The Bewitching - Midsummer Aine - Book 2

Chapter 21 - Trust

The sweat poured from his forehead as he struggled to pull another large stone from the wall blocking the passage through the tunnel. His whole body ached and his eyes were heavy. Over the last several weeks he had barely slept, instead choosing to push ahead with finding a way out. Time after time his attempts were proven fruitless.

As he gave another heave, the stone finally let loose and fell to the ground revealing many more piled behind it. He groaned in agony as he glanced over at the Wendigo who was also pulling stones from the pile.

"I thought you said this was the last of them," Dantes muttered as he tossed the stone into one of the piles behind them.

"I thought it was. We're close though. Just a bit farther," the Wendigo responded in his deep, husky voice.

"You've been saying that since we started!"

The Wendigo stopped, standing up straight. His massive size and height had him towering over Dantes, who looked like a mere child next to him. He opened his mouth to protest, but then changed his mind. Slowly, he walked over and took a seat against the tunnel wall. Even sitting, the Wendigo was almost eye level with Dantes.

"...Another break. Why am I not surprised." Dantes continued with an annoyed tone as he shook his head while working to remove another stone.

The Wendigo reached down to a dead bug lying next to him. In one graceful movement, he grabbed ahold of it's leg and snapped it off with a loud crack. He examined it for a second before digging his sharp teeth into the meatiest chunk, and then slowly working his way down to the scarcer sections of sustenance. Within moments the leg was bare of anything other than bone. With a flick of the wrist, he tossed it into a pile of stone before snapping off another leg from the bug.

The Wendigo looked up to see Dantes still glowering at him. He extended his arm, offering up the bug's leg to which Dantes ignored.

"If you keep your strength up we might get more accomplished," the Wendigo mused.

"And if you stopped taking so many breaks, we'd get more done too." Dantes countered as he ripped another stone from the cave in and tossed it away. "I should have left you buried in the rocks," he added for good measure.

"And if you did there's no telling how many miles of rubble you'd have to remove. This is the shortest tunnel out. I didn't expect it to be caved in like the others."

As Dantes dislodged another stone from the wall, several others began to slip, crushing his arm in the process and blocking the area he had already cleared.

"Damn it!" he screamed out in anger as he tried to yank his arm from the rubble to no avail. Without saying a word, the Wendigo stood and made its way over to Dantes. Carefully, he pulled several of the stones away until Dantes could free himself.

"This is hopeless," Dantes muttered softly as he looked down at his mangled arm. He watched it as it slowly began to heal, the tendons and muscles reshaping and forming until any trace of the injury was completely gone. He flexed his fingers once it had fully rejuvenated, stretching out the newly formed ligaments. As soon as he was sure that his arm was as good as new, he went right back to removing stones. The Wendigo smirked in response.

"Hopeless...and yet you keep going."

Dantes didn't respond to the comment.

"You must really love her," the Wendigo continued. The words caught Dantes' attention, causing him to stop for a brief moment.

"What?"

"You say it's hopeless and yet you keep going. I've only known love to do that for a man."