Fear & Loathing
CHARMIAN STARED IN awe at the sight of her spirit stone, glowing orangy-red and jagged black before Chibiabos's hand. It wasn't this that surprised her though. What surprised her was what else she now saw there, just barely visible behind the red and black. A faint tiny glow, almost like a small cloud, shifting deep within the core of the stone.
She blinked at it. "What...what is that...?" she whispered, not sure if she wanted to know.
Peepaukawiss and Manabozho craned their necks forward to peer at it. "That wasn't there before, was it--?" Puka exclaimed, mouth hanging open. He almost reached out to touch it before Manabozho shoved his hand away.
Thomas frowned and then looked up at her. "Charmian, did he do something else to you down there--?"
"This has nothing to do with Chakenapok," Chibiabos said, before she could shake her head no. He stared at the stone as well. "It was there, long before he caused any of this damage."
"It was--?" Charmian's brow furrowed. "But--I never saw it before. Niskigwun didn't detect it, and Chakenapok never saw it..."
"This is because it can conceal itself, apparently." Chibiabos slowly stood and took a step back, though her stone continued glowing as they stared at it. He tilted his head to the side and then looked up at her as Thomas had. "What Tal Natha said, in the cave. He said that he was no longer able to hear your dreams...when did this happen?"
"Not long before I came," Charmian said. "Around the time my grandmother died." She frowned. "What does that have to do with--" She cut herself off and glanced back down at the stone. "This thing! You think this has something to do with that--? This was blocking me from Tal Natha--?" She shuddered. "What is it? How do I get it out?"
"I do not think you would want to." This came from Moon Wolf, who nudged his way forward to kneel down and look at it. Thomas, Puka, and Manabozho all looked at each other as if they were nuts, but Chibiabos and Moon Wolf paid them no attention. Charmian felt like squirming to get away from their stares.
"Why wouldn't I?" she demanded. "Anything weird ends up in my spirit stone without my knowledge and hell YEAH I want it out! Especially if it blocks me from Tal Natha! No wonder he couldn't hear me! How did this thing even get inside me--?"
"Chakenapok said Nathalit had disappeared before you came," Chibiabos said.
Charmian tried not to scowl. "I know!"
"Tal Natha stopped sensing you before you came," Moon Wolf added.
Charmian opened her mouth to yell, "I KNOW!"--before the connection finally hit her, and her head dropped forward to look at her spirit stone. She stared at it with growing eyes, the tiny white mist shifting and hovering in place. Her mouth slowly came open.
"Nathalit...?" she whispered in disbelief.
The other three crowded back around her now, looking at the tiny mist with renewed interest. "THAT'S her--?" Puka cried, gawking. "She's not at ALL what I was EXPECTING--!"
"She looked like a demon the last time!" Manabozho exclaimed.
Charmian slowly shook her head. "That was...that was just one of her shapes," she said, in a daze. "She took that shape so we could recognize her more easily...she really doesn't have a shape at all. When I first saw her...I thought she was some kind of creepy mist." She tilted her head and touched a finger to her chest. "But...why would she be inside me...? How did she get there? I was on the mainland when Tal Natha couldn't hear me anymore..."
"Perhaps she is not so strongly tied to the Island as Tal Natha is?" Chibiabos suggested. "You said that she had come here from far away. Perhaps she traveled to meet you."
"Travel--!" Charmian's head popped back up. "Back on the mainland! That's where I FIRST met her--at least, I think! There was this woman there--Miss Anne--she ran an antiques store--" She shook her head furiously on seeing their blank stares. "I know it sounds crazy but she disappeared right before I returned home! Her name was Nathal! SHE was the one who first told me about the Island--even before Tal Natha! After I got back I never saw her again!" She looked at her chest. "She could've come back to me...I mean, it's possible..." She looked confused. "But why?"
"The Shadow Wolves started attacking the Island a long time ago," Thomas ventured. "Maybe she was trying to get help...?"
Puka's face lit up. "Ooh! I bet that's it! If you helped her before, of COURSE she'd ask for you again!"
Charmian's brow furrowed again. "But--she could've just asked me! I would've come in a heartbeat!"
"Perhaps she did not want to keep you from your grandmother," Moon Wolf suggested. "The same as the demon."
Charmian put her hands to her head. "But--if that's so, then why did she even come at all--and why didn't she go back--? None of this is making any sense!!"
Chibiabos stooped and held his hand up again. Her spirit stone glowed brighter and they all fell silent to stare at him. A pensive look came to his face, his eyes glazing and growing distant. He was silent for so long that Charmian bit her lip.
"Afraid," he murmured at last, his voice barely audible. They all frowned slightly and tilted their heads. "She is afraid."
"Afraid...?" Charmian stared at him. "You can sense this...?"
