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Escape From Manitou Island: Part 209 |
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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.)
SELECT COMPANY CHARMIAN RUBBED HER arms on seeing the Sky Tree, rising into the sky more like a pillar of lead than some living thing. She had to keep reminding herself of the reason for its appearance so she wouldn't lose heart; just the look of it depressed her, otherwise. She peered back over her shoulder. Winter Born trudged through the grass after her, humming to herself; some distance behind her stalked the large dark shape of Ocryana, the demon's head low, her tail sliding from side to side like a snake getting ready to strike. Charmian couldn't read the look on her face, and decided not to say anything. As long as she wasn't biting anyone's face off or trying to destroy the Fairy Realm, then that was good enough for now. Winter Born rubbed her arms as well and looked at Charmian. "The Tree sure looks different...I hope it's not going to lose all its leaves or something." Charmian blinked and looked back at it. She'd never even considered such a thing possible, but now that she thought about it, she had no idea if the Tree worked that way or not. "What is this hideous place?" Ocryana spoke aloud at last. Charmian looked at her again, trying to tell if she really wanted an answer. The demon was casting venomous looks left and right as she walked, and even wrinkled her muzzle now and then as if something smelled bad. "The Fairy Realm," Charmian answered. "Where the Michinimakinong live. This is how we get back where we're going." "Michinimakinong? You mean to tell me those wretches are still around?" Ocryana snorted. "I thought your sort did them all in ages ago." Charmian's fingers curled into fists and she felt her teeth clench. Winter Born put her hands up to her mouth as if to whistle, making a gesture telling her not to bother responding. Charmian had to take a breath and let it out, fuming silently instead and turning away. "Yeah, well, no, my sort didn't. They're still around. We'll use that Tree to get there." She heard Winter Born let out a little gasp and whirled around again, but Ocryana was gone. Charmian gaped as the demon flapped by overhead, soaring toward the Tree herself; after a brief moment of disbelief, she and Winter Born went running after her, though they stood no chance of catching up before she reached the Sky Tree. Winter Born clenched her fists as she ran. "I can stop her!" "No!" Charmian grabbed her arm somewhat roughly, as they were both still running, and the glow that had started to rise around Winter Born flickered out when she gasped and stumbled. Charmian shook her head vehemently and hissed under her breath, "All that'll do is piss her off even more. I need your power--but I need you not to attack her unless absolutely necessary! Besides, if you hit her too hard, she might not be able to take on Megissogwun!" "Oh," Winter Born said, blushing. "Then--what do we do?" They both looked up at the Tree. "Follow, I guess," Charmian sighed, and they resumed trotting toward it. Ocryana had almost reached it by now even though it was still a good distance away for the others. Before she could fly into its branches, however, she whirled about in midair, and an instant later Charmian and Winter Born gasped and ducked when strange whistling noises filled the air and something started thunking against the ground like hail. Charmian blanched to see that the objects striking around them were arrows; she grabbed Winter Born's arm again and the two of them went scurrying out of range. Ocryana landed with a heavy thud some distance away and a spear impaled itself just inches from her foot; she wrinkled her muzzle and kicked at it so it snapped in two, scattering feathers. Feathers--? Charmian finally thought to look up into the Tree's branches and now saw the great number of Michinimakinong crouching among the leaves, bows and spears poised. Of course! Cheengwun's crystal--he probably saw Ocryana coming and warned them. They're just protecting Geezhigo-Quae and the Tree--I can't blame them for having no idea THIS is what I planned to bring back with me... Ocryana reared up and snarled, flaring her wings; the Michinimakinong just raised their weapons higher and someone called out some sort of command. Charmian shot to her feet and jumped in between, hands up and out to face both of them; "Stop it!" she shouted at Ocryana, but the demon vaulted* up into the air anyway, bellowing and raising her hands as if to throw some kind of attack. Charmian hissed furiously through her teeth and jerked a hand at Winter Born, who was simply standing and watching with wide eyes. "Now stop her!" she ordered; the little girl blinked but promptly obeyed, taking a sharp breath as the glow around her billowed and then retracted* into a thin bright outline. Charmian felt