Part 58: Reunion On The River

Main story folder & table of contents: "Escape From Manitou Island" 
Previous chapter: "Part 57: Dreamspinning For Beginners" 

PART FIFTY-EIGHT:
Reunion On The River

THERE ARE THREE ways for you to stay in a dreaming state, Chakenapok said. You can keep sleeping, you can come to the brink of death, or you can have a vision.

There was a brief pause. "Is that all," Charmian said after a moment.

The Red Swan clasped her hands together. "Now you see--? Why this is so dangerous--? Surely your Island will be fine a little bit longer without you--?"

Charmian whirled toward her. "No, it won't! I've done all kinds of crap for that Island and I'm hardly getting torn away from it now!" She glared back up at the ceiling. "Chakenapok! How the heck do I do any of this?! I'm not really in the mood for nearly DYING!"

You have had a vision before, Chakenapok said. Perhaps this is your best bet.

Charmian gnawed on her lip. "But I've never had one that lasted for days," she said. "And I've never been awake while having one..."

Sleeping and having a vision are two different things, Chakenapok said. Some of the greatest medicine men perform their feats while in the midst of a waking vision. You need only to find out how you can do this.

Charmian squinched her eyes shut. "Well--easy enough for you to say, since you're DEAD!"

I am not dead, Chakenapok said in a cross voice. I am simply not alive.

Charmian felt like clawing her eyes out. "Okay then--so how does one have a waking vision? What kind of stuff do you need to pull that off--? I'm guessing a lot of training is involved..."

Having a powerful medicine helps, Chakenapok said. To maintain a vision for an extended period, while also maintaining one's wakefulness, requires much power.

"I don't have much power," Charmian protested. "All I have is what I ask from others--and they aren't being the most helpful lately!" She blinked. "Oh," she said, and meekly lifted her hand. "And I have this..."

Flames appeared atop her fingers, and she heard the other two take in a breath; the Red Swan leaned closer to look at her, as if she'd never seen fire before. You have fire medicine, now--? Chakenapok asked, sounding surprised.

Charmian nodded, rubbing at her head. "Yeah...sort of. Wabun gave it to me...he said it could help me when none of the manitous will...but still, it's not much of a medicine. I mean, basically, it's what I could do before, it's just that now I don't have to ask for it all the time." She shook the flames out.

Still, Chakenapok said, this is more medicine than what you started out with. Perhaps it can help you.

"But it's just elemental medicine," Charmian protested.

Medicine is medicine. The only difference is in how you use it. You are more attuned to fire...and so you utilize fire. The power behind the medicine is the same. You can draw on this to try to maintain your vision. All that is left is for you to enter a vision state.

"I think I can do that," Charmian said somewhat doubtfully. "I'm not sure how to actually keep awake while doing it...but maybe Shore or Tooth or somebody can help me..." She sighed. "If Moon Wolf were here, I know he could help me. He's the most powerful medicine man I know." Her shoulders sank, then she shook her head and forced herself to stand upright again. "But he's not...so I'll do it on my own. He's always told me I should learn to do more things on my own, anyway."

"If your medicine fails, then you'll lose your connection to me," the Red Swan said sadly.

Charmian shrugged a little. "If I don't try...then I lose it anyway! The worst that'll happen is I'll snap out of it." She paused, and looked at the other woman closely. "Isn't it...?"

Whichever it is that you decide to do, you should do it soon, Chakenapok said. While you're still relaxed. The chances of you entering a vision state once you're active again are very slim.

"The quarry sounds like a good place," Charmian said. "That's where we're headed anyway. Maybe I can get a bit of peace there. I guess it's the best shot I have." She chewed her lip. "You'll try to keep a hold of me when I wake up...?"

The Red Swan nodded. "I'll...I'll try," she said. "Though I don't know how well I can do..."

Try not to wake yourself up abruptly, and try not to engage in anything too strenuous, Chakenapok said. Keep yourself as relaxed as you can. It's not a dream state, but I feel this Dreamspinner's medicine may be just strong enough to stay connected to you, unless you should rouse yourself too much. This is all that either of us can do.

