A Bitter Pill
"MANABOZHO'S GOING TO beat you."
Chakenapok's mouth opened, yet no sound came out. He stared at Charmian, bruises littering her arms and legs and face, open disbelief in his eyes; he saw fear in her own, but she wasn't flinching, and she wasn't trying to get away. His brow furrowed in confusion as he stared at her and tried to read any sign of her backing down.
What is this--? I just beat her! Beat her SOUNDLY! She was lying on the floor practically DEAD! His stare flickered toward Manabozho now, Marten tugging on his arm, and his brow furrowed even further. And what is this she means, that HE is going to beat me--? THAT pathetic whelp--?
"Intriguing move, Mainlander," he said, looking at Charmian again with a scowl. "You have come as close to bluffing me as you're going to get."
"No bluff," Charmian said.
His eyes narrowed. "As if I believe this!" He fell silent for a second as Manabozho finally made a face and slowly started to push himself up, rubbing at his head, then wincing and trying to reach back to rub between his shoulderblades. "You really claim that THAT stupid thing can defeat me--?"
"Easy to believe," Charmian said. "Since he's the only one. Oh." She turned her head to nod at Peepaukawiss and Chibiabos, who were painfully getting to their feet, then at Mudjikawiss, who was grimacing and starting to push himself upright. "Those three, too." She turned back to Chakenapok. "But mostly Manabozho, because he's the one you've pissed off the most."
Chakenapok opened his mouth but again couldn't think of anything to say. Manabozho lifted his head and squinted at Charmian. "Huh--?"
Charmian turned to look at him. "Are you okay, Manabozho?" she asked.
Manabozho blinked a few times, then rubbed at his back again. "I...I think so." He made a face. "What happened--? Did he hit me in the back--?" He looked up at Chakenapok and started to scowl.
"I always knew he was a trifling little coward," Mudjikawiss grunted, putting his hand to the wall to help himself up.
"My heeeeaaad," Puka whined, grimacing and clutching at his feathers as Chibiabos helped him up, a pained look on his own face. "I think it's splitting APART!" He noticed Thomas then, and gasped, forgetting about his head and hurrying toward him; he and Chibiabos looked him over, then peered up at Charmian, aggrieved looks in their eyes.
"Charmian...?" She glanced back and saw Marten hovering next to Moon Wolf and wringing his hands anxiously; the medicine man sat up, rubbing at his head as well and blinking at her through narrowed eyes. "Are you all right...?"
Charmian nodded. "I'm fine." She turned back to Chakenapok, who sneered.
"FINE!" he crowed. "Take a look at her, wabano! Do you think she looks FINE?" He glared at each of them in turn. "Apparently all of you wish to die today! I can easily arrange this! This whole game can end in an INSTANT if I so wish it!"
"So do it already," Charmian said, making several of the others flinch. "I think it'll spoil your entire plan, though, to just get it over with like that."
Chakenapok's fingers curled in toward his palms, nails digging into his skin. "Point taken," he hissed, and forced himself to take a breath and let it out. He gave her a cool smile and held up his hand so flames lit up over his fingers. "Why don't you go on and show me this 'second wind' of yours, Mainlander? I would so love to see you get pummeled again."
She slowly shook her head. "Not my place to do it." She took a step to the side and gestured at Manabozho again. "I think you mean him."
Manabozho's eyes widened and he blinked, looking at her. "Huh--?" he said again, still bent halfway over with his hand pressed to his back.
She turned to look at him again. "This is your turn, Manabozho," she said softly. "I did everything I could, but now it's your turn to face him. I can't fight him and win."
His brow furrowed. "But--" He forced himself to stand upright with a wince. "Nothing works! You said yourself! I--"
"You don't fight him," Charmian said. "You have to accept him."
His eyes practically changed into two moons. "Accept?" he blurted out, and Mudjikawiss's and Puka's reactions were exactly the same.
"Accept--?"
Chakenapok's eyebrows lowered. "What are you blathering on about, Mainlander--?"
"He wasn't lying," Charmian said, not speaking to him but to Manabozho, and this infuriated him. "Everything he said about Ocryana and me was true."
"True--?" This from Moon Wolf; he quickly stepped toward her. "What are you saying--? You're nothing like that creature!"
