![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
"Skinwalker Highway"
"Skinwalker Highway"
7/30-7/31/1978
I.
Katherine Wheatley stepped away from the white Jeep and gazed out into the Arizona night. It was chilly, despite having hit a hundred degrees that afternoon, and she zipped up her red windbreaker. How far the desert stretched out...! Sometimes it sank in just how huge America was. Back home, you were never far that from the sea and a trip of a hundred miles was an undertaking. Here, she and Jeremy had simply gotten off the plane from New York City, rented this Jeep and driven for hours, and they were still in the same State. Extraordinary. And how sharp and brilliant the stars were in this clean crisp air.
Stepping around beside her, Jeremy Bane also stared off into the night, but his glare was suspicious and alert, always looking for threats. The Dire Wolf was only twenty-one, just a year older than Katherine herself. As always, he was wearing all black. The slacks, turtleneck and sport jacket made him a dim ominous figure in the gloom.
They both had straight black hair and pale eyes. But while hers were bright blue, his eyes were a cold grey that glittered in the starlight. Bane turned from the desert and glanced at her. "Picking up anything?" he asked.
"No, sorry. A few small animals, like dogs or wolves. Your coyotes, I dare say." The young telepath reached out to her full extent. An owl. A few rabbits. The simple, easily-followed minds of animals but no human thoughts reached her. She sighed and drew her awareness back into herself. "Just the beasts and birds, Jeremy."
The young Dire Wolf slid a dagger out from its sheath beneath his sleeve and held it up. The silver blade shimmered very faintly in the dim light. "Nothing dangerous at close range," he decided. "Well, back in the Jeep, I guess." He walked over the driver's side and climbed in without another word.
Katherine had become used to the way he seemed barely aware of her, although she couldn't pretend she liked it. She was pretty if not gorgeous, slim and attractive, and it irked her that Bane never noticed that. Here she was with him, out in the American wilderness with no one around for many miles, and she could tell the idea of taking a kiss or a fondle had never entered his head. He was all business. She shrugged and climbed into the passenger seat and they rolled back onto the highway.
"Keep searching, okay?" Bane asked as he picked up speed. Ahead, the brilliant white cones of their headlights showed nothing but a ribbon of asphalt stretching out into darkness.
"Surely," she answered, reaching behind her to pick up her water bottle. When they had stopped at dusk for a break, Bane had purchased food, bottles of water and two large plastic containers he had filled with gas. He was obviously prepared to drive around all night if needed. Katherine took a big swig and replaced the bottle behind her. Finally, just to break the silence, she asked, "What did you think of that Navajo wise man?"
"Old John Yie? He seems okay. I guess. Mr Dred said they had met a few times years ago. Yie is supposed to be an expert on Midnight War creatures out here. When he was a younger man, he was the Eagle Star."
"The what, again?"
"Eagle Star." Bane turned his pale eyes on her for the barest second. "As I understand it, every generation has an Indian who assumes the role of the Eagle Star, a sort of champion who fights the creatures of the night. Yie stepped down years ago, and some Paiute guy named Joe Jefferson took over. Haven't met him."
Katherine made a non-commital sound and then asked, "Old John really tried to discourage us from searching this Interstate tonight. All that talk about the Behinder and the Long Snakes. He called this Skinwalker Highway. Was he really that worried about our safety?"
"You should be able to tell, Kath," Bane replied. "What did you find in his head?"
"His mind was closed up tight. Disciplined. I found it hard to pick up any strays from his thoughts." Like yours, she said to herself but did not voice. She went back to scanning the area with her awareness and still couldn't pick anything up. Yet some presence was troubling her. Katherine stared out the window at her side and gave a blood-curdling scream. Something man-sized was racing through the sand not far away, keeping pace with them.
II.
They had been going about sixty miles an hour, and now Bane stepped on the gas and the Jeep leaped forward to seventy. Still, the lean dark shape ran alongside them, keeping up easily. He sped up further, hitting eighty. Now the black form had started to angle toward the highway, loping with long strides as it grew closer. Katherine saw two red eyes flash in the gloom like hot coals. Her heart was pounding so hard it hurt.
"Oh my God, a Skinwalker!" she gasped. "Jeremy, it IS one."
"Wind down your window, get down on the floor," he snapped shortly.
"Are you MAD? I'm not winding down my window!"
