactly where he'd been before, one hand out before him, and now he was no longer staring at an expanding cloud-thing but at a-- Stick-In-The-Dirt let out a quailing sound and grabbed Charmian's arm as if to drag her back to the woods. She winced when his fingernails gouged into her sleeve, his teeth chattering but not from the cold. Singing Cedars's and Niskigwun's eyes grew big and they both sucked in a breath and leaned forward, necks craning. Moon Wolf blinked and furrowed his brow in confusion; Marten clambered atop Puka's head, tail puffed up and his own eyes as big as moons. Manabozho turned to look back at Charmian, and pointed rather obviously at the large thing standing in front of him. "Is that a buffalo...?" Charmian blinked a few times, then felt the heat creep up into her face when she saw the way that almost everybody was staring at her. "Um..." She shrank into her clothing a bit and fiddled her fingers. "Yeah...that's...that's a buffalo." "Hm." Manabozho turned back to look at the creature standing before him, and tilted his head. "Not really what I expected." The cloud-thing was of course gone, and now in its place stood what looked to be a great shaggy buffalo, its pelt a dark umber and its little horns jet black. Charmian could barely see its eyes until they flared blue, and she took in a breath on realizing that this must in fact be a manitou--or at least, the western equivalent of one--and she felt like slapping herself for not realizing it sooner. Thomas gave her a puzzled look when she ran a hand down her face. "Of course," she said. "Back in the northeast the spirits look kind of like elk or moose--northeastern animals! Here the spirits look like buffalo--WESTERN animals!" She dropped her hand and let out a gusty sigh. "Why I don't just learn to use my head, I'll never understand!" "And so those ones surrounding Winter Born are the ghosts of buffalo that have died," Moon Wolf said, trying to understand, "while these ones over here are manitous--or whatever name they go by? They are the ones who wield power?" "I guess!" She waved hurriedly at Manabozho. "Talk to them! Figure out what they want." "Oh, so now you want me to talk," he grumbled, but obeyed. He stood and faced the buffalo spirit for a few moments, then glanced back at her. "He says the ghosts are protecting Winter Born, because they think it's in her best interests not to be with us anymore." "Well, DUH!" Charmian snapped so that he jumped. "We know that already! Figure out the WHY!" He looked like he wanted to give her a rude gesture only didn't seem to know any that she'd understand. He and the buffalo spirit stared each other down for another moment, then Manabozho shrugged. "Doesn't make much sense to me. He says she's an important...manitou...and that she's being endangered hanging about with our sort. OUR SORT!" He whirled back to the buffalo spirit and clenched his fists. "HOW DARE YOU! I'll have you know that I'm HALF spirit myself, you immense pile of pelt!!" "How many beaver pelts do you think that thing would fetch...?" Baptiste whispered, before a livid glare from Moon Wolf silenced him. The buffalo spirit lifted its lip and showed its teeth, letting out a grumbling noise. "Would you please not irritate him?" Charmian begged. "Just figure out why it is--oh, never mind! I'll do it myself!" She broke away from the group and went to stand in front of the buffalo spirit, shoving Manabozho aside. "Hi--um--greetings. I'm sorry to just barge in like this, but, what makes you think Winter Born--" she pointed at the girl just to clarify "--is one of your kind? Can't you tell that she's human like us?" The buffalo spirit's blue eyes narrowed a fraction and then shifted toward the ring of ghost buffalo. Its nose twitched a bit, and Charmian let out a gasp when she heard it suddenly speak in her mind. She looks like spirit. What other creature looks so unless it's a spirit? "She's part demon," Charmian clarified, "but the rest of her is human! There isn't a trace of mani--um--spirit in her." But she called upon the thunder and the winds and rain. The buffalo spirit gave her a skeptical look. And you claim she is human? You think we are stupid here? "That was just a trick!" Charmian ran her hands down her face. "Go on, show them!" she called to Winter Born. Winter Born furrowed her brow. "Are you sure...?" She hurriedly lifted her hands when Charmian opened her mouth as if to scream. "Kenu! Come down!" The clouds overhead started rumbling and flashing, making the ghost buffalo start shifting nervously. The buffalo spirit held its ground and watched as the shape of the Animiki detached itself from them and began to glow as it descended to the ground as slowly as a feather. By the time that the glowing shape had landed it was quite small, and when the glow died away Kenu was left standing there. He brushed a few snowflakes from his sleeves and pouted. "I didn't even get to do anything AMAZING!" he complained. The buffalo spirit's eyes widened. That