"I'm not--?" She held up her hand and revealed her spirit stone. "Take a look at it, Moon Wolf! It looks almost exactly like hers now!" She waved her hand to cut him off before he could speak. "It's not what you think. I understand it now. It's hard, but...I accept it. I'm working on it." She waved the spirit stone image away. "Remember when you made that deal with her, for Shadow Water's life," she said, and Moon Wolf blinked. "Remember how you acted when you quit the Midewiwin and became a wabano and wanted all that power and didn't even know why. Is that who you are? Is that what you're like--?"
"What--?" He furrowed his brow and shook his head. "I--of course I am not! These things were years ago! I--"
"Yet you still did them. It was you doing them." She looked at Mudjikawiss. "Chibi and Puka said you destroyed camps when they insulted you. I saw you living with those bear people and they seemed to look up to you--have you ever killed any of them?"
The big man started to scowl. "Of course not! I will hardly go killing off the people who respect me!"
"But when you get pissed off enough, you blow things to smithereens." She looked at Puka next. "And you, you're basically a decent person, except for those dumb jokes you always pull. You've gotten people pissed off enough to try to kill each other over your jokes. It's obvious you don't think about how you might upset people."
Puka blushed and ducked his head. "I--I can't help it if nobody has a decent sense of humor anymore!!"
"And you--" She looked at Chibiabos, and paused for a moment. She opened her mouth but he lowered his eyes and spoke, his voice soft.
"You need not tell me." He looked at the floor. "I desecrated my brother's grave...I did not even think about this. I left 'Bozho when he was little, and I did not properly think this over. I have hurt people too."
"I stole your pinecone," Marten said in a tiny voice, as if trying to include himself in the conversation, and he fiddled his fingers meekly.
"Everybody in this room's done something stupid or hurtful without thinking about it," Charmian said. "Every single one of us can hurt somebody else, and act every bit like the people we insist aren't like us. I can't even count how many times I've done this." Chakenapok saw her eyes flit toward Thomas, and they watered, but she turned back to him and her face set again. "Even you," she said, making him blink. "Even with every single thing you've done, you STILL didn't mean to kill Wenonah."
Chakenapok seethed. "How many times must you go over that, fool! That was years ago and I have DEFINITELY changed since then! Do you want me to prove it to you--?"
"Don't bother. You already have." She looked at Manabozho, who seemed beyond confused by now. "Manabozho, you have everything you need to defeat him and it's standing all around you," she said, and he looked around the cave. "There's four of them," she added, and he stared at her, then looked at Mudjikawiss, then Puka, then Chibiabos. He turned back to her and shook his head.
"There's...there's only three of them," he insisted.
She shook her head as well. "You missed one." And she turned toward Chakenapok.
Chakenapok's eyes went wide. "H--him--?" Manabozho blurted out, jaw dropping. He rushed to Charmian's side and grasped her arm. "What are you talking about?" he hissed, as if Chakenapok couldn't hear. "Did he hit you in the head--?"
She nudged his arm away. "Nathalit showed me," she said, and everyone immediately focused on her, eyes intent--even Chakenapok took in a breath and held it, perplexed by what she was talking about. Nathalit--? But--that creature was gone--wasn't she--? "As long as I believed I wasn't anything like Ocryana, I was holding back a lot of power," Charmian went on. "That power that Ocryana could give me. I know it sounds weird...but it's true. I feel it already. I know I can do just about anything that she's done, and now that I know it, and accept it...it's like I feel stronger, somehow. Like something I've been missing just came back."
"It's TRUE!" Marten started hopping up and down. "She was all on the floor! BAM! KA-POW! WHAM! She couldn't even MOVE!" He waved at her almost frantically. "NOW look at her!"
"This is a dark medicine!" Moon Wolf exclaimed. "How can you claim it makes you stronger? Don't you know the price to be paid--?"
She looked at him. "It's not a dark medicine. Not that part of Ocryana. I get the feeling...it's not even medicine at all." She frowned. "I can't explain it...but it's something even deeper than that. And it's not her, but a part of me. I don't have to pay for it at all. It's always been there, I just couldn't see it. You have it, too. Every one of you." To prove her point, she stepped toward Manabozho and held up her hand. He nearly stepped back, but kept his place, and his spirit stone slowly emerged, glowing deep amber. He blinked when it glowed brighter, Charmian concentrating, and something began to emerge behind it. Chakenapok leaned forward to get a better look as a hazy, vague shadow appeared, not around or encasing the spirit stone like the darkness in Charmian's was, but almost seeming to hover on the other side of it, or else somewhere deep in its middle. And it was not the jagged black crags of Charmian's stone, but just a shapeless shifting mistiness, like the shadow of a cloud passing by on a windy day.
