|
Escape From Manitou Island: Part 191 |
|
(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.)
COLD SHOULDER "IT MEANS HE'S here." Mishosha spoke, staring into the middle of the cave; judging by the looks on everyone's faces, it was empty, yet Charmian continued rubbing her watering eyes and squinting over her hand, trying to get used to the ferocious glare. Not that glare was anywhere near the word to describe what she was seeing; she'd seen old newsreel footage in her history classes about the atomic bomb, and that was the best way she could try to describe the brilliant light that flooded the room. The strange thing was, it was contained only to the middle of the cave, in one massive coruscating surging pillar, and it wasn't casting its glare upon anyone or anything else. The walls, the floor and ceiling, everyone else looked the same as always, even though logic told her they should be lit up so brilliantly she wouldn't hope to see their features, yet she could. When they looked at her, none of them squinted or covered their eyes, and she couldn't believe that they weren't screaming in pain...but apparently she was the only one who could see anything. "His medicine," Winter Born said quietly. "You see Kabeyun's medicine?" At this, Moon Wolf and Little Wind and several of the others turned from her to stare in the direction she'd been looking in, brows furrowing and eyes wide open. Charmian hissed and rubbed away the tears, putting her arm over her head, but a moment later the glare wasn't so bad; she opened her blurry eyes again to see that Winter Born had stepped close, as if to huddle, and lifted the top shoulder section of her dress to block the glare. Charmian took in a shaky breath and wiped her tears again, the pain lessening. "But nobody else can see it?" Winter Born shook her head and looked back over her shoulder. "I feel something funny--but I don't see anything." "Interesting," Mishosha said from somewhere behind her, "that he arrives and only you can see him, even when it's pretty obvious he's here." That can't be true, Charmian thought, turning a little--Winter Born turned with her, keeping her face half covered--to look toward Manabozho. "'Bozho? If he's here then of course you and Puka should see him! You guys see all the weird decorations in the room and stuff, right--?" "I don't...I don't see anything!" Peepaukawiss cried. Manabozho gave her a look that wrenched her heart. "You mean--he's right in front of me and I don't see him--?" he exclaimed, then turned to face the middle of the cave and clenched his fists. "You're RIGHT HERE and I don't SEE YOU--?" If it's really him--and we really need his help--then we should hardly go yelling at him!! she thought, half hoping Manabozho would hear, half not. "Well, is it him?" she called out. "Or are we wasting our time sticking around?" She turned to the one most likely to know the answer. "Puka?" Peepaukawiss blinked and then blushed furiously. "I--I'm not sure!" he confessed, looking horribly embarrassed. Then, in her head--I haven't seen Father in so many AGES! And even when I did see him, it wasn't for that long; he didn't really seem to enjoy my company, you see-- Just sense him out and tell me if that's him!! Charmian snapped. 'Bozho's never even met him so he'd have no clue what he feels like-- Her thoughts were interrupted when there was a gasp, and she saw Little Wind jerk backwards, eyes wide and suddenly fearful; she thought that perhaps he'd at last seen Kabeyun's power for himself, but he wasn't even looking into the cave anymore. Instead he glanced back over his shoulder toward the way they'd come in, then waved frantically at his fireball, which drew close so that he clasped it to his chest. He dodged into one of the side entrances and out of sight. What--? Charmian thought, then waved at Mani. "Mani! Stop him!" The manitou hurried into the tunnel after Little Wind, but wasn't gone nearly as long as Charmian had expected. She furrowed her brow to see the young wabano being pushed back into the cave by Mani's antlers, meaning he hadn't gone that far. Little Wind was protesting and squirming but Mani blocked the tunnel from him. "What's going on?" Charmian hissed in a whisper when she reached them. "You picked a hell of a time to try to bail out--!" "I'm not bailing out, I'm trying to save my own skin!" Little Wind hissed back. "If you can see Kabeyun's power then surely you can feel what's coming nearby!" Nearby--? Charmian shut her eyes and threw out her net. Kabeyun's--or whoever's--power nearly made her stagger and recoil, but she forced the feeling aside and felt at what else was there. She sensed all the others--all of them right around her--she sensed what must be Mishupishu, far beneath the mountain, and the Animiki