"But before that….. Can you pass over my rum? I think I might need it to tell Blank's tale…." The native man asked.
Harker blinked, and did notice a flask of rum on his side. It had some indentions which he realized were words encrypted on the pewter. It reads 'Saddle Lake Frontier 46th Battalion'.
"You're not the only halfer here." Blank took a swig on his flask. "Blank is born from an unknown white father, which is very much a shame for my mother in a tribe that prides itself from being able to escape from the influence of the white men."
Harker did notice his expression softening when he mentioned he was biracial, and that Blank's eyes were a bit lighter than most natives. A sort of gold-ish brown. But he thought he shouldn't jump to conclusions and point it out.
It was a good thing he didn't point it out, because Blank looked really pained as he said:
"For many years of my childhood, I was treated as an outcast. I am a white ghost's son. Nobody had seen him, nobody knew who he was. My mother did not hold any feelings for him either. He came in her tent and was gone with the wind the next day, while my mother was bleeding and helpless. Maybe he really was a ghost, a monster that took advantage of a poor woman to curse her with a freakish child."
He pointed to his eyes."There was not a day Blank hoped to poke out my eyes that showed the white ghost's traces. My mother would cry just from looking at these eyes."
Professor Seward frowned. "I'm sorry about that. I don't know what it's like, but I know some people who have also experienced difficulties because of having mixed lineages."
"It's nothing for you to feel sorry about." Blank said, turning to Harker. "I'm sure I speak for all of us halfers when I say I'd rather you not pity us and see us no different than the rest."
Harker nodded. "We're really no different, we can be geniuses and also dumb as fuck. We can be nice and we can be piece of shits. Besides, you ain't the one prejudiced about us, so it shouldn't be you saying sorry on behalf of the assholes."
He then urged Blank to keep going. "Then what happened?"
"Well, I did what most stupid little boys do when I don't like my home. I ran away." He emptied his flask and tossed it to the side.
Blank sat with legs crossed on the cold snow. "As I ran, I got found by a bunch of white men hunting for buffalos. But I know better now, they're not just hunting. They're killing all of them to make us hungry and force us out of hiding. Then…."
He drew something in the snow with his fingers. It looked like a building of sorts, and he was pretty good at finger-drawing as it accurately captured its likeness.
"They took me to the 'Indian residential schools', as they call it. There wasn't a day where one of us would die from falling ill, or taking one too many beatings from the teachers. I was a naive boy back then, only 6 years old. I thought when the whites found me, I would find a new home, and get along better with them since I have their eyes."
He chuckled bitterly. "In the end, it was actually much worse. Teachers despised me for my face just as my mother did for my eyes. There are kids there from tribes that don't get along with ours, and we fought around almost everyday. But the worst part is…."
His face darkened. "The punishments you get for being caught not speaking English, or not acting in the 'distinguished' manner. It wasn't enough to call you a 'savage', but they do their jobs well by making you feel bad that you were born one."
"Even so, my foolishness knows no bounds. I still tried to be worthy in their eyes. I became one of their best students, I studied all the books and memorized their songs and poetry more than my tribe's. I acted as refined as possible, and tried not to get into any fights. Even if it did end up with having my head dunked on the toilet once or twice."
He gritted his teeth. "By 15, I had enough. Something made me want to go back to my mother. Because though she despises me, she still never called me a 'brute' or a 'primitive redskin'. I ran away again, only to learn that my home wasn't there any more."
"My tribe has gone as south as possible to run away from this 'Indian Act' that wants to get rid of our culture and make us 'civilized'. I followed their tracks and finally caught up to them, but nobody remembers me. Except for my mother, who now had a new child in her hands."
Ahanu seemed to know he was being talked about, as he went by Blank's side and pinched his cheek.
"Ahanu's father died from protecting the people in their escape, along with other warriors. He and my mother had only been married a month before that. Despite her dislike for me, she needed me to raise my half-brother. And so I did. I finally found the only person I belong to, the one person that was meant to be my home."
He tickled the little boy, who giggled with delight. "When I saw him, I knew he was my purpose. I must be with Ahanu no matter what and protect him no matter what."
Blank then set down his brother as he cleared his throat to get back on track. "As we traveled while being chased by the whites, we noticed something strange. The whites had run out of food to eat after running around with their guns. We had seen a few of their corpses, but they looked like they were feasted on by some wild beast."
"The wendigos?" Professor Seward asked.
"Yes. We would hear their howls at night, and a snowstorm would follow us no matter the season. They did not look like what they are today. They looked more human and familiar, wearing…."
The hair on Harker's neck rose as he already anticipated what Blank was going to say:
"The clothes of the soldiers that were chasing us."
So these wendigos turned out to be white soldiers that had been chasing the natives for years. In their hunger, they ate their companions, and gained the curse.
"We have reached so far away from our old settlement. My mother passed away from fatigue and the cold." Blank patted Ahanu's head. "But the chase is endless just like their hunger. They won't let us get away and live in peace."
"It is through the protection of the light that we are safe. The morning, the sun, the flame. We stay inside our homes with the fires surrounding us, like quiet mice in fear of owls that can swoop down and kill us mercilessly."
"Why are you and Ahanu separated from the tribe now?"
Blank suddenly wore a look of remorse and guilt.
"We had always been, ever since my mother died. You see… they learned I came from one of those schools and spoke the white ghosts' language. So they believe I was the one who brought the curse with me. I had doomed the tribe ever since I was born. To them…."
"I am the Harbinger of the Wendigos."
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