Part 83: Bearwalking

Main story folder & table of contents: "Escape From Manitou Island" 
Previous chapter: "Part 82: Like Talking To A Rock" 

PART EIGHTY-THREE:
Bearwalking

MOON WOLF THREW out his hand and pointed at Charmian. Her stare fixed on his mouth when it moved, and she thought she could make out the word Behind!

The hair on the back of her neck prickled and she whirled away from the invisible barrier, Winter Born following suit.

The bear that stood right behind them reared up onto its hind legs and let out a terrible bellow. Charmian's face went stark white and every muscle in her body tensed like drawn bowstrings; Winter Born gasped and clung to her side, but she didn't even notice. The black bear was HUGE, far bigger than any normal black bear, and its bellow made her eardrums throb painfully. Her jaws clenched shut and refused to open; she dug her fingers into Winter Born's arm as if to comfort her, when in fact she was the one who needed comforting.

I--HATE--BEARS--!!

The bear took a step or two toward them on its hind legs, and bellowed again. Charmian and Winter Born whimpered and sank to the ground, clutching at each other; from the corner of her eye she could see Moon Wolf and Mani just a foot or so away, yet unable to help them; Mani was waving his antlers and battering at the invisible barrier, while Moon Wolf tried hurling his fire at it, with no results whatsoever. She would have hated the stricken looks on their faces had she been in the right mind. As it was, the bear's roaring and snarling rather put her out of her right mind, and she squinched her eyes shut for a moment, praying for it to go away.

If you sneak to the island, you are beneath him and not worth his time. He showed his island for a reason.

Charmian's eyes popped open and she blinked. Moon Wolf's earlier words, before their departure from Mosquito Beach, echoed in her head, and she lifted it slightly. Winter Born's eyes were still shut and she whimpered softly as she clung to her, but Charmian dared to peer up at the bear. It still loomed over them, panting; as soon as it saw her attention its muzzle wrinkled and it bared its teeth in a low snarl. Charmian's arms started to shake like aspen leaves but she forced herself not to turn away again. She met its eyes, and they were tiny and glittering, hateful.

You should know, that because you decided to face him directly, he has decided to grant you one audience. Not many demand to speak with him in such a manner, and so he recognizes that one of you at least must be impressive...

The Stone Canoe's words, now. Charmian grasped Winter Born's arm and gently pried herself loose; Winter Born's head popped up and she gave Charmian a wide-eyed stare. Her eyes just grew wider as Charmian slowly rose to her feet, staring up into the bear's face. It tilted its head from side to side and growled, its paws looking big enough to swipe her head off, but she stood her ground.

Behind her, Moon Wolf tried pounding on the barrier, he and Mani yelling, yet no sounds came.

"Charmian--?" Winter Born asked in a tiny voice.

Charmian stared at the bear until she'd gathered up what little nerve she felt she could, then clenched her fists and took one more step toward it. "Makwamosa!" she yelled, making Winter Born jump; the bear halted its snarling, its eyes glinting like obsidian. "We're here to see Mishosha of the island! He granted us an audience!"

Winter Born's brow furrowed, then she looked back at the bear. It didn't change its appearance, as Charmian had been hoping it would; but its ugly expression did seem to lessen the smallest bit. It puffed its breast and lifted its forepaws as if to show off the great heavy claws there. Charmian had heard before of what damage such things could inflict, but she held her ground.

What makes you think you have the right to ask such a thing, human? the Bearwalker said, and Charmian's breath came out in a whoosh when she realized that it was a female Bearwalker. She tried to figure out why that surprised her so much, then shrugged it off. She stood as straight as she could, even though the bear had to have been at least twice her height.

"We came here to see him head on," she said. "We didn't hide or cower or try a trick or anything! The Stone Canoe itself said we had an audience with him. It's not like he's not expecting us." She gnawed on the inside of her mouth, then snapped, "I demand to be taken to Mishosha!!"

The bear's nostrils flared. Charmian darted a peek back at the others and saw the look on Moon Wolf's face, as if she'd just demanded that the Queen of England show her knickers. The bear snorted and she turned back around, taking a startled step back when it--she--sank onto all fours. Charmian tried stepping back even further but found that she couldn't, as the barrier or whatever it was was right there; the bear came close enough to snort hot breath in her face, and it stank of fish. Charmian fought back a grimace while Winter Born didn't even bother; but the bear merely turned about and started ambling into the woods.

Very well...who am I to turn down an audience granted by Mishosha himself? Especially considering the quality of the guests...

Charmian pushed down any retort she might have had, and grasped Winter Born's arm to start following. When she saw movement she stopped, and glanced back to see Moon Wolf and Mani again frantically trying to break their way in. She shook her hands at them, then turned back to the Bearwalker as she started to go around a turn.