is a boy! You threatened us with a Thunderbird boy? Charmian waved again and Pakwa and Augwak emerged, the latter dropping to the ground and wheezing for breath as if his heart were ready to give out. "And there's the wind. The rain, well, that's him right in there with her--he's a spirit just like you. I thought you guys would've figured it out by now," she admitted, brow furrowing. "I mean...well...it wasn't the most brilliant plan in the world, and...well, can't you guys sense each other?" The buffalo spirit gave her a foul look this time. Sensed POWER, it replied in a cranky tone, and saw HER, and figured it was enough. It turned to look at Manabozho and started letting out an odd combination of grumbling and lowing sounds; based on the look that Manabozho got, she could tell that they were communicating again, and she steamed a little and thumped her foot into the snow on being left out a second time. "Cripes! What's he saying already?" she demanded after a moment spent thus. Manabozho gestured at her to keep silent and she fumed even more. He made a few odd noises of his own and listened to the buffalo spirit's muttered response. He finally turned back to her and crossed his arms, putting on a quite lofty look. "He says that such people with medicine like hers are very rare where he comes from, and when found, they're thought to be either spirits sent to live among humans or have been specially gifted by the spirits. I told him it's much the same where we come from, so of course an honest mistake could be made, by one ignorant of our ways." Based on the way that the buffalo spirit's eyes darkened, Charmian assumed that Manabozho must be getting a little creative with his interpretation. "And to find such a person with strong medicine traveling in company such as ours, they assumed she was in trouble. They've been waiting for her, you see, and--" "Waiting for her?" Charmian asked, confused. He sighed. "Not for her, but for that other spirit they mistook her for. Stop interrupting! Like I said, they've been waiting for her and apparently she's taking her precious time coming back, so of course when the White Buffalo Calf Woman showed up in our group they thought it wisest to--" "Hold on!" Charmian cut in again. "What did he just call her--?" "White Buffalo Calf Woman." He gave her a peeved look and pointed at Winter Born. "Have any idea why?" "I don't--I don't look ANYTHING LIKE a buffalo!!" Winter Born cried, hopping up and down in the circle of ghosts. "They think she's some kind of powerful manitou come back to them?" Charmian asked in surprise, and rubbed at her head. "Weird! I thought that only happened in stories!" She addressed the buffalo spirit again. "Look, this is just a HUGE misunderstanding! Winter Born's not White Buffalo Calf Woman. I swear! She looks like that because her grandfather is a demon called Ocryx..." she glanced at the group of them and sighed when she realized that X'aaru was still in the southern river with Mishupishu, somewhere "...he's kind of like a spirit, but not quite. She has powers, yeah, but she's certainly not this spirit you're waiting for! She's been living on Manitou Island all this time, just ask." Manitou Island? the buffalo spirit echoed, tilting its head. "Yeah," Charmian said with a relieved nod, and started pantomiming. "The Island where the Great Turtle came up from the water, and the Sky Mother came down to rest..." When did all THIS happen? the buffalo spirit asked, sounding puzzled. "Back--back when everything was flooded," Charmian said, a bit lamely. "She re-created the world with a bit of dirt," she added at the spirit's blank look. That's not how it went, the buffalo spirit said. "Ma chère," Francois called out, "I assume their stories are different here, too." Charmian repeated her frustrated hand-running-down-face gesture. "Well--it was the same with Glooskap and Cedars and Wisakedjak! It's even in the Bible! Except--except for the part with the big turtle and the woman falling out of the sky. But still. You think they'd have that story every-frigging-where!" Even if she is not White Buffalo Calf Woman, the buffalo spirit interrupted, why do you travel with a person of such medicine? We have watched you for a long time. Running ever westward, as if escaping something. You bring trouble into our land? There is a reason we withhold our medicine from you; when strangers just storm into our land, with one such as her in their midst, it brings only trouble. Assume you have an explanation for this. "Oh! Of course we do!" Charmian cried. "We're not so much escaping something as trying to find something. You see, we're looking for a little girl named Turtle, but we can't get her back, and we can't save our Island, unless we find the West Wind. We were told he was somewhere in this direction because..." She waved and looked skyward rather lamely. "Well, it's the west." What has the West Wind to do with any of this? the spirit asked, perplexed. "He's the one who saved