Part 15: Hard Proof

Main story folder & table of contents: "Escape From Manitou Island" 
Previous chapter: "Part 14: The Anachronist" 

PART FIFTEEN:
Hard Proof

"PAPAAAAA!" THE VOICE called out from the treetops. "The mainlander's back!"

Charmian, Thomas, Moon Wolf, and the little group of manitous stopped. Charmian looked upward. She could already see the gabled roof of the Dupries house just peeking into view through the trees, yet she had no idea where the voice had come from. It sounded like a child's voice, but she couldn't think of who it could be, and she furrowed her brow accordingly.

She turned to Thomas. "Were they expecting me or something...?"

Thomas shrugged. "I rather got the impression the last time that whenever you show up, a doctor is always expected!"

Charmian rolled her eyes. "Ha ha." Rustling noises came from the branches and they all looked up again; she blinked when she saw something scurrying from branch to branch, then yelped when it fell out of the tree, landing in the trail before her. She jumped back and ran into Thomas, nearly knocking him over; her confusion grew when she saw that the one before her wasn't a strange spirit or anything of the sort, but a young boy in dress clothes. He'd landed on hand and knee, and pushed himself up, giving her a cool look. Charmian took in his fair hair and eyes and dark skin, and her own eyes widened when she thought that she recognized him.

"Page?" she asked; then, "Sky...?" If it was the son of Justin Dupries and Little Dove, then she had no idea what to even call him, considering that his parents had given him two different names.

The boy smiled slightly and came walking toward them. Charmian relaxed. It was Page...Sky...but he'd aged a little since her last visit, when he'd been seven years old. He looked to be around eleven or twelve by now, Winter Born's age, but was dressed just as nicely as he had been the last time. With the way that he'd fallen out of the tree, she wondered how it was that his clothes weren't all torn and muddied yet, but everything about him seemed perfectly in place.

He stopped in front of her and looked her over. "Are you hurt at all?"

Charmian blinked again, then went red. "Of--of course not!!" she blurted out, and the boy tilted his head to the side curiously. "I don't have to be all mangled before I show up here!"

Page--Sky?--stared at her for a moment before his mouth twitched. "Papa says that whenever you come, there is always a medical emergency," he said, his voice carrying a slight hint of a French accent, but other than that, remarkably well versed for a child's voice. "I assumed today would be no different."

Charmian gawked and then glared. "Then your DAD is lying!" she huffed; Thomas took her arm and steered her aside as he moved to stand beside her, and smiled at the boy. He gestured at Mani.

"Actually, he's the one who needs some attention right now," he said, and Page glanced at the British soldier sprawled across Mani's back. "Think your dad would be up to helping him out...?"

Page stepped toward the manitou and stood on tiptoe to get a look at the unconscious soldier's face. Then he turned and trotted back toward the house. "Papaaaaa! The mainlander is back with a friend..."

Charmian clenched a fist. "The mainlander's starting to think somebody needs some courtesy lessons..." she muttered, but Thomas took her arm again and started walking forward.

"He's just a little kid," he said, giving her an amused look. "Go easy on him, all right? At least perhaps it'll get this fellow out of your hair, if he's not quite so achy anymore."

Charmian let her hand go loose. "I don't even know if it's a good idea to help him!" she sighed. "What with all that crap he pulled in the woods..." She glanced back at Moon Wolf. "Are you okay? He got you in the face pretty good..."

Moon Wolf blinked, surprised to be so suddenly brought into the conversation, then shook his head. "Just a bruise. Nothing more."

They entered the yard and saw that already the door was open, and someone was coming out. Page stepped aside just as a little girl in a dress came hopping out, followed by a woman; Little Dove's eyes lit up when she saw Charmian and the others, and she clapped her hands together before waving.

