Wampus Cat - The rest of the story

Picture is 9" x 12" color pencil   

Original will be for sale at TFF 2016

If you should read the following story, forgive the format, it translated weird.

Critiques and comments always welcome. It's how I learn.

    The legend of the Wampus Cat is a story of American/Native American legend that has been told around campfires for generations and now has many versions that are told in many US states. The most common version goes like this:

The wife of one of the hunters of the village became resentful that the women were forbidden to attend the council fires held on occasion, deep in the forest. It was rumored that the medicine man would tell sacred stories and work his magics at these times and that women were deemed unworthy to hear and see such things. So one night, she followed them and hid in the woods just beyond the light of the fire. To help hide her form, she had thought it a good idea to bring along a cougar skin to drape over her. But somehow she was discovered and the furious medicine man, in order to punish her, cast a spell that caused the cougar hide to come alive and bind itself to the woman's own skin, thus turning her into a half human, half cat, monster.  She went running into the woods screaming and howling and was never seen by those of the village again. But others claim to have heard her screams, and on rare occasion, have encountered her and barely escaped with their lives. Encounters with her are still being reported.
    
    My cousin recently recounted to me a possible encounter with the poor creature early one foggy morning just last January on her farm. She heard an unearthly screaming coming from the woods behind her house and she listened as it progressed, staying just out of visual range, out into her pasture, then finally off into the distance.

Wampus Cat—The Rest of the Story

   Talks-to-Animals was frightened, perhaps truly so for the first time in her life. She knew she had violated a great taboo when she followed her husband and the rest of the village's men into the forest to spy on them as they sat around the Medicine Man, Two Bears" council fire to listened to him tell sacred stories and perform magics. She had heard rumors of what went on at these meetings but resented that he women of the village were deemed unworthy to attend. So she had decided to find out for herself.
She had always felt at home in the woods and could track as well as the best of the men, so she waited a bit before she followed that evening. But just as she was about to leave, she thought it might be a good idea to use a cougar pelt to help hide her form as she watched the men from a distance. 