"Do it!" he yelled, and to her surprise, the young telepath found herself obeying. As cold air rushed in through the open window, she slid down between the seat and the dashboard. A hideous grinning face loomed up in the open window, showing two wide rows of yellow fangs. Three gunshots cracked, deafening in the enclosed space and the white flashes were like lightning. The face was flung away into the night.
As Katherine rubbed her ears and shook her head, the Jeep squealed to a halt with a jerk that shoved her half under the dash. Before she could take in what had happened, the driver door had slammed and Bane was outside. "He must be crazy," she said out loud, "there's no explaining it otherwise."
Completely surprising herself, she flung open her own door and stepped out of the Jeep. An unbearable sensation of dread made it hard for her to breathe. Katherine forced herself to stand up straight and inhale slowly. As she watched, Bane whipped around from the other side of the Jeep and hurtled straight for the dark body lying on the sands.. and that form leaped up again to meet him headlong. The Dire Wolf and the Skinwalker crashed together and rolled to the ground in a wild tangle of arms and legs. They were moving too quickly for their actions to be seen. There was a flash of silver and an inhuman howl of agony, then the monster somehow got Bane down and smashed his head hard on the cold ground. The Dire Wolf groaned and sagged, and the Skinwalker slammed his head down again, then flung the man over one shoulder like a blanket and raced out in the darkness at full tilt.
Almost incoherent with shock, Katherine fell back against the Jeep behind her and sank to a seated position. She wouldn't have thought it was possible for Jeremy to be beaten like that. She had seen him tackle so many threats that she had come to think of him as unbeatable. For long moments, she fought to catch her breath and then suddenly she was calmer. There on the sand were his silver daggers where they had fallen. She knew how potent they were. Katherine trudged over and picked them up, one with each hand. A faint electric tingle ran up her arms from the contact and it was a comfort. Then, without realizing she was going to do it, she rushed around to get behind the wheel. The keys were still in the ignition. Katherine Wheatley swung the Jeep off the highway onto the hard-packed sand and headed in the direction where the Skinwalker had loped off.
III.
Tearing through the night, the Jeep jumping and bucking over the uneven terrain, the young telepath began to collect her thoughts. What she was going to do against a brute who had thrashed the Dire Wolf? No idea. Maybe the silver daggers would help scare it back? Feeling something hard under her butt, she reached down and came up with Bane's revolver, its barrel still hot. He had fired three shots, so presumably there were still two bullets in the weapon but what help was that to her? She had never fired a gun in her life and figured she was more likely to shoot her own foot off. Still, better to hold onto it.
Minutes rushed by. After a mile, Katherine slowed and closed her eyes to slits, extending her awareness. There! The dim cloudy mind of an unconscious man and the ferocious predatory rage of a Midnight War monster. She was heading toward them, all right. She pressed the pedal down and tore across the desert at seventy miles per hour, barely keeping control. As she grew closer, she could sense Bane's mind stirring and fighting to regain consciousness. Yes, that was just like the lad, he would never surrender. Then abruptly she saw them both in the glare of her headlights and she slowed a little.
The Skinwalker came to a sudden stop at the surprise of being pursued. In that brilliant light, he stood revealed as a lean, leathery naked figure with long talons and pointed ears. The creature threw Bane carelessly to one side and swung to face the oncoming Jeep. With a howl like a coyote, it began to lope forward to meet the vehicle. Katherine slammed the gas pedal down as far as it would go and rammed right into the monster. The Skinwalker was sent flying backwards to tumble across the sand.
Getting out suspiciously, still almost hysterical, the young telepath watched the unmoving creature in the distance as she rushed over to kneel by Bane. He was coming to, trying to prop himself up on his elbows. "Kath? Is that you?"
"The Skinwalker knocked you out and carried you away," she told him in a sob. "Oh, look at the knob on your poor head, it's as a big as an egg."
"I'll.. be fine," the Dire Wolf grunted as he managed to sit up for a second, only to sag down again. "Thanks for coming after me, Kath. Where is the bastard?"
"I hit him with the Jeep..here he comes!" she screamed as she jumped up to her feet again. The gaunt form was leaping toward them with terrifying purpose. Katherine Wheatley surprised herself one more time that night. She reached out with her perceptions to make contact with the creature's mind and unexpectedly blasted out all her fear and hatred as if yelling at the top of her lungs. The Skinwalker convulsed violently and sprang into the air to come down in a limp heap.