"Charmian! You came back!" She picked up her dress a bit and hurried down the steps; Charmian hadn't gotten used to seeing the native Islander dressed like a Victorian, her long dark hair in a bun and makeup on her face, but apparently Little Dove had acclimated herself to it pretty well. Charmian glanced at the girl, now standing beside Page and busily sucking on her thumb; she shared the same fair hair and eyes and dark skin as his own, so she could easily guess their relation. She didn't get to stare further before she found herself crushed in Little Dove's arms. She might not have been very big or tall, but she had a good grip when she wanted to have one.

"I wasn't even expecting you this time!" she exclaimed, then stepped back, looking Charmian over. "You're not hurt, are you--?"

"No, I'm not hurt!" Charmian replied in exasperation. "We actually came because this guy--"

Little Dove finally noticed the others, and her eyes grew when she saw the soldier. "Oh." She let go of Charmian and took a step toward him to look him over, biting her lip. "What happened to him?"

"I think he was stabbed with something, on the mainland," Charmian said, not wishing to go into specifics. "He's lost a lot of blood; I thought maybe Justin could help."

"Oh! Of course!" Little Dove turned and bustled back up the steps. "Justin! Charmian's here...!"

Charmian nearly pulled on her hair. "How did I end up with a reputation like this?"

"I think you know the answer to that question," Thomas replied, and they and Mani made their way to the porch. Page and his little sister stood watching as thumping noises came from within, then Little Dove reappeared with Justin, who saw Charmian first of all and opened his mouth--undoubtedly to ask if she were hurt or not--then saw Mani, and his eyes widened as well. He made a beeline to the soldier and started looking him over, and Charmian let out a sigh of relief that at least he wasn't asking her if she were hurt.

"Who is he?" he asked instead. "What happened?"

"I think he got stabbed," Charmian echoed herself. "It's a long story." She rubbed at her neck. "We never got to know his name...he was in kind of a bad mood, when he was last awake..."

"He must've come from the mainland," Justin mused aloud, frowning. He nodded and gestured at Thomas and Moon Wolf; they helped lift the soldier down from Mani's back, and Justin and Thomas started carrying him inside while Moon Wolf stayed behind. Charmian glanced at him and Mani and the other manitous before following; she'd already noticed the reluctance of most of the natives to enter houses, and Mani would have ended up crowding the little parlor. As they passed through the doorway Justin lifted his head and gave her a critical look, which nearly made her freeze. "You're not hurt, are you--?"

Charmian's face started to warm up. She gave Page a withering glare from the corner of her eye, her fists clenched again. "I thought you were telling him!!" she hissed between her teeth. Page's mouth twitched and the girl continued sucking on her thumb but that was all she got to see before going inside.

The parlor was just as she remembered it, and Justin and Thomas carried the soldier straight to the little couch at the other side of the room, settling him upon it. The little girl ran in to stand next to Little Dove, who was in the entryway to the stairs; Justin carefully peeled back the bandages wrapped around the soldier's shoulder and examined the wound. Charmian squeezed her way forward and got her first good look at it, paling a little when she saw how deep it was. Justin pulled at the edges of the tear in his uniform, and picked away the bits of moss that had been placed upon it earlier in the camp.

"Some sort of heavy blade," he murmured. "Probably an ax." He placed his hand over the gash and his fingers started glowing. The others stood and watched silently as the skin slowly pulled back in on itself, the wound sealing and the tear in the skin disappearing. When he pulled his hand away, only the slash and bloodstain to the uniform remained, and Justin set about removing the rest of the bandages and handing them to Little Dove, who carried them away.

He glanced at Charmian. "Where did you find him?" he asked in a low voice.

Charmian bit her lip. "In Stick's camp. They had him in a medicine lodge. They said they found him in a canoe down on the shore and he was already unconscious. I don't think Black Elk Horn knows he's here yet."

Justin gave a short sigh. "Well, at least there's that one good thing." They both looked at the soldier. "For a moment I thought maybe he was the one who inflicted this wound."