"Um, Bearwalker--!" she cried again, cringing when she turned her head to give her a spiteful look. "What about them--? They were with us!"

The bear's nostrils flared. This is MISHOSHA'S island. He hardly has need to speak with a piddling wabano. She turned away once more. The two of them are not needed just yet. Either the two of you come, or the audience is concluded, and there will be no more need for the Stone Canoe to bring anyone to this island.

Charmian bit her lip, but turned back to Moon Wolf and Mani once more. They looked like two strange puppy dogs being left behind during a long vacation. She shrugged a little, helplessly, then stepped toward them and held up her hand. Moon Wolf followed suit, Mani scraping the air with his antler. She wished that she could hear them, but no sounds came out.

"We'll be okay," she reassured them. "I'll watch what I say, and flatter him, and do everything right." She pretended to touch Moon Wolf's hand. "We'll come back, I promise."

She hated the look that he gave her, even though Mani's was even worse. She saw the manitou whistle, and made sure to wave at him. He stamped a hoof as she turned away, gesturing slightly at Winter Born as the two of them followed after the bear. A brilliant flash made Charmian jump, and she glanced back once more; Moon Wolf was busily tossing blue fireballs at the barrier, Mani attempting to crack it with his antler, though both with no luck whatsoever. She suppressed a sigh and turned away again. The bear by now was far ahead of them, turning another bend in the rough trail, and she picked up her pace, more worried about the others than about herself.

She and Winter Born walked side by side through the dark woods; she glanced up at the trees, and out between them, but saw no friendly manitous anywhere. She didn't see any manitous at all. "Maybe they all hide around here," she murmured aloud, Winter Born glancing up at her.

"Huh?" she said; then, before Charmian could answer, "Charmian...what are you going to say to the wabano? They said you have to flatter him...?" When Charmian nodded she frowned a little. "Does that mean you're going to lie then?"

Charmian blinked, suddenly remembering Winter Born's fit back in the voyageurs' camp--Mother and Father taught me NEVER to lie! "Well...I don't know. I figured I'd be able to come up with some sort of compliment." She lowered her voice. "Like for that bear...I could say she has menace in spades! Though don't go repeating that to anyone..."

"Spades," Winter Born said thoughtfully, then shrugged. "I guess." She fiddled her fingers. "Charmian...I'm sorry if I'm being trouble. I know you didn't want to bring me along..."

"You're not being any trouble," Charmian insisted. "I'm just...worried about you getting hurt, is all."

"But I know how to take care of myself," Winter Born insisted.

"Yeah, but you're still little." Charmian sighed; she hated this conversation. She could even remember her parents having it with her, the very first time she'd wanted to go to a sleepover. As if a sleepover could compare to facing an evil medicine man in the middle of a creepy forest with giant Lynxes surrounding them, but still... "And Black Elk Horn would KILL me if anything happened to you," she added, feeling a bite of anxiety. She couldn't get his enraged scream out of her head.

Winter Born lowered her own head. "I miss Father," she murmured. "I hope he's okay."

"I'm sure he's fine." Charmian kept scanning the woods for any other signs of life; the Makwamosa shuffled along ahead of them, apparently ignoring their conversation, though she wouldn't put eavesdropping past her. "In fact he's probably as pissed off as anything..."

Silence resumed for a moment or two. "Charmian," Winter Born said again, "I'm sorry that he treated you that way," and when Charmian gave her a puzzled look she met her eyes. "Father," she clarified. "I remember how he talked about you before you came back..."

"Oh?" Charmian shrugged and waved at her. "It's okay. I know he doesn't like me very much."

"Still..." Winter Born turned so that she walked sideways. "You've done so many things for the Island! Good things! Mother's always telling me stories about you. I've been wanting to meet you for years! But Father, well..." She trailed off for a moment, fiddling with one braid and lowering her eyes. "He doesn't really like those stories much...he said I should learn other stories."

"And you should listen to him," Charmian said. "I bet he has some good things to say. I'm not nearly as fantastic as it sounds like they make me!"

"But still!" Winter Born said again, and now started walking backwards. "I don't understand why he doesn't like you. I mean, you do so much...I said once that I wanted to do things just like you...help the Island and everything!" Charmian suppressed a grimace; Winter Born's mood deflated a bit again. "But he didn't like it when I said that...why doesn't he like you very much? I mean, I know he cares about the Island, a lot, so why doesn't he like you? You care about the Island just about as much..."

"I don't think it's that he hates me or anything," Charmian said, earning a look; she stared off into space, although keeping the Bearwalker in sight. "He's just doing what you said. Caring about the Island."

