by P. J. Dean
“The return of your ‘property’ would make all right?”
“For you too lil lady.” Sebastian winked. “This ole Southern fella ain’t as dumb as he looks. Them two gone would clear the way for you.”
Adeline threw back her head and let loose a tinkling laugh. “You are too amusing.
She is but a fly in the ointment.”
“Your ointment, Adeline. Now who is hiding contempt with drollery?”
“We need to discuss this at greater length, Sebastian.” She raised the crystal decanter again. “More sherry?”
****
August 6th, 1777
British plans to take back the Mohawk River Valley had been in motion since January, and only just now were coming to fruition. The Oneida and Tusacarora and the colonists who had fought to stay here were now frightened. Native and farmer alike were hurriedly fortifying their palisaded villages, farmhouses and forts. The British, any old Loyalist neighbors and the remaining nations of the Haudenosaunee, who had sided with them, were banding together in Canada to reclaim their place in the Valley. These former valley dwellers were returning with a grudge. The fighting, when it broke out, was guaranteed to be gruesome.
In a three part invasion, General Burgoyne would sweep down from Montreal on his way to Albany, cutting through patriot strongholds, burning Saratoga farmlands. Admiral Lord Howe would depart a conquered Manhattan, cruise up the Hudson River and join Burgoyne. Lastly, St. Leger, by way of Oswego Lake, was to take the Oneida Carry near Fort Stanwix, and proceed down the Mohawk River to Albany. The three forces together would be unstoppable, their troops would crush any and all dissenters. Fighting with them would be four nations of the Haudenosaunee: Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga. This development broke Lelaheo’s heart.
“I fear leaving you and Twainhaven, but I must try to get to the fort. I have word my family went there. Together we will return here and hold this place.” Lelaheo unfolded his mother’s parting gift to him and prepared to dress. Kindred watched him as she nursed Lela. She loved this man and it was reciprocated. They had a child together.
They were wed in every way. To Hell with Miss Adeline Penvenen and her documents! Much more was at stake. This morning before he departed she had to let him know she would stay with him until her dying day. Lela fell back asleep. Kindred put her in the center of the bed and surrounded her with pillows.
“I fear your leaving too,” she sniffed. Our world is coming apart, Leleheo. Your mother was right.” She came to stand beside him as he dried off with a length of linen. “The League will never be the same. Being forced to choose sides has broken it.” She took another square from a nearby chair and began drying his back slowly.
“Kindred, you’ve dried the same spot for the last minute.” At his words she put her mouth to the small of his broad, sculpted back and licked a water drop. “There, I believe you are dry now.” Lelaheo reached an arm behind him and pulled Kindred around to face him. He smoothed her wooly hair from her eyes. His woman. His life. His home. Everything he held dear was in this room and on this land. He hoped it all would still be here even if he did not survive. He took both pieces of damp linen and tossed them aside.
“Wife,” he murmured, pushing her shift from her shoulders and down her body. He grasped her to him and rubbed his body against her. He took her face between his two hands and kissed her moist, parted mouth. They claimed each others lips for what seemed like forever until Kindred broke it off.
“Love, I thought you had to make haste.” She gasped as his sturdy erection prodded her thighs.
“A pox on haste.” He slowly kneaded her breasts and stroked her firm bottom. With each contact his voice grew more husky. “Besides, you initiated this.
“I did, did I not?” She sighed against his solid, bare chest.
He had missed that keening sound she made when he worried the soft flesh of her inner thigh with his teeth. He had forgotten how delicious it felt just to be naked with her in his arms. The exhilaration at seeing their contrasting tones merge when they made love.
“It has always been and will only be you, Lelaheo,” she said, locking her arms around his neck. Kindred was always amazed at how Lelaheo’s flesh responded to her touch. How his muscles rippled and jerked under her hands as she explored him. She had missed the sheer joy of sharing.
“Kindred, I hope the Great Spirit grants us many years together. But I have learned nothing is promised. This could be our last moments together.” He nuzzled and kissed her neck and held onto her for dear life.
