Part 126: Family Feud

Main story folder & table of contents: "Return To Manitou Island" 
Previous chapter: "Part 125: Heart Of Darkness" 

PART ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX:
Family Feud

CHAKENAPOK SMILED. "WELCOME, Big Brother."

He and Charmian stared at the shadowy shape now standing in the back of the cave, its eyes flaring blue. It slowly stepped forward and approached, and Charmian took a step back at the awful look on Manabozho's face as he came closer.

"You're the one behind all this," he said, his voice like poison.

Chakenapok smiled graciously. "Guilty as charged."

Manabozho came to a stop beside Charmian and clenched his fists. "You're the one who killed Wabasso," he grated.

Charmian tentatively touched his arm. "Manabozho..."

"Ah, that's right...other Big Brother." Chakenapok looked as if he were musing. "I had thought you wouldn't miss him too much, what with all of that prattle you insisted on spouting out...'I do just fine on my own,' 'I don't need anybody'...we all know how true that is though, don't we--?"

Charmian grasped Manabozho's arm tighter. "Manabozho, you really shouldn't be here."

"His issue is with me." He pulled his arm free and continued glowering at Chakenapok. "If he wants to see me so badly, then here I am. All he ever had to do was ask."

Chakenapok's smile grew into a grin. "Well, Big Brother Mudjikawiss was wrong on one little thing, at least; you have more spine to you than he ever claimed." He spread his arms. "What do you think of the place? Nice and stony, and dark and cold, when the fire is out...do you think Noko would approve?"

"Noko never meant any of that," Charmian retorted, her own fingers tightening. "She was only protecting Wenonah!"

"Oh, that's right...her." Chakenapok put a finger to his chin and pretended to think. "Yes, I remember her...vaguely. I was with her, for a very brief time--until I was placed in that cave, that is." He glanced around himself. "I had plenty of time to look around. This is a pretty little Island you all have...Noko in her little Tree, you with that little girl brat, you and that wabano doing all your little training..." He smirked and gestured at the wall. "And your little skeleton in the closet, so to speak." He turned to look at the wall himself and they both followed suit, as if to see something there. "You know, her story has always intrigued me," Chakenapok murmured. "She too was cast off when she did not act as she was expected to...and another took her place...and she too was encased in this prison of stone, and sleeps even now, though who knows when she might awake..."

Charmian's face went white. "She was put here for the good of the Island," Manabozho snapped. "And I hardly see you doing any good."

Chakenapok's mouth twitched. "Oh really." He waved at the wall and it shimmered, Ocryana's image appearing vaguely. "This is how you deal with problems, then, is it? Bury them away and hope that no one ever discovers them again? You do realize by now that the deeper and longer something is buried, the more violently it will come up to the surface again." His eyes glittered. "Does Wabasso say hello--?"

Manabozho's eyes glinted--that was all the warning that Charmian got. She gasped and ducked her head when he lunged forward, his fist slamming into Chakenapok's face and whirling his head around. Chakenapok stumbled back a few steps before dropping his head and putting his hand to his cheek, his eyes squinched shut; Manabozho clenched his fists and stood baring his teeth at him, looking ready to attack again. Charmian lowered her arms and stared at him with wide eyes, then darted a look at Chakenapok; she held up her own hand to toss a fireball at him, but when he lifted his head, all that she saw in his own eyes was amusement, and he slowly smiled at them as he rubbed at his bruised face.

"I take it that was a no," he said mildly.

Manabozho gritted his teeth. "If you ever try coming after one of them again--I will put you back in the ground myself! I don't care HOW deep I have to bury you--you will NEVER come back out!"

