Harrison followed Leah's line of vision, spotted William, and then turned his attention back to Two Halves. "What is odd?" he asked cautiously.
"That there could be two men called Har-ri-son looking for a white child called Beale."
Harrison did not break eye contact with the Mohawk as he spoke. "The man who came to your village and first claimed to be Harrison is an imposter. He is Kolheek, a man who carries a grudge in his heart against this woman and me. He would take the child to punish us."
"What do I care? He paid well for my escort into the village. Whiskey, guns, the promise of more."
"He is a liar and cannot be trusted."
Two Halves rose slowly, obviously amused by the situation. "Would that this man were to be asked, would he say the same of you?"
Harrison's eyes narrowed threateningly. "Release the boy into my hands and I will leave peaceably. The Shawnee Kolheek need not know we have been here."
Two Halves threw back his head in laughter. "Do not tell me you think a Mohawk would fear one man and a woman!"
Harrison's hand snaked out to catch the lapel of Two Halves's broadcloth coat. Before the Mohawk knew what happened, he had been dragged behind a tree out of sight of the villagers. The drums were beating so loud that even if he called out, no one would hear him.
Leah ran after them.
Harrison jerked Two Halves forward until his nose was only inches from Harrison's. "Make your choice, Mohawk," Harrison said in a voice that made Leah shiver. "But I warn you, cross me and I will bring the entire Shawnee and Delaware nations down upon you. This fire-haired women will bring every blue coat for a thousand miles. We will burn your village, take your women and children, and kill every man weaned from his mother's breast. We will desecrate your burial grounds and rob your souls."
Two Halves's bloodshot eyes grew round with superstitious fear. "The boy . . . he . . . he is nothing to me. I sold him to the old man Asare."
"The man who holds him now?"
"Ea. Yes. The old man means to give him to the one you call Kolheek. They leave at dawn."
Slowly Harrison eased up on Two Halves's coat, but still held the material gripped in his hand. He signalled to Leah to come closer.
As Leah looked up at Harrison, it was hard not to be afraid. This man was not the gentle man who had held her in his arms last night and made love to her. This man was a brutal savage.
"If we can take him from the lodge when they sleep, it will be easier, Leah."
"No." She gripped her hands. "Kolheek is here, somewhere in the village. We can't risk it, Harrison!"
Harrison turned back to Two Halves. "Where is Kolheek?"
"I . . . I do not know. He . . . he and his men, they drink whiskey."
"Men? He has men?"
"Ea. " He held up his hands, showing ten to twelve.
"Who are these men?" Harrison demanded, shaking Two Halves.
The Iroquois trembled. "This man does not know. Two are Mohawk but from another village. A Shawnee. I . . . I do not know!"
Harrison looked to Leah. "Renegades. Hired men. No one else would travel with Kolheek, not after he'd been banished."
"They are drunk. They will not know you are here. Take the boy from the old man. I will say nothing!"
Harrison tightened his grip on Two Halves's coat. "No, you will not, because if you do I will curse you and yours for all eternity."
"Go. Go! Take the child."
"Now, Harrison," Leah urged. "Let's take him now."
"For the love of God, he's in the middle of the village! We can't get in there safely and get out. If Kolheek sees us—"
"This man will get the boy! This man will bring him to his mother," Two Halves volunteered. "Do not curse us. Do not curse the bloodline of my father's people!"
Harrison stood in indecision.
"Yes," she whispered. "Let him bring William to me."
"You can't trust this man," Harrison argued releasing Two Halves so suddenly that he nearly fell. "Look at him! He's the one who bought the boy from the English in the first place!"
Leah turned her fiery gaze on Two Halves, pushing her hood off her shoulders to let her red hair tumble down her back. She took a threatening step toward him, no longer afraid of the Mohawk. She had found her son and no man was going to keep her from him, not this savage, not a village of savages.
Two Halves took a step backward in fear, making a sign to ward off evil.
"The Mohawk will do as we say," she said softly, "because the risk is too great if he doesn't. The boy isn't worth your soul, is he, Two Halves?"
