WHERE LEGENDS ROAM

by Lee Murphy

  The miserable bat let out a sickening groan that could have passed for an elephant reaching climax. Cyrena guessed this was a sound of pleasure. Coupled with Norm's coughing hack-laugh, they sounded like two asthmatic pigs.

  Norm stepped back to look the old hag over. "Ruthie, it's sure good to see you!"

  The hag grunted in agreement, and they embraced again.

  Cyrena shook her head and went inside the lodge.

  ***

  When Kodiak and Ben got back to the lodge, there was a message from Mildred Hunnicut asking one of them to call.

  "Mrs. Hunnicut, this is George Kodiak."

  "Mr. Kodiak, I'm afraid I lied to you earlier. It was a Sasquatch."

  "I see. May I ask what brought on this sudden change of heart?"

  There was a long pause before she answered, "I was afraid people would think I was crazy. An old lady living alone... Anyway, after hearing about what happened at that trailer park, I just got scared."

  "You were adamant it was a bear. If anything, you seemed more frightened of us..." Then it dawned on him. "Mrs. Hunnicut, is somebody there with you?"

  Montagna took the phone from her. "I suppose you think it was real funny leaving me behind, huh, Kodiak? Get everyone together and get all the gear over here before sundown. We're going after this one."

  Kodiak flushed with anger. He hissed into the phone, "What did you do?"

  "You're paranoid, Kodiak. Just do what I say. We got work to do." Montagna hung up.

  Kodiak suddenly had a sinking feeling in his stomach as he realized the luck he was certain would elude them may come through after all.

  Deepening The Lines Of Dissension

  They had to take two vehicles for the hour-long trip to Mildred Hunnicut's house, which was located just outside the Queets Valley. There wasn't enough room to fit all the boxes of supplies in Norm's wagon. Kodiak was grateful for that, as he couldn't stand the thought of another ride in Norm's International with that piss smell. He rode with Ben, and Norm followed with Ruth in his wagon.

  Ben asked him, "So, what do you think of that Ruth?"

  "You mean Satan's ex-wife?"

  "Why do you say his ex-wife?"

  "Because even he's not mean enough to put up with her for very long."

  They both laughed.

  "She's definitely a weird one," Kodiak said. "Even Montagna's got some reservations about her."

  This surprised Ben. "No kidding? Maybe I should lay down the law about her coming along on this trip."

  "Ben, you see that knife she carries? I don't think I'd want to be the one to tell her she's got to hit the bricks. Besides, I don't think old Norm's going to sit idly by and let you tell her where to get off."

  "Actually, I wasn't planning to. I was gonna ask you to do it." Ben laughed again.

  "Thanks."

  Ben's laughter trailed off. "He's something, too, isn't he?"

  "Who?"

  "Old Norm."

  "I was under the impression you knew him?"

  Ben shook his head. "Never met him before now. But it doesn't really surprise me that Jamie likes him."

  "Why's that?"

  "Don't get me wrong, Jamie's an all right guy. I never had any problems with him. But I also know better than to screw with him."

  Kodiak hardly knew Ben, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he was about to get a sermon.

  Ben went on. "I can see where Jamie could be bad news if he wanted to be. His being friends with this guy Cocke is one aspect of his personality."

  "How long have you known Jamie Montagna?"

  Ben thought about this as they turned off the 101 to a forest road, with Norm right behind. "Ten years, give or take. He caught my ad in a magazine and joined us on one of our weekend excursions. He was a regular for about five years, then his participation started to dwindle. I hadn't even seen him for four years until yesterday."

  "Do you know what line of work he's in?"

  Ben shook his head. "No. You?"

  "Something to do with the government. State Department, I believe. But I prefer to avoid any unnecessary conversation where he's concerned."

  Ben smiled. "I noticed. I also noticed that he knows you don't like him. He acts like he doesn't get it, but he does. And you can push him too far, you know."

  "I'm not particularly concerned about having my back to him," Kodiak stated.