Manabozho gawked at it. "What--what is that--?" he cried, batting at his chest as if to knock it out.
"It's okay." Charmian's voice was soft again and she stared at the shadow almost as if seeing something old and familiar. "It's always been there. It'll always be there. That's where it belongs." She looked up at him. "That's the part of you that can act just like Chakenapok," she said, and he sucked in a startled breath, Chakenapok standing up straight again. "Every single one of you has it. And if you accept it, and admit it, it'll make you stronger, too. Once you know exactly what he is..." she turned her head to meet Chakenapok's eyes "...then you can beat him."
One look at their faces showed their disbelief, and Chakenapok's eye twitched. "Like him?" Manabozho exclaimed, then he gritted his teeth and sliced his hands through the air. "I'm NOT like him! NOTHING like him! I could not ever be REMOTELY like him!!"
Charmian flinched slightly. "Manabozho, if you won't accept it, you won't ever be strong enough." She lifted her arms. "Take a look! Do you think I'd even be standing right now if not for that--?" She waved at the side of the room and they glanced toward the wall to see the hazy image of Ocryana, sleeping in her glowing web.
Manabozho scowled. "YOU take a look! She's the exact same one who tried to DESTROY this place! With everyone on it, INCLUDING you! You forget this so easily--? And say that anything she's done is a GOOD thing--?"
"It's NOT what she's done. It's what she is." Charmian bit her lip. "Just because you have the ability to do something doesn't mean you'll do it!" She looked at Moon Wolf. "Your power! All that time you went without using it!"
"And look now," he said, eyes darkening. "I did use it!"
"But not to HURT people like you intended to in the first place! You controlled it!" She tapped a hand to her chest. "What about that power I got? I learned how to control it! This sort of thing isn't light or dark, it just IS! It's what we DO with it that matters!" She looked at Ocryana. "When you get pissed off, you can do one of a few things. You can start hurting people. You can sit and let it build up until you snap. Or you can act on it constructively. THAT'S the difference. I have the same power she has--and I can do the exact same things she does. I could even destroy the Island!" She bit her lip again as if merely saying this pained her. "But I choose not to and that's what counts! It's the same with all of you!" She pointed at Manabozho. "You have the same power Chakenapok has, once you admit it. You can do everything he's done. But you can also use it to defeat him. You're the one who makes the difference."
Manabozho's eyes watered and he shook his head. "If..." His voice cracked. "If I..." His lip curled back and he flung a hand up to gesture savagely at Chakenapok. "If I am like him then that means I could have killed MOTHER! I could have killed WABASSO! I REFUSE to believe that! I would NEVER do that!"
"Manabozho..." Charmian's voice trailed off and she stared at him in silence for a moment or two. Her shoulders sank slightly, and Chakenapok took in a breath; then she slowly turned, looking at everybody, before focusing on Mudjikawiss. She started walking toward him. Mudjikawiss blinked, glancing from left to right, then back at her, as if surprised that she would even approach him.
She halted and looked up at him. "Mudji," she said. "Chakenapok killed Wabasso, and tried to kill all of you, and would destroy an Island, all because of a grudge. Are you anything like this?"
Both Chakenapok and Mudjikawiss blinked. Puka's face went white and he slowly crept behind Chibiabos. Manabozho furrowed his brow but Charmian continued staring up at the big man intently. He started to fidget a little under her scrutiny, then scowled and wrinkled his nose. He let out a blasting snort and gripped the handle of his knife.
"Of COURSE I am like this!"
Everyone gaped at him as if he had just turned purple. His brothers looked like their jaws wanted to hit the floor.
Charmian just continued staring at him. "Why do you say that?" she asked.
Mudjikawiss snorted and jerked his hand at the air. "I will not hesitate to kill anything and EVERYTHING that gets in my way or offends me! You doubt me--? Imagine how I've had to restrain myself just putting up with YOUR annoying little mouth! This entire Island can sink to the bottom of the lake for all I care! I would GLADLY be gone from this place if it would not mean leaving THIS matter unresolved!" He glowered at Chakenapok. "I have no ill will toward Mother, but she was only human, and humans are not meant to consort with manitous! It is a pity but unavoidable! As for Wabasso--" he turned to glare at Chibiabos "--no disrespect to him either, as at least he showed some backbone, but he WAS trying to save a HUMAN, after all!" He glowered at Charmian again. "And I do not care WHO or WHAT is doing the speaking--if you dare speak foolishly about my mighty father--then I will GLADLY jam my knife in your throat!"