He gave a slight nod, and she almost had the feeling that he was communicating with the little glow. "When the Shadow Wolves came...and when Chakenapok moved closer to the Borderlands...perhaps she felt their power, and did not know what to do. She needed help with Ocryana, and Chakenapok is far more powerful than the demon. She knew that you would be willing to help her."
Charmian's brow furrowed.
"She went to the mainland looking for you," Chibiabos continued, still in the same faraway voice, "and found you...but like the Dreamspinner, she could sense your dreams...she did not want to take you away from the mainland either. And so she likely returned to the Island to wait...only when she came back here, Chakenapok had arrived."
"The Borderlands," Charmian blurted out, and blinked. "Time passes differently on the mainland...by the time she got back, he could've taken them over."
"She had nowhere to return to," Chibiabos said, "and she was not safe there any longer...so she went back to you." He leaned closer to look at the spirit stone. "Where she would be safe."
Charmian took in a breath, still looking at the little mist inside the crystal. "She came inside me because she knew he wouldn't look for her here," she murmured, and touched the glowing image. It almost seemed to flare under her fingertips. "I became her island." She pulled her hand away and lifted her head slightly. "That's probably why Tal Natha couldn't sense me...Nathalit's presence probably masked my own. And I was already distracted because of Grandma, so he thought that I was the one doing it. Nathalit's not like anything else on the Island--even he probably doesn't recognize her presence. Plus she's a shapeshifter." Her eyes grew and she looked at Chibiabos. "If this is what happened--then what's wrong with her? Why isn't she coming out now--?"
Chibiabos held up his hand once more and concentrated, then gave a small frown. "I believe she sleeps," he said tentatively, which confused Charmian, but when she thought about it she supposed it made sense. What did a weary traveler do when he had missed his flight, but fall asleep in the airport...? She tapped her chest as if to wake the little cloud up, though of course nothing happened. She stood up.
"How do I get her back out again?" she asked.
Manabozho stepped forward. "Would you really want to do that?" he asked; she looked up at him. "She went to you to be safe," he said, giving her a pointed look. "Chakenapok hasn't even sensed her yet. Don't you think she's safest where she already is?"
"I think he has a point," Thomas agreed.
"But--Chakenapok tried taking my spirit stone!" Charmian exclaimed. "More than once! Don't you think she's in even greater danger inside me--?"
"He tried and failed, more than once," Moon Wolf said. "Perhaps part of your luck is even due to her--?"
Charmian's eyes grew. "You mean--she's been protecting me, too--?" She looked down once more at her chest and chewed her lip a bit. "He did decide to let me keep it...after trying so many times to take it...he said he just thought it would be more fun to watch me, but what if she managed to hold him off--"
A sharp pain flared through her chest, and she cut herself off, wincing and nearly sinking. She sensed everybody crowding around her, and peered up to see the concerned looks on their faces. Thomas took hold of her arm, then Moon Wolf took the other one; she felt her ears grow hot, and wanted to tell them that she wasn't an invalid just yet.
"Your spirit stone again," Thomas said, needlessly. He scowled. "You keep saying how this fellow plays by the rules, well, I wish he'd stick to some more honorable ones!"
"It's not like I didn't know what I was getting," Charmian said weakly, rubbing at her chest. She looked back toward the woods. "So--what do we do, now? Once Niskigwun gets back with Mudji, we're all here--now what?" She winced again, but not from pain. "I don't even have any idea how we're supposed to FIGHT him!"
"Well--Mudji's always been pretty strong!" Puka said hopefully. "Maybe he can--I don't know--hit him on the head, and, 'Bozho can trip him, and, I can...ah..."
"Dance all over him?" a gruff voice snapped, and they jumped a little. The grass rustled as two figures approached from the direction of the tunnel, and Charmian let out her breath when she recognized Niskigwun and Mudjikawiss. Neither of them looked very thrilled to be there; Niskigwun looked ruffled as befitted his name, and Mudjikawiss bore a nasty-looking bruise to his cheek, his own feathers askew. Everyone stared at them, none willing to ask what had happened, as they came up and stopped before them. Niskigwun rested the butt of his spear against the ground and reached up to sort through his feathers.
"I found him hiding out in one of the caves," he muttered sourly, "and it was like extracting a clam from its shell."
Mudjikawiss's face started to go brilliant red. "Do not DARE MAKE UP SUCH STORIES ABOUT ME!!" he exclaimed, his voice growing louder and more booming with each word.
"You had to hit him to get him out...?" Charmian dared to ask.
Niskigwun blinked, then leaned forward to peer at Mudjikawiss's face. "Oh." He frowned a little. "I actually was not aware that he had been struck. Perhaps the tail did it."
"Tail...?" Everybody stared at him blankly.