“Do not even say that.” She put a finger to his lips. “ Do everything in your power to come back to us. I love you.”
“No matter what happens remember that I love this place, you and Lela,” he said hoarsely, urgently pulling her down to the rug with him.
Chapter Twenty Eight
Kindred woke to find herself back in bed with Lela across her chest. Lelaheo had deposited her sleeping form there, and then had departed with Joshua for Fort Stanwix. She got up and prepared for the day. After dressing them both, she went to the kitchen. She quickly ate cold biscuits and ham before going out to the barn area.
Douglas, Nachman and Rozina were in a precision assembly line making shot for muskets and pistols. Rozina kept watch on the lead bars melting in several little iron pots over fires around them. When ready, the men poured the liquid into prepared shot molds.
“Meke mo’, suh?” asked Rozina.
“Use it all, ’Zina. Never know what may come down the pike,” said Douglas.
“Let me finish up, Gramma.” Kindred handed Lela to Rozina and took her place.
“Kinny, ’yuh come trubble,” Rozina said, indicating Adeline’s approach.
Adeline hurried past the pig pen and the chicken coop with a handkerchief over her nose. The smell was more than she could bear. It was early morning and the air was heavy and thick with bugs. These surroundings confirmed that she was a city girl, London to be precise. She knew London was no sweet-smelling garden, but it was home, and better than this privy with a view.
“I do not know which will succeed in killing me first. The heat or the smell,” she declared to an amused group. Nose wrinkled, she stood holding her silk skirts above some imagined filth. “I have become accustomed to not being served, but I will be damned if I will cook my own meals also! Where is breakfast? And where is my
husband?”
Kindred tossed the pot she was holding to the ground. This selfish bitch demanded food when all the countryside around her was about to explode, she pondered.
Kindred spoke without looking at Adeline. “Lelaheo and Joshua will be gone for several days.”
“He has left us to fend for ourselves?”
“He has gone to Fort Stanwix to find his family. If you could cease admiring yourself in that mirror of yours long enough, you might notice there is a war going on.” Kindred stood up and stretched her back. “As for breakfast, go prepare it yourself, you spoiled cow. We have urgent business to finish here. Familiarize yourself with the
kitchen. Being mistress of Twainhaven requires more than a nice frock and a pretty face.”
Bold with the knowledge about Kindred that she had charmed out of Sebastian, Adeline yelled, “Shut up, slave! I have had enough of your trained monkey airs.”
“Oh no,” said Rozina.
“Did she say what I thought she said?” asked Nachman, moving out of the way.
Stunned, Kindred looked up and squinted at her. “What did you say?”
“Kindred, no,” said Douglas.
“You heard me? Do not tell me you are a deaf slave too?” Adeline picked up a stone by her foot and pitched it at Kindred, hitting her in the chest.
“I have had my fill of you, my prim Tory miss.” Kindred rushed her, hands balled into fists. She pounced on Adeline, pushing her into the baked earth. “Fix breakfast for you, indeed! May I be stricken with plague before I do that.” The two grappled and screamed at each other before Nachman and Doug
las could pull them apart.
Both were disheveled messes, but Adeline looked the worse. Her fine silk gown was now fit for the trash pile as it was ripped and covered in dust, her hair hung in strands around her dirt smudged face. She slipped. Tears now mingled with the dirt. Douglas helped her up.
“You will regret this, Kindred,” she cried, chest heaving. “Mark my words.”
“Not as much as you if you remain here,” Kindred shot back.
“Unhand me.” Adeline snatched her arm out of Douglas’ grip. She straightened, found her footing and made for the hall.
****
“Get up! Get up!” screeched Adeline as she bursts into Sebastian’s room. “I cannot endure it. I cannot wait any longer.” She paced back and forth, trailing dirt over the floor boards. Now! It must be done now!”
“What?” Sebastian, jolted awake by her intrusion, bolted from the bed and fell on the floor.
“Wake up. Open your ears. The plan.”
“What plan?” Sebastian rubbed the back of his head where hit it on the night table. He looked her up and down. “What happened to you? Look like someone cleaned the yard with you. Smell like it too.” He grinned, then broke into loud laughter.
