|
Escape From Manitou Island: Part 212 |
|
(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.)
A WAY OF COMING BACK MEGISSOGWUN HAD TO keep one hand against the wall of the cave, both to steady himself and to maintain control of it. He wouldn't admit as much even to himself, since the thought was so beyond comprehension, that a manitou like himself could have been so badly weakened, and by such inferior beings, as well; he did feel irritated that every motion pained and tired him now, and that the vision wall kept on showing all sorts of things he didn't tell it to, the little girl staring out of the hole in the opposite wall as if she found it all incredibly fascinating. That wasn't how this was supposed to be going at all. She and all of them were supposed to be long dead by now. He thought back to when he'd first stepped onto the Island, taking away that insignificant Wendigo's medicine--medicine which had since been taken back--and none of it made any sense. There was no way it should have all been this difficult, that they should have made it this troublesome for him. There was no logical reason for him to even be contemplating the thought that he wouldn't make it out of this alive. Kabeyun hadn't managed to kill him. These ones shouldn't even remotely be able to. He was supposed to have killed the West Wind and destroyed that Island, and probably the Fairy Realm and the Sky Tree with it, ages ago. It made no sense. At least the pathetic bag of wind that had been trailing them seemed to have let up, so he could rest a little and think. Not that there was much left to think about. The thought of death didn't frighten him, but it perplexed him, because it was something he simply shouldn't have had to think about at all. There was nothing he could do about that anyway. As long as the Lynxes fulfilled their mission, then that was the most important thing. Even if he died, the Island would go with him, and that was that. It wasn't the destruction of Kabeyun or the Sky Tree or even the miserable half-manitou chasing after him, but it would suffice. The Lynxes were already on their way--they had no reason to turn back or desist--so there was little left to do aside from wait, and possibly gather what little strength he had left. He sensed strange medicine approaching, and a disturbance outside, but when he lifted his head to look at the vision wall, it abruptly went dark. The little girl let out a disappointed sound; immediately the stone lit up again, but now with just bland images of flower-filled fields and sunny skies fluttering with butterflies, and the girl oooooh'ed and got too lost in admiring the visions that she apparently forgot to wonder why the wall wasn't showing her what was going on anymore. That wall is also not showing me what is going on anymore. Megissogwun's lip curled back and he slowly pushed himself up from the floor, wincing at the aches in his joints. Whatever medicine was being worked on him from afar flared up now and again but not quite as bad as before; he could only assume whoever was doing this was distracted by what was going on outside. The little girl crept back into her hole as he approached the wall and placed his hand against it; the pretty, nauseating images of flowers and butterflies vanished but nothing else replaced them, not even when he told the wall to show him what was going on. His jaw tightened and his teeth ground together. "I can crumble you into pebbles without a second thought, wall, and right now I have little reason not to," he growled. "You were insistent on showing everything you could earlier. Funny that you're so reluctant now." Still no images, though the strange feelings of great power from outside--two great powers?--only increased. He couldn't recognize one of them, though the other was pretty obvious. What would it take to do that pathetic halfling in? He couldn't believe he was even still standing. "You will show me what is going on outside," Megissogwun ordered; when still nothing appeared, he bared his teeth and his fingernails slightly chipped the stone. "SHOW me!" "Stop it! You'll break it!" Turtle yelled from her hole. The vision wall flashed and he prepared himself to take in what it revealed--when an image appeared, but it was not what he'd expected. Instead of the scene outside, it showed a view of Manitou Island from high above--dark clouds encircled it, flashes of lightning flickering here and there, the vague shapes of Thunderbirds forming and breaking apart and re-forming as they hovered overhead. He heard Turtle let out a small gasp and she popped out of the tiny cave, hurrying to the wall to place her own hands against it and stare longingly at the image. It flashed out, replaced by an image of endless grassy fields and stands of trees, the giant shape of the Sky Tree looming in the distance; then the Sky Tree itself filled the wall, its bark and leaves leaden gray but