Winter Prey

Chapter 40

Chapter 40

The next morning just before dawn, they hitched the trailer to Caleb's truck, loaded the snowmobiles and drove to the start of their search.

Keoman's jeep was gone. A light layer of snow already covered the landscape scars, except for the deep splinter on the tree. That would either eventually heal or kill the age-old birch. Caleb halted his pickup and the trailer beside the road, then shut off the engine.

"Are you sure this is where we need to start?" he asked Kymbria.

She shrugged. "It's as good a place as any. It's the last place anyone saw the windigo. And despite the convoluted roads we had to travel, it's not that far from the lake, where it also appeared."

She retrieved the area map from the console beside them and started to spread it out on the dashboard, then paused and asked Caleb, "How sure are you the cross you wired to Scarlet's collar will protect her? I'm still really uneasy about leaving her at the cabin alone."

"I'm as positive as I can be. Remember, it's as much faith in the powers of the protections we use as it is the materials they're made up of. The consecrations and blessings we call down from our various higher powers are additions to our faith in them and our own abilities."

"I should have taken Scarlet to a friend's to stay." Then she sighed. "But we've wasted enough time looking for Nodinens. She's frail. Elderly. How long can she last out here? How long...how long will this thing keep her alive before it kills her?"

"She's elderly," Caleb agreed. "But frail isn't a word I'd use for that spunky lady. If anyone can fight this thing for at least a while, I'd lay my money on Nodinens. You're right about us needing to find her soon, though."

Kymbria traced her finger over various landmarks on the map. "See? Here's the lake, and here we are. As the crow flies, we're only about a half-mile from the lake, although to get to it in any vehicle besides a snowmobile would take a good hour."

"And the lake is important because...?"

"Lakes are always important in tribal history. Our early lives and travels revolved around the seasons, as well as what various bodies of water provided for us. Fish, of course. Some shallower lakes where we harvested wild rice. Lakes draw animals, too, and make the hunting prosperous. More importantly, these lakes were left behind when the glaciers withdrew. That withdrawal did a lot of damage to the area, carved up the land. Formed caves in some places. The windigo needs a lair. Has a lair...somewhere around here."

"I think Nodinens and I were on the wrong path. We should have been tracing tribal history as to the legends and lore, not genealogy. Maybe we should contact your mother again. See if she can add any more information to her story about how this beast came into being. Where it all happened."

The last thing Kymbria wanted right now was Caleb talking to Niona. She still hadn't forced herself to tell him about her and Niona being blood descendants of the windigo. Niona might let that slip before Kymbria could tell him. And if they had any chance of a relationship at all, Caleb would have to overcome any repugnance he might have over that. She wouldn't know if that were possible unless she watched his body language as she told him.

"First, let's call Hjak," she said. "Let him know what we're up to...where we are. I don't want to be stupid enough to get in trouble out here and no one have any idea where to look for us."

"Definitely," Caleb conceded. He dug his phone out of his jacket pocket and punched in the number.

"Hjak," was the curt answer after only one ring.