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Escape From Manitou Island: Part 184 |
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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.)
KABEBONIKKA'S PROMISE SOMETHING WAS DETERMINED to definitely be wrong when one of the wigwams suddenly let out a horrid cracking sound and snapped apart as it sank into the ground. The people in the camp upon the northern glacier let out a collective yell and started scurrying back as the curved poles supporting the structure bent beyond their limits and finally broke, the bark coverings tearing and falling loose as well. The event was so odd that it took a moment for those standing nearest to figure out what had happened. A great hunk of the ground beneath one side of the wigwam had sunk drastically, taking the supporting poles with it, and now there was a large crack running from back to front through the ice. Fortunately no one had been inside at the time, and those standing around it peeked inside to take a look. The crack was deepest in here--the central firepit was completely demolished--and the unlevel land was now located about a handspan lower in one spot than it should be. While they were busy murmuring in puzzlement over this, another awful noise came, and along with it, more startled yells when more cracks began appearing in the ground. The people in the camp had just enough time to glance around themselves before all havoc broke loose. Crashing, splashing noises arose from the lakeshore, and the people who had been nearest the water came running back into camp, shouting in panic. Everywhere, the ground was breaking apart--not only that, but it seemed to be disintegrating as well, for people began to slip and fall as they ran, their feet sinking as the land gave way. One by one the wigwams started to either splinter from the pressure of being pulled in two directions, or else topple over when the ice their posts were implanted in turned to slush around them; either way, within moments the entire camp was unlivable, and everyone was crying out and rushing to and fro, gathering the few things they could, dodging barking dogs and grabbing up squalling children and other than that not seeming to know what to do. Mudroot managed to force her way out of her own wigwam--it had twisted in an unnatural fashion so that the entryway was difficult to clamber out of--and pushed herself to her feet, brushing her hair back as she looked around. She frowned at the strange sight of the ground cracking and then evaporating into mush before her eyes; then she blinked, and thought to look northward. The great jagged mountains still arose above the fog and mist, but they were wavering, one moment there, one moment almost not. She looked back toward the water and saw hunks of land snapping loose and drifting away. Then she had to lift her foot and shift to the side, glancing down as the land she stood upon began softening. Muddy slush fell away from her moccasin and that was what decided her. "Those fools actually did it." She turned and stomped her way toward the middle of the camp--which was difficult, considering that the ground was in no state for stomping on--halting near where the communal firepit had been (it was nothing more than toppled posts and a smear of coals now) and raising her walking stick to shake it, shouting as loudly as she could. "Everybody! MOVE OUT!" Some of those nearest her halted in their frantic scrambling, shooting her confused looks. Their reaction caused more of them to stop as well. Mudroot took this moment to gesture with her stick, making an arc toward the wavering mountains. "Head out!" she shouted again. "We head NORTH! Get moving or else you'll be left behind in the water!" There were several bewildered exclamations, but not much argument, for it was obvious that they couldn't remain here any longer; already the area of land between the camp and the lake had dwindled drastically, and more was breaking off every moment. When a horrible groaning, grinding noise from somewhere deep under their feet made the remaining ground shudder, they picked up their pace, scampering northward toward the mountains. "Old woman! What's happening?" one of the men cried, dodging a splotch of snow that fell from the branches of a tree they passed under. "Is it the Wintermaker--?" "Yes and no," Mudroot replied. She wasn't running--she didn't have it in her bones to do that much anymore--but her steady pace and the swings of her walking stick were making her good progress, and she didn't stumble nearly as much as the others. "When those strangers left our camp they said that if they manage