Melodis Tune

by Melodi's Tune (NCP) (lit)

  Evidence of strangers complicated the chase. Tall Cedar was right to be worried, but Darien's main concern had to be finding Little Raccoon.

  "Here is where we must split up, Tall Cedar. I will continue the hunt for Little Raccoon. You go and find out who those others are. We will meet back at the lake."

  "I do not like to separate, Brother. We are stronger together. Even so, I am compelled to discover who makes use of my kin's hunting lands. Your quest is for Little Raccoon; I would not keep you from it. Hear this, I will follow you. If I do not catch up with you on the trail, I will meet up with you at the lake."

  "May the spirit who guides me also help you. We will meet again soon." Though he hated to send his friend into possible danger alone, he had to find Little Raccoon. More than a tribe's hunting lands depended on her rescue. "Walk soft as the panther, Brother, and invisible as a ghost. There is danger where you go."

  They parted into the dusk. Tall Cedar melted into the low-growing brush below the granite ridge. The ridgeline shielded Darien from spying eyes.

  Before he'd traveled forty steps, Darien found footprints that led to a curtain of vines. His muscles twitched in anticipation. Little Raccoon's small footprints were mixed up with those ascribed to Young Buck. At least she was able to walk; she must have been all right up to this point.

  He crept to the screen of vines, every sense open to the scents and sounds around him. Close, so close -- he stopped. An aura of emptiness emanated from the vine covered entry. All caution aside, he thrust his way through.

  A dark cavern greeted him, but even without being able to make out details, he knew it was empty.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Damn, too late again. Just inside the entrance Darien tripped over a pile of sticks. Striking his firestones together he quickly made a small fire with the dry tinder he carried in his pouch. Soon one of the sticks was blazing as a make-do torch. He began to explore.

  The place was enormous. His footsteps echoed eerily around him. Here was the fire pit; there had been no effort to hide evidence of occupancy. In one corner he found a cache of preserved food sealed into baskets and leather pouches. Enough to feed one person for many moons, or many people for several days. In another corner, a spring welled up. Food and water, a place easily defended.

  Darien's speculations on the intent of such a hideaway disappeared when he saw the small marks scratched into the rock directly behind the spring. He only saw them because he chanced to turn his head that way as he straightened from drinking.

  His stomach contracted as he read the meaning of the symbols scratched into the stone. They looked like musical notes. At least, that is what Darien Stewart would call them. In Walks With The Wind's time there were no such symbols. Beside the notes, more scratch marks showed what appeared to be a four-footed animal with circles around the eyes.

  Little Raccoon had found a way to reach him. But what of the notes? Did they mean that she remembered that she was Melodi? He damped down the excitement growing in him. Whether she remembered or not didn't matter right now. All that mattered was that he catch up with them. They were two traveling together. He could run faster than they.

  Emerging from the cavern, now loaded with his enemy's supplies, Darien set off with purpose. He saw his path, though all he had was faint starshine to travel by. No louder than a whisper he alternately walked and ran through the night.

  More than just anticipation pulled him. Time seemed to press him forward as well. His fate, his destiny lay on the path ahead. His spirit guide kept pace with him in the sky overhead.

  Dawn found him skirting the edge of a short-grass meadow carpeted with bright flowers. They glowed serenely in the early morning light. Darien's heart lightened. He felt Little Raccoon presence here. They had passed this way not long ago. He was closing in.

  He stopped briefly to catch his breath and eat. He hadn't come up with a plan to rescue Little Raccoon and deal with Young Buck. If Young Buck had hurt her in any way Darien would rip the still beating heart from the bastard's chest and stuff it in his face.

  Be calm. Be careful, his spirit guide cautioned.

  Darien accepted the truth of the warning. If all he had learned of Young Buck was true, he would be a devious and dangerous adversary.

  He forced himself into a state of calm readiness and moved on. His passage barely stirred the sun-dappled leaves that crossed his path.

  A scream split the air before he'd gone two spear lengths. Caution be damned, that was Little Raccoon.

