Whiskey Jack
CHARMIAN'S WORDS DIED in her throat when she found herself staring at the strange rock formation in the middle of the woods not far from the river. For she had just been staring at Manabozho...but now Manabozho was utterly gone. Both she and Singing Cedars jumped a little bit, then started wildly looking all around. The two okis seemed just as confused, heads swiveling and ears flicking as they whistled.
"Manabozho--?" Charmian cried, then started turning in circles. "MANABOZHO! Where did you go? This isn't funny! Knock it off!!"
"He can just disappear like that--?" Singing Cedars exclaimed.
"I wouldn't put it past him," Charmian said, "but it hardly seems like his style at a time like this!" She turned back to the rock. "He was so gung ho about facing whatever's here before! Why would he just bail out--?"
"No offense intended, but he seems rather unreliable when he's needed most," Singing Cedars pointed out. "You're sure he wouldn't change his mind and pull a disappearing trick, just to look good--?"
Charmian opened her mouth, then shut it, turning to look at a movement which she caught from the corner of her eye. They both watched as a small brown rabbit came hopping quickly toward them, then poof--with a little spray of glitter, Manabozho reappeared, his eyes livid and his teeth bared. He clenched his fists and his feathers flared out in both directions.
"THE NERVE! Doing that to ME!" he snarled. "What sort of pathetic manitou lives here after ALL--?"
"You mean that the spirit made you disappear like that--?" Charmian asked, confused. "But--why you and not us--?"
"He touched the rock," Singing Cedars said, pointing at the rock formation.
Charmian glanced at it, perplexed. "But so did I..."
"No you didn't, you pulled away before you could. Maybe that Pakwa friend of yours did the same thing, and touched the rock--? Maybe it's a rock oki--manitou," he corrected himself, seeming uncertain. "And maybe we're trespassing."
"Oh." Charmian bit her lip. "Maybe! It makes sense...but why would it keep hiding itself--?"
"Maybe because it's a COWARD?" Manabozho shouted, clenching his fists and stomping toward the rock. He shook one fist at it. "YOU HEAR ME? Do you even know who I am, you stupid pile of rubble? I'm the GREAT RABBIT! NO ONE makes me disappear without my permission!" He reached out toward the formation. "If you even try such a thing again you--"
His voice vanished just as promptly as he did. Charmian and Singing Cedars didn't jump back this time, as they'd rather been expecting it; that didn't make it any less perplexing, however, and they wandered around the accessible sides of the rock a bit. The deadfall of trees blocked the back section of it from exploration, and Charmian wondered how far back it went. The land ahead threatened to get swampy, and she didn't like the thought of trudging through there for what might be a useless reason.
"Well," Singing Cedars said, "I think we've figured out the how, if not the who or why."
"I'm thinking you're right on one thing, at least," Charmian said, "and that's that it's a rock manitou, whoever it is, seeing as it seems to live here or think a lot of this place. See if you can poke at the trees and stuff a bit without touching the rock, would you? Maybe we can find some sort of opening somewhere."
Singing Cedars began examining the left side of the deadfall and Charmian the right, the okis wandering off into the swamp to look further. Charmian managed to poke a few holes in the thick growths of moss and weeds, and thought that she could see something behind the logs, but couldn't be sure. She couldn't reach far enough back to clear a good view, and Singing Cedars didn't have much luck either.
Manabozho came storming back a moment later, red and fuming. "I'LL TEAR HIS HEAD OFF WHEN I FIND HIM!!" he roared, but Charmian managed to keep him from touching the rock a third time, shoving his hand away when he scowled at her.
"Hold on! Cripes, if you guys had stoves you'd be sticking your hand on the thing every damn day!" She turned to look at the rock formation. "Whoever's here, he wants us to know it, but he doesn't want us just wandering around anywhere. I get the feeling he's not hostile but he's not really welcoming either. How should we approach this? If he can make 'Bozho disappear then maybe he's powerful enough to help us."
