“Why would they follow your orders? When have wendigo ever followed orders or been controlled?”
“Oh I am not controlling them. I have merely offered them a more...fulfilling future.”
Everything Zhu said was delivered with a superior smile and a condescending air. He seemed to know that he would get what he wanted with or without King Darius but Mathilde could tell from looking at him that he wanted Darius to help. Mathilde wondered why he was bothering and what he hoped to gain. She was surprised when she heard Memory-Dash echo what she had been thinking.
“What do you want from my father? Why do you need us?” His voice was not as deep as his father’s but just as commanding and Zhu looked at him and raised his eyebrows.
“Ah the little prince has a voice. A voice and a good question too. Well you see I have planned for a very long time and I have two ways open to me; two paths to follow between which you must help me to choose.
The first is to wipe out the people of your country. We are sick of finding a meal once every few weeks to fight over. We need more than that. We want more than that. We have enough to our number that your settlement walls will not stop us for long. We could feast on the flesh of Romania and decimate the people of this land.”
“Then why don’t you?” spat memory Dash. “If you think you have that power then just do it but know that we will fight and for every man, woman or child of ours that you kill we will rain down vengeance upon you. The people of Romania have seen hard times. You would be just one more dictator to destroy.”
“Strong words for a little prince. Yes I am sure that you would try and several of my wendigo would be lost to the fight. It would be a pity. A pity and a waste, but the greatest pity would be the loss of your people’s lives.”
“I am surprised that you would even care,” said Queen Genevieve, her voice soft but as clear as a bell.
“Oh but your beautiful highness of course I care. After all what would we eat if you were all gone?”
The humans looked at the Zhu and awaited the punch line. He obviously had something very definite in mind but none of them could work out what. Mathilde was also confused and Violette’s silence hinted that she felt the same way.
Zhu stood up and everyone’s head lifted slightly to keep his chilling face in their eye-line. He walked towards the humans. The Protectors automatically gathered around the King and Queen and left Suzanna momentarily unguarded. Mathilde watched with fear as the wendigo man walked slowly towards Suzanna. One of the Protectors saw which way he was walking and moved quickly in front of the Princess. Zhu did not stop walking.
He grabbed the Protector, a heavily muscled man aged around thirty, by the neck and lifted him from the ground. Without taking his eyes off Suzanna he grabbed the man’s right shoulder and with a move like twisting the top of a bottle he twisted his head right off. Mathilde heard herself and everyone else gasp as the Protector’s body tumbled to the ground, his head still in the hand of General Zhu.
Zhu smiled at Suzanna before bringing the head viciously up to his mouth and biting away a lump of flesh from the cheek, chewing it slowly before swallowing. He licked his lips and his slightly too long tongue left smears of scarlet on the grey skin around his mouth. Mathilde wondered if a once removed spirit form could vomit as she saw the decapitated head blink twice before stopping - as if the Protector took a few seconds to realise that he should be dead.
This time nobody moved as he walked towards Suzanna. Mathilde saw Dash’s muscles twitch as if he were ready to pounce if it looked like Suzanna was in danger but Gein had made his way to stand in between Zhu and the humans leaving Suzanna and Zhu separated slightly from the rest of her family and the four remaining Protectors.
Zhu moved closer to Suzanna and the girl sat frozen, staring at his advance. He grabbed Suzanna’s wrist and pulled her up onto her feet. Mathilde saw her cringe away as Zhu put his face close to Suzanna’s and smelt her skin from her face and down her neck. Big tears ran down Suzanna’s cheeks as Zhu traced his fingers down her neck, across her collar bone and then down towards her breast. Dash and Darius leapt towards her but Gein got in their way, knocking them to the ground and pinning them there with his clawed hands.
Zhu chuckled then let Suzanna go. She crumpled into a heap and began to silently sob again. Zhu returned slowly to his throne.
“You see humans are like cattle. They are good for two things: food and breeding. With your support I intend to set up a new way of life for all of us - one which will allow my kind to feast and your kind to return to a normal life.
With your support we can set up breeding camps. You need not put any of your important or innocent people there. The criminals, whores and thugs will do. I hear you are not a favourite of the People’s Rebellion - perhaps some candidates there? Give those people to us and it will be best for everyone. You rid your society of the dregs of humankind and we gain subjects for our breeding camps to create a sustainable food source. A good idea don’t you think?”
“You’re mad!” gasped Genevieve at the same time as Dash burst out with, “Lunatic”.
“That is not going to happen Zhu,” said King Darius. “Release us now and declare your war. I will never share your dreams. What you describe is murder. You will bring babies into this world just to raise and kill for your snacks. I will not let that happen. Even the most disgusting thief in my country will never be put to death for their crimes.”
“Ha, so condescending to come from a man from a species who raises animals to slaughter for food. To us humans are merely animals. How are we so different? No matter. You may stay in my home as my honoured guests and we will discuss it again tomorrow.
You! Take His Royal Highness, his lovely wife and the little prince to their rooms.” Zhu issued his command to the four wendigo stood nearest to his throne.
“Gein. Please take the princess to my chambers. I am sure you can make her comfortable there. I shall be along in a moment.”
