The strange tingling in his limbs began to magnify, and he felt a bit dizzy. In mere seconds, Grey Wolf found himself sitting on his rump in the leaves, looking up with surprise at the blue sky etched above the hungry reach of the canopy. He felt the fresh, cold water from the skin touching the backs of his thighs as his blurring eyesight simply faded away.
Could the others see him, laid out on the cool, wet ground? He could still hear the murmur of their voices from behind him although he could not clear his eyes of the unfamiliar, shrouding mist. His lips would not obey him, and call out to White Lynx for help. Grey Wolf realized then, that he could not move at all.
Although alarmed, he did not fight the state he was in. Quite suddenly, he could feel his sister somewhere inside this strange and churning darkness. Katari was with him. His twin was alive, and Grey Wolf’s heart swelled with this new clarity. But Katari was in grave need, he could feel it intensely. She called to him. And as her brother, he had always, always, answered her cry for help. By the Creator, he would not fail her this time, either.
Grey Wolf observed mutely as his love for Katari, and his intense desire to protect her balled up from within the darkness and released forth like a gush of warm water, or the pulse of red blood. On the wings of a blackbird, it flew up and away, into the depths of the forest beyond.
~~~~~
The shrieking caw of a crow brought her to awareness. Katari cringed as the feeling returned to her fingers in a tingling rush, along with the stinging little pricks of a thousand thorns. She groaned.
The sharp sound brought her eyes open and her head up. Katari ached all over and was cold and numb under the pelt. Worse than that, Nicholas was no longer beneath her. She felt a rush of burning tears at the thought that they had come and taken his body away from her.
Determinedly, Katari rose to her hands and knees, and moved toward the opening of the little lodge. It was easy to see now, for the light of the afternoon was just beyond the door and the smoke had long faded. How long had she been asleep?
She emerged, blinking and hesitant, into the warm, forest day. When her eyes had adjusted to the sunlight, she swung her head toward the sound of running water. Nicholas sat on the massive root of the hemlock, with his feet dangling into the waters below. He had dressed himself in buckskin pants, but they were rolled up to the knee. He remained shirtless, and his broad back was smeared sooty from her smudge fire.
The rush of relief she felt was overwhelming. The crunch of leaves and twigs beneath her hands and knees brought Nicholas’s head around sharply in her direction. His face registered surprise, and he rose from his seat by the spring. She cried out with emotion.
“Katari, are you okay?” Nicholas called. He moved slowly…but he was up and moving. Moving! She sat back against her heels and nodded tremulously.
“Katari, here,” he said, grabbing up a blanket and wrapping it around her shoulders gently. “You have no clothes,” he told her.
“Oh,” she said, unable to think of a coherent response.
“When I woke, I had none either. I do not remember what happened, Katari. Do you?”
“Le Tousse…hurt you badly,” she whispered.
He looked down at the stitched wound in his chest, just below his heart. “Yes, I recall the blade… and the sound of a gun. But nothing after that. Katari, did everyone live?”
“Yes, we lived,” she consoled him. “But Le Tousse did not, after I shot him.”
“Opichi is unharmed? And Pétant?”
“They are unharmed, Nicholas.” She smiled up at him.
He squatted down in front of her, grimacing a bit in his pain, and brushed back a strand of her debris-laden hair. “What the hell happened to us?” he whispered. His grey-blue eyes had a look of wonder. “Katari, you slept for over a day. And I do not know how long I was unconscious before that.”
Over a day? Katari had not known that the state of a healing trance could take such a toll on the body. What had happened, exactly? She wished that she could seek her mother’s counsel. Katari had been sure that Nicholas had died in her arms before she could enter the trance.
“I think, perhaps, that Father Allouez would call it a miracle,” she returned softly.
Nicholas gestured to the sweat lodge. “This was all you, Katari. I know enough about your people to recognize what this is. You are the miracle.”