"The boy is not worth," Two Halves repeated.
"Then go get him. Don't tell him I'm here. Just bring him to me and we'll go."
"It will be hard to get the boy away from Asare. He . . . he does not trust this man."
"Do it!" Leah threatened. "I don't care how, just bring me my son!"
Two Halves made a half circle around Leah and Harrison and started back toward the communal campfire.
The moment he was out of earshot, Harrison grabbed her arm roughly. "I told you to let me handle this. I told you—"
"And I told you"—she snatched her arm away—"that I will never ever be controlled by a man again. Not by my father, not by Edmund, not even by you!" She prodded his chest with her index finger. "I made a decision. We get William out now. I don't trust Kolheek to wait until dawn. It's our best chance."
"And if you're wrong?"
She lifted her lashes to look at him. "Then I'll live with it the rest of my days, won't I?"
For a moment Leah thought he would challenge her again, but then he glanced away, exhaling. He ran his hand over his head, tugging at the black braid he wore down his back. "Two Halves brings him to you and you run. I'll cover your backs."
"All right."
"What? You're not going to argue with me this time?"
She walked past him so that she could see Two Halves as he approached the Mohawk campfire. "I only argue when you're wrong." She pointed. "Look, he's nearly there. He hasn't spoken to anyone. I told you he would do it. You really had him frightened with that nonsense about robbing souls."
"The Mohawk are a superstitious lot."
She surveyed the crowd of Indians still dancing. "I don't see Kolheek. Maybe he is dr—"
No sooner were the words out of her mouth, then she saw him. "Harrison," Leah whispered.
"Kolheek?"
All she could do was nod. There he was, not ten feet from William and the gray-haired man Two Halves called Asare. Kolheek stood in the shadows, his arms crossed over his chest, watching. He looked stone cold sober.
Two Halves had almost reached William.
Kolheek looked in another direction. Two young Mohawk maids dancing in the snow together had caught his eye.
"Just a little further," Leah breathed. "Please, God."
Two Halves leaned over and whispered something into the old man's ear. William was still seated. He ate from a wooden bowl scooping food with his fingers.
Asare lifted his head staring out across the fire into the darkness where Leah and Harrison stood.
Leah held her breath.
Asare leaned and spoke to William. William shook his head.
Asare spoke again, this time putting William's hand in Two Halves's.
"Please William," Leah murmured. "Come to me. Come to me, son."
But William was still shaking his head. He threw down the wooden bowl.
Leah looked back to Kolheek. He was watching Asare and Two Halves with sudden interest.
"No," Leah whispered. "No." She could feel Harrison's hand on her shoulder.
"Run. You understand?" Harrison asked. "When you get the boy. You run."
Leah didn't know who made the first move, Kolheek or Two Halves.
Suddenly Two Halves scooped William up out of Asare's lap and ran. Kolheek leaped out of the darkness, shoving dancers aside. The gathering broke into mayhem.
Sky Feather appeared, darting in fron
t of Kolheek to race after his father.
Kolheek gave a blood-curdling howl. Leah saw the knife slip from his hand. It arced and hit home in Sky Feather's thick neck. The Indian fell with the terrifying scream of a dying man.
Asare ran after Two Halves and William, dodging through the crowd of confused Mohawks. Indians dressed in buckskins appeared out of nowhere. They had to be Kolheek's men. Leah cringed at the first sound of musket fire. Feathered arrows whistled through the air.
"Leah, run!" Harrison shouted, shoving her.
Leah shook her head, holding out her arms. She wasn't leaving without William. Not when he was so close. Two Halves was still running toward her with the screaming William still in his arms.
Kolheek ran past Sky Feather, who lay face first in the snow. As he passed him he reached down and twisted his knife cruelly before pulling it out of the Mohawk's neck. The Mohawk gave one last rattling cry, his body quaking with convulsions, and then he fell face down, dead.
Time seemed to stand still as Leah stood, helpless.