Bane was recovering fast, up on his hands and knees now. His jaw dropped. "Did YOU do that?"
"Yes! And I'll do it again if he doesn't lie still." She turned an ashen face toward her partner. "I've always had to be so careful when touching minds, so worried about doing damage. Because I know I can ruin a mind completely if I use full force."
The Dire Wolf came over to put an arm around her shoulders, steadying both of them. "Good to know, Kath. Is he dead?"
"No." She sounded disappointed. "He's starting to get over the blast. Let me try another brain blast."
Bane gently took the silver daggers from her white-knuckled grasp. "You haven't killed anyone yet, Kath. I hope we can keep it that way." He walked steadily over to where the Skinwalker was beginning to move, and dropped to one knee. The silver blades had been ensorcelled long ago by the immortal Eldarin and were potent against any malicious spell or night creatures. The Dire Wolf deliberately cut the Skinwalker's throat so deeply that the windpipe popped out, then plunged the other dagger into the creature's heart and leaned on it with his full weight. He crouched over the body suspiciously, still tensed to react.
"That did it," Katherine said weakly from the distance. "No mental activity at all. He's gone."
Bane examined the body as he cleaned his daggers with handfuls of sand before returning them to their sheaths. The monster was wearing a tanned Human hide like a suit, holding it on with rawhide thongs. In death, the gruesome face had relaxed into its normal shape. The wrinkled sunken face and white hair of Old John was exposed in the headlights of the Jeep.
The Dire Wolf stood up, not shaky at all as he came back to normal. He probed his head with tentative wincing at the lump at its back. "It's Old John Yie, all right. He warned us not to come out here, then he came here himself to try and kill us."
"Why?" she demanded in an unsteady voice. "Why would he want to harm us? We never did anything to him."
Bane came over to lead her toward the Jeep. "He was over a hundred years old. Maybe his family had been killed by white soldiers, maybe he just hated white people because he had been there when his people were herded onto reservations. I guess it doesn't matter now."
Katherine was starting to sob audibly, her shoulders moving. "I'm sorry, I can't help it, Jeremy. I can't stop crying."
"That's the stress being released," he told her as he opened a door for her for the first time and helped her into the Jeep. "Sometimes I wish I was able to cry."
8/25/2014
7/30-7/31/1978
I.
Katherine Wheatley stepped away from the white Jeep and gazed out into the Arizona night. It was chilly, despite having hit a hundred degrees that afternoon, and she zipped up her red windbreaker. How far the desert stretched out...! Sometimes it sank in just how huge America was. Back home, you were never far that from the sea and a trip of a hundred miles was an undertaking. Here, she and Jeremy had simply gotten off the plane from New York City, rented this Jeep and driven for hours, and they were still in the same State. Extraordinary. And how sharp and brilliant the stars were in this clean crisp air.
Stepping around beside her, Jeremy Bane also stared off into the night, but his glare was suspicious and alert, always looking for threats. The Dire Wolf was only twenty-one, just a year older than Katherine herself. As always, he was wearing all black. The slacks, turtleneck and sport jacket made him a dim ominous figure in the gloom.
They both had straight black hair and pale eyes. But while hers were bright blue, his eyes were a cold grey that glittered in the starlight. Bane turned from the desert and glanced at her. "Picking up anything?" he asked.
"No, sorry. A few small animals, like dogs or wolves. Your coyotes, I dare say." The young telepath reached out to her full extent. An owl. A few rabbits. The simple, easily-followed minds of animals but no human thoughts reached her. She sighed and drew her awareness back into herself. "Just the beasts and birds, Jeremy."
The young Dire Wolf slid a dagger out from its sheath beneath his sleeve and held it up. The silver blade shimmered very faintly in the dim light. "Nothing dangerous at close range," he decided. "Well, back in the Jeep, I guess." He walked over the driver's side and climbed in without another word.
Katherine had become used to the way he seemed barely aware of her, although she couldn't pretend she liked it. She was pretty if not gorgeous, slim and attractive, and it irked her that Bane never noticed that. Here she was with him, out in the American wilderness with no one around for many miles, and she could tell the idea of taking a kiss or a fondle had never entered his head. He was all business. She shrugged and climbed into the passenger seat and they rolled back onto the highway.
"Keep searching, okay?" Bane asked as he picked up speed. Ahead, the brilliant white cones of their headlights showed nothing but a ribbon of asphalt stretching out into darkness.