somewhere far above--then she sensed-- Her eyes popped open and she whirled to face the others. "Megissogwun!!" Instantly everyone was alert, weapons drawn or ready, their eyes scouring the cave. Only Manabozho looked torn, glancing between Charmian and the, to him, invisible pillar of light, as if wanting to ask what she meant. "Where?" Moon Wolf asked. Charmian shook her head helplessly. "He's still far away--but coming closer. Somewhere outside the mountain. He's not even hiding himself! I know he can do that*, so why isn't he doing it now?" "Because he has no reason to," Moon Wolf said. "We reached the mountain, so we fulfilled our end of the deal." "But we don't know if we found Kabeyun yet--" "Doesn't this tell you something?" He met her eyes. "If there's anyone you sense nearby who knows what Kabeyun feels like, it would be Megissogwun. And he's coming right this way. So...do you think we found him?" Charmian took in a breath and tried to peer back at the glowing pillar. She had to shield her eyes again. If Megissogwun was coming, that meant he'd found out somehow--maybe through some manitous, maybe through a vision wall?--that they'd reached the west, and found what they were looking for... "If that's really Kabeyun," she said, half-turned toward the light, "then we better ask him for help, fast." Manabozho turned toward the center of the cave. "Ka--" He cut himself off, gnawed on his lip, then took a step forward. "Fa..." He faltered again and she could tell he had absolutely no idea what to say, now that he was finally here. She wanted to give him advice, anything that might help, but she had no idea what to say, herself. Winter Born squeezed her hand and whispered, "Turtle." Charmian blinked, then relayed the thought to Manabozho. She saw him stiffen momentarily, feathers twitching, then he took another step forward, looking up into thin air. "Kabeyun! Mighty West Wind and father of strong gales! Sweeper of the earth, scudder of clouds, breaker of the greatest trees! Surely you recognize the presence of a familiar manitou? It is I, your son Manabozho, the Great Rabbit, hero of the Lakes, brother to their people! I've traveled far, along countless rivers and trails and lands, withstanding numerous challenges, conquering numberless obstacles, and now demand a rightful audience!" Wow, Charmian thought. "If that doesn't make him show up then nothing will!" Winter Born whispered, crouching near her. "I wonder what he'll look like? What he'll say? Now that he knows how much trouble we took to get here..." She trailed off on seeing the look on Charmian's face. Charmian had just realized how long it was taking for the requested audience to occur. Manabozho still stood staring up into the air, but now he seemed to sense the lapse as well; his tensed posture began to relax a little bit, his feathers tilting a little, a look of confusion entering his eyes. "I..." A long pause, then he spoke loudly again. "I said I, Manabozho, the Great Rabbit, demand a rightful audience!" Another long pause, then, in a desperate voice, "Are you there?" He hasn't gone anywhere, at least, Charmian thought to herself. She peered at the glow between her fingers, then willed herself to stand up to the brilliance without turning away; Winter Born stared at her with wide eyes as she did so, huffing and squinting and blinking away tears of pain. She could make out no sort of reaction from the source of the power; it simply hovered and swirled in the middle of the cave as if unaware of their presence. It made no sense. If Megissogwun was coming, it had to be Kabeyun. She peeked sideways and could hardly bear the look that came over Manabozho's face; it was even harder to look at than the light itself. "It's you, isn't it?" he shouted. "This is your mountain! And I've come demanding to speak with you! The very least you could do is reply, if you're even HALF the manitou they say you are!" A sharp, bitter note entered his voice at this last; Charmian winced, realizing this was no way to address somebody they were asking for help, but by now she had no idea how to get his attention if courtesy wasn't going to work. Perhaps he was like Mishosha and just needed to be talked back to. Yet still nothing happened. As Manabozho started repeating his request, even louder this time and with a lot more grandiose speech thrown in, she smacked her hand against the stone wall and willed a manitou to show itself. A face reluctantly appeared in the stone. "Come here!" Charmian snapped at Mishosha, who gave her the same half-irritated, half-puzzled look as before before coming her way. She didn't give him a chance to speak before grabbing his wrist and pulling the hand with the medicine doll toward the wall, making him stumble a little. He bared his teeth and