the Island in the past," Charmian said, "by fighting off an evil spirit called the Pearl Feather. The Pearl Feather is who took Turtle away, and he says he'll kill her and destroy the Island unless we find the West Wind for a rematch." The buffalo spirit nodded its head toward Winter Born. And her role in things? "Well..." Charmian leaned toward the buffalo spirit and saw one of its ears cock forward. "We were kind of hoping that great medicine of hers might help us in the end," she whispered, "but she's still just learning how to control it. All that stuff you saw, that was nothing. She's REALLY powerful, honest." We can sense it, the buffalo spirit said, and snorted. Bring her over here and let us take a look. Charmian blinked, then turned to furrow her brow at Winter Born. The little girl gave her a troubled look in return, then gasped and sidled close to Mani when the buffalo spirits began pulling away, albeit reluctantly, leaving spaces between their hovering forms. Winter Born hesitated before Mani began moving, and she clung to his shoulder as they made their way out of the circle. The circle itself dissolved as the buffalo spirits re-formed into a herd which milled about a bit aimlessly, apparently looking on with some curiosity. Charmian waved Winter Born forward as she slowly approached. "They don't bite, do they?" she asked, staring at the buffalo spirit; Charmian blushed a little and gave it an awkward apologetic smile, though it didn't seem to notice. Instead it stepped forward to sniff Winter Born over--Charmian had to nudge Mani back a bit as he bristled again--and the cloud-things still hovering to its sides glowed brighter before morphing, less dramatically now, into two more buffalo spirits, one of them reddish and the other one medium brown. They all craned their necks forward to sniff at Winter Born as she cringed and grasped Charmian's hand a bit too tightly, trying not to squirm. The two lesser spirits tilted their heads as if puzzled while the lead one frowned. She...is not White Buffalo Calf Woman, it said, and Charmian was surprised when the three of them looked quite disappointed. "Sorry," Winter Born said, also noticing their looks. Still, the lead buffalo spirit said, with another sniff, she does have unnatural medicine for a human...even a powerful human blessed by spirits... It frowned a bit again, then gently tapped Winter Born's chest with its nose. Winter Born let out a hysterical yelp and jumped--Charmian could only assume that the spirit's nose must be very wet and cold--then she and Winter Born both gasped when Winter Born started glowing. "What happened?" Winter Born cried, and started hitting at herself as if trying to put out a fire. "Charmian! Am I okay--?" "Hold on!" Charmian grasped her arm to calm her down, though Winter Born wouldn't stop whimpering and squirming. As soon as Charmian saw that the glow was coming from her chest she looked to the buffalo spirits. "Her spirit stone," she said. "You can see it?" "Spirit stone"? the lead spirit echoed, and snorted. If this is your name for it. It contains a person's... It trailed off, then stretched out its neck as best as it could. Charmian took the hint and placed her hand on its snout, then nodded when it sent her a mental image. "Yeah," she said. "A person's spirit and essence and things. I can look at them too sometimes." She and the three spirits all looked down at Winter Born now, who grimaced a little and still fought not to squirm. "Do they have to look at my spirit?" she exclaimed, as if just asked to disrobe. Charmian saw the three spirits' eyes widen when the girl's spirit stone was revealed, then they all peered at each other and started grumbling under their breath. Charmian glanced at Manabozho, who sidled closer and cupped a hand to her ear. "They're remarking about the color it has," he whispered. "Supposedly they've never seen anything with a spirit like that." "Well, neither have I!" Charmian replied. "Do you know if it means anything?" she asked the buffalo spirits. "I was worried it might--well--be something weird." The color of it is not for worrying about, the lead spirit answered. You see? She has every color in her spirit--red, yellow, green, blue--most have only one, or two. A spirit reflects its owner. "I kind of figured," Charmian said, thinking of her own orangy-red spirit stone. But she, the buffalo spirit continued, pointing at Winter Born with its nose, her spirit is indescribable. Another snort. A northern lights glow like that can be only good things--but it will draw bad things after it like flies. Charmian let out a breath. "We know already," she said, and pointed south. "There should be two others following us, or maybe they've caught up already; two medicine people, a man and a woman. They can change into bears or fireballs, and they're trying to stop us from reaching the plains." Have not seen them yet, the buffalo spirit said. But if they intend harm, they too will be impeded. Its ear flicked and