So there she stood at the edge of the firelight for all to see, having been called out from her hiding place, cougar pelt still draper about her.
She had watched for a time and thought all would be well but she had not known that the brother-wolves would also be present and that they, who possess senses far greater than their human-brothers, would discover her and tell Two Bears.
    Talks-to-Animals, “Bird” to her husband and family, knew she was in grave peril and didn’t know what to expect, and seeing that the medicine man was angry beyond reckoning, she feared the worst. But what came next was beyond anything she could have imagined. 
Two Bears began chanting and all human eyes turned toward him, while the brother-wolves, sensing that something terrible was brewing, disappeared back into the forest. Bird could not understand his words and perhaps none else there could either, but they held power just the same for the fire that had burned sedately but a moment before, roared to life and now towered above all present. It took on a life of its own, or many lives, for within the dancing flames, creatures began appearing, and they darted here and there in dances of their own. Then just as the medicine mans chant reached a fever pitch, a creature, singled out of the many, leapt forth from its fiery confines, growing to full size before it hit the ground running, then bound straight for Bird.
    Bird recognized the beast as the fiery incarnation of that which she had donned in hopes of concealment, a cougar. The creature sprang just before it reached her and she closed her eyes and braced for the impact which she expected would end her life. And there *was* contact but it was light, feeling more like a warm gust of wind. There was then a brief feeling of heat that spread throughout her body but that too faded quickly. She opened her eyes once again, thinking that the whatever the medicine man had conjured had run its course. and indeed, the camp fire had returned to its normal state. 
All eyes were now turned once more to her with only one pair knowing what was about to come. And then she felt….something. There was a sensation of movement, at first on her back, then on her arms. She looked down at them and on one arm where her hand had been slipped into the recess of the paw, the hide seemed to be tightening about it and the loose skin that had been hanging limp, was now slowly wrapping itself around her wrist with the seam sealing as it progressed up her arm. She tried to pull her hand free but it was to tight and where the hide had touched her skin elsewhere, it was as though it was adhered by a sticky paste. 
    She felt no discomfort, just the odd feeling of movement across her skin but she began to panic. Her left hand was still free but the hide on that arm had already wrapped itself completely around the upper part and was progressing downward. Not wanting that hand to be encased like the right, she grasped the dangling left paw as best she could, a feat made difficult by what was now a travesty of a right hand. She then pulled back hard to peal the hide away from her skin.
She screamed! Pain she never thought possible blazed from where the hide had pulled away from her arm and she gasped at the sight of what she had wrought, for it was as though she had pealed back her own skin, revealing the muscle and tissue beneath. There was blood though it didn’t flow freely but instead, like it had a life of its own, the blood extended as tendrils and grasped the detached skin and pulled it back down. Then with renewed vigor the hide continued is insidious progression. She released her grip on the hide as the realization of what was really happening dawned on her. The hide, the cougar skin, was not just trying to encase her but was somehow becoming part of her and she instantly became aware of what had been happening over the rest of her body as she was worrying about just her arms. The pain had subsided as soon as she stopped fighting the pelt though now she had another problem, for the hide that had been draped over her head had also been attaching itself as it could and was now starting to creep down over her face. She feebly pulled and clawed at it but it too caused pain and bled if pealed back. She was momentarily blinded as the face of the cougar slid down over her own but the eye openings quickly aligned with her human eyes followed by the nose and mouth. She felt her face with both hands, paws now as the process had quickened and her left arm too had fully succumb. What she felt made her sick and she screamed once more but out of horror for the hide there, like on her hands was horribly wrinkled and misshapen for there was no proper muscle and bone structure to support the cougar form. 
    Another scream, then she looked away from herself and back to those about the fire ring. Some of the men were still seated while others had risen to their feet. And all wore the expression of one who had suddenly come upon a hideous monster! And amongst the horror filled faces was her husband’s.
Then her gaze fell upon the one who had done this to her as he stepped clear of the ring of men and approached her.
“Why?” she screamed, “why have you done this? I’m…I’m a monster! Why didn’t you just kill me?”
The medicine man continued his approach and said nothing, but instead, reached for one of the objects tied to his waistband. Then he withdrew from a sheath there, a long obsidian knife and brandished it in a threatening manner then began chanting more of the mysterious words.
Thinking that he was going to kill her like she had just implied he should have done, she had second thoughts about that statement and turned and darted into the woods before he could react, and disappeared into the the darkness she hoped would conceal her.
 The cougar pelt and the magic that animated it was still at work trying to engulf her but the buckskin dress she wore was inhibiting its progress. It was managing to attach itself here and there but as she ran blindly through the forest to get away from any possible pursuit, the hide would occasionally catch on branches and peal back, and each time she would cry out in pain but she kept up the pace in case she was being pursued.
As before, the damaging of the bonds between the animal and human flesh seemed to hasten the the magic’s work causing it to be more aggressive. The buckskins she wore started to fall away in shards as if they were a foreign object being rejected by the body. And perhaps that was what was happening, but to Bird, everything had become a nightmare of horror and pain and she sensed little else. “Get away!” was all that mattered.