to make it west, old Keewadin-Nodin would call off the Whittikos and such. I kinda figured they might not make it, but I guess they did." She stopped long enough to wave her stick back in the direction of the camp. "I take it that means he's calling off the cold and winter too. Go figure that our entire camp is built right on top of the ice, though, so until we find where real land begins, we're going to have to keep hustling!" She pointed again, this time at the mountains. "Our safest bet is in this direction. Even if the mountains go, there should still be land. But it's going to get rocky for a bit." As if to punctuate this, another horrible grinding noise came, and several people shouted and hurried to clamber over the rocks when a huge hunk of glacier broke loose and went tumbling off down the slope behind them. They were all making their way up one of the milky outflung arms of the glacier itself, so as soon as this happened, more of them began scrambling toward the sturdier boulders and mountainsides so they wouldn't end up carried away by the distintegrating ice. "But the mountains travel with the mist," the man protested, glancing up at them; they wavered in the haze. "What if we get caught and travel along with them...?" "Quit moaning. You've got me on board, haven't you? When I came up here to see to that fool hermit's grave-house I told the Wind loud and clear he'd have some unpleasantness to deal with if he broke his deal with that odd girl and made more trouble for us. Don't know if he heard me, but a manitou always keeps his word. She said he's not interested in us, so he won't be taking us along with him either. Now keep climbing, and tell those lollygaggers to hurry up, if they don't want to freeze their feet in the bay." She picked up her own pace, stomping upward, moving aside and avoiding another hunk of ice as it slid past as if she'd known it was coming all along. The man watched her for a moment, glanced back to see the state the camp had been left in--then, seeing that there was nothing there anymore but the gaping yawning stretch of water, filled with bobbing ice and wooden wreckage, he shivered and hastened after her. "Well," a voice said, and Turtle blinked herself abruptly awake, unaware that she'd even been sleeping, until now. She couldn't see anything at first, and it took her a brief moment to realize that she was still buried amidst the various animal furs--she hadn't dared to raise her head since hearing that horrible scream, not even when the furs tickled her nose, not even when they grew uncomfortably warm, not even when she realized she had to relieve herself--but the voice that came now was much different, back to normal, so she finally started burrowing her way upward. She gingerly lifted aside the head of the skinned wolf and peeped out. "Pardon?" she said, since she knew it was polite. The big manitou was seated staring at the vision wall, his back to her. He didn't say anything, and she was at such an angle that she couldn't make out the details of the vision that well. Her mind was on other things anyway. "Um...'scuse me," she called out in a small voice, and waved, though he wasn't looking. "Um...I've been in these furs a long time and I have to make water, but I don't wanna get them all wet, since they're such nice furs and it looks like you worked real hard to get them all." She blushed. "Erm...'scuse me?" "Go relieve yourself in the corner then," Megissogwun said without looking back. "I hardly have any interest in watching you urinate." "Yoor-what?" Turtle asked, then shrugged it off, popping free of the mound of furs and toddling over to the corner. "Whatever you say! But Papa always says it's un-sanny-tary to make water in the house, whatever that means..." Despite the manitou's assurance, she picked a spot where the fur pile partly obstructed her view of him--if she couldn't see him, she reasoned, then he couldn't see her--and squatted and discreetly did her business, then toddled back toward him, stopping at his side to look up openly at the vision wall, seeing as he wasn't yelling or threatening to tear her head off or anything particularly fightening. "What'cha looking at now?" she asked. "It seems your friends are a bit luckier than I assumed," Megissogwun said, and the vision in the wall came clearer so she could make it out better. She was staring at some tall jagged mountains--she knew that's what they were as her father had described mountains to her once, although she'd never visited any before--and saw a multitude of tiny shapes making their way up between them while the land behind them seemed to be crumbling away into the