  "Yeah, I noticed that, too. You see, I've never had any trouble with Jamie, because I don't push his buttons. Now, I know you don't like the way he toadies up to you, because that pushes your buttons. But I'll tell you, George, I hope to God it never comes to blows between you two, because it's gonna be a bad mess for whoever loses."

  "Oh?"

  "In a straight fight it's obvious Jamie would probably end up in an iron lung. But it's not as simple as that, because Jamie's not above fighting dirty."

  Kodiak didn't say anything.

  "I'm good at reading people. I can accurately size somebody up ten minutes after meeting them. That's why I'm able to get along so well with most people, because I can see where to tread softly, and where not to tread at all.

  "I may even be making a big mistake right now by telling you, but after meeting you, I can see you've got a serious mean streak in you."

  Kodiak raised an eyebrow in mock curiosity, but said nothing.

  "It's obviously not something you chose to be born with, and it certainly doesn't make you a bad person. In fact, it's because you're generally a good person that you've gone through a lifetime of hell trying to control it. And of course, the harder you try, the worse it gets."

  Kodiak just continued to look out the window.

  "But I'll tell you this, George. God help anybody stupid enough to think they can cross you and walk away in one piece."

  ***

  There was a private stable fifteen miles northwest of Red Fern where Cyrena and Dave went to rent the horses. They were going to need twelve altogether; seven for the riders, and five more to carry supplies.

  The owner of the stable, Andy Paul, suggested they use llamas as beasts of burden as they are more suited for such work than the horses, especially at higher altitudes. It was also clear that Paul was taken with Cyrena the moment he laid eyes on her. Dave felt an ugly surge of jealousy, but couldn't act on it because he had no business being jealous. After all, Cyrena never paid much attention to him, because he was just a kid in her eyes, and she would never take his romantic overtures seriously. Paul was closer to her own age and was a big, robust Oklahoman who looked like he could whip his weight in wildcats. And he strutted around like he knew it.

  "I understand you folks are plannin' to do some Bigfoot huntin'?" Paul asked with a grin.

  "Word certainly spreads like wildfire around these parts, doesn't it?" Cyrena smiled back at him.

  The big cowboy took off his Stetson and ran his fingers through the thick, curly red hair that covered his head. "Actually, Jim Crichton over at the Ranger Station's a buddy of mine. He told me you folks'd probably be coming my way."

  "We're not looking to kill anything. We just want to see what we can find out there. I hope that won't affect whether or not you'll rent us some horses," she said with natural diplomacy.

  "Little lady, that's none of my business, just so long as my animals are well cared for. Anybody ever mistreats one of my horses, there'll be hell to pay." Paul cast a suspicious eye at Dave, who was walking behind them. At this, Dave decided he hated the stupid cowpoke.

  Paul took them across the lot to a corral where three dozen horses were ensconced. They were beautiful animals; differing hues of gray, black, brown, with two buckskins that stood out among the rest.

  "Where are you folks from, anyhow?"

  "Most of us are from Seattle, but we have a couple out-of-staters riding with us."

  "That so? How many of you altogether?"

  "Seven."

  "Well, it sounds like y'all will be having a pretty good time. I almost wish I was going with you,"
Paul said, and Dave noticed a slight leer to his smile. "You strike me as somebody who knows horses, so I'll just let you peruse the stock and decide for yourself." Paul opened the corral gate and stood aside for Cyrena to enter, enjoying the view from behind, Dave noticed.

  Cyrena moved casually among the horses. She had a genuine affection for them, and it showed in the way she touched and patted them, the way she spoke to them, holding one still to look at its teeth. She knelt down and checked the shoeing on another and checked its hooves for thrush. She looked them over for swayback and saddle sores. When she came across one she really liked, she made a careful examination of its legs to see if they were spavined, or had bowed tendons. All the horses were in excellent condition.

  She didn't know nearly as much about llamas as she did horses, but felt sure they were probably in just as good a shape. She turned back to Andy Paul and said, "I believe we can do business."

  Paul took Cyrena to his office to finalize the deal, and Dave was told to go with one of Paul's assistants to help get the animals ready.

