gun.
Thunder boomed in the room. Estios recoiled as splinters of wood exploding from the table drew blood from his outstretched hand.
'That was your one warning,' Hart said. Her complexion was paler, and fresh sweat plastered locks of hair to her forehead. The recoil from the shot had obviously caused her pain. Her hand shook visibly now. Estios rubbed at his small wounds with the thumb of his uninjured hand.
'Put the gun down, Hart. I could hit you with a power dart before you could fire, and I don't think your spell defense is up to competition levels right now.''
'You can try me, drekhead. It's the only way you'll know.''
Estios appeared to be weighing the odds. Rinaldi reached across and grabbed the Steyr by the muzzle. He set it down again against the wall, well out of Estios's reach.
'I think that you might reconsider your position,
Estios. One cannot condemn a person for possibilities. If that were so, all people would have to be condemned, for we are all capable of crimes. As far as we know, Janice has killed no one yet.'
'But she has eaten human flesh,' Willie said. 'The other wendigo said she was just like him. We know he was a killer.'
Rinaldi shifted his stance so that he could speak to Willie without taking his eyes off the stalemate between Hart and Estios.
'We also know he was a liar. If Janice has eaten flesh, then she has committed a crime and a sin. But the crime is not a capital one, and the sin may be forgiven. I do not find it beyond the bounds of reason to think that she was under the influence of the evil she called Dan Shiroi and did not fully know what she did. If she repents, there is hope for her redemption.'
'Redemption,' Estios repeated in a mocking tone.
'As long as she is a wendigo, she will crave the meat. Tell me, priest. Can you change her back to the way she was, then?'
Sam's heart raced, ignited by hope.
But Rinaldi turned away from Estios and gripped his left hand in his right. He rocked his hands up and down at waist level and shook his head sadly. 'Alas, no. But neither can I condone murder. That is what it shall be if you kill her without evidence that she has succumbed completely to the wendigo nature. Coldblooded murder.''
'Let her kills be on your head, then.'
Rinaldi shifted as if Estios's suggestion made him nervous. 'Her actions are her own responsibility. As yours are your responsibility. Every individual must make his or her own choices.'
Each of Rinaldi's minor changes of position had put him closer to Hart's bed. In a sudden lunge, he snatched Hart's gun. She was too weak to fight him as he easily removed the weapon from her grasp. He slipped on the safety and tossed the pistol into a corner.
'As I said, I will not condone murder,' he said to
Hart.
She threw back her head and clenched her teeth. Sam could hear her fist pound once against the edge of the bed.
'Nice move,' Estios said. 'For a priest. Thanks for saving me the trouble.'
' 'I did not disarm Hart for you alone,'' Rinaldi said. 'And I still maintain that you are premature. Janice must live as her own conscience demands. If she is weak and embraces the demands of her parabiology, I will help you hunt her down.'
'I don't want any help from you, priest.' 'That will not stop me from joining the hunt,' Rinaldi said resolutely.
Their casual talk of hunts and death and murder was finally too much for Sam. Janice wasn't an animal.
'Shut up!' he shouted. 'Shut up, all of you! There won't be any hunt. She's my sister.'
'She's a wendigo,' Estios said. 'You're a fool to protect her, Verner. That kind of collaboration would get you the death sentence in the Tir. We know how to treat those who help the wendigo. If you think that being her brother will save you from her, you're a double fool. The wendigo is conscienceless evil; it knows no family.'
Sam looked at Estios, but his eyes were seeing the events of the previous night. He saw the spirit of humanity wrestle with the spirit of Blight in its wendigo embodiment. He heard the wendigo's voice pleading with Janice. That hollow voice had spoken words that didn't fit Estios's evaluation. Those caring words had come from a husk that had been burned clean of evil, but they had been born of one human spirit, twisted as it was, reaching out to another who responded. He had seen the tears of the wendigo Janice and knew that the human Janice was still alive somewhere inside.
'You just don't understand,' Sam insisted. 'She's sick.'
'You're crazy, Verner,' Estios spat back at him.
'She's a killer. She has to be stopped.'
'She has killed no one,' Rinaldi said. 'Hunting her down and killing her would be murder.''
'She's a wendigo. It's necessary,' Estios said.
'It's murder,' Sam said.
'It's moot,' Willie said. 'At least for now. I've called back the drones.'
'You stupid halfer,' Estios screamed. He grabbed his Steyr and headed out the door. 'Come on. If we don't hurry, the beast will get away.' Teresa slung her weapon and started after him. 'Teresa!' Dodger called, stopping her halfway to the door.
'You're not like him, Teresa,' Dodger insisted.
'Don't go with him.'
She stood still for a full five seconds, then ran out the door. She didn't look back. Dodger slammed his fist into the wall, then sought out a corner and collapsed in it, arms folded over his drooping head. 'Willie, what have you done?' Sam asked. 'Got rid of a real loser,' she said. 'Sorry about your bird, Dodger.'
'She made her own choice,' Dodger said glumly. ' 'But they're going after Janice,'' Sam said. 'They'll kill her.'
'Neg. She'll be gone. I dropped a drone in to spook her. All they'll find is an empty squat.'
'But you have lost her to us as well,' Rinaldi pointed out.
'Neg, again. Got a pair of drones still on her tail.'
'Clever, Willie,' Rinaldi said. 'Affirm,' the rigger agreed as she returned her full attention to monitoring her drones' progress.
Sam forced himself to ignore the pain and rose to his feet. Unsteadily, he limped to Rinaldi. Taking the priest by his arm, Sam leaned close. 'You're an expert on magic, father. Tell me there's a way to cure her. There must be a way.'
Rinaldi bowed his head for a moment, then looked Sam in the eyes. 'I just don't know, Sam. Science knows next to nothing of the wendigo metatype, and magical tradition adds precious little. If the tales from the north are true, the wendigo nature is a curse. If that is the case, it may be that she can be restored. But if it is a biological change and nothing more, I fear there is little hope. I will pray that your faith and love be rewarded, but I just don't know.' 'You won't really hunt her, will you?' Rinaldi turned his head away. 'First things first, Sam. You and Hart are hurt and must be taken care of. Janice is fresh and strong, while we are tired and weak. I have no doubt she has been well trained in combat and magic by the evil. If we try to restrain her she will fight, and she might kill most of us.'
'She would never kill me. I'm her brother.' 'You could be right. I pray that you are. That might be her way to redemption.' Might. Could be. Maybe. Wasn't anything certain? 'I'll never be sure, will I, father?' 'In this life? I think not, Sam. But one can always pray, and trust in the Lord. He is always with us.'
Sam said nothing for a few minutes, quiet as he thought about Janice and about what Rinaldi had said. Finally, he said, 'I think you're right, father. I think He will be with me in this. You might even say that He's dogging my path.'
Frowning, Rinaldi said, 'You sound like a shaman
I once knew.'
Sam just smiled. All those mights, could-bes and maybes were full of possibilities. All kinds of possibilities. It was only despair that made the future seem dark. He didn't have to look at it that way and vowed that he wouldn't.
