“Wait!” Onwae raised bother her hands, one at Juk and one at Gygus. “Please stop.” They both halted. “No more … I beg of you.”

Juk frowned, “then call off your pet or whatever it is to you. If you don't, I’ll cause Sapphire to fall and leave your spirit scarred.”

I shook my head, “No!”

Onwae patted my chest then looked up at Gygus, nodding her head. The apparition blinked blue and black, then lowered his hands, nodding. “Only for you, Onwae.”

“Thank you.” She looked at Juk, brows furrowed. “Now you release her!”

Juk shook his head, “it’s only fair to cause your pet to fall as you did Meeka.”

I stepped forward and yelled. “It was I who threw the spear. I who struck the fox. If you want to blame somebody, or wound a spirit, wound mine.”

“No!” Onwae snapped, shaking her head. “We must not wound anybody anymore. We were all friends not so long ago, or have you all forgotten?” She grabbed the runestone and tossed it over to them. “Here!”

“What are you doing?” I whispered, shaking my head. “What about Tuma.”

“Trust me,” She said, looking into my eyes and smiling. Then turned back to Juk. “We are from the same tribe, and though we have our differences, we must work together. Heal the chief if you must. We’ll find another way to recover our own.”

“Wise choice,” Juk nodded, picking up the runestone. He handed it to Gronak. “Here … why don’t you be useful for once.”

Gronak took the stone and grumbled, "I am useful."

Juk waved a hand, “Rocco release.” The coon nodded and did as he was told. He took a breath then collapsed next to sapphire. Juk raised the totem in his hand, “Rest!” The coon materialized into an orb and floated back into the totem. The other boys did the same with their guardians. Juk frowned, “Don’t think the chief won’t hear about what happened here.” He gazed at the other to boys. “Tykka! Rymka! Pick up the young chieftess and rest her on Meaty’s back. He’ll need to carry her back to Mid mountain village.”

Gronak groaned, “but he needs rest …”

“And he’ll get rest when the chieftess has returned.” They did as they were told. Juk glared at us one more time then they headed back the way they came.

Gygus crossed his arms, “you should’ve let me take care of them.”

Onwae looked up and smiled. “You’ve done enough.”

“I’d do anything to help you, Onwae.” Gygus’s voice bubbled. “Your spirit is strong … and when it’s strong enough, come back and I’ll bind to you.”

Her eyes glowed. “You’ll bind to me?”

I raised my head and smiled, “why not now?”

Gygus shook his head spraying water to his right and left. “Her spirit needs to grow … and only a guardian can help that. If you try to bind to a spirit, and you’re too weak, you will die.” He looked at the falls at his back. “For now, I will do what I was meant to do, and that is to protect the falls until you return.”

Onwae was glowing, “I look forward to it.” She studied the spirit, “may I ask how you got stuck in the cave?”

Gygus lowered himself down until his enormous head was only feet away. “Certainly.” He said ponderously. “Rakku and I, like many spirits, are at war with each other.”

We both raised our eyebrows. Onwae asked, “what kind of war?”

“The war to please The Great Spirit …”

Onwae and I exchanged a look of confusion. I asked, “There is a war between the spirits?” Gygus nodded, sending huge droplets in our direction. Onwae and I stepped to the side, dodging, our feet getting wet. “What kind of war?”

“For the next spirit to take his place.” Gygrus replied gravely. "There are dark spirits who are trying to become the next Great Spirit."

My stomach churned. “But there is only one Great Spirit … the one who has built this world.”

“The Great Spirit is a God, yes, but he is also a shepard. One for all the spirits of this world.” Gygus’s sighed and his tone lowered. “All God’s must die. And sadly his time is coming to an end.” He reflected on the question. “Rakuu attacked me because he, like many spirits, wants to become the next Great Spirit … so they will kill any that come within their path to prove they're worthy.”

Onwae corked her head, “but isn’t Rakuu trapped in the cave?”

“He is,” Gyrgru said, “trapped to his fossils ... like I am trapped to the falls. But like me, Rakku wants to bind to a strong spirit. And one day he may find one … hopefully that day won’t be before the Great Spirit has fallen.” Gygrus looked down at the pool. “Now. Before you go, I have a gift.”

In a blink, he liquified and sunk into the water.

I looked at Onwae, "I wonder what kind of gift he has?”

She smiled, “I am sure it’ll be a good one.”

The pool funneled upward and formed into the silhouette of the creature. The apparition shimmered blue and black as he held out his arm. A glowing green light in his palm. One-by-one, He opened his fingers on his enormous hand, revealing three herbal runestones. Our eyes glowed and we smiled.

