Niska’s father was the clan’s hookimaw (spiritual leader) and had come from “a long line of windigo killers.” When Niska was just a girl, Micah, a young hunter, took his family into the bush to survive during a harsh winter. She begins to tell him the stories of their ancestors, and of Niska’s father long before Xavier was born. Niska’s father often told her stories when she was sick or scared as a child, so Niska turns to storytelling to save Xavier. Suddenly, Sean Patrick is hit in the throat by a and there is blood and chaos everywhere. Xavier can tell that Grey Eyes has taken some of the wemisikoshiw’s morphine, and his eyes look “glassy” and distant. Sean Patrick, a fellow Canadian soldier and sniper, is at his post, and his spotter, Grey Eyes, stands nearby. He is back in his dugout with Elijah- “Where is Elijah now?” Xavier wonders-and Sergeant McCaan. Xavier closes his eyes and lets the morphine take him back to the French trenches, where German bullets and bombs whiz by his head. He is helplessly addicted to the wemistikoshiw medicine, and soon he will run out. Xavier suffers from intense pain, both physical and emotional, and he frequently injects himself with morphine.

Fever and “something far worse” are “consuming” him, and Niska fears he has come home only to die. The bush is a three-day journey down the river, then they will be home. Niska is relieved the nephew she thought was dead is alive and has home from the war, and she quickly shows him to her waiting canoe. Niska had sent Xavier a letter during the war, but she had to dictate her words through Joseph Netmaker, a local Cree man, and Joseph’s poor English mistakenly claimed that Niska had died. “I was told you were dead, Auntie,” he says. As Xavier see Niska, he falls to the ground. He has been badly injured in the war, and his left leg has been amputated.

Instead, Niska’s nephew, Xavier, steps off the train.

When the train arrives in Moose Factory, Elijah is not onboard. Niska is not used to seeing so many wemistikoshiw in one place, and as she walks down the street, they point and stare at the “Indian animal straight out of the bush.” As Cree Indians, Niska raised Xavier, and often Elijah too, in “the old way,” away from Moose Factory and the wemistikoshiw (European people). Niska comes to Moose Factory to take Elijah home to the bush. Elijah and Xavier enlisted in the war together, and while Niska received word that Xavier was killed in battle, Elijah will be returning on the train today.

Niska hides in the woods outside of Moose Factory for days waiting for Elijah Whiskeyjack (her nephew, Xavier’s, best friend and the “closest thing” Niska has to a relative), to return home from World War I.

3 day road joseph boyden