A/N: Cipactli is pronounced (see-pocked-li). That is a real legendary creature, wikipedia it if you like. Just thought that you'd like to know.
Please read and review, it helps me write better.
Disclaimer: This legend belongs to Stephenie Meyer. I just make it more interesting to read.
Chapter 4-Tested and True
The river water was perfectly clear, flat, untroubled on this very troubling day. The clear blue water perfectly reflected the shape of my foot as I curled my toes in and out, only a hair width above the surface.
Why not just plunge my foot right in?
Maybe it was too cold and my foot would feel like I'd stuffed it in a snow bank.
Or maybe it was suddenly infested by cipactli. Kanti had told the children tales of cipactli. She was part crocodile and part fish, she could become completely invisible so she could crawl onto beaches and eat the people who rested there. What if cipactli had come into this river right now, and I stupidly push my foot into the water, just teasing the horrid beast.
What would I do then?
But I was tired of thinking everything through. For once I wished I could do something by following my pure instinct. I wanted to be silly and random, that's what I wished for.
Suddenly, I jumped into the river startling the fish. There, I told myself, nothing bad happened. There was no reason to be frightened.
But I felt stupid, my skirt was soaked and I'd kicked up a storm of sand and rocks. I clambered up the bank, startling a little girl walking along the shores, as I splattered her with cool water.
I apologized profusely and felt even worse.
See Miakoda, I chided myself, this is what happens when you don't think things through.
Even though I knew that that was true, some part of me still wished for the reckless fun.
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The hut was small and boring as I sat, waiting for news to reach me. I heard a panting sound and saw Nodin running past. It didn't look like fun n' games running, but a hard sprint inspired by true fear.
I got up and walked to the door. "Nodin!" I called out, beckoning him closer.
"Oh, Miakoda," he panted, "I was looking for you. They need you at the elder meeting place. It's urgent."
I gasped at the possibilities of what this could be. I started running for the woods, leaving Nodin sitting in my house, panting and searching for breath.
As soon as I reached the meeting place of the Quileute elders, I saw Yaha Uta. His large black wolf body was greatly disfigured. He was staggering and limping, and I could hear a faint moan escape from him.
A strong feeling in the back of my head told me to go to him, my son, my wonderfully brave injured son.
I rushed through the crowd that was forming around Yaha Uta. I ran up and gently placed my hands on his face, rubbing the blood stained fur around his eyes.
I searched his body frantically with my eyes, looking for any other signs of blood.
I felt a gentle vibration under my hands and jerked my head up to his. I looked longingly into his eyes. I could see the pain and desperation shining through his deep black eyes, even though he tried to cover it.
A warm wetness flowed down my face and fell into his black fur. I leaned my head against his and murmured soft comforting words into his ears. I talked about a time when we walked down to the river, just the two of us, and searched for flowers there.
I talked about the time when he had gone on his first fishing trip; the time when I asked him to bring back a basket load. He'd stayed out until after dark just so he could walk back home with a basket full of fish.
I was talking about the first time he had carved a knife when I felt the warm fur disappear beneath my fingers.
I glanced up and saw his large russet form curled up on the ground in front of me.
"Get a blanket!" I called out to the crowd, hoping that the hysteria wasn't too apparent in my voice. A heavy woven blanket was tossed into the circle, so I grabbed it and gently wrapped it around his shaking body.
"Shh, it's ok. It's ok." I whispered in his ear. It was easy to see the convulsions slowly stop shaking his frail looking body.
A huge sigh of relief had me feeling faint. I smiled nervously at Yaha Uta, and glanced at the crowd. Takoda and Enapay were slowly approaching me while Maza Blaska was nowhere to be seen, and Elsu was hiding behind the carving women clutching Nituna's hand and wiping tears away from his eyes.
"Mom," Takoda whispered warily, "I'm going to get one of the elders. Yaha Uta brought back, well, something that they'd want to see."
I furrowed my eyebrows at his cryptic words but nodded as he ran off to the village.
Enapay stood awkwardly by my side, waiting to be told what to do. "What happened Enapay?" I asked.
He looked at me gratefully. "Yaha Uta just burst through the trees and we were all so surprised. He ran around in a couple of circles then collapsed over there. He would growl at anyone who approached him, which made people worried. He looked around and saw Takoda, Elsu, Maza Blaska, and me and tossed something to us. That's when you came over," he explained.