water. This reminded her too much of her earlier sight of the Island disappearing beneath the waves, and she bit her lip and shifted from foot to foot uneasily, but then the vision swept aside and was replaced by a vast expanse of white which quickly shifted into murky gray and then brown, and then green, and then Turtle gasped and hopped up and down in delight when she spotted colorful little flowers popping up everywhere, as far as the eye could see. "Oh! Oh!" she cried. "Did you do that? How pretty! You should do that more often!" Megissogwun got a sour look. "I did not do that, you ignorant little mite. That is the west, and it seems your friends have finally reached it." Turtle sucked in a breath and craned her neck forward to see. True--a group of people was gathered here, and although she couldn't make them all out, she spotted a few vaguely familiar shapes and colors--the red jacket of the strange man who'd arrived on the Island, the white hair of the medicine woman's daughter, the large shapes of the manitou and the wolf demon--and she fought to keep down a squeal of relief, knowing it would irritate him. She couldn't keep herself from clapping her hands and hopping again, however. "Yea! TOLD you!" She clapped her hands to her mouth. "Er!--I mean, sorry." There was a very long silence as she tried to keep herself from speaking again, though curiosity won out over prudence. "So...what'cha gonna do now?" Her face lit up. "I know! You can go tell Papa he's won and let me go and leave the Island alone and everything'll be all right again! That's a real good idea, isn't it?" She hopped forward and even put a tiny hand on his arm. "And maybe he'll forgive you for causing so much trouble, though he might have to beat you up first, just to be fair and stuff, but then I'm sure he'll forgive you 'cause Papa's forgiving that way and he's such a great manitou and all, and then you can come back here and stare at your wall all day or whatever it is you do when we're not around..." Megissogwun turned his head to look down at her, and his eyes were glowing. Turtle took the hint and cut herself off, drawing her hand back and fiddling her fingers nervously as she chewed on her lip. "Or...whatever you want," she murmured. "Your decision, I guess. I'm just suggesting and stuff." "I am not going to apologize to your father and then allow myself to be 'beaten up,'" Megissogwun said flatly. "Or any other juvenile ideas you manage to dredge out of that vacuous little head of yours. Your Island is going to end up destroyed no matter what trivial accomplishments your friends make. I was merely commenting on how thoroughly surprising it is that they've managed to get this far in one piece." Turtle's face screwed up. "You talk too funny! Stop using such dumb words!" "Basically, little girl, I'm telling you your friends are lucky to be alive, but not for long. Maybe the fact that your father is part manitou, not a real manitou like you mistakenly claimed, is somewhat to blame for this. Maybe." He put his hand against the ground and Turtle skipped back when he started pushing himself to his feet. "In any case...seeing as how they should be reaching Kabeyun soon, I suppose I should be ready for when they fail. I would hate to waste time having to catch up with them once they turn tail and run." He lifted his hand. Turtle clenched her fists. "You big dumb moose! They won't fail! Every time they do something right you're all surprised and stuff that they did it, but I'm not surprised at all 'cause I knew they would. Then you just up and say, well, they won't do it right the next time, but they do! You don't give enough...um...enough..." She got a very unpleasant look as she tried to think. "Um...what's that word, you know, when you have to trade for something, but you don't have the right stuff to trade, so you tell the person you'll give them the stuff later...?" "Credit?" Megissogwun said, pausing from whatever he was doing. Turtle snapped her fingers. "That's it! You don't give them enough credit. You even said it yourself, they were lucky; you undestimawhatever them, and Papa's used that word, I know what it means even if I can't say it right. They keep winning and you keep saying they won't. You don't give enough credit. You know what happens to people who don't give enough credit!" She paused, then frowned. "I think they get their little fingers cut off, or their wigwams burned down or something, I'm not sure. But whatever it is it's not good!" "You are getting dull," Megissogwun said, and waved his hand. "Anyway I won't have to put up with you much longer, so I suppose all is well." "What--?" Turtle said, then