a charge in the air--then Ocryana halted in place again, defying gravity, her breath coming out in a startled wheeze. Charmian could see the medicine glowing around her and, surprisingly enough, forming a sort of web much like the one she'd just come out of; this was apparently what suspended her in midair. She managed to twist her head about enough to look down at them, her teary eyes displaying a mixture of fear and hate. "I already said," Charmian called out. "Behave yourself, or you get more of this. Come down, and let me talk to them. Hurt even one of them, and the deal is off and you go back underground for who knows how long, I doubt anybody else will want to dig you up again." She gauged the situation from the corner of her eye. The Michinimakinong had by now seen her and Winter Born and were holding their fire, faces and postures tense; the look on Winter Born's face was blank, whereas Ocryana looked livid. She managed to twitch a little bit in her nearly invisible prison, claws crooking and slaver lining her teeth. "Say it," Charmian said. Ocryana's lip curled back even more and an ugly snarling noise came from deep in her throat. Charmian clenched her fists. "Say it! Or go back in the ground! We'll do this with or without you! By now I really don't care!" A fine reddish glow appeared around Ocryana now--her medicine--and Charmian fought not to shiver on seeing it, seething as ugly as the colors of her spirit stone. "I promise," she growled, her voice like flint, her hackles prickling. Charmian waited a second or two, then gave a sharp nod; Winter Born let out a breath and her medicine withdrew, leaving Ocryana to flap her wings and ponderously lower herself back to the ground. The glare Charmian received was enough to make her skin crawl but she ignored it, turning back instead toward the Tree and holding up her hands in what she hoped was a peaceful gesture. She wished she'd bothered to trade with Tooth or somebody for a nice pipe. To her relief, the Michinimakinong started lowering their weapons, though a few off to the edges, better concealed among the leaves, kept their bows raised; she figured that was only smart. Several of them descended, wings blurring the air, and approached, gliding in for a landing several yards away; Cheengwun was in the lead, but he was followed by what were obviously warriors, as they were dressed more like Niskigwun and heavily armed as well. They halted before Charmian's group and Cheengwun was even panting a little. He glanced at Ocryana, then back at Charmian, eyes wide. "When you said you'd be coming back with somebody--I admit I had no idea this was what you meant!" When Charmian opened her mouth to explain, he shook his head. "I already told you--I understand. Strange times require strange measures, right?" He frowned at Ocryana, who was shuffling her wings and making an awful face as if still shaking off Winter Born's medicine. "You're certain you can keep control of her...?" "Sure of it. Can you take us to the passageway under the roots? We need to get back to the others as fast as possible." "Of course. We'll carry you there ourselves. She..." he gestured at Ocryana, though even that seemed to make him nervous "...will be escorted...just in case." "Of course," Charmian echoed. She felt some relief when Cheengwun gestured one of the strangers to carry her and knelt down to take Winter Born on his back; Winter Born seemed only too happy to comply, climbing on and grasping onto him under his arms so his wings spread out to both sides of her head; Charmian was surprised that they could carry people in such a way and still be able to fly, but apparently they could, as an instant later he shot into the air and all she could hear was the ascending buzz of his wings and the fading Eeeeeeeeeeee... sound that Winter Born let out. Another instant later, she herself was in the air, clenching her teeth at the strange feeling when her stomach lurched and the Michinimakinong's wings buzzed in her ears; she tried to glance around to see where Ocryana was, but the wind in her eyes was too strong, and of course it wasn't long at all before the leaves of the Tree blocked her view of things and they were then descending toward one of the main branches. Cheengwun and Winter Born already stood waiting; Winter Born hopped up and down and cheered when Charmian's Michinimakinong landed. "That was so much fun!" she exclaimed. "I've never flown so fast! I wish I could do it again!" Charmian gingerly stepped onto the branch and had to regain her balance. "Yeah...really fun," she said, remembering her own flight with Cheengwun and feeling her face go slightly gray. She looked around again. "Where's..." The leaves overhead rustled, then started thrashing about as if in a gale. They opened up, the smaller branches blown wide apart, and Ocryana came through feetfirst, striking an adjacent branch so hard Charmian could have sworn the Tree shook. She