his eyes flared blue but she ignored this, thrusting the doll in the manitou's face. "Sniff it or something! Does this belong to Kabeyun? Really? You live here, so you better know for sure!" The manitou's nose quivered and it opened its mouth in a fearful expression. Yes! Is him! And is him right behind you! It quickly drew back into the wall. Not meant to see him. Go away! Go away! Charmian's grip loosened and Mishosha pulled his hand back, brushing it off as if she were dirty. "Satisfied, little girl?" he said in a voice just barely tinged with annoyance. "I may be all sorts of things but when I give my word, I mean it. What point would I have calling in some totally useless manitou?" "If that's really him then how come he isn't answering?" Charmian snapped, waving at Manabozho, who by now was waving his fists at the glowing pillar. "I don't CARE how long it's been or how big a jerk he is or whatever. Somebody's son shows up asking for help, you think if he's a real manitou he'll at least ANSWER!" She whirled around and yelled at the top of her lungs, "Hey, Kabeyun! If that's really even you! It's not enough to not care about your own son, but you don't care about the Island or about your own GRANDDAUGHTER, either?" Little Wind broke loose from Mani and slipped back into the tunnel. Charmian saw the reactions of several of the others--Stick-In-The-Dirt and Niskigwun grimacing at her words, Moon Wolf casting her a warning look, Kenu's eyes growing huge--but didn't respond. She couldn't believe how frustrated and pissed off she was starting to feel. Winter Born tugged at her sleeve. "We're doing this the wrong way! I know you think we had to try it at least, but it's not working. Mother always says that the only real way to ask manitous for help is politely! I know he wasn't showing up at all--" she blushed a little "--but now that he's here, maybe that's why he's not talking--?" She pointed gingerly at Mishosha. "I mean, if he feels we're just forcing him, of course he won't want to talk since it's being disrespectful. Maybe he just didn't hear us that well at first. Now that he's here I bet he'll listen, if we just talk to him nicely, like you're supposed to talk to manitous." WAS he just busy or something when we first called him--? Charmian wondered; the explanation seemed too simple--surely such a powerful manitou would have noticed and understood who they were?--but nothing else had worked so far. She jerked a hand at Mishosha. "You heard it! He's here, we don't need that thing anymore. If the only way we can get him to talk to us is to grovel, then we do it. Break the connection." "You realize that the moment I do that, we have no more leverage over him," Mishosha said, giving her an ugly look. "I called him here once, but without the doll I don't call him back." Charmian clenched her fists, baring her teeth. "I said break the frigging connection!" There was a brief pause, and she tensed her arm to bring up a fireball; but the wabano just rolled his eyes and pulled something from his belt. "Fine, you ignorant little brat. But I sure hope your wonderful charm is enough to keep him around after this." He sliced the binding cords with his knife and they fell to the floor, taking the single hair with them. Charmian watched them fall, then turned back to the glowing pillar that only she could see, feeling Winter Born clutching her arm hopefully. Manabozho, who'd apparently been half-listening in, turned his full attention back to the middle of the cave. The light flared so that Charmian had to shield her eyes and avert them a bit, though she kept it in her peripheral vision. She saw it swell up, growing twice as big as before, expanding toward the sides of the cave, and could tell that Manabozho sensed something, from the way the feathers on his head quivered. He took a step back as if to wait for the light to take form and show itself. It started to draw in closer and smaller, losing a bit of its brilliance, and Charmian at last lifted her head to look at it straight on, also wondering what form it would take. Winter Born's suggestion had apparently worked; by now she didn't care how they got him to talk to them, as long as they did. She let out a breath and felt her muscles untense a little, leaving her feeling weak. The light pillar pulled in on itself and without a sound flickered out. Silence filled the cave. A long moment stretched out. Then a dreadful doubt seeped into Charmian's breast. Nothing stood where the light had disappeared--no manitou, no being, nothing--she could still sense whatever the power was, but it seemed to be fading. That can't be right. It CAN'T be! After a pause Manabozho turned to look at her. "Well...?" he asked, the desperate note returning to his voice. "Is he there? Do you