The tension was high as the dance itself went faster. With every beat, more wendigo hands came to reach for Ahanu.
All three adults had to keep dancing and ignore this, which proved to be the most difficult thing they had done in their life. Harker thought that this was even more difficult than the time he had to let Mina go to follow her path towards revenge.
The little boy was sobbing now from the pain as the hands tore off his clothes and sunk their claws deep into his flesh. Blood trickled all over the patch of snow where he sat.
Harker can't take it anymore. He can't let this poor boy die just so he and Joan could be spared by Bigfoot.
He almost stopped dancing when—
The ground shook, and the hands retreated. The wendigos seemed to have run off. Ahanu sighed in relief in between the lines of his song, but he was still bleeding all over. One of the claws was so close to piercing through his lungs itself.
Soon, they felt a large shadow slowly creep up behind them. They have stopped dancing, and looked up.
The hairy giant man was peering at them with his beady eyes behind the mask. The flame gave the mask of deer bones a sinister gleam. There was also the heavy stench of carcass and rancid body odor.
The Sasquatch opened his mouth. The three were stuck in place, not knowing what to expect next. Will it say that he forgives them? Or will it deny this offering of apology?
Yet as he opened his mouth….
Swarms of black writhing creatures came out, and they realized that its tongue was made of that. It suddenly gripped Ahanu's neck between two fingers, forcing the boy to gasp for air. Then….
The black writing worms went inside his mouth. Ahanu convulsed and his eyes rolled to the back of his head.
"Ahanu!" Blank exclaimed, grabbing his arrow and setting the tip in flames.
But before he could shoot this monster….
"Fear not, Ahchuchhwahauhhatohapit. I am simply borrowing your brother as a mouthpiece."
It spoke with a deep voice through Ahanu's mouth.
"You are willing to sacrifice his life for the sake of two strangers. I find that difficult to understand, for I know how much you treasure him." The giant said.
"I believe in Ahanu first and foremost, and I simply respect his decision to ask us to keep going. And he was right in the end, is he not?" Blank said calmly, yet still looked like he was ready to shoot this monster in the face. "I have no regrets."
"I see. And you, Harker Jones." The monster turned Ahanu's head in Harker's direction. "You seek many things. You seek Victoria Seward. You seek the valiant men that aided you in your search for her. And yet you still seek your beloved from afar, the one who is stopping you from giving in to the wiles of Joan Seward."
"I'm sorry about the trees. I didn't mean to burn them in the first place, your hungry gray pets were just trying to eat us and we're desperate." Harker said.
The giant chuckled in a low, gravel tone. "You are forgiven, but that does not mean that I will give you my protection. I am not the wendigo's master, they have a will of their own. They just choose to not block my path, just as a small bird does not dare to aggravate a bigger one. But be assured that while we are speaking, we will not be interrupted."
"Where are the bodyguards?" Harker asked, his hands clenched.
He still doesn't like this giant creature very much, since he can't decide whether it was a friend and an enemy. And those that were in between were the most difficult to deal with.
"The men had left the mountains, I heard they will bring back a search party to look over all areas of the Appalachians." The giant answered. "They will be bringing those flying metal bees, the helicopters."
Joan frowned. "How can we know you're not lying?"
"You don't." A dark smile grew on Ahanu's face. "How can we ever know what is the truth and what is not? Perhaps this is all a dream, a dream that a creature much larger than I was dreaming about. And he himself has forgotten that he was dreaming."
Harker shook his head. "Don't let him get into your head. What matters is we get answers from him, and we will confirm it ourselves whether it's true or not."
"That is the right way. Pushing blindly through, even when some may say it is foolish." The giant said. "People who believe themselves to be smart and mock those who continue on blindly do not realize their own blindness, and therefore are more foolish. The one who achieves enlightenment is the one that realizes it is not attained, but simply ignited from within."
"Will you tell us where Victoria is?" Harker ignored all the cryptic mumbo-jumbo and focused on his own goal.
"Her base is at the far, far north of the mountains. Where the two brothers originally came from." The large hand of the giant pointed. "Best of luck if you could reach the place alive, with the curse of the malevolent lingering in the air. Their hunger never ends. The question is…."
He smiled directly at Harker.
"How about yours? Will your hunger for the truth overpower their greed?"
The black slimy moving critters were ejected from the little boy's mouth, returning to the Sasquatch. He let Ahanu go, and walked away. The boy coughed and Blank quickly took him in his arms.
"We stay close by the fire until morning." He said, patting his little brother in the back. "Then we start traveling back to Saddle Lake."
"From which state is Saddle Lake?" Professor Seward asked.
"I don't know. I have no knowledge of this state you speak of. But I will always know the way back home, as my mother had taught me how to read the stars in the sky to find it."
Harker had still a lot of questions buzzing in his mind after what happened. But the most immediate thing was what they could do for the injured little boy. He was shivering from the cold, and his wounds were numerous and deep.
Joan took off her jacket and wrapped Ahanu in it. "It's all my fault. I'm sorry."
The large scar on her torso was revealed, a scar that should have killed her. Blank looked at it for a while but said nothing.
"All of us almost misstepped." Harker said. "And we're not experts in this dance. Don't blame yourself. Will you be alright from the cold, though?"
"I will. My blood flows slowly anyway, and my senses are more numb than when I was…. Before." She said, almost slipping up.
Blank took some leaves with him to place over Ahanu's wounds. He then said:
"Don't bother hiding it anymore. I know the both of you are not like Ahanu and I." Blank said. "I did not bother asking, since we have always believed in heroes and legendary beings that exist as more superior than most men. But if there is something about you that may help or be of detriment to us, speak now."
Harker raised his hand. "I have a proposition to make. It's a crazy one, but it's the only way we can survive while traveling to Saddle Lake. And I need all of your help."
Blank nodded firmly. "Just speak it and I'll listen."
He looked at the young native man, his poor little brother, and this undead woman that was virtually unkillable.
"We're going to catch one of the wendigos."
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