|
Escape From Manitou Island: Part 205 |
|
(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.)
AWAKENING DAYTIME HAD ARRIVED on the Island, not that one could tell this down in Devil's Lake, where the mitchi manitous stalked around in the dank tunnels and only crystals and primitive torches lit anything. Shadow Water also couldn't tell this, and wouldn't have cared anyway, as she was sound asleep, curled up under Ocryx's wing, her head nestled in the fur of his breast. She was dreaming something odd, about water, but the dream was a vague one and not strong enough to make her too uneasy. It had just started fading away, being replaced by another dream, when she felt something shove her from behind and with a gasp she put out her hands to catch herself, landing half against the floor of the cave. She blinked in surprise, glancing around in confusion--was she still dreaming?--before a cracking noise above her made her gasp again and jerk back, almost falling over. Ocryx was standing now, his tail whipping about, and he snapped his wings again, making the same sharp noise as before. His hackles were bristling and his teeth bared, his eyes flaring red and green as he looked about the cave. He lifted his hands, claws crooked, and Shadow Water crept back toward the wall and away from him, though she knew that whatever this was it didn't have anything to do with her. She wanted to ask him what was going on, but kept silent, eyes wide, waiting for him to speak instead. After a moment of glancing around and sniffing at the air, the demon's stare shifted northward. Shadow Water looked as well, though there was nothing to see but cave wall. Ocryx's hackles bristled even more, muzzle wrinkling. His eyes looked like two coals set in his face. When he at last spoke, his voice sounded like steam hissing from cracking rocks. "She is awake!" Shadow Water didn't have to ask who he meant. Her heart crammed up into her throat, nearly choking her, and she scurried back across the cave toward their pile of furs. She grasped onto his leg and pressed close, both of them staring at the north wall of the cave as if they could see her themselves. In the small cave system close to the East Bluff, two sleeping shapes--one large, one small--suddenly awoke at once, heads popping up and red-and-green eyes blinking at the darkness. A second later, both were growling and prickling, Khiieta picking up Tiiku by the scruff and hastening to carry him off into a part of the caves further south. Among the clouds hovering ever present over the top of the Island, Ishkode-Aanakwad, half cloud and half bird and also half asleep, was awakened when something below flickered into his line of sight, moving rapidly; he watched in silent puzzlement as the demon from the nearby cave appeared, zooming up into the air, his wings beating so fast they blurred, then sped north, then west, then back, turning in an awkward circle, seeming to be looking for something in a great panic. The small red-haired half-human who lived with him emerged next, standing on the ledge before the cave and waving her arms as if to draw his attention; he at last returned to the cave, but wouldn't stop pacing, his fur prickling and his wings flaring. "What is it? What did you just see?" Ishkode heard her ask. She had to keep turning just to keep the demon in her sight. "Was it the dream again? With the water--?"* The demon jerked his head abruptly, a shake. His tail whipped from side to side and she hopped to avoid getting knocked from the bluff; Ishkode frowned but said nothing. Tal Natha halted and sniffed the air, nose skyward, then started pacing again, his eyes darting from side to side, though he looked northwest most frequently. "No," he said aloud, his voice grating; the woman jumped a little again, seeming surprised to hear him speak. "Not the dream. Her." He halted again, staring at something neither of them could see, and it was good that Animiki had excellent hearing as his voice dropped to a raspy whisper. "She's awake again." Is this really what I want to do...? Charmian sucked in a breath. The tiny doubting voice in the back of her head spoke just a fraction of a second too late, as Ocryana's eyes fluttered and then dragged themselves open. She and Winter Born froze, neither daring to breathe; Charmian could have sworn that even her heart stopped in her chest. For a moment, nothing else happened; Ocryana's eyes stayed open a mere sliver as if she were still groggy, and she slowly blinked a few times, her nostrils flaring and one ear giving a lazy flick. Charmian's brow started to furrow when that was all; had Chakenapok even awakened her properly?--was something more needed after all that time spent sleeping down here--? She couldn't even remember moving, it happened so suddenly--she realized everything only in retrospect, the glowing bands flaring as if catching on fire, a horrible grating shrieking snarl exploding throughout the small cave--Charmian found herself pressed against the far wall, her arms crushed around Winter Born and Ocryana's face mere inches from hers. Winter Born squirmed and let out little whimpering sounds, burrowing close; for a split second Charmian and the demon stared each other in the eyes, Charmian's heart practically in her throat, then Ocryana's muzzle split in a hideous grin, showing all of her jagged teeth, her eyes glowing and all the bands thrumming as she strained against them. She started making a strange huffing sound which Charmian couldn't