it looked over everyone in their party. You intend to cross the plains on your way to find the West Wind? "If we have to," Charmian said. "Are you going to keep stopping us?" Your intent seems genuine to us, the spirit said, but there are others likely to try stopping you. Plains are still far away from here. "What?" Charmian blurted out, then let out a groan. "They are? Well...could you give us a hint what to expect?" Will probably come across more like us, the spirit said, but now that we know what you are about, we should let you pass. The buffalo are another story. You enter their land soon, as you can see here. It indicated the floating cloud-things still milling about not far away. These are spirits of buffalo that did not make it to the Spirit Land, and they wander these stretches, waiting, like us, for White Buffalo Calf Woman to return. When she comes they will find their way into the Spirit Land. These ones know now that this is not her, but others might not. And there are spirits like us and yet not like us. They look alike, but their hearts are different. "Where we come from those are called mitchi manitous," Charmian said. "I think I understand. Are there many?" No, not many, but they tend to have more medicine, so beware them. Especially with this in your company. It nodded at Winter Born and the glow of her spirit stone faded away so she let out her breath. Dark spirits...these "mit-chi ma-ni-tous," as you say...could make use of such medicine for themselves. And once you reach the place of buffalo, they themselves might not let you pass. You will have to speak with-- And it let out a noise or phrase that Charmian couldn't understand, so she furrowed her brow in perplexity. "Huh?" The leader, the buffalo spirit said, obviously as much at a loss for words as she was. The great one. Manabozho plucked at her sleeve. "He's speaking of the Keeper of the Buffalo." "Keeper...?" Charmian echoed, still feeling quite stupid. He nodded. "The one you ask permission of above all others...like Mishimakwa, only with buffalo." He shrugged. "Oh." Charmian let out a small breath. "I think I get it. Nigankwam called the buffalo biz...biz...bizhiki," she said, having to search her memory. "So I guess we would be looking for Mishibizhiki. He'll help us get across, then?" Only if you ask him right, and he wants you to, the buffalo spirit replied. Could not say either way. It sniffed at the air as if trying to scent them all. So this is your entire company...? You aim to pass through...? "Oh--not quite." Charmian pointed south again. "We left a couple of friends in that direction...a demon and a...um...water spirit. They were in a river last we knew." Last river heading this way for quite a while disappears far back, the spirit said. "Well, I guess they must've gone underground then. They're with us too. If you guys could help guide them along the right way, we'd really appreciate it." Will have to face "Mish-ee-bi-zhee-kee" on your own, the buffalo spirit said, but good luck anyway. It nudged at the reddish-colored buffalo spirit and let out a grumbling noise. "What's he saying now...?" Charmian whispered to Manabozho. "I think he's asking this fellow to serve as his oshkaabewis and head along to dig up Mishupishu and X'aaru," Manabozho whispered back. "Osh..oshka...?" Charmian furrowed her brow. "Oshkaabewis." He put his hands on his hips. "His runner! Messenger! Seriously, is everybody really so ignorant where you come from that you don't even know what an oshkaabewis is?" "Oh shut up!" Charmian retorted. "Where I come from they just call those toadies!" "Toadies...?" He gave her an odd look. "Why would they call them that? Toads aren't that fast..." The reddish buffalo spirit went trotting off southward, then the brown one went trotting west. He will inform the other two, the lead buffalo spirit said, and let them know how all stands. My other will let the other spirits know of your passing through so if they are called upon, they will assist, if called upon courteously. One of its nostrils flared. Your sort seem to call upon rather rudely. "Send me medicine! Send me medicine! Yah yah yah yah!" Charmian blushed and carefully placed her foot over Manabozho's before he could retort. "Sorry about that...we'll try to be more polite from now on. So, we can go now...?" Yes, the buffalo said, and took a step away from them. It snorted at the ghost buffalo and they began to disperse, though a few of them drifted closer to Winter Born as if to look her over before floating away, seeming somewhat dejected. She gave them a halfhearted wave as they went. "Sorry," she called out. "Hope you find White Buffalo Calf Woman somewhere." She turned back to Charmian and clasped her hands together as the lead buffalo spirit turned and went ambling on its way. "Charmian, can we go find the big plains now?" "Looks that way," Charmian said with a sigh. "Though I wish they were as close as I thought! I mean, there aren't many trees left here, and it looks