"Thanks, Chakenapok," Charmian said, looking at the Red Swan and taking in a deep breath. She let it out as the woman in red tilted her head to the side curiously. "Whooooo...I think I'm going to try sort of waking up now," she said. "But just enough to tell Shore or somebody not to wake me up too hard when we get to the--"

Something jostled her shoulder and her eyes popped open--she saw the color blue--then she blinked and saw the Red Swan in front of her again. "Careful!!" she hissed; Charmian had to blink a few more times before remembering that she was dreaming. The Red Swan gave her a panicked look. "Remember what he just said!" she urged. "Wake up slowly!"

Charmian's brow furrowed. "But--I was going to," she said. "Before somebody--"

Something jarred against her again; this time she forced her eyes to stay shut, ground her teeth together, and hissed, "Knock it off!! I'm sleeping!!"

"I thought you wanted to wake up if anything happened," Walks-On-The-Shore's voice said.

Charmian nearly gouged her fingernails into her palms, then told herself not to. "I want to wake up slowly," she said, realizing only now how slurred her voice seemed. "Is that too much to ask...?"

"Well, all right, slowly," Walks-On-The-Shore said. "Then you may slowly be interested in slowly addressing those canoes approaching us from the west. Slowly."

Charmian's eyes opened again, wide. She again saw blue; what was that--? She slowly raised a hand, felt at her eyes, and realized that the flap of her pack was open, and resting upon her face. She let out a breath. "Canoes...?" she murmured, gently lifting the flap and sitting up as gradually as she could. She peered back at the Huron with her eyes only half open; he pursed his lips, and gave her a very odd look, but then nodded and pointed.

"That west," he said. "You might want to look slowly."

Charmian turned her head to do so. And then, despite what Chakenapok had just told her, her eyes shot all the way open and a gasp escaped her.

* * * * *

Winter Born leaned over the edge of the canoe, one hand trailing in the water, her other hand sometimes open, sometimes clasped shut. Thomas could just barely see the little carved pinecone in her palm. He tried not to look at it too long, as it kept reminding him of Charmian...and he kept wondering what she was doing right now. And as soon as he wondered what she was doing, he wondered if she was really doing anything at all...and then he wondered...

Marten rolled over onto his side, sniffling and rubbing at his nose. "I miss Charmian," he said, and Thomas took in a sharp breath, feeling his eyes sting. Everyone in the canoe turned to look at him and he blinked, then bit into the inside of his mouth hard enough to draw blood, which wasn't too hard, considering that he bore fangs. Marten and Winter Born seemed to see the hardness enter his eyes, and both shied away a bit.

"Stop worrying," he said, his voice sharper than he'd intended. "She's fine. Wherever she is."

Silence. Winter Born stared at him for a moment, then turned back to the water. "I know she is," she murmured, but even her voice didn't sound as convinced; she opened her palm and stared at the pinecone. "I'll keep watching this for her," she said, a bit more confidently, and resumed staring at it with great intensity.

Silence settled over the river again. Thomas lifted his head to stare at Francois, who still sat in the front of the canoe, slipping his paddle into the water on the right, then on the left, back and forth again. He wished that he could tell what the voyageur was thinking, but couldn't; he couldn't even tell if he agreed with the comment or not. He'd seemed so confident before that she was fine. Why didn't he speak up now--?

"I would recommend we keep all talking to a minimum now, mes amis," he said quietly.

Thomas's brow furrowed. "What is it...?" X'aaru, swimming alongside the canoes with only his head sticking out of the water, asked.

"Is...is there something bad here...?" Peepaukawiss whispered, shivering and glancing around himself anxiously.

Francois glanced back at them briefly. "Perhaps, perhaps not. But it's best to be safe." He turned back to the river. "Just keep moving, and keep quiet. We will be entering enemy land soon. Perhaps if we are quiet, we might slip through unnoticed."

That's a big maybe, Thomas thought, but kept the thought to himself, picking up another paddle and putting it in the water.

"What sort of enemies are we talking about...?" he managed to whisper as they passed under the low-hanging branches of a tree. "Is it the Iroquois Charmian was speaking of...?"

Francois glanced over his shoulder again, not missing a stroke. "This should be the border of the land of the Senecas," he said back quietly. "There is a neutral area nearby, but it does not always apply to non-natives. We would do best to try to pass through unnoticed, which means we might have to take cover and sail at night."

Thomas bit the inside of his mouth again. He really didn't like the sound of that...