Bird could not recall how long or how far she had run, but her strength finally gave out and she fell panting at the edge of a wide, shallow stream. Thirst! The thought was an imperative, animalistic, her body required water so drink where you can, and she did. She plunged her face into the stream snd took in the cool liquid as best she could through her deformed mouth. 
Finally sated, she sat back and let her heart rate return to normal. it was late, well after midnight and the moon that was two days from full was high in the cloudless sky. Bird looked around for any sign of movement but the moonlight that dappled the forrest floor revealed nothing. All was still and quiet and before her, the moon reflected off the slow moving water with little distortion.  She was doubly illuminated by this and though she dreaded what she would see, she began to examine herself once more. Her hands were much as they were, paw-hands with claws that connected feebly to  her own muscle and tendons. Useless! The cougar skin had finally completed its task and had fully encompassed her body but was an ill fit with the hide rather tight in a few places but wrinkled and sagging in others. She then notice the tail that lay motionless beside her. It was lifeless, nearly flat for it contained neither muscle or bone to animate it and she felt a pang of sorrow for the poor creature for it was the one thing she thought as a child, might have been fun to have.  She reached out to touch it, stroke it as if it had a life separate from herself, and on touching it she actually felt it. Through her finger pads yes but also through the senses of the tail itself, it was alive too and very much a part of her. 
Bird knew that she was naked but that mattered little to her now for much of anything intimate was furred over, and besides, any human who had the misfortune of viewing her would be too frightened to gaze upon her long.
Then she noticed that she still had some of her jewelry which she thought very odd since her dress and most other foreign objects had been cast off by whatever magic had animated the cougar pelt. And on examining what she still had, she discovered that none was left of that given to her by her husband and that what she did have was *all* gifted to her by the village medicine woman.
Over the years, she had given Bird an occasional trinket or bead as a reward, or on some special occasion a more elaborate piece of jewelry, all of which she was told, was made of some part of a cougar, bone, hide, sinew, for that was to be her animal totem.
She never quite understood it but it started when she was very young and had something to do with a dream she had. But it wasn’t a dream! She knew what had happened was real but afterward, her mother had taken her to see Raven the Medicine Woman and tell her about what had happened. After that, Raven and her mother both, told her that she had dreamt the incident and that she should not mention it to anyone else. Ever. 
But the Medicine Woman *did* talk to *her* about it, and other things as well. Raven taught her about cougars and about animal totems. She spoke of spirit guides but never in the same conversation as cougars or her “dream”. But Bird suspected that they were very much related, and now, here, after all that had transpired this night, the memory of what happened so long ago came back to her as if it were yesterday…

Bird and her mother (“Bird” was a pet name as she had not yet received a proper name, but Bird stuck) had gone to the nearby stream to wash cloths and get water to bring back to the village, and after finding that the walnuts had begun to fall, bird was allowed to go off on her own to gather a few. But it didn’t take long for her search to take her away from the stream bank and into the forest. A light animal track guided her and enough walnuts were found along it to keep her traveling down the path. The path though soon opened up into a glade that was alive with the last butterflies of the year flitting between the late blooming wildflowers flowers there, and thus the search for walnuts was instantly forgotten. It was a beautiful place and she ran to the center of the clearing to run about with the many multicolored wings and petals. She soon tired of it though as the butterflies finally thinned out, flying higher to get out of harms way.
She thought it best then to head back before her mother began to worry but looking around, she could not recognize the place where she had entered the glade and the trail back to the stream. She thought to call out for help but she was more afraid of getting in trouble than being lost, so she just stood there for a time quietly and watched and listened.
Movement. She was sure but what? There was a flash of white as the sun shown briefly on something. Then again, closer. Then it stepped out into the sunlit glade. The creature was beautiful! She had never seen anything like it, though she was young and of course had not seen most things. And she was also young enough to have not yet learned what animals of the forest to fear. 
 The cougar remained motionless for a moment, taking stock of the young human that stood before it, then took a tentative step toward the youngling.
 Bird was in awe! She had never seen such a beautiful creature. Made up of a perfect blend of white and cream, tan and gold, and a few areas highlighted by browns and black, the thick fur coat glistened in the sun. She wished to touch it, to run her fingers through the magnificent pelt and she imagined its softness. As her eyes met the cougar’s, the creature took a step toward her and she, without fear, took a step toward it. Then another. They both stopped but a small child’s arm length away from one another. They continued to pear onto each others eyes as if trying to see something more, something deeper. Then with a slow but deliberate motion, Bird reached out and placed her hand on the great cat’s cheek. The cougar in turn, half closed its eyes and leaned onto the touch.
Bird never could describe the feeling that she had then nor did she ever really try and relate it to anyone else. Joy overwhelming, yes. But there was something more, there was touch, physical, but there was also a coming together of mind and spirit that was much more powerful. The two beings there were now ready to become even closer…then the screaming started.