gasped and fell over. She blinked. She didn't know why she'd fallen over, just that it felt as if the cave had lurched or something, though she knew it really hadn't, since Megissogwun and the furs remained in their places without moving a bit. She gingerly pushed herself back up and looked around. There was some sort of odd feeling in the air--she'd felt it before, right before a thunderstorm--if she'd had to describe it, which she couldn't do successfully, she'd have said it felt like there were little spirits hovering in the air all around them. She shivered and shifted uneasily, feeling her skin prickle. Everything was as it had been before but she still felt like sitting down lest she topple over again, and she even started to feel a little bit ill. She put a hand to her mouth and burped. "What's happening? What'd you do to the cave?" "We are merely picking up speed," Megissogwun replied, "and following them. The Wintermaker promised to lead them straight to Kabeyun--and when they fail to find him, I hope to be nearby, either to find him myself or to simply skip the unnecessaries and let them know of us heading back to their Island, whichever I find most expedient." Turtle made a sour face again. "Stop talking funny! You mean we're going back to the Island soon--?" "Heading back, not returning. And it will likely end up just being me. I'll probably dispense with you somewhere along the way..." On seeing the look on her face, he trailed off, then said, "I will probably just kill you and get it over with, and as for the Island, it won't be there anymore by the time your friends get back, if they ever do." Turtle's face went white. Then it went red. "MOOSE! We'll see!" She whirled around and tried to stomp back toward the furs, only the balance of the room seemed off, and she ended up yelping and rolling across to the opposite wall. Then this got her so fed up that she kicked the wall and stubbed her toe and so kicked it again. Megissogwun ignored her now. He focused his attention on the wall, which was now showing an odd succession of images as they headed west. In the cave far beneath Mishosha's island-- --And in the tangle of roots far beneath the Sky Tree-- --Two stirrings, and two sets of eyes blinked open slightly, two breaths being drawn-- "He's moving." Charmian blinked. She couldn't believe it. There wasn't a trace of snow anywhere to be found. Not even a chilly breeze blew anymore--instead, the gently undulating ground was covered in flowers and swaying grass, and a warm southern breeze whispered in the stands of trees dotting the landscape. She knew it was the same place they'd been in before--the general shape of the hills and hollows convinced her--but it looked so drastically different now that it took her a few moments to realize this fully. "The..." Her voice came out faint, dazed. "The snow..." "The winter," Remy said. "It's all gone!" Everyone stared at the grassy scenery for a moment or two. Then Charmian--and more than a few of the others, she bet--gasped and jerked back when a horrific shriek split the air. She put a hand to her chest, feeling her heart hammering, and turned to see Manabozho clenching his fists and screaming. Her eyes grew and she was about to yell to ask him what was wrong, when he gave a hop and shook one fist skyward, his scream resolving itself into and odd series of "AI-AI-AI-AI-AI-AI-AI!! STUPID FOOL WIND! BEATEN BY A GIRL! BEATEN BY A GIRL! GO SKULK AND HIDE! FOOL KEEWADIN-NODIN! AI-AI-AI-AI-AI-AI-AI!!" Then he whirled around so he faced south, ducked forward, and flung up his breechcloth in back. Winter Born, standing north of him, apparently got the best look since her eyes grew as round as saucers; Baptiste appeared and threw himself at her, grabbing her up so she disappeared from sight. Lieutenant Barrington gawped for a moment, then ran a hand down his face. Peepaukawiss's and Marten's jaws just about hit the ground before they started screaming with laughter. Charmian, on the other hand, crumpled slowly to the ground again, her eyes looking ready to fall from her head; Thomas and Stick-In-The-Dirt hastened toward her, dropping down to take her arms, while X'aaru and Mani approached, looking her over in great concern. The demon licked her face, which had gone stark white. "Charmian! Are you all right?" "I'm sure he doesn't mean anything naughty by it," Thomas said, then flushed and made an awful face. "All right, so he does, but, well, these people...ugh I'm sorry!" He grimaced at the medicine man. "Can't you think of anything helpful to say here?!" Stick-In-The-Dirt waved his hands. "I realize it's not what your people would normally