He glanced up, to see Kenu flying far overhead, then down at the water; X'aaru could have passed for a large dog, and Mani had apparently disappeared, but Mishupishu was another story; even from this distance he could see two long coppery horns traveling behind them. At least the Lynx could go under the water, but the Thunderbird was starting to concern him. "What about him--?" he whispered, pointing skyward. "It's easy enough for us to hide, and for the Lynx to hide, but--"

"CANOES!" Kenu bellowed, making them all jump; they could just barely make out the word, as when he said it, a loud clap of thunder sounded, nearly disguising his voice. Thomas actually saw Francois's eyes goggle before he slapped the paddle into the water and began rowing faster than Thomas would have thought possible; he winced at the pain that shot through his arm when his own paddle was nearly left behind, and picked up his pace as well. Francois glared at him over his shoulder and Thomas blinked at the livid look there.

"Would you mind telling that thing to quiet down?" he hissed.

"C-c-canoes--?!" Puka started chattering and gnawing on his fingernails. "What's THAT mean--?"

Manabozho picked up a paddle and waved it threateningly. "It means we'll toss you to them if you don't SHUT UP--!"

"Maybe we can go back and hide under that tree!" Winter Born suggested, her eyes wide. "Or another tree--?"

Augwak dug his claws into the back of the canoe. "Maybe I can just EAT them!"

Francois opened his mouth to speak, but then the canoes rounded a bend in the river, and he turned back around. Thomas's paddling slowed to a stop as soon as he saw the small flotilla of canoes in the distance, heading straight for them; perhaps a moment ago, hiding would have been possible, but by now, it was out of the question. Francois said something under his breath; Thomas couldn't understand it, but he was pretty sure it would have passed nicely as a curse.

Winter Born let out a small noise and shrank down into the canoe, taking Marten with her.

Thomas saw Moon Wolf crook his arm, his fingers starting to glow, just as Niskigwun lifted his spear; Francois dropped the paddle and reached down into the canoe to pull out his gun. He lifted it to his eye and pointed it at the lead canoe headed their way. X'aaru started bristling and Mani reappeared out of the water, flaring his nostrils and lifting his antlers; only now did Thomas realize just how woefully unprepared they were for normal combat, what with only one gun to speak of, and only one person who really seemed to know combative medicine. Manabozho smacked at Puka and held up his own hands, Puka reluctantly following suit, but that didn't boost Thomas's confidence much; he raised his own hand and ground his teeth together, feeling ice crystals start to form on his fingertips.

The canoes moved closer and they could see that they were manned by natives in strange dress, one in the lead canoe reclining as if sleeping or hurt. Thomas saw their heads pop up as soon as they were spotted, and a yell was raised, passing from canoe to canoe; he saw a few bows appear, and felt his throat go tight. Francois continued staring down the barrel of his gun as their own canoes drifted downriver, toward the strange ones.

Another small shape popped up in one of the middle canoes, then there was a bit of commotion as the people in it moved around. Thomas crooked his fingers, when a faraway voice suddenly yelled out, "Francois! Thomas! Stick!"

Everyone seemed to blink at once. Even from his vantage point behind him, Thomas could see Francois's eyes go wide and his finger hesitate on the trigger; "GUYS!" the voice yelled this time, and something in the middle canoe waved frantically. A second later it stood up shakily, still waving, and Thomas sucked in a breath when he thought he saw the color orange-red.

Winter Born saw it too and leaned forward, her mouth falling open. "Is that--?"

"Charmian...?" Thomas whispered.

The little figure halted waving with one arm and switched to the other. "It's ME!" it yelled, and by now he recognized her voice, beyond a doubt. "Charmian!"

"Ch--Charmian--?" Thomas blurted out loud; everyone looked at him, but he didn't even notice them. He clambered to his feet, Francois, Winter Born, Marten, and Augwak bracing themselves when the canoe bobbed dangerously from side to side; he jumped into the water with a terrific splash, making X'aaru yelp and paddle to the side. When his head popped out of the water, gasping for breath, he saw the others gawking at him; then something splashed near him, and when he blinked the water from his eyes he could just barely see Winter Born, padding away ahead of him. He sputtered and followed, pumping his arms and kicking his legs. Between strokes he kept glancing at the canoes ahead, seeing them bobbing ever closer, and in the midst of all the unfamiliar faces he spotted hers at last, her eyes wide and alight and a smile beaming across her face. She waved at him.

