Piece by piece, Wendy feels the working of the cleansing, fighting the curse’s instinct for destruction the entire time. However, with no lost tribe spirits to reinforce or create more enmity, the malice gradually lessens. Finally, only trace amounts of ill will remain. She can’t get rid of all the ill will, much of the curse’s foundation is rooted in it. However, it’s small enough that the goodwill of the protection is now the driving force, turning it from a curse to a charm.
Still mentally holding the reins of the charm, Wendy stands up and walks the circle. She performs the iwosanpoli, or the Breath of Healing, at the four bocio of the circle. Sully accompanies her to all four directions and gathers the bocio after her Breath. She and Sully will properly dispose of the bocio after the ritual as they first must treat them, so the malice absorbed will not taint the world.
It is time to hand the charm over to the Jo-gä-oh. They will perform their ceremony then place the protection back on the earth, now threaded and anchored to them. The successful lifting of the curse is testimony to the spirit of cooperation and communication. Vito to speak with the lost tribe, Tiko to speak with the earth and lay the spirits to rest, Wendy to cleanse the curse, and the Jo-ga-oh to strengthen and lay the protection charm. If any of the pieces were missing, then the lost tribe would remain, the earth would continue to honor the curse, and the malicious part of the curse would eventually prevail as evidence by the Élivágar’s presence. The curse wished for the corruption and destruction the Élivágar caused more than it wished to protect the lands from the Élivágar.
Tewow and Sepulveda are roused as it’s time to head back to the others. With the help of Tewow and some Ga-hon-ga, Sully and Tiko rig together a stretcher to carry Vito. The return journey seems shorter and they return to the ice stream clearing quickly. In fact, the sun is still low on the horizon and it’s even a little warmer than in days past. Apparently, Diego moved some clouds around to help extend and reflect the sunlight as much as possible to help warm and defrost the water.
With confirmation of more bodies to be found, the police presence increased during their time away and Ranger Brunner and Sheriff Ulate and her team remain as the Psycept party departs. They need to rest and regroup before confronting Élivágar tomorrow.
CHAPTER EIGHT– Confrontation
The dark clouds don’t bode well as Tuesday arrives. Yesterday, Diego warned the group of an imminent rebound weather event percolating and expects it will erupt sometime today. The morning news meteorologist seems stymied by the erratic patterns in the immediate area while the surrounding areas are cold, but predictable. Even given the grim situation, Wendy’s amused at the woman throwing up her hands and stating, “Who knows? We can’t say anything for certain near Potluck County, so I’m not going to even try. Elsewhere…”
They ate a hearty meal when they returned to the motel last night. Then they separated into smaller segments focused on their part in dealing with Élivágar. Libby and Wendy examined the blood of the children and animals attacked by the creature. Late last night, Dr. Rademacher stopped by with several lung tissue samples to be examined, from both the newly discovered bodies as well as the body examined earlier that day. Perhaps his objections were outweighed by all the additional bodies being uncovered.
As Libby suspected, the poison affects the heme in the blood. The spleen, liver, kidneys, and blood marrow counteracted much of the poison, thus why the children survived the poisoned scratches. With the animals, the spear throws were killing blows, so the poison was not the killer. Libby’s conjecture that the poison is back up in case the ice spear did not immediately kill was a reasonable assumption.
However, for the adult human bodies, the poison was the killer. While the human body has effective measures against poison circulating in the blood, the lungs are not so lucky. The poison rapidly accumulated in the small capillaries of the alveoli and caused lysis of the red blood cells. The original belief of asphyxiation through possible drowning leading to hemorrhaging of the lungs is not quite correct. Hemorrhaging due to hemolysis occurred first which lead to asphyxiation, not the other way around. The water was used both to conceal the bodies and to provide a reasonable explanation for the deaths. Wendy wonders how long Élivágar had experience with killing people undetected.
Diego wants the sun to be close to high noon to aid his endeavors during the confrontation and it should only take a couple of hours to prepare the site. Libby and Wendy appreciate the opportunity for more rest as they stayed up most of the night analyzing the poison and developing both preventative and antidotal measures. While eating a late breakfast, the group finalizes their plans and positions. Most of their party will be providing defense while their offense lies with Diego, Wendy and some of the Jo-gä-oh.
The group is fully rested and optimistic as they leave the motel parking lot shortly after ten. Wendy and Sully didn’t alert the local police or forest rangers about the upcoming confrontation. Instead, Sully typed up a detailed report about their investigation and plan. It’s due to be sent to Sheriff Ulate tomorrow morning if he’s not there to stop it. Wendy wants to protect the inhabitants and not drag them into the fight but in case of their failure, they want the local police to know what they found and how they attempted to stop Élivágar. Wendy likewise has an email drafted to be sent to Gray tomorrow morning in case something happens. Wendy trusts that Gray will know what to do with the information.
They arrive at the entry point to
