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Escape From Manitou Island: Part 217 |
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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.)
AS REAL AS REAL CHARMIAN WHIRLED AROUND to look behind herself. Familiar woodland, at the edge of a familiar field, met her eyes. This CAN'T be what it looks like...! She turned in a complete circle, taking in the scenery. The grass, the trees, the view of the sky, the large boulder at the edge of the woods, it was all exactly as she remembered it. The great field on Manitou Island. But-- "Charmian!" Winter Born, standing at her side, turned to face her, having completed the same confused circle as Charmian. "How did we get here--?" Charmian glanced down at her, just as bewildered, and blurted out, "You mean you didn't do this--?" She looked now toward where the others had been, and it was just like the waking dream Winter Born had created when fighting the whirlwinds; everyone was still there, and their faces were more distinct, but they simply stood in place, staring ahead stupidly; in fact, she found that when she turned her head away a little, most of them would fade from her peripheral vision as if not really there, and it was only when she focused on them that they became clearer. Thomas looked at her when she looked at him, but she truly felt it was only because she did look directly at him that he did so, as if he were merely responding to her own actions because she expected him to. Winter Born shook her head wildly. "I don't think I did this!" she cried. "I wasn't even concentrating--" One shape broke apart from the indistinct crowd and Charmian hopped back a little when Mishosha--as clear and plain as day--stepped forward, looking around himself of his own volition, frowning as he did so. "I take it this is that trivial little Island you care about so much," he said, then looked at her and snorted. "I think you might be in for a bit more than you expected." Charmian clenched her fists. "What the hell does--" Now both she and Winter Born jumped and yelped when another shape stepped forward. Singing Cedars blinked a few times, then his face went gray and he looked ready to fall over. He reached out to grasp the arm of the person closest to him, only to let out a startled yell and cringe back when he too noticed how indistinct they were. "What--" He regained his balance, gave a quick glance around, then clenched his own fists. "What are you doing? What sort of time is this to go into a vision?!" A vision--? Charmian thought, confused, then the pieces started clicking together and her eyes grew. She turned back to Ocryana and Megissogwun. Ocryana seemed just as baffled, glancing around herself and every so often snarling and lashing out at something in the air. Charmian thought she saw dim glowing bands around her, but they kept vanishing. Likewise, the ground wasn't right. The grass kept being replaced by odd concentric circles of stone and water, making Charmian want to fall over. Megissogwun just stared down at them silently for a moment, then lifted his head to look back toward her group. "Vaguely interesting to see what goes on inside your heads, however meaningless it all may be." Charmian opened her mouth to demand to know what that meant, but an odd noise from behind silenced her. She felt her skin prickling at the strange singsong coming from the woods. She almost plugged her ears, but Singing Cedars's reaction told her it wasn't the lake manitous. He stared back toward the trees with wide eyes, then they looked at each other, and it suddenly made sense. As soon as it did, the odd circular formations along the ground vanished, and an ornate stone fountain faded into view right between Ocryana and Megissogwun, water splashing down into its carved bowls. "What..." Winter Born crept back behind Charmian. "What's that?" "That's mine," Charmian said numbly. She looked back toward the singing trees. "Those are Singing Cedars's. So I guess..." She spread her arms, indicating the field they stood in. "...This is yours." "Huh...?" Winter Born's brow furrowed in confusion. "Simple, ignorant child," Mishosha said, crossing his arms. "What were you wishing for right before we got here?" "I couldn't wait to get home..." Winter Born said, then vague realization entered her own eyes. "Oh." She looked around, still seeming perplexed. "But...I'm not dreaming! I mean, I don't think I am. So how...?" Earth, air, fire, water, Charmian thought, a chill seeping up inside her. Those are the four main elements. But there's a fifth one... "You seem surprised," Megissogwun said. "I hardly see why you should be. I nearly reached that wretched woman in red the same way*, so of course I have some understanding of how such things work. Granted, I'm incapable of creating such things of my own, but it's easy enough work to get into those of others, if they leave themselves open enough, that is." His stare roamed over the group. "It looks as if you four are most capable at this. Strange, and inexplicable, but again, meaningless, seeing as my battle is with you." He turned back to Ocryana, giving a wave that made the stone fountain vanish as if it were made of air. "He has dream medicine," Charmian said softly. "We truly are in a dream, then?" Singing Cedars asked, peering skyward uneasily. "Then...whose is it? Which of us is dreaming?" Charmian's skin prickled again and she actually felt nauseated, looking around at the otherwise normal scenery. She'd always found such things as dreams within dreams to be perplexing enough, but to not even know whose head she was in, or if she herself was even real...she put a hand to her mouth, trying