Then Zhu gave a barely perceptible nod and all hell broke loose. Dash, Darius and Genevieve screamed and shouted as they were lifted up by wendigo but continued to struggle in an attempt to get to Suzanna. Suzanna had stopped crying and was now screaming as Gein carried her away. Suddenly a new wave of screams erupted into the air and catapulted around the cavern in a thousand echoes as the remaining wendigo pounced on the Protectors. They had no further purpose to serve other than as a meal and within seconds the slurping and crunching made obvious that entrails and bones had become entrees and desserts for the crowd.
The screaming carried on in Mathilde’s head and she could not work out if the sound was coming from her mind, Violette’s or Dash’s. She was catapulted from the earthy darkness of the cavern into searing white light which quickly settled to the white fog of the spirit realm.
“Mathilde! Tilly stop screaming, stop,” Violette hissed desperately before slapping her across the face and Mathilde then knew that it was her that was screaming. She took a breath and stopped.
“They heard Mathilde. They know we are here.”
Mathilde, Dash and Violette looked around to see that they were back in the spirit realm and they saw hundreds of tall slender black shapes flitting around the circle. The snout of a wendigo suddenly came to the edge of the circle snapping and gnashing wildly at them before letting out a howl to alert the hundreds of other wendigo spirits which were searching for new hosts.
Chapter Thirteen
"Don't move," shouted Violette. Silence no longer seemed important or necessary as a sea of wendigo jaws snapped at them.
"The moonstones no longer work. They know we’re here, but the amber should hold them for a little while. Don't break the circle or make any big movements. I will try and get us home while the amber still holds."
The three of them joined hands and Mathilde cursed herself for getting them into this situation. Some nerves of steel she had! Protector Superior! Ha! It seemed that she wasn’t much good at anything these days.
&nb
sp; “Right I’m going to count backwards from ten. Remember to control your breathing. Think of the room back at the settlement and think of your body. Try to tune into the smells and sounds of the room. Try to feel what your physical being is feeling.”
The wendigo noise was increasing in volume; snapping, hissing, screeching, howling. These noises were joined by whispers and cries which sounded like human voices. “Help us, you can save us, stay here, we need you.” As they pleaded Mathilde wanted to break the circle to try to help but she knew better than to do that. The voices were old and young and all terrified, but Mathilde knew that they were not voices of humans but of the wendigo taunting and tempting.
“Dash. Dash don’t leave me please, help me, stay with me, save me, be with me,” a female voice sobbed before going silent.
“Suzanna” Dash whispered and Mathilde felt his grip on her hand loosening. She held it tighter.
“Ten, nine....breathe slowly...eight, seven.... try to feel the air in the room...”
Then silence. The counting stopped and Mathilde heard a scream. Not her own this time. She felt a small stone hit her back, heard Violette panting, and the noises of the wendigo rose together in triumph, cackles and howls came closer to her and she felt an oppressive closeness of the beasts swelling around her. Surely they must be close to breaking into the circle. Another stone hit her back. She made a move to let go of the hands which she held but Violette shouted again.
“Keep your eyes closed.” The next words came as fast gasping breaths, “...six, five..... smell the lavender .... four, three, feel your body, your toes, your shoulders.... two, one...”
Suddenly there was silence, quickly broken by heavy breathing and a hiss, crackle of fire. The smell of lavender was no longer a memory but a reality and Mathilde felt Violette drop her hand. She opened her eyes to the warm orange and brown of the settlement hospital room. Dash sat by her, paler than ever and looking past exhausted. She let his sweat covered hand slip from hers and left him staring into space as she turned to Violette. Violette lay on the floor on her side, gasping in pain.
“What is it Violette? Where are you hurt?”
“My back,” gasped Violette. “Be better in a moment. Not a real wound. Just a memory from the spirit realm. If we had been there much longer we could have died but we didn’t. It isn’t real here. Now we are back it will heal.”
Mathilde lifted Violette’s shirt to look at her back. Though the shirt was still intact Violette’s back had been sliced open from her neck to her waist. The flesh was gaping almost an inch wide and through it Mathilde could see small white bumps of the bone in Violette’s spine.
“No, it’s real. I need to stitch it up. Where’s the medicine cabinet? Come on this is a hospital room. Where are the things to make you better?”
Mathilde had moved to hold Violette’s face as she spoke, to focus her attention. When she moved to look at the wound again her eyes widened. It was no longer as wide. The wound at the middle of Violette’s spine was now only a centimetre wide and the ends of the wound at Violette’s neck and the base of her back had already knitted together leaving a barely visible silver scar. She continued to watch as the rest of the wound followed suit and sealed itself. Within minutes the silver scar was complete, like a very fine thread of silk. Hardly noticeable at all.
Violette slowly sat up and gave Mathilde a weak smile.
“How did you know?”
“It isn’t my first spirit realm encounter. On my first visit to the spirit realm I wasn’t quite so experienced. There was a gap in my circle.”
Violette held up her sleeve so that Mathilde could see another silk thread scar on her upper arm.
“Nice. A bit tougher than you look aren’t you sis?”