Tears slid quietly down her cheeks as she went into his arms.
~~~~~
The coolness of the water on her skin had never felt so divine. Two days earlier, Katari had not wanted to invade the sanctity of the spring’s embrace. Today it seemed utterly right, and just, to do so.
Nicholas washed the dirt of the smudge and the stickiness of the berry poultice from her hair and body. She helped him to clean off, as well. Running her hands over the corded muscles of his arms and back had been a pleasurable experience, indeed. His wound was still very raw and tender, and his body stiff, but Katari had persuaded him that the spring water was quite beneficial, and necessary, to his continued healing.
The fact that they were naked together shamed her not at all. Even Nicholas had seemed to lose his ‘gentle man’s’ reluctance to the concept that bare skin was wicked. He pulled her, fresh and scrubbed, into his arms and kissed her thoroughly on the lips. Katari’s heart surged and lifted with the joy of such a sensation.
“I am just happy this water is so cold,” he murmured against her mouth with a chuckle, “for we need to get back to the settlement, and find out what is going on.”
Katari pouted. “I do not wish to know what is going on. I am content to stay right here, for the rest of the day. And perhaps into the morrow, as well.”
Nick rested his hands on her waist. “I am hungry, and I have no feeling left from the waist below,” he said. “How does your skin stay so warm in this frigid water?”
The gold lights in her eyes danced at him. “I am Katari of the Minsi, with the blood of warriors in my veins,” she sing-songed. “I have bathed in waters like this in the middle of the heavy, winter snows.”
He kissed her nose. “You tell such tall tales,” he countered. “Yet everybody believes your talk, and follows your every word.”
“As will you,” she returned.
Nicholas tugged her hair playfully, and then kissed her upturned mouth one more time. “We must go. I do not even know how long we have been here.”
Katari opened her eyes and stared steadily into his. “Nicholas, I do not wish to have you leave me again.”
Nick’s gaze glinted back at her. “It certainly seems as if we are now ensnared in each other’s lives quite effectively,” he murmured. “I will not leave you.”
Giggling now, they waded carefully to the edge of the stream-bank. When Katari raised her eyes, she was met with a wall of brown and black equine legs. Her heart stuttered as she stared further upward over arched necks and smooth muzzles. Chogan, White Lynx, and Grey Wolf looked down at her. They did not appear pleased at all.
Chapter 13
“Mingan? Am I dreaming?”
Katari’s brother dismounted and helped to pull her from the water, all while draping a blanket over her shoulders with one fluid movement. He took her firmly by the chin and peered into her eyes. “You are unharmed, Katari?”
“Yes, Mingan!” She wrapped the skin closer around her as she became aware of her wet and disorderly appearance. She then saw Pétant and Opichi standing hesitantly behind the group, looking rather uncomfortable.
At a loss, she gave them a little wave. “Nick is well, too!” she called out. Their solemn expressions were not comforting.
“Katari, why are you here bathing with this man? This Ojibwe woman has said that he was gravely injured and that you were trying to heal him. But now, you are playing in the waters with him? What is the truth here?” Grey Wolf eyed Nicholas up and down distrustfully where he stood at the edge of the water.
Pétant strode forward and helped his friend out of the water gently, hand
ing him a blanket as well. “I don’t know what the hell they are saying,” the red-haired man grumbled, “but I do not like the expressions on their faces.”
Katari gestured to the stitched wound on Nicholas’s bare chest. “This man, Nicholas, received a mortal wound in combat, Mingan. Protecting us. He is a good man. I performed the healing ritual. The smudge. The trance. It worked this time, brother, I did not fail!”
A glimmer of recognition passed across her brother’s face. “I felt it,” he murmured. “I knew that you called for help.”
“How did you find us?” Katari asked.
Again, Grey Wolf scowled over at the White men. “With great difficulty and much coin. Why did these men take you from New Amsterdam?”