The Michinimakinong merely nodded. "The cave was already occupied...a very hysterical-sounding demon started barking, and then a very enraged-looking demon started swinging his tail about." He shrugged nonchalantly. "That is what one gets for trespassing in others' caves."
Charmian's face screwed up. "You hid in X'aaru's cave--?" she exclaimed, and had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. "I can't believe X'AARU beat you up!!"
His feathers bristled every which way. "THAT DEMON WAS TWICE MY SIZE, I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW!!"
"Were you ever given any information to wait--?" Moon Wolf asked, at which Charmian turned to look at him. He seemed perplexed. "I find it difficult to believe that you were instructed to help fight Chakenapok, yet never given any specifics aside from needing Manabozho and his brothers. You spoke with so many people. None of them could tell you anything specific--?"
Charmian chewed on her lip. "Well...all I know is what Snow Bear said...which is pretty open to interpretation, now...and what Glooskap said. All I know is we have to defeat Chakenapok first. But he didn't say how. Just that if we follow the story, all four brothers have to be there."
"You said we couldn't FIGHT him," Manabozho grumbled.
"That's not what I meant. I meant that you were going about this in the wrong way. If you keep threatening to clobber him, we'll never get anywhere." She paused. "I think if we're going to fight him we're going to have to...well..." She paused again. "Simmer down a little, first."
Manabozho's and Mudjikawiss's jaws fell open. "Simmer DOWN first--?" they both blurted out, but thankfully Thomas stepped in front of them before they could start railing.
"Speaking of!" he said, raising his voice. "If you plan on going through to deal with him now or anytime soon, don't you think you'd better call this Glooskap fellow to have him on hand, just in case--? I mean, what good is it if you defeat Chakenapok, and then there's nobody around to defeat Malsum--?"
Charmian's eyes grew. "Cripes! I never thought of that!" She quickly turned. "I don't know if I even remember where to find him--"
Niskigwun gestured to catch her attention. "The little fellow who came through the Sky Tree with you! The last I knew, he had gone to stay at the Crooked Tree. He knows where to find Glooskap, does he not--?"
Charmian's face it up. "MARTEN! I forgot all about him!" She winced. "Don't tell him I said that, though!" She looked at Niskigwun. "You think maybe you could fetch him...?"
She expected him to huff indignantly at being sent back and forth like some sort of errand boy, but he merely nodded as if having been awaiting orders all along, and brought his spear up at his side again. "He should not be quite so bothersome as a certain other I know," he said, and Mudjikawiss looked ready to rip his wings off, yet refrained as soon as he spotted Chibiabos. Then his face went stark gray, his eyes grew to the size of saucers, and a moment later he had stealthily edged back behind Manabozho and Puka. They looked at him in puzzlement.
Charmian blinked, then clenched her fists as Niskigwun went on his way. "You big BABY!" she yelled. "He's your BROTHER, duh! Quit acting like a little coward!"
Puka bared his teeth and clung to Manabozho's arm. Mudjikawiss made no effort to retort, however, and just sank behind them and out of sight.
Thomas scratched his head. "So--what do we do? Sit here, and wait--?"
"I guess there's nothing left to do," Charmian sighed, sitting on the edge of the fountain. The others stood about looking rather lost, but finally followed suit, except for Mudjikawiss, who, once his shelter behind his brothers had been removed, quailed and went dodging toward the trees. The others ignored him and stared up at the dingy sky or at the brown grass.
"Definitely not what I was expecting," Puka sighed miserably.
"Sorry," Charmian said. "But it really was a lot different, the last time..."
"One would think he almost killed the place," Thomas said. "Judging by how it looks now. What exactly would make it look so awful, if all he did was just move in?"
"He's dead," Charmian said; "Sort of," she added, when they looked at her. She frowned a little. "Maybe he's like a cancer, or a vampire, sort of...sucking the life from everything around him. It would explain a few things..."
"I thought he got his power from Malsum," Moon Wolf said.
Charmian opened her mouth, then closed it. Her brow furrowed.
That's right...he's Malsum's Shell. Chibiabos gets some of his power from the Ogimah-Quae. I might get some power from Nathalit...
If Malsum's powering him, then why would he need to get his power elsewhere...? I thought Malsum gave him life again! If so, then why does he have to take all the life around him...?
Unless Malsum's not as giving as we thought he was...?
"'I am a Shell but I am hardly empty and I am hardly weak,'" Charmian recited aloud, and everyone looked at her. She stared at the ground, a pensive look in her eyes. "'No one controls me. Not the Wolf...'" She lifted her head and frowned at them. "He's told me more than once that Malsum doesn't control him. Yet Malsum's been helping him all along. What if we've had this all wrong? I saw him and his spirit stone was the bigger one. And when he brags, he barely ever mentions Malsum at all. It's almost as if he feels he's fighting on his own."