“Those are for us?” Onwae asked.

“They are!” Gygus replied. “You said you needed them to help one of your friends.”

Onwae nodded, “yes.” Then turned towards Sapphire. “Though she’s very wounded. It maybe a bit before she can help heal them.” Onwae looked at the butterfly totem in her hand, raised it, and said, “Sapphire … rest!” The butterfly faded into an orb and back into the totem. Sne snapped it onto her necklace.

I grinned at Gygus. “Thank you for your help, Great Water Spirit. We would’ve lost without you.”

The apparition shimmered. “And thank you … I was lost without you … Now, I must return to protecting the falls. Do come back and see me soon.”

“We will,” Onwae promised. “And you keep from harm while we’re gone … no more problems with Rakuu, ok?”

He chuckled and nodded his head, splashing water. “I’ll do my best.”

We waved goodbye, and then the apparition liquified into drops, sinking into the pool. With the runestone in hand, Onwae and I headed back down the path hopeful that we would be in time to help Tuma.

Just hold on, my friend. I thought. We are coming.

“You see,” Onwae grinned, “everything works out in the end.”

I nodded. “If Gygus had all these the whole time, he could’ve saved us a lot of trouble by giving us some. Meeka and the others too.”

Onwae giggled, “ya, but then he wouldn’t have seen how strong we were.”

I looked at my spear then back to her. “You mean how strong you were. Without you and Sapphire we wouldn’t of had a chance.”

“You helped me feel strong.”

I shook my head, “no. That was all you … your bravery was all because of that big heart you have.”

Her cheeks reddened.

“No!” A voice carried over the mountains. “You can’t take her!”

Onwae and I raised our ears. “What was that?”

“Sounded like …”

We both looked upon each other wide-eyed and said, “Juk!”

She grabbed my hand and together we sprinted down the mountain path. Trees zipped by us. The wind swearing in our ears. We came around the bend and found three boys. A pool of blood. And no Meeka.

We ran to juk and kneeled to help him get up. He screamed, “Get off me! I can get up myself …”

“Can you?” We watched him wobble up, legs trembling and giving under his weight. He collapsed and groaned. “Cause it looks to me like you need some assistance.”

Garnak sat trembling, gazing upon the pool of blood. He frowned. “It was that creature. The one that attacked the chief. It took her. It took Meeka.”

Onwae looked from shoulder to shoulder. “Where was the other boy you were with? The one with the wolverine guardian?”

“Eaten.” Garnak’s lip trembled. “The beast was hungry and ripped through his flesh right in front of us. We wanted to help but our spirit energy was too low. We could do nothing.”

I glanced at the crimson pool and felt my skin crawl. “What does this creature want with Meeka?”

Juk furrowed his eyebrows, “isn’t it obvious? It needs another snack for later … and if we don’t find it soon we’ll be too late.”

“No,” I shook my head and rubbed my chin. “There is something strange about this … I can feel it.”

“What?” Onwae asked. “What do you feel?”

“Who cares,” Juk tried to stand again only find himself back on his rump. “If it wasn’t for you meddling in our affairs we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

Onwae crossed her arms and glared. “You were the one who attacked us … or are you too weak to remember?”

“There is no time for this now,” I said looking at both of them. “We have to know where it’s going.” But how?

Garnak pointed, “all you have to do is follow those tracks ”

Onwae and I brought our eyes down to the familiar five toe and five clawed footprints. She gasped. “Kai! Are those what I think they are?”

I knelt down and touched them. They were still warm. Freshly made. I nodded, “it wasn’t vessix or Meeka who started that rune fire.”

Juk raised his head suddenly, “rune fire? What are you talking about?”

Onwae replied calmly. “We fell behind the tribe because Panchu was sleeping …”

“Figures,” Juk snapped. “That guardian is useless.”

I clenched my fist, “Only I can call him that! And he’s not useless … he was taken a nap because he stayed up all night gathering the fish that you all consumed.”

Garnak corked his head, “you mean the fish The Great Spirit left us?”

“That wasn’t The Great Spirit. It was Panchu. The reason he didn’t help clear the path is because he wanted to save his energy for the hunt.” I lowered my head. “So I let him rest.”

“Touching story, but I don’t know what this has to do with us.”

Onwae replied, “our party stayed behind, and rested as Panchu had m”

“That was foolish,” Juk said, “you should always keep a lookout.”

“We had one!” Onwae’s tone grew sharp. “But he too fell asleep. And when we awoke we found paw prints all around us. These same paw prints that are here now.”