Chakenapok smirked. "As I said, the answer to all your problems--you really think you can fight me off by burying me--?" He chuckled. "Noko and Wabasso tried that already and look what it got them--"

Charmian's mouth flew open. "MANABOZHO--!" He let out an inarticulate scream of rage and flew at Chakenapok again, striking him in the other side of the face; then back in the first, and then he punched him in the gut, sending him crashing into the cave wall. Charmian cringed and grimaced at the awful sounds they made as they flew across the room, Chakenapok striking the rock and sliding to the floor; Manabozho stood over him with feathers flaring and eyes flashing, and even lifted his hand in the air, a large rock that had been resting against the wall rising as well as if levitating. Charmian's eyes grew as it moved toward them; Chakenapok noticed it as well, looking up at it as he wiped blood from his mouth, and he actually blinked.

"I won't make the same mistake Noko made," Manabozho growled, guiding the rock in Chakenapok's direction. "Burying you in a cave! I will dig through to the middle of the earth itself if I have to, just to make sure you stay PUT this time!"

Chakenapok pulled his hand away from his mouth and arched an eyebrow at the rock. "And what do you intend to do with that--?"

Manabozho's lip curled back. "Crack your head in with it!"

Chakenapok let out an amused-sounding snort. "You cannot kill what is already dead!"

"You want to see me TRY--?" Manabozho flung his hand forward and the rock flew through the air.

Charmian sucked in a panicked breath and raced after it, throwing up her hands--"WIND!"--and sending it veering to the side, where it splintered into pieces against a stalactite. The other two glanced at her in open surprise and Manabozho's mouth fell open.

He whirled on her. "What are you doing?"

Charmian clenched her fists. "This isn't the way! This isn't how Glooskap said we fight him! You can't BEAT him on your own--!"

His eyes flashed, livid. "I CAN DAMN WELL TRY, CAN'T I--?"

Chakenapok climbed up to his feet, and they both gasped and jumped back when he turned toward them, wiping at his mouth again. His smile looked even more hideous now that bruises were forming under his eyes and blood trickled from his split lip. "Why do you let her push you around like that--?" he asked, not sounding in the least bit ruffled. "I thought you were all about proving just how big of a big brother you are--?"

Manabozho bared his teeth again. "I'll show you something..."

Charmian stepped in front of him and put her hands to his chest. "This ISN'T the way!" she insisted, meeting his eyes. "Remember what Glooskap said! It has to be ALL FOUR of you! YOU can't fight him and win!"

Behind her, she heard Chakenapok snort. "You're going to let a little girl order you around--?" Before she had the chance to get angry, it felt as if something slammed into the side of her head, and she flew sideways, running into the wall before crumpling to the floor. She winced and put a hand to her head, more stunned and confused than anything, but her voice had left her so she couldn't let Manabozho know she was all right. She lifted her head and shook it, but by the time that she remembered to look back, he was already at Chakenapok again, screaming and landing punches to his face and ribs, kicking his legs out from underneath him so Chakenapok toppled to the floor with a thud. Charmian blinked the haze from her eyes but they started stinging as soon as she noticed that Chakenapok wasn't even attempting to fight back, and he even let out a wheezing pained laugh the more that Manabozho kicked at him. She thought she heard a rib crack, and that sent her to her feet, and she stumbled toward them, grabbing onto Manabozho's arm and trying to yank him away.

"Manabozho! STOP IT--!"

"HE KILLED MOTHER! HE KILLED WABASSO!" Manabozho's feathers bristled and flailed as he continued kicking at his brother. "HE DESERVES EVERYTHING HE GETS!!"

Charmian tugged on his arm as hard as she could. "THIS ISN'T THE WAY TO DO IT!!"

She managed to pull him back a few steps so that he nearly fell over as he attempted another kick. The two of them struggled as Chakenapok weakly pushed himself up, gasping for breath; he lifted his head just slightly, his eyes shadowed and a fresh stream of blood trailing from his mouth, but he only let out a rasping wheezing sound which almost made Charmian pause, it was so weird. His lips curled back from his pointed teeth and he grinned at them.

"What's...wrong?" he panted. "Change your mind...on me getting everything that's...coming to me...?"