  As he went through the motions of handing saddles to the assistant, all Dave could think about was what they were going to do to Cyrena once they got her in the woods. It was different now than when Norm was talking to him in the tavern. When he and Cyrena came here from the lodge she talked to and treated him as an equal, as somebody she actually cared about and was interested in. Not just as Dave, the kid who was good for lugging baggage through the woods while everyone else hung out together. Of course, he always liked her looks. That was nothing new. But as they talked and he got to know her as a person, he liked her and felt a pang of dirty guilt for all the times he masturbated, thinking about her nude body pressed up against his in a hot shower, both of them slick and shiny with soap suds.

  The assistant asked Dave for a bridle and Dave gave it to him, clearing his throat, then he looked back toward the office. Cyrena really was a nice person. She had even asked him about his hobby of model boat building, asking many pertinent questions that proved she was paying attention, even recalling specific details he had mentioned earlier. She even told him that she might go to one of the regattas that he entered.

  Something else that surprised him about her was that she collected reptiles. She had three snakes-- two pythons and a boa constrictor-- and several pet lizards, including her favorite, an iguana. She was unlike any of the girls he had ever known, and this turned him on in ways his filthy thoughts couldn't.

  The office door opened, and Cyrena came out followed by the idiot Paul. They were laughing about something, but she looked at Dave and rolled her eyes.

  Paul said, "Everything ready?"

  Dave and the assistant finished loading the horses and llamas onto two long trailers for the drive to Mildred Hunnicut's place. Paul escorted Cyrena to the first truck where they both got in, and Dave rode in the second truck with the assistant.

  They took Interstate 112 to the 101 following the outer perimeter of Olympic National Forest.

  About twenty minutes into the drive, Paul was looking out at the forest and said, "You know, that's a shame. Truly, a rotten shame."

  "What do you mean?" Cyrena asked with some trepidation. She thought Andy Paul was nice enough, but he came on a little too obvious, like some of the boors she knew back in Seattle who were always hitting on her at work.

  "Well, you can't tell it now. But not so many years ago this place was full of Douglas firs nine and ten feet across. All cut down and shipped to the mills. Many of them over a thousand years old. They got them in the park, too, where it's supposed to be against the law to cut them down."

  Cyrena looked at the surrounding woods, which looked very much like untouched virgin forest. "How could they log the park if it was illegal?"

  "They were what was called 'danger trees'. For whatever reason the bureaucrats could dream up, certain trees were sold off because they constituted some kind of 'threat to public safety', I guess."

  The Olympic Mountains were the last large wilderness area to be explored in the continental United States. The Olympic National Monument was first established to be a wildlife refuge for the endangered Olympic Elk, which had been indiscriminately slaughtered nearly to the point of extinction by 1903.

  The elk filled the most important ecological niche, as far as these lands were concerned. Where they dwelled in large numbers the forest remained free of an over abundance of undergrowth, wide open with panoramic vistas in all directions.

  "As the elk became sparse," Andy Paul explained to Cyrena, "the undergrowth would take over completely. Why, hell, when the elk were almost gone, the Ozette Forest was virtually impenetrable, and remains just like that to this day.

  "Of course, as the largest game animal in the United States, the elk were irresistible prey for hunters who took only those parts considered worthy of trophy status, leaving the rest of the bodies to decay throughout the forests."

  ***

  Ben pulled his jeep into Mildred's driveway, and Norm brought his wagon up behind it. Montagna heard them from inside the house and came out carrying a cup of coffee. "Norm." He walked over to Ruth's side of the wagon and helped her out, as she was only capable of clipped, arthritic movement.

  Kodiak looked at the house and saw one of the curtains being pulled closed. He felt guilty for their intrusion into Mildred's life, and he hoped there would be some way he could make amends. But he doubted it.

  Ben got out of the jeep and said, "Think we should start off-loading some of this stuff?"

  "We might as well wait till Cyrena gets here with the horses."

  Montagna came over to them and stood on Kodiak's side of the jeep. "I see you brought everything. Good. I don't want to make any more of a commotion than is absolutely necessary, just in case our friend comes back tonight. And there's a good chance he will."

