Gradually Alexandra's heart slowed to a normal beat. Of course she couldn't go back to sleep. Her mind was too filled with thought. If what Two Crows had said was true, then Hunter had not caught him . . . or Hunter was dead.
She immediately dismissed that idea. Of course Hunter wasn't dead. He was too intelligent to let a man like this Captain Cain outsmart him. He was too fierce a fighter to lose.
But what had happened then? If Two Crows was telling the truth and Cain was approaching the fort, where was Hunter? Why wasn't he here? Who would protect her now? Certainly not that mealy-mouthed Lieutenant Winslow.
She looked at the musket leaning against the stone of the fireplace. She'd protect herself. Cain wouldn't take her out of this fort. Not alive.
She rose and dressed quickly, her teeth chattering in the frigid air. She looked up at the external wall. The first rays of dawn were just beginning to spill into the tiny room. Two Crows had broken the glass pane to squeeze through the window and now an October breeze blew through it. She tossed the last log from the hearth onto the red coals. Then she picked up the knife Hunter had left her as an eating utensil and slipped into her leather belt. She brushed her hand against the carved hilt, wondering if Hunter himself had made it.
She left the room with determined strides. First she would check on Sara and the baby and see if She-Who-Stands-Strongly needed her, then she'd speak with Lieutenant Winslow. Serving as commanding officer with his captain gone, it would be Lieutenant Winslow's duty to protect her against Captain Cain.
An hour later Alexandra walked into the officer's dining room. Lieutenant Winslow sat at a crude trestle table eating a bowl of corn mush. He was the only person in the drafty room.
"Lieutenant," she called from the doorway.
He turned. His eyes were bloodshot. "Madame?"
She wondered to herself just how the English army had gotten itself into such a position that they had men like Winslow and Cain serving as commanders of the outposts. It was no wonder Mother England was losing its grip on the American Colonies. "Lieutenant, it's necessary that I speak to you immediately."
"Is there something you need? See the old woman. She'll tend to it." He turned back to his bowl and pushed a spoon of mush into his mouth.
Alexandra shifted her weight from one foot to the other. She was caught between remaining the proper lady she had been brought up to be and being the forceful woman it was obviously necessary to be here in the colonies. "Lieutenant."
She heard him sigh. "Yes?"
She approached the trestle table. "Lieutenant, I have reason to believe that a man will try to forcefully take me from this fort."
He frowned. "What was that?"
She rolled her eyes heavenward. "I said, someone's going to kidnap me. A man my husband is tracking."
The dark-haired lieutenant picked up a small pewter pitcher and poured a healthy serving of honey over his half-eaten bowl of corn mush. "And what man is that?"
She stared at him, forcing him to look up at her. "Captain Cain."
He immediately dropped his gaze to his bowl. He laid down his pewter spoon. It clinked as it hit the corner of the bowl. "I—"
She almost laughed. He was afraid of Cain. She could tell by the look on his pale, hungover face. "You sent him away last time he came, you told my husband so. Just send him away again. Don't allow him within the confines of your walls. Better yet, arrest the whoreson."
The lieutenant blinked in reaction to her sharp words. "I . . . I have no orders to arrest Captain Cain . . . no authorization. My captain, he . . . he'll return within days."
"Are you telling me that you'll not protect me against this man? You gave my husband your word as an Englishman that I would be safe within these walls and now you tell me you have no authorization to do so?"
Winslow pushed his bowl away and rose in a halfhearted protest. "No. No, of course not. It's . . . it's my duty to protect the citizens of England. I'm simply saying Captain Cain still remains a fellow officer."
"A fellow officer who's gone wrong. You know it, every Englishman for a hundred miles knows it. Someone's got to stop him, why not you, Lieutenant?"
"Again, I must say that despite the accusations—"
"Accusations?" Alexandra came around the table toward the lieutenant, who immediately began to make a retreat. "I'm not talking about accusations! I'm talking about facts. He kidnaps and sells women, for God's sake! He rapes and murders!" She prodded him with her finger. "This Captain Cain says he owns me. He's going to try and carry me off, a defenseless woman! My husband has gone after this very same man. I don't know if he's dead or what's happened to him, all I know is that right now you may be the only thing standing between me and Cain. You may be the only one who can save my life. Now are you or are you not going to do so?"