“Can’t say the same for your boyfriend. That one anyway,” said Violette chuckling as she nodded towards Dash.
Dash had made his way towards the bed and was looking like a man tormented.
“I’ve seen all I need to. I will go and talk to Paul and Seb. You stay here. I think Dash would appreciate it.”
Mathilde nodded and hugged Violette before she left. Mathilde dragged the chair to the bed and sat down next to Dash. She hesitated for only a second before reaching out for his hand. It was no longer sweaty and was now powdery soft and warm. He didn’t pull away and when Mathilde gave his hand a squeeze he looked at her with a tired smile.
“Was it tough seeing it all again?”
“Yes. It is over six months since I last saw my parents and Suzanna. They looked so real.”
“What happened? After we left, what happened next?” Mathilde spoke quietly, as if speaking any louder would make it more painful. As if anything could!
“Zhu dragged my father into his throne room at least once a day to discuss his proposition. My father kept refusing to back him in his quest. Each time he would be brought back to the cells where my mother and I were kept with more and more injuries. Then one day he wasn’t brought back. Within a few days my mother was gone too. Gein came to take her away. She didn’t scream or make a fuss. She walked out with her head held high.”
“Are you sure that they are dead?”
“Yes. My father had been gone for what must have been a month when Gein came for me.”
“You are alive.”
“I have spent so long wishing that I wasn’t. This is the first time in a long while that I have had anything worth living or fighting for.”
As Dash squeezed her hand and stared into Mathilde’s eyes she felt a jolt as she realised that she felt the same. She had begun to feel something other than hate, fear and duty. For the first time in her life she felt excited, exhilarated, nervous. She felt that more time with Dash was worth fighting for. For the first time there was something that she cared about enough to fight for.
“But you are alive. Maybe they are too,” said Mathilde. Dash sighed and shook his head.
“They aren’t alive.”
“How can you possibly know? How did you get out?”
“When Gein took me from the cell he took me to the throne room and threw me down in front of Zhu. He was on the throne. He told me that he was going to release me.”
“So he let you go? I thought you escaped”
“No. He let me go. ‘Go and spread the word that the wendigo are coming,’ he said. ‘Tell them that everyone will die. Tell them that their precious King had the chance to save them but was too stupid and weak to take it.’ Then he told Gein to take me back to where he had found me.”
“Why let you go? Why give you the chance to give everyone a warning?”
“It’s the way they work isn’t it? Create fear and paranoia then strike when we are too scared and confused to put up much of a fight.”
“So your parents - how do you know that they aren’t still alive?”
“Because he told me to say goodbye to them. ‘Say goodbye to mother and father before you leave Little Prince’ he said. Gein pulled me around to face the exit of the cavern. There were two tall sticks, propped up in two piles of rocks. On the top of the sticks he had impaled the heads of my parents.”
“Oh,” gasped Mathilde, finally understanding the full brutality of what Dash had been through. “I’m so sorry, how horrible.”
“They died with dignity, for their country, but all dignity is lost when you are dead. Their faces had turned a yellow colour and there were still bruises on their cheeks and foreheads where Zhu must have gripped them. Their tongues were hanging out and their eyes were open. The spike on the stick had gone straight through my mother’s head and poked out of the top. The hair around the stick had been stained red with her blood. I wanted to vomit or scream but Gein picked me up and threw me over his shoulder.”
“And took you to where he had found you?”
“Yes”
“Why didn’t you go back to the monastery? Why come here?”
“I tried to go back there but I couldn’t find my way. I had followed my father in all of our journeys. I
hadn’t paid much attention to which way to go and we’d arrived at the monastery from the other side before. I just walked.”
“You must have walked for days. You’re lucky that you didn’t freeze or get attacked.”
“I walked for long periods, until I couldn’t walk anymore. That kept me warm. When I rested I made fires. I expected to be attacked and didn’t care. I wanted to be dead, but I didn’t see a single wendigo. Not one. I suppose that was good.”
Mathilde sat quietly for a moment as she thought through the possibilities.
“I’m glad you got here safely. That we met.”
“But you don’t think that me not being attacked is a good thing.”
Mathilde allowed herself a small smile. He had made a statement rather than asking a question. He seemed to know her so well already. As he spoke his thumb had begun to trace circles on the top of her hand as he held it.
“I don’t know Romania too well, apart from my journey from Suceava to Bucharest I have never been far out of my settlement, but there is quite a distance between the Carpathian Mountains and Bucharest right?”
“Hmm”
“So that would be a lot of possible wendigo attacks.”
“Yes.”
“But you weren’t attacked once. That must mean that the wendigo are gone or that Zhu told them to stay away from you.”
“Well either option is fine by me. But not by you right?”
“Hmm. Well I would love if the wendigo were gone but that isn’t likely. What is more likely is that the wendigo were ordered to stay away and that means that Zhu has some power over a lot more wendigo than you saw in that cavern - maybe hundreds of them.”
“That isn’t good,” said Dash, finally seeming to get what Mathilde was thinking. “If it comes to a war they have more than us.”
Wendigo Wars Page 9