"Things have been that bad--?" Charmian asked.

He shook his head. "Not very...but he's never had the most level head of any ogimah. I really wonder what Old Yellow Turtle saw in him." He stood and turned toward the dining hall, glancing back over his shoulder as he went. "I'll get him something to drink...I'm guessing tea."

Charmian looked at Thomas without thinking. "And you thought the boy needed courtesy lessons," he said, but she could tell that he meant it as a joke. She turned back to the soldier and sighed.

"At least I won't have his death on my hands, though honestly, with the way he was swinging that gun around, I might end up having somebody else's...!"

As if on cue, the soldier's brow furrowed and he let out a soft groan. Charmian and Thomas leaned over him curiously. He lifted his hand to press it to his head, then dragged his eyes open and blinked a few times. His eyes blurred a few times before fixing on Charmian's face, then they started to widen.

Charmian and Thomas sat back when he pushed himself up abruptly, glancing around the room. He saw the ornate couch, the heavy drapes, the stained-glass windows, and then looked back at Charmian and Thomas as if he'd just awakened in a village full of munchkins.

"Hi," Charmian said.

The soldier let out a puff of breath. His hand flew up to his shoulder then, and he looked down at it; confusion flitted across his face, then bewilderment, when he pulled the tear open and found nothing there. He started checking himself over, as if for bruises or other injuries, and came up wanting. Thomas and Charmian sat silently the whole time, watching his confusion grow. He practically leapt off of the couch when Justin entered the room, saying, "Tea," and the rest of them stared at him as he glanced from one to another with wide eyes and hanging jaw.

"Wh--where--?" he managed to get out.

Justin frowned and raised an eyebrow. "You're safe," Charmian said, and the soldier's head whirled to look at her. She gestured. "This is Justin Dupries. You're in his house. This is Thomas Leeds, and I'm Charmian."

He blinked a few times, then started to relax, just slightly. "I'm...you're Canadian?" he said to Justin; Justin frowned again but nodded shortly, and the soldier sank back down onto the couch. He pressed one hand to his forehead. "How...where is this place? How did I get here?" He poked at the tear in his jacket again. "And--what happened here--?"

"You have Justin to thank for that," Charmian said, just as Little Dove came into the room with a tray in her hands.

"I thought biscuits would be good with tea!" she exclaimed. "Do they eat biscuits--?"

She nearly spilled them when the soldier shot to his feet again and grabbed at his other shoulder, grasping only his jacket; he looked down at it and Charmian realized that he'd been reaching for where his gun would normally be. She stood up as well and scowled.

"Even if you did have that thing," she snapped at him, "I'd bust your HEAD in before I'd let you get a shot off!"

In response he just lifted his hand and pointed at Little Dove as if she were a witch on trial. "You!" he yelled, and her eyes goggled; Justin took her by the arm and turned her about, leading her back toward the dining hall. He shot an acidy glare over his shoulder as he did so.

"Do they not eat biscuits...?" Charmian heard Little Dove ask, mystified; then she clenched her fists and whirled on the soldier, stomping her foot and wishing that the floor were not so heavily carpeted.

"Jackass!" she hissed, making him jump. "You think you can just go into somebody's house and try to SHOOT them?!"

He gaped at her for a moment, then clenched his own fists. "In case you didn't NOTICE, Little Missy, she's one of them! You would LIKE for your head to be gashed in?"

Charmian's face screwed up. "That's just LITTLE DOVE! Does she LOOK like she could gash somebody's head in?!"

His face grew livid. "What did I TELL you about LOOKS--?"

Thomas stepped between them and held up his hands. "Now, now," he said, giving both a chiding look. "Time out. I think what we have here is a failure to communicate." He held up his hand before Charmian's face and her mouth fell open, a betrayed look in her eyes; he gestured at the soldier like a cop directing traffic. "You first. What do you think is going on?"