understand at first, until she realized that the demon must be on the verge of laughing. "You...think...to come here...and face me yourself?" she rasped, and Charmian felt the blood drain from her face, hearing her speak at last. "A fool like you? A little girl...like you?" Her lips curled back and she twisted at an odd angle in the tangled nest of glowing cords. "If you had any idea...how long I've been sitting here...how long I've been thinking...how long I've been waiting..." Her eyes glowed so brightly they looked like two coals now, and slaver started dripping from her jaws, her chest hitching, an utterly maniacal look on her face. "You would never have dared show your face here again...little girl..." I guess she still remembers me, the little voice in Charmian's head said. Winter Born squeezed her arm hard enough to hurt. "Say something!" she hissed. When all that Charmian could do was just stare at the demon mutely, she started tugging on her wrist, jiggling her arm up and down, brow furrowing. "Charmian! You have to talk to her!" "Talk?" Ocryana started twisting herself in the opposite direction, the glowing bands groaning and whining but keeping their hold. It looked like she would end up just entangling herself even further--the cord around her neck even looked to be tightening, as if to strangle her--but she didn't appear to be bothered by this at all. Her tail hissed across the floor. "When I get free of these...you won't have anything left...with which to talk." She dragged one arm up and her claws glinted, a raspy laugh escaping her throat. "Mainlander," Chakenapok said from off to Charmian's side, "if you want to say something, you'd better do it now." Charmian took a shaky breath but couldn't move or speak. I'm...nothing's working!! Why can't I do anything--? "She can't," Ocryana grated, "because she's too afraid to...isn't that right...little girl?" Her teeth glittered with saliva when she grinned. "Who thought you were so stupid as to come back here willingly...but now that you have...why don't we make the most of it?" She tried pushing herself up and managed to rise almost to her full height, which was just slightly shorter than Ocryx, and he was huge--and gave a shrieky laugh that made Winter Born grimace and cover her ear with one hand while she shook Charmian with the other. "Charmian! You have to say something!!" "I see even now things haven't changed...dragging in others to do her dirty work, since she's too much of a little girl to manage on her own..." "That isn't true!" Winter Born snapped, and shook her harder, whispering as if Ocryana couldn't hear her. "Charmian! I know you can speak up, this was your idea, you know what you're doing!" She craned her neck to look at Chakenapok. "Can't you snap her out of it--?" "If she isn't ready to face her, there's little I can do," Chakenapok replied. "I'd thought this would be a problem but she insisted." "Familiar..." Ocryana twisted the other way again so she peered at Chakenapok upside-down. "I thought I recognized someone else...you've been around quite a while, listening in, yourself...bad little baby boy with his head caved in..." When Chakenapok looked at her at last, frowning, she started huffing again as if in great amusement. "You were powerful once...I see she sucked the strength right out of you...just like with that wolf-wretch who gave me this form...just like with that stupid Wendigo...just like with everything and everyone she comes in contact with...isn't it interesting?" Twisting back to look at Winter Born, still upside-down; her appearance would have been rather comical if not for who she was, and Charmian felt her heart struggling to leap out of her chest. "Watch out or she'll do the same to you, little child...take away your powers and lock you up...tainting and weakening everything she touches, just like the Island, everywhere she goes..." "That's not true!" Winter Born's voice exclaimed--Charmian couldn't even see her or Chakenapok or the cave anymore, just Ocryana, twisting about in her glowing web and snarling with laughter. "If it isn't then why will she not deny it? I know exactly how it is up there...even if not the who or the what, I know how it is...the Island is weak...isn't it? Because you thought you were doing something so good, without realizing just how bad you really are...that's what happens when you lock things away...I've learned a few things being stuck down here and this is the least of them...I know you know the Island's this way...all because you made it that way." She let out another shriek of laughter, surging against the cords even when they cut into her arms and legs. "Isn't it funny? How it always goes? Ruining everything you touch! Things never change! Not even in all my time down here! You're still the same little girl you were before." She wrenched herself downward so she and Charmian were eye to eye again, and sneered. "She says it was your idea to return here--? Maybe your mind grows weak too. Maybe you need to be reminded exactly what I can do to you once I'm free of these. I doubt you'll be as lucky as you were before. Back then you were too stupid to realize what danger you were in, how pathetic your chances were, and you just happened to luck out, but now that you do know...what's wrong, wolf got your tongue?" Her shoulders shook and she fanned her wings as much as she could, eyes narrowing. "You do need reminding? How easily I sucked the spirit right out of that miserable Wendigo*...how