Winter Prey

Chapter 49

Chapter 49

Blackness hovered on the edge of Kymbria's consciousness, yet the smell penetrated her mind's attempt to send her into oblivion and block out the abject terror. Fear immobilized her as much as the impact with the wall and the waves of pain in her shoulders and back. She slit her eyes to stare at the monster. None of her mental preparations had prepared her for the actual confrontation with the beast in its lair - the odor, the feeling of helplessness when it swiped her up. The razor-sharp claws that slashed the back of her snowsuit when it flung her away.

She could smell her own blood seeping from the slashes - and the beast sniffed, also.

Oh, god, it would eat her before she could attempt to communicate with it.

Somehow she dredged up Adam's voice.

Against evil prevail.

Instead of reaching for her, the windigo crouched. Kymbria controlled the gasps of fear pushing at her throat and feigned unconsciousness as she studied it. Ice crystals of saliva matted the fur beneath where the mouth would be.

By all rights, she should have been truly unconscious. The beast had thrown her hard enough. She hadn't even realized it had taken her prisoner until she was in the lair, in its grasp, the odor gagging her. Instinctively, she'd clawed at it, then flew through the air, tensed as she waited for the crushing pain of impact. Cold seeped through gashes opened in her snowsuit by the sharp daggers on the ends of his arms.

She'd slid down the wall and landed on something, perhaps the pile of clothing from the dead that Nodinens had dug through. She could already imagine the legions of infectious bugs crawling into her wounds.

The pain finally receded until it wasn't debilitating. The greater problem was trying to breathe through the odor of the beast.

You are awake. My vision is excellent when compared to your puny sight. I can see your eyes.

She struggled up to brace against the cold stone behind her. Bile rose through the fear in her throat as the situation impacted her. She couldn't believe her own stupidity. What chance did she have against such a foul, huge beast? Here in its own lair, filled with bones and clothing of hundreds of past kills, meals eaten to fuel its horrendous powers.

Opposite the windigo, colored pictograms decorated the wall, illuminated by the rising sun shining in the mouth of the lair. She recognized a few of the ancient figures that Adam had taught her about: a mitigwakik and bagaakokwan, the drum and stick used in ceremonies; an asinipwagun, the stone pipe that held the sacred tobacco; the flute, a bibigwun. They were all holy items, drawn in the miskwadusigun, ozawa and mukude dyes used so long ago.

Someone had also taken the time to include a Midewiwin Path of Life diagram, with the death symbol, nibowin, beneath it, and another symbol that tugged for recognition, but eluded her. This had to mean something, but she didn't have time right now to analyze it through the fear and dread coursing in her mind. Fear and dread she sensed she must staunch deep enough to keep the creature from identifying it.

Adam's voice again rang in her mind:

Nanaukinumowidauh matchi-dae/aewin

Zhaugootchitumowidauh matchi-dodumowin

Defend our hearts against evil.

Against evil prevail.

With the help of Adam's spiritual guidance, she pushed back her terror. "Your vision may be excellent, but even after all these decades of life - or half-life, whatever you want to call it - even after all these years, you're still on the same over-walked path."