very much alive. Megissogwun, mystified, was treated to a view of the doorway room, then, flashing one after another, the various realms behind each door--grassland--woods--underwater--mountains--the view suddenly flickered to show the interior of a large cave, somebody he didn't recognize seated within it, but the other being must have been a manitou for he turned his head as soon as the image appeared and looked right at Megissogwun, who blinked in surprise. The man in the cave--somewhat elderly and stocky, dressed in deerskins and feathers--paused only briefly before offering a cheery smile and waving as if this were the most normal thing in the world. "What...?" Megissogwun said, unable to think of anything else. "Greetings from the Atlantic Ocean!" the stranger exclaimed. "Not that you'd have any clue what that is. Hum. How about, greetings from the great eastern water! Eh, close enough. Certainly wasn't expecting you to pop up in my cave so I guess that means the guano's hitting the fan, isn't it?" "Who are you and what are you doing in my wall?" Megissogwun demanded, growing irritated. None of this should have been happening at all. The stranger made a tsking sound with his tongue. "Is that any way to talk? You don't see me calling you up and then demanding to know who I'm talking to, do you? Who I am doesn't matter to you, seeing as you're probably going to be dead pretty soon. Pity. Well, not really, but I just like to be polite that way. I have my own bigscreen TV here to tell me what's going on--not that you'll know what that is either, but I assume you get the gist in context--and it's not looking too good for you right now. What is it? Bad reception on your end? Satellite signal strength* is low? Aw, too bad. You see, here I have the greatest reception, no blacking out whatsoever, I can even watch three programs at once--" "You will tell me what you are doing in my wall or I'll find a way to fetch you out," Megissogwun snarled. The stranger rolled his eyes. "SHEESH already! Like I said, your wall is the one who called me. I have no desire to chatter with somebody as rude as you. I find it interesting, though. That your wall is being so naughty, that is. See, my wall always does as I ask, but then again, I ask--a concept you don't seem to grasp too well--and the fact that your wall has become so disobedient tells quite a lot. I think your naughty wall is the least of your problems. Take that whole cave you're in. Ah, I see." He leaned forward and craned his neck, looking all around the image as if inspecting the room Megissogwun and Turtle stood within. "Yep, more disobedience. Here you thought it was just you being all tired and such, but that cave isn't moving nearly as quickly as it could be. Hello, little girl!" "Hello, funny old man!" Turtle called back with a wave. "What?" The word shot from Megissogwun's mouth like an arrow, and he ground his teeth so hard it felt like they would crack. "You useless hunk of rock! I carved you out and I can reduce you to rubble in an instant! You want such a thing--?" "I doubt it, but that would be the lesser of two evils now, wouldn't it?" the man in the image said. "Some beings would just rather die with dignity instead of put up with virtual slavery. They have a saying, you know, that if you're going to take something, then you have to give something back." "I do not have to GIVE anything!" Megissogwun shot back, infuriated that he should even be arguing with whoever this being was. "And you have no further part in any of this!" He pressed his hand to the wall. The stranger looked skyward. "Well, maybe not, but I guess some people have to learn the hard way...speaking of--are you going to just hold hands or are you going to dance--?" Megissogwun blinked again. Part of him wanted to ask what that was supposed to mean, the other part just wanted to be done with whoever this was and figure out what was going on--neither part was prepared for when his hand seemed to sink into the stone wall as it rippled like water. He glanced down at it in confusion--he'd been just about ready to crush a hole in it, whether to destroy it or to force it to obey, he didn't care which--but whatever this action was, it wasn't because of him. The stone shifted and then began glowing blue--first the entire cave, then just the area around his hand, and then he found his hand being held by another hand, of stone, which protruded from the wall. That certainly made no sense. The stone hand shifted as the wall had and glowed blue--then it was as if the wall opened up, though he knew it was just a vision of what lay immediately outside, and he found himself staring at Manabozho--Michibou--who grasped Megissogwun's hand in his own. Any normal being such as a human wouldn't have been able to see it, what with the vision wall displaying as it did, but Megissogwun could see how he had somehow merged with the cave and the wall itself, like