by E. B. Brown
Honor his Uncle, and slay the Red Woman. Use the Bloodstone to return her to her own time. He would do neither. He made the decision, one that would have no victor, but the only one he could bear to live with, the one that kept her safe in his arms, protected from the rising storm he knew would come.
He would see the English safely back, and then ride to speak to his Uncle. If his Uncle refused his request to keep her, he would return to the village and take Maggie far away. He had no plan beyond that, not yet willing to face the consequence of betraying his Weroance, but knowing his path was set nonetheless. It was the only way. Winn hoped his Uncle would forget about the woman, and leave off with the notion she needed to die like the rest of the Time Walkers. Surely it was not a woman Time Walker that would someday take his life!
“My thanks to you for your escort, Winn,” Benjamin offered as he rode up beside him. His larger, leaner mount fell in step with the sturdy war pony Winn rode. Winn nodded in response without turning his head to the other man, his gaze still focused on Thomas Martin’s straight back.
“She is not the niece of Thomas Martin, my friend.”
Benjamin frowned.
“Of course she is. Who else would she be? Surely Martin knows his own kin.”
“I know not his purpose, but I know the truth. You have my word on this,” Winn replied, trying to use an assurance that Benjamin would identify with.
“You know I trust you above all others, Winn, but on this I think you are mistaken. The man recognized his niece, and it all makes sense. Her mother is a McMillan. Who else would she be? It is not as if she dropped from the sky!”
Winn snorted. “No. Of course not,” he grumbled.
“Surely you do not object to returning her to us? You know what that would mean.”
He ground his teeth in the back of his jaw at the implied consequence and nodded to the man. He could not antagonize the English at this point or risk his Uncle’s wrath, and until Maggie was safely hidden away, he was bound to pacify them. Of all the whites to challenge him, how could his friend Benjamin be the one? They had played together as children, and he hoped to save him somehow from what was to come, but if his friend posed an obstacle to Maggie, he would kill him without hesitation.
“I wish no war with your people, friend. But I will not release her,” he said, the words tasting like salt on his tongue. “She must stay until Opechancanough gives his decision.” He omitted the fact that no matter what decision his Uncle rendered, he planned to take Maggie far away. Even if by some miracle the Weroance refused to return her to the English, Winn knew it was near impossible he would not demand her sacrifice. The old man believed too strongly in his visions to consider any alternative when it came to the Time Walker.
“Well then,” he said quickly. “Jack-of-a-Feather is a swift rider, I’m sure he will return soon with permission. Will you give her up then?”
“No.”
“You’re acting a fool. You cannot keep a good Englishwoman as a slave! I thought you were better than that!” Benjamin snapped. “She will be returned to us, or her own people. You never did tell me where you stole her from.”
“It is as I said. She has no people,” Winn growled, his ire beginning to rise. Benjamin pushed him too far. “I found her, that is all you must know. She has no kin to speak of.”
“If you found her as ye say, then why are ye so sure she is not Martin’s niece? The woman fell overboard during a storm on the way to Jamestown, who can say for sure who she is?” Benjamin cast him a pained glare. “If ye went raiding and stole the girl, tell me. I just did not think ye did such things.”
“I can give you no more. I know not her people, and I did not steal her.”
“Then if you know not her people, she must be Martin’s missing niece,” he stuttered. “I can help you no more if you donna tell me the truth. So she must be the woman from the ship. The Virginia Company sent them here to find husbands among our men.”
“A stupid English plan,” Winn muttered, ignored by Benjamin as he rattled. Winn rarely saw the other man nervous, so his interest was piqued to hear what he was trying to say.
“Why willna ye tell me? I thought more of our friendship that that.”
Winn noticed the way Benjamin squinted as he waited for the answer, and his hands clenched at the implication of his words. He could say he was angry Benjamin questioned his honor, but he knew the English thought his people little more than animals.
“I have no other answer for you. I did not steal her. She is here under my protection, and I will keep her.”
Benjamin let out a sigh.
“I have no doubt you protected her,” Benjamin muttered. “I’ve never seen ye so taken by a woman.”
Winn quickly turned his head to the other man.
“Yes. I know what you see. Is that what English men do, spy on each other like snakes?” he asked, his words slow to form as he suppressed the sickness rising in his gut.
“I am sorry. I should not have followed you. But I thought I knew ye better than that. Better than a randy whoreson who would ravage a helpless woman like – like an animal! What were you thinking, man? You know you’ve ruined her, no decent Englishman will take her to wife after you tire of her.” Benjamin said.
Winn ducked his head and his lips formed a scowl in response as he glared at the Englishman.
“You know nothing of me, Englishman,” he growled. “Take your beggars, and go back to your city. Think what you will. As for the woman, I keep her. Try to take her, and I will kill you the same as any other.” Winn swung his horse around in a circle, and let out a fierce howl that pierced the silent night sky. He glared at the man he once called brother.
No Englishman will ever take her from me, he promised, and with that thought, he knew he would risk anything to keep her. He pictured his knife slicing through the belly of his friend Benjamin and then the acrid stench of his innards as they slid through his hands. A painful wave of shame surged through his chest and squeezed the air from his lungs.
