The Stone Lodge

The guards at the gate take a ready position with their great spears as soon as they see Ehawee. "Halt. Who goes there?" one of them demands.

Ehawee stops and hesitates for a moment, not certain what she should say. Should she claim she is a messenger? What if they ask from who? She decides to stick with the truth, hoping that since this is her vision, maybe they will be expecting her. Trying to sound confident, she responds, "Ehawee."

"What is your business here?" they ask, still holding their weapons in a threatening manner.

Ehawee is careful to remain beyond the reach of those weapons as she tries to come up with an answer. It occurs to her now to wonder how she can understand them, and vice versa, for they are not speaking Lakota. They, and she, are speaking a language she has never heard before, but yet understands. This realization gives her no insight into how to answer the guards, however. Attempting to bluff her way through the situation, she pretends to be puzzled. "If you were not expecting me, perhaps I am at the wrong place. Whose dwelling is this?"

The guards, who apparently don't like her answer, advance on her. "Put your hands behind your head!" one barks.

Ehawee retreats away from them, thinking to herself that she'll be happy if she never has a vision again, given how badly hers keep turning out. "Well, obviously, I am at the wrong place," she says, keeping an eye on their weapons. "So sorry to have troubled you."

She continues backing away from the guards, hoping she can reach better cover before they move to attack. Unfortunately, there is no cover now that they have seen her. "Stand fast or die!" one orders. The threat seems very real to her.

Ehawee stops and raises her hands, unsure of what will happen if she dies in a vision. A spear head is held at her throat and one at the back of her neck. Both are painfully close to her flesh. The great metal gate before the stone lodge opens and more guards pour out. She is soon surrounded and two approach her, one to apply shackles to her wrists and one to her ankles. Given the proximity of the spears to her neck, she holds very still and doesn't resist.

Once Ehawee is bound, she is quickly dragged inside and taken down a narrow stairway. The inside of the building, she observes, is made of stone as well. She supposes this is one way to see the inside of the lodge, but she's not enjoying it. The guards take out a metal stick, put it into a small hole in the door and then turn it. The door opens and she sees a room similar to the ones she saw from outside, except that instead of the cot there is a flat piece of wood. The wood has strange ropes attached to it which in turn are attached to heavy-looking stones.

Once inside the room, the guards undo Ehawee's shackles and hold her down against the piece of wood. She struggles, trying to get away, but she has one guard on each limb, and while she feels like she might be singularly stronger than any one of them, against four there is little that she can do. Once they have her held to the board, they slip the strange ropes over her wrists and ankles, which are then held fast to the board with a slipknot mechanism. Even were she to change her shape, the bindings would change with her. She quickly comes to the realization that whoever these strange people are, they are used to dealing with others who can change their shape, a fact that causes her some surprise.

"Who are you?" she asks them, not really expecting an answer. They do not reply. As soon as she is securely held, the guards leave, closing the door behind them with a soft click. She is alone in the room, with the cords painfully pinching her wrists and ankles. She is suddenly thankful that she changed her skin earlier to look like the guards, since the thought of lying there naked makes her feel distinctly uncomfortable. She grows claws again and tries them against the ropes, hoping to cut her way free. Unfortunately, the cords appear to be made of some type of metal, so she can't scratch through them. Her efforts to harden her wrists and ankles are more successful, alleviating much of the pain from the cords. Next she tries gradually increasing the size of one of her wrists, to see if she can widen the cords with gradual pressure. The cords slide to match whatever she does, but they also shrink if she does. Rapidly running out of options, she takes a closer look at the cell for anything she might be able to use, but the cell is barren. Unable to think of anything else to try, she begins working on hardening all of her skin, all the while cursing her desire to have another vision. Waiting for the others to wake up in the sweat lodge may have been boring, but it was far better than her current situation.

After 15 minutes or so, Ehawee hears people approaching. There is a noise at the door, and then it opens. A tall white man enters with jet black hair, long, in the fashion of her people, but loose. He stops at the edge of the board and looks her over. He smiles. "Annum des," he says, and Ehawee feels control of her form wrenched from her. Painfully, she is returned to herself lying naked against the board. Her body feels numb, sluggish, and she doesn't think she'll be able to shape again very soon. Again, the man looks her over, and she shifts a bit uncomfortably under his gaze, feeling rather exposed and vulnerable.

"Who are you?" the white man asks.

"I am known as Ehawee," she responds, trying to keep her fear out of her voice. "I told this to the men out front. Who are you?"

"I am Lord of this castle and you have trespassed on my lands. Where did you come from?"

Ehawee isn't quite certain what he means by 'castle,' but guesses it must refer to the stone lodge. "I followed the road for some time," she answers. "It led me here. If you do not welcome visitors, why did your people not simply tell me to leave?"

"Because you broke our law by trespassing. And you did not answer where you came from."

Her face reflects her puzzlement. "I came from down the road. I have no name for it. I can show you, if you like."

He looks more than a little cross. "Where did you come from before the road?"

"I was home." Ehawee frowns, unable to think of a way to answer his question that will satisfy him. "We do not name the land the way you do, so I cannot give its name to you."

"Then why have you come here?" He leans closer to her for this answer. It makes her uncomfortable, and she pulls back as much as she is able, which isn't very much.

"Because the road led here. I know not what this place is, and I was curious."

"You lie. If you will not tell me of your own volition, I will wrest the information from you." He draws a slim knife, jagged along one edge.

Ehawee's eyes widen slightly and she shakes her head. "I speak the truth. If I was here to do you harm, would I have walked openly up to your guards?"

"Then tell me why you are here. 'I followed a road' is not an answer."

She sighs. "I did follow the road. I'm not certain you will believe how I came to be on it." She's pretty certain he won't, in fact. How do you tell a person in a vision you're having that everything is just an illusion?

"Start talking woman, or you'll quickly be bleeding," he orders, his irritation obvious.

Ehawee frowns. "Very well. I'm having a vision. That's how I came to be on the road. I felt myself leave my body, the mists parted, and I found myself on the road. Your lodge was the only thing I could see, so I followed the road to it and wound up your prisoner. And that is why I am here."

The man studies her for a moment, then sighs and buries the slender knife in her thigh...

"Deadwood"
Ehawee's Page | Ehawee's Story

All text on this page is © 2001 by Kris Fazzari.

Last modified on April 6, 2001 by Kris Fazzari.