I closed my eyes, breathing in deep trying to force a sense of calm over my mind. I was steadying my breathing when I heard a collective gasp. I glanced up and saw Maza Blaska walk into the center of the circle carrying a pile of what looked like white rocks.
Maza Blaska's nose was scrunched up in obvious disgust and I could clearly hear him gagging. He dropped the pile in between Yaha Uta and me before covering his nose and quickly backing away and joining the circle again.
I shuffled closer to the rocks, wanting to see what had been so traumatizing for Yaha Uta.
As I got closer to the rocks some of them started resembling shapes. One looked like a hand and another looked like an ear. I got even closer and reached out to touch the body parts. They felt cold and hard. I slid my fingers down what looked like part of an arm and marveled at the silky smoothness of the body. I was absolutely amazed, and what was more? The sunlight pouring down through the thick green canopy sparkled and reflected off of the parts, throwing light across the leafy ground.
I picked up a hand, touching each finger in turn, twisting the whole hand in mine looking for the glass that cast the sparkles.
"This way!" Takoda called, bringing one of the elders closer to the circle. I quickly dropped the hand where it landed next to a long arm like part.
I moved towards Yaha Uta, leaving room for the elder to inspect the intriguing body.
"Come now Takoda, what's all the fuss about?" a very irritated voice asked.
"You'll see Elder Akando, you'll see." Takoda pressed.
I heard Akando's very distinct voice above everything as he grumbled on about the rush. About a second later I was able to see Akando trudging up the path with an aggravated Takoda walking in tow. Akando had light grey hair that grew down to his waist. His jade green eyes were very demonstrative and bright. Akando had been very muscled at one point in his life, but had lost most of it after years without use.
A great hush fell over the circle of people as they parted to allow Akando to enter.
I bowed my head and said, "Elder Akando," in the respectful greeting.
"Miakoda," he said with a slight nod.
"Mom?" a rough voice mumbled behind me. I half jumped in surprise at this word. I quickly shuffled over to Yaha Uta and wrapped my arms around him. I hugged him closer and kissed his forehead while gently rubbing his back.
Akando had moved forward to examine the sparkling body and was now looking at it with a panicked look.
"Yaha Uta, did you fight this?" he asked. Yaha Uta pushed himself up on shaking arms.
"Elder Akando," he bowed his head, "I did fight…it." I could hear the venom slowly fill his shaking voice.
"Yaha Uta, what does it smell like?" Yaha Uta seemed perplexed by this question, but answered, unsure.
"Um…bitter and sweet. It burns my nose and makes me dizzy. The smell makes me cringe."
People around the circle started sniffing, seeing if they could smell this strange thing. Some seemed confused because they couldn't smell it, while others, including Takoda, Elsu, Maza Blaska, Enapay, and Akando covered their noses and turned away from the pile of sparkling white.
"Yaha Uta, where are the other men from the pack?"
Yaha Uta blanched, and started breathing faster. I looked at him worriedly and rubbed his back.
"They, um…were…killed?" His voice became no more than a whisper as the statement came out sounding more like a question.
Akando's eyes widened and his mouth fell slightly open, but he continued with his questions. "What happened, Yaha Uta?"
I heard Yaha Uta take in a deep breath and gulp noisily. "We were following the women's scents through the Makah camp and out into the forest. As soon as the scent entered the non-camp forest area the women's scent started mixing with something sweet…and…sickly. We followed it about four miles away and then saw…" His voice trailed off and I could tell that he was now fully experiencing what had already happened to him.
"There was a small trail of blood along with the scent. When we searched the area, I saw that the bushes and trees around the trail indicated a struggle. We started moving faster and came up to a…a…horrible sight. Kachina was lying on the ground, her face pale, cold, and reflecting an expression of pure terror. One of her arms had been ripped off, and a flow of blood was trickling from her stomach. She had horrible cuts and injuries filling her whole body. But what was even worse than that was the thing standing beside her. A tall pale man was standing next to her with a small shivering form held in his arms. When I looked closer, I could see Malila trembling in fear, blood pouring down her cheeks while that, that, beast licked it from her face.
"As soon as we approached, that thing glanced up at us and snapped Malila's neck, her body crumpled down to the floor."
My eyes widened and my heart started pounding out a disjointed rhythm. People throughout the circle gasped and some started sobbing. I could feel the tears streaking down my cheek, but made no move to wipe them away. I cried in mourning for my friends, the two lost women.