Juk and Garnak stared at one another, their mouths hung, eyes wide.

Juk shrugged, “so …”

I jabbed my spear into the print, “so when we tried to catch up to you the path had been set to blaze by a fire runestone … the same one you all carried.” I jabbed again. “At first I thought it was Vessix's print and Meeka was behind it.”

“She would never,” Juk waved a hand, “to think the chieftess would do such a thing … it's foolish.”

I furrowed my eyebrows then said, “but now I am realizing that somebody was trying to keep us away … trying to split the group.”

Garnak rubbed the mole on his cheek, “and why would anybody wanna do that?”

Onwae eyes filled with light, “maybe they want to attack the chief. Less people means less threat.”

Garnak sat up, “yes … yes … we fell into a trap with fire runes … and it cut the main group off from the chief. He was hit by something and fell … and by the time we got to him he was nearly dead.”

“Whomever attacked us had a sure plan,” Juk said. “They even took all the herbal runes.” He rubbed his half-bitten ear. “And when Meeka saw what happened she took action … she gathered us together to save her father … save the chief.”

“Save?” I wrinkled my forehead. “But if they went through all that trouble … why didn’t they just kill the chief? Why only wound him?”

Garnak pounded his chest, “the chief is strong. He would not easily fall.”

Juk looked upon me and pondered on my question. “They were never after the Chief … they were alway after Meeka.”

“But of course!” Onwae said, twiddling her thumbs. “Whomever attacked the chief knew Meeka would do anything to save her father … so they baited her out here for the herbal stone.”

Juk yanked a knife from his hip and pointed it at us. “It was you … you set the trap … you weakened our spirit energy so that thing … that paley, red-eyed monster could take her from us!”

The inside of my body grew numb and my throat tightened. I could hardly breath. I stared off blankly, remembering that night … the raspy hiss in the darkness … and those red eyes. Xukai.

“You said it was a red-eyed monster?” I grabbed Juk by the robe and shook. “With pale flesh?”

The kid dropped the knife and winced, “Take it easy … yes … why?”

I looked upon the pool again, “and it ate that poor boy? There’s only one creature with the hunger for flesh … and that’s a grim … a wendigo.”

They exchanged terrified looks.

“A wendingo?” Garnak shuttered. “W-whats a grim doing out here?”

I stood to my feet and clutched my spear tightly, “grims come to take those who were unworthy of The Great Spirit … unworthy of having a guardian … and I know this because Xukai tried to bind his spirit with mine."

"Xukai?" Juk crossed his arms, “the guardians did not want you?”

“No.” I shook my head. “Not even Panchu.”

Onwae frowned, “You’ve never told me this …”

“I couldn’t,” I replied. “The night of the spirit ceremony I was angered that I was not chosen. I went into the woods, like many of the others, trying to beg Panchu to accept me as his shaman.”

Juk chuckled, “and he said no.”

“He did. And then he left. And that creature … that monster that took Meeka … he was there trying to bind his spirit to mine … but I wouldn’t allow it.” I shook my head. “It was powerful. Too strong. It would’ve forced me if Panchu wouldn’t have come back to save my life.”

Juk glared, “that’s cause you’re weak … and full of fear.”

“Yes,” I nodded, “I am. But I am also aware of my weakness. Is Meeka aware of hers?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that she has been weakened and that creature is looking to bind with a spirit. He’s going to take hers!”

Garnak gulped. Onwae gasped. Juk dropped his head.

“This is all my fault,” Juk said sadly. “I should’ve protected her … and now that she has a spirit scar she can be easily bound to.”

“What do you mean?”

Juk nose flared, “well don’t you know? Grim and Beast spirits will scar a human spirit in order to bind to them … that’s how they do it … they hurt you until your spirits too weak to fight back. Then they take you.”

“Come on!” I stood. “We have to get back to camp.”

“W-what?” Juk screamed. “But we have to go after the chieftess …”

I nodded, “and we will … but I can’t do it without my guardian. And you all are too weak to pursue anything. Now lets go before time runs out.”

The hike down was mostly a silent one, except when Garnak groaned, and Juk swore saying how we should go after the chieftess. The third boy, who I later found out was named Tykka was quiet, still upset over his brother's death.

When we reached the camp I found Mowak and Shade tending to Tuma, and the old bear snoring beneath the tree, right where we left him. I wondered if he’d even moved. Probably not … and if he had it wasn’t far or likely to get a bite to eat.