Birds mother had seen where she had entered the forest and was not immediately worried, but after a time and bird had not yet returned, she though she’d better go retrieve her daughter. She saw the trail which bird must have followed and proceeded along it. It really wasn’t very far to the glade, perhaps less than three hundred long paces and she reached it quickly. But to her,  as she stepped into the clearing, she thought she may have been too late!
She saw them as her daughter and the cat were still approaching one another but she froze, not knowing what to do. Then she saw her daughter reach out and touch the beast, and feared that would be what it took to cause the cat to lash out and take her daughters life. So quickly gathering a few rocks and sticks that littered the edges of the glade, she ran toward the pair screaming and began throwing the objects she had gathered.
The cat, attention finally wrenched from her daughter, looked over at her as she continued her approach and finally, with a distinct reluctance, turned and retreated back into the woods.
She then ran to her daughter and embraced her but was ignored, Bird’s attention being still on where the cougar had re-entered the forest. Then her daughter began calling out to the cat.
“No, Don’t go!” she yelled, “Come back! Please come back!” and the tears then started to well up.
“Why did you scare her away?” Bird demanded of her mother. “She was my friend!” Then another desperate call to the cougar, “Come back!” and then once more but with dying hope and volume, “Come back.”
Birds mother didn’t understand her daughters reaction and scooped her up and quickly started back toward the stream, all the while watching around her for signs of the cougar following. Bird tried to tell her mother what had happened between her and the cat as they traveled and her mother did listen but said nothing.
 Her mother finally begin to believe that there really was something more to what she had witnessed and had a suspicion, so she changer her mind about what she was going to do and say to others about what had transpired. And instead of going straight to their home lodge, as she first planned, she took bird to the medicine woman instead. And from that point, Birds life would be changed forever.