“They saved me, brother. They are good men, as I have said. They also rescued Opichi, the Robin of the Ojibwe people, daughter of the chief known as Red Elk. The White bear-man has taken her as a wife, and very willingly, too. In order that he may protect her always.”
White Lynx tossed his head, and his long hair laden with feathers whooshed audibly. “Enough babble. Katari, this is too much information to digest all at once. And you still have not answered the most important question.” He shot a seething look at Nicholas. “Why are you here – naked – with this White trapper, Katari?”
Katari rolled her eyes and huffed. “I explained this already; I performed a healing ritual. We were cleaning the smudge and his wound. I do not believe I have seen you bathe with clothes either, White Lynx,” she added, haughtily and with a sniff.
Clasping the blanket tightly about her, she strode with her chin up toward the sweat lodge to locate her clothing. Once dressed, she found Nicholas’s clothing and returned it to him. The bloodstains on his buckskins gave her a momentary chill.
She pushed the memories away forcefully. “Let us return to the settlement, and enjoy food and drink,” she announced to the group. “We have not eaten in two entire days.”
~~~~~
Nicholas Belline sat back in his chair, realizing that he had had quite enough of attempting to speak his mind in the midst of such a great language barrier. Although Katari was well-practiced at translation, she was frequently drawn into lightening fast arguments with her brother, or with the other brave who continued to glower so intently at him and Pétant so intently. It was becoming evident that this “White Lynx” harbored affections for Katari, and considered Nicholas to be a full-out adversary.
“Ahchipinakwsuwàk yuki awènik,” the frowning brave muttered.
Opichi whispered to him, “They say you look funny!” She crossed her arms and glared back while sitting staunchly between Nick and Pétant. Opichi was nothing if not loyal.
“And what does Katari say to this?” he questioned back under his breath.
“She defends you,” Opichi nodded in approval, “she says that you are mighty the Coureur de bois, Frenchman from the northern wilds, runners of the wood. Even stronger and braver than most warriors, in fact.”
“Oh, good Christ,” Pétant growled. “Does she mean to have us go hand to hand with these warriors? They bluster and preen, and are not known to back down from any challenge to their manhood.”
“Opichi,” Nicholas asked resolutely, “Will you please attempt to tell them that Katari is free to return to her people at any time. Right now, in fact. She is not tied to any of us. I will give her coin for the journey if it pleases him.”
With wide eyes, Opichi looked at him, as if assessing his sanity. Her look told him that she knew his heart quite well, and what these words would do to him, should they be uttered aloud. Pétant regarded him strangely, too.
“Are you sure, Nick?” Pétant questioned. “Do you know how she truly feels about all of this?”
Nicholas leaned toward his friend. “It matters not. She has a maiden’s crush, you know this. And you know that she belongs back with her family. She is a gifted healer. A daughter of the chief. A sister. Many things before…this.”
“But most, Katari is woman, Nich-o-las,” Opichi reproached haltingly. His firm and unwavering look made her bite her lower lip, and turn resolutely toward the Minsi warriors. “This man Nicholas has said that Katari should leave with you for her family home. Right away. He would not stop her. He would send her with coin for her journey.”
In unison, all heads swiveled in his direction. He could not help to meet Katari’s wide eyes, just for a moment. Only an hour ago, she had said that she did not wish to leave him, ever. The raw and open pain at his words was there, he saw it, and Nick looked away in shame. Again, he would have to hurt her. But her impetuous nature impeded the very things that were best for her well-being. As it often did.
Nicholas found Grey Wolf’s gaze, and held it. He could see that Katari’s twin had the same elegant and regal nose, and uniquely shaped eyes as she did. Grey Wolf was as distinctively handsome as his sister was uncommonly lovely. Nicholas uttered the two Lenape words that Opichi had taught him earlier. “Welhìk xkwe.” Good woman. The brave smiled at him and nodded in understanding.