Manabozho huffed. "Why would we NEED his help? Aren't I good enough--?"
"If you are, then how about showing us a way across that river?" Charmian retorted, and that silenced him, at least temporarily, though he did give her a very foul look. "Do me a favor and try looking around WITHOUT antagonizing the manitou, thank you very much!"
There was a whistle and the okis came wandering back. Singing Cedars pulled away from his section of fallen trees and looked at them, then turned to Charmian. "They say that the deadfall extends back about as far as a big longhouse, and all around it is swamp. They can't tell if the rock goes through the entire thing or not, though."
"Strange," Charmian sighed. "What sort of manitou would want to protect a deadfall? Unless..." She stood and stared at the rock formation for a while, gnawing on her lip, then walked from side to side looking at the trees. "Maybe it's not a deadfall after all," she said after a moment, uncertainly.
"What--?" Manabozho frowned. "What is it then, if not a deadfall?"
"I think it's that spirit's home."
"A spirit living in a deadfall?" Singing Cedars said.
Manabozho frowned. "Excuse me, but these trees are dead. Why would he live in something that's dead? Everyone knows that manitous draw their power from what they live within, and vice-versa. Living in a deadfall serves no purpose."
"That's why I don't think it is a deadfall," Charmian said. "I think it's just meant to LOOK like one!" She glanced at him. "Remember when you turned into a tree--? To keep Turtle away? Maybe this is along the same lines. Camouflage."
Singing Cedars grew thoughtful now and leaned forward to peer more closely at it. "That would be ingenious," he murmured.
Manabozho began huffing again, noticing that he was no longer the center of attention. "INGENIOUS my foot! WHATEVER that word means! I'm sure it doesn't apply to whoever created THIS pile of logs! YOU HEAR ME?!" He yelled up at the rock formation again. "I CAN DO A WHOLE LOT MORE THAN PILE UP A BUNCH OF DEADWOOD! BELIEVE IT--!" He kicked the rock and, before he could yell in pain, disappeared.
"Idiot," Charmian muttered, taking a step back; this time none of them even batted an eye. She bit her lip, then dug out her tobacco pouch and opened it. She poked at the remaining tobacco in silence for a moment, then let out a small sigh and examined the rock until she found an adequate ledge to deposit a small amount on. This she did, then stood back again, waving at Singing Cedars and the okis to do the same. They stared at it for a short while.
Singing Cedars began to fidget first, peering at her from the corner of his eye. "What exactly did you think would..."
He cut himself off when a creaking noise came from the rock. Charmian held her breath, expecting to see part of it come popping out or flipping to the side, which was why when nothing happened at first she felt a bite of disappointment. Then she blinked when a rounded knob of the rock started shimmering, then returned to normal. They stared at this now, baffled.
"Did you see that?" Charmian asked, just to make sure.
Singing Cedars nodded. "I...I'm not sure what it meant, though...!"
"I think maybe it was a sign!" Charmian said, stepping toward it. "Like 'Push Here,' or at least, 'Dry Your Feet Off First'!"
She reached out for the rock but Singing Cedars hurried forward to stop her. "Hold on! What if you disappear too--? We have no idea where that idiot even keeps going to, and remember that he's a spirit himself. Maybe he can bring himself back, but what if you can't?"
Charmian paused to think this over. "Well..."
The trees and undergrowth behind them began crashing and Manabozho came storming back into the clearing, tearing at his hair and screaming at the treetops. "I'M GOING TO MURDER HIM!!"
"Problem solved," Charmian said, Singing Cedars furrowing his brow in consternation as she turned away from the rock and approached the rampaging Manabozho. "Just who I wanted to see," she said, and grabbed his hand before he could start tearing up trees. She pulled him toward the rock formation and pointed out the section that had been glittering. "Touch that, right there."
