Nini screamed, "Run! Go Get Gee!

"No need. I'm here."

Quick as a skinned cat, I sped down inta my cigam place. I mentally reached into my imagination bucket and thought of a super powerful stun gun. Freck chimed in from inside the cabin with a fortified enclosure. Gee did his thing by shockin' the gore covered beast inta submission, then dropped an unbreakable electrified cage over it. It lay there twitchin' on the straw strewn floor of the barn for a bit. Then it suddenly jumped up and wrapped its clawed hands 'round a couple a bars. The resultin' shock knocked it clean off'n its feet. That warn't enough. The beast pulled itself together like a football player gettin' up after a hard hit. With blood in its eye it rushed the cage ta break through. He hit with the force of his whole body. That was a big mistake. The electric current left black scorch marks on its white fur. It dropped down again. The floor's vibrations nearly knocked me over.

Would it try again? We waited and watched. It glared at us with those fiery demon eyes. Those was the eyes of murder, and mayhem. Thank the Gardener for Cigam. It couldn't break through, otherwise we would all be slaughtered like that poor horse.

I took a good look. It was huge. I guessed its height to be 10 foot, maybe more. It was covered top to bottom with white fur like a polar bear. This was no bear though. It had a muzzle more like a wolf with long rows of sharp teeth. It's snout opened wide enough ta swallow a full-grown sheep whole. On either side of its muzzle were tusks like a wild boar. Its fur covered ears were larger than a wolf's and placed at the sides on top of its enormous head. Its powerful chest was as massive as a Caterpillar truck engine. That's not to take anythin' away from its barrel sized arms and boulder hands tipped with five inch claws. The legs were not long but thick like the legs of an elephant. This was a creature built for crushin', and shreddin' its prey, not for chasin' it down. It had ta be cunnin'. Ta succeed it musta laid foolproof traps. Once it pounced and grabbed its victim, it was all over. Abominable Snowman seemed a far better name than Amorak.

Freck changed and joined us in the barn. Nini was doin' her level best to calm her livestock. They had felt it comin'. Now it was here. To them the cage made little difference. As long as they could see it they was scared ta death. Freck made the suggestion to cloak it's cage from the animals. Gee did. He left the front open so's we could keep an eye on the vicious beast, but her animals would not. It helped some.

"Do ya think this is the only one?" Freck asked.

Gee answered, "I think it is a scout. I am sure there are many others waiting to see what happens. They made their first gambit and lost. This will make them more careful, but if they discover a weakness they can exploit, you can be certain a full on attack will come."

"What the hell......!?" Boomed Captain Bobcat Haskins. He was the kind of a man who was used to givin' orders. I doubt if anyone had ever seen him flummoxed. At the first sight of our captive he took a step back, pulled off his pilot cap, and wiped his eyes with his sleeve. "Good Lord, what the hell is that?"

Nini said, "I believe it might be one of the mythical Amorak. Everyone in Greenland has heard about them, but no one that I know of has ever seen one. If it is one Amorak, legends say they hunt in packs, so there will be others near by. We were lucky. We were able to capture it inside an electrified cage. It has made two attempts to escape, but failed as you can see by the scorch marks on its fur."

The captain said, "That's the scariest damn thing I've ever seen and I've been face to face with an angry grizzly. If they hunt in packs, where are the others?"

"Maybe they sent one out as a scout," she said repeating Gee's theory. "The others could be waiting for its return. When it does not come back, just pray the Gardener keeps them from launching a full attack. I suspect though, that they are a cautious group. They have obviously been skulking around for a couple of days scaring the animals to death. Instead of rushing us they sent in just one of their number. That is a frightening indication of higher reasoning capability..

"If I am right," continued Nini, "we can rest reasonably easy tonight. There should not be any more intrusions for a day or two. Still, we have to post an armed guard just in case I am wrong."

Captain Haskins volunteered his crew for guard duty. They were comprised of battle hardened professionals as opposed to Nini's household staff. We all pretty much agreed that this should be kept under wraps until we could devise a plan.

I wondered how he was goin' to tell his crew. I shouldn't have been concerned because I heard the heavy barn door slide open and all his people walked in confidently. They were a little cocksure until they got their first look at our captive. Their resultin' exclamations weren't limited to damns and hells. Their curses was a mix of fear and awe. If'n I didn't want my mouth washed out with soap, I best not repeat it.

The wind had calmed a bit. Nini, Gee, me and Freck left the barn leavin' it in the capable hands of the captain. We proceeded ta trudged back ta the cabin through deeper, newly-formed snow drifts.

Gee didn't mind-speak much just to keep from tippin' the captain off to his real nature. They still thought he was my pet salamander. He mind-spoke on the way back, "You all know that we have to get the creature out of the barn and returned to his pack, otherwise they are sure to come at us in full force. The worrisome part is that we must devise a strategy that not only repels them, but discourages them from ever attempting it again."

I thought so hard about what Gee said my brain ached. It's one thing to return the monster to his pack, but quite another to convince them ta never come back.

I knew Freck was thinkin' on it too 'cuz she said, "This is a freakin' stumper—ain't it? Now that these awful things know that the city of Nuuk exists, what'd keep them away? After all, barned animals are purty easy pickin's. And who knows, they might get a taste of people flesh, and find us ta their likin' too."

"That's a disturbin' thought, ain't it?" The picture I got in my mind of Amorak shreddin', and devourin' an innocent family was almost 'nuff ta bring up my dinner.

