Chapter 18 – Research
"It's been a long time now since the last Spirit Wars we fought. After that, Hawai'i was safe from war and bigger quarrels. There were, occasionally, a few of the evil spirits, but our dog pack could easily extinguish them. Before those last Spirit Wars, there were other smaller battles."
The old man looked deep into my eyes and then in Mano's before he continued.
"What might serve you best in our history would be the Kona Battle."
I glanced over at Mano's face to see his reaction. It looked well like he didn't know the story either. He shared my curiosity, probably, it was even stronger than my own.
"The Kona Battle was one of the most straining and difficult battlings we've had. There were fifteen dogs and thousand men, standing against an adversarial tribe. There was a strange creature with them, so much faster and stronger than its comrades. In this battle, we lost three of the dog warriors before the Kahuna (a priest, as you would say), enraged by the demise of two brothers and one sister, summoned a powerful weapon for the dogs to use. It gave them a kind of double-layered skin that was inpenetrable for whatever force was dealt to them. It was not strong enough for them to defy the creature by themselves, but they survived all its attacks and enabled their own tribe to win over their human enemies. The creature fought them effortlessly, flinging them off easily, but due to their armor, they weren't hurt by any of it. Eventually, it was able to shake them off and retreated towards the coast. But as it turned its back, the dogs would chase it, easily keeping up with its speed.
Meanwhile, the Kahuna had found another power to strengthen the dog warriors. He summoned fire which the dogs could fume from their mouths. When they received this weapon, they breathed fire upon the creature. Immediately, it let out a shriek which no set of teeth they had locked onto its limbs could have evoked. The creature caught fire, but it was still moving. There were two of the dog warriors, named Kaihoku and Wailele, who resolved to risk their life for their brothers and sisters. They jumped onto the burning creature, right into the hot flames, and managed to bring it down to the floor. Only then, they realized that the flames did not burn them as they did the creature. Encouraged by the vision, the ten others came to their aid, together they managed to hold the thrashing, agonizing creature down until the fires had licked the remains and reduced the creature to ashes."
Mano shuddered visibly, repelled by the image Kukui had evoked in his mind. He knew as well as I did that we were speaking of the Cold Ones. Disgusting vampires.
"Could that... weapon be still in us?", Mano asked, his body bent forward, his gaze intent on Kukui's face. I watched as the ancient's features wrinkled in concentration.
"I am not sure about it.", he mused.
"It's not in effect right now.", Mano resumed. "Otherwise, the double-layered skin would have prevented Hiapo's demise." He dropped his eyes in memorial.
Kukui nodded, his eyes grave with sorrow. "There must have been some temporary spell the Kahuna has put on you. I don't know of what kind it could be."
It was my time to ask a question now, though I wondered briefly if I was allowed to speak here. I tried.
"Is there a Kahuna on the island? Maybe there is some recipe, some... magic that has been passed on to him from the ancient Kahuna at the Kona Battle...?"
Both men looked at me. Mano's eyes sparkled with newfound zest for action and a great deal of hope. Kukui's wise eyes only looked into mine and I could guess his consent.
"Great, Leah. There must be some way like this.", Mano told me and reached over to hug my shoulders. I winked at him, grinning.
We both looked back at Kukui, who, without a question of ours, spoke again.
"There is for sure a Kahuna who is still serving in traditional orders. I know that Makaha, son of Kahuna Waimea, is at service at the outskirts of Hilo. You'd at best go speak to him directly."
Mano nodded and Kukui rose slowly, gesturing us to do the same. He accompanied us to his door, where he explained the way to Mano and then said good bye by means of a short bow. Mano returned the greeting, I mouthed "Aloha" and we went back to the car. Kaili was fast asleep in my arms by lack of entertainment. Carefully, I tucked her into her car seat and sat next to Mano in the passenger seat this time.
"Ah, great.", I exclaimed, and smiled at Mano. He drew up his eyebrows as a questioning look.
"Well, Pili's got Embry for a baby-sitter today, so I've got the whole day for this research project."
"That's cool."
We drove the streets of Hilo in silence again, following Kukui's directions. I stared out the window, watching houses and landscape fly by.
Mano nudged me from the side and my head jerked back to him.
"Sorry.", he told me, concerning startling me. "You like Hilo.", he stated, smiling.
"How do you know?", I asked back.
"There's a smile on your face."
"Oh." I hadn't realized it had been there... "Yes. I do.", I confirmed.
"That's great."
He looked at me until I warned him, laughing, to keep his eyes on the road. I felt flattered, and this again felt odd.
"We're here, Leah."
I yawned involuntarily and stretched before I got out. "Did I fall asleep?", I asked, feeling a bit awkward.
"Yes."
Great. Ok, well. I looked at Kaili, still asleep in the car seat, and wondered if I could leave her alone.
"Let's see if the Kahuna is at home before you wake her.", Mano proposed. I nodded.
We walked over towards the house. When we had barely reached the front door, it was swung open and we were face to face with a small man who glared at us from hostile eyes.