water passing through water. The same thing he'd done back at the mountains. Turtle jumped and cried out for joy. "Papa!!" Michibou's eyes flicked to the side just a fraction of a second. That was enough. If this was the same thing as back at the mountains, that meant he had the same advantage. Megissogwun grasped Michibou's hand back and, with a blue flash, yanked him forward through the wall. Michibou's eyes went wide and he gasped, the trance broken--the blue vanished from him and Manabozho stumbled inside instead, nearly colliding with the opposite wall. If he hadn't been so furious Megissogwun would have felt vaguely disgusted that he'd slipped so easily. Manabozho managed to regain his balance and whirled around to face him, fists clenched and feathers flaring. Megissogwun's lip curled back. "Now that Michibou is gone I know you're not even worth challenging. You should learn to control that better. Just when I was starting to feel a bit impressed. You want to die in here, you want to die out there, it's no matter to me." "Actually, I'm not the one you need to worry about," Manabozho said--he flared bright blue again, and Michibou stuck his hands through the wall directly behind him. The entire cave started to glow just the same as he was, and Megissogwun could sense its medicine drawing back inside itself, the walls getting ready to pull away--with a snarl he flared blue as well and stuck his hand through the wall, halting it, and there was a strange surge as the two of them stood facing each other across the cave. He could feel the other manitou's medicine mingling with his own, the cave's medicine mingling with both, and knew Michibou felt the same; it was a vaguely nauseating feeling and he disliked it immensely but tried to shrug the sensation off. "I know you recall," he wheezed, "just how easily I can pluck your spirit from your chest should I choose, when you're in this state." "I could do the exact same thing," Michibou replied. Strange, to Megissogwun; there wasn't the slightest hint of fear or anger or anything in his voice, only dead certainty. "True," Megissogwun said, "but as you just said, that is not what you need to worry about." He abruptly focused his concentration on the cave's medicine, and with another surge that wasn't entirely willing, it roiled away from his hand and across the walls and ceiling and floor and straight toward Michibou. Michibou's eyes flicked again; he tried yanking his hands out from the wall but was just the tiniest bit too late, and it turned back into solid stone, trapping him by the wrists. His split second's hesitation was enough time for Megissogwun to focus his thoughts again; before Michibou could break himself loose, the cave flashed, and an instant later he was screaming--then Manabozho--then Michibou--he couldn't seem to decide which one to be, and kept flickering between the two as bands of blue energy rippled over him from the cave wall. "Papa!" Turtle cried in a panic. She hurled herself at Megissogwun's leg, clamping onto him and hitting him with her fist and even trying to bite him, but he pulled her loose and tossed her aside as he trudged toward Manabozho/Michibou, who wriggled and fought like a fly caught in a spider's web. The cries and yelps he let out were the most undignified things Megissogwun had ever heard; no real manitou would ever let out such sounds, and he halted near him to watch. "I may not be nearly as strong as I once was," he said, "but this is no matter when my opponent is someone like you. You might think you are clever merging your medicine with my cave but keep in mind, this cave serves me, and will do whatever I command it to, even if I need to be a bit more forceful than previously. And as long as I or any part of my being is touching its surface, then its medicine is my medicine, and I can keep you trapped here, or kill you off, whichever suits me best." Manabozho/Michibou--he kept flickering between the two, first one, then the other, the rapid-fire transformations seeming to pain him like a shock each time--managed to drag his head up to barely meet Megissogwun's eyes. His own flashed blue, black, blue, black. "You're...forgetting...something," he wheezed, first Manabozho speaking, then Michibou, then Manabozho again. Megissogwun lifted an eyebrow. "Oh?" Manabozho/Michibou jerked his head as if in a nod, and his stare flitted toward the ground. "Your weakness is...right...under...your feet." Megissogwun frowned and looked down. He was standing upon the fur of the wolf he'd killed and gutted earlier. He didn't even get to think this over. Manabozho flared brilliant blue--Michibou now--and strained forward as if to pull loose from the wall, but dug his fingers in at the same time, pulling the wall with him. The entire cave lit up again so brightly that Megissogwun had to shield his eyes; he stumbled backwards, off of the fur, but the damage was done--he could feel Michibou's medicine surging all around him, more powerful than he'd thought possible, and knew that if he tried to merge with the cave himself he risked opening himself up to attack, just as Manabozho had when he'd taken out his spirit stone.