"THOMAS!" she yelled; he wanted to yell back, but couldn't risk sucking in a mouthful of water.

In Charmian's canoe, she stood shakily but waved her hands wildly with a cry of glee; Walks-On-The-Shore and the Seneca grasped onto its sides, gritting their teeth as it pitched. She spotted the gun that Francois held and almost panicked for a brief moment; then he turned to set it beside him, and pulled out something else instead. She blinked and stopped waving for a moment when he waved something small at the air; her brow furrowed in confusion, but Tooth sat up immediately, squinting at it hard. He let out a gusty sigh and fell back in the canoe with a thud.

"A pipe!" he groaned. "I've been needing a smoke..."

"What's wrong with my S'mores--?" Charmian panted, clambering forward in the little canoe and digging around in the few supplies in the bottom, pulling out a piece of white deerskin and getting up again to wave it around.

Tooth made a face at her from his own canoe. "Try eating Summorse when your head is throbbing and your HEART is about to fall out!"

Charmian rolled her eyes. "Baby!" She moved to the other side of the canoe and waved the skin. "Hey! Hi! PEACE!"

"I think they get it," Walks-On-The-Shore said, and she blushed and quickly sat back down. She clapped her hands together excitedly.

"Those are the people I've been looking for!" she exclaimed for Tooth's benefit, as Francois lowered the pipe and picked up his paddle yet again. She couldn't stop beaming. "I KNEW they'd come to find me! I ALWAYS knew!"

"Well..." Tooth lay back again. "Just be glad they aren't as smart as they SHOULD be! Wandering around in this territory..." He peered at the other canoes again, grumbling under his breath. "Better have good tobacco..."

Charmian was in too much of a good mood to be bothered. Thomas at last reached them, and she hurried to hold her hands out for him when he grasped onto the side of her canoe, gasping and coughing; she and Walks-On-The-Shore worked to pull him up inside, and he collapsed beside her, trying to catch his breath. Charmian grinned at him, then let out a short scream when something popped out of the water on the other side, Winter Born springing up otterlike and hopping into the canoe without any assistance. She grinned from ear to ear as she wrung out her dripping braids.

"Charmian!" she exclaimed, and threw her arms around her; Charmian stiffened momentarily, then hugged her back. "I knew we'd find you! I knew you were okay! Thomas did too! Didn't you, Thomas--?"

Charmian turned to look at him, surprise on her face. Thomas peered back up at her, still panting and wet; the look on his face was a little ashamed. She blinked, then her smile returned.

"Of course he did," she said, and leaned down to hug him tight. She sensed his surprise at the gesture, but he didn't push her away. "I knew you guys'd come and get me," she said, as if to him alone, and felt him hug her back.

"You look rather like you didn't need to be gotten," he said, as soon as she pulled away.

She grinned so widely that her eyes squinted, and gestured at the natives paddling the canoes. "Oh yeah! These are my new friends! That whiny guy over there is Tooth and I guess this is his band!"

Thomas rolled his eyes, although he seemed more amused than anything. "Why am I not surprised that you've already made friends out of everybody here!"

"Does he need some sort of doctor...?" Winter Born asked when the two sets of canoes pulled abreast of each other, several of the others peering uncertainly at Tooth when he let out a loud moan. Charmian rolled her eyes this time.

"He'll be fine. I think it's his head that'll hurt most when this is all over. Oh!" She pointed toward the more northerly bank. "That's right! We were going to stop over there until you guys might come by, because Tooth says there's a pipestone quarry and it's neutral territory. I think we should pull over there for now."

"Francois said much the same thing," Thomas said, the three of them watching as Stick-In-The-Dirt carefully made his way into Tooth's canoe and stooped over him with a frown. "Though it rather looks like you've got the peace thing clinched!"

"All I had to do was offer them some S'mores," Charmian said, earning an odd look. She shook her head and waved again at the bank. "We can tend to Tooth over there! Oh, yeah--you won't believe all the stuff we've been through! There was this bear, and fireballs, and then I ran into Singing Cedars again, you remember him? It turns out he lives not too far away and..."