easily I tricked that wretched mitchi manitou and his pathetic master...how easily I took the life of that worthless medicine man of yours...how easily I could do any of this again..." Charmian drew in a shaky breath. At the mention of Moon Wolf, everything around her seemed to crystalize*--sight, sound, sensation--she saw without looking the surprise on Winter Born's face and the neutral expression on Chakenapok's, even while Ocryana continued sneering and wriggling in her web. A vision of Ocryana's horn jamming through Moon Wolf's silver wolf-and-moon gorget flashed through her head--then everything that had occurred since that moment--and, oddly, although she was still terrified, she felt the paralysis that had fallen over her lift away. Her fingers curled around Winter Born's; the girl looked down at them, then back up, eyes wide, and on her other side even Chakenapok seemed to notice a change. "Maybe if you shut up for a minute I'll tell you why I'm down here," Charmian said in a surprisingly steady voice. Winter Born sucked in a breath of her own, biting her lip and peering at the demon. The comment didn't faze Ocryana in the least; she just wheezed even more, teeth flashing, and twisted about in the web. "You've still got the same impudent little mouth as before, too. What did I say about things never changing? You honestly have a reason for being here besides blind stupidity? I'm surprised. You never seemed like the sort to think things through." "I hardly have time to come here just for the fun of it," Charmian said, scowling. "No matter how stupid you might think I am. As it turns out I had an offer for you." The words were no sooner out of her mouth than Ocryana was shrieking with laughter which bounced off the cave walls and made the glowing cords thrum. "Offer?" she bellowed, making Charmian and Winter Born flinch. "You come to ME--with an OFFER? Like groveling before the mighty Ocryx with some diminutive little trinket and asking for a favor? ME?" She half-spun, half-twisted herself until she hung upside-down and her tail whipped through the air, only partly impeded by the cords. "You want MY help--MY assistance--only after locking me down here for Gitchi knows how long? As if it matters? Even if I were never locked up--even if you'd never humiliated me--granting you a favor would be the LEAST of the things I'd never do. Letting you live would be higher on my list!" "Maybe if you'd shut up and listen for a minute!" Charmian snapped. "Listen to you?" Ocryana started drawing one arm closer to her chest, her muzzle wrinkling; the blue cord binding her wrist suddenly snapped, droplets of water vanishing into the air, and Charmian tensed while Winter Born gasped and ducked behind her. The demon flexed her fingers. "You have nothing to say I could possibly want to hear. Except perhaps your screaming when you die. I've been looking forward to hearing that for ages." More twisting and turning; no more of the cords broke, but they cut into her enough to draw blood, and Charmian could tell that no amount of pain would deter her once her mind was set on it. "Since you're so set on it already," Charmian said hastily--knowing she might not get the chance to explain if she waited much longer, "I thought I'd tell you that getting you out of here was actually what I had in mind. Without you having to cut yourself to pieces pulling yourself loose." "Trust me, these pathetic things will hardly cut me to anything," Ocryana said, winding herself about. "Yeah, but how long will it take you to get yourself loose? A few hours? A few weeks or months? I could have you out of there in an instant, if I wanted." "Which I'm betting you don't really want, else you'd have never done this in the first place. Keep on talking, little girl." She walked her clawed feet along one of the cords as she turned in a circle. "Now that I'm awake I can wait forever to break out of here and tear your throat out. One tends to learn patience when they have forever in which to learn it." "How about afterwards?" Charmian challenged, trying to hide the desperation from her voice; a yellow band restraining one of Ocryana's wings looked ready to snap loose. "You just know you'll end up trapped again. When it comes to you, I have everybody on my side. It's nothing for me to do this again. You know it. How about if you didn't have that to look forward to? If instead of being locked up again after all this trouble, you're free to go wherever you want? Think about it. How about that, is that worth listening to?" Ocryana's pacing slowed to a stop and she hung almost sideways, one wing drooping. Charmian held her breath. She had the demon's attention--that had to count for something. Ocryana's muzzle wrinkled again, just a little. "You...let me free?" The wrinkle turned into a sneer and she let out an amused noise. "I know you far better than that, little girl. What was it the two of you--" her tail flicked toward Chakenapok "--were always bantering back and forth with? 