Alpha and Omega: Lone Wolf

A/N: Hi guys! New chapter out, this idea was a lot longer on paper than I expected in my mind but I hope you enjoy it. This chapter contains words from a real foreign language. But do not worry here are the translations for words that might appear in this chapter, feel free to come back to them if you are confused:

Wajiwa - Mountain

Shepen - with great endurance

Kanen - one who is leader

Hokama - the guide

Kika – Wisdom

Astina – Hope

Iyiniwok – The People

Maci - Evil

Maci-manitow- The devil

Macâtisowin - being an evil person

Manitohkewin- To see sacred power in a concrete form.

Mahihkan - Wolf

Ahcâhk – Spirit

Powatew – Spirit dream

Wîyâtikwan/wîyâtikosiwin – it is/being fun-loving or joyful

Tansi! – Hello! (Pronounced "tahn-see")

Chapter 24: Spirit Wolf

Kika sat looking into the embers of the fire. The fire had quickly consumed the logs that were gathered earlier and he had to curl into himself and his coat to warm up. He was old now and he knew it, his body could not continue for much longer. It was last night that he had experienced the powatew, a thing that the younger members of his family dismiss as old legend and the weird machinations of old age. His grandson, Wajiwa had told him time and time again that spirit dreams weren't real, that it was just electrical signals triggering memories and sensations in the brain. Be that as it may, for Kika there was something more to it, he felt that there was a deeper meaning to his dreams. The younger generations may have forgotten the old ways but Kika felt he was called to rediscover his ancestry and even Wajiwa would admit that it was interesting to learn more about his history. His people's history.

It was Hokama, Wajiwa's father and Kika's son who had organised this trip, ever since Kika had first claimed to be experiencing powatew. Kika insisted on this being a "men only" trip as traditionally it was the men who did the hunting and this was after all a hunting trip. Astina, Hokama's wife happily let them go out into the wilderness saying she would much prefer to stay at home where it was warm. They had journeyed by car into the wilderness of Alberta and had set up a caravan to shelter in the woods. Kika knew this land by no name, as this was the home of the first nations who had inhabited the land for thousands of years long before the white man had appeared. Which were known as the French as his son reminded him on a day to day basis but they were all the same to Kika.

Kika remembered the stories his father and his father before him had told him, an oral tradition to pass the stories of events of importance to the generation below. A pity that the generations below Kika had grown so unruly. His father had told him of the Cree Nation being one of the largest nations in Canada. It had spanned from the Rocky Mountains all the way to the Atlantic Ocean but there was no rulers, kings or emperors. There was just a nation of people simply connected by a common language. Even the word Cree was something conjured up by the Europeans to describe them. It was funny to Kika that something that was given to his people by an invading force came to be such a large part of his cultural identity. His own grandfather had told him of a time when the first people were simply known as Iyiniwok or "the people" there was no need to establish borders, people just lived as one with nature and life was good.

Kika found himself more in touch with his history now more than ever. After his wife had passed away Kika was determined to learn more about his culture to reconnect with his wife's spirit. It was out on this hunting trip on the first night of their stay that Kika had his powatew. He first dreamt of seeing himself as he always did as a withering ancient tree on fertile plains that had been battered and bent low by the howling wind. The tree was close to death but something was stopping him from falling over. Small vines and other creeping plants had entwined with his trunk and spread to support his broken branches. Kika's heart warmed at this dream as he understood its meaning. He was the tree and the vines were his family, his tribe, they would not allow him to succumb to the despair of losing his true love and he was ever so grateful for the family he still had. But this night was different, this night he dreamed of battles and despair. Of a land wrought with fear where evil consumed everything it touched. It was a depiction of Maci-manitow; an evil spirit, formless but at the same time full of sharp teeth and claws. Kika shuddered making him almost wake from his dream but something was keeping him in his slumber and he was forced to look on in horror as the monster consumed even the happiest of Ahcâhk. One spirit in particular was wîyâtikosiwin. A free spirit that knew only joy and laughter. Kaki felt so much sorrow seeing the formless shape be corrupted by the Maci-manitow until only despair remained. Kaki felt he almost had to look away in his dream to shed a tear to see the loss of such a beautiful free spirit, its bright blue colours fading into the deep red of anger and despair.

The powatew seemed to speed up and he saw the sky move from night to day and back again in a continuous blur as Kika continued to see the spread of the evil spirit. It was mesmerizing and a bit overwhelming but then time began to slow, the wilderness changed from fertile lands to desolate plains. The powatew returned to real time and suddenly there was a clash of colours that made Kika reach to shield his eyes even in his deep slumber. The Maci-manitow had spread its tendrils far and wide but the Ahcâhk that was wîyâtikosiwin had returned but burned with a dazzling blue flame that quickly broke away the tendrils of the evil spirit. The Ahcâhk that had returned could only be described with the Cree word Manitohkewin. This was a powerful spirit but unlike the Maci-manitow it was a force for good and quickly moved to remove other tendrils and bring balance to the wilderness left behind. As the blazing blue spirit got closer to its goal, Kika noticed something was different; so far it only appeared to Kika as a harsh blue flame burning away the evil. But now, it started to transform before his very eyes. The flame twisted and contorted until it completed its transformation into a Mahihkan. A wolf spirit. But the flame burned around the wolf all the more as it descended on the evil below it. The Maci-manitow flared in rage and also transformed into a large feral beast with many limbs that cut out at the land and the wolf spirit. But the wolf spirit howled and smaller copies of itself seemed to charge out at the evil beast cutting away tendrils and limbs as well as destroying corrupted Ahcâhk that had been pushed too far by the Maci-manitow and had become maci themselves. The evil spirit began to flee towards where Kika observed the battle and Kika awoke as the menacing creature was almost on top of him.