"Of . . . of course. Yes." He stared at her as if unsure whether or not she was of stable mind. "If . . . if the captain comes to the fort, I'll simply turn him away as I did earlier in the week. I . . . I'll tell him that due to the accusations I . . . I cannot give him asylum."
"You'd better do more than that! You'd best close up your gates and set out guards. You'd best—"
The door swung open and a young soldier stepped into the common room. He saluted the lieutenant and then nodded in Alexandra's direction. "Sorry to interrupt sir, but a sentry says someone is approaching, at least two dozen men, maybe more, some of them Indians."
"It's him!" Alexandra exclaimed. "It's Cain, I tell you!" She grabbed Lieutenant Winslow's sleeve. "I told you he was coming!"
The lieutenant tried to gather his composure. "Did the sentry say if it was Captain Cain and his men?"
"He didn't say, sir."
The lieutenant walked around Alexandra and picked up his uniform cap off the trestle table. "I want my most experienced men at the gate in two minutes, Corporal." He pulled his cap over his head. "If this is indeed the captain, we'll meet him outside the walls. I'll not permit men of his ilk to threaten the peacefulness of this fort while I'm in command."
Alexandra stared at the officer in disbelief. "Lieutenant, have you heard nothing I've said? This man is dangerous!"
"Ma'am, I would suggest you return to the safety of your quarters until I've dealt with this matter."
Alexandra could do nothing but stand and stare as the two men left the room. A sob rose in her throat. Where was Hunter? Who would protect her from Cain now? But she was only paralyzed for a moment by the commanding officer's stupidity, and then she raced for the door. If Winslow wouldn't protect her, she'd protect herself. She had too much to live for to die now.
Down the maze of dark hallways she ran. She ducked into the room of She-Who-Stands-Strongly, spoke rapidly and then raced for her own room.
With her musket in her hand, the ammunition bag thrown over her shoulder and her knife in her belt she burst through the outside door and into the fort's courtyard. A powder of snow lay on the muddy ground and the air was frigid, but even without her cloak, Alexandra took little notice.
Lieutenant Winslow had about a dozen men mustered and was just marching through the open gates when Alexandra came around the corner of the log building. In the distance she could see a flank of soldiers and Indians approaching. A handsome man in an English uniform led them.
He had to be Cain.
"Captain Cain," Winslow called as he led his men outside the gates. "I must ask you and your men to halt."
Alexandra crouched behind a rain barrel. From here she could see and hear but not be seen. Out of the corner of her eye she saw She-Who-Stands-Strongly running along the far wall toward the gate.
Cain halted as did his men. "Lieutenant, so good to see you again. I must ask you if you have within these walls a woman by the name of Alexandra. A tall white woman. Dark hair. Comely I'm told."
"I do."
"Then I must ask that you hand her over."
"I'm sorry, I cannot do that," Winslow responded, his voice wavering. "Her husband has left her in my ca
re."
"Turn her over to me and I'll take my men and go in peace."
Even from this distance Alexandra could see Cain's men tensing. Their hands were moving to their weapons. Winslow was a fool. He was going to die. They were all going to die.
Alexandra looked across the compound at She-Who-Stands-Strongly. The old woman had reached the gate and now hung in the shadows of the wall, her ragged hooded cloak all but obscuring her withered frame.
"I must repeat myself, Captain. I cannot turn over any woman to you."
"Where's this Hunter of the Shawnee? Send him out here!"
Winslow straightened his spine. "I am the commanding officer of this fort and I make the decisions. Now leave, Cain, before I'm forced to take measures against you."
Alexandra didn't know what happened next. Did Winslow move to draw his weapon? The next thing she knew a war hatchet was whirling end over end toward the lieutenant. It struck him in the forehead with a sickening thud.
