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Escape From Manitou Island: Part 199 |
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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.)
MEETING OF MINDS I NEED YOU to get me through to Geezhigo-Quae! Charmian sensed a pause on Chakenapok's end of the mental connection, and almost tapped her own head as if to check for a signal. I can get through to the Sky Mother just fine, he said at last, but what makes you think I could get you through? I'm connected to you only because of this Red Swan, and I'm not certain that I could add yet another party to this line. Charmian grimaced; this was getting just as confusing as modern technology, and she hated that. It should be easier than it seems, she said, seeing as they're both the same person! If I'm connected to the Red Swan, then I can connect to Geezhigo just as easily, right? At last a mental image appeared and she and Chakenapok stared at each other. "I had not thought of it that way," he admitted, frowning. "I suppose it could be done. But there are still some difficulties. The main one being that the Red Swan is asleep and dreaming, and the Sky Mother is not..." He trailed off and his eyes grew. "Then again--she is!" Charmian furrowed her brow. "Huh?" "At least, she was, last Nathalit told me. I believe the Dreamer inadvertently snapped her out of it. She informed me that the Sky Mother was seeking a vision to try to figure out what the Red Swan is as well. That was how Nathalit reached her, in fact--by following the Red Swan's dreams straight to her*. I guess it makes sense now, why that happened." "So you think it'd be easier for me to reach her if she's in a vision or something?" "Seeing as the entire basis of your connection to the Red Swan and me is the fact that you're in a waking vision*, then yes, this is what I think. I'm not certain if she's still attempting this or not, but Nathalit made it sound as if she would likely try again. At the very least we could find out. The worst that could happen is it fails. I assume." This time Charmian tried not to make a face. "Well--do it, then. Preferably before either of them wakes up any further! You realize that whenever the Red Swan fully wakes up, I might not be able to talk to you anymore!"* "I'm assuming we'll have to face that annoying Canoe again," Chakenapok said, and as he spoke, the scenery of the great lake and the Stone Canoe, with the Red Swan seated inside, faded into view. The Stone Canoe gave a startled bob, then floated their way, while Charmian first tried walking and then made herself hover over toward it. Something has come up--? it asked. "Not just yet," Charmian said, settling on its prow. She glanced at the Red Swan. "Sorry to keep popping in and out but we need to use the Red Swan for a minute. I want to see if I can get through to Geezhigo-Quae with her." Oh! You mean like that strange wolf creature* did before. When Charmian tilted her head the Canoe added, She did some sort of ritual...some kind of dream sharing, I take it. I didn't get to see the results of it*, but I assume she found what she was looking for. "Dream sharing--?" Yes, of a sort; she touched her head to the Red Swan's and said some kind of chant... Charmian's eyes grew. "Oh! I know exactly what that is! Tal Natha did it with me once, the first time I was on the Island--I can't believe I forgot all about that--it was too much at first, but that was because it was a whole slew of dreams, I could easily handle just one. I'm not sure if I can do it on my own though since I'm not a Dreamspinner." She bit her lip. "I'll try it anyway." She climbed down into the Canoe and knelt before the Red Swan, looking at her for a moment before leaning forward so their foreheads touched. Her face grew hot being so close to her, staring right into her slitted eyes and feeling her breath coming soft, and she wondered what the other two were thinking, but tried to shove her discomfort away and concentrate. She dug through her memories of her first time on the Island--seeking out the injured Tal Natha in his own dream, in an attempt to draw him out of it--and tried to recall the words he'd used. She had no idea if they had to be exactly the same or not, and feared that if she got one wrong something could happen along the lines of what had happened with Little Wind's scroll; but the words she remembered didn't seem to fit the situation just right, so she did her best, keeping her fingers crossed just in case. "My dream to yours," she murmured, haltingly, still trying to remember how it went. "Your dream to mine. Um...your dream is my dream. My dream is your dream." She paused, thinking hard, then said, "I accept your dream. Do you accept mine?" For a brief moment, nothing happened, but she didn't break the connection. At least it isn't hurting like it did the last time, she thought, then a faint glimmering image entered her head--like a ribbon or a stream--and she took in a breath and latched onto it as quickly as she could. You've reached her? the Stone Canoe's voice asked. Her dream, at least, Charmian said. You're closer to her than anybody else except Geezhigo-Quae, I take it--I'm going to see what happens. Wish me luck. She let go, only instead of snapping back into the outer dream, or falling off into space somewhere, she felt herself being carried along, glancing at the dim, murky images that floated past. That's weird, she