* He lowered his arm, squinting in the glare; Michibou at last pulled his hands free of the wall but his feet seemed to stay one with the cave as he walked toward him, his hollow black eyes fixing on Megissogwun's. "Papa," Turtle breathed in awe as he walked past. "Funny," Michibou said, and his voice came from all around them, "how something so small and meaningless can cause you so much trouble, isn't it? Then again, isn't that the story of your life?" He reached out to brush his fingers against the side wall and it lit up--that made no sense, that wasn't the vision wall--yet there, as plain as day, images appeared, and in the other walls as well, replacing stone and the landscape outside--the home of the great manitous above the sky, as he'd seen it, so long ago, with the girl in red--the Sky Tree--the homes of the Four Winds--the island of the wabanos--the dream-cave far beneath--the Island, where he'd first faced the GeeBee chief--the woods* where he'd met the fire-haired girl and her manitou--the great pit* in the ground with the snow-haired girl--and lastly, the very cave he stood within, and the other two also within it. The images flashing one after another disoriented him and he had to take a step back to steady himself. "Every last one of them," Michibou said, "somebody or something you considered so insignificant as to not be worth your time or concern, until you had to push them out of the way, that is. But insignificant things have a way of piling up and coming right back. Those are just the ones this cave and I know of. How many others did you push out of the way or consider not worth your time and effort? How much of that is coming back now? A drop of water quickly dries away, but a torrent of them can quickly drown you. Ask the fire-haired girl out there. She's learned two very important things that you seem incapable of learning. Firstly, that if you take something you have to give something back, and secondly, that anything you push away has a strange way of coming back when you least expect it." "This is talk for minor manitous," Megissogwun spat, lowering his arm fully now--he still had to squint at the glare--and clenching his fists. "Perhaps your sort is constained by such rules, but mine is not." "You forget we're all just the same on some level or other," Michibou said. "You came from the exact same place I came from, and she came from, and this cave came from. Now that you've forgotten that, of course you're weak." Megissogwun felt the blood and rage surge up in his breast but didn't get to reply, as Michibou raised his hand to point at the vision wall at Megissogwun's back. "But as I was saying...as much as I'd like to be the one to finish you off, I'm not who you need to worry about. Whatever small part I might have played in this, though, is good enough for me." Megissogwun turned to look at the vision wall. There was nothing but blinding blue, but it swirled and flared and broke apart and re-formed--an image started to appear--but it wasn't an image at all, as he could feel the cave walls retreating from around him. A glance back showed him the stone flowing toward Michibou's feet like rivers--it drew up into him, and into his hands as well, and Megissogwun felt its presence fading--shifting--as the cave walls and openings faded from view, revealing a landscape of grass extending from horizon to horizon. The pile of furs scattered across the ground and the little girl let out a gasp, falling atop the dead wolf before scrambling to her feet, picking it up, and hurrying toward Michibou to duck behind his legs. Megissogwun stared at them dumbly for a moment, unable to quite believe it when Michibou's glow faded and Manabozho was left standing there--why on earth would he let his power go down like that?--before turning his head again to look where the vision wall had been. The cave was no more--its medicine obviously having combined with that of the pathetic halfling--so he stood in the grass along with Manabozho and Turtle and the others now staring back at him. He dimly recognized most of them--the ones who'd been heading west, and then trailing him, not even worth thinking about--but for some reason his stare shifted toward the two girls with the strange hair, snow and fire, and his frown grew as his confusion did the same. Wait a minute. Not the two girls--there had been unfamiliar medicine he'd felt earlier, not Michibou's, not theirs, so whose? He blinked to now notice something crouching between the two of them--he hadn't even seen it a moment ago, why, he couldn't explain, but it drew itself up now and Megissogwun and Ocryana stared at each other across the open grass. |