pushed herself upright just as the remaining Michinimakinong landed at various spots around her, spears poised, but she didn't even pay them the slightest bit of attention, her stare instead flicking toward Charmian. Her muzzle wrinkled a bit as if in amusement and Charmian uneasily wondered why; there was a collective cry of astonishment, and she blinked in surprise to see that every one of the warriors had been disarmed, as if by magic; Ocryana snapped their spears as if they were twigs and tossed them from the Tree. Charmian hadn't even seen her take the weapons; she could tell that nobody else had, either. She blinked again. Winter Born was standing alone now. When she looked toward Ocryana a second time, she saw Cheengwun standing on the other side, a copper knife in his hand, crouched as if to strike. It was only when Ocryana saw the look on Charmian's face change that she too thought to look to her other side and at last spotted him, and her brow furrowed. "Quick little mouse," she remarked. "That knife might not kill you but it could sure hurt you a bit," Charmian said. "And slow you down so she can properly take care of you." She waved at Winter Born. "What did I just say about behaving yourself?" "Oh, enough with the dramatics," Ocryana groused, falling to all fours so Cheengwun rose a bit and stepped aside but remained alert. "All I did was take away their tiny little toothpicks. Rest assured that if one of those splinters made its way into me, though, I'd be perfectly justified in swatting down the fly who threw it." Only Ocryx horn kills Ocryxes, Charmian tried thinking at the Michinimakinong, though she wasn't sure if they heard her. "Nobody's sticking anybody just yet," she said aloud, frowning at the demon as she approached the Tree. "So let's just remain civil." Ocryana ignored her and slipped inside. Cheengwun and the warriors hurried in after, the latter drawing their knives, and Charmian and Winter Born followed. Within, more Turtle Fairies awaited, some of them curious onlookers, but these disappeared the moment Ocryana came into view and only the warriors remained; Charmian was relieved by how quickly they re-armed themselves, even though she knew the weapons were mostly useless. Ocryana bristled and made an awful face at having to walk along the hallway surrounded by them, but, aside from swiping at them occasionally with her tail, she behaved herself; Charmian could only assume it was Winter Born's presence on the other side of the wall of Michinimakinong that convinced her to do so. The bright contracted* line of Winter Born's power still surrounded her, and as she walked she still bore that odd neutral look; Charmian wondered if even now she was imagining Manitou Island, and was impressed that she could maintain the power so steadily now without prompting. They passed through the main part of the Tree and back down into the root section; here, the warriors reluctantly remained behind, watching them with tense looks as they went ahead along the narrowing hallway. "Normally our sort does not like being so far underground," Cheengwun explained. "There's also the matter of how little space is down here, but even so, it makes us uneasy so far beneath the earth." "But you don't seem to have any trouble mining," Charmian said, puzzled. "Mining is...different. It's hard to explain. The mines are not nearly as far down as this, for one thing. For another thing, our people have been mining for many moons beyond count. In this land the three most honorable professions one can choose from are fighting, medicine, or mining." He shrugged and flashed her a smile. "See which one I was suited for? Aside from this, going deep into the earth is seen as very abnormal to us, unless one belongs down there...which the Sky Mother certainly doesn't, but she has her reasons. Most of the rest of us don't." He looked back at Winter Born next and the two of them stared at each other a moment without speaking; when he turned away and they resumed walking normally again, Charmian could tell that they'd just communicated, and bit down her irritation at being left out. He just wanted to tell me to keep an eye on her now that I'm the only one who can do so, Winter Born's voice said in Charmian's head, and Charmian blushed. She wasn't sure if Ocryana would even be able to fit through the narrow passageways leading into the roots, though somehow the demon managed, canting her shoulders at an odd angle and slipping between the splintery walls while losing only a few feathers. She didn't seem terribly thrilled, especially not when they reached the little entryway into the cave Cheengwun had been in earlier, but again she squeezed through without comment. Charmian and Winter Born joined her and Charmian had to keep herself from grimacing, the space was so cramped. She opened her eyes to find Ocryana's nose just inches from her own and the two of them stared each other in the eyes