The Black Squirrel: Chapter fourteen
The story so far: Mac’s arrows have struck down the giant squirrels, but the battle is not over, for the earth shakes as an even more terrible enemy approaches.
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Chapter FOURTEEN The worst one
As the ground shook beneath them, Mac looked up. At the edge of the clearing, a huge old maple shook. Then something struck it from behind. The maple tree was hurled to the ground, uprooted as if by a great wind.
But what stood there before them was not the wind. It was the Kiwahkwe. As it glared down at them, Wesu leaped from the bulldozer onto the back of the goshawk. Keeyii flapped up, leaving Mac behind on the ground.
“Wesu!” Mac shouted. “Don’t leave me now!”
“Shoot for the heart!” Wesu called down to him as he rose higher and higher. “And keep shooting!” Then the hawk flapped its wings once, twice, and they were into the forest and out of sight.
Mac felt angry and deserted as he turned back toward the Kiwahkwe. It was staring straight at him from across the clearing. Its red piercing eyes knew that he was its main enemy, the one who had destroyed its black allies. Mac raised the bow. How could one tiny arrow stop this monster? But he drew back the bowstring, feeling Striker throb in his hand as if the bow had a heartbeat of its own. Then he let the arrow go.
As it sped from the twang of the bowstring, a strange thing happened to the arrow. It grew larger and larger until it was the size it had been before Wesu shrank them down. Not only that, the arrowhead changed color. It went from shiny black to crimson, glowing red as molten lava.
Then it struck the Kiwahkwe, piercing its chest. A puff of white steam shot from the monster’s open mouth. Its knees buckled. But it did not fall. Instead, it grabbed the arrow shaft protruding from its furry chest. Pulling it free with a growl, it held the arrow before it, broke it in half, and hurled it aside. The broken arrow fell to the earth and did not return to Mac. Glaring, the Kiwahkwe took another step toward him.
Its eyes, Mac thought. For the eyes of the Kiwahkwe had changed. They were no longer that strange red color. They had become more like the eyes of a human being. Why do those eyes look familiar to me? Mac asked himself. Where have I seen those eyes before? But the creature’s eyes were still filled with greed and anger. The clawed fingers of the monster still reached out in his direction, ready to tear him apart.
Mac fired his second arrow. Like the first, it grew and glowed. It struck the creature in the same spot. This time the Kiwahkwe staggered back a step as a larger cloud of steam came from its mouth. But, just as before, it tore the arrow from its chest, broke it, hurled it aside, and returned to the attack.
Nothing is going to stop it, Mac thought. For some reason, though, he did not think of running away. Even if the creature killed him, he had to do this. He had to do it for the forest, for his family. The bow throbbed in his hands, the bowstring sang its twanging song, and the third burning arrow flew straight to the mark.
This time was different. The Kiwahkwe seemed to grow smaller as the steam burst from its mouth. It fell to its knees, its fingers clawing into the earth.
It’s going to fall, Mac thought. It won’t get up this time.
But it did. The Kiwahkwe rose to its feet, pulling something up from beneath the soil. It was a huge flat stone. It held the flat stone up like a shield to protect its heart. There was a terrible smile on its face. Then it opened its mouth.
It’s going to scream, Mac thought. I’m dead.
Just then a hail of stones struck the monster’s head. The little ones, Wesu’s people. Mac had forgotten about them. More stones flew, but they bothered the creature no more than a cloud of gnats. It held up one hand to protect its human eyes, eyes that were more confused now but still deadly with anger. The flat stone still protected its chest. Its mouth was open, ready to let go the terrible scream that would kill all who heard it.
A winged shape swooped low over Mac’s head and he heard the battle cry of a goshawk.
“KEEEYIIIII!”
The big gray hawk dug its claws into the Kiwahkwe’s right arm. Its wings beat at the monster’s face as a small figure leaped from the bird’s back onto the creature’s shoulder. Wesu! He held in his arms a thick forked stick as large as he was. With one quick motion, he shoved the stick into the Kiwahkwe’s open mouth, spreading it open and stopping its scream.
The Kiwahkwe swung its right arm, hurling the big hawk hard onto the earth with a sickening thud. The monster dropped the stone as it grabbed Wesu from its shoulder and squeezed. But just before Wesu’s eyes closed, he was able to call out three words.
“Mac!” Wesu shouted in a strangled voice that ended in a groan as Mac heard bones breaking, “Shoot now!”
With tears in his eyes, Mac fired his final arrow.
NEXT WEEK: The monster’s heart
Glossary and Pronunciation of Abenaki Words:
Kiwahkwe (key-wah-KWAY): Cannibal monster whose scream can kill