Alexandra bolted as the Iroquois standing behind Cain broke into a frenzy of macabre hoots. The two lines of men dissolved and the first musket shots were fired. Feathered arrows whistled through the air.
Alexandra dropped her musket and ran up behind the gate door, hitting it with full force. She-Who-Stands-Strongly already had her side of the gate halfway closed.
"The gates! The gates!" Cain shouted above the din of shouting men and firing muskets. "Get the gates! They're closing them!"
An Indian shaved bald save for a long black forelock sprinted for the fort gateway. The two women met and ran side by side as they raced to slam the heavy hinged doors shut. The Indian thrust one hand through the opening and Alexandra screamed. The only way to close the gates and secure the fort was through these doors.
Without thinking she drew the knife from her belt and sliced at the Iroquois's hand, carving a long gash and spilling his blood into the snow.
He howled and pulled back.
The moment he withdrew his hand, the two women pushed the gates shut and threw down the iron latches. The Iroquois on the far side of the gate was still howling and cursing as Alexandra dropped the last iron gate latch and ran for her musket.
Chapter Eighteen
Alexandra snatched up her musket from the muddy ground and raced for the ladder that led up to a narrow walkway high on the fortress wall.
Several soldiers came running into the courtyard from within the fort living quarters.
"What the hell's going on?" a young man with blond hair and half-buttoned breeches called.
Alexandra took the ladder rungs two at a time. "Captain Cain and a band of Iroquois," she called over her shoulder. "We're being attacked."
Spotting no one else who seemed to be in charge, the young man came after her. "The gates secured?"
"Yes!"
He followed her up the ladder, buttoning up his breeches. "What about the lieutenant?"
"Dead."
"Jesus!" He clamped his hand over his mouth. "Pardon me, ma'am."
"It's all right."
"Where're the other men?"
"Outside the walls."
Alexandra reached the walkway and peered over the jagged points of the fortress wall. She squeezed her eyes shut and swallowed against the bile that rose in her throat. She could almost smell the sickeningly sweet scent of blood. Thoughts of the slaughter of her cousin and uncle flashed in her mind but she pushed them aside. There was no time to feel sorry for herself. There were women and children inside these fortress walls to be protected.
Alexandra took a deep cleansing breath and forced herself to peer over the wall. Below, men fought hand-to-hand. Crimson stained the soft white snow in angry splashes. Lieutenant Winslow's body lay in an unnatural heap, kicked aside in a struggle, his eyes staring heavenward, glassy and unseeing. Three more bodies littered the ground.
Lieutenant Winslow's men were losing . . . badly.
The remaining three soldiers still fought Cain's men and the Iroquois, but were backed against the wall now and had nowhere to go. The same scalp-locked savage that had tried to push his way through the gate tossed a spear, striking a dark-haired soldier in the chest. It sliced through his body to sink into the mushy ground behind him. The man screamed, then gurgled and was silent. Steam immediately rose from the wound and Alexandra turned away in horror.
"Ma'am." The young soldier who had followed her up onto the walkway touched her leather-fringed sleeve hesitantly. "Ma'am."
She opened her eyes. "He wants me. Captain Cain has come for me."
The young man peered over the side of the wall. A feathered arrow whizzed past his head and he drew back. "The name's Eli, Eli Jacobs."
"I closed the gate on the men. I didn't know what else to do," she said, dazed. She looked at the boy. "Now they're all going to die."
"You did the right thing. Those redskins come into this fort and more men will die. They'll carry off the women. The Mohawks do it every time they pass through here." Eh glanced over the spiked wall again. "Now what?" he said when he looked back at her. "Those were all the officers. They're all dead now."
Alexandra pressed her back to the rough bark that had been left on the logs when they'd been cut down. She panted, trying to catch her breath and get her wits about her. "All of them?" she asked, unable to bear looking over the wall again.
"All of them," he breathed.
She exhaled. "We defend her then," she said firmly. "We defend the fort. What other choice do we have?"