He yanked his hand away. "Are you MAD? Like I'm going to go touching that monstrosity NOW! I'm going to just cut to the chase and DESTROY the stupid thing!!" He took a step back and held out his arms as if to call up an earthquake.
Charmian slapped at his hand, making him yelp and draw it back. "Dumbass! NOW you decide you won't touch it?! When you couldn't keep your hands off the stupid thing before? Just do something SMART for a change and TOUCH it right there!"
"I don't WANT to!" Manabozho snapped.
"DO IT!"
"YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!!"
Singing Cedars put his fingers to his mouth and whistled. Manabozho opened his mouth to speak, then yelped again when one of the okis rushed up behind him and butted him so that he fell forward. He grabbed at the rock to break his fall, then let out a scream when he fell through it and tumbled forward, disappearing from sight.
Charmian and Singing Cedars both gasped this time, then hurried forward to get a better look. Manabozho had again vanished, but this time he left an opening in the rock behind him. It was just big enough to crawl through, though Charmian didn't like the thought of the okis attempting it. She shared a look with Singing Cedars, then scuttled through before he could protest. She heard him sigh but follow her anyway.
She crawled through at least four or five feet of rock, then emerged in an opening in the woods, which just confused her. She wiped wet grass from her hands as she carefully got to her feet to look around, and her eyes grew; Singing Cedars emerged behind her, grumbling when he hit his head, and also stood up to dust himself off and look around. They frowned at each other.
To their sides and ahead of them, at about the same size that the okis had described, were what looked to be rough wooden walls formed of dead fallen trees piled against each other--deadfall walls. Yet they weren't in the midst of a deadfall. They stood apparently in the middle of some woods, but they weren't even like the woods they'd just vacated. Whereas outside it was dreary and mucky and virtually a swamp, not to mention snowing, in here it was moist but grassy and bright, as if sunlight were shining from some inexplicable source. The trees were still pines, but much smaller, their tops just reaching the top of the deadfall and the spaces between them much wider and easier to traverse. On noticing this, Charmian cringed and tossed an arm over her head, peering upwards anxiously.
"Crap!!" she cried. "It is a house but it's made OUT of the deadfall!! What if that thing falls on us--?!"
"You have MUCH bigger things to worry about!"
Both of them gasped and whirled around. Standing behind them was the interior of the rock formation's facade--or the back of it, at least--and Charmian saw that its top didn't touch the top of the deadfall. Somebody was crouched upon it, glaring down at them. The double feathers on his head flicked and Charmian furrowed her brow. "Manabozho--?"
She saw the odd look come to his face before he jumped down from the rock and landed on the ground just several paces from them. She gasped a little and took a step or two back without thinking when he approached--for he wasn't Manabozho after all. She didn't recognize his face whatsoever, and it took her a moment to figure out why she'd even thought that it was him in the first place. Her stare wandered up to look at the gray feathers he wore and she blinked a few times, confused.
"You're--you're not Manabozho," she said.
The stranger nearly scowled at her. "And who said I was?" He halted and crossed his arms, giving them a challenging look which made her take pause yet again--for the expression on his face was just like one that Manabozho would get.
Charmian tried to regather herself, it gave her such a strange feeling to be looking at him. "You look kind of like him..." she murmured as Singing Cedars came close, also looking him up and down in a perplexed manner. She gasped when she remembered that Manabozho was missing. "Where did he even go--?" she asked, looking around the large enclosure.
"If by he, you mean this buffoon," the stranger said, and flicked a hand at the air--there was a startled yell and Manabozho suddenly appeared, falling from the ceiling and hitting the ground with a thud some distance behind them, "then he's there. Same as you two, trespassing in my lodge!" He glared over his shoulder at the rock face. "I TOLD you not to let in strangers! Do you ever listen to me? NOOOO!"
Charmian's face screwed up and she whispered to Singing Cedars, "He even talks like Manabozho!"