  Quiet, his calmer inner voice said. Speed and caution or you will lose her again.

  Off to his right he heard voices. A man hissed in anger. A woman cried.

  Smack. The sound of flesh hitting flesh tore into Darien just as he came to the bushes that separated him from his quarry. He peered through the leaves. He'd found them.

  Little Raccoon struggled with a man. She fought valiantly as he held her arms above her head and fumbled with the hem of her dress. One glance at his bulging loincloth convinced Darien of his purpose.

  Stealthily he emerged from his hiding place. Young Buck, intent on his conquest, didn't know he was being stalked until the blow from Darien's fist knocked him unconscious. The brute fell like a stone on top of Little Raccoon.

  Her eyes opened wide at the sight of her rescuer. Tears filled her eyes as she pushed the inert body from her and flung herself into Walks With The Wind's arms.

  "What took you so long?" she managed to gasp before his embrace cut off all but enough air to breath. Safe, she finally felt safe.

  A rustle from the bushes had them whirling about. Too late. A group of men dressed like Young Buck swarmed out of the bushes and advanced on them.

  Walks With The Wind pushed Melodi behind him and whipped out his knife. There were five of them, she'd be damned if she was just going to stand there and watch him be cut to pieces. She reached for the knife hanging from Young Buck's belt. His arm snaked up and gripped her with iron-like hold. Before she could react, he had her neck under his arm and the knife at her throat.

  "No." She was terrified, but had to warn Walks With The Wind. "Behind you, watch out."

  Somehow he heard her shout. He took his eyes off the advancing enemy long enough to take in Melodi's plight. His eyes smoldered with murderous rage, but he dropped his knife when Young Buck made it clear he had no compunctions about using his own on the woman in his grasp.

  "Good, now you may live long enough to see me take my revenge on my former family and friends. The people who drove me away because of you." Young Buck twisted Melodi's arm high behind her back until it was all she could do to keep from crying out.

  "Revenge?" she managed to whisper. "We thought you died on a hunting trip. All we found were some scraps of clothing."

  Young Buck released his hold on Melodi. He tossed her to the ground where Walks With The Wind now lay, strips of hide lashed around his wrists and ankles.

  Like a broken dam pushed to its breaking point by the spring melt, Young Buck spat out the tale.

  "It was no accident. Your cousins followed me that day. They accused me of beating you, even of causing you to lose my child. How would they know if you had not gone weeping to that busy body aunt of yours? 'Leave and never return,' they told me. Then they stripped me of anything that would be of use to them. My food, my spear, even the moccasins from my feet. All they left me with was my knife, and a fire in my gut that would not be quenched until I worked my vengeance on them."

  When he paused for breath, Darien asked, "How did you hook up with these?" He nodded towards the other Indians who'd built a fire and now cooked a small animal over it. Every now and then one of them would turn his gaze toward Little Raccoon with something like hunger in his eyes.

  The looks they turned on Darien were the cold, impersonal faces a hunter turns to his quarry before the kill. He didn't know which bothered him more.

  If he could keep Young Buck talking he might have a chance to loosen the cords that bound him. His
hands behind his back worked furiously at the knotted rope though he kept his body from showing the strain under which he worked.

  "They found me, almost naked and starved," Young Buck said. "Do you know how they treat prisoners from another tribe? First you are beaten, then starved, then made to do the most menial tasks for the nastiest people. Finally, if you show courage and don't die from the abuse, you may be allowed to run their gauntlet. If they decide to adopt you, that is. I was lucky; an old woman had lost her son. I was to take his place."

  Melodi felt her face blanche at the word gauntlet. It had changed little from ancient times. The adopting tribe would line up facing each other in two lines. The prisoner, stripped naked, was made to walk between the lines while each person he passed beat him. If he made it through the first time alive, he was often made to go again just to prove his worth. Many did not survive. After the ordeal the prisoner became a full member of the tribe -- adopted as Young Buck had been.