When the memory had run its course, Bird smiled inwardly and thought for a moment that it might be a wonderful thing to appear as part cougar, and she pictured the magnificent feline face that was still so vivid in her mind, as her own.
glints of moonlight reflecting off the stream’s surface drew her attention once more and she though to venture a look to see  how she truly appeared. So leaning out over the edge, she peered into the face of what she had become.
But it was not the thing of beauty she had, beyond hope, envisioned, but that which she most dreaded that greeted her. It was the face of a monster, something barely recognizable as a cat, let alone a human woman. The muzzle was wrinkled and sunken in and the cat’s ears were situated on the side of her head over where her human ears should have been and were crooked. Hair, her human hair, some of it at least, had managed to poke through here and there and formed a sparse and scraggly mane which surprisingly still retained some of her braids and cougar bone beads. And her eyes, though they still remained human, were deeply sunken in and bloodshot.
She became sick at the sight and pulled away from the water’s edge, but the vision stayed in her mind. She retched, heaving up much of the water she had just consumed and continued till there was nothing left. She then retook her feet unsteadily and with thoughts filled with nothing but horror, stumbled away from the stream and headed aimlessly into the forest with no goal left in mind.
She still was weak though and as she entered a moonlit glade from the game track that had been guiding her, she collapsed once again, mentally exhausted as well as physically.
She wept for a time but finally came to a firm resolve and began a prayer to the spirits. She did not ask those of whom that were willing to listening to a wretch like herself, to be changed back to what she once was, for she deemed that a lost hope, but instead, she prayed for death, quick and clean.
She sat there in silence for a time, waiting to see if her prayers would be answered, when finally she heard something, a mewling sound… or was it a voice? Perhaps it was both. Bird looked up and saw a light approaching from the heavy woods before her but its source remained a mystery till it reached the boundary of the glade and stepped out into the open.
Bird froze and beheld the creature and was filled with emotions she couldn’t describe. Not creature, cougar! And not just a cougar but somehow she knew that it was the same one that she had met so many seasons before and had lived in her dreams since. It was exactly as she remembered, with the glistening pelt and indescribably beautiful face and eyes of unfathomable depths. But this time it was night and though the moon shown brightly from above and illuminated her surroundings in a ghostly light, the cougar, *her* cougar, was lit as though by the light of the noonday sun and she knew her plea had been answered.
Bird tried to take to her feet so she could once again touch the beautiful face that remained several paces away but fell to her knees once more. Then the cougar spoke.
“Stay where you are young one and I will come to you.” it said  in a rumbling purr that was also gentile by intonation.
Bird would have responded incredulously to the talking cat just a half day earlier but after what had transpired that night, nothing now was beyond her belief. So she responded to the words of the great cat. “My prayer has been answered then?” She questioned. Then smiled. “I find that fitting, for of all the creatures who may have been chosen to do the deed, I am grateful that it be you. But before you complete your task, may we speak together for a time?”
“Of course we may speak young one, we’re doing so now aren’t we? And of what task do you refer that you found reason enough to pray to the spirits?” The cougar said this in feigned ignorance since she had indeed heard Bird’s prayer.
“To kill me of course!” Bird replied. “Why else would you have been sent? Look at me, I’m a monster! I don’t want to live like this, I can’t live like this! so what choice do I have besides death? Unless you have the power to change me back to what I once was?”
The cat had approached to within two or three paces but then veered off and circled the kneeling women slowly. It said nothing while it studied the aspects of Birds condition and only on completion of the circuit did it speak again. “I see no monster dear one, just the same shining spirit that I saw when we first met. And choice? There is always more than one choice. You just have to be shown what they are. You also infer that I have been sent to do this fell deed of which you speak. But I assure you that I have never been *sent* to you by anyone save fate, for when we first met, it was *I* who chose to do so because I saw something in you that was special, something that set you apart from most other humans. A destiny, though its nature is still unclear to me. And I could not have been sent now for I have never ventured far from your side since the time of that first meeting here. And to answer your last question, no, I have not the power to return you to what you once were.”
Bird was overwhelmed by what was just revealed. She had hoped for some simple answers but now had more questions than before, But where to start? Then she thought to ask, “What is you name? What may I call you?”
The great cat thought about this for a moment then uttered a long,complex series of resonating purrs and growls that rose and fell in pitch. Then she spoke, “Or you may call me Song, the meaning is much the same.”
Despite all that had happened that night, Bird could not contain the chuckle at hearing the choice she was given. Then said, “I think Song would be best, it’s…shorter.”
Song said nothing but smiled inwardly.
“Song, are you my spirit guide?” Bird continued. It was a question that she carried with her since the beginning, for in her tribe, it was taught that animal spirit guides only bonded to men and that women could only *choose* an animal totem to represent them. But Raven, who had taken her under her under her wing so to speak, had taught her in a veiled manner, that that might not be the truth of things.
“Yes dear one, Bird,” Song added, “I am. It is true that men are chosen far more often than women but men are vain creatures and consider themselves superior to all others, including women. But of course you must realize this for it’s what led you to what has transpired this night.”
“And it made me angry, yes,” agreed Bird, “but not all men are like that. My husband, he treated me as an equal. I…I’ll miss him.”
“You mentioned choices Song. Please tell me what they are, for remaining as I am is not one of them!” Then she added. “And did I hear you and understand right that this,” and she motioned with her arm to the surrounding glade, “is the same place where we first met?”
“The very same where I discovered a brave little girl chasing butterflies so many seasons ago. This is a special place Bird, sacred, but to you and I only. It is a crossroad, a place where the direction of ones life can take a new direction. All humans have such a place but few ever manage to find it. The direction you chose then has led you back to here and now. It’s up to you to choose where you go from here.”