The soldier looked surprised to be allowed to speak, before fuming. "What I think is that I just saw an entire garrison massacred, by a bunch of savages pretending to play a GAME! We stood inside and WATCHED! They--every one of them--had us absolutely fooled. Even the women!" He glared at Charmian over Thomas's shoulder. "You hear that? THEY were the ones standing outside the wall who gave the men their tomahawks! Now do you think it's so difficult to believe that she could do the same?"

Thomas held up his hand in front of the soldier's face and gestured at Charmian, which was just as well, as she was about ready to burst. "What I THINK is that you're stuck in a whole century and a whole DIMENSION which are NOT the same as this one!" she snapped. "That fort was NOT in this place, this ISN'T the island you think it is, and you won't find ANY of those people here! And what's more, they aren't SAVAGES!"

Despite Thomas's hand the soldier bristled. "If the skin fits--"

Thomas gave Charmian the stop signal now but she bristled as well. "I'll SHOW you something that FITS--!"

"Are the two of you about done or do you plan to use our parlor the rest of the day?"

Charmian and the soldier both blinked, then turned their heads. Justin stood in the doorway with his arms crossed and a just slightly peeved look on his face; Little Dove peered in from around the corner. From the corner of her eye Charmian saw the soldier grasp at his shoulder again, and felt like cracking his head against the wall.

Charm! Think about it. The guy just saw an entire garrison of his comrades killed. Wouldn't I be kind of nervous, too?

Well, YEAH, but, I wouldn't want to go out and kill EVERY native I see!

Am I so sure of that? I've never been in a massacre before...

She started chewing on her lip, then stood down. "We'll be going," she said, earning Thomas's and the soldier's attention. "We have a few things to straighten out as it is. Thanks for the help, Justin."

Justin gave the same short nod as before. Little Dove's face lit up and she waved, apparently oblivious to what exactly had been going on, or else not really caring; Charmian wouldn't have doubted either. She waved goodbye as well and grasped hold of the soldier's cuff; he gawked at her, too surprised to pull loose, and they exited the house.

He jumped and squawked as soon as Moon Wolf stood up, and Mani let out a loud whistle. He screamed when he saw the three little manitous standing in a row, and nearly fell off of the porch; they all flicked their ears and started whistling amongst each other again. The others all stared at the soldier as he attempted to regather himself, his face pallid and his hands shaking.

"Come on," Charmian said, and grasped his sleeve again. He stumbled after her as she went down the steps and across the lawn, the manitous stepping aside. The soldier glanced at them as they passed, then turned back to her.

"Where--where are we going--?" he exclaimed.

"I want to show you something," Charmian replied. The others fell into step behind them, Mani eventually coming up on the right side and Moon Wolf on the left; the soldier peered anxiously from one to the other yet did nothing. They walked vaguely northward, birds flitting about in the trees overhead and cicadas buzzing in the distance.

You have some sort of idea? Moon Wolf asked after a while had passed thus.

Just trust me on this, Charmian replied. If this doesn't convince him that he's not where he thinks he is, then nothing will.

They started to slow as the tall pinnacle of Sugar Loaf Rock came into view, rising high above the trees. Charmian craned her neck to see the top of it. The sea stack had been connected to the nearby Fort Hill thousands of years ago, before lake wave action had washed away the softer rock in between. Now it stood isolated from everything else, like some sort of strange beacon in the middle of the forest. The soldier frowned at it when Charmian let go of his arm.

"You know this, right?" she asked.

He gave her a look. "Of course I know it! The Pyramid Rock. The Sugar Loaf."

Charmian frowned a little, but nodded. "They just call it Sugar Loaf, where I come from." She turned toward it and waved at him. "C'mon."

"What?" he demanded testily; he gasped then and hurried forward when Mani lowered his head behind him and snorted.