Winter Born's brow furrowed. "By not liking you? I don't get it."

Charmian shrugged. "Your dad...has kind of a weird way of seeing things. He was on the Island way before any of us mainlanders showed up. So he remembers what it was like. I think he just doesn't want things to change too much. People like me come to the Island, and it changes. I think he doesn't care for that."

"But stuff changes all the time," Winter Born said. "Trees change, frogs change, minks change..."

"I know," Charmian said. "But some things change too much...and some things change for the worse." She gestured at the path they walked along. "The last time I was on the Island, you wouldn't believe what Main Street looked like. It was a LOT messier than it is now--all muddy and unkempt--all sorts of disorganized people everywhere--and I saw prostitutes! I swear they must have been prostitutes!" When Winter Born furrowed her brow and tilted her head curiously, her ears grew warm. "Um...have your mother tell you when you're older."

Winter Born frowned, then turned and started walking normally again. "Ohhhh," she said.

Charmian blinked, but cleared her throat and continued. "Anyway...it was a total mess...just chaos. That's what happens sometimes when things change. It changed again since I've been gone...I think it looks nicer now. But I bet your dad remembers when there was no town there at all, and it was just your people living there."

"But what's so wrong with your people?" Winter Born asked. "You seem like nice people. You, and Francois, and Monsieur Justin, and everybody."

Charmian blushed a little, rubbing her neck. "Well...I'm glad you say that...but not everybody is so nice...especially not where I came from...you remember the guy in the red coat?" Winter Born nodded. "Well, he came from a place where there were some not very nice people..."

"Oh," Winter Born said again, tilting her head. "You mean that's why he was in such a mood? I thought he was cranky, but didn't know why. I thought maybe he was homesick or something. You mean he didn't mean any of that stuff he said?"

"Well..." Charmian bit her lip. "I can't be sure. Some people are just jerks that way, and it can't be helped. But people usually get to be jerks because they met other people who weren't that nice. I think that happened to him. And your dad, he's worried that it'll happen to you guys. I think he just wants things to be the way they were before. Truthfully, I think I kind of agree with him." She blinked again, surprised that it was so.

"You mean you wish you'd never seen the Island?" Winter Born asked in equal surprise.

Charmian's face grew hot. "Well..." She fiddled with her vest. "Sometimes I do have to wonder if the Island would've been better off if none of us had ever discovered it," she said at last, hating the taste of the words in her mouth, but wondering just the same.

Winter Born's brow furrowed even more. A snuffling noise came from ahead and they both jumped a little; the bear turned her head, one eye glinting at them, then pointed with her nose.

You seek Mishosha, the wabano...? Then look no further than here.

Charmian blinked, then started stepping forward again. Winter Born kept close behind as they circled the bear at a good distance and peered ahead. It took Charmian a moment to make out the lodge set back among the trees, at the base of what appeared to be a steep stone bluff; the forest was so dense that she couldn't see where the cliff began or ended. The wigwam looked like any ordinary wigwam, but its position reminded her of the wabano Snow Bear's odd home on the Island--a wigwam inside a cave--or even of Moon Wolf's residence in Cave of the Woods. Moon Wolf had no wigwam...but still...

"He lives in there?" she asked, looking at the bear; the bear's nostrils flared and she snorted again.

What, you're afraid now...?

Charmian ground her teeth. "No," she said, and grasped Winter Born's wrist, making her gasp. "Come on." She started walking, but made certain to keep a slight distance away from the bear. Nevertheless, as soon as they got around her, she mock-snapped at them and they both gasped and sped up a bit. The Makwamosa snuffled in amusement and Charmian ground her teeth again.

She halted at the doorway and gingerly lifted the edge of the flap. "Hello...?" she murmured, then, when nothing leapt out to bite off her nose, she lifted it all the way and peered inside. "Hello? Anyone?" She squinted, but saw nothing distinct.

"Maybe he's out," Winter Born suggested, her voice quavery.

He is very much within, the Bearwalker replied. Are you just going to stand around and wait all day? Because Mishosha has better things to do than wait for an audience.

"Oh, shut up," Charmian said, before realizing that she'd said it only in her head, and then feeling relief. "This isn't some sort of trick?" she said instead, glaring at the bear over her shoulder.

The bear snorted. You think he has to stoop to petty trickery? Believe me, he could have done away with you long ago had he wished. As it so turns out...he's rather asked that you be kept alive. And her glittering eyes focused on Winter Born.

Charmian glanced down at her, suddenly tense. Winter Born's own eyes grew and she clung even more tightly to Charmian's hand. "H-huh--?" she blurted out, edging closer to Charmian. "Wh-why me?"