"I...heard...that!" Manabozho muttered, pushing himself to his feet. He winced and rubbed at his shoulder, spotted them, then bared his teeth and came their way. "What's the meaning of this?" he yelled. "NOBODY does such humiliating things to me and gets away with it!!"
"Oh really?" the stranger said. "Then how come I did it three times?"
"Um...actually, you did it four times," Charmian corrected him; when he gave her a puzzled frown she pointed at the entrance in the rock wall. "When he finally got in, then came out of the ceiling..."
"Oh!" The stranger looked thoughtful while Manabozho fumed. "That's right. Four times?"
Manabozho tore at his hair. "I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW I'M A POWERFUL MANITOU, YOU INFANTILE LITTLE TWIT!!"
"OH BIG SURPRISE!" the stranger yelled right back, clenching his fists. "I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW I'M ONE TOO, IDIOT!!"
The two of them commenced shooting evil looks at each other, then they both started making strange signs in the air and flinging their hands outward as if throwing invisible water or something. Charmian didn't actually see anything happening; she peered at Singing Cedars and could tell that he saw nothing either. This went on for a moment or two, then both Manabozho and the stranger yelled as if they'd just been hurt, then they began mock-throwing at each other again.
"I'm hitting your spirit! I'm hitting your spirit!!" the stranger exclaimed.
"I'm crushing your heart! I'm crushing your heart!!" Manabozho shouted back.
Charmian rubbed her head, beyond confused by now. "Am I the only one who isn't getting it--?"
"I think they're just putting on a show!" Singing Cedars whispered to her. When she gave him a questioning look he shrugged. "I'm just guessing based on how your friend acts. This fellow acts just like him! I think they're both faking each other out!"
"Alike--?" Charmian's eyes suddenly grew, and she took in a breath and took a step forward. She moved to stand in between them; the stranger grimaced and drew his hands back, while Manabozho huffed and waved violently.
"GET OUT OF THE WAY BEFORE I HIT YOU!"
Charmian just stared at the now-baffled stranger for a moment, then turned to look at Manabozho, then back at the stranger again. Her brow furrowed and she nibbled on her lip, and tilted her head a bit, uncertain.
"Wisk...Wisk..." She racked her brain. "Whiskey Jack?" she said at last, frowning a little.
The stranger blinked, then stood up straight. "Wisakedjak!" he corrected her; and when she nodded, he raised his chin with a superior look. "Finally, someone who RECOGNIZES an important manitou when they see one!"
Manabozho looked ready to start tearing up the ground but Charmian turned away from him anyway. "So--it is you!" she exclaimed, still a little unsure, but as soon as she started talking she could tell that it must be so, based on how he reacted. "I heard about you and heard that you were the important manitou in these parts, but I didn't know if we'd actually run into you or anything--" he looked as if he wanted to start preening himself, he swelled up so much "--so when we sensed something in the north, I didn't even think it might be you--we've had a lot of really bad luck and..."
"Wait a minute--north?" Wisakedjak lowered his head and frowned at her. "Who are you, anyway?" Then he looked at Manabozho. "And who are YOU? What are you doing so cheerfully trying to knock down my lodge?" He leapt back and pointed at them, now including Singing Cedars in the group. "I GET IT NOW! THAT'S what this is all about! They've been trying for AGES to knock down my lodge but it's NOT going to happen! This is MY home and nobody knocks it down!"
"Well, he's as suspicious as those other people we met," Singing Cedars whispered.
"No, no, no!" Charmian cried, waving her arms. "That's not it! We were just looking for a way in--"
Another arm-swing. "TRESPASSERS!!"
Charmian tried a different tack. "We--we left tobacco! Didn't you see it--? Would we leave that if we wanted to knock your lodge down--?"
"Tobacco? Huh--?" Wisakedjak furrowed his brow at her, then his eyes grew. He turned to the stone formation and clenched his fists. "You're HOLDING OUT on me now?!" He shook his fist at it. "I'll have you know that I put you here and I can tear you down JUST AS EASILY, you ingrate!" And he kicked the stone and disappeared.