like it starts to level out a bit...and there's buffalo...how much further can it be?" She started walking, and the rest picked up pace and began to follow, the remaining ghosts going on their way and disappearing in the distance. "I don't see how anything can even live around here," Manabozho groused, looking at their surroundings. "I mean...how do they get around? Where are the lakes and rivers? What do they use their canoes on? And what do they even make them out of? I don't see any birch." "I think they don't really need canoes here, Manabozho," Charmian answered, a bit distractedly. "No canoes?" He frowned, then gestured widely at the sparse stands of pine. "And what do they flavor their food with? There's not a maple anywhere in sight!" "Not everybody puts maple sugar on all their food," Charmian said, making a face. In response he just huffed and folded his arms. "No canoes...no maple sugar...this place is horribly uncivilized." "This place is rather strange," Stick-In-The-Dirt murmured, grasping his turtle-shell rattle as they walked. "They've never even heard of Michinimakinak," he clarified when Charmian looked at him. "Who has never heard of Michinimakinak?" "And what's with this White Buffalo person?" Singing Cedars asked with a frown of his own. "Even their manitous look odd," Niskigwun agreed. "And the way they talk! So improper. Everyone knows tribal manitous whistle." "And where are the other Wendigoes?" Pakwa asked. "And why is it so flat and boring?" Marten questioned. "Did someone cut down all the big trees...?" A murmur arose as they all started talking amongst themselves about how incorrect everything here seemed to be, and Charmian couldn't suppress a sigh. Thomas fell into step beside her again and seemed vaguely amused by the look on her face. "I kind of figured that even though they're all pretty closed in on that Island, still, they'd understand that there's some pretty strange stuff out there," Charmian said, rubbing one eye. "They seem to take so many OTHER weird things in stride! Now they meet some buffalo and can't find any maple trees and all of a sudden everything is way out of whack? You'd think all that wandering around we've done so far would've taught them to expect anything." "Not all of us are gifted with knowing what a great big world it is," Thomas said. "Even you have more experience with that than most of us do." He shrugged when she frowned at him. "Until you came along, I'd never even left the Island! And you're surprised when they're surprised? You're just breaking them out of their little bubble, is all." "Yeah, well..." She rubbed her eyes again. "They could be a bit more openminded about it, is all. I think an absence of Wendigoes and maple flavoring is a good thing." "I don't know," Thomas disagreed. "I rather like maple sugar...just not on my dinner." A lowing sound came from the distance, and they looked to see the red buffalo spirit returning. It was coming at a trot which made it look quite awkward and lumbering, and it took Charmian a moment to notice that something didn't seem right. She turned around to shield her eyes as the wind had picked up a bit again. "It's back so soon?" she asked. "I thought it was looking for X and..." She trailed off when the buffalo spirit halted in its tracks and bristled. It looked as if it wanted to speak up, but could only let out whistling noises through its nose. Charmian furrowed her brow and wished that Glooskap's necklace wasn't so oddly selective. "Manabozho," she said to him, "what's it trying to say? Are X and Mishu in trouble?" "It wasn't gone nearly long enough to find them," Moon Wolf objected as Manabozho craned his neck forward, as if that would help him hear better. He frowned and peered at her uncertainly. "I don't think it's even talking about them...it seems...upset about something." He tilted his head as he looked at it again. "Why is it just standing like that--?" As if in response, the buffalo spirit abruptly jerked, then came racing their way, as fast as its short legs would carry it. Everyone stood and watched it in puzzlement as its head bobbed up and down and its shaggy fur flapped in the breeze, steam snorting from its nostrils. After a moment or two Charmian began gnawing on the inside of her mouth, then shifted from foot to foot a bit uneasily. "Um..." She peered at the others. "Shouldn't it...I dunno...be slowing down by now...?" For another moment nobody answered. The buffalo continued racing toward them, and when the ground beneath their feet began vibrating, Charmian tensed and saw several of the others do the same. "I don't really think he's going to slow down," Thomas finally said, a note of alarm rising in his voice. Marten's eyes went wide. "Wow! Did we get him mad or something--?" "I don't know," Charmian said, her throat growing tight, "but I don't think we should stand around to find out!!" She pivoted on one heel, seeing the others gawk before whirling around themselves. "He's charging us! RUN!!" |