do...but...well...!" He shook a fist at Thomas. "How am I to know what to say? I don't go exposing myself either!!" "That's..." Charmian's voice was paper thin, and they all crowded toward her. "That's not it," she managed to say, and, grasping their arms, started struggling to her feet as they rose. She had to take a moment to reorient herself, and only then did her face go brilliant red. "That's not it," she said again, louder; "I just can't believe it's really over." She broke one arm free to shake her fist at Manabozho, who was now coming back their way. "In fact I can't say I blame him but he DIDN'T HAVE TO DO IT IN FRONT OF WINTER BORN!!" Manabozho gave her a sullen shrug. "Charmian," Winter Born called out, still being manhandled by Baptiste, "it's okay, it kind of surprised me, but, I see things like that all the time back at home in the wigwa--" The voyageur clamped a hand over her mouth and gave a ghastly smile. "Silly kids! Never know what they're talking about, heh heh!!" Charmian was too busy trying to shake a bunch of very embarrassing images out of her head. "Ugh ugh ugh!! All right! Enough with the indecent exposure and stuff!" She shook her fist again, breaking apart from the others and mimicking Manabozho's earlier gestures. "But he HAD IT COMING!! YOU HEAR THAT? I am so sick of snow! UP YOURS!" "Er...Charmian..." Niskigwun took her arm and pulled it down, blushing. "You do recall that he has to tell us how to reach Kabeyun, right...?" "Oh!" Charmian clapped her hands to her mouth. "OhmyGod! That's right!! I forgot!" And she turned and smacked Manabozho's arm, making him yelp. "That's what you get for riling me up like that when we aren't even done with him yet, dumbass! No more mooning important manitous!" Manabozho just grumbled as he rubbed at his arm. "So--now what?" Thomas asked, looking upward. "I figure he wouldn't be so kind as to just carry us the rest of the way, so how do we find which way to go? I don't even see any mountains or anything..." "Don't even tell me we aren't there yet!" Charmian cried. "Not after what Winter Born just did! She blew those manitous to kingdom come! Really frigging far away," she said when she received a share of odd looks. "Probably straight back to Manitou Island! So right, now what--? He better not be cutting out on us!" She clenched her fists and made the most horrible face she could muster at the sky, simply because that was where snow came from and it was where everyone else seemed to be looking. Careful, or it might stay that way. She gasped and blinked, hopping back. Everyone glanced around so she could tell they all heard Kabebonikka's voice. "You're--you're still there?" she blurted out. Of course. I wouldn't want to miss this moment now, would I? Though I have to admit, I've seen a little bit more of my nephew than I would have preferred. Manabozho made the awful face and shook his fist this time. Charmian blushed horribly and coughed. "Well--we did it!" she called out. "This is the west, isn't it? End game? Over? Through? Kaput? Remember your end of the deal!" Of course, Kabebonikka said again, sounding weary now. Has anyone ever told you how dreadfully repetitive you are? A manitou doesn't go back on his word. Well...most manitous. There was a shift in the air, and Charmian found herself peering toward Mishosha, who stood at the fringes of their group as always. His hands were tucked into his sleeves and he had an inscrutable look on his face; she wondered how well he'd do at poker, before shaking herself out of it. That big dumb lout's behavior notwithstanding, I am a manitou of my word, and so you will be shown to where Big Brother Kabeyun resides. "Are you coming here to show us?" Winter Born called out. A sniffing sound. You think I want to waste my time showing all you around? Please. I have better things to do, like figure out where to take my mountain next. It's gotten dull here anyway. I thought you should know, too, those chilly friends of yours are packing up camp and heading out, though where they'll be going next, I haven't a clue. Charmian remembered the Cree camp, as well as the fact that the tunnel back to Lake Superior was located at the bottom of the bay there*. Her eyes grew and she opened her mouth. Last I saw them they were fine, Kabebonikka said before she could speak. Don't worry about the tunnel, another voice said at almost the same moment, and she recognized Chakenapok's voice. You've always found what you needed before. Focus on what you're doing right now. Manitous might keep their promises but if you keep delaying him, he might not be disposed to be so helpful. Well isn't that thoughtful, Kabebonikka