The Unwanted Wendigo [ManxMan]

Chapter Thirty-Five: A Family Affair - Part One

~Chapter Thirty-five: A Family Affair - Part One~

Everything disappears in a swirl of blue, only to then be replaced with a grassy hill overlooking a lake. The disgusting taste of seaweed seems to coat the roof of my mouth, and I start to gag on it. I have only ever had real seaweed once as an experiment, but this is far worse, and my every instinct is screaming at me to get it out of my mouth.

"As promised," Triton says above me, having let go of my arm to allow me to fall when my stomach rolls threateningly and the sudden weakness in my knees makes me lose my balance.

Who's he talking to?

There is a shuffle of feet on grass somewhere to the left, presumably whoever Triton was talking to, before a chillingly familiar voice says, "He looks ill. You swore he would be unharmed, son of Poseidon."

The nausea rolling around in my stomach suddenly becomes nothing more than an afterthought as I focus on the voice, even though my body still seems intent on expelling that seaweed taste at any cost.

Here be wendigo.

"It's a side effect of my teleportation," Triton replies flippantly, as if my stomach is not violently trying to remove whatever his teleportation did to me. "No matter, he's been delivered to you in one piece, unharmed. As per the agreement, you and yours will remain out of the war and out of the way, correct?"

"Yes, yes," the female wendigo - I never learned her name, but she has been hunting me relentlessly for years - says, "we don't care about your little war, son of Poseidon."

The god grunts in what sounds like annoyance, but then what I can see of him - from his knees down - disappears, and I can only assume that means he has teleported. As soon as he is gone, I jerk my head up, fully prepared to take flight as soon as I can locate who I will be running from now that the biggest threat is gone, as wendigo can thankfully not teleport, but then my attention falls on someone that is not the female wendigo whose voice I remember.

Someones, actually.

My vision whites out at the sudden fear that builds in the back of my throat, as I see no less than thirty wendigo waiting in the yard and on the porch of a house overlooking the lake Triton teleported us to. For a moment, I genuinely feel like I am going to pass out was the fear mixes with my nausea, but then the female wendigo starts walking closer, and I manage to focus on her before my vision can grey out completely. However, just because I am focused on her, that does not mean that my fear is suddenly gone. If anything, it is might actually be getting worse.

"Lancelot," she starts, and though her eyes are crinkled like she is smiling, her expression is otherwise impassive, "it's quite unfortunate that we had to enlist the help of gods, but you forced our hand in relying on outside help yourself."

I glare at her, but it is a pathetic attempt at intimidation when I am on my hands and knees at her feet. "Where are we?" I ask, my voice barely above a growl.

"If you're wondering if we're anywhere near your ocean allies, we aren't," the female wendigo answers, stopping just far enough away that I do not have to crack my neck to see her face. Though I am not surprised by what she is saying, it still makes my stomach sink, which does nothing to help my nausea, and I have to fight off the urge to gag. "In fact, we're about as far inland as we can get, but you don't need to know more than that."

My lips peel back in a sharp grin that might be a bit more wobbly than I would like. "Afraid I'll run?"

"Counting on it, actually," she replies easily, making a show of taking her eyes off me to pick at her sharp nails. However, she says nothing more, and while I suspect she is intentionally being vague to get a response, I am in no position to refuse the chance to get more information, especially not if she and the rest of the wendigo have yet to attack.