Benjamin had been his friend since they were too young to notice the difference in their skins, loyal and true in brotherhood nearly as much as his own blood brothers. Of all men to stand between him and Maggie, would it be Benjamin? He was the only white man he wished to save from what was to come. Until now.
He was glad Maggie was safe back in the village, away from the English, waiting for him to return to her.
His heart thudded a steady beat, and he could feel the sweat break across his skin and moisten his clenched palms against the leather reins. Numbness settled through him like the unwavering truth, a truth that would change his life forever, and all those that loved him. He would bide his time and steal his woman away. The course he chose would settle his own fate and he would not be able to turn back, but he realized his path had been sealed the moment he looked into her shining jade eyes and fought the brown bear.
He galloped away from the English and turned his horse toward the river. He would take the fastest route, and get to his Uncle before Nemattanew could poison his mind further.
His woman. Maggie was his wife. And he would keep her.
Chapter 14
She sank back and pulled a thick fur around her shoulders as she sat listening to the beat of drums in the village. The rhythmic thud kept time with the chants of the warriors, their cries of thanks echoing through the bright autumn night and leaving a hollow emptiness within her. She thought of the tender words he murmured against her hair when they slept, and the way his breath felt against her skin. The memory only served to sever her lifeline further and bring the sting of tears to her eyes.
She thought she might suffer remorse for abandoning her own time, and although there was a hint of sadness at never returning, the thought of living her life with Winn ran sweeter through her soul. Relief washed over her like a waterfall, the decision made, carrying her doubts and fears away as she looked forward to their future. Perhaps in some cosmic plane there was a reason for her
journey to the past, one they would never discover, and if it was nothing more than the purpose of bringing two hearts together, she could live with that.
She swiped the back of her hand over her eyes. Winn would return for her, she was certain. Hell, she made her own rules and ran her own life in her time, and as such, she should be well equipped to survive on her own in the past for a few days without him. She needed to learn the Paspahegh ways, and be strong when he was away.
Cold, hungry, and more than the least bit agitated by Winn leaving, she decided to solve all the problems that she could, and worry over the things she could not change later. She could fix cold and hungry, but there was little else for her to do but keep occupied until her husband returned.
Her husband, she thought, and smiled.
She crawled over to her basket of clothes and pulled out her soft faded blue jeans. Torn at the knee, but still serviceable, she pulled them on beneath her doeskin dress. Next were her suede work boots, which she covered with her fur leggings and tied tight with rawhide cords. Satisfied with her work thus far, she examined her parka. Streaked with blood and slashed from shoulder to waist, it would offer little protection so she left it beside the fire. She could not fathom any useful task for her wristwatch, but she slid it over her wrist anyway.
The night the Bloodstone took her she had been unusually bereft of any technology in her pockets, such as a cell phone, not that it would have done her much good in her current predicament. She tightened the laces of her boots and double knotted them, then grabbed a traveling satchel made of beaver bladder with a long strap. She crossed the strap over her shoulder and settled the bag at her waist, then scourged for the few remaining bits of food left in the yehakin. There was not much to choose from since they expected to eat at the powwow, but Winn usually kept at least some dried meat and corn cakes to munch on and she added what she found to her sack.
She peeked out the yehakin and saw the villagers engrossed in the dance, and the sounds of the beating drums muffled her footsteps as she left. She crossed behind the yehakin without looking back, thrusting a fist across her cheek when a tear spilled as she made her way toward the corral. Spending time with the horses would soothe her, as it always did, and bundled up snugly as she was she could spend the night with them instead of alone in the yehakin.
“Damn it,” she muttered. She shook her head when tender thoughts collided, ones of a soft gentle mouth caressing her skin, a firm hand that held her against his heart, the way he whispered endearments against her ear and sent shivers down deep in her belly.
She cursed as she tripped over a fallen branch, and stopped to regain her sense of direction. She could still hear the hollow thud of the drums and the cries of songs from the village, and she could see the glimmer of the bonfire across the way when she looked back. Had she been so distracted by daydreams that she passed by the barn?
Her ears filled by the fading pounding of the drums, she did not notice a snapping of forest debris on the path behind her until the footsteps were upon her. The hair pricked up on the back of her neck and she smelled his dank scent before she swung around to confront her stalker.
Nemattanew stood crouched behind her, slowly rising to his full height as she glared at him. He was planted between her and the village, her only escape being the woods. She moved her hand to the knife at her waist for reassurance, and glared at the man as she waited for his next move. Obviously, he had lied about his intent upon leaving the village.
He took a step toward her, and she backed away an equal amount of paces.
“So the Red Woman stays here.”
“Just go away, leave me alone,” she said, her voice tapering off as it wavered. “Winn will be back soon,” she lied. She darted a glance to her rear to see where to escape, dismayed to see only dense brush and no discernible trail.
They both knew it to be a lie, and a grin stretched over his lips.