“You mentioned that you could show me my choices, Song.” Replied Bird. “Remaining as I am isn’t one of them, so please show me the others.”
Being ready for this question, Song quickly replied with a question of her own. “What choices do you *think* you have right now young one ? What possibilities are there?”
Thinking that she would receive clear choices from Song but instead getting a question in return set bird back. But then she thought for a time and finally responded. “I could go back to the village and ask for forgiveness in hopes that I may be transformed back to my human self. I then would also be able to return to my beloved husband…if he would take me back.”
“*Does* the Medicine Man have the power to undo what he has done?” Bird added.
Then Song,“To your question, yes, he can return you to your human form…*if* he chooses to do so. But do you really *want* to go back? It would be a humbling experience and the Medicine Man would claim victory over an upstart female. But you would still have have your husband. Is this what you would choose?”
Bird thought this over but her answer came quickly. “No, That is *not* what I would choose for I could not bear to live in the company of the one who did this to me and especially after what I have learned tonight.”
“Even if it means loosing you husband?” Questioned Song.
“Yes, even then.” Answered Bird.
“Then you still have no choice.” Said Song. “Can you think of any other path you may take?”
Bird took much longer to ponder the question this time. She would rather die than remain as she is now and she now knew she would never be happy again if she returned to her people. So what other choices did she have? She could think of nothing so she let her mind wander for a time. It drifted back to when this nightmare started and the campfire and Medicine Man. She relived her flight through the forest and the pain. Then in her memory, she found herself kneeling at the edge of the stream where she had fallen exhausted. Then she remembered what was going through her mind just before she looked at her reflection in the glassy water. For a moment she had pictured herself not as the malformed creature she is now but complete, whole, perfectly formed as was the great cat that now sat before her. That was what she wished if it were possible. She could not fathom the future beyond that point but she didn’t care, it was the path she wished to take regardless. So when she spoke again, she related this vision, this path she wished to take, to Song. She then waited for a reply. And it was some time coming.
Bird watched the great cat ponder just as she had done herself. Song slowly let her head hang lower and her eyes closed while she was deep in thought. A time or two, her head seemed to nod slightly in agreement to some mental decision. Then finally with a distinct nod, she lifted her head and opened her eyes.
“It can be done.” She said but in a subdued tone. “So if this is what you really want and you are willing to follow a path that even I find foggy, let us together, take that path here and now!”
Bird didn’t know quite what to think for she really didn’t believe that what she had asked was possible. So she began by asking, “I thought you said you didn’t have the ability to transform me? So how will you be able to do this?”
Song answered, “I am not going to *transform* you, for that is truly not one of my kinds abilities. But, though it is seldom used, we have the ability heal. So that is what I will do, heal you, make you whole.”
“So if you are ready to take the first step along this new path, simply lay down on your back and relax.”
“Just like that?” responded Bird. “That simple?”
“No, not quite that simple but it’s a starting point.” answered Song.
So bird began to lay down as instructed but a thought struck her and she sat back up. She had not yet touched her spirit guide, her friend, as she had first tried to do when she first saw Song this evening. But instead of the gentile touch on the cheek as she had done seasons ago, Bird wrapped her arms around the seated cougar in a full human hug which Song accepted with pleasure.
Bird finally released the great cat and laid down as instructed and Song took a seat alongside her. Then Song placed a forepaw on birds chest and spoke to her of what was about to happen and warn her of a possible danger. “Bird, I’m a old spirit but like all of my kind, I was created in the spirit realm and had form and substance only there. On Mother Earth, we  at first are as wraiths, form without substance, etherial. We could exist here but could not affect any physical thing, only that which is of spirit. But with age and contact and interaction with those we choose to guide, we slowly acquire earthly substance. As you can see and have felt, I have a substantial form and a body nearly complete in this world and am able to enjoy its physical delights. And along with the ability to feel and affect things in the human world, we also acquire the ability to heal. But when we use this ability, a bit of our substance is used or transmitted to those whom we are healing. Normally there is little noticeable difference in our appearance
after the healing but in your case, what is required is far more extensive than anything I or any others of my kind have ever expended. So when you see me next, I may not appear as I am now.
With this revelation, bird balked and brought her hand-paw up and placed it on Songs foreleg as if to remove it. “No! I can’t let you sacrifice yourself for me!” Protested Bird. “I’m not worth it!”
“You are to me”. Replied Song. “And I have a feeling that whatever comes of this, it will be to the world also. And look at it this way, part of me will be living on in you. *I* will be a part of you.”
Bird thought about this for a moment then nodded and laid her arm back on the ground. “I’m ready.” she said.
Then Song spoke once more before beginning. “One last thing before we start and it may be the most important. There is a danger. “Remember the spirit cougar that leapt from the flame of the council fire? That was the original bearer of the skin you now wear. She was a required part of the spell and needed to reanimate the pelt. She still resides within you and always will. Eventually your souls may begin to meld and become one. But that will take many human lifetimes. In the meantime, beware, for she is of the human world and is a wild thing and will react as would be expected of an animal. But you are of much stronger will, being the body for the skin and will be in command… most times. And you will have to exert control when needed. But there are rare times when you should let go, let loose the beast. Learn to recognize those times.
Bird could only nod, for she was too overwhelmed for words.
“Then we shall begin.” said Song. Then after a moment, she added. “And also be warned, you may not be alone when you wake.”
This was the last thing she heard before she slipped into unconsciousness.