"So you're not here to help us--?" Charmian prompted.
Mudjikawiss snorted again, even louder than before. "HARDLY! I can't exactly leave now, though, without making myself look utterly FOOLISH!"
Charmian turned and walked away from him, over toward Puka and Chibiabos. She stopped in front of the former, who gawked, then started darting glances from side to side, fiddling his fingers and chewing on his lip frantically. "Puka," she said. "Chakenapok's pulled every trick in the book, and used sneak attacks, and changed the rules to suit himself, all to have fun in this big 'game' of his." She tilted her head. "Are you anything like this?"
Puka grimaced and fiddled his fingers even faster. "I...I don't know!!" he squeaked, feathers quivering. "I mean--I never meant any harm in any of it--"
"But you did mean to have fun at others' expense, didn't you? You didn't even think of how they'd feel afterwards?" She gestured at Manabozho. "Like with his birds--?"
Puka blanched. "I..." His voice shrivelled up in his throat, then he slowly shrank in on himself. "It...it was only for a little fun," he said in a voice even tinier than Marten's. "I mean...I admit I didn't really think about it, but...well...no one was hurt..."
"When you left those fireworks in Mudji's quiver, did you think that he might get hurt? Or that somebody would get scared?"
Puka opened his mouth wide as if to protest, blinked, then shut it. His face slowly went red and he averted his eyes. "Um..." He started picking at the beads on his outfit. "Well...not really...I mean, with a good joke, you think about how you pull it off, not what everybody else will do..."
"When you painted Manabozho's birds, and when you put that acorn in Mudji's quiver, did you find it funny?"
"Well...not spitefully..." Puka's mouth twitched, then his eye, then both of them scrunched up and his hands crept up to his face. His shoulders started shaking and tears stared trickling from his eyes. "B-b-but it was pretty f-f-funny," he stammered, and clamped his hands over his mouth before doubling over.
Charmian glanced at Chibiabos. "Chakenapok killed you," she said quietly. "He turned his back on his family, and would kill Manabozho, and all the rest of you if he could. Are you anything like this...?"
Chibiabos stared at her for a minute, then his head sank. "I truly do not know," he murmured. "I know that I have hurt people...without thinking...Noko, 'Bozho...I walked away and never went back...I thought it was best, but perhaps I was selfish..."
"You could hurt people? Do things just like Chakenapok--?" Charmian glanced from Mudjikawiss to Puka to Chibiabos, the first scowling, the second biting his lip, the third lowering his eyes.
"Of course! And I am not ashamed to admit it!"
"I...I guess that I could...not that I meant any of it..."
"I know that I can...unfortunately..."
Charmian turned back to Manabozho, who, along with Moon Wolf and Marten, was staring at her as if she had lost her mind. Chakenapok's anger flared and he clenched his fists when she stepped toward his brother, holding out her hands.
"Do you see--? Every one of them can admit it. Why can't you...?"
"Go ahead!" She jumped a little and peered back when Chakenapok's voice rang out in the cave. His lip curled back and his eyes flashed. "See if you can convince him!" he snapped. "I should like to see you make Big Brother ADMIT he's every bit like me!"
Manabozho's own eyes glinted blue. "Then you have a LONG wait!"
"Manabozho," Charmian pressed, "you're the only one holding everybody back!" She stepped closer to him and dropped her voice. "In all the time I've known you, I've never told you a lie like this," she said, her eyes pleading. "You know I would never say this if it wasn't true. You taught me yourself, so you know I'm not stupid. I promised I'd bring Wabasso back and I did, didn't I? Can't you believe me now?"
Manabozho flinched and shook his head. "You're...you're wrong," he insisted. "He lied to you, and now you believe it..."
"Nathalit told me. You think she would lie? Or that she'd be wrong? Remember, she was here long before he was. She knows. I'm not wrong and I'm not lying."
He clenched his fists. "Then she's wrong! The Nathali don't know everything! Even the Dreamspinner didn't know you were here when you came--they can be wrong!" He glanced up at Chakenapok briefly, then back at Charmian, and waved his hand at him. "How can you think I would be anything like him? Don't you know me by now--?"