not to be ill. "Whose dream is this?" she asked, herself, not even sure if she wanted to know. "It looks like bits and pieces of each of ours," Singing Cedars said uncertainly. He couldn't stop looking around himself, then took in a sharp breath. "Wait a moment." He turned and stared hard at the clear area of field to his left; Charmian's and Winter Born's eyes grew when there was suddenly a longhouse where one hadn't been before. Singing Cedars reached out to touch it and it seemed solid; he looked back to Charmian. "It must be my dream, then. Since I could do this." "But...wait a minute," Charmian protested. She repeated Singing Cedars's gesture, and the stone fountain reappeared at her side. "If that's the logic then wouldn't it be my dream because I could do this?" "Could you do this, then?" Singing Cedars glared at her fountain and it sank into the ground until it became a mere puddle. "If it were your dream I shouldn't be able to do that, should I?" "Oh, yeah?" Charmian glared at the longhouse and it shifted into the form of a small mountain which picked itself up and wandered away. "Would I be able to do that if it were your dream?" Winter Born was busy making small butterflies emerge from her fingertips. "But...how can either of you be sure?" she asked. "That you aren't just making part of your dream do what you tell it to? Maybe I just told you to make a puddle and you to make a hill--?" Her brow furrowed. "Or one of you is telling me to make butterflies?" Charmian clamped her hands over her head. "AAAGGGHH WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?! Am I even real right now--?" She pinched her arm and felt it, then glanced up at the sky and made a cloud turn into a flock of birds. "What the hell!! That is SUPPOSED to work!!" "Throw fire at me!" Singing Cedars exclaimed; when she looked at him as if he must be crazy, he waved his arms. "Just do it already! Just a small one," he amended himself when she threw out her arm threateningly. Charmian hurled a tiny fireball which grazed Singing Cedars's arm as it passed. He didn't flinch away as she knew he probably would have in reality--but once the fire had flown past him, he blinked and then yelled, clasping his singed arm. "Ow!" He pushed up his sleeve and revealed the reddened skin and fresh blisters underneath. "That's..." The blood drained from Charmian's face. "That's not supposed to happen!" "You three are quite done now?" Megissogwun said; they jumped and glanced back at him. He had crossed his arms as if quite bored; Ocryana, meanwhile, continued snarling and batting at invisible things. "It didn't occur to you that it would be easiest merely to bring you all into my dream?" he asked; at that, Charmian felt her skin go cold, and saw the chilled looks that Singing Cedars and Winter Born got as well. "But, if it's his dream..." Charmian said aloud, then thought at the others, Why doesn't it look like something HE'D have it look like? Like ours do? "Because I have better things to do with my time than fashion some ridiculous landscape just so you feel more comfortable," Megissogwun said. "You'd like to try that again? Because I can of course hear everything you say." I guess that's convincing enough, Charmian thought, keeping it to herself this time, though by now she wasn't sure if that mattered. "It's simple," Megissogwun added, when another thought flitted through her mind. "You seem to think you are here only in spirit, therefore things such as fireballs and pinching should not hurt, or at least should not cause lasting injuries. In case you haven't noticed, your bodies are here as well." Our BODIES--? Charmian sucked in a breath and looked down at herself, willing her feet to turn into hooves, or feathers to sprout from her arms, or her skin to turn blue or her hands to grow sixteen fingers, she didn't care what--nothing of the sort happened. Her clothes even stayed the same. She whirled to look at Winter Born, and Singing Cedars, and Mishosha, and their clothing and appearances were exactly the same as they'd always been. There was no way that could be right. "How did you get power like this?" she cried in disbelief. "There was a time," Megissogwun said, "when dream medicine was something one didn't even have to practice, as it came naturally, just as you seem to be able to handle fire as if it is part of you. Of course such an ability was merely second nature* to the oldest manitous. There were once no such things as 'Dreamspinners,' as their duties were redundant. Dreams were simply there. They simply were. It was only when manitous started becoming weaker, and when your sort came along, that dream separated itself from the majority of beings. To put it in a way your brain might understand--dream and what you for some inexplicable reason call 'real' were one and the same thing. They are still more closely tied than you think, at least based on your ludicrous reactions to all this." "I think he means why you keep asking if you're 'real,'" Winter Born whispered. "Of course you are...you mean you think dreams aren't real?" "Of course they're real," Charmian retorted, "they're just--not the same sort of real that I'm used to! You mean the big powerful manitous--people like Geezhigo-Quae, and Kabebonikka, and all those--they could control dreams once?" she demanded of Megissogwun. "That was routine? They just lost the ability?" "I would hardly number the Four measly Winds among the greatest manitous," Megissogwun said, "but yes, that's somewhat what I meant. Again, you seem surprised to learn something so obvious." "Then does that mean you're one of them, too?" The question came out before she even thought about it; then her mouth