Shadow Eagle, Bird’s husband was as stunned as anyone at what was transpiring at the council fire and no one but the Medicine Man knew what was truly happening. All realized that a powerful magic was at work but non had yet realized to whom the magic was being directed at. Then finally, one of the men who was closest to her, stated that he thought the young woman before them was Talks-to-Animals. And immediately, Shadow Eagle knew it to be true and made his way from the back side of the fire to where the Medicine Man now stood. But it was too late, for Bird had just disappeared into the darkness. “What have you done to my wife?” Yelled Shadow. Then grabbed the magic maker by the shoulders and shook him.  
“How dare you touch me like that!” Responded the Two Bears, then slapped the younger Shadow to the ground. Then he continued. “She is being punished for violating our sacred place   and listening to our sacred stories.”
“And for that you were going to kill her?” Asked Shadow while motioning to the knife he was holding.
“You are mistaken about the punishment Shadow,”replied the Medicine Man, “this knife was needed to halt the spell that was cast, before it went much further than it had. The cougar pelt that she was wearing, the one you killed last year, was set loose upon her to frighten her. It was binding itself to her and would have fully engulfed her, and will, now now that she has run off. If you want her back, you will have to go after her and return her yourself. I may then, in time, return her to what she once was. But I think you’d better take your bow, for you may be dealing with something other than just your wife before long. So you better hurry.
Shadow Eagle was too shaken and angry to reply just then, but he did reluctantly pick up his bow and quiver of arrows and start off into woods after his beloved Bird. But at the edge of the darkness where she had vanished, he stopped and called back to the Medicine Man, “If I can not find her or anything happens to her, I will find something else to hunt with these!” and he rattled the arrows about in the quiver. Then he turned and went in pursuit of the one he loved.
Briefly, he regretted the thinly veiled threat he made there last. But soon shrugged it off because he realized that he really meant it.

