Nahanni stayed in the village that night. She patrolled around the inside of the stockade fence, stopping to talk with the sentries that Moguago had posted, getting them used to the idea of seeing her up and about late at night. She joked with them about being too frightened to sleep, before she would return to her lodge to catch a few hours rest, and then go back out and repeat the process with the next watch.
The entire village was roused before sunrise. There was much that Moguago wanted to do that day. A small hunting party left as the sun was peeking over the horizon, to give them the most daylight in which to hunt, and still return to the village before nightfall.
The village had been built on a rise in a triangular space of land between the confluence of the two rivers, with water on two sides, and forest on the third. The ice of the rivers was frozen here, and it would be easy for anything to cross it, but not without being seen by the lookouts in the village. If anything wanted to approach the village by stealth, it would come through the forest. There were several places where the trees grew almost to the stockade, leaving only a narrow space of open ground that a man, or a wendigo, could run across in seconds. Men were put to work clearing the trees that came close to the stockade. Children were put to work cutting back any low brush that would give cover to any wendigo attempting to sneak up on the village.
In the late afternoon Nahanni and Ashiwut accompanied Moguago and four other men deep into the forest. Moguago had each man swear to keep what he was about to be told secret, and then they were told about Nahanni being the Protector. At first they were incredulous, not believing that a girl could be as strong or as skilled as they were told that Nahanni was.
"Nahanni is skilled with a bow," said Tokopaw, "But she could not be the one who saved us from the wendigo."
Nahanni strung her bow. "Pick a target."
"What?"
"Pick a target," said Nahanni. "I will show you how skilled I am."
Tokopaw shrugged. "Very well." He looked around, and selected a tree, about fifty yards away. "That tree."
Nahanni smiled. "You should have picked something harder." She shot off four arrows in as many heartbeats. Each arrow thwacked into the trunk of the tree, forming a horizontal line across it with no more than a finger's breadth between each arrow. Nahanni smiled and handed her bow and an arrow to Tokopaw. "Now you try it."
Tokopaw was too stunned to do anything but take the bow. He nocked the arrow, and tried to draw the bow. It took all of his strength to only draw it half way. When he released the arrow, it missed the tree, and vanished into the forest.
The other men all tried the bow, with similar results. Nahanni was glad that she hadn't given them any of her special arrows, she might not be able to find them again.
When they were done with the bow, Nahanni invited each of the men to wrestle with her—not as a man would wrestle with a woman, but as men wrestled with each other. She bested each of them easily.
Moguago told the men that they would be acting as the sentries on the gate from now on, and that they were to allow Nahanni to exit and enter the village at any time, without telling anyone else about it.
Nahanni left her lodge as the sun was setting. She moved quietly through the village, trying not to draw attention to herself. There was a lot of activity around the gate. The hunting party had just returned, and they'd had a successful hunt. Nahanni passed out through the gate unnoticed before it was closed for the night. It was normally left open, but nothing was normal any more. Instead of everyone getting a good night's sleep, each of the men of the village would have to stand a watch tonight, guarding against the return of the wendigo.
Nahanni moved quickly to the forest. She didn't slow until she was surrounded by the trees. Once she was safe from spying eyes she slowed, and moved more carefully, not wanting to make any sound. She listened to the gathering darkness, alert for any noise that seemed out of place. She reached out with her other senses as well. She could feel the oppressive evil of the wendigo around her, but she couldn't tell where it was coming from. It was a distant hum, like mosquitos in the darkness: an annoyance. But these blood suckers would do a lot more than leave an itchy welt on her skin.
Nahanni stayed where she was until it was fully dark, and then she started to move. She silently followed the tree line, circling around the village in an arc from the bank of one river to the other. She stayed hidden in the trees, not wanting to be seen in the moonlight by any of the sentries. She knew that they would be watching this approach to the village carefully.
After completing her arc through the trees, Nahanni came back to a point about mid way along it that let her see the two places where the trees came closest to the stockade. There had been closer approaches, but they had already been cut back.
Nahanni's experience a couple of nights earlier had shown her that it was nearly impossible to fight while wearing snowshoes, so she removed hers. The open ground close to the stockade had been packed by the men clearing the trees. Nahanni and Ashiwut had spent much of the day traipsing these woods, leaving lots of trails through the snow, trails to make it difficult for the wendigo to pick out the path that she had taken tonight, and trails that she would be able to move along quickly without her showshoes on. She settled down to wait.