Charmian felt a bite of anger in her breast and scowled at him. "I haven't changed my mind! I just know an unfair fight when I see one--and we're playing by the rules! Just so you don't get the chance to say that we're NOT!"

He let out a gasping chuckle again, managing to push himself up onto hands and knees; Manabozho struggled against Charmian's grip but she somehow managed to hold him. "Too bad," he wheezed. "I was...starting...to find all this amusing."

Charmian felt the hairs on her neck stand up. "MOVE--!!" she yelled, shoving Manabozho away as hard as she could; she saw him pinwheel his arms and whirl around to gawk at her, before the fireball slammed into her arm, making her cry out and crash to the ground. It only singed her clothes, but the force of it was such that her arm felt like it was on fire anyway, and she grasped it and clenched her teeth in agony, feeling a bruise forming already. She blinked tears from her eyes to see Manabozho staring at her in confusion; then he glanced up, his own eyes going wide, and jumped back when Chakenapok sailed at him, another fireball just missing his head.

Chakenapok let out a cackling laugh. "What's wrong, Big Brother?" he crowed. "A little girl is BRAVER than you--?"

Charmian saw the bewilderment in Manabozho's eyes as he dodged the attacks, darting and ducking all about the room; she understood it for she felt it too, utter confusion at where Chakenapok was getting such power, when just a moment ago he hadn't even been able to protect himself. Why would he let himself get beaten up before attempting a counterattack--? What was the purpose of something like that--?

Chakenapok hurled a fireball which finally struck Manabozho in the knee, and Manabozho let out a yelp and fell hard. Chakenapok started laughing. "Where is all this righteous indignation you were feeling!" he exclaimed, flailing a whip of fire out at his brother and slashing open the skin on his arm. "Where is all this bravado you always show--? All swagger and no action--? Some big brother you are--!"

Charmian pushed herself up and ran at him, letting out a scream of her own. Chakenapok turned his head to look at her and the amusement in his eyes just infuriated her all the more. She swung her arms forward--"FIRE!!"--and hurled as massive a wave of flame at him as she could. Chakenapok cut off his attack on his brother to ward it off, crossing his arms before himself and digging his feet into the ground as the fire drove him back several inches. He slashed one arm out at the air and the fire dissipated, and he gave Charmian a snarling leer.

"Not too bad, Mainlander! I was starting to think you'd FORGOTTEN everything again!"

"HARDLY!" Charmian shouted in return, and crooked her hand. "Fi--"

Manabozho shoved her aside and flung out his own hand. A stalagmite cracked loose of the floor and sailed directly at Chakenapok, whose eyes widened--he crossed his arms in front of himself again and the great stone struck, driving him back against the wall. It didn't impale him like it probably would have any normal person, but it did ram against his breastbone, and he sank down over it with an awful grimace, pressing one hand to his chest and struggling for breath. He opened his eyes a sliver and they flared yellow.

Charmian grabbed Manabozho's arm and started pulling. "COME ON--!"

He tried yanking himself loose. "I'm not leaving! Not until HE'S no longer a problem!"

She tugged even more frantically. "We CAN'T FIGHT HIM this way! No matter what you--"

"Don't listen to her!" Chakenapok's voice came, and a second later a piece of the stalagmite hit Manabozho in the head, toppling him immediately. Charmian saw his eyes go crossed almost comically before he fell, then Chakenapok's laughter filled the cavern. "Then again maybe she DOES know what she's talking about! You can't even fight off a dead person and hope to win? What a pathetic big brother--!"

Charmian's teeth ground so hard that she thought they would break. "KNOCK IT OFF!!" she screamed, and hurled the rock right back at him. Chakenapok smirked and held up his hand, shattering it into a hundred pieces; Charmian used this distraction to grab hold of Manabozho's arm and attempt to pull him upright. He wasn't completely unconscious, though he didn't do much to help her, blinking and shaking his head in a daze.