thought, unable to make most of them out that well. She let herself drift among them, looking further, seeing what must be memories in dream form; the ones that she herself had seen, such as floating along in the Stone Canoe, seemed real enough, but the others had a strangely flat quality that she couldn't explain at first. If she can't really remember any of that, then of course it must seem fake, she thought. And if she didn't even exist until Geezhigo-Quae cut her off, then that makes it all even more unreal. It's like looking at a landscape painting on a wall. Somebody tells you you've been there but you don't remember it, all you remember is the painting. Not your own memory of it but somebody else's memory. She shivered mentally. It must be awful, to not know half of your own life... She sensed something ahead and forced herself to slow down before she could run into it--she couldn't see anything, exactly, but there was some kind of barrier there, and it was huge. She stared at the empty space it occupied and mulled it over, drifting left, drifting right, biting her nonexistent lip. I guess this is where one ends and the other begins. She floated toward it slowly, lowering toward the "bottom"--even though technically, it had none--and feeling about. She thought of searching for the entryway to the Borderlands within Crack-in-the-Island her last time on the Island, how it had hidden itself from her until she'd burst out in anger; she still didn't properly understand that, but as she tentatively felt along the barrier, she kept both the Red Swan and Geezhigo-Quae in her thoughts. Tal Natha had suggested that the tunnel hadn't so much hidden itself as she just hadn't been able to sense it properly until she was in the right frame of mind. Perhaps this was the same...? She felt her nonexistent fingers slip into a crack and froze. There was no mistaking it--an opening in the barrier. Just a small one, but it didn't matter. She felt around a bit more and there were others, as if the edges of the barrier were crumbling apart, and she didn't know whether to consider this a good thing or a bad thing. Rather than think it over further, she let herself slip into the crevice. Blackness surrounded her; she had to fight just to keep moving, as it seemed to drag her back, and it got to be so difficult that she didn't think she was moving any longer at all. Red Swan? she called out, then, Geezhigo-Quae! It's me! You remember me, right? I just need to get through--I won't hurt either of you, I promise--you both know me, right--? Behind her, she briefly sensed a presence--the Red Swan--it was as if she held out her hand and brushed at Charmian's back as she slipped by. Then, ahead, another presence--Geezhigo-Quae--Charmian brushed at the Red Swan in return, not wanting her to think she was ignoring her, before grasping onto what she felt ahead and then passing through. She didn't know what she passed through, just that the dragging sensation ceased, and then suddenly she found herself kneeling and gasping for breath, the feeling of being free of the barrier was so strange. "Breathe," a voice said softly, "and relax. You went through a lot to get here; let yourself recover for a moment." She did as she was told, since the fog in her head made it impossible to do much else; after several moments she felt her mind clearing, and lifted her head a bit, blinking groggily. She locked onto Geezhigo-Quae's sapphire-blue eyes immediately and her muscles relaxed in relief; it took her another moment or two to see the state the manitou was in. She didn't get to ask about Geezhigo-Quae's mussed and dirty hair and clothes or the ashes all over her face; Geezhigo-Quae had taken her elbow and helped her to her feet, and led her to what seemed to be a tree stump protruding from the wall of wherever they were, settling her down on it. Charmian at last looked around. The room they were in seemed made of earth, tree roots poking through here and there; the stump she sat upon could be nothing other than a cut-off root itself. She furrowed her brow a little. It vaguely made her think of the cave the Red Swan was kept in. "Where are we?" she asked. "Beneath the Sky Tree," Geezhigo-Quae said; then, "A vision of it, at least. But I assume you know this." Charmian slowly rubbed her arms. "I'm in a vision...inside a dream, inside another dream, inside another vision." Her face went somewhat gray. "I'm getting dizzy!" "You came here the same way the Dreamer did," Geezhigo-Quae said, half as a statement, half as a question. Charmian looked at her again, frowning at her unkempt state. "Through her dream and through the wall?" "Yeah...Chakenapok told me you were looking for a vision, I hope you don't mind. I don't think I'd have gotten through otherwise. Why are we under the Sky Tree? Chak said you were looking for her too?" "Yes, though I'm afraid my luck seems to be much less than yours; for some reason I cannot reach her. I know she is there, nearby, but she's closed off to me." Well, that's because you're closing her off, Charmian almost said, but stopped herself from doing so. "So I'm guessing you don't know what she is yet," she said, instead. Silence. The two of them stared at each other for a moment, though Charmian couldn't hold it and had to avert her eyes, under the pretense of examining the walls again. "So I guess that you do know what she is," Geezhigo-Quae said at last; Charmian winced a little, though