Chapter 5: Banished

"Deep breath."

Wendy inhaled. Accidentally, she hiccupped a leftover sob.

Patiently, Black Antler lowered his tools as Wendy drew both hands over her mouth.

"It's all right." said the brave, resting arms on his knees as Wendy offered an apologetic expression. Less patiently, he looked at Wendy's shoulder. After hours of prodding and tugging, Black Antler had eased only one of the barbed ends from under Wendy's skin. Reaching into a wide bowl, Black Antler retrieved and handful of tiny, yellow flowers and sprinkled them into the fire. "But keep the arm still."

The yellow flowers ignited. Crackling like popcorn, they released a sweet aroma filling the teepee with the smell of cinnamon. Upon direction from Black Antler, Wendy inhaled. The scent swirled through her lungs. Immediately she felt calm and sleepy.

Black Antler studied Wendy's face as she leaned against the teepee. Charily, he raised a bone scalpel while turning a knife in the fire. "Wendy…are you tired now?"

Wendy knit her brow. Her head was heavy. Black Antler sounded far away, as if he were speaking to her from underwater.

"I think so." she said uncertainly, leaning her head back. "Are you?"

Black Antler smiled. Even under the medicinal influence of the yellow flower, Wendy still maintained her altruistic character.

"No." he said truthfully. The teepee door flapped open as Dusk, an obsidian wolf padded into the teepee. Nodding at his wolf, Black Antler scooted closer to the girl. "No. I've built resistance."

Gingerly, Black Antler looped the thin scalpel under the hook. Lifting slightly to apply traction to the skin, he raised the hot knife to slice open the snarled wound.

"EEYEEIEIEIEIEIEIEIEIEIEIEIEIEIEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIYA!"

Black Antler dropped his arms as Wendy sat erect. Frustrated, he returned the knife to the fire and reached for another handful of flowers.

"What was that?" she asked, shrinking away from the teepee wall as crooked shadows danced across the skins, whooping and screeching like banshees.

Black Antler glanced at Dusk. The wolf's savage head was raised, his ears pricked forward and his eyes unwavering. Suddenly agitated, Dusk hopped to his feet.

"War cries." Black Antler said. Dusk paced before the teepee door, tossing his head nervously as drums thundered across the village. "Little Flying Eagle must have sent them hunting for pirates."

Wendy knit her eyebrows as the Indian warriors raced by Black Antler's teepee, shouting in high pitched bursts.

Peter had disappeared, angry as a cyclone. He had burned a hole in the roof of Hangman's Tree without a backward's glance. Unable to stop the tears, Wendy had cried into Black Antler's chest as the brave rushed the injured girl to his teepee. Ashamed to have shown her weakness to both Black Antler and the insensate princess, Wendy refused mention of Peter as Black Antler tended her wound.

The brave, for his part, silently cursed Peter Pan. Whatever the girl's crime, Black Antler suffered to see the penitence in Wendy's eyes and the hurt, realizing that Little Flying Eagle was too stubborn to accept apologies.

Shaking his head, Black Antler returned the flowers. Sliding aside the bowl he retrieved his knife from the fire and called Dusk with three words Wendy did not understand.

"The sedative will not work with this noise." Black Antler guided Dusk around the fire pit to Wendy's side. Anxious although, the wolf allowed his head to be coaxed onto Wendy's lap. Fingers lost in his black fur, Wendy looked fretfully to Black Antler and the glowing blade he had raised to her shoulder.

"Hold on to Dusk." Black Antler instructed over the din. "And keep talking to me. Understood?"

Wendy nodded.

"This will hurt." Black Antler warned.

Again Wendy nodded. Turning away her head, she stroked Dusk's neck therapeutically. "I know."

"Just breath." Black Antler clamped his knees around Wendy's wrist, to prevent her from flinging away her arm and risking accidental injury. "Hold onto Dusk. Listen to my voice."

Gently Black Antler touched the hot blade to Wendy's shoulder. The skin over the hook split.

Wendy coiled, biting her lip. Dusk raised his head as the girl clutched his fur. Outside, the braves screamed over the pounding drums.