Chakenapok stood and watched their progress. "What's wrong, Mainlander?" he taunted. "Your friend not being much of a help anymore--?"

Charmian bared her teeth. "If you even TOUCH him again I'll knock your head in MYSELF! Harder than Noko OR he could ever do it!!"

Chakenapok laughed at the ceiling. "You two! You are made for each other!"

Charmian blinked, then gasped. She whirled toward Manabozho and started tugging on him even more frantically. "Get up!" she yelled, as Chakenapok started walking toward them again. "Manabozho--!"

"H-huh--?" He blinked and stared up at her as she attempted pulling him upright, her fingers digging into his arm. He shook his head.

"He doesn't want to go back home with you anymore, Mainlander--?" Chakenapok asked as he approached.

Charmian glared at him as evilly as she could. "If you think this is as hard as we give it then just WAIT! We've got a WHOLE lot more, especially HIM!"

Chakenapok rolled his eyes with a smirk. "The two of you--squabbling and squawking, yet unable to keep away from each other. You are so much more like the demon than even I thought."

He started laughing, but Charmian couldn't even hear it anymore. She pulled on Manabozho's arm one last time and he at last got to his feet, still swaying dizzily and not quite certain what was going on. She glanced around the cave, not knowing what to do now; when Chakenapok started approaching them again, she even put herself in front of Manabozho, spreading her arms as if to protect him even though he was taller than she was and he made an easier target than she'd hoped. She tried to put this out of her mind as fire started flickering over Chakenapok's fingers.

"Rather backwards," he said, nodding at her position in front of Manabozho; Manabozho started protesting but she didn't budge. "I always thought it was the man's duty to protect the woman."

"Times have changed," Charmian retorted in deadpan.

His smile grew from ear to ear. "True enough, that. Yet some things stay the same." He formed another fireball and crooked his arm back to hurl it. "Like FIRE, for one thing--!"

Manabozho grabbed Charmian's shoulder, but she didn't have time to move. Instead she threw her arms up just as she'd seen Chakenapok do, and let out a strained noise just before the fire slammed into her again.

Only--that moment didn't come, and her eyes popped open immediately. She felt Manabozho's hand squeezing her shoulder and her eyes widened when she saw the ball of fire hovering directly between Chakenapok and herself, Chakenapok's brow furrowed and his mouth open in surprise. Even as she looked at it, the fireball started steaming, and something started hitting the ground; Charmian gasped and jerked her foot up as soon as she felt water pelting against her leg. A puddle formed on the ground and they all stared at it in confusion.

Chakenapok was the first to lift his head, and something that he saw behind them made him narrow his eyes. "Your move," he muttered, and the cave slowly began to fade away, Charmian and Manabozho blinking in bewilderment. Charmian saw the smirk return to Chakenapok's face as he lowered his hand.

"I look forward to taking you on again, Mainlander," he said, right before he disappeared.

They found themselves staring at the double tree.

Charmian blinked stupidly. A high-pitched "EeeeEEEEEeeeeEEEEEeeeEEEE!!" filled the air, and a second later Peepaukawiss was tumbling toward them, arms flung outward and his mouth wide open as if to swallow them whole. He threw his arms around both of them in an odd group hug and squeezed so hard that Charmian grimaced.

"YOU'RE ALL RIGHT!!" he wailed. "I WAS SO WORRIED!!"

Rustling noises came, and she turned her head, craning her neck to see over Puka's feathers. The others were arriving now, panting, but she was startled to notice that Chibiabos already stood nearby, resting his hands on his knees as if trying to recover his strength. He noticed her stare and lifted his head, and she immediately understood what had happened.

"Water," she blurted out, and Manabozho turned his head to look at him too, Puka letting them go. She glanced at the double tree. "He lives down there--that's his home. Nathalit left, and he took over the Borderlands."

"Left?" Moon Wolf's brow furrowed and he approached to peer into the tunnel beneath the trees as if to see something down there.

"You saw him--?" Thomas asked, sounding anxious.

