Wintermoon Ice (2010) (16 page)

Chapter Eleven

Tessa

A warrior's wound may heal and leave him bleeding within.

Powwaw Speak: Shamanic Wisdom of the Irrakish
, Theodore Black, PhD

* * * *

She took a deep breath and opened the hut door. Jane's eyes, red-rimmed from crying, went suddenly wide. "Tessa! My god. Are you OK?" She hurried across the floor, then threw her arms around her friend.

Tessa pushed her away gently, confused by this near hysteria. "It's all right, Jane. I'm... all right. What on earth is the matter? Have you been waiting here all afternoon?"

She shook her head in confusion. "Afternoon? You have been missing for over twenty-four hours, Tessa. Jakob has been out all day checking the trails up the valley. I stayed here with the radio just in case you came back. I'd better call him."

Tessa stared at the clock on the wall in disbelief. "My god, I had no idea. I'm so sorry..."

Ten minutes later Jakob flung the door wide, and stood on the step, with a face like thunder and lightning. "Where the fuck have you been?"

The memory of the scene in the boathouse window gave her voice a hard edge of sarcasm. "Hi Jakob. Nice to see you too."

He strode across the floor and grabbed her arm, then shook her hard. "Do you have any idea how long I've been looking for you?"

Tessa snatched her arm away. "Leave me alone. I didn't mean to be gone for so long. I got... lost."

"You had better get on the radio and tell the Rangers we found her," Jakob told Jane. "Meanwhile, Tessa can be explaining to us where she has been all this time."

She frowned at him. "Why should I?"

Jane shook her gently. "Come on, Tessa. Jakob and I have been worried sick about you."

"I know
you
were, and I feel very bad about that. But as for him..." She waved a dismissive hand in Jakob's direction.

His eyes grew very dark. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Hers flashed amber fire. "What do you think it means, asshole?"

Jane hurriedly stepped between them. "Look, guys. We are all tired and stressed out, so let's not say anything we might regret later." She turned to Tessa. "Are you hungry, or thirsty? I went back into
Franklin
and got a lot of food."

Tessa sighed guiltily. "Is that coffee? I'd love a cup."

"Is that
cawffee
?" Jakob mocked in a falsetto voice. "I lost my way in the woods and I'm ever so thirsty."

Tessa did not look amused. "Will you just shut the hell up?"

Jane made the call and then waved the radio at Tessa. "They want to talk to you."

She slipped the headphones on and tried to answer the Ranger's questions without giving too much away. "I stumbled in a cave, and hit my head. I guess it disoriented me, and... I couldn't find my way out again. When I did, I came straight back here. I am really, really sorry I caused so much trouble." She listened to a lecture, and rolled her eyes to Jane. "Yes, I realize I shouldn't have gone out alone. I won't do it again. OK, thanks, bye." Tessa sighed and put the radio down. "I think I'm going to have to make a big donation to their retirement fund."

"Now... How about telling us what really happened?" Jakob leaned back in his chair, folded his arms and waited expectantly.

Tessa had intended to, but this infuriating smugness made her change her mind. Instead she insisted, "That is the truth, mostly."

"Mostly?"

"Well, I didn't say anything about the Polys, of course. I went for a walk, and then I saw two of them, by the car, with field glasses. They spotted me and started to follow, so then I hid in the cave. After a while they must have given up and gone away."

Jakob laughed so hard he almost overturned his chair.

Tessa's cheeks went very red. "What in the hell is so funny?"

"I just can't believe someone with as much schooling as you had could be so stupid."

Jane turned on him. "Jakob! Tessa has been lost for most of the last two days. Stop being such a jerk."

He stood and paced the floor, and spoke as though he was delivering a lecture to a class of slightly dim three year olds. "So I am being a jerk, am I? Ok, ladies. Let's look at the facts. Fact number one, and try to remember this, because it is very, very important -- Polys never, ever give up. Shall I repeat that?" He ticked the words off on his fingers. "Polys. Never. Ever. Give. Up."

"What are you saying?"

Jakob wagged his finger at Tessa. "Fact number two. Polys don't need to use field glasses. They have infrared vision that allows them to focus on the heat generated by the human body." Tessa opened her mouth and he held up his hand again. "What you saw, Sweetie, were plain ordinary Park Rangers. And they were looking for you because Jane asked them to."