"Maybe he does," Thomas said. "Don't share the glory."
"But--isn't that kind of counterproductive?" She tilted her head back to look skyward. "That one time when I faced him, I got through to him for a minute, and he acted just like he didn't want to be under Malsum's command. That was the very first impression I got of him--that he was possessed, somehow." She dropped her head to look at them again and her eyes widened. "Fighting! Maybe this is what we're getting all wrong! Malsum is controlling him--"
"I thought you said he acted on his own," Thomas said with a frown.
Charmian blushed. "Well--he said so, but, since when is Malsum going to lead us right to him? He would have to give up his Shell if he let Chakenapok tell the truth. I'm telling you, the Chakenapok I met that one time was not the same Chakenapok I just met down there. Malsum got control of him again and he's changed."
"Even if all of this is so," Moon Wolf said, and she looked at him, "then what? You have a different idea of how we should face him?"
Charmian opened her mouth, shut it, and thought a little. "Yeah," she said at last, and fiddled her fingers. "Maybe Glooskap was wrong--"
Puka and Manabozho both took in an exaggerated gasp, making her scowl at them. "I wouldn't tell MARTEN that if I were you!!" Puka exclaimed in a loud whisper.
"Glooskap just knows how his brother thinks," Charmian continued, glaring at him, "not necessarily how Chakenapok thinks. Remember what happened when that Wendigo spirit stone went into Chepi. She didn't act the way he planned her to--she went after her own ends first. I think Chakenapok started out doing things according to plan, but somewhere along the way he switched gears. Malsum's probably had to work even harder just to keep him under his control. Maybe we're not supposed to FIGHT Chakenapok and beat him. I think we have to fight Malsum's influence over him. I'm really starting to think that's the only way to get him back."
Manabozho bristled. "You have already TRIED this approach!" he snapped, startling her. "The FIRST time he tried to steal your spirit! Do you stop to think that maybe he wanted your spirit to give HIM more life? You suggested it yourself! Approaching him all peaceful and friendly didn't exactly achieve anything!"
"I didn't SAY all peaceful and friendly!" Charmian retorted. "I'm just saying that ATTACKING him and hurling HATE at him didn't exactly work, either! It just made him even STRONGER! You'd have any better suggestions for what to do--?"
"I thought you put a lot of faith in what Glooskap said," Thomas cut in.
Charmian waved her arms in frustration. "I do! But he's talking about Malsum--people don't always act the way we expect them to! Chakenapok has changed his mind and switched his plans almost always since the start. Malsum was pretty predictable, from what I've heard. I don't think we can fight him the way Glooskap says we should. There has to be another way."
Manabozho got to his feet and flailed his own arms. "WHAT other way--?"
Chibiabos suddenly stiffened, one hand flying to his breast and his eyes widening. Everybody else paused when a slight tremor passed through the ground, and they all glanced down as if to see something there, brows furrowing. Charmian frowned in confusion and bent down to press her hand to the earth; for a moment there was nothing, then she felt it again, and even the water in the fountain rippled from the movement.
"Um...what is that?" Puka squeaked, slowly squatting and wedging himself under the fountain.
"Earthquake...?" Charmian said the word hesitantly, unsure of how accurate it was. Sure, there had been earthquakes in Michigan before, but none within her memory, at least, none that she had felt. Besides, these were the Borderlands...
Her fingers dug into the soil and her head jerked up, whirling around to look back toward the woods. She blinked, then shot to her feet and turned in a circle. Everybody stared at her.
She halted and clenched her fists. "Mudjikawiss! Where is he--?"
"Mudji--?" Puka furrowed his brow, then pointed toward the woods. "He went that way, last I saw of him! Why--?"
Charmian grimaced, baring her teeth. "CRAP!" She whirled on one foot and went running toward the trees. There was a brief pause before she heard the others following, their footfalls making cracking rustling noises against the twigs and leaves.
"Ch--Charmian--?" Thomas called out, already gasping for breath.
"Was it something I said?!" Puka cried hysterically.
Charmian's teeth clenched. "It's something we DID--we didn't keep an eye on Mudjikawiss!"
"Who cares about that oaf!!" Manabozho shouted. "Good riddance to bad rubbish!"
Charmian shot him an evil glare over her shoulder, nearly making him miss his step. "ALL FOUR OF YOU!!" she yelled. "Manabozho, Chibi, Puka, AND Mudji! THIS is what we need to fight--but your BROTHER is even stupider than YOU are!"
"Stupider--?" he cried in bewilderment.
Charmian turned to face forward again, and picked up her pace, her feet sailing over the floor of the woods.
"Yeah, STUPIDER. He's down there facing off against Chakenapok--HIMSELF!"
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