"Who are you?", he snapped at us, but his voice was too high to sound coarse.
"Aloha, Kahuna Makaha.", Mano greeted him evenly, not in the least offended by the unwelcoming host.
"We came to ask you concerning the dog warriors."
His eyebrows pushed together in suspicion. "Come in.", he muttered.
I cast a sideglance at Mano's face, he was puzzled at the hostility, too. But he shrugged and we went for the door.
"Not the wahine!", the Kahuna hissed at Mano. He raised his hands to soothe the man. "Excuse me, Kahuna Makaha. She is very vital to the issue we need to ask you about."
The priest, still distrusting all of it, eyed me carefully. "Alright.", he finally snapped, turning on his heels to disappear through the door. We trailed in after him, unsure if we wouldn't be thrown out again immediately.
We followed our unfriendly host through a long hall until he opened a door at the other end. He walked in and when we entered, he turned around so apruptly that I went into a defensive stance at once.
The Kahuna let out a heavy sigh and beckoned us to take a seat. I glanced around in the room. It felt gloomy and mysterious, just the way I'd imagined the lodge of a medicine man to be.
We sat down on a shabby couch and waited a few minutes until the Kahuna focused his attention on us.
"So. You're who?", he asked us in a harsh, almost militiarian tone.
"My name is Mano, Elua Ilio, I'm second-in-command of the dog warriors."
The eyes of the other bulged when he heard Mano introduce himself. Suddenly, he stepped back and, instead of eyeing us scornfully, he looked up to Mano in reverence.
"Elua Ilio.", he exclaimed. "My apologies for treating you harshly."
He, then, looked at me questioningly, but before I could introduce myself, Mano took that part.
"This is Leah Clearwater from the Quileute tribe in Washington. She's part of the secrets."
I nodded at the Kahuna. "Aloha.", I said, merely more than a whisper.
"We need to ask a favor of you.", Mano began to explain. While the man sat down on the floor, he told him briefly what our problem was. I kept watching his expressions, turning from
curious to shocked to fierce. I wondered how much he knew about the mythical world and especially his own tribal heritage.
"I have no experience on that field.", he confessed when Mano had finished. "It must have been my great-great-great-grandfather."
"Yes. But do you have any kind of... recipe or a note of any kind of how he did summon the fire and the shielding skin?"
The Kahuna frowned and got up to rummage around in his inventory.
I looked at Mano. "Do you think he can help us?", I mouthed. He shrugged and winked at me. "I hope so."
"Oh!", I exclaimed when I was suddenly reminded of Kaili sleeping in the car. I got up and walked out to get her. I heard the Kahuna mumbling something behind me in Hawaiian language.
Kaili had woken up already and was on the verge of crying when I approached. I hurried to the car and reached out to take her into my arms. She patted my cheek, probably from the relief of seeing me, and of course she was hungry, too. I sat down on a bench before the Kahuna's hut and took a glass of baby food from my bag. When she spotted the glass, she squealed delightful and reached for the food. So I had guessed right. I began feeding her, laughing at her soon baby food-smeared face.
"There you are, Leah."
I turned my head and saw Mano standing in the doorframe. He stepped out and came to sit beside me.
"What did Makaha tell you?", I asked with hardly concealed curiosity.
Mano shrugged. "He doesn't know. He's never been much in contact with myths like us, thus he doesn't know much about the dog pack. He's willing to try, though, but he hasn't found anything yet that could be useful to us."
Mano looked so desolate that I reached out to put my arm around his shoulders for comfort.
"We'll manage it anyway. Just let us do it. It's a wolf task."
He sighed. "I'd rather I could help you. It's killing me to stand aside helplessly while you're in danger."
"Danger!", I scoffed, realizing only after I said it that I sounded exactly like the guys right now – again. "Really, it will be easy, if we get the other pack here..."
"You don't want that."
I frowned and dropped my arm after realizing it was still there. How did he know all of this? He knew things about me I never mentioned aloud. Probably, he had a very sensitive side.
"No. I don't want it... I don't really want to see my ex-boyfriend... and he's the Alpha of the other pack."
Mano nodded. "I understand."
He got up and I followed him to the car. This time, I sat in the rear with Kaili again, wondering if there was anything else he would say on the subject. But he was silent again, and so I gave my attention to Kaili instead, cuddling and tickling her until she giggled. This way, we passed the whole ride until Mano pulled up on our driveway.
I unbelted Kaili and got out of the car while he held the door open for us.
"Thank you.", I said and smiled at him. "For taking me with you, too. It was quite intriguing."
"You're welcome.", he smiled back.
"Aloha, Mano.", I told him, and Kaili waved at him across my shoulder when I started walking up the path.
"Leah?" Suddenly, I felt a slight touch on my arm and turned around again.
"Yes?"
"I'm happy you came with me." He smiled at me, then he turned for his car. I stood for a moment, looking after him. Shaking my head, I headed for the front door and took my key from my pocket.