  Walks With The Wind struggled to a sitting position beside her. He leaned over far enough for her to see that he was almost free of the bonds around his wrists. What of his feet? Without a knife and with Young Buck watching their every move they were helpless.

  Escape was essential. Before Walks With The Wind's appearance, Young Buck had tried to force himself on her. She felt unclean where his hands had touched her body. If he touched her like that again she'd be physically ill. He would make her worse than his slave; she would become the slave for his entire "new family."

  Walks With The Wind's lot was worse. This tribe, if she remembered correctly, also had been known to burn prisoners at the stake to test their courage. Yes, fire was Walks With The Wind's fate if they did not get away.

  Now Young Buck was ranting in a different language. The men around the fire laughed uneasily. Perhaps his exile and torture had unbalanced him. Deep in the dark recesses of his eyes, crazed fear peered out. If it was madness they had no chance at all, he would be inconsistent and unreasonable.

  As if his struggles had caused him to fall over, Walks With The Wind leaned heavily on her shoulder. His lips brushed her ear as he appeared to struggle to sit up.

  "When darkness comes, be ready."

  His whisper was no more than warm breath on her skin. She made her nod look like she was accepting the inevitable to Young Buck when in fact hope worked its magic on her. She prayed that these folks didn't decide to play with fire until then.

  Never had the sun taken so long on its journey to the horizon. Every time one of the men came close to where she and Walks With The Wind huddled together she cringed inside, though outwardly her chin lifted in defiance. Young Buck tied her as well, though not as thoroughly as he had Walks With The Wind. Her legs were free. Probably because Young Buck enjoyed watching her struggle to her feet and fetch something for him with her hands bound together.

  "Serve him right if I dumped dinner on him again," she muttered after struggling with a water pouch and serving all of their captors. She didn't realize she had spoken English until she felt Walks With The Wind stiffen.

  "You do remember," he commented in the same language.

  In the dimming light his blue eyes deepened to dark sapphire. It reminded her of the color of desire, first seen miles and years away, but with the power to steal her breath.

  "Yes. Darien, it is you, isn't it?" She had to be sure. She had to know why he was in this time.

  "Thank the gods. I was afraid you would never recall that life."

  "The last thing I remember about you was the tune transporting us to this time. We sat in a sun-drenched meadow, you kissed me." Now she blessed the shadows so he couldn't see her blush. Though they had shared more intimacy than a simple kiss since then, it had been Little Raccoon, not Melodi, who he loved.

  "We were interrupted by your sister, Shining Rock. On the walk back to the village…."

  "Someone hit you on the head. I… I remember that. Then I fell and hit my head. But what happened to you? The blow was horrible, I thought they'd killed you."

  "I remember seeing you fall, then I was back in our own century with Joe Larkfeather and his grandfather."

  With their heads close together and in their concentration on each other they failed to note that all the eyes around the fire were turned in their direction. A blast of dirt in their faces refocused their attention.

  "Have you no shame?" Young Buck hauled Melodi to her feet and kicked Darien. "How dare you humiliate me in front of my brothers by conversing with the enemy? You will stay with me." He dragged her to kneel beside him by the fire.

  It had to be soon. Darien flexed his muscles against his bonds. His hands were held only by a loose loop of rawhide, but his feet were still tied. If only he had a knife.

  Young Buck's brothers were gathering more wood, enough for a bonfire. The glances they threw in his direction were anything but friendly.

  An owl hooted from the bushes nearby. Wait a minute, from the bushes? As unobtrusively as he could, Darien scoured the underbrush. A shadow moved closer. He inched back until his hands, tied behind him, brushed the low growing plants at the edge of the clearing. A cold hard object was pressed into his hands. A knife. Tall Cedar had found them.

  Slowly so as not to attract attention, Darien slipped his hands from the loop and began to saw at the bonds surrounding his feet.

  Again the owl hooted, this time from across the glade on the opposite side of the fire. Melodi was staring glumly into the flames, stoically accepting occasional cuffs from her captor.