Charmian nodded. "He didn't try anything with my spirit stone," she said, and rubbed at her arm. "Just threw some fireballs...he barely even attacked us until the end!"

"What was that all about?" Manabozho snapped, turning to glare at her. "He wasn't even fighting until you stepped in! I COULD have taken him myself! Why did you interfere like that--?"

Charmian scowled. "Don't you know a trick move when you see one? He WANTED you to attack him, idiot!"

Manabozho cut himself off and blinked at her. She opened her mouth to speak but ended up wincing when a pain shot through her arm; Puka clasped it to keep her on her feet, and Chibiabos stood, gesturing.

"Let us move away from here," he suggested. "Back to the fountain...where we can think."

"I'll mark this tree so we don't lose it again!" Puka offered, pulling one of his ribbons loose as he dashed toward it. He tied the ribbon around one of the lower branches so that it fluttered in the breeze, a bright streak of red against all the gray and brown, and they started on their way back out of the woods, toward the stream and the tunnel out of the Borderlands.

The stream flowed as sluggishly as ever when they reached it, settling down around the shattered fountain; Charmian winced anew to see its sorry state, and wondered if she had helped contribute to this. She rubbed at her arm until Chibiabos sat down beside her and carefully dipped it in the water still collecting in the bowl of the fountain, and the others settled at various spots around them.

"What did you mean by a 'trick move'?" Moon Wolf asked with a frown. "He tried something down there...?"

Manabozho's temper flared. "He wasn't even fighting back! I hit him and everything! I COULD have taken him down if she had just let me!" He shot Charmian an accusatory look.

Charmian tried to fight another scowl. "Don't you get it?" she muttered. "He didn't fight because he wanted you to attack him. Every time he tossed out a comment about Wabasso you lost it, JUST like he planned! And he kept calling me 'little girl' because he wanted me to do the exact same thing!"

Manabozho threw up his hands. "WHY? What makes you think he was bluffing when he could have simply been WEAK--?"

Charmian pulled her sore arm out of the water. "Use your head! We keep wondering where he gets his power from, aside from Malsum--? He's getting it from YOU! He was weak until YOU started fighting--THEN he fought back! He's feeding off of what YOU give him!"

The others looked at her as if she were insane. "Me?" Manabozho echoed, gawking.

Charmian did scowl this time, tucking her arm under her vest. "I could tell when he kept making comments about Wabasso," she said. "It's like he was trying to start a fight. Every time I've faced him he ALWAYS attacked me first. So how come when YOU finally show up, he lets you beat the crap out of him before lifting a hand--? He's not weak, and everybody here knows it. He even told me so himself." She made a face. "I don't know how or why...but I think he's feeding off of your hatred of him. The same way Ocryana fed off of dreams. Malsum's giving him the power, but you're giving him the power to take on you." She lifted her head to look at him. "He also wanted to prove that you're just the same as he is."

Manabozho's mouth fell open. She saw the color rise in his face, and his fists clenched; Thomas hurriedly stepped forward to stand halfway between the two of them.

"Why would he do this--?" he asked, attempting to defuse Manabozho's anger. "Why would he try to show that they're alike--? I rather got the impression that he would hate associating himself with anyone here--no offense." He flushed slightly.

Charmian shook her head. "It doesn't have to do with him. He wants to prove that Manabozho can do the exact same things that he does." She lowered her head, flinching. "Just like me and Ocryana."

From the corner of her eye she saw Moon Wolf tense. "You STILL insist on this--?" he blurted out, and strode toward her, stooping to look in her face. His eyes were hard. "For the last time I tell you! You are NOTHING like her! This is only another 'trick move' to convince you to stop fighting--look at how it's working!"