cut in. Who are you to know me so well, my mother? Charmian waved her hands; the similarities between the two were freaking her out. "Knock it off!!" She glared skyward. "Okay, so you're not going to show us the way, so how the hell are we going to find Kabeyun? I cleared this all up ahead of time so don't you try pulling anything--!" Relax, the North Wind replied. The only thing I'm interested in pulling is someone's interest, in my direction. The shift in the air came again, and now Charmian looked at Winter Born. So, little winter girl, the voice went on, looks like you'll be heading along with your friends after all. I do hope our paths cross again someday when you're a little older. Like perhaps in a year or so. Maybe by then you'll have some more noteworthy goals in mind, aside from just "helping people." "I don't think so," Winter Born said, frowning. "That's what I've always wanted to do when I grow up, so, no megwetch!" We'll see, Kabebonikka said, his voice fading, and the last bit of chill that had been in the air evaporated. Charmian gasped and whirled in a circle, looking around wildly, but couldn't sense him, either with Apakwaanaajiin or just with a hunch. If she hadn't been so used to seeing nothing but snow, she never would have believed this place had had any. Her voice cracked when she spoke. "Where did he go? He PROMISED us--!" The warm breeze picked up and started swirling in little eddies, making the flowers bob their heads. The more sensitive among them--X'aaru and Mani, Marten and the okis and GeeBees--seemed to notice something first, ears pricking and noses twitching. Charmian sensed something new enter the air just as Winter Born gasped and gave a hop of her own, hands flying to her mouth. When she saw Charmian looking at her she pointed east. "Charmian! Look!" Charmian turned. The wind was swirling in a sort of lazy whirlwind, which made her tense up at first--hadn't they just gotten rid of all those?--but she could tell this wasn't at all the same as they had been. A vague figure began to take form where the whirlwind spun, so slowly that it was a wonder it didn't break apart, and it wavered a little before she could at last make out what it was. She furrowed her brow. She recognized the person who stood in the grass now, but she couldn't remember how she recognized him. "Charmian!" Winter Born hurried to her side, taking her sleeve and pointing again, unnecessarily. "It's the person in the wall!" she whispered. "From Kabebonikka's cave. He told me it's Zeegwun, the Spring, and that's why everything was all cold! He had Spring trapped in his mountain!" "Spring?" Charmian echoed, eyes growing in disbelief. "You mean--Spring is a person--?" She blinked to get a better look. No doubt about it; the young man standing in the flowers, which bobbed all around him, was the same one she'd seen encased in the ice high up in the mountains. He was awake now, the breeze stirring his braids, and she noticed that there were flower and bird patterns quilled into his clothes. When he saw that he had their attention he smiled, and if she hadn't been so confused she would have promptly smiled right back, the look was so warm and cheery. He lifted one hand and flower petals showered from his fingers. Winter Born and Marten both cried out and clapped in delight. "OOOOOOOOOHHH!" Peepaukawiss cried, clasping his hands together and bouncing. "How lovely he is! Remind me to go visit him someday, I simply MUST find out how he does that!" "Well...that's nice and good and stuff, that he's out and everything," Charmian said, rubbing her head, "but what about Kabebonikka? I hate to sound rude but he promised..." She trailed off when Zeegwun's hand made its way to his mouth and he gestured. She frowned, not understanding, so he gestured again, slower this time. Something sparked in Charmian's head and she waved Stick-In-The-Dirt forward hurriedly. "He's signing something! You're the one who's good at that, what's he saying?" Stick-In-The-Dirt frowned himself as he stared at the young man, Zeegwun's hands making all sorts of motions in the air. "He's telling us the way to go," he said after a moment, standing up straighter, seeming a bit surprised. "He says we keep walking across the plains and we should meet up with those strange horned creatures again, and they'll escort us the right way. He says their manitous have spoken with Mishibizhiki on our behalf and all we need do is show the proper respect to be shown through. If we leave them offerings, it should suffice. He says there's some sort of..." And here he trailed off, seeming at a loss. He turned to Charmian and shrugged. "I...do