The night was mostly gone. The nearly full moon was setting in the west. Nahanni was cold, and she was starting to have trouble staying awake. She reached into her pouch, and pulled out the last of the pemmican she had brought with her. She was raising it to her mouth when she heard the sound of a twig snapping.
Nahanni froze, not even breathing while she listened. She heard more faint sounds, coming from somewhere off to her right. She dropped the pemmican, and quickly shed her mittens and parka, opting for the freedom of motion that gave her over their warmth. She would be getting plenty of exercise to keep her warm. She strung her bow, and moved quickly down the path that led toward the sound.
Nahanni slowed as she neared the path the wendigo were taking. She could feel them now, as well as hear the noise they were making, the quiet crunching of the snow beneath their feet. She crouched down behind some low brush, peering into the darkness, and saw shadows moving across her path. She waited, and counted the wendigo as they passed. She saw seven of them.
Six of the wendigo continued toward the village. One of them stayed behind. They obviously felt that Nahanni's path was suspicious. She watched it move off the trail, and bury itself in the snow, to ambush anyone trying to come up behind them.
Nahanni considered her options. If she killed the rear guard now, the noise would no doubt alert the others of her presence. She also didn't think that she could get a clear shot at its heart with it buried in the snow the way it was. She would have to try to sneak up on it. On the other hand she could see the six wendigo approaching the stockade, and they would have to break out into the open before they could reach it. She would have a clear shot at them then. She thought that she could get at least two of them before the guard wendigo could get itself up out of the snow, and then she'd have a clear shot at it.
She crouched waiting, she had forgotten that she'd been feeling cold a few moments ago. Her heart was beating faster—in anticipation of what was to come—and she felt warm. She watched the wendigo wind through the trees, until they reached the open space before the fence. They paused there for a few heartbeats, no doubt watching for the sentries who would be looking out from the village. Three wendigo suddenly dashed forward. Two of them stopped at the stockade. They lowered their hands, making steps for the third, and then lifted it up, so it could grab at the top of the stockade fence. The wendigo was pulling itself up over it when Nahanni's arrow pierced its back. The shriek of it exploding into dust cut through the silent night.
Nahanni fired off two more arrows in quick succession, each one finding the heart of one of the surprised wendigo by the stockade. She nocked a fourth arrow, and turned toward the wendigo that was charging toward her. It was nearly on her when she shot. This wendigo leapt just as she was releasing the arrow, and instead of its heart the arrow passed through the demon's stomach. Nahanni didn't have time to draw another arrow, or a stake. She dropped her bow into the snow, and caught the wendigo with her hands.
Nahanni fell back, pulling the wendigo with her. Her foot came up into its stomach as she rolled. She propelled it over her, throwing its back against a tree. The stunned wendigo crashed head first onto the ground. Nahanni drew a stake, and struck its heart before it could move again.
There were shouts coming from inside the village. Nahanni stood and looked around. She could see that the wendigo were retreating. She could see men on the stockade shooting arrows at them. One of the men must have seen her move, for an arrow whistled past her in the dark. She grabbed her bow and ran deeper into the trees, moving in the direction that the wendigo were going.
The wendigo were moving quickly, sticking to a trail that would take them to the river near where their first ambush had been. Nahanni ran after them, slowly gaining ground. She drew another arrow, and shot it on the run. The wendigo she hit stumbled, but it continued to run. She shot again, and again she missed the heart.
They were nearly to the river when Nahanni felt more wendigo up ahead. She wanted to continue her pursuit, but she had no idea how many of the creatures she might be facing, and she didn't want to run headlong into an ambush. She slowed, and started to move forward more carefully, alert for any sign.
She heard splashing up ahead, and the feeling that the wendigo were near started to fade. It had dropped down into the general background hum by the time she reached the river bank herself. She could see the tracks of five wendigo entering the water. She remembered that this was the same place that Mandokee had gone into the river, and disappeared. Wendigo didn't need to breath, and they weren't affected by the cold the way people were. She knew that they could travel a long way beneath the ice. Thinking about that, Nahanni started to wonder why the wendigo bothered with winter clothing at all.
The eastern sky was turning pink when Nahanni got back to where she had left her parka and snowshoes. She was also starting to feel the cold again, and was happy to draw the heavy coat around herself. She picked up the piece of pemmican she had dropped in the snow, and started to chew on it as she made her way back to the stockade gate.