"I never said you would be like him. I said that you could. That's the difference!" She turned so that Chakenapok couldn't see her face, and he ground his teeth, quickly growing tired of the entire exchange. "Manabozho, I would never lie to you, and I would never tell you this unless I knew it was true. I can feel it. If you accept it, then you can feel it too. And you can end all of this, once and for all. You can."
The blue in his eyes flickered as if it were a candle going out, and he bit his lip and tentatively shook his head again.
"I...can't..."
Chakenapok hissed between his teeth. "I'd like to see this SECOND WIND of yours, Mainlander!" he snarled, and flung his hand through the air, hurling a blue fireball which elongated into a jagged bolt as it zoomed straight at her. He saw everyone's eyes--including Manabozho's--widen, their mouths opening and their muscles tensing in a split instant as if they thought to do something about it. He grinned ferally, his teeth glinting, watching the firebolt speed right at the mainlander's back--when she lifted her arm, and deflected it with the back of her wrist as if it were a toy arrow. Chakenapok gawked as the bolt veered toward the wall and struck against a stalactite, shattering it into pieces which showered to the floor in a wash of blue sparks. The light died and everyone, not least of all Chakenapok, was left staring at the mess in open disbelief; they all slowly turned to look at Charmian again. She lowered her arm, and looked over her shoulder at Chakenapok.
"Want another demonstration?" she said mildly.
Chakenapok gawked, then his eyes began to glow and he gnashed his teeth, flames rising around him. "You think this is FUNNY, little girl?" he snarled, and held up both hands over his head, spreading his fingers. He felt the heat searing up into the tip of each before coalescing into a roiling mass which seethed above him; he spread his hands now and gave her a sharp-toothed grin. She turned around to look at him, and he searched her eyes, but her terror was gone. She looked at him almost as if he were part of the cave wall itself, and this infuriated him beyond belief.
"DEMONSTRATE THIS!" he screamed, and hurled the mass of fire so that it boiled toward her.
He saw the wabano's eyes widen, and he started forward. Before he could get very far Charmian held up her hands and caught the firecloud when it reached her; he saw her brace herself and grit her teeth as if fighting a strong wind, then he gasped and had to duck when the flames soared right back at him. He watched them billow into pieces against the wall behind him and whirled back in time to see her scowl.
"Second wind," she snapped. "Believe me now?"
Manabozho's brow furrowed. "Charmian...?" he murmured faintly.
She looked over her shoulder at him. "I told you--it's Ocryana. Her power. The part of her that's a part of me. You can do the exact same thing--!" She gasped and flinched when a fireball glanced off the side of her head, and Chakenapok smirked, forming another.
"What's wrong, Mainlander, is that second wind more like a second puff?"
She pressed her hand to her cheek and glared at him. "I'll show you a puff." She jerked her hands behind her, then brought them forward. "FIRE!"
Twin whips of flame lashed out from her palms. They slapped against Chakenapok's arms and he yelped and jerked back before the flames vanished. He looked down at his forearms and saw...blood trickling down his hands. He stared at this in confusion for a moment, then lifted his head to meet her eyes.
"What did you just do...?" he whispered.
She turned around completely now and clenched her fists. "If all it takes is a demonstration, then fine! You asked for it, so come on and get it over with!"
Chakenapok blinked. "You--you're challenging me--?" He took in a shaky breath and the fire rose in his eyes, even the tattooed flames on his face seeming to grow higher and brighter. "YOU THINK YOU CAN STAND UP TO ME? I'll cut you down so fast that there'll be nothing left of you but a pathetic CINDER!"
He pushed himself up and launched himself through the air at her. The fireball flew at her head, but she easily batted it away. "FIRE!" she yelled, and he gasped and flinched when a whip smacked him across the face, cutting off his attack. Enraged, he screamed and started throwing firebolts at her as rapidly as he could, but he could have just been throwing feathers for as dangerous as they seemed to her, as she swept every single one away, and she held up her hand just as he reached her and shot a fireball directly in his face.
CRACK. It felt like a rock hit him under the chin! His eyes flew wide as his head snapped back and he did a complete backflip before crashing to the floor. He lifted his head up quickly and shook it, blinking and gasping at the pain; he saw the surprised faces of everyone else staring at him, and this enraged him beyond anything so far, and he let out a bellowing shriek as he shot to his feet.