Mowak raised her eyebrows suspiciously, “What are they doing here? And what happened to you? You look terrible.”

I replied, “there’s no time to explain.” I walked over to the old bear and kicked him. “Hey! Wake up!” He continued to snore as I clenched my teeth.

Juk said in a nasty tone, “that guardian of yours is trouble … why don’t you just blow into your totem to wake him?”

“Because that doesn’t work.” I walked over to my bag and pulled out a comb of honey then waved it by his snout. “I said get up!”

Panchu snout twitched, and his eyelids ripped open. He growled. “Get that nasty stuff away from me, Kai!”

Mowak crossed her arms, “a bear who hates honey … I never thought I’d see the day.”

Panchu groaned as he rolled over, “I’m only part bear I’ll have you know.”

“And what’s the other part,” Juk snapped, “sloth?”

Panchu blinked several times, “who’re these guys? And what smells like bacon?” He turned towards Garnak. The boy gulped. “Is it you?”

“Please stay away from my g-guardian," Garnak said, rubbing his hog-head totem.

I waved a hand, “We need to go after Meeka … a creature has taken her.”

“You mean that girl from the table? The one who got mad at me for eating? The chief's daughter?” He rubbed his head on the tree. “Forget it!”

I prodded the flat end of the spear in his belly. Panchu yawned. “Get up. This is serious. You’re the only guardian that has his strength.”

Juk grumbled, “ya, because he’s been sleeping all day.”

“I don’t know what I missed,” Panchu yawned, “but I don’t care—”

“She was taken by the wendigo! By Xukai.”

Panchu’s snout lifted and he sat silent. He shook his head, “by the time we’d reach her … she’ll already be dead.”

“We still got a chance—”

“No we don’t!” Panchu snapped. “Wendigos only take people for two reason … to eat them later or to bind their souls … that is it.”

Shade glared, “and you’d let him do that to a young shaman without even trying to help? And you call yourself a guardian. You’re pathetic.”

“I never called myself that,” he shrugged. “So what … the little brat gets what she deserves… that's no quills off my back.”

Juk stood up, “that brat is our young chieftess!” He wobbled and fell back down.

Panchu let out a low chuckle, “And? I’m sure you only want to save her because you’re in love with her.”

“I—” Juk raised a finger, his cheeks reddening. “I’d be a fool to love somebody of her stature.”

“Well you do look the part,” Panchu guffawed, patting his tummy. “Anyway, I’m going to grab some grub.”

“No you’re not,” I said, driving my spear into the ground. “You’re going to help us find her!”

His snout wrinkled, “and why should I do a thing like that?”

“Because,” I shook my head, “you’re the only one who can defeat him … you did it to save me, now I’m asking you, in front of all of them, please, help us.”

Panchu looked between the many faces in the crowd. Each one twisted with a pleading expression. Eyes trembling. He shook his head, “I’m no guardian, kid …”

Tykka Leaped to his feet and screamed. “That creature … t-that thing … it grabbed my brother and bit off his head!” His lips trembled. “And then it chewed, mocking me as I cried and screamed … I don’t know what Meeka has done to you, but she doesn’t deserve that same fate.” He teared. “Nobody deserves a fate like that.”

Panchu looked upon the boy and sighed. “No … no they don’t.” He looked upon me. “Your spirit energy is still low.”

“I know. And Sapphire is too weak to help rejuvenate it.”

“Even if you were full,” The bear spoke softly, “even then it’d be a challenge we could hardly face.”

I nodded, “Yes. That’s why we’re going to have to attack quickly. Over power the creature before he has the time to react.”

The old bear scraped his fangs together, "I’m a big beast … It’ll be hard to stay hidden.”

“Then don’t,” I said, picking up my spear. “when you get eyes on him … charge.” I looked at the others. “The rest of you will have to stay here.”

Juk shook his head, “I go where the chieftess goes.”

Garnak nodded. “I’m fine to stay.”

“Coward …”

Tykka looked upon me, “I’m going to go too. That thing killed my brother. I want my revenge.”

I nodded. “Ok.”

“What about us?” Onwae asked, “Mowak, Shad, and I can be of use.”

“No.” I shook my head. “You need to allow Sapphire to rest. When she has regained her strength, try and figure out how to use those herbal runes. We may need them when we return.”

Garnak raised his hand, “I could show you … It’s the least I could do.”

I nodded. “Thank you.”

He grinned and turned towards Juk, “told you I wasn’t useless …”

“Still makes you a coward.”

“Ok.” I looked up the trail. “Let’s find Meeka … and let's go kill that beast.”