'Bluff'? I call your bluff. There's no way you can believe I'm that stupid." "Stupid, maybe not, but desperate, yes." Charmian took another breath to steady herself. "Here's my offer. Maybe try to keep your trap shut for a minute to hear me out. We have a little issue to deal with..." "Meaning someone else is interested in annihilating that Island of yours," Ocryana sneered, starting to walk her feet along the cord again. "I said shut up, okay? Is that so impossible for you to do?" Winter Born and Chakenapok both looked at her, then at Ocryana, then shared a look of their own that Charmian did not like in the least; she ground her teeth and pressed on. "I kind of got the feeling you'd be able to deal with this issue, since, as much as I hate to admit it, you're pretty strong." "And Odawa-Gami is pretty big and wet," Ocryana said. "So far I'm not hearing anything I care for--except for this admission, however understated it may be. What was it that tipped you off? Was it when I nearly bit off your arm so long ago?"* She turned herself upside-down and her tongue lolled out over her teeth. "I still remember all the tears in your eyes...I wonder when I'll get the chance to see that again..." "Well, I know how much you like beating other people to pulps. Whether they deserve it or not." Charmian fought to hold down her anger and frustration. "I just thought maybe you'd enjoy doing that again. Even if it has the downside of helping us out. You know very well that if he wins and destroys the Island, then you--" "Die along with it. You think that bothers me?" Her eyes narrowed to red-and-green slits and she grinned. "Try and remember, though it hurts your little head, what I was going to do the last time we met." Charmian cringed mentally, the statement was so obvious. "Well...now that you get a second chance, to live or not, you'd mess that up again? You hate being trapped but you don't mind dying?" When the demon opened her mouth she continued talking, not willing to start another argument. "The part of the deal you might like. I already said I have no plans of locking you up again if you help us with this. That means no more hanging out down here, awake or asleep, for the rest of your life. I see that concept doesn't appeal to you, being stuck down here forever, what with how snarky you're being. Take a look, you're practically climbing the walls." She allowed Ocryana to slow to a stop, though the look the demon gave her wasn't a pleasant one. "That's all you have to do. Beat the pulp out of this one guy, and you're free for good." Ocryana snorted. "Everyone knows every deal has a catch, little girl, and I'm smelling a very big one." "Well, of course you'd have to promise that you won't try any of your old crap in the future--you know--killing innocent bystanders or trying to destroy the Island again. But that much is pretty obvious." Another amused sound. "Manitous must keep their promises, little girl, but you know very well I stopped being a true manitou ages ago. I don't have to be held to your petty little morals. What makes you think you can trust a word I say? It would be stupid for me not to go back on my promise." Well, at least she's admitting it, Charmian thought, realizing the demon didn't even have to tell her that much, and vaguely wondering why she had. "What makes you think I just trust you to mean it? I have ways to make sure you behave yourself." "Ways such as?" Charmian blinked. Ocryana's stare shifted toward Winter Born, who was still half-hiding behind her, and Charmian realized that she must have let her thoughts go open just enough for the demon to read them. Ocryana's eyes glittered and then she started laughing again, not shrieking and hysterical as she usually did, but a regular laugh, amused and scornful; it was the normality of it that struck and infuriated Charmian the most. "That little thing," Ocryana managed to say in between laughs. "You plan to keep me in check with that little thing? Why have you wasted my time here today? And ended your own life? I would be irritated beyond end if I wouldn't be free and rid of you soon enough, this was so trivial." She turned another ninety degrees to hang by her other side, and flicked her tail at Chakenapok again. "You let her in here? You should have torn her spirit out. At least that would have been amusing and useful." Charmian reached for Winter Born's arm, to pull her forward, but Winter Born had stepped around her already without any prompting. "You think I can't do it?" she challenged, earning a surprised look from Charmian. "I can! I've done it before!" The glow sparked to life around her and billowed outward, making Charmian take a step back. She glanced at Chakenapok and wasn't sure if he could see it, but knew that he at least sensed it, for he was staring at Winter Born with a strange look in his eyes. Ocryana stared at her as well, her own eyes narrowing to slivers, and one ear flicked. "Another one...?" she murmured thoughtfully, slowly turning herself upside-down and halting. "No...not his child...but related. So you're part Ocryx, are you?" A sneer. "What makes you think this is anything special? There must be dozens just like you by now, knowing that wretch and his ways. Don't consider yourself anything special. Maybe someday Grandfather will pay you a friendly visit." She cackled. Winter Born blushed horribly and Charmian felt herself do the same, Moon Wolf's earlier words--He came to see Winter Born not that long ago. But he tried nothing with her. Silver Eagle Feather asked that he not...but the demon follows his own whims--flashing through her head. She got ready to retort when the glow around Winter Born expanded and pressed against the cords, making them thrum and vibrate. The sound wasn't that loud, but for some reason after a second or two Charmian could barely stand it, and she had to cover her ears, grimacing at the pressure that filled her head. Chakenapok didn't seem to be affected, but the effect on Ocryana was