Eli touched his chest. Though he was probably sixteen or seventeen, he still had the body of a boy. "Us? We're going to hold off a madman and a band of murdering Iroquois?"
She nodded. "My husband will be back. I know he will. We just have to hold on. He was going after Cain. When he realizes the captain's doubled back, he'll be here."
Eli took another look over the wall. The unholy cries of the Iroquois had slackened. A man groaned but then was silenced with the echo of a musket ball. Eli looked back at Alexandra. "But the officers are dead. Who's going to tell us what to do?"
She didn't even consider the matter. "I am," she said, heading for the ladder, her musket still in her hand. "Come on. We've got work to do."
Eli followed her down the ladder and across the yard. The sun was beginning to melt in the morning sunshine, melting the snow and turning the entire compound into a mire pit. "Assemble every man, woman and child here in the yard," she commanded, walking through a gaggle of geese and scattering them as she went. "Now."
Eli lifted his hand to salute and then dropped it sheepishly. "Yes, yes, ma'am."
"Alexandra," she called after him as he ran for the living quarters."
"What?" he hollered back.
"Alexandra, that's my name. Alexandra—" She felt silly when she realized she still didn't know what her married name was. "You can just call me Alexandra," she finished.
Eli walked away and she shook her head. Once she got through this, once Hunter returned and Cain was dead, she would find out what her name was. She'd sit Hunter down and make him tell her his true identity. But right now she had more important things to worry about.
"Hey, you," she ordered across the compound at another soldier.
He turned around. "Me?"
Good heavens, she thought, there's no one left here but children. This boy appeared even younger than Eli. "Yes, you! Take your musket and go up there." She pointed at the ladder. "Keep a watch on Captain Cain and his men, but keep your head down or you'll catch a musket ball between your ears."
The boy stood staring at Alexandra, as if questioning her authority.
She didn't have time to explain herself to anyone right now or to consider how she must look ordering them around. Though this young man was an English soldier, he was still barely old enough to have had his apron strings cut. "Did you hear me?" she demanded, taking a fast step toward him.
Startled, the boy jumped and raced for the ladder. "Yes, ma'am!"
A few minutes later Alexandra stood in
front of a line of people in the compound. Eli swore this was every living soul inside the fortress walls. There were twenty-three in all; six boy-soldiers, one soldier with a broken leg, six wives or whores of the men who had died outside the walls or gone to Annapolis with the commander of the fort, four Indian women, She-Who-Stands-Strongly, Sara and her new babe, and three small children.
"Sara, you needn't have come out here in this chill," Alexandra said quietly.
The young girl had her baby tied safely in an Indian sling beneath her beaver-pelt cloak. "I'm right as rain," she said, standing proudly. "I can help, I swear I can. Little Matthew, he's happy as he can be, long as he's got his mama's teat."
Alexandra couldn't resist a smile. Despite the girl's crude words, she found her admirable. She also couldn't help thinking how sensible the Indians were about their children. A baby was content as long as he was allowed to sleep against his mother's breast, wasn't he?
Alexandra nodded, giving Sara's hand a squeeze. "Well, if you're certain, I could use you."
The girl smiled back. "I'm certain. I got to protect my son. He's all I got."
With a nod, Alexandra stepped back to face the others. For a moment she studied their faces. Everyone looked scared, even the seasoned soldier with the broken leg . . . that was, everyone looked scared but She-Who-Stands-Strongly. The old Indian woman stood proudly, her sagging breasts thrown out, an Indian spear with feathers dangling from the hilt clutched in her hand.
"All right," Alexandra said quietly, hoping her voice didn't reflect the stifling fear she fought in her chest. "This is the way it is. Captain Cain has come for me. But you all know that if he gets inside these walls with those Iroquois, someone else might die or at least be injured."
The old soldier murmured some words of agreement beneath his breath.
"Now the way I look at it," she went on, "is that all we have to do is keep them from scaling the walls. Help is coming. My husband will be here, today, I hope, tomorrow at the latest. Then there's the commander of this fort."
His Wild Heart Page 19