“The plan we discussed several nights ago.”
His face lit up. “When? When?”
“As soon as possible.”
“What about that spouse o’ yours? If I have to tangle with him, I may have to kill ’im. Kinda defeats the purpose, don’t ya think?” Sebastian got up and back into bed.
“He and Joshua have left for Fort Stanwix. All the unrest should give us sufficient time.”
“Good. I can’t wait to be gone from here.”
“Neither can I.”
Chapter Twenty Nine
A humid, mosquito-filled haze floated above the marshy wild as Joshua and Lelaheo approached King’s Highway on foot. Their trek through the swampy wild had been arduous. Especially with Lelaheo insisting they keep a swift pace as they got closer to their goal.
“Lelaheo, are you trying to kill me before the redcoats do?” puffed Joshua, streaming perspiration. Each carried extra weight in the form of some food stuffs, a knife, a flintlock, powder and lead shot and a hatchet in a knapsack.
“Tired? Too much sitting.” Lelaheo kept the pace, awash in sweat.
“Someone has to run the hall.”
“And after you are done, get outside and get moving.” Lelaheo heard the crunch of brush ahead of them and muffled voices. “Get down, Joshua.” They hit the forest floor. Lelaheo lifted his head. Mohawk, Seneca and some Tory Rangers were hiding in the thick foliage bordering the road. Both men looked down the road to see the patriot forces pick their way up the badly overgrown, deeply rutted path. Laden oxcarts, wagons and horses rolled slowly, clogging up the way for the accompanying rear guard, which were bottlenecked at the end of the line. Easy pickings for an ambush.
“What should we do, Lelaheo? What can we do?”
“Join the fray. Pray like hell. You with me?”
“Always.”
Joshua and Lelaheo scrambled to their feet and whooped a warning at the top of their lungs as they charged into the breach.
****
Kindred bent to turn the bacon in the frying pan on the hearth. Lela cooed from her cradle in a corner of the kitchen. Nachman and Douglas were in the latter’s surgery. Rozina, by order of Dr. Twain, was resting in her room. Adeline had not been seen since the encounter of this morning; Sebastian was around.
“Oh!” Kindred cried at the press of a hand on her bottom. Without facing her admirer, she spoke, “Lelaheo, do not do that when I am hanging over an open fire. For all your intelligence, I wonder sometimes.” She wiped her hands on her apron and undid her head wrap. “Did you forget something?” She pivoted and came face to face with Sebastian.
“It ain’t your man, sweet thing. It’s your master. Besides, he belongs to somebody else.”
“Get your hands off me! ” Kindred screamed. She slapped and kicked him and clawed one side of his face.
“Why you bitch. I’m gonna have to tame your ass. I know a lot o’ ways too. I’ll try this one now.” He punched her once, knocking her unconscious. Kindred went limp, dropping her head wrap. Hoisting her in his arms, he sped out the kitchen door. In seconds, Adeline appeared. She tipped across the room, snatched Lela from the cradle
and exited the same way.
****
The fighting in the ravine was close and fierce. It was flooded with well over one thousand men from both sides, the odor of animals, blood and fear. The sounds of battle and death were deafening and reverberated through the dense woodland. Supply
wagons rolled over onto unseated riders, pinning them to the ground. Seneca, Mohawk and Tory Rangers pounced on doomed patriots finishing them off. The remaining militia stood their ground. Having disposed of the fancy drills and exercises, they fought with clubs, fists and hatchets. The saddest encounters were those between former
neighbors. Neither party spared the other. They whole-heartedly hacked or shot each other to pieces.
“Behind you!” yelled Joshua to Lelaheo. In one fluid move, without looking around, Lelaheo jabbed a bayonet out behind him, impaling his attacker.
Suffering from a slashed shin, Lelaheo limped over to Joshua, who sat propped against a birch tree. Having been bayoneted in the left thigh, he conducted his version of battle from his perch. He drew on attackers as they charged him or passed by. Lelaheo huddled next to him, taking in the carnage.