there was nothing accusatory in her voice. "The Dreamer already indicated that we are connected, last she was here," she went on, "but she said it was up to me to figure it out. She said that you yourself had once done the same. This led me to thinking what lessons I know you have learned in your times on the Island." "She only said that because it sticks with you more if you figure it out yourself," Charmian said, feeling guilty for some reason. Geezhigo-Quae shook her head. "I fully understand her reasoning, Mainlander...my only issue is my mind doesn't seem to be working the way it should be." Her stare drifted vaguely ceilingward. "I cannot be certain why this is...merely this threat looming over us, perhaps...but things aren't as clear to me as they usually are. This feels like something on the tip of my tongue, something just around a corner, but I cannot see what it is. It always steps just out of view. I have the feeling that if and when I do figure it out, I'll feel remarkably foolish that it took me so long." Charmian had to keep herself from squirming, the urge to just pour it all out was so overwhelming. "I know you can get it," she said. "It's so simple! The only thing is it's hard to face--but easy to figure out." She struggled to think of something to explain it without giving it away, then said, "My last time on the Island--I wanted to come back so much, but I couldn't, Tal Natha and Nathalit* explained it to me. I tried so hard every time I went to sleep to get back there but I never did. Then my grandmother died. And then I found the Island again. I couldn't get back there before--" "Because you were holding yourself back," Geezhigo-Quae filled in; Charmian cut herself off, surprised by the sureness of the answer, but she could tell the manitou hadn't even had to think about it. "This is the way the Island works," she said at Charmian's questioning look. "Those who stay do so as they have nothing left to tie them to the mainland. Those who are not allowed to remain are sent back as they have many ties. When your grandmother died, the strongest tie keeping you on the mainland was severed so you could return. It's the same when the Island shows you parts of itself that you never saw before--your own state of mind made you unable to see them until then." Charmian let out a breath. At first Geezhigo-Quae said nothing else, and she feared for a brief moment that the point had been lost; then the look on her face shifted just slightly, and she turned to stare at the wall that Charmian had emerged from. Charmian turned to look at it as well. There was nothing there but dirt and roots; she had to remind herself that even this wasn't real, merely a vision within a dream within a dream within a vision, and shivered again. "This wall," Geezhigo-Quae murmured; Charmian surreptitiously peered at her. "I am the one who put it here." Charmian said nothing, though she itched like anything to, and even twisted the edge of her shirt around her fingers, her toes wiggling. When the sky manitou at last turned back to her and saw the look on her face, her own look softened somewhat, and faint amusement even seemed to enter her eyes. "I believe I see," she said. Charmian let out her breath in a gush. "When Chakenapok kept showing me Ocryana," she blurted out, "I didn't want to think I was anything like that--there was no way!--but even Nathalit* said it was so, and she was right. I was the same way with Red Bird, different reason, but the same thing. Nathalit said that the more I deny it the weaker I am. Same thing with Chakenapok and Manabozho and the others. It all sounds crazy weird, but--" "No," Geezhigo-Quae said, "it sounds perfectly reasonable...and just like I thought, I feel foolish for not having seen it much sooner." They both looked at the wall now, and Charmian took in a breath; it seemed to have gone transparent, as she found herself staring at the Red Swan, seated within her cave, her head drooping as if she were in another room merely steps away. "She very well could be," Geezhigo-Quae murmured, as if reading her thoughts. "How long has she been there?" Charmian murmured. "Do you have any idea?" Geezhigo-Quae didn't answer her for a while. "After he first came for me," she said at last. "I saw it among her memories...her memories which aren't even hers. I was very young. I lived up above the sky, with the other elder manitous...long ago...that was when I first met him. I liked to run off by myself sometimes, just to feel the wind and the grass and the sunshine...he grabbed me once, when I was alone, but I broke free of him and ran back to the others. I believe I injured him when I did that, not badly, but enough. I remember feeling something surge up in me...I'd forgotten about that until now. But when it had gone, he was bleeding, and surprised, and I ran away from him. I know I went back to the others, but after that, my memory is hazy. I just recall that I sought my vision soon after that, so I spent quite a while alone. Afterwards, life went on. That was all." "Do you remember what your vision was?" Charmian asked; when she got a look she hurried to add, "I know you guys don't usually tell them to anyone, I was just wondering." "That too is hazy to me, I admit. I know that I received one, yes, but I was quite stringent about the whole thing--I fasted for over a week, I recall, and I turned down the first vision or two that came to me, waiting for a bigger