She saw the stain of red on the long steel blade as Kolheek wiped it on his legging. She saw William open his mouth to scream and scream again, only his voice was lost in the cacophony of frightening sounds. Men fell. Women and children ran for the safety of their lodges. Blood stained the snow.
"Leah!" Harrison shouted over his shoulder as he ran into the light. "Go. I'll get him!"
"William!" Leah cried, covering her ears with her hands to block out the terrifying screams of dying men.
The second time Kolheek threw the hunting knife it sank into Two Halves's back. The Mohawk went down on one knee, with William still clutched in his arms. Leah could see Harrison sprinting toward her son, but he was still so far away. He would never make it before Kolheek did.
Then out of nowhere came the gray-haired man, Asare. "Aeana!" he cried.
Tumbling into the snow head first, William did a somersault and sprang up. He ran toward the man, his arms out, headed in the opposite direction from Leah.
Leah held out her hands, feeling him slip from her grasp. "William! No! I'm here," she screamed. "This way!"
Asare scooped him up with the agility of a man half his age and before Kolheek could reach them, he disappeared into the frenzied crowd of Mohawks now in the midst of contending with Kolheek's renegades.
Unable to stand where she was another instant, Leah drew her pistol from the back waist of her leggings and ran into the chaos.
Flintlock muskets sounded and the smell of black powder and burnt flesh filled the air. A dead man with a war club embedded in his chest fell in front her, but she leaped over him. Her mind was focused on William and the blur of his frightened face as the Mohawk carrying him ran.
"Let him go, old man," Kolheek shouted menacingly. "Let the boy go or you die."
Asare ran as fast as he had ever run in his life, William cradled in his arms, headed for the cover of the woods. "I let him go and I die," he called over his shoulder.
Leah didn't know where the hatchet came from, perhaps one of his comrades, but suddenly she saw it in Kolheek's hand. He released it with the ease an arrow slips from a bow. The hatchet flew end over end, its feathers trailing on a rawhide string. It seemed to take forever to cross the chasm between Kolheek and the man who was trying to save her son.
Then she heard the sickening thud as the stone-bladed hatchet hit the older man squarely between his shoulder blades. Blood splattered across his leather tunic. He took another step, and unbelievably another before he stumbled. "Run my Aeana," Asare cried, pushing him out of his arms. "Run from the evil."
"Harrison!" Leah screamed as Kolheek descended upon her young son. "Stop him!"
His knife clutched in his hand, Harrison leaped through the air.
"Look out!" Leah called as another Indian bore down on him, swinging a war club over his head.
Harrison dodged his attacker and flung himself onto Kolheek's back.
William screamed as he hit the ground, the weight of the two men on his back.
"Run, Wills!" Leah screeched. "Run!"
"Mama?" William scrambled out from under Kolheek and Harrison who were now in hand to hand combat. "Mama?" he cried wildly from his knees, searching for her in the crowd of battling Mohawks.
"Here!"
William caught sight of her and his face lit up. He fought to get off the snowy ground. "Mama!"
William was nearly out of Kolheek's reach when the Shawnee reached out and caught his ankle.
William screamed, spinning around to pummel his captor. "Let me go, you bloody redskin!"
Leah dodged two Mohawks, her gaze fixed on her son. Harrison lay back on the ground, half dazed from a blow to the head.
"Let him go, Kolheek!" Leah shouted. She came to a halt in the snow. Her cloak was gone, lost in the confusion. Despite the cold, sweat ran in rivulets from her temples. She squared her shoulders beading in on Kolheek's chest. He still had William's ankle, but he was staring at her. "Let him go," she said softly, knowing she now had his attention.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Harrison getting to his feet, his knife poised in his hand.
"Kolheek let him go," Leah said again. "Let him go or I'll shoot."
Kolheek threw back his head, his laughter echoing in her mind. She saw him pulling her son through the snow by one leg.
She fired.
The impact of the lead ball sent Kolheek tumbling backward. Blood streaked the snow.
Harrison scooped William up in his arms.
Kolheek stumbled to his feet and ran for the cover of the forest.