for a tense moment. "Strange," the demon said. "One would think you're almost scared of being here. You dislike being confined in small spaces so much...?" "The two of you know your way back through?" Cheengwun called, his head sticking in the entryway. Charmian nodded, then said, "Yeah," seeing as Ocryana was blocking him from seeing her. "Just cross our eyes...or hit our heads. Thanks, Cheengwun. I promise we'll try to get back as soon as we can." He leaned to the side and waved at her. "Tell Niskigwun we all hate him for neglecting his family," he said with a cheery grin, and she smiled back and turned to the opposite wall, crossing her eyes. She tested the two images before leaning toward one and letting herself pass through; when she blinked to straighten everything out, she was again in the splintery wooden tunnel of before. She twisted herself about in the cramped space, calling up fire, then reminding herself to move; she'd just crawled back several feet when Ocryana appeared through the wall and then let out a startled noise when her horn jammed against the opposite side. She blinked a few times, snarled, and jerked it loose so violently that Charmian cringed and ducked back even further. "What sort of disgusting rathole is this--?" she snapped. "You expect me to squirm my way back with you like some kind of centipede?" Like Charmian, she twisted herself about at an odd angle, lifted her rear foot, and pressed it against the wall. Charmian gasped when the wood groaned and then shrieked and split open, a gout of earth collapsing within. Ocryana repeated the gesture several times, opening up a splintery space into which she backed up a little, then doing the same to the ceiling. "HEY!" Charmian threw a hunk of dirt at her. "You're going to ruin the whole thing! Knock it off! It's not that far!" "Not that far means completely different things to you and me, little girl. You want me back in one piece, then I at least have to fit through. Take a look how much you relish being confined in a tiny little rathole of a space, then increase that feeling by however long it is you had me trapped down there. Then tell me to 'knock it off.'" Charmian fought down the twinge of guilt she felt. "You brought that on yourself. Now behave, and get out of the way so Winter Born can come through." "Behave?" Ocryana looked toward the wall she'd emerged from, then back at Charmian, cocking an ear. "Looks like your little friend is taking her precious time getting here. I wonder why that is? Maybe she's too busy chattering with that flyspeck who led us here. If they're both chatty types, it might take her a few minutes to arrive." A wince flickered across Charmian's face before she could stop it. She must have unconsciously taken on a more defensive posture, as Ocryana smiled and added, "I don't believe you like tiny spaces after all, do you, little girl. Especially not when they come with select company. I find it funny how you can claim I brought something on myself but you can't tolerate it, either. I wonder what would be a nice place and a nice way for you to be locked up for an eternity?" Her eyes narrowed. "Let me think...no, it's not a little space with select company." Her smile returned, sliding across her face like oil. "In fact it's a wide open space, as endless as you make it, but still never quite enough for you. I think the mainland would be the most awful place for you to be locked up, or more like, locked out, never able to reach that little rock of yours again. What would that feel like? What kind of prison would that be?" Charmian opened her mouth to snap something in response, then gasped and jerked back when the demon swung out at her. She blinked, feeling no blows, but her arm ended up pulled to the side and she instinctively grabbed out, latching onto a strap of some kind. Her head popped up and her eyes goggled when she saw Ocryana grasping onto the other end of her backpack, having effortlessly pulled it from her shoulders; she struggled to get it back, only to have it fall to the floor and spill some of its contents, which Ocryana scooped up before she could grab them. "What's this? Little baubles, doubtless for that brainless fool down in his lake...pity...some sort of sweet confections? Looks like you feel some need to buy the affection of everyone in your company. Oh, here's what I was looking for." She picked up and turned a flat circular object left and right as if to see it better and Charmian blanched when she removed the deerskin* and revealed the dreamcatcher. "There it is. I'll confess my ignorance at how such things work, but after having that annoying lost spirit probe at my thoughts enough times, I've learned a thing or two. Seems you use this now to get where you want to go. No more relying on some pesky fog that comes and goes when you least expect it. Your very own doorway right in your pocket. Hm, it looks like it's been fixed up a little. Did