Kika awoke to find his son Hokama holding him steady. "Are you ok, father?" Hokama asked concerned still holding the frail wrist of his elderly father.

"Y-Yes. Fine… just a bad dream." Kika replied as he relaxed back into his small bed in the caravan.

Hokama still looked concerned and asked his father "Would you like to talk about it? It is better to let these things out than having them weigh in on your conscience."

Kika smiled up at his son. He was so thoughtful of his father "Alright then. But I must warn you it hardly makes sense to me." And Kika began to explain his story to his son and later his grandson Wajiwa. That had all happened the night before and Wajiwa and Hokama had told him not to dwell on it. After all, it was just a dream it couldn't harm him. Hokama was out setting traps for caribou and small deer. He had grown to become a very experienced craftsman who did excellent traditional carpentry and was always handy to have around for odd jobs. It was hard for Kika to think that Hokama would be retiring soon even more so that his son was in his late twenties and looking to take over the family business after Hokama retired.

Wajiwa was out cutting wood for the fire and soon returned with the trusty family companion Shepen, a husky dog. "Tansi!" Wajiwa said as he approached the camp his arms laden with wood and Shepen panting at his heels. They had a few other huskies that they had brought a long but Shepen was the family dog and was always good company. He tended to stay with Kika and Wajiwa and not venture out with Hokama and the other huskies setting the traps but he was incredibly loyal. Wajiwa settled down next to his grandfather on a tree stump and got the fire going again while Kika rubbed and petted Shepen who snuggled up to his owner on his lap.

"You know I got curious about that wolf spirit you mentioned from your dream." Wajiwa said as he sat with a stick poking the fire that began to light up his young copper skin features and long black hair that had previously been hidden by the shadow of his coats hood.

Kika stayed silent as he watched his grandson play with the fire for a few moments before sitting back.

"I decided I'd give a read of some of your old books about our culture." Wajiwa said as he picked up a rifle and began to take it apart to clean it.

Kika smiled hopefully at his grandson, he was surprised to finally see him interested in their people's past. He had thought that he was a lost cause but perhaps Wajiwa will pass on the family stories as tradition dictates after all. "Find anything that you like?"

Wajiwa continued "It seems that the spirit wolf you mentioned could be Kanen an ancient Iyiniwok story that was taught to children to show them the value of friendship over hatred and including those who are different. Stating that the uniqueness of an individual makes the tribe stronger. It's strange the spirit you describe seeing I would immediately think of a war spirit or a vengeful guardian but I can't find anything similar in your books. It's got me stumped."

Kika chuckled "What if I told you that the Cree never had a word for war or even justice for that matter?"

Wajiwa looked at his grandfather in astonishment.

Kika continued. "Of course, there were battles from time to time but there was no concept of owning land or territories until the Europeans showed up. You can imagine how shocked our ancestors were when they realised that the Europeans had forced them into harsher areas where they struggled to survive. The Cree are one of the biggest populations of Native-American people in the Americas today and do you know why that is?" Kika asked his grandson.

Wajiwa shook his head but continued to listen.

"It was our culture that taught us that uniqueness makes us strong and we welcomed the outsiders with open arms and tried to co-exist with the European settlers which ended up being a life saver as many other nations quickly died out from the foreign diseases that the Europeans brought with them. But the Cree made a meagre living when they attempted to co-exist but they built up their immunities to the foreign settlers." Kika sighed "But it is not all doom and gloom we still have one of the biggest populations and we have further generations to pass on our story."

Kika smiled at his grandson jokingly groaned out "Not another story!"

Just then Hokama rushed into the camp with his rifle and huskies in toe.

"I caught something! I heard the bear trap ping in the distance. Gather your things and lock up the van this could be really exciting." Both Hokama's father and his son leapt into action as they gathered their things to go and inspect their bear trap.

At the bear trap…

The three men looked at what remained of a female wolf that lay in their midst. "Well it was probably for the best." Wajiwa said as he called in all the huskies and turned back to where there camp was situated.

Hokama nodded in agreement and said solemnly "Good thing I shot her when I did. She wasn't going to get any better and the dogs would have torn her limb from limb. Those huskies may be efficient at running but I won't have them ripping apart live wolves. Gotta thank small mercies" said Hokama shouldering his rifle as he reopened the bear trap and set the dead wolf to one side in the undergrowth.