one--so by the time it was over, I had very little left to think with. I was 'out of it,' as your people would say, for a little while." Charmian was silent for a moment. "Can you do two things at once?" she asked; Geezhigo-Quae tilted her head. "During a vision, I mean. I'm wondering. You don't remember it all that well...maybe something else was going on too? Or can you not do anything at all during a vision? Sorry for such stupid questions." "They're not stupid. I suppose one can do something during a vision if their strength is great enough; you yourself are having a waking vision, are you not? I realize it's different, but not all that much. Stranger things have happened. Why do you ask this? What do you believe happened?" "The Red Swan's life seemed to start right around that point, didn't it?" Charmian said. "After Megissogwun came after you the first time. That was around when you got your vision. You said yourself you were upset and don't remember much; I'm thinking maybe, well...during your vision is a good time to do something like this." She looked at the Red Swan. Geezhigo-Quae followed suit, frowning. "I cast her off then?" she murmured...then the image of the Red Swan faded and the earthen wall before them seemed to swirl and ripple with faint colors and lights. Charmian opened her mouth to speak, then stopped herself; another figure faded into view, and for a moment she thought it was again the Red Swan, until she saw that the clothing it wore was different--white with patterns of clouds and birds. Aside from that, this figure looked about the same. She too was sitting cross-legged* with her head drooped forward and her eyes shut, but when Charmian looked closer she could see that she seemed to be seated in a nest of branches high up in a tree, her face blackened with ashes, her wings hanging limp. It was strange...she was both like and not like the Red Swan, both like and not like Geezhigo-Quae. Charmian couldn't quite understand it. In the image, the girl perched in the tree seemed to shiver suddenly, then bent forward with a flinch and a gasp, one hand clasping at her chest. Charmian saw a glow emerge around her fingers and could then see her spirit stone flaring brilliant blue; in the midst of it, something appeared that she couldn't have described even if she wanted to. It was like a glow, but it was dark--not just dark but the total absence of light--yet it seemed so glaring it hurt her eyes. It seemed almost to burn through the girl's hand, and then it was away from her, apart, hovering in the air. The girl relaxed again, sinking back into her tree perch and letting out a breath, a pained and weary look on her face; the glowing darkness remained in the air for a few seconds, then began slowly to move away from her. Charmian watched it float through space, picking up speed until it was soaring, the image of the girl and the tree nest gone now; the strange glow was a streak of void in a dark sky, black against black, and then it was plummeting down, down, down, plunging into water and into earth and into rock. It seemed to go on forever before at last slowing to a stop, embedded deep under the ground; although she couldn't directly see it, Charmian could sense the earth around it shifting and changing shape, rock grinding against itself, folding up, shattering and breaking loose, grinding down again beneath immense weight, dispersing in water, solidifying and then gouging its way upward and being ground down again; she could feel the shape and layout of the land changing as an island formed around where the darkness had embedded itself, water flooding in around it over and over. After another eternity this slowed down to a stop as well, and nothing was left to see but the bit of substance that was neither a glow nor a non-glow, buried within the rock. Time seemed to shift again, just slightly, and now they were once more staring at the Red Swan, sitting in her cave under Mishosha's island, her head drooping forward and her wings hanging limp. The vision had felt like it had taken countless millennia to witness, though Charmian could tell it couldn't have been more than a split second. She let out a breath, as she realized she'd been holding it. "That is when she was born," Geezhigo-Quae murmured, staring at the image. The two of them were silent for several moments. "She said Megissogwun trapped her there," Charmian said at last, "even though we've heard he didn't even know about her. Both are true. He's the reason she was trapped, even if he didn't do it himself." "The reason?" Geezhigo-Quae looked down at her and frowned a little. "You believe I cast her off because of him?" "Well, yeah, I guess...you said you felt something surge up when he came after you. The Thunderbirds and Cutfoot* told me how powerful she is. I got the feeling you weren't sure you could control the feelings you had after that happened. I mean, look at her." They did so. "I think she scares even Chakenapok." "Foolish," Geezhigo-Quae said; Charmian peered at her, wondering what stupid thing she'd just said, but the sky manitou merely shook her head and sighed. "I cannot believe how foolish I was back then. Running off by myself...taking on a being like that...then doing this. There is a reason why they discourage young people like yourself from practicing medicine, Mainlander, and this is it...without age and experience to go with power one can do horrendous things. I might