Tessa turned to her. She shrugged. "He's telling the truth. I called Park Headquarters on my mobile phone, after I found that they had closed the lodge for the winter. The head Ranger said they would send someone to the site to check on you."

She glared at the two of them. "Ok, fine. So I made a mistake. I'm sorry."

But Jakob hadn't finished. "Only one? How about coming here alone -- after everything I warned you about? Was that a mistake too, or just more stupidity?"

"Just shut up. Like you care, anyway," Tessa muttered.

The hut seemed suddenly airless. Jane cleared her throat. "I think I left something in my car. I'll be right back." She headed out the door, after a worried backwards glance.

Jakob lit a cigarette as soon as Jane shut the door, but didn't offer one to Tessa. "What is that supposed to mean?"

The strangeness of her unexpected journey suddenly overwhelmed her, and Tessa felt her lower lip trembling. "You said... There hadn't been anyone else. But I saw you, in the window."

He looked absolutely mystified. "You saw me... what?"

"With a woman." Tessa's angry tears only made her feel more humiliated. "You had your arm around her."

His eyes went blank as he thought back, and then he smiled. "Oh. You mean Annie. She's a prostitute."

Tessa found she couldn't speak. Jakob went on, quite unperturbed. "I spent a lot of time hanging around the wharves when I first came to
Cloudy
Bay
. Annie works the streets there, and we got to be friends. After I saw your phone, I asked her to go shopping and get me one. On her night off, she came to the boathouse and showed me how to use it. In return, I cooked dinner for her."

Tessa rubbed her eyes furiously. "Dinner?"

"Yes. Dinner. So what?" He stared into the distance thoughtfully and then suddenly looked very, very amused. "I get it now. You thought I asked her there to have sex. Is that it?"

Tessa turned away, with her hand over her face. "God. You are so insufferable. I wish you'd go away and never come back."

He snorted. "I'm insufferable? What about you? Who got in a jealous snit and decided to put herself and everyone else in danger?"

As if to reinforce his point, Jane chose that moment to scream.

Tessa tore over to the window. Black-suited figures crossed the graveled lot, converging on the Honda. They didn't look anything like Rangers -- not this time.

Jakob dug in a duffle bag by the wall and produced the sword.

Tessa looked on in horror. "Wait! There are four of them. You can't fight them all. Not like that."

"I have to. And don't do anything
else
stupid tonight, like trying to help me." He went out the door before she could respond. Tessa glued her face to the window. Two of the Polys were methodically destroying the Honda, trying to get to Jane. The other two turned towards Jakob.

She saw him behead the first one, and then the second bulled forward and kicked him in the groin. He went down hard, and this time she knew it was no ruse. Meanwhile, the remaining Polys had smashed the Honda's windscreen. Tessa could see them groping inside. A horrible paralysis stole her breath, and made it feel as though her heart had stalled.

Jakob screamed as the Poly's boot connected with his ribs, once and then again.

Tessa knew that he and Jane would likely die if she didn't do something, but terror had robbed her of any useful action. "Help me!" she cried to the blank walls of the hut.

Tom's earnest voice spoke, as though he stood beside her once more.
The Amaranthine forged the blade, long ago, and endowed it with much power. I hope it will lend you some protection.

In the very bottom of her backpack, entangled with her scarf, she found the knife. Whoever the Amaranthine smiths were, they had created a weapon of uncommon fineness and beauty. When she took it into her hand the handle felt warm, and that warmth radiated through her arm like an electric shock, somehow calming her heart and her breathing.

With a perfectly steady grip, she opened the door and stepped outside into the night.The Poly kicking Jakob looked up, its face a brutally cool mask. Tessa called, "Come and get me, big boy. I am over here." She charged down the steps towards it, the knife held high above her head.

Jakob groaned in agony. "Tessa, no! Go back inside. Don't..." A final kick to the head silenced him. The Poly made to turn away. Tessa leapt high and clung to its back, then slashed at its throat. The blade parted the skin and bones with ease.