Dismissing the urge to stop, Black Antler inched forward, analyzing the hook.

"Almost there."

Eyes shut, Wendy nodded. Her knuckles were white against Dusk's black fur. Meticuously, Black Antler worked the hook.

Wendy flinched. "Do you think –" she gasped, trying not to cry in front of the brave, "—that they'll find –"

Black Anter quickly twisted the hook, freeing a second barbed end.

Wendy winced. "—Tinkerbell?" she managed to finish.

The teepee door waved as braves sprinted by. Wendy caught a fleeting glance of sharp tomahawks and gruesome face masks.

Black Antler squinted at the hook. His fingers probed the air over Wendy's shoulder, practicing his maneuver. "You said the pixie was swallowed by a fish?"

"Yes."

"Then how can she found? Hold still."

Pain seared across her shoulder, up her neck, and behind her ear. Wendy saw blood from the corner of her eye.

"I don't know." Wendy gasped, furiously petting Dusk. "I don't know. But the pirate – oh – oh dear – the pirate…came right after Tinkerbell was gone. And then he said…he said something about – oh!"

Wendy cringed and tried to pull away. Black Antler squeezed his knees tightly around her wrist but did not release his pressure on the hook.

The crescendo of war cries was deafening. The braves swarmed through the Indian village, howling like tortured animals. Unable to contain his instincts, Dusk lifted his head from Wendy's lap. He licked her cheeks nervously.

"—about Brine!" Wendy gasped as the hook ripped free.

Speedily, Black Antler cleaned and numbed the fresh wound. His long fingers worked with astounding adroitness as he spoke.

"Ah…your merman." Tactfully not relating mention of the merman to Peter's anger, Black Antler smoothed ointment over the open wound. Carefully inspecting his handiwork, Black Antler remembered his shared part in Wendy's adventure.

"Did you see him?" asked Black Antler dripping a simmering resin over the wound. He put a steadying hand on Wendy's shoulder. "The merman?"

"No." Wendy said. Black Antler was surprised. Wendy spoke with great sadness; as if the merman had died. The girl jumped as a warrior bellowed an angry note just outside the teepee.

Edging closer to the fire, Wendy glanced nervously at the large outline as Dusk fidgeted.

"No." Wendy said as Black Antler wrapped her shoulder. The war cries were uncomfortably loud. "But…but I think…I think I have been dreaming –"

"Shhhh!"

Black Antler extinguished the fire, dowsing the flames with a heavy blanket. Blue smoke curled under the blanket, twisting to the pointed roof. In the dark, the screaming Indians seemed close. Too close.

Prickles ran up Wendy's neck. Black Antler was taut as an arrow. His head was tilted, as if he were listening to the war cries.

The door-skin wavered. Dusk growled.

"Black Antler?" Wendy whispered as the bloodthirsty cries rattled her beating heart. "Black Antler?"

"Stay here."

Wendy felt the brave's hand on her cheek before he disappeared, Dusk attached to his side like a shadow.

The war cries grew louder. Wendy hugged her knees, desperately searching for a happy thought.

"Don't be afraid." she whispered, pressing a knee to the right hand corner of her mouth. "Don't be afraid."

Suddenly, the door-skin moved. A feathered head and powerful shoulders ducked through the circular opening.

There, his dark outline filling the teepee, stood the Indian Chief.

"The fairy cannot be found."

Sternly the Chief stared at Wendy. But his eyes flickered when a storm of war-cries slaughtered the silence.

"Little Flying Eagle has banished the pale one. The girl with eyes blue as his skies."

Wendy's heart stopped.

"He wants her. Alive."

Dark, screeching shadows were converging behind the teepee. Blank hands frisked the walls and probed beneath the skins.

The Chief held the door-skin aside. Grimly he met Wendy's terrified eyes.

"Run."

Hey all - I'm back. couple of things...

(1) Don't you just friggin love xmas break?

(2) thanks for the reviews thus far. they really help

(3) Can i just say, Black Antler is just my favorite