Wabi

I MIGHT HAVE LOST THE trail of that big creature more than once had Malsumsis not been with me. Wigowzo had stayed with her exhausted pack just below the crest of the mountain. There were signs there of creatures good to eat such as rabbits and deer. The wolf pack would come down into the valley after they had rested, hunted, and recovered their strength. The long seasons of abuse at the hands of the evil old one would take time to heal. Weakened as they still were, none of them could move as swiftly now as could my wolf friend and I by ourselves. I needed to make haste.

There were places where I found no tracks, but the scent of that big animal was strong enough for Malsumsis to keep on its trail. It had not gone on its way without stopping. We found where it came upon a small herd of deer bedded down for the night. Its speed and the fury of its attack must have been great. The badly mangled bodies of seven deer lay in the grass. It had not stayed there long. The deer were only half eaten.

We came next to the place where there had been a quiet beaver pond. I’d always liked sitting in the dead tree at its edge, watching those busy creatures as they went about their night work, building and repairing their dam and their lodge. That dam had held back one of the small streams that led down into the long river. But it did so no longer.

The light of the moon was strong enough for me to see what had happened when that huge animal passed through. The dam had been destroyed, the pond had drained out. A trickle of water rippled through the peeled broken sticks that had once held back the flow. Big tracks led through the mud to the beaver lodge, which had also been exposed when the water level fell. The big animal was clever. It would have been hard to catch the beavers when they had water to swim in. So it drained their pond.

The lodge, of course, was torn apart. That creature ripped its way down into the nest where the beavers had been no match for the hungry jaws and ripping claws. There were no longer any beavers here, only the smell of blood on the soft night wind. The tracks that came up from the mud of the former pond headed straight down the valley toward the village where Dojihla and her unsuspecting people lived.

We ran even faster after that. I did not know how long it had taken that hungry monster to destroy the beaver colony or how many other times it had paused as it made its way through the valley. My worry was that it had reached the village.

We came to the tree where my grandmother roosted, the circle of stones where I had fallen as an owl and stood up as a human being. I skidded to a stop. I felt a sudden pain deep in my chest. It was as if I had been struck by an invisible arrow. What was this before my eyes?

I could not believe what I saw. The circle of stones was gone, the earth torn up in that circle where they had once stood. The footprints of the monster were everywhere. My great-grandmother’s tree had been knocked down. It lay broken on the ground, claw marks all along its trunk.

No answering hoot came back from the wounded forest around me. But I saw something that made tears come to my human eyes. There, caught on one of the broken branches of the fallen tree, was the torn wing feather of an owl. I went down on one knee and stroked that feather with a finger.

I stood and began to run again. This was not the moment for me to roost on a branch, feeling guilty about not having been able to protect her. What I had to do now was reach the village before the creature did.

My feet thudded against the earth. I was moving almost as swiftly as an owl can fly. Small branches struck my face. Some of them cut my cheeks, but I did not pause. I was so angry now that if that monster, whatever it was, had risen up in my path I would have hurled myself at it to tear its throat out with my teeth. As Malsumsis ran along next to me, matching me stride for stride, my wolf friend felt my mood and growled in agreement.

We came around that turn where the trail rose and I could peer down at Valley Village. It was still there, undestroyed! But it looked far different this night than it had ever looked before. It glowed from the lights of more fires than I’d ever seen. Those fires made an unbroken ring all around Valley Village. I could make out the shapes of humans inside, throwing more wood onto the flames.

“They are safe,” I said to him. “Somehow, they knew that the monster was about to attack. Those fires will keep it from coming into their village.”

I squinted my eyes. The piles of logs and brush that had been gathered to feed the fires were not that large. They would not be safe in Valley Village for long. There was still much of the night left. When they ran out of wood, those guardian flames would die.

I scanned the darkness around the village. I did not see the big animal, but I knew it was out there somewhere, watching and waiting. It had come from the wide valley where the Oldold Woman used fire to destroy the land. This hungry beast might fear the searing touch of flames, but it had seen burning before. It knew that all fires eventually go out. When the fires grew low it would attack.

I looked again into the village. Men were standing around inside that circle. They held bows and spears. They were watching and waiting. But that circle was large and those armed men few. How could they know where the beast would strike? Could they be sure that their arrows and spears would fly true?