"I want to show you something," Charmian said again. As she climbed up the path to the rock, understanding crossed Thomas's face, and he and the others remained behind; the soldier cast them a tense look, then turned back to Charmian. She reached the rock and started touching it, moving her hand around as if looking for something.

"Lose something?" the soldier asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Not quite." Charmian looked toward the top of the rock, then took a step back. "Old Mother Manitou?" she called out, making the soldier look around with a frown. "May we come in?"

Silence. Her voice echoed briefly in the woods, then there was nothing but the sound of the birds and cicadas. The soldier opened his mouth, when a slight grinding noise came from the rock, and his jaw fell when an opening appeared, an entryway where none had been before. Charmian glanced at him.

"Ever see this before?"

He gawked briefly, then shook his head sharply. "For--for all I know it's just a silly little cave you and your friends concealed! Why should this surprise me? This entire island is full of caves!"

Charmian snorted. "Well, you've got ONE thing right." She stepped into the entryway and disappeared inside. The soldier hesitated, but curiosity seemed to win out; he followed, then Thomas, Mani, and Moon Wolf and the little manitous moved up to stand near the entry itself.

They passed through a sort of small vestibule leading from the entry to the main part of the rock, and as soon as they entered the large hollowed-out room, the soldier jerked to a halt, letting out a gasp and staring in shock at the sight before him.

At the most, there should have been nothing more than a small cave inside the tall rock. Not the high-ceilinged room that greeted them, well lit by a fire and various torches and lamps; sticks dangling with plants and roots and pouches protruded from the jagged walls, a pot hanging over a firepit in the middle of the room, a messy pallet and various furs and packets and other items scattered around the bottom of the walls. Most surprising of all was the wizened old woman who stood near the pot, stirring it and eyeing them critically. She wore her hair in a long white braid and small deer horns adorned her head; she turned to look at the soldier, who gawked back at her, then snorted and turned back to the pot.

"So you finally think to show up, and drag in this thing with you...?" she muttered. "What do you think my rock is, a home for strays?"

"I was told you took in all sorts of foundlings before," Charmian retorted.

The old manitou woman snorted again. "Yes! Well, they always tended to be a mite younger than THIS one!" She looked at him again, then frowned, dropped her spoon, and came toward him. He backed into the wall, cringing, yet all that she did was sniff at him and make a face.

"He isn't even an Islander!" she huffed, and waved her hands. "What're you doing, girl, bringing mainlanders into my rock? And a long knife at that! The nerve!" She turned away, muttering to herself, and resumed stirring the pot.

"I wanted to ask what you've been up to since I was last here, Old Mother Manitou," Charmian said.

The woman waved at the air. "Nothing much that one of your sort'd be interested in, child, no offense intended. Basically, keeping an eye on the woods, making sure nobody's taking over anybody else's tree, minding that pup of the two demons', minding the two demons when they need minding, shooing stupid birds out of the top of my rock, shooing that stupid GeeBee out of the top of my rock, mixing medicine, giving medicine, teaching medicine, stopping others from stealing my medicine..."

She went on like this obliviously for a moment or two, and Charmian glanced at the soldier. He stared at Old Mother Manitou for a moment before his eyes wandered toward her ceiling; he started gingerly walking across the room, toward one of the entryways on the other side. One of them led into a little hallway leading into a separate room, Charmian knew; she watched as the soldier disappeared inside here, then came out of the little tunnel beside it, a mystified look on his face. He glanced at the ceiling, then at the floor, then put his back to the wall and started walking, staring at his feet as he did so. He walked straight to Charmian's side of the room, then turned and went out of the exit. Frowning, she followed him out, only to find the others watching him as he paced around the outside of the rock, still staring at his feet. When he had made a full circuit he entered Sugar Loaf again and this time circled the room as close to the wall as possible. When he reached Charmian at last he lifted his head and gave her the most incredulous look she'd ever seen.

"Explain this!" he exclaimed. "How is it that this room and the other room in it are BIGGER than the outside circumference of this rock?"