For a while, Shadow was able to follow Bird’s trail roughly by sound though it was distant, but eventually all became quiet and he had to halt his pursuit lest he wander too far from her real foot trail and not be able to locate it quickly in the morning. So he hunkered down where he was and tried to get some sleep before sunrise.

Shadow had picked up Birds trail quickly and followed it as fast as he could. He soon found himself at the stream where it was obvious she had stopped for a time but it didn’t look like she had spent the night there. He then followed her trail back into the heavier timber but her trail indicated that she was no longer moving quickly and he felt that he was getting close.

The morning was half over when Shadow stepped into the sun dappled glade and saw her laying near the middle amongst a myriad of wild flowers. Most at first glance would have thought it just a common cougar warming itself in the morning sun but he knew otherwise. But still, he nocked an arrow just in case, then approached cautiously.
Shadow stopped when he was just a few paces away and he could see her in her entirety. This was not the monstrous apparition that had fled from the council fire last night but something akin to a creation of the great spirit. The creature was too perfect not to have been created by a higher power, a blend of human and cat in perfect balance. beautiful beyond words. The Medicine Mans magic had surely been more powerful than even he himself had imagined.
Then shadow paused. Creature? This was no *creature*, this was his wife. His greatest love. He would give his life to protect her. Then he realized he still held the bow at ready.         He knew he could never come to use it on her no matter what she had become or what she might do, so he tossed it and the quiver to the ground then approached her and knelt down by her side.
Bird’s breath was regular and strong and Shadow got the feeling that all was well in body and she was just tired from last nights ordeal. But he wished to get it over with and wake her, so he leaned over her and caressed her cheek while saying her name gently, just as he would do at their home lodge.
Bird responded to this quickly and showed signs of waking. The tip of her tail flicked and she sighed with a deep rumbling purr. Then her eyelids flickered and opened. They weren’t quite the eyes that he remembered but were close, being like her body with aspects of both human and cougar. They were beautiful!
Then they turned black as night as the pupils dilated, just as any feline’s will do when enraged.
The first blow was so swift, he didn’t see it coming and it knocked him back several paces. Luckily his buckskin shirt took most of the damage and the blood that had begun to flow was only from relatively superficial scratches. He recovered quickly and began to retake his feet but she was already in mid leap and he went tumbling back four more paces. He had no time to recover after this second blow before she was on him again. She landed on him straddling his torso and sunk the claws of her left hand into his shoulder to keep him down while she raised her right to finish him off with the next strike. Shadow looked up into the face of his wife and did not see any sign of the peacefully slumbering beauty he had beheld just a moment before.
He knew he was about to die but he refused to fight the one he had sworn to die for, so while he could, he said in a calm steady  voice, “I love you Bird.” Then he closed his eyes and waited for the final blow to land. But it didn’t come. He continued to wait,  then he thought he heard his name, it was no more than a whisper. Then he heard it again, louder, clearer, and he opened his eyes.
“Shadow?” She said once more, “it’s really you! I thought I’d never see you again!”
“And I feared the same for you Bird!” He replied. “I’ve come to bring you home.”
Bird said nothing at first but slowly brought her face to just a fingers span from his, before finally saying, “My love, we need to talk.”


***Epilogue***

Two moons had passed since they had last been to their former village and they really had never expected *to* return. But Bird finally decided that she had to visit Raven one last time before she and Shadow moved on.
It was well after midnight when they reached the edge of the village and all was quiet. Raven’s lodge was located well away from the main cluster of dwellings so she would not be disturbed while conducting her practice, so Bird and Shadow were able to approach the entrance to the lodge unseen. But as they drew near, they saw that the lodge was well lit from within and they feared that someone else besides Raven was present. So Shadow thought he’d better check while Bird stayed out of sight. He approached the door flap and slapped it a couple times and announce his presence though he didn’t mention his name.
Raven replied immediately saying, “It’s about time you two showed up! I’ve had food and drink prepared for over an hour so get in here and make yourselves at home, we’ve a lot to talk about.”
Shadow was caught off guard by this greeting because it was a surprise visit, so Raven must have been expecting someone else. But just as he was about to reply, Raven added, “It’s alright, you can call Bird out of hiding.”

The sky had begun to lighten when the friends decided it best to part ways,…for now. For after speaking with Raven, Bird and Shadow realized that this was still their village and these their people and the deed of one shouldn’t cause them to sever ties with the whole. But their paths now led away from these familiar mountains and woods for their rolls in the world had change from being simple villagers. The pair now followed the trails set by the spirits to where they were needed and could do the most good.
It had been Song who had informed Raven of their coming that evening and it was an amusing tale. Raven had turned away from the fire pit in her lodge momentarily while she prepared to bed down for the evening, then when she faced the dying blaze once again, Song was seated quietly on the opposite side. Raven, who deemed herself above being surprised by anything, let out a shriek that was heard throughout the village. But she recovered her dignity quickly after Song began to speak.
So Song still walked with them of course and helped teach the couple what they needed to know of the world but remained quite enigmatic when it came to answering any questions that pertained to the future.
Just before they stepped out of the lodge, Raven had a thought and let it be known to her friends. “If you two aren’t in too big a rush, in three nights time, Two Bears is going to hold another council fire, the first since ‘that night’ and no doubt speak about it and gloat. Perhaps you two might like to make an appearance there in some manner and set things right and also at the same time, put the fear of the Great Spirit in that old buffalo turd!”
Bird and Shadow looked at each other and smiled but said nothing.
Then Raven continued. “I haven’t done it in years but I’ll be watching from a distance just in case something *does* happen to interrupt their little meeting.”
Another exchange of hugs and then they departed. Smiling. There was no reason that they couldn’t have a little fun on occasion while doing the Great Spirit’s bidding…