“Is all lost, Joshua? Is this how it ends?”
“I hope not, brother.”
Three Seneca braves spotted them and broke into a dead run toward them. Hatchets held high, clubs at the ready, they were prepared to annihilate them.
Lelaheo, with a heavy heart, set his sights on them. His flintlock failed. Hastily, he set about reloading.
“Hurry up, Doctor!” Joshua managed around the cork stopper to his powder bag which was clenched between his teeth.
The trio got closer and louder.
A volley of shot rang out from behind them, cutting the group down. With his last
breath, one flung his hatchet. It lodged in the bark of the birch just above the heads of Joshua and Lelaheo. An American commander and two militiamen appeared.
“Look, they’re retreating.” He pointed to the scores running back into the woods. “Once the Natives pull back, the British follow suit.”
“Help us get to Fort Stanwix,” said Lelaheo. “My family is there.”
“Your family is safe. The fort is like a vault. Do not worry. In your condition, you
will be scant help to them. None of us will. Return home. This will pass soon.”
“Are you positive,” asked Joshua, getting to his feet with Lelaheo‘s aid.
“Yes. Go home. Hold it. Defend it. You have fought well here.”
Chapter Thirty
After managing makeshift bandages for himself and Joshua, the two made their way, slowly, back to Twainhaven.
“No jaunt this time, brother,” said Joshua. “Thank goodness.”
“But we need to keep a steady pace,” insisted Lelaheo. “With rest periods of course. And with a peeled eye or two.”
They leaned on each other all the way back.
****
They tumbled through the kitchen door, alarming the people at the table. Lelaheo and Joshua slid to the floor.
“Water! Water!” cried Lelaheo.
Nachman poured two cups of cider and helped Joshua drink while Rozina held the cup for Lelaheo. Adam’s apples bobbed as they gulped audibly.
“You are wounded,” noted Nachman. “I assume you did not make it to Fort Stanwix. Skirmish?”
“Try a genuine battle, my dear doctor.”
“Tsk! Tsk! And such a beautiful land.” Nachman spied his pupil’s bloody leg. “Let me tend you.”
“See to Joshua first,” sighed Lelaheo. He looked around. “Where are my girls?”
&nbs
p; Rozina and Nachman glanced at each other, said nothing.
Lelaheo caught the looks.“ Where are Kindred and Lela? I did not see them in the garden.”
Again silence.
He slammed his cup on the floor.
“Why will no one answer me?”
Douglas entered the room, eyes moist and red.
“They are gone.”
“What? Gone where? You jest.”
“Do you hear me laughing, Lelaheo? The past has come back to haunt me.”
“What are you saying?” Lelaheo struggled to his feet.
“Gone. More likely taken. Sebastian has settled an old account. He has taken them because I took Kindred and Rozina from him all those years ago.”
“When did he leave? How?”
“Possibly a day ago. Longer. They went missing after breakfast yesterday. I found this on the floor.” He placed Kindred’s head wrap in Lelaheo’s hand. Douglas plopped into a chair and sobbed loudly. “It is more than I can endure.”
“Douglas? How?” Lelaheo shook the man soundly. “Compose yourself.” By then Joshua was comforting a crying Rozina.
“Stop, Lelaheo. Stop,” said Nachman. “This I know. The day Sebastian arrived, that evening at supper he said he was here on business.”
“Business?” He looked to Douglass and patted his shoulder. “I am sorry. Forgive my actions. Nachman, what kind of business?”
“In the house, you were. You did not hear. He was here to capture runaway slaves. He had caught three. Had them on a river barge two miles down the Mohawk.”
“No,” growled Lelaheo. “So Adeline’s prophecy has come true.”
“Whatever you say. That is where he has taken your family. I am sure. You know the land. How far away could he get in a day or more?”
“Too far. I must go. Patch me up as best you can, Nachman. I have to move quickly before he reaches Albany.”
“One more thing, Lelaheo.”
“Tell me.”
“Adeline is gone too. I believe she aided him.”
“It follows logic. Nachman, will you come with me?”