immediate. She'd been starting her slow walk along the cords again, but now she stopped, her toes extending, and her fur bristled. Charmian blinked in surprise to see the feathers on her wings do the same, sticking out in an odd manner that made her look as if she were molting*; she sucked in a sharp breath and then let out a pained-sounding noise before her voice was cut off and every part of her stiffened as if electrocuted. Charmian noticed how the bands seemed to glow brighter...no, that wasn't exactly it. It was like there was a glow around the glow, and the outer glow appeared to emanate from that coming from Winter Born. "She can strengthen the elemental bonds with her own medicine," Chakenapok said aloud. "Interesting." "You mean you didn't know she could do that?" He lifted a shoulder. "I hadn't directly contemplated it, but it makes sense, seeing as she seems to have every one of them within her. It explains how she has such power over such varied manitous." "Hear that?" Charmian said, turning back to Ocryana; the demon was baring her teeth and hissing but other than that seemed unable to move. "You won't have to worry about her not having the right power over water or wind or whatever, since none of it's an issue for her. Take a look, she even has power over ether--or spirit--or dream!" She gestured at the binding cords whose colors shifted continuously. "You see, it turns out that quarter-Ocryx kids seem to have a lot more power than even half-Ocryx kids--and it looks like she has power over you, too." "Just because she can make these things sting," Ocryana rasped, "doesn't mean she can do a thing to me." The glow wavered--just slightly. "I've done it before," Winter Born said, the faintest quiver in her voice. "You should've seen what I did to a manitou who came from the Island, and to a bunch of others Kabebonikka called himself! They might be nothing compared to you but do you really want to find out?" More glow billowed out from her, strengthening the cords and now even spreading around Ocryana herself. The demon hunched in on herself as much as she could, a horrible snarl on her face, the buzz from the cords making Charmian screw her fingers into her ears even harder although it didn't seem to do any good. It felt like her head would fall apart and her skin would slough off; then she felt a touch on her arm and the sensation abated enough for her to think clearly again. She let out a breath and opened her eyes blearily. Chakenapok kept his hand on her arm. "It looks as if she has the ability to help keep her contained," he said under his breath, "but power over the demon herself might be another matter. The whole thing looks impressive, but I take it she's learned how to bluff from you." Charmian blushed. "Well--she needed to learn it! When you're dealing with people like Ocryana, you kind of have to know how to be devious. I think it looks like she knows what she's doing. She's got Ocryana rattled, at least." She took a step forward, being careful to keep Chakenapok in touch. "This is nothing compared to what she's already done," she said, more loudly. "Trust me, I've seen it. I'm betting she could destroy the Island just as easily as you could, if she wanted. Fortunately, that isn't what she wants." At a gesture, Winter Born relented somewhat so the vibrating of the cords lessened and Ocryana relaxed, just slightly, though the ugly look remained on her face; Charmian could tell that if she hadn't been imprisoned, Winter Born would likely be headless by now. "So here's the deal," Charmian said. "I set you loose, you come and help us get rid of this guy. Then you go free. On the condition that, if you ever even think of doing something I don't like, Winter Born here will lay on more of this, and you'll end up right back where you are now. You won't even have the chance to make a move to get rid of the Island and yourself. I know you'd prefer suicide a whole lot more than being trapped again, but that won't even be an option this time. Trust me, she can do it." The glow billowed again and Ocryana hissed and tried to curl up. "So what's it going to be? Speak up now so I can really tell if this was a waste of time or not." Ocryana managed to force one eye open a sliver. "There's...one tiny hitch...in your lovely plan," she wheezed. Charmian frowned, then scowled. "Whatever! You're the one who called bluff earlier, now it's my turn. You don't have anything over us as it now is." "Maybe not...but what else was it I said? That you don't think things through? There's one big thing you didn't think through..." She slowly stretched herself out again, straining against the thrumming cords, grimacing all the while but somehow holding up. "What a pity you came all this way and went through all this trouble, and woke me up, and for nothing, because you didn't use your head." Charmian clenched her fists, and, seeing this, Winter Born did the same, the glow brightening and making the demon flinch. "Stop blathering and get to the point! Like I said I don't have time for this crap!" "You plan to use this thing as a leash on me...?" Ocryana just barely managed to move her head a fraction to nod at Winter Born. "When you forget I have one already. Just like the wolf-wretch. Just like that miserable whelp we call a son." Charmian felt her heart tumbling into her feet before the words were even out of Ocryana's mouth. "The Island is our leash...and if you think to take me far away from there, then you have another thing coming." |