"I don't think disturbin' is a strong 'nuff word. Maybe shockin', or alarmin' is more like it, Wishes."

"Freck . . . son of a batch . . ." I was upset, but not 'nuff ta use the real B word. My darn boot sunk thigh high inta a drift. "The dad-blasted snow got in. Now my sock's goin' ta be all soaked. I hate wet socks. Sorry, what was I saying? Oh yeah, didn't Gee tell us that Nuuk suffered an invasion a long time ago? If'n we could find out how the villagers dealt with it, maybe we could do the same thing."

Once inside the cabin, I removed the winter boots and took off my socks. Sure enough they was drenched. There warn't e'nuff time ta go upstairs so I laid the soggy things on the hearth by the fire. Just as we sat down in the comfy overstuffed chairs facin' the friendly flames, Gee and Nini stepped into the room. Gee mind-spoke, "Have you got it all figured out yet?"

Freck shared what she told me, then asked "Does anyone know how they rid the village of them the last time?"

"Excellent question." Nini put her hand on the back of head an rubbed it up and down a couple of times before restin' the palm on her neck. Then she looked up and to the left. I guess this meant she was thinkin' real hard on it. She mind-spoke slowly, "I recall hearing about a Thule wise-woman who kept the verbal history of her Inuit tribe. I will have to ask some of the townspeople about her. I do not know if she is still around."

"In the meantime," Gee offered, "I will check with the Keepers to see what they have on file."

It was late and we was tired. The captain and his crew were guardin' the monster. Gee and Nini were tryin' ta gather more information. There was nothin' more that either Freck or me could do, so we shuffled up the stairs to our bedrooms. If we was needed for anythin' they'd wake us up. Would we continue our journey as planned or stay long enough to work this out? Either way we wouldn't be much good without rest.

▫️▫️▫️

That night I had an odd dream. Freck and I were walkin' together down a long white hall. On both sides were thousands of twinkling lights. It was very pretty. She reached over and took my hand. What? Freck and I weren't hand holdin' friends. That would be yucky. I turned my head to ask why. The Freck holdin' my hand warn't my thirteen year old friend, but a growed up Freck. We passed a mirror. I wasn't me neither. I was growed up too. What could it mean?

▫️▫️▫️

We didn't get to sleep long. Both of us were woken up by a disturbance downstairs. I threw on a robe and slippers and went out into the hall. Freck came out of her room too. It was the real, barely teenaged Freck, not the grownup Freck in my dream. That was a relief.

We could hear Traci Banks, one of the medics in the crew yammerin' hysterically. She was talkin' so fast in such a high voice that it was difficult ta understand her. I finally made out that the barn's power was cut. Another brute used the cover of darkness ta bust in. How on God's green earth did it know its comrade was locked in an electrified cell? It must have assumed that cuttin' power would sever the connection ta the cage, but it didn't. It literally got the shock of its life when it grabbed the bars, but it didn't let go. "We think it's dead. No one wanted to get close enough to it to find out for certain. If there are two of these things," she shrieked, "there must be others!"

Nina led her over ta the nearest couch and offered her a cup a tea. When scared, tea is a better drink than coffee. Tea is calmin', but coffee winds ya up. Traci gratefully accepted. The maid brought out a colorful handmade native Thule blanket for her shoulders, then scurried out of sight. Wherever the house staff went they were always outta sight, but never out of earshot.

Traci's news complicated the situation. The Amorak's rescue attempt had failed. Now we had two of 'em—one probably dead—and the other trapped. Just the fact that they sent in another says a lot about their intelligence, let alone understandin' sum'thin' 'bout electricity. They had reasonin' ability, obviously, and compassion. Soldiers live by a code, no man left behind. They must live by the same code. Wild animals, even pack hunters, would never mount a rescue attempt to save their fallen.

They were both smart, and very strong. Even with cooperative Cigam, and modern weapons, it might not be enough. The ancient Thule only had knives, spears, and harpoons. How did they win, and force 'em back ta the frigid out-lands?

The supposed death of the Amorak grieved Gee. You can always tell when he is down. His skin goes from glowing bright vibrant gray to a dull borin' gray. Keepers don't believe in killin' for any reason. By creatin' the electrified cage he felt he was ta blame. Freck tried to console him by gettin' on the floor, gently wrappin' her arms 'round his neck, and tol' him, "Ya know it ain't your fault. I'm the one who thought up the enclosure and the electricity."

If he could produce tears, I'm dead certain he would be cryin'. It broke my heart to see him takin' it so hard. I got on the floor too. Gee put his head on my lap. How do the Keepers tolerate visitin' Topside? Killin' is a daily occurrence in our world. That's what humans do. We kill for food. We kill for pleasure. We kill for research. We kill to satisfy anger. We kill for greed. We kill for control. The more I thought about, it the sadder I got too. A tear fell from my eye onto Gee's slick head. Freck tuned into my thoughts. She cried too. Nini came over and sat on the chair beside us. No one spoke. This was no time for words.

Gee's thoughts ain't easy to read. People and Keepers think in words and pictures. Gee thinks in emotion. Ya know how he feels, just not what he thinks. The sadness was like a pool of risin' water. I hoped he'd snap out of it before we all drown.

The High Keeper of the Glades Kingdom, Grandma Chrys, mind-spoke to all of us. "Gee asked for information about the ancient Amorak and Thule. We put our best researchers on it. It turns out that the Thule solved the problem very simply."