She continued chattering as the canoes made their way to the northerly bank, their occupants jumping out and pulling them ashore under the trees. Stick-In-The-Dirt hovered off to the side while two of the Seneca helped Tooth from his canoe, still groaning loudly, and settled him in a bed of grass; Thomas, Charmian, and Winter Born all walked ashore at the same time, several of the others coming close to look them over as if to make sure that Charmian were really there. She gesticulated.

"...And it probably would've killed me if Cedars hadn't shown up," she said.

"I rather thought he was a coward," Thomas said.

She blinked, then shook her head vehemently. "No he's not! He just--um--he's just a little cautious, is all! Anyway..." She patted Winter Born on the head when the girl tugged on her vest, and Winter Born beamed again. "That's when we decided to head to Niagara Falls, because his grandma heard that the East Wind lived back there, and it turns out she was right--but that was when we ran into Tooth and his guys--right, Tooth--?"

"AAAAGGGHHHH!!" Tooth yelled at the air, startling Stick-In-The-Dirt, who was trying to see to his injury. "I'M DYING!!" He grasped at Francois's leg when the voyageur attempted to pass. "You got good tobacco?!"

"--And he wasn't such a bad guy, once you get past all the fireballs and glowing clothes and stuff," Charmian went on obliviously, Thomas--and the others who gathered around them--trying hard to keep up. "He even gave me some of his own medicine to use! And he said that he doesn't know where Kabeyun is--but he does know where Kabebonikka is--so once we get back to Lake Superior, we should--"

"Lake Superior--?" Thomas echoed, brow furrowing.

She nodded. "Oh, yeah! You don't know. That's where we have to start out from, to find Kabebonikka, because there's this funky tunnel to his mountain--he lives in a mountain, by the way, but you can't reach it unless you take this Weaver tunnel--and the best way to get there is from this island out in the middle of the lake, kind of like Manitou Island--and there's this strange lady there dressed all in red and she's the one who spins dreams there--"

"Lady in red--?" Winter Born echoed, her eyes going wide.

Charmian nodded without even looking at her. "--And she needs us to come free her, so I decided that I would...oh...CRAP!" All of the blood suddenly drained from her face, and Thomas and Winter Born stared at her in bewilderment. She clapped her hands to her face and suddenly looked ready to cry. "I can't believe I FORGOT!"

"Forgot what...?" they both asked.

Charmian lowered her hands just a bit and stared back at them with watering eyes. She gnawed on her lip. "I wanted to keep a connection to the lady in red," she said miserably, "but to do so, I have to be in a dream state! I was going to try to keep kind of half asleep until I could have a vision!" She covered her eyes again, squinching them shut. "I forgot and woke all the way up in the commotion! I LOST her!"

Winter Born and Thomas looked at each other, then back at her. "Can't you find her again...?" Winter Born asked.

Charmian wiped at one eye and scowled. "It's a wonder I found her the FIRST time! She doesn't spin dreams in this land, and she said she couldn't connect to me until I did with her...I can't feel her anywhere..." She groaned in frustration. "I can't believe I did something so stupid! Now I have to have a full vision!" She turned away from them before they could speak and stomped off toward the trees. They blinked before hurrying to follow.

"A vision--?" Thomas blurted out.

"Haven't you had one already--?" Winter Born asked.

Charmian jerked her head. "I had one, but I need another one now! It's the only way I can keep in touch with her. A waking vision! I'm not even sure I know how to do that!" She glanced back at them, biting her lip. "I'm going into the quarry! Tell the others that I can't be bothered...but tell Moon Wolf to come along. Maybe he can help me." She turned away again. "I don't know how long this will take...but I hope it doesn't take forever. We don't have forever," she mumbled, her voice trailing off as she disappeared into the woods.

Thomas and Winter Born trailed to a stop, staring in the direction that she'd gone in, before glancing at each other once more, sighing, and turning back to where the makeshift camp was being made.

"Her last vision took days," Thomas murmured.

Winter Born fiddled her fingers. "Do we have days...?"

He didn't answer, and she lowered her stare to the ground again. They trudged all the way back in silence, though they did glance over their shoulders more than once, their eyes worried, and not just for Charmian.

Continue:

Part 59: Borrowed Medicine  (13+) Charmian gets an unexpected helping hand with her vision... #1477271 by Tehuti, Lord Of The Eight

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