The Poly gave a horrible gurgling screech and slumped to the ground. Tessa landed squarely on her feet. "One down, two to go," she muttered to Jakob's fallen form. "See? I can help."

The other two stepped away from the ruin of the car. They approached her shoulder to shoulder, hands extended. Tessa knew with utter certainty that she could not kill them both -- not with only one knife, no matter how powerful. Slowly she backed away, until her shoulder blades touched the cold metal siding of the hut wall. The Polys followed, with leisurely menace.

As they passed Jakob, he somehow staggered to his feet, looking like bloody death. He tackled the left-hand Poly, just as Tessa thrust the blade upwards into the chest of the one on the right.

It crumpled, and the weight almost broke her wrist when she tried to keep her hold on the hilt of the knife. The other struggled with Jakob, as he shouted hoarsely to her, "Get Jane into your car and drive. Do as you are fucking told for once in your life."

She ignored him, concentrating instead on wrenching the dagger free from the dead Poly. Then she waded back into the fray. Jakob cursed, swung wildly and knocked her away. Tom's knife spun in the darkness and landed somewhere out of sight.

Tessa heard the sickening sound of snapping bone as the Poly twisted Jakob's arm behind his back. She danced in and out, trying to get its attention. "Hey! Leave him alone. I'm the one you want."

The Poly turned towards her, held up Jakob's hand, and drew his thumb from the socket with a revolting pop. Tessa understood that it was playing with her, as a cat will do with its prey. Jakob howled as two more finger bones snapped and then spoke through gritted teeth. "You... will... be... next. Just go."

Tessa scanned the ground desperately, looking for the knife, or anything she could use as a weapon. "No! I won't leave you."

A dark shadow on the edge of her vision made her wonder fearfully if she had somehow miscounted the number of Polys. Then someone pressed something hard and cold into her hand. Jane's voice sounded high and terrified, hardly more than a squeak. "Tessa! Here... the knife, I found it."

Tessa took it from Jane and stepped over the headless Poly. Jakob hung like a puppet from the meaty arms of the last. She plunged the knife into its back, twisting it with both hands. With a stuttering moan the last Poly collapsed into a formless heap, as though the blade had somehow unknit its will to fight. She stood over it, panting, as Jane dropped to her knees beside Jakob.

Tessa smiled triumphantly as she wiped the smoking blade against her thigh. "Three for me, one for bozo."

* * * *

Jakob sat on the kitchen table while Jane carefully wrapped a compression bandage around his chest. "You have three broken ribs. Also a probable cracked left tibia, two broken fingers and a dislocated thumb, as well as several nasty gashes. All of which need proper medical attention. There is an ER in
Franklin
. We could have you there in forty-five minutes."

"I'm fine." Jakob grunted as she tightened the bandage. "No hospital. There are plenty of supplies in that medical kit, and you are a doctor. Just fix me as best you can."

Jane shook her head in amazement. "I may be a doctor but I'm not the kind you need. You are nuts."

Tessa passed Jane a cup of coffee. "Do you need any more boiling water for anything?"

"No, I'm almost done here. But Jakob would probably like some coffee too."

"No thanks, Jane," he said quickly, as Tessa turned her back and walked away.

Jane murmured as she stitched the jagged cut over his eye. "Look, you two. This not talking to each other is childish and just plain annoying."

Tessa frowned. "Well why don't you tell Jakob that if he hadn't been such a jerk then I would be talking to him?"

"And tell your best friend that if she had stayed inside like I told her to, then none of this would have happened."

She whirled and spat, "What do you mean? I saved your wimpy ass out there."

"Like hell you did. I had everything under control."

Jane stopped her careful suturing. "Hold still while I finish this, or you are going to be walking around with a permanently surprised expression for the rest of your life." Tessa flopped on the bed with her back to the table. Jakob stared at her. Neither spoke until Jane tied off the last stitch. She sighed. "OK. Round two."

Tessa smiled sweetly at him. "Now, let me get this straight. You were saying that even though the Poly had you on the ground while it kicked the shit out of you, everything was on schedule?"

"That's right. I didn't need your help."

She shook her head in wonderment. "You just can't stand it, can you?"

He rolled his eyes. "What is that, Tessa? Come on, I know you are just dying to tell me."