Yaha Uta continued telling his terrible mournful story. During one part, I had to stop thinking about the pack as my friends; their deaths were just too terrible to think about.
Yaha Uta described the deaths of four wonderfully brave men, four men who gave their lives for our tribe and the Makah. I silently prayed to Pah, wishing these men peace and happiness in their after lives.
The whole time Yaha Uta described the scenes in perfect detail, talking in a cold indifferent voice. When I looked at his face, his eyes were glazed over and unusually cold, an expression of defeat and hopelessness was written in all of his features.
I listened while Yaha Uta told us that the beast would learn their attacks as they fought. The beast started anticipating their moves and used them against the pack.
I listened in awe as Yaha Uta told us that the creature ripped apart into multiple pieces.
"So I went in biting his arm. I dug my teeth in and ripped away. All I heard was a shrill screech, but then his arm was in my mouth. I threw it away and then we decided to go for its neck…"
That's when I realized that the pile of white stones belonged to that creature. The pile was that creature.
I shivered, remembering how captivated I'd been by the smooth reflective body.
Yaha Uta finished telling his tale, and an eerie silence fell over the circle. Everyone was lost in thought, and Yaha Uta was trying to breath evenly after having to relive the most tragic event twice in one day.
"Quileute tribe," Akando said, projecting his voice to reverberate through the circle.
"This creature had been discovered by our pack before. I'm sure everyone remembers the disappearances of three young women a couple of years ago, am I correct?"
Murmurs rippled around the crowd, faint yes's could be heard and many people nodded their heads.
"I believe that this is the same creature that stole those young women. This is a cold one, a blood drinker."
People gasped and some even called out. "But it can't be!" and an assortment of other exclamations.
"I'm sorry to say that it is," Akando continued, "This thing has the same smell and fighting style. We are, again, searching for a cold one."
As Akando was talking, I felt the ground around my knees start to vibrate. When I looked over at the pile of body parts, I saw that the hand that I'd been holding had connected to the arm piece and was moving around. I screamed bloody murder and pointed at the pile.
It was like lightning had struck, everyone ran in different directions away from the arm, everyone except for Akando, all of my sons, Nituna, and me.
"Takoda, run back to the cooking fires and get a torch. Come back right away." Akando commanded. Takoda ran off to the main camps looking for a torch.
"Enapay and Maza Blaska, go into the woods and collect small branches and twigs." The boys ran of into the woods.
"What are you going to do?" I asked in a shaky voice.
"We're going to burn the living daylight out of it." Akando replied with an icy tone.
Enapay and Maza Blaska returned with two huge piles of tinder. We all made a bonfire from it and placed the white body parts in the cage of twigs.
As soon as Takoda returned with the torch, Akando lit the pile and we all watched in terror as the twigs went up in flames.
We all stood around watching the fire until the body started burning in harmony. Thick black smoke started rising in the air, creating one tall beam that marked this spot like a sign. I coughed and covered my nose; the smog smelled terrible.
"Leave now Miakoda." Akando commanded me. "Leave and bring your sons. Come back to this spot in the morning, we'll finish this up."
I gathered up my boys and walked away. When I turned back, I saw Akando watching the flames with something akin to pure loathing flashing in his light green eyes.
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I walked back through the village and people started bombarding me with questions. Everyone was worried and wanted to know more about what happened.
I ignored them all and walked my sons into the hut. Yaha Uta walked over to his sleeping mat and curled into a tight ball under the heavy furs and blankets. Takoda grabbed a bone and carving tool. I'd just recently taught him how to carve and he started by making fishing hooks.
Maza Blaska and Enapay started playing a game that they'd made up a couple of years ago.
Elsu walked over to the corner of the hut and pulled out a large scrap of leather. I could tell that he was painting, but he kept shifting the leather so that I couldn't see what he was working on.
I pulled out the knife that I was carving for Yaha Uta. I was nearly finished with it, I just had to carve the last ear. It wouldn't take very long. I would have it finished by the time we all went to sleep.
Nituna and my other carving friends had named it the wolf blade, and I enjoyed that title.
Tomorrow I would give the wolf blade to my wolf son. I glanced over at him and saw that he was still shaking under all the blankets.
I prayed to Pah and asked him to help my son forget the terrible tragedies that he's seen in his young life.
I wish that I were a wolf. That way I could protect my son from anything that ever hurt him.
I made a promise to myself that I would protect him in anyway possible, no matter what that meant.