"William," Leah cried, throwing her arms out to him.
Harrison ran toward her, hanging on tightly to her crying child.
Leah threw her arms around them both, sobbing with relief. "Wills, Wills!"
Harrison let the boy slip through his arms until his moccasins touched the snow. Leah caught him up, pulling him against her. "Oh, Wills. Praise God. You're safe."
Harrison detached himself from the two of them and walked away, his body bloody and battered, his jaw rigid.
"Why in Christ's name didn't you tell me, Leah?" he whispered harshly as he passed her. "Why?"
Chapter Twenty-one
Leah didn't know how long she stood there holding William in her arms, breathing in the familiar scent of his hair, rubbing her cheek against the top of his head. "Thank you, thank you, dear God," she whispered over and over again.
The fighting had stopped and the green smoke of the flintlocks was beginning to clear from the air. Kolheek's men were all dead, laying in the snow around the burning campfire. The Mohawks were tending to their wounded. No one seemed to care that Leah just stood there in the middle of the confusion. She was afraid to let go of William for fear it was all a dream.
"I'm sorry you had to come so far to get me." William sniffed. "I was going to come home, Mama. I was. I was just biding my time until I could escape."
"I know, I know," Leah murmured, rocking him in her arms, his head pressed against her bosom. "It's all right." She kissed the top of his head, smoothing his dark brown hair that felt so much like Harrison's. She just couldn't believe that after all this time, after so many miles he was in her arms again. "You're safe now," she crooned. "You're safe."
Through tears of joy, Leah looked up to see two women carrying the man called Asare. She loosened her grip on her son, watching the women walk by. "The gray-haired man, he was trying to save you," she said softly. "Who was he?"
"Asare, that's what he's called," William told his mother.
Leah saw that the older of the two women was crying. How terrible of me to stand here bathing in my happiness when men have died, she thought. She took William's hand in hers and followed the Mohawk women, hoping there was something she could do to help. If it hadn't been for this Asare, Kolheek might have taken her son from her forever.
"I'm so sorry," Leah said walking beside the women. "Can't I help?"
The older woman look
ed up at her, her black eyes filled with tears of sorrow. "There is no help for this man but the help of Ni yoh." She smiled sadly. "Come into our lodge. My husband would want you to come and rest your moccasins."
"I couldn't bother you. Not—"
"It is our way," the older woman answered simply, her graying braids swinging as she spoke.
With a nod, Leah and William followed the women into a lodge where they laid Asare on a hide mat by a hearth of burning embers.
The older woman looked up at Leah from where she crouched beside Asare's body. "I am Running Rabbit," she said slowly in her best English. "This is my husband, Asare."
Leah knelt, still holding onto William's hand. Asare's face was a deathly gray. "Is he still alive?" she asked.
Running Rabbit took her husband's wrinkled hand and brought it to her lips. "Ea. His chest yet rises and falls with his spirit."
Leah studied his face. It was a handsome face, despite what the years had done to it. She leaned over him. "I don't know if you can hear me, but I want to thank you for what you did," she whispered gently. "You saved my son's life. You were a stranger, but you were there for him when I couldn't be."
Asare didn't open his eyes, but he smiled.
Running Rabbit patted his hand. "My husband-love brought the white child home. He bought him from Two Halves. He nursed his sickness." She choked back tears. "Old fool, he thought to make the boy his son."
Leah smiled a bittersweet smile. "Then my thanks are ten-fold to you both. Thank you for looking after him and keeping him safe until I could make it here."
Asare made a sound deep in his throat, his eyelashes fluttering. "Tey a ken i te ro?"
"What is it, old man?" Running Rabbit murmured, obviously trying to remain strong. "Speak up."
He opened his eyes. "A . . . Aeana."
Leah shook her head, looking up, not understanding what he said.
"The boy," Running Rabbit explained. "He called him his Little Bow. He wants the boy."
Leah looked to her son and nodded.
William frowned and made no move toward the dying man.
Leah gave him a gentle nudge. "Wills . . . "
Whispered Promise Page 21