"Done yet?" Charmian asked.
Chakenapok's vision blurred, but he blinked it clear again and his jagged fingernails dug into his palms, drawing blood. "YOU DAMNED LITTLE PISSANT!!" he screamed. "YOU WOUNDED ME!!"
The look on his brothers' faces changed, just slightly--they looked as if they had just realized something, and he saw the fear that had been there start to die away. Even the wabano and the Mikumwesu blinked and looked at him as if he were something completely different. He glanced at each of them, his breath coming fast in his throat and his heart twisting; why weren't they afraid of him anymore--? Why were they all looking like that--?
His claws dug even deeper and he gnashed his teeth hard enough to hurt. "STOP LOOKING AT ME!!" he shrieked, and flailed his hand through the air, sending a stalactite sailing. The Mikumwesu gasped and ducked behind the medicine man, but Mudjikawiss raised his hand and batted the rock away as if it were a pebble. He looked bored. Puka and Chibiabos furrowed their brows as if out of pity. Chakenapok screamed loud enough to make the walls shake, tearing at the feathers on his head and flinging them to the floor where they evaporated into ashes.
He lowered his eyes to fix them on the mainlander, and found her still staring at him with much the same look on her face. His eyes hurt with how brightly they flared and his voice rasped in his throat, like rock rubbing against rock.
"You are amused by this, little Mainlander--?"
Charmian shook her head. "No." She paused. "But I am kind of sorry, now."
All of his breath left him and he had to struggle to gain it back. "Sorry--?" His eyes shifted into brilliant pools of flame. "I will show you sorry--you trifling little piece of GARBAGE!!"
He flung himself at her again, raising one hand. He saw her brace herself and raise her own hands, her face set. He felt the fireball forming over his fingers and saw her mouth open, a word starting to escape her lips. "Fi--"
CRACK! The fireball struck the floor, harmlessly breaking into pieces, at the same time that Chakenapok's fist slammed into her cheek, driving her head back. He had the satisfaction of seeing her eyes go wide before she whirled around and collapsed; she caught herself on her hands and knees, and a trickle of blood spattered against the ground. She lifted her head and blinked, then spotted him.
From the corner of his eye he saw the wabano move. He ducked his head to the side to avoid the fireball that he hurled, and kicked Charmian, sending her tumbling back. He had to give it to her; he wasn't expecting it when she managed to push herself up yet again, baring her teeth at him as if she were the demon herself, even though they were red with blood and an ugly bruise was already forming around her eye. She lifted her hand to aim it at him and her mouth opened again but he just grinned at her nastily.
"How's that second wind of yours doing, Mainlander--?"
He jumped up--"FIRE!"--and her fireball sailed by beneath him. She blinked in surprise; he let out a whistle to catch her attention, and her head jerked up, her wide eyes focusing on his. He grinned again and pirouetted in the air, his foot connecting with her outstretched arm with a sickening crack.
In the split second before he whirled away, he saw the tears flood her eyes, and then heard her yell of pain fill the cave. He smirked at the awful sound, and easily deflected yet another fireball hurled by the wabano; he hit it back, and it glanced off the side of his head, making him halt and drop to his knees with a grimace. Chakenapok turned around to look at the mainlander, and smiled at the way that she sat rocking back and forth, grasping her arm to her chest and letting out a muffled pained noise.
"What's wrong now, Mainlander?" he asked, and his smile spread from ear to ear. "Losing your second wind?"
She dragged her head up to meet his eyes, and the tears were streaming down her face. He pouted at her and cocked his head. "Aw...does it hurt?" he mocked, and snorted in amusement. "Do you want me to fix it for you--?"
He saw her eyes shift. Right before he felt a shift in the air, and his smile immediately vanished. His eyes flicked to the side to see the way that Mudjikawiss's eyes were glowing, and Puka's, and Chibiabos's...he saw the way that the wabano and the Mikumwesu were staring at something behind him, just as the mainlander was, and Chakenapok felt something that he hadn't felt in a very long time. He felt a chill run down his back.
"Leave her alone," an awful voice growled, and his eyes widened when he realized that he didn't recognize it. Yet there was recognition in the mainlander's eyes, and in everyone else's...
Every single one of his nerves suddenly on end, Chakenapok lowered his hands, and very slowly turned around to see what stood behind him.
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