Another snort. He has his reasons. She looked at Charmian next, and Charmian could have sworn that she saw amusement there. And someone asked that YOU be allowed to live, as well.

"Me--?" Charmian exclaimed, even more confused now. Truth be told, why the wabano would want Winter Born of all people kept alive confused her more than enough.

The bear merely gestured with her nose. So, are you backing out then...?

Charmian clenched her fist. "No!" she grumbled, and stepped inside the doorway, Winter Born in tow. They entered the main room of the wigwam and found themselves looking at...practically nothing. Charmian hurried to look behind them to see if the doorway was being blocked, only to see the Bearwalker entering as well; she turned to look at the walls more closely, and at last noticed, at the far back of the lodge, an opening in the wall. She went over to examine it and discovered a low but wide entrance into the rock wall, and her shoulders sank.

"A tunnel," she murmured. "Why am I not surprised."

"Old Man Mishosha lives in a tunnel?" Winter Born asked in awe.

"Come on," Charmian said, taking her hand again and starting into it. "Our audience awaits, and stuff." She lifted her free hand and flames started licking around her fingers.

They almost immediately went out, as if in a strong breeze, and she halted, blinking at her hand in surprise. "Fire--!" she said aloud this time, but after the briefest flicker, her hand returned to normal. She shook it as if it were a finicky lighter. "What the..."

A snorting noise just behind them made them both jump. You think to enter the realm of Mishosha and call upon the manitous as if YOU command them? the Bearwalker said. Need I remind you of your place?

Charmian bared her teeth. "Hey! That's MY fire, I'll have you know! Wabun himself gave it to me!"

And as soon as she said this, her fingers lit up again, illuminating the tunnel. She stared at them, perplexed, before noticing that even the Bearwalker seemed surprised by this; then she started moving again before she could end up regretting it.

Flattery, she reminded herself. Moon Wolf said that's how wabanos respond best. But I SUCK at flattery! I must be the lousiest liar...what will I be able to say to impress him, then? Because if he sees through my lies, I'll have to find SOME way to keep going...

Someone should tell you that you think far too much, and leave it at that.

Charmian sucked in a breath and halted, Winter Born letting out a small cry when she ran into her. Her head jerked up and she saw an opening ahead, lit just slightly brighter than the tunnel they were in; the light flickered and made her think of Ocryx's caves under the Island. She found herself just now wondering if they were beneath this island, and she felt a chill settle in her chest.

"What keeps you?" a voice called out from the cave ahead. "I thought you wanted an audience."

Charmian blinked, then let out her breath. The voice sounded rather smirky, but not much more threatening than that; if that was Mishosha, then perhaps there wasn't much to worry about. The bear growled a little and she started walking again, taking Winter Born with her; they approached the entryway and slowed down once more, and Charmian made sure that Winter Born was positioned safely behind her, in case he might try something. She remembered how Stick-In-The-Dirt had reacted on her last trip, when finding her in the company of Snow Bear; he'd been convinced that the old medicine man was using some sort of entrancing spell on her. She squeezed Winter Born's wrist, wishing that she'd bothered to ask Moon Wolf more about wabanos.

Winter Born--anything you can tell me about wabanos or medicine men? What I should expect? What he might try?

I--I'm not sure, Winter Born thought back. She seemed surprised to be able to communicate with Charmian in such a way, yet said nothing of it. I haven't learned much yet...but Father says to keep away from the old men...he says they like to enchant girls and keep them as their wives!

Charmian made a face. "Sorry I asked," she muttered, and stepped into the room.

The entrance was almost anticlimactic. She frowned and looked around; it was like any other cave, except that it was modestly furnished, similar to Old Mother Manitou's lodgings in Sugar Loaf Rock. She saw a few pallets, and some various herbs and pouches dangling from sticks set high in the walls, and a small stack of bound furs and birchbarks, and a small fire burning in a niche set in the far wall, not far from another opening. A glance up showed her various little crystals set in more niches, dimly illuminating the room like lamps.

Winter Born peered out from behind her. "I was kind of expecting a monster or something," she admitted, brow furrowed.

"Me too," Charmian said, feeling a bit stupid.

She heard a snort and felt a waft of hot air pass over her, only it came from the left, not from the bear still behind them. Hair prickling, she whirled around and was confronted by a bear even bigger than the one she'd just seen. Its eyes glittered malevolent blue--and then its great mouth opened and showed its dripping teeth in a ghastly smile.

Continue:

Part 84: Old Man Mishosha  (13+) Charmian and Winter Born face the mighty medicine man Mishosha on his home turf... #1600093 by Tehuti, Lord Of The Eight

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