  Ben decided to play dumb. "So it really was a Sasquatch she saw?"

  "It sure as hell was."

  "How'd you get her to fess up?" Ben asked Montagna.

  "It took a little sweet-talking, but she ultimately succumbed to my natural charisma. Listen, it might be a good idea for somebody to wait up the road for Cyrena and Dave so we can stash the horses someplace away from here."

  Kodiak volunteered for this, and Montagna studied him for some indication of an ulterior motive. "All right. Then when you're finished you can come back here, and we'll plan our strategy for the capture."

  "Yavol." Kodiak clicked his boot heels together then turned and headed up the road.

  Montagna took Norm, Ben, and Ruth inside the house, which was totally dark except for the kitchen. Mildred came into the dining room and looked at them.

  "Mama, I got some people I want you to meet. You already know Ben, and Kodiak's gone up the road to wait for the others. This here is Norm Cocke, and Ruth Trelane."

  Norm laughed. "Mama? Well, I am pleased to meet you. I just hope you fixed us something to eat, because I'm good and hungry." Norm laughed so hard he forced up a lung oyster.

  Ruth was back in the living room looking over a large standing cabinet made of teakwood and glass that was filled with ceramic knick-knacks. She ignored everyone else.

  Mildred said nothing and went back into the kitchen.

  Norm asked, "What's her problem?"

  Montagna shrugged. "Who knows. She's got some cold cuts and stuff in the fridge we can eat later."

  Half an hour after Kodiak and the others got to Mildred's house, Andy Paul's truck came to the place where Kodiak was waiting beside a granite boulder that stood fifteen feet on end. Cyrena thought it actually resembled him, and wished she could have gotten a picture of him leaning against it.

  Paul pulled to the side of the road, and Kodiak came over to them as Dave and Paul's assistant started off-loading the animals from the trailers.

  Cyrena made the introductions. "George Kodiak, Andy Paul."

  The two men shook hands, but Paul seemed a little stand-offish.

  Kodiak said, "We won't b
e taking the horses back to the house. There's a clearing in the woods a little farther back where we can keep them until we set out."

  With the animals off-loaded, Dave walked over. He felt bad enough about Cyrena having to ride out here with that jackass, Cowpie Paul, but when he saw Kodiak, his heart sank. Especially when he saw the way Cyrena's face had brightened being near him.

  Kodiak nodded at Dave. "How're you doing, Dave?"

  Dave just grunted and looked away.

  Cyrena said, "I picked out a horse for you. It's the gray one with the black rump."

  Kodiak looked at the seven horses. "Is there supposed to be some correlation between me and a horse's ass?"

  Andy Paul looked at Cyrena with admiring eyes. "Now, y'all be careful. I don't much believe in Bigfoot myself, but there are plenty of other things in them woods that can give you trouble."

  She patted his gloved hand reassuringly. "We'll be fine. And we'll get your animals back to you in a couple weeks."

  "Look forward to it." Paul then turned to Dave. "You keep an eye out for this little gal, son. Make sure she don't get hurt."

  Dave nodded and said, "I'll do that." But he was thinking, I'm not your son, and she's not your wife, you sheep-sucking, cowpoke retard.

  Paul smiled. "That a boy." He tipped his hat to Kodiak without making eye contact. "Mr. Kodiak." Paul and his assistant got in their trucks and went back home.

  Kodiak untied his horse from the others in line, climbed onto the saddle and rode over to Cyrena, as she mounted a buckskin gelding. "Shall we?" He gestured toward the woods with his hand.

  She smiled. "After you."

  Dave followed on a brown mare, leading the llamas.

  Kodiak led them through the woods, up a steep hill circumventing Mildred's house and came to a grassy clearing, where he stretched a steel cable between two pine trees. The cable was used so the llamas could not chew through it and escape. Cyrena and Dave dismounted their horses and the three of them went to work chaining the twelve animals to the cable, leaving them enough chain to eat the grass.