"Surely," she answered, reaching behind her to pick up her water bottle. When they had stopped at dusk for a break, Bane had purchased food, bottles of water and two large plastic containers he had filled with gas. He was obviously prepared to drive around all night if needed. Katherine took a big swig and replaced the bottle behind her. Finally, just to break the silence, she asked, "What did you think of that Navajo wise man?"
"Old John Yie? He seems okay. I guess. Mr Dred said they had met a few times years ago. Yie is supposed to be an expert on Midnight War creatures out here. When he was a younger man, he was the Eagle Star."
"The what, again?"
"Eagle Star." Bane turned his pale eyes on her for the barest second. "As I understand it, every generation has an Indian who assumes the role of the Eagle Star, a sort of champion who fights the creatures of the night. Yie stepped down years ago, and some Paiute guy named Joe Jefferson took over. Haven't met him."
Katherine made a non-commital sound and then asked, "Old John really tried to discourage us from searching this Interstate tonight. All that talk about the Behinder and the Long Snakes. He called this Skinwalker Highway. Was he really that worried about our safety?"
"You should be able to tell, Kath," Bane replied. "What did you find in his head?"
"His mind was closed up tight. Disciplined. I found it hard to pick up any strays from his thoughts." Like yours, she said to herself but did not voice. She went back to scanning the area with her awareness and still couldn't pick anything up. Yet some presence was troubling her. Katherine stared out the window at her side and gave a blood-curdling scream. Something man-sized was racing through the sand not far away, keeping pace with them.
II.
They had been going about sixty miles an hour, and now Bane stepped on the gas and the Jeep leaped forward to seventy. Still, the lean dark shape ran alongside them, keeping up easily. He sped up further, hitting eighty. Now the black form had started to angle toward the highway, loping with long strides as it grew closer. Katherine saw two red eyes flash in the gloom like hot coals. Her heart was pounding so hard it hurt.
"Oh my God, a Skinwalker!" she gasped. "Jeremy, it IS one."
"Wind down your window, get down on the floor," he snapped shortly.
"Are you MAD? I'm not winding down my window!"
"Do it!" he yelled, and to her surprise, the young telepath found herself obeying. As cold air rushed in through the open window, she slid down between the seat and the dashboard. A hideous grinning face loomed up in the open window, showing two wide rows of yellow fangs. Three gunshots cracked, deafening in the enclosed space and the white flashes were like lightning. The face was flung away into the night.
As Katherine rubbed her ears and shook her head, the Jeep squealed to a halt with a jerk that shoved her half under the dash. Before she could take in what had happened, the driver door had slammed and Bane was outside. "He must be crazy," she said out loud, "there's no explaining it otherwise."
Completely surprising herself, she flung open her own door and stepped out of the Jeep. An unbearable sensation of dread made it hard for her to breathe. Katherine forced herself to stand up straight and inhale slowly. As she watched, Bane whipped around from the other side of the Jeep and hurtled straight for the dark body lying on the sands.. and that form leaped up again to meet him headlong. The Dire Wolf and the Skinwalker crashed together and rolled to the ground in a wild tangle of arms and legs. They were moving too quickly for their actions to be seen. There was a flash of silver and an inhuman howl of agony, then the monster somehow got Bane down and smashed his head hard on the cold ground. The Dire Wolf groaned and sagged, and the Skinwalker slammed his head down again, then flung the man over one shoulder like a blanket and raced out in the darkness at full tilt.
Almost incoherent with shock, Katherine fell back against the Jeep behind her and sank to a seated position. She wouldn't have thought it was possible for Jeremy to be beaten like that. She had seen him tackle so many threats that she had come to think of him as unbeatable. For long moments, she fought to catch her breath and then suddenly she was calmer. There on the sand were his silver daggers where they had fallen. She knew how potent they were. Katherine trudged over and picked them up, one with each hand. A faint electric tingle ran up her arms from the contact and it was a comfort. Then, without realizing she was going to do it, she rushed around to get behind the wheel. The keys were still in the ignition. Katherine Wheatley swung the Jeep off the highway onto the hard-packed sand and headed in the direction where the Skinwalker had loped off.
III.