Charmian blinked, then glared at him. "I didn't come here to do math!"

He gestured at the ceiling. "It's IMPOSSIBLE for there to be this much room inside this rock! Not to mention the fact that if there were a hollow space of this size within a natural rock formation of this size, it would collapse on itself promptly!"

Charmian shrugged with a gusty sigh. "Do I LOOK like science is my strong suit--? All I can say is it's medicine. This rock has it, and so do the caves, and the Arches, and everything else. Do you get it now? This isn't Mackinac--Michilimackinac. It's Manitou Island."

He gave her the same look that he had the last time she'd said the word. "There is no Manitou Island here!" he argued. "You mean to have me believe there's another island JUST like that one, only different? In the same place? You think I hit my head--?" As if just getting this idea, he glanced up at the ceiling again, brow furrowing.

Charmian suppressed a sigh this time. "Mani?" she called out; there was a whistle, and the manitou carefully picked his way through the vestibule, having to turn his head sideways just to fit through. Charmian waved at the soldier. "Think you can convince him? Since seeing with his own eyes apparently isn't doing the trick."

"What--what are you thinking--?" the soldier exclaimed, taking a step back and running into wall again.

Charmian gestured Mani forward and he flicked an ear. "I just want you to tell him where he is. Explain it to him," she said to the manitou; when he tilted his head, she gestured at the soldier. "You know--about the two islands, and the fog, and the mainland, and everything. Tell him everything you can. Maybe then he'll get it."

Mani whistled the affirmative and took another step toward the soldier. The soldier, for his part, bared his teeth at the manitou and clung to the wall, squeezing his eyes shut; but all that Mani did was touch an antler against his shoulder. After a brief moment the soldier's eyes slowly opened and he lifted his head to stare at Mani in confusion; Mani touched his antler to his forehead now, and the soldier blinked.

Then Charmian felt Mani's thoughts make their way into her own head, and took in a shaky breath.

She could only imagine how startling the images were to the soldier, what with how confusing they were to her at first, and she already knew the Island's story. The strange other Island, which appeared out of the fog and disappeared just as silently, to be replaced by the island which everyone else knew of, the state park of her time, the native gathering place of his time. The Island which was once the home of the manitous, the Wendigoes, the Michinimakinong, then the Ocryxes, and the mainlanders...the Island from which few ever returned, and most of those who tried, disappeared over the lake never to be seen again...trapped in its own strange place where the other island stood most of the time, its own time obeying no rules but its own, the very land itself seeming sentient, and perhaps being even more so, if its actions in the past were any indication. The Island which decided who could stay, and who must go, and who would even see it in the first place, as she had learned...the Island which eventually, if it chose to, accepted outsiders as its own, and made them a part of it...

The visions began to fade, and she let out her breath. She saw the soldier do the same, his face still pale but his eyes clear and the hostility gone from them, though he still looked as bewildered as anything. She couldn't blame him; it had taken her two trips and many months to learn all of that, herself. She could tell that Mani's transmission had lasted only a few seconds, at the most, as the others in the entryway had hardly moved from their spots, and Old Mother Manitou was still stirring her pot. A moment passed before the soldier turned his head slowly to meet Charmian's eyes. His were wide, pale blue.

"What..." His voice came as thin as paper. "What is this place...?"

Charmian bit her lip. She could tell that he knew where it was, and its history, and how it all worked...but the what itself was something that she'd never been able to figure out for certain. She opened her mouth, not sure how to answer him, when a noise made her jaws click shut, her head swiveling toward the entryway.

"Old Mother Manitou! Charmian!" the voice--it was Winter Born's--yelled, high pitched and panicked. "Come outside! Something's happened!"

Continue:

Part 16: By Lake & By Land  (13+) A stranded Nebanaubae imparts an ominous message, and an intruder returns... #1199448 by Tehuti, Lord Of The Eight

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