snapped shut and her eyes grew. An odd look flitted across Megissogwun's face as well, but he gave no answer. "One of the oldest manitous," Charmian went on. "Cutfoot* said nobody knows where you came from, that you just always seemed to be there--is that why? That place, wherever that place is Geezhigo-Quae came from, are you from there, too?" "These questions are pointless," Megissogwun said. "The heart of the matter is I came here to deal with her, and get this over with." Ocryana just kept snapping at the air; "Ocryana!" Charmian yelled, growing irritated. "Just stop thinking about them already!" When the demon shot her a livid glare she pointed at the ground, watched the fountain emerge, then made a jerking motion with her hand so it sank once more. "See? Maybe if you just tell them to go away they'll leave you alone and you can concentrate!" Ocryana stopped her thrashing and stared intently at an invisible spot apparently just in front of her face. She remained this way for approximately ten seconds before lashing out with her claws again. "Oh, that's some WONDERFUL advice! Now there are twice as many of them. This was part of your big plan?" "Huh...?" Charmian squinted, barely seeing the glowing cords that kept flailing around her like snakes. "It should've worked," she said, perplexed. "I thought you were supposed to be good at this," Mishosha groused. "Certainly, you can make whatever that hideous thing is pop out of the ground, but what about, say..." He trailed off, touching his chin thoughtfully, then Charmian screamed when an immense white shape faded into view just beside her. Mishimakwa tilted his head so one blue eye fixed on her menacingly; Charmian yelped and clamped her eyes shut, waving at him wildly. "GO AWAY! GO AWAY!!" She opened her eyes but the manitou was still there; she willed him to turn into a flock of birds, but he didn't, and instead started padding toward her. "MAKE HIM GO AWAY!!" she yelled at Mishosha, but the wabano just shrugged. "I didn't create him, you did. I just summoned up the thought. If you think it's so easy to control a dream, then go ahead and do it. It's not quite that easy when it's something unpleasant, is it?" Right on cue, both Singing Cedars and Winter Born started edging away from their respective places, faces going pale. Charmian craned her neck to see past Mishimakwa; Singing Cedars was staring at a man she'd never seen before, whereas Winter Born was staring at...Winter Born herself. Charmian blanched even more; the strange man had an ax protruding from his chest, and blood running down his face from a wound going straight across his forehead; the second Winter Born looked relatively normal compared to that, but the aurora borealis* glow around her flickered and flared violently, and the look on her face seemed like something Ocryana should have, instead. She whirled toward Mishosha, dodging Mishimakwa's snout when it descended, ready to scream at him to knock it off, but he too was staring at something; when Charmian saw that it was Makwaquae, with a bloody hole gaping in her chest*, she at last realized what must be going on. "Why am I dead?" Makwaquae cried. "How could you let him do that to me? I thought we were partners in this, yet you're still alive!" "I left the camp only to protect you," the strange bloody man said to Singing Cedars. "And this is what you do in return? You give up your vision and become a coward? Did I die then for nothing?" "Look at you!" the second Winter Born yelled at the first, who flinched back. "You're supposed to be so powerful, but you let her make you so weak! You had people scared of you! You could've done anything you wanted! When did you become such a baby--?" Charmian clenched her fists, took a shaky breath, and stepped through Mishimakwa's leg so she faced Ocryana and Megissogwun again. "So what if you can't control it?" she snapped. "It's still just in your head. You remember that I freed you, right? The deal we made? Dreams might be real, but those aren't real. You're just remembering them because he's trying to distract you. Take a look, it's working." Ocryana's muzzle wrinkled in an ugly snarl and one hand shot up, grasping around one of the flickering cords; it brightened as soon as she grabbed it, and the network of them twining in the air around her became clearly visible. "Interesting," she growled, her stare fixed on Megissogwun. "But, as you'd say, pointless. I know what those things feel like, and this isn't it. You might fool someone's eyes, and their ears, but there's a little more to it than that, isn't there? Funny, it almost makes me wonder what else someone could do here." Charmian took in a breath. The Manitou Island landscape around them ever so subtly started to shift--she looked upwards, awed at the hazy images of pine trees just as tall as the redwoods she'd once seen way out west--but they just as quickly disappeared, taking the Manitou Island imagery with them, until little was left but the grass they stood upon and an indistinct grayness all around. It reminded Charmian of the Spirit Road* so much that she shivered and shrank in on herself a little. "You think to make me show you everything I'm about?" Megissogwun said, at last sounding irked. "Trust me, it is a story so long in the telling you won't have the time to hear it all. Now are we going to get this over with, or not?" He swept his hand through the air; the glowing cords rippling around Ocryana brightened, then lashed around her, tightening like a net. The demon wheezed and struggled against them, panic entering her eyes; the glowing bands looked just as real as the ones Chakenapok had just severed, and their effect on her seemed