  Something fell into the fire. Flames flared up. The men around it fell back. They cried out as a creature made of leaves and as tall as a giant appeared out of nowhere. It grabbed Melodi from an astonished Young Buck's grasp and disappeared into the darkness under the trees.

  One of the Iroquois, recovering faster than his brothers, grabbed his spear and made to follow the apparition into the forest. At the threshold of the surrounding blackness he fell backwards with a horrible cry as a sharp sound reverberated through the forest. When the others reached him, he was unconscious; a round red welt grew on his forehead.

  Eerie silence enveloped the group. They brought their wounded comrade to the fire. They'd forgotten all about their other captive, the one who would provide much sport later in the dark of night.

  Across the glade, where the light from the fire was dim, the place where he had been was empty.

  Chapter Nineteen

  "Stop struggling," the monster said.

  Melodi recognized Tall Cedar's voice. He carried her draped over his shoulder, his strides as effortless as if he carried a small child.

  "Stop, we must free Walks With The Wind," Melodi insisted.

  Tall Cedar did not answer, instead he ran until the glow from the fire was no longer visible through the trees. Under a resinous pine, he put her down and cut her bonds. She opened her mouth to speak again, but he put a finger to her lips. Cupping a hand to his mouth, Tall Cedar gave the soft hoot of an owl, then settled on his haunches as if he didn't have a care in the world. He began plucking off the leaves that were attached to his skin with a thin layer of mud. The disguise had been most effective.

  "That's it?" Melodi hissed, furious that they weren't storming the camp. "I am not leaving him there. Don't you know what they’re planning to do to him?" Tears stung her eyes; she dashed them away.

  Tall Cedar pulled a piece of jerked meat from his pouch and began to chew. As if in afterthought, he offered her a strip. It had been hours since she'd eaten. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered but saving Darien, or Walks With The Wind, or whoever the hell he was.

  She threw the food back at Tall Cedar and stalked away. Tears blurred her eyes as she realized he wasn't going to come with her. Okay, fine. If he wouldn't help, she'd do it herself, somehow. Her courage almost deserted her as she reached the shadows at the edge of the trees. After a brief hesitation, she stepped into the forest, then gasped as one of those shadows grabbed her and hugged her tight.

 
Tall Cedar snickered. She didn't care.

  They kept their embrace short. "Come, they’ll search for us." Darien took Melodi's hand. Together they melted into the night, Tall Cedar a shadow behind them.

  The moon rested on the western horizon before they stopped. All through the dark hours, Melodi had not questioned their destination, simply trusting the men to guide her to safety. Now she was hungry and exhausted. All she wanted was a ten-course meal followed by ten hours of sleep.

  They stopped on a bare rock ledge twenty feet from a roaring waterfall. The pre-dawn breeze chilled Melodi's skin as she leaned against a boulder while the men conferred. Muffled though the words were by the rushing sounds of the water, she could tell that they were disagreeing over something. Finally, Tall Cedar nodded and turned toward Melodi.

  "I go to bring news to your father and sister," he told her. Then he skirted the narrow ledge and made his way back where they came from.

  "Wait," Melodi cried. She needed more explanation than that, but he turned the corner and was out of sight.

  "He’ll cover our back-trail as he goes. We’ll be safe here so you can rest." Darien took her arm and led her to where the path dipped down to the river's edge.

  "Where is here?" she asked, tired of being told where to go and what to do. She wasn't a captive anymore. "Why don’t we go with him?"

  By this time the roar of the falls drowned out her words. Darien grinned in her direction and motioned for her to follow him. Just when it seemed they would have to leap into the frothing cauldron below their feet, they turned an improbable corner and entered a tunnel behind the falls.

  It was dim and chill, but at least the noise was muffled. The narrow passage wound back into the rocks until even the dusky light was gone. Melodi gripped Darien's hand tightly; she hated cramped places. A mild claustrophobia, something she'd managed to fight down before, welled up. Her hands grew moist. She stumbled on the rough floor. One shoulder struck the mossy wall. It was so narrow. Were they very deep? She imagined the ceiling and walls pressing in on her.