Kika looked down upon the dead wolf and could see the fear that still gripping the lifeless form. He quickly said a short Cree prayer before placing his hands overs the animal's eyes, closing them and quickly left the dead wolf behind. Hopefully the spirit world will treat its newest members better than our world has treated them. Kika shook his head before he moved away from the body and proceeded back to the caravan. Maybe they would get caribou next time.

Later that day…

The day was growing close to its end; the camp was still lit up by the setting sun but the western mountains had cast strange shadows across the landscape. Kika, Hokama and Wajiwa sat around a blazing fire telling stories about many things. The good, the bad and the embarrassing. They were all sitting eating a small deer that they managed to shoot not long after finding the bear trap. The cooked meat warmed them enough to give them enough energy to laugh loudly. Hokama was right in the middle of telling them stories of the strange customers he had at his and Wajiwa's shop when a series of long wolf howls cut through their conversation.

"Woah, did you hear that? That didn't sound too far off." Wajiwa exclaimed standing quickly from his relaxed position. He quickly put his bottle of beer and plate down and reached for his rifle.

Hokama looked into the distance as the howls continued "Has to be more than twenty. Wajiwa, go and secure the dogs as well as Shepen. I don't want any of them running off." Hokama turned and picked up his rifle, cocking a round into the chamber as he looked at his father "Just to be safe, let's hope we don't need to use them."

Wajiwa quickly returned and was just tying up Shepen when he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. He may have thought it was nothing but then Shepen and the other dogs started to growl and bark. He stood and looked over at just the right time to see three wolves running right at them. The largest of the three, was covered head to toe in a white coat of fur apart from a small amount of black on its ears. This wolf no matter how beautiful looked to Wajiwa to be was heading right at his father who was facing the other way.

"Dad, lookout!" Wajiwa shouted as he brought his rifle to bear on the wolf. He only had a split second to make his decision and time seemed to slow down as he lined up the shot. He fired and managed to hit the white wolf across the top of its body, the other two wolves scattered one getting close to Shepen to be pushed away again with a scratch from his paws. The white wolf had toppled through the camp and rolled into the forest on the other side. Wajiwa quickly looked over his father to check that he was alright. Hokama nodded and both men ran out of the camp shouting in an attempt to scare the wolves away. Wajiwa froze as his eyes met with the violet eyes of the white wolf. The wolf was lying next to a tree, bleeding from a gash to its upper shoulder. It snarled at Wajiwa and Wajiwa kept his rifle trained on the wolf as Hokama and Kika came up behind him.

"Good job son! That wolf might have got me if you hadn't scattered them." Hokama exclaimed, just as Hokama moved his rifle to be an extra pair of eyes to focus on the wolf. Wajiwa and Hokama felt something hard knock them to the floor. Kika saw it all, as a large blue and grey wolf knocked both men down. Wajiwa fell back and off to the side as his rifle flew from his hands. Kika reached and caught the rifle and brought it down to face the wolf. The large wolf had turned round and faced Kika off as both his son and grandson lay dazed on the ground. The wolf snarled and bared its large fangs but it was slowly walking back but never losing eye contact. Kika had the rifle pointing right at the wolf but as he stared at it he saw that the wolf was staring right back at him as though it was looking right at his spirit. It was then that Kika noticed that the wolf eyes burned with an icy blue flame and he faltered for a moment remembering what he had seen in his powatew. The Maci-manitow devouring the land, the destruction of the Wîyâtikwan spirit and finally the appearance of the Manitohkewin, the spirit wolf that burned like a blue flame. Kika faltered at this realisation looking away as he lowered his rifle. As he looked back he took in a breath sharply as both wolves had vanished almost out of thin air. Kika looked to the sky and whispered to himself one word under his breath "Kanen". Both Hokama and Wajiwa who had recovered quickly brushed off the dirt from their jackets. They both stared at Kika for a moment before Hokama broke the silence.

"What the hell were you waiting for?! You could have killed that damn mahihkan!" Hokama said out of a mixture of confusion and adrenaline.

Wajiwa, who had been kneeling on the ground, spoke "He probably noticed it was backing away, it was probably protecting the other wolf, not looking for a fight. But, I'll tell you something, I don't ever want to be that close to a wild wolf again."

Kika straightened and dropped the rifle to his side as he turned to his grandson. "That was no ordinary wolf Wajiwa. That was Kanen."

Wajiwa looked puzzled for a moment but then realisation hit him and his eyes widened. "You mean-?"

Kika smiled at his son and grandson "Yes." Kika then turned and looked back at where the wolves had been "That was a spirit wolf."

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter and my Cree characters. I did a little bit of research on Jasper Park (the real one) and local Native American tribes that still inhabit areas on reservations in Alberta, Canada. I found some really interesting information and it was sad to read about how many Native American tribes had been wiped out not from fighting in battles but not being able to cope with the sudden influx of Europeans to their areas. Where settlers quickly hunted all their game and made areas off limits as well as spreading diseases that the native had no immunities or medication for and quickly died.

In the story, Humphrey, Kate, Lily and Adam are close to their goal and have managed to evade the humans. Let's hope that Adam wasn't wounded badly and they can finally catch up to Garth before he manages to escape.