“I saw him leave the village. He goes to ask for your life, but we both know he will not get it. What then, Red Woman?”
“You should worry what he will do when he finds you bothering me!”
“No,” he growled. “You should worry if I will kill you now, or let you suffer. Perhaps I will keep you until he returns, and let him watch you bleed from my knife.” He reached out and snatched her wrist painfully, turning it over. He made a deep growling sound as he glared at the scar on her palm
“Stay away from me!” She shouted, wrenching away from him.
“Winn truly hides a Time Walker?” He raised his head to the stars and let out a chilling howl of laughter. “He thinks to keep you? What a fool he is!”
She fumbled backward and felt the stab of a branch in her ribs and leaves brush her neck.
“Run,” he grinned, his words dripping with excitement and malice. “Run as fast as you can. I give you a count of five before I gut you.” He traced a path on his own chest with one finger from the base of his throat down to his navel. “I will see great honor when I bring your head to my Weroance.”
She believed every ounce of his threat, and took off in a sprint. The satchel bounced against her kidney as she darted through the trees, wincing at the sting of braches tearing at her face and neck. She jumped over a rotted fallen tree and lost her balance, falling to her knees on the pine-needle strewn ground. Looking around, she tried to catch a breath, her chest heaving with the effort, and she sighed when she realized he was not pursuing her. When she struggled to her feet, her head still spinning, she was immediately knocked back to the ground by a blow from behind.
She felt his breath hot against the back of her neck as he leaned in close to her ear, with rancid breath that stank and caused her nose to wrinkle in disgust.
“Where is your warrior now, Red Woman? I see no man here, except me.”
He bound her wrists behind her back with a thick rope and hauled her to her feet.
***
She sat on her knees in the dirt, a pair of viselike hands gripping her shoulders to keep her as much upright as was possible with her head hanging limp. The return to awareness was abrupt, as if a light switch had been flicked on and suddenly she could see again, but a thick sour smoke filled her lungs and she twisted her head away from the scent. The hands held her tighter, and then she spotted a burning ember smoldering in the hand of another held directly under her nose. She scrunched her nose and sneezed, and struggled to sit back away from the smoke.
“Enough! Stop it!” she snapped. At the sound of her voice, the brown hand with the burning bundle of twigs pulled back away from her face, and she coughed out the last remnants from her lungs.
“Welcome, Red Woman.”
Maggie looked up. The voice was stilted but clear, authority ringing through his words as sure as the smoke smothering her breath. It was Nemattanew who stood at her side keeping her upright, but the man who spoke sat on a high dais in front of her. He wore a decorated breechclout riddled with brilliant colored beads, his arms littered with thick copper bracelets and smeared with bright red paint, his ears studded with multiple metal hoops of varying sizes. His face was creased with age, bronzed to a dark hue, a stark pallet of amused disgust gracing his expression as he considered her, the white woman kneeling in a disoriented heap before him.
“Welcome? This is hardly a welcome!” she snapped, prompting a wave of gasps from onlookers. She suspected she was in a long house, the huge space very similar to the yehakin she shared with Winn but on a much grander scale, and with the cluster of people gathered, she could see this was some sort of ceremonial assembly. She desperately hoped that not all the pomp and circumstance was in honor of her appearance.
The man considered her words, his black eyes narrowing into slits. The two beautiful women at his side moved closer to him when she spoke, as if to shield him from the advance of the evil Red Woman. Maggie could not help a stifled laugh that emerged as the gloriously half-naked woman clung to the man, equally decorated in their finery.
“I am Weroance Op
echancanough,” he said. His voice betrayed no anger at her words, only a curious tolerance, but his face still was hardened in a formidable mask. The strength of her resolve began to crumble as a sick feeling permeated the pit of her stomach and she realized exactly who the man was and how tenuous her situation had become.
“I’m Maggie,” she replied simply.
“Tell me, Maggie,” he began, no acknowledgement of her response crossing his lips. “Do you put a spell upon my nephew, as the Pale Witch put a spell on me?”
“I know nothing of spells,” she shot back, figuring the stronger the better. To sit like a quivering idiot and plead for her life would be useless, so if she were going to burn she would do it with a fight. “But I do know what happens to you and your people. Is that why you want me dead?”
His lips pursed tightly and he patted the shoulders of each woman beside him, and then gave a curt nod to the other spectators in the long house.
“Leave us.”
Nemattanew continued to keep a grip on her shoulder, and he made one attempt to argue in his own language before the Weroance issued a final order to dismiss him. The long house emptied completely in less than a minute, leaving her on her knees at the feet of the leader.
“I wonder why you still have a tongue, with the way you speak. Have you turned my nephew into a fool? Is sharing your furs such pleasure he would forget he is a man?”
“You don’t know anything. And Winn is no fool.”
He slid off the platform, with much more finesse and grace than Maggie expected from an older warrior, then squatted down in front of her to eye level. When he reached out to touch one of her thick red braids, she swatted at his hand with her bound fists, which only caused him to smile. It was not a pleasant smile by any means, more forced and maligned, but it kept his hand away and for that, she was grateful.