Wolv

17 - Mingan's Tale

Mingan? Mingan Tihkoosue?!?

Could it be? Could he really be the one that had bitten me? The same Mingan that I'd read about on the Chaplain's computer, back in Winnipeg? It all seemed too surreal to be true; that everything linked back to him.

I could stay still no longer. With a grunt, I leapt to my feet and stepped outside. The three wolves all twitched their ears simultaneously at the sound, and three pairs of eyes fixed themselves on me. They all lowered their heads guiltily.

"Mingan?" I asked quietly, staring down at him.

"That's me." I heard his voice for the first time, and faltered for a moment. He sounded pained, and it was like he was wheezing slightly as he spoke.

He lifted his head and locked his eyes on mine. They were the same eyes that had bore into me so long ago as I'd sat on my little island, dying a slow death. I stepped back, feeling my stomach clench with fear. The last time we'd met, I'd been bleeding out from a wound that he had made in my arm.

I shook my head, searching for the words to say. I met your father! I met Trish! Twice, in fact! They miss you! Dr. Abrams hasn't forgotten you; he still torments your family! Everything seemed so connected; from me meeting Trish at Wallace lake two weeks ago for the first time, to me reading about Mingan back in Winnipeg, to me actually coming face to face with him now. Spike and Tara moved in beside Mingan, not daring to make eye contact with me.

"Why?" I whispered finally. I had a million questions that needed to be answered, but 'why' somehow found its way to the top of my list. "Why did you do this to me?" I addressed all three of them as I spoke. They were all equally at fault for changing me.

Mingan stepped forward, and I barred my teeth at his approach.

"It is a long story."

"So why don't you bloody start from the beginning? I've got the rest of my life to listen!" I growled back, keeping my teeth barred as I spoke. Anger dredged itself up inside of me as I remembered the bite.

Mingan blinked through swollen eyelids, and motioned towards the cave behind me with his muzzle.

"It is cold out here, and I am tired." He drew himself forward, limping slowly into the mouth of the cave. I followed him, my heart beating wildly. I felt so completely out of the loop after listening in on the conversation between Spike and Tara; I was desperate to get some facts into my head. I needed something solid, some truth to anchor myself to in the midst of the turmoil that I was enduring.

Mingan lay down on the moss bed that Spike had trampled, and arranged his paws beneath him, whining softly from the pain. I sat down across from him as Spike and Tara squeezed themselves into the cave behind Mingan. Tara sniffed at Mingan's bloodied leg, and began licking at the wounds that covered it.

As angry and confused as I was, I was oddly disarmed by the sight of the beaten grey wolf.

"Why?" I asked again, now that we were all settled in. "What gave you the right to end my life as I knew it?"

Mingan leaned his head against the wall of the cave as if to steady himself, then began speaking. "Whenever anyone sets foot in our territory, we know about it. We watch our borders constantly, so naturally, when you crossed into our domain, we knew. I watched you unwittingly cross our borders with my own two eyes, despite the warning."

"What warning? What are you talking about?" I hadn't been warned!

"The entrance to our territory is marked with an ancient Ojibwe painting. But it doesn't matter now. I saw you enter, and I began following you. You must understand, while Atikaki may be a provincial park, open to those in the public brave enough to enter, we do not view it as such. Our land is buried within the park, and we do not welcome outsiders in to our domain. Do you recall the night you spent on the shores of Braybrooke lake?"