not understand it, that much. He's saying something about different lands. One atop another, or beside another, something like that; I fail to comprehend." "Oh!" Charmian gasped and waved at the spirit. "I think I get it! Like Manitou Island, or Kabebonikka's mountain--right? Another dimension?" She struggled to put it into words that they might understand. "A land just like this one, well, mostly like this one, only there's something different about it, like it's in a different time, or different people live there--sometimes it's there and sometimes it isn't--something like that?" "He says Kabeyun's mountains are in this land," Stick-In-The-Dirt said when Zeegwun resumed signing. "And that's the reason why so few people can find them properly. If we appease the spirits well enough, they'll lead us right through. The Animiki are already on their way there and will be guided in the same manner. He says that when we arrive, it will be obvious where Kabeyun's residence is, and all we need do is make our way up to it." A brief pause. "He also says that there are no more tricks, and that he knows for a fact this is where the West Wind lives." "You know," Thomas said, "too bad we couldn't have just asked Spring where to find him from the start!" "That's all? Keep walking with the buffalo spirits and we'll get right there?" Charmian asked, still unable to believe it was true. Zeegwun nodded, and she felt her knees grow weak. "Mean it?" In response the manitou gave that smile that made her want to melt and say Awwwwww, his eyes almost disappearing. He waved his other hand and Winter Born and Marten squealed and hopped up and down, trying to catch the multicolored petals that swirled through the air in swarms. X'aaru barked and tried snapping at them with his teeth; Puka giggled and cheered and waved, scooping them up when they fell and showering them over himself. Everyone else looked around, a mixture of awe and puzzlement and annoyance. Winter Born stopped hopping when the petal breeze died down and what remained drifted to the ground. "Oh! He's gone!" They looked toward where Zeegwun had been standing, but the space was now empty, save for a fresh batch of flowers that had sprouted up right where he'd stood. "I wanted to say goodbye to him," Winter Born added, sounding disappointed. Charmian just let out her breath and they were all silent for a moment. "Well!" Augwak was the one to clap his hands sharply, making her start. "That was all nice and junk, wasn't it? Now can we get going? It's far too warm and pleasant here for my tastes...maybe those mountains will be colder!" Thomas grasped Charmian's arm to keep her from launching herself at him; she shook a fist. "Don't you DARE mention cold again!!" She started shirking out of her winter clothes as she was starting to sweat. "I'm so GLAD to be out of the snow at last...and all you can do is bitch about how NICE it is!" "That snowy patch was the nicest part of this miserable journey so far," Augwak grumbled, but she was too busy trying to shove the clothes in her pack to pay him any further attention. She waved at the others and they gathered around. "All right then...west! Hopefully the very last leg!" She turned and looked west, shading her eyes since the sunlight had grown so bright, and the others did likewise. There was nothing but gently rolling grassland, specked with the colors of flowers and dotted here and there with small stands of trees, as far as the eye could see...no mountains...but she thought about how Kabebonikka's mountain had wandered, and how Manitou Island itself did so, and this lifted her spirits just a little. She blinked, and then saw that something else had appeared in the distance. More little specks, these ones darker than the flowers; at first she saw just a few, but then more, and more, and realized what they must be. Her heart nearly leapt into her throat and she waved again, excitedly this time. "That's the way! They're waiting for us!" She started walking--then, unable to help herself, she started jogging, then racing, all thoughts of cold and misery and rest and exhaustion gone from her mind. "Come on!" Most of the others just started walking, apparently not as excited or energized as she was, but several of them began racing after her as well. Winter Born appeared off to her right and waved herself. "Last one there's a rotten aaaaaa-corrrrrrrnnnn," she taunted, before running off ahead of Charmian, braids flying. Charmian sucked in a breath; the warm air felt so good in her lungs. "A rotten EGG!" she yelled, putting on a fresh burst of speed, the sooner to reach the great buffalo herd in the distance. |