Tearing through the night, the Jeep jumping and bucking over the uneven terrain, the young telepath began to collect her thoughts. What she was going to do against a brute who had thrashed the Dire Wolf? No idea. Maybe the silver daggers would help scare it back? Feeling something hard under her butt, she reached down and came up with Bane's revolver, its barrel still hot. He had fired three shots, so presumably there were still two bullets in the weapon but what help was that to her? She had never fired a gun in her life and figured she was more likely to shoot her own foot off. Still, better to hold onto it.
Minutes rushed by. After a mile, Katherine slowed and closed her eyes to slits, extending her awareness. There! The dim cloudy mind of an unconscious man and the ferocious predatory rage of a Midnight War monster. She was heading toward them, all right. She pressed the pedal down and tore across the desert at seventy miles per hour, barely keeping control. As she grew closer, she could sense Bane's mind stirring and fighting to regain consciousness. Yes, that was just like the lad, he would never surrender. Then abruptly she saw them both in the glare of her headlights and she slowed a little.
The Skinwalker came to a sudden stop at the surprise of being pursued. In that brilliant light, he stood revealed as a lean, leathery naked figure with long talons and pointed ears. The creature threw Bane carelessly to one side and swung to face the oncoming Jeep. With a howl like a coyote, it began to lope forward to meet the vehicle. Katherine slammed the gas pedal down as far as it would go and rammed right into the monster. The Skinwalker was sent flying backwards to tumble across the sand.
Getting out suspiciously, still almost hysterical, the young telepath watched the unmoving creature in the distance as she rushed over to kneel by Bane. He was coming to, trying to prop himself up on his elbows. "Kath? Is that you?"
"The Skinwalker knocked you out and carried you away," she told him in a sob. "Oh, look at the knob on your poor head, it's as a big as an egg."
"I'll.. be fine," the Dire Wolf grunted as he managed to sit up for a second, only to sag down again. "Thanks for coming after me, Kath. Where is the bastard?"
"I hit him with the Jeep..here he comes!" she screamed as she jumped up to her feet again. The gaunt form was leaping toward them with terrifying purpose. Katherine Wheatley surprised herself one more time that night. She reached out with her perceptions to make contact with the creature's mind and unexpectedly blasted out all her fear and hatred as if yelling at the top of her lungs. The Skinwalker convulsed violently and sprang into the air to come down in a limp heap.
Bane was recovering fast, up on his hands and knees now. His jaw dropped. "Did YOU do that?"
"Yes! And I'll do it again if he doesn't lie still." She turned an ashen face toward her partner. "I've always had to be so careful when touching minds, so worried about doing damage. Because I know I can ruin a mind completely if I use full force."
The Dire Wolf came over to put an arm around her shoulders, steadying both of them. "Good to know, Kath. Is he dead?"
"No." She sounded disappointed. "He's starting to get over the blast. Let me try another brain blast."
Bane gently took the silver daggers from her white-knuckled grasp. "You haven't killed anyone yet, Kath. I hope we can keep it that way." He walked steadily over to where the Skinwalker was beginning to move, and dropped to one knee. The silver blades had been ensorcelled long ago by the immortal Eldarin and were potent against any malicious spell or night creatures. The Dire Wolf deliberately cut the Skinwalker's throat so deeply that the windpipe popped out, then plunged the other dagger into the creature's heart and leaned on it with his full weight. He crouched over the body suspiciously, still tensed to react.
"That did it," Katherine said weakly from the distance. "No mental activity at all. He's gone."
Bane examined the body as he cleaned his daggers with handfuls of sand before returning them to their sheaths. The monster was wearing a tanned Human hide like a suit, holding it on with rawhide thongs. In death, the gruesome face had relaxed into its normal shape. The wrinkled sunken face and white hair of Old John was exposed in the headlights of the Jeep.
The Dire Wolf stood up, not shaky at all as he came back to normal. He probed his head with tentative wincing at the lump at its back. "It's Old John Yie, all right. He warned us not to come out here, then he came here himself to try and kill us."
"Why?" she demanded in an unsteady voice. "Why would he want to harm us? We never did anything to him."
Bane came over to lead her toward the Jeep. "He was over a hundred years old. Maybe his family had been killed by white soldiers, maybe he just hated white people because he had been there when his people were herded onto reservations. I guess it doesn't matter now."
Katherine was starting to sob audibly, her shoulders moving. "I'm sorry, I can't help it, Jeremy. I can't stop crying."
"That's the stress being released," he told her as he opened a door for her for the first time and helped her into the Jeep. "Sometimes I wish I was able to cry."
8/25/2014