see him?" "I..." Charmian sucked in a shaky breath, then threw out her net. There--she sensed the power drawing away from them, back into the mountain. Pulling even further away. "He's--" Her voice broke off and her vision went blurry. "He's leaving!" "What?" Manabozho cried, then whirled back to the empty cave. "You're LEAVING?" He clenched his fists and yelled so loudly that the rest of them flinched back. "HOW DARE YOU LEAVE! I DEMAND YOU COME BACK NOW AND SHOW YOURSELF!" He paused just briefly, then screamed, "SHOW YOURSELF!!" Charmian felt around--she could still feel Megissogwun, could feel Manabozho's power growing now, but the other power was rapidly fading. Even as she tried focusing on it it was gone. She put her hands up to her mouth and felt herself sinking to the cave floor, Winter Born still grasping her arm and several of the others drawing near, but she barely even noticed them. Her chest started hitching and tears blinded her eyes. He can't just leave. He CAN'T! We did everything! We did everything RIGHT! "How--how can we come this far--?" she tried to say, her voice cracking. "He's gone?" Stick-In-The-Dirt's voice asked. "You're sure of it--?" "He can't just go and not even SAY anything!" Marten's voice protested. "Fa--Father...?" Peepaukawiss's voice whimpered. "I thought for sure he would answer us," Winter Born murmured, her own voice very small. Charmian lifted a hand and swept the tears from her eyes, looking at her. The little girl looked back, then started chewing on her lip, her own eyes wet. Charmian looked back at the others to see the expressions of disbelief on their faces. Her heart twisted; she'd brought them all this way, gone through all of this trouble, and for what? Absolutely nothing? Her vision of them blurred and broke apart again. Another light flared, but she could tell it was only Manabozho, since she could still sense his power; doubtless his father's indifferent departure had sparked something. It didn't matter. She didn't blame him. She didn't know Kabeyun, had never met him and hadn't really cared to, other than to help the Island; yet if her own reaction was any indication, Manabozho had every right to react even more... She blinked a few times until her eyes cleared, focusing on the cave floor. The hairs on the back of her neck were prickling, and she could feel her sensory net quivering, like a spiderweb caught in a gale, ready to break to pieces. Megissogwun was drawing ever closer, but that wasn't the cause... She lifted her head to look into the cave; Winter Born saw the motion and looked too. Manabozho was glowing blue--that much was nothing new to her, he looked no different from the last time it had happened. With the way the energy sparked and crackled around him like electricity, making even Kenu cower back, she knew what he must be feeling. He turned his head to look back over his shoulder and she shivered; his eyes were pure blue, flaring like Mishosha's had, like two cerulean coals had been placed in his eyesockets. His teeth were bared in an ugly snarl and she thought she saw a trace of tears on his cheeks but he turned away again before she could be sure, and at that moment a particularly powerful crackle of power surged over him, making her jerk back and nearly knock over Winter Born. No--she didn't jerk back, she fell back, for she saw several of the others do the same, Lieutenant Barrington nearly dropping his gun, Little Wind stumbling and collapsing back in the tunnel. What--what was that--? Winter Born's fingers dug into her arm and her voice came, quavering and frightened. "Charmian--what's he doing--?" He--? Manabozho's doing that--? She looked back at him. Every time her mental net quivered, she saw a ripple of blue energy pass over him. In fact, the more she focused on this, the more her head started to throb; she drew back her net, losing her sensation of Megissogwun approaching, but it didn't matter, as she could barely feel him anymore what with Manabozho's power filling her consciousness. "His glow," she said, drawing the attention of those nearest. "It's huge. It's making my head hurt!" She grimaced and rubbed at her temple. "Shouldn't we get out of here?" Puka asked, fiddling his fingers anxiously. "If what you said is true and that horrid wretch is really headed this way--" "We have no way to get out of here fast enough!" Barrington retorted, making him flinch. "Have you seen that so-called wretch and what he does? It takes us practically weeks to drag ourselves here and he's here in an instant?" He lifted his gun. "I say we deal with things a different way--" "No," Charmian said, silencing them before they could start arguing, which it looked like they were about to do. "We promised we'd offer him a fight. He held up his end of the bargain...at least." "And who's to say he won't decide to back out at the last moment and just be done with it all, as soon as he arrives?" Mishosha said, giving her that neutral look that she was starting to realize indicated extreme irritation. "It's not as if he hasn't done it...before." "You heard him." Charmian jerked her hand at Barrington. "Where would we run to? Kabeyun's sure not going to back us up." She turned to look toward Manabozho again. "I don't think we need to go running off anyway," she murmured. "Look at him. I've seen him like this only once before, and that was before he defeated Chakenapok.