Manabozho started laughing quite loudly.
Charmian ran her hand down her face. They stood waiting for a few moments until there was a scuffling noise, and Wisakedjak came crawling in through the entrance. He stood up, blinked a few times on seeing them still standing there, then dusted himself off and coughed into his hand. "Anyway," he said, and pointed at them again. "TRESPASSERS! Even if you left tobacco--you broke in! You say you came from south of here--? What's your purpose in coming to my lodge? And what is THIS buffoon doing impersonating me?"
"WHAT?" Manabozho roared, his feathers sticking out like porcupine quills. "HOW DARE YOU ACCUSE ME OF IMPERSONATING A DULLARD LIKE YOU!!"
Wisakedjak looked ready to retort but Charmian spoke up first, saying, "Wow."
The two of them deflated a bit and Wisakedjak gave her a perplexed look. "Huh--? 'Wow' what? What's that supposed to mean?"
Charmian stared at him for a moment, then at Manabozho. "You two really are alike!" she said. For although they didn't look quite the same, she could have sworn that they were more twins than Manabozho and Chakenapok had ever been.
Right on cue, as if to prove her point, their eyes grew to the size of moons and their mouths slowly fell open. Their faces then went brilliant red and they clenched their fists, and then shook them at her, their voices coming out at the same time and the same pitch. It was like listening to a harangue in stereo.
"I AM NOTHING LIKE HIM! HE'S NOTHING LIKE ME! SHUT UP! YOU SHUT UP! STOP DOING THAT! YOU STOP DOING THAT!!"
"We would have probably had better luck crossing that river on our own," Singing Cedars whispered to Charmian.
"I think I'm starting to agree," she sighed back. She moved to stand between them again when they began their mock-throwing gestures, and once more turned her back on Manabozho. She could hear him sputtering and fuming and stomping his feet but ignored him anyway.
"We didn't come with any ill intent," she said, hating how formal the words sounded but unable to think of anything else. "We were told that you were the big manitou in these parts," she said, knowing how flattery worked on Manabozho, so deciding to try it out here, "and we sensed you as we were going along so we thought we might stop by to ask if you could help us out, since you know everything about this place and all..." she noticed how he started swelling up again "...and so when we came to the big river, and couldn't cross, we thought we'd ask if you know a way to cross it."
"Why are you heading west and why do you want to cross the river?" Wisakedjak demanded. "My experience has been that most normal people don't just go wandering around trying to cross rivers without a good reason!"
"Well, we do have a good reason!" Charmian insisted. "It's just that it's kind of complicated and we're in a hurry..."
Wisakedjak crossed his arms. "I say nothing more without an explanation! That's the very least I'm owed for the horrible way in which you molested my lodge!"
"You..." Manabozho growled, fists tightening, but Charmian made a warning gesture at him behind her back.
"Basically we have to go find the West Wind," she said. "We have to find him and ask for his help with--"
"WEST WIND?" Wisakedjak bellowed, so loudly that the fallen timbers of the lodge quaked, and Charmian and Singing Cedars both quailed, throwing their arms over their heads. The look on Wisakedjak's face was quite different from what it had been a moment ago; his eyes flashed blue and his feathers flared. He raised his hands with fingers spread, and a glow surrounded him; now even Manabozho looked nervous, and they took a collective step back.
"THE WEST WIND IS MY MORTAL ENEMY!" Wisakedjak roared, the pine trees in the enclosure swaying in a sudden gust that seemed to emanate from him. "ANYONE WHO SEEKS HIS ASSISTANCE IS THUS MY MORTAL ENEMY TOO!!"
"What--what the hell--?!" Charmian cried, but that was all that she got to ask before Wisakedjak hurled his hands forward and a gale of wind soared right at them.
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