have been old enough to seek my vision but that apparently means little." Her brow furrowed slightly and a troubled look entered her eyes. "How do I get her back, then...?" "Before you do that," Charmian cut in hastily, earning a look, "I was wondering. The reason I came here. Since she's so powerful even you didn't think you could control her, I thought maybe that means she stands a chance against Megissogwun! You did fend him off back then with the power you gave to her, right?" "I had thought the young girl you have with you was to try this," Geezhigo-Quae said. "Winter Born. You mean this plan failed?" Charmian must have gotten a look on her face though she tried not to. "I take it it did," the manitou sighed. "There was a hitch we didn't see coming. She can use her power, but mainly only on beings from the Island. Megissogwun isn't from there...but I thought maybe the Red Swan could do it. Chakenapok* told me. She already got rid of him when he tried to get to her." Geezhigo-Quae's wings flared and Charmian realized she hadn't been aware of this bit of information.* "He did?" she exclaimed, and Charmian jerked back a little. "Then this means he was attempting to either kill her, or get through to me," she added, and Charmian couldn't quite describe the look in her eyes. "You believe she stands a chance," she said, and Charmian nodded. "What then would you have me do?" "I need to talk to her properly, which is kind of hard seeing as she's starting to wake up." She pointed at the wall in response to the manitou woman's questioning look. "She thinks best when she's asleep, since she's always been that way, well, except for when she first fought off Megissogwun before you cut her off. All this crap with him and you seems to be waking her up. If she does, then I can't talk with Chakenapok or you anymore, and I can't talk with her either. I know she can sense me since she let me through here, but Mishosha said that if I want to get in her head I get in yours first. Um...not to be rude or anything," she added, blushing. "But it's important that I talk to her. Do you have any idea how?" "Well...seeing as she is me..." Geezhigo-Quae trailed off and Charmian could sense her incredulity at having to say such a thing. "I suppose then I am the one to speak to her," she said, and placed her hand against the wall, though she seemed to have no idea what to do then. "Maybe just--" Charmian shrugged helplessly when Geezhigo-Quae looked at her again. "I don't know, talk to her like you're talking to yourself? She's you after all, you know yourself best, right?" Geezhigo-Quae gave her a very odd look at that, but turned back to the wall and was silent for a short while. "I feel sorry for her," she said at last. "Seeing as I am the one who imprisoned her." Another long pause, then she called out softly, "Little Red Swan...can you hear me? I'm right here, in front of you. Do you remember me?" They both stood and waited, Charmian slowly moving closer to the wall to look for any signs of change. When the Red Swan at last stirred a little, she took in a breath and held it, wondering what would happen; her eyes fluttered slightly and she was worried that she would awaken, then reminded herself that this was still a convoluted vision-dream and speaking to her was the reason why she'd come here. The Red Swan lifted her head a bit and murmured sleepily, "I remember you...?" "Yes," Geezhigo-Quae replied, leaning toward the wall between them; Charmian could still see faint ripples and bumps in the earth, but aside from that it was clear, as if nothing stood between them, or as if she had x-ray vision. "Who I am and the reason why you are here...can you speak with me? Are you able to?" "The reason..." The Red Swan lifted her head a bit more so she at last faced them, and her eyes dragged half open. She stared at them drowsily for a moment, not quite seeming to realize where she was or what was going on, then Charmian saw--as well as felt--a sort of mental spark, like a sudden charge in the air that made her skin prickle. The Red Swan's ears and wings flicked and something flashed far back in her eyes--they didn't open any further, and she made no move aside from that, but that was enough. Charmian grabbed Geezhigo-Quae's wrist and pulled her hand away from the wall without thinking. The manitou woman jerked and glanced down at her, eyes going wide--Charmian knew she'd just committed a horrible breach of etiquette but didn't care, instead pulling on her arm as she hurried back from the wall. "Charmian--?" Geezhigo-Quae exclaimed, stumbling after her. "What is it--?" "Just get back--!" Charmian started to say--she had no idea what she expected to happen, herself--when the invisible wall exploded, hunks of very real-seeming earth materializing and smacking against the opposite wall and bouncing off their arms when they shielded themselves. They lowered them to peer at the blasted opening--dust swirled through the air, little bits of root pattering to the ground, as a shape appeared in the haze, the Red Swan flaring her wings as she stepped over the crumbled barrier and into the earthen room with them. "The reason why I am here," she said in a neutral voice, her eyes still half slitted, and Charmian then realized Geezhigo-Quae's mistake. She didn't get to say anything before the Red Swan lifted her hand and with a startled cry the sky manitou was hurled across the room and slammed against the wall. |