* And...even that was nothing like this." A brief silence as the others looked, then shared glances of varying degrees of skepticism. "You think he might be strong enough by now, ma chère*?" Francois asked a bit doubtfully. "What's changed since the last time this subject came up?" Singing Cedars added, frowning. Charmian turned to face them. "Isn't it obvious?" She waved at the empty cave. "Does this count as maybe the biggest snub ever?" As she turned once more, her own words to Manabozho from earlier came back to her. Aren't you pissed off though--? That Kabeyun dragged you into his mess? Megissogoof here never would've even bothered with you or Turtle if he hadn't started it all...! I saw how he reacted when Niskigwun said what he did about his mother. That was bad enough--but not good enough. But this... She started to take a step toward him, holding up one hand. Then it suddenly felt like she'd been set on fire when another one of the waves of power washed over her, sending her stumbling, pure shock and pain stealing her voice and keeping her from screaming. Manabozho did that instead, his voice filling every niche of the cavern, echoing into the tunnels and slamming off the walls as if there were a hundred of him shouting all at once. "HOW DARE YOU TURN AWAY FROM ME! I WHO CAME ALL THIS WAY JUST TO ASK FOR YOUR WORTHLESS HELP! I WHO'VE DONE A WHOLE LOT MORE THAN YOU'VE EVER DONE! I WHO AM THE ONE TO STAND UP AND FIGHT WHILE YOU COWER AND RUN OFF LIKE A SPOILED LITTLE CHILD!!" Several of the others had put their hands up to their ears, grimacing at the horrible noise. Manabozho's voice sounded like nothing Charmian could quite describe--like thunder booming and boulders scraping and waterfalls crashing and wild animals screaming all at once. She'd heard him throw plenty of tantrums but something was different about this one. Mainly, it didn't seem as much like a tantrum as his other tantrums had been. Most of his fits were silly in retrospect, like something a bratty child might yell while stomping his feet, but this didn't give her that impression. Probably because everything he was claiming now was actually true and not mere exaggeration. He's right. All the things he did to get here, when he didn't even want to come--all the stuff he put up with because he knew it was more important than his stupid ego--all the fighting he's done while Kabeyun does what, shows up just because we dragged him here, then runs off the moment we let his arm go? He's right! What sort of manitou does such a thing to his own family? He might've saved the Island once, but only to make himself look good, and that was ages ago, and he's certainly not here now but Manabozho is--Manabozho's done a HELL of a lot more than he would ever do... This isn't a temper tantrum, this is perfectly warranted... Manabozho clenched his fists and stood up straight, waves of blue sloughing* off of him and smacking into the sides of the cave. "At least I face my enemies!" he bellowed at the ceiling. "For more than to make MYSELF look good! For a bigger reason than that! At least I don't need somebody to beg and plead and DEMAND that I do the right thing, which it seems is the only way YOU'LL ever do anything remotely useful! As if I ever needed you in the first place!" Crackles of blue shot out from him, striking the stone and making the cave shake. "YOU HEAR ME? WHEREVER YOU'RE HIDING YOUR HEAD? I'VE DONE JUST FINE WITHOUT YOU AND I'LL KEEP DOING JUST FINE WITHOUT YOU! EVEN BETTER WITHOUT YOU!!" The cave shook with a horrible reverberation and the others stumbled, trying to keep from falling. Charmian blinked--the shock had come after Manabozho's words, and the energy shooting out of him hadn't caused it. Everyone looked around in confusion, wondering if perhaps the mountain was caving in, but when Charmian dared to throw out her net again, just a little bit, she knew immediately what it was. She opened her mouth, but didn't get to speak. Another, familiar voice spoke instead, silencing the growing murmurs, making even Manabozho start and stiffen where he stood. "Well. It looks as if Kabeyun won't be taking up my challenge, after all." |