Pétant whispered in his ear. “Maiden’s crush or not, I have found that good women are also rather strong willed. You could be in trouble.”
~~~~~
“How could you say such a thing, Nicholas!” Katari railed at him with golden flecked eyes awash with anger. “You do not speak for me! You do not know my mind!” she continued heatedly.
Nick ignored her, and continued to help with the packing her personal things while the others milled about outside in wait. “Would you choose to not see your family again, Katari, and continue to eke out a living here in the wild camps with White trappers?”
“Of course I would see my family, but…” Her voice faltered.
“But what, Katari?” he asked dourly. “It is one thing or the other.”
“No, Nicholas, you must realize that it is not so. I do not wish to leave the three of you this way. I have become… I have grown-” Although she struggled, tears slipped through her lashes and wetted her flushed cheeks. The sight caused him more pain than his throbbing wound.
“As have I, Katari,” he admitted heavily, “but you must understand the importance of your return, Katari. You have a place and a duty with your family. Your being here was an accident. And both of us nearly died in the process.”
She knelt in front of him and filled up his vision with fresh, beaded buckskin and the drape of long, black hair. “This was my one, true adventure, Nicholas,” she whispered. “Just this one chance. I will not be given another. And I do not wish to see this incredible journey at its end.”
“Katari.” Nicholas reached up and brushed her soft cheek, he could not help for it. “You will have many more adventures, of that I am certain. It is in your nature. Hopefully, the rest will be less dangerous.” He smiled, trying to soften the seriousness of the moment.
He watched her fall quiet, and the glints in her eyes dimmed as she hardened her resolve. She took his hand from her hair and patted it. “You are right, Nicholas, this is as it should be. And I am too old to whine like a child for a trinket.” She rose and smoothed her leggings regally.
Then, with a little, composed smile that gripped his heart, Katari picked up the bag of her belongings sitting next to him, and hefted it to her shoulder. “May you be well, always, Nicholas. I will never forget you.”
With that, she was gone from him.
~~~~~
Nicholas sat in front of the hearth, cleaning his guns meticulously, well into the hours of the night. He had wished to be alone, and had thus sent an equally morose pair of newlyweds back to their own room.
The quiet was unsettling. Katari’s presence had always filled this room with energy and light. Even when cranky, bossy, or bored, she left a vibrancy in her wake that had been nearly addictive. Nicholas focused on the fortitude it would take to shore up his heart against the loss he now felt.
Loss? He laughed to himself, wondering how such a ridiculous notion could be so. It was his goal in life
to walk the forests alone and independent of anyone, trapping, drinking, brawling, or whatever he so chose along the way. Pétant had always wanted the same from this wild, new world, but the old bear had changed abruptly. Had Nicholas changed now as well?
It did not really matter because Katari was not meant for him, and that was a certainty. He had stepped far above his means when had first laid down with her in the bedroll. Even though Nicholas had told himself his actions were intended to ease her fever-tremors…well, that was only a half-truth. He had wanted her, he had coveted her, since the first moment her golden eyes had looked into his, and he had seen her beautiful, inner brightness.
Nicholas shook his head. Truly, it had taken everything he had inside to send her away with her brother and White Lynx. Katari had lit up his life, had openly shared her love and gaiety, and had saved his very life when he should have died. She gave of herself so freely. Still, he felt as if he had done the right thing. The honorable thing. Although their destinies had entwined for a little while, they were both born to walk different paths.
Since birth, his path was meant to be walked alone.
~~~~~
“Katari, will you walk with me for a minute?”
Katari jumped at her brother’s approach. Sitting along the creek bed, at a curve where the waters swirled over each other in their tumbled haste to eat away the rocks below, she had heard nothing but the frenzied gurgling. For some reason, the miniature whirlpool had fascinated her. She had dropped leaves into it, and then twigs, always to watch them be twirled and sucked into the vortex beneath.
Savage Journey Page 12