"It's true," Charmian said, not meeting his eyes. "Because he got me to do the exact same thing." Everyone fell silent and she lifted her head. "I attacked him too," she said. "Not very much, but he egged me on--and I did the exact same thing. I can't believe how pissed off he made me feel--I wanted to bash his skull in!" She averted her eyes. "I...I don't think I've ever felt so much...hate for somebody." She trailed off, unable to believe that the feeling had arisen inside her, yet knowing that, at least for a moment, it had. She shivered. "That's exactly what he wanted me to do--show that I was like her. Just what he did to Manabozho. And then he uses that energy for his attacks. The more we hate him, the more powerful he becomes."

"How--how do we fight him, then--?" Puka asked in confusion. "How do you fight somebody if attacking them makes them stronger--?"

Charmian shook her head. "I don't know...I hope Glooskap knows, because I have no idea."

The others fell silent and stared at the ground pensively. After a little while Puka and Chibiabos went to sit on the ground, Manabozho stalking off and parking himself next to a tree; Thomas sat down by Charmian's knee and Moon Wolf stood nearby, looking into the murky water. It was a long while before anyone spoke.

"Nathalit," Moon Wolf said quietly at last, and Charmian and Thomas raised their heads. He looked down at them. "You said that she has gone missing."

Charmian nodded, her own brow furrowing. "That's what Chakenapok said...I was wondering why she would let him take over like this, but it sounds like she didn't allow it at all."

"But I thought it was Nathalit's duty to protect the Borderlands, and watch over the demon," he said with a frown. "Why would she so easily give up this duty--?"

Charmian shook her head, frustrated. "I really don't know! Nathalit would never just leave this place, especially not to let HIM take it over! It makes no sense to me!"

"Perhaps he defeated her?" Thomas suggested. "That would explain things, wouldn't it--?"

Charmian slowly shook her head again. "No...I think he would've told us, if he'd done that...he wouldn't pass up the chance to brag about something..." She sighed. "He just said that she left before I came...and I can't understand why. It goes against everything I know of her."

She trailed off again, noticing Chibiabos staring at her intently. After a pause he got to his feet and approached, stooping down and holding out his hand toward her chest. The others looked on curiously as the image of her spirit stone appeared, Chibiabos staring at that now.

Charmian frowned slightly. "What are you doing, Chibiabos...?"

"Making sure of something," Chibiabos murmured, as if to himself. His own brow furrowed a little. "Something that was said...back at the demon's cave. It has made me wonder..."

"Tal Natha?" Charmian shifted a bit, uneasy. "What was it...?"

"What do you know of Nathalit?" Chibiabos asked.

Charmian bit her lip. "Not much...she came here, to the Island, a long time ago...there were others like her but she lost track of them. She came because she heard the demons' dreams. They sounded a lot like her own kind." She paused. "She controlled Ocryx and Ocryana to give birth to Tal Natha and that's why he's not like them. She promised she would watch over Ocryana."

"How powerful is she, do you know...?"

Charmian shrugged. "I rather got the idea that she's probably more powerful than anyone on the Island! Maybe even as powerful as Geezhigo-Quae." Her frown grew. "What are you getting at...?"

"She has power over dreams, and she had recently disappeared," Chibiabos said, as if thinking aloud. "Yet you say that she would never leave this place for anything..."

"Yeah." Charmian paused. "Well...maybe she would, if it would help the Island...but that's it." She peered at her spirit stone. "What are you looking for?"

"Something we might have overlooked," Chibiabos said, concentrating, and then his eyes slowly lit up. "Look!" he exclaimed softly, and everyone hurried to gather around her, looking at her spirit stone as its glow brightened. Charmian felt her ears grow warm under their scrutiny, before she thought to look at the stone again herself, and she took in a startled breath.

It looked much the same as before--fiery orange-red, splintered with deep wide jagged bolts of black...but now that she looked more closely, she could see the other thing within it...a small hazy glow, of palest white, shifting deep within the core of her spirit stone.

Continue:

Part 127: Fear & Loathing  (13+) Is this Nathalit?...and how do you fight what's unfightable...? #985648 by Tehuti, Lord Of The Eight

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