somebody try to take your doorway away from you, little girl?" "Give that back!" Charmian hissed, making a lunge for it. Memories of Chakenapok laughing as he burned through the original webbing, rendering it useless, flashed through her head, making her breath hitch and her eyes sting. Ocryana held it out of her reach and let out a sharp laugh of her own. "Looks like I was right. That's the worst prison you can be caught in, away from your precious Island. You expressly told me not to hurt anyone or destroy the Island or any such but you never once mentioned something like this. Then again..." She held it up before her face and looked through it. "Destroying it seems rather stupid, when I could just use it myself sometime. I wonder what your mainland is like, little girl? How would they take to someone like me? I notice that ridiculous boy is no longer with you--is he waiting back there? Would he like to tell me hello?" Charmian let out an awful noise and raised her hand, fire flickering at it, but she didn't dare attack what with the dreamcatcher right between the two of them. Her vision blurred a little and she blinked it clear again in time to see the demon huff in amusement and roll her eyes. "Would it sting a little less if I said you brought this on yourself?" "You know I actually felt SORRY for you when I locked you up?" Charmian snapped. "Because I thought you were just crazy so of course it made sense you'd do something stupid like destroy the Island. Big waste of sympathy that was! I'm done feeling bad about you. Locking you away might not have been the proper thing but it was the only thing we could do, so I don't regret it one bit. Now give it back." "Regret?" Ocryana spat out the word as if it tasted bad. "I'll tell you about regret, little girl. I know you certainly do regret that your own actions led up to this moment. Would you even be here chattering with me if you'd never locked me away and weakened the Island in the first place--?" "The Island wouldn't even frigging BE there if I hadn't! Now give it back!" "Funny how things work, isn't it? I know your people have a saying...'damned if you do, damned if you don't.' You can't live with an Ocryx, you can't live without one. I have to admit I find it highly amusing how this all works out. Doesn't it feel like the world's most ridiculous joke sometimes, how the very things you need to help that rock are the very things that can and have tried to destroy it? Don't you sometimes wonder about that? They say the Island is alive. I think maybe it's making a fool out of you." "I don't give a shit what it's doing," Charmian hissed through clenched teeth. "It's my friend, and whenever it needs me, I'm coming for it. You've been asleep so you'd need to be knocked upside the head to understand what I've gone through for it but I think you get the picture just fine! Now give that to me!" "One last thought," Ocryana said musingly, running a claw along the webbing. "What if what the Island needed most was for you to be gone from it for good. Would you do so? For your Island?" Charmian blinked and all of the blood drained from her face. She didn't get to answer. Ocryana started to smile at her, then let out a wheezing noise as a network of glowing lines suddenly laced across and around her, like some spider shooting a web around its prey. Ocryana's eyes goggled and she dropped the dreamcatcher; Charmian snatched it back up, wrapping it and shoving it in her pack before backing away. "She said to behave," Winter Born's voice, only not quite Winter Born's voice, grated from somewhere behind the demon; Charmian shivered at the similarity between the speech of the two. "What part don't you understand?" Ocryana's muzzle wrinkled, showing her teeth, and she managed to slowly curl her hands into fists, fur bristling. Charmian let out a breath when Winter Born crawled into the tunnel behind her, aurora borealis* glow and all. "Well?" she said, that creepy blank look on her face. "Are you going to behave now?" Yes, Ocryana thought in their heads, as speech was evidently too difficult. Just take these damned webs OFF of me! Winter Born looked to Charmian. Charmian paused briefly to let Ocryana squirm, then nodded; the glowing web retracted and Winter Born took in a breath and let it out when her medicine died down, though Charmian was glad Ocryana wasn't looking at her, as she got a decidedly nervous look on her face now that the attack was over. Ocryana dropped onto her hands and snarled, making them jump. "Which way is it? The sooner I get this over with the sooner I get out of your company." "This way," Charmian said, waving, and turning to crawl down the tunnel. She didn't even bother warning Ocryana not to try anything behind her back since it was apparent Winter Born had that much covered. With a dark scowl, Ocryana hunched down to follow, Winter Born taking up the rear, as they resumed heading back to the others. |