just as real, too. We're all really here? Our bodies and our minds? If he has dream power, he can make this seem just as real as anything, especially if we're all really here! A thought striking her, Charmian ran back through Mishimakwa's leg, cast a quick glance at everyone, then grabbed Moon Wolf's arm and squeezed as hard as she could. He'd turned his head to look at her as she came running, but his expression had been as bland and neutral as anything, a mere echo of Thomas's earlier response; however, something abruptly changed now, and he blinked and seemed almost to solidify right in front of her. He tried to jerk his arm back and nearly fell over; cast a quick glance around himself; then sucked in a breath and broke free, lifting his arm so fire formed over his fingers. Charmian looked over her shoulder in the direction he was staring; when she saw Shadow Water--in her Ocryx form--and another large shaggy shape--Kawaduk, the offspring of Ocryana and Mitchi Manitou, who had been part of the demon's plan to destroy the Island but had been killed long ago--she didn't even bat an eye, just turned back to him and grabbed his arm again. "Moon Wolf, we're all dreaming! I mean--he's dreaming--" pointing back at Megissogwun "--but we're all in it. Those aren't real. The rest of it, well..." She grabbed Thomas's arm next, and he repeated Moon Wolf's reaction, though no new figures appeared; instead, his eyes went yellow and claws emerged from his fingers, and he let out a yelp and started trying to pull them out. "Thomas! It's all in your head. Don't let it get to you. I need you guys to keep your senses!" Out of desperation, she grabbed at Francois, since he always seemed to have the most level head; yet as soon as she did so and he blinked, his face went white and he reached for his gun. Charmian remembered the Red Swan's earlier story* about him and didn't dare look behind herself; "FRANCOIS!" she yelled instead, and he blinked again, his stare flitting toward her. "I need SOMEBODY to keep their head!! We're all dreaming this. Everything that freaks us out the most is showing up in this dream. This is real, but none of that is real. He's just trying to distract all of us and I need to figure out what to do!!" Francois blinked a few more times, then let out a shaky breath and seemed to compose himself; Charmian at last dared to peer over her shoulder, but whatever he'd seen was gone. She felt like slapping herself, though there was no way she could have known he would be best at controlling his dreams. "Where are we?" he asked. "How are we all asleep?" "I'm not sure. We're in Megissogwun's dream. Not just our minds but our bodies, too. Which means that whatever he dishes at us is going to really hurt! This crazy stuff our own minds keeps calling up isn't real--" she hopped to the side a bit when Mishimakwa lumbered past "--but as far as I know, the rest of it is. He has dream medicine. I don't think he entirely knows how to control it yet, based on what I've seen, but even just knowing what freaks us out the most, well...YOU see what's going on!" She looked at Thomas, still trying to get rid of his own claws. "I want everyone awake." She grimaced. "So to speak. I don't know what good we can do but we should at least know where we are and where things stand. I don't like everybody being so out of it. But everybody needs to stop freaking out so much!" "Our own thoughts must have influenced his dream somehow," Francois said, looking around; Moon Wolf was still holding Shadow Water and Kawaduk at bay, though he seemed to dimly realize they weren't really there, as he wasn't attacking. "I imagine that when we started showing fear, it changed the atmosphere of things and made it into a nightmare. If they wake up, there's a good chance they'll all 'freak out,' as you put it. You still want to go through with this--?" Charmian made a face. "We can't keep them asleep. At least if they snap out of it, they'll have some bit of control. Wait a minute!" Her eyes went wide. "I have an idea!" She waved at him. "Start waking them up. Try to keep them sane, but don't worry if this place starts filling up with...whatever crap they're scared of. I might not be able to prevent it, but maybe I can stop it once it's started." She shut her eyes and bit her lip, concentrating. "Whatever you think's* best, ma chère," Francois said, and she heard him step away, then a murmur and a rustling sound; a second later Niskigwun let out a shriek, and Charmian lost her concentration, eyes popping open to find him with a spear sticking through him. She shuddered and whirled to shake a fist at Megissogwun, who had crossed his arms and seemed to have grown bored with* Ocryana's efforts to free herself. "You think all of this is so clever, don't you? Well, it goes BOTH ways, buddy!" She shut her eyes again and concentrated as hard as she could, trying to will the image before her into existence like she'd never willed anything before. She wasn't sure this would work, but it stood to reason that it should... "What, you think some paltry nightmare image of yours will frighten me?" Megissogwun called back. "I hate to tell you this, insignificant child, but giant bears and puny Wendigoes do not frighten me. You would be hard pressed to--" His voice broke off in a gasp. Charmian's eyes popped open once more when brilliant light appeared before her, but it was so bright she had to shield them to avoid the glare; just as abruptly, the glow died down, and she dropped her hands, catching first the startled look on Megissogwun's face, then second the image that took form before her. The Red Swan's wings flared and fanned at the air, and Charmian let out a cheer. |