The Fire Blossom (The Fire Blossom Saga)

by Sarah Lark

  Karl steered the subject toward Cat’s confusing presence. “You worked for Beit, didn’t you? Chris Fenroy told me about that. He was always sorry that he couldn’t find a more suitable job for you.”

  Cat felt her face flush hot. Sometimes she still thought of the clever, lively Englishman. But she calmly told Karl about how her position with the Beits had ended, her acquaintance with Ida, and their time in Sankt Pauli Village. Ida listened silently as Cat described the settlement’s demise.

  “After that, I wanted to go out to the plains and join a Maori tribe. I’d had enough of the Lutherans,” Cat said frankly, “but Ida was pregnant, she wasn’t well, and I couldn’t leave her alone. And then I did that translating for Ottfried and Gibson. I’m not proud of that.”

  Karl told them more about his encounter with Ottfried, Joe, Potter, and the lawyer.

  “And now the two of them are probably in more trouble,” he said finally. “I wouldn’t be too worried about the lawyer. Years could pass before the case is brought before a court. But the chieftain seemed quite determined to me.”

  Cat nodded. “Although I don’t think he’ll resort to violence in the middle of Port Cooper,” she remarked, in part to comfort Ida, who had grown pale again. “And the tohunga is with them, that’s a good sign too. But to appease the Maori, Gibson and Ottfried will need at least one more load of goods. And I wouldn’t expect that the tribe will accept any more of their settlers out here . . .”

  “Ottfried doesn’t have any money left,” Ida said quietly. While Karl had told them about the incident in Port Cooper, she’d emptied a glass of whiskey as well. “What’s he going to do? What’s going to happen to us?”

  Cat shrugged. “I guess Gibson’ll have to advance the money to Ottfried. If he can talk his way out of the trouble, that is. But that man knows how to get his way. Don’t you worry, Ida, it’s going to be fine. Where will you sleep, Karl? We have a comfortable place in the barn.”

  Karl accepted gladly. He moved into Cat’s part of the barn and let himself be lulled by Brandy’s familiar noises. The horse had found dried tussock grass to chew on and was standing contentedly among two other horses, a cow, and two sheep.

  But Karl wasn’t able to enjoy the peace and quiet for long. It was barely dawn when he was woken by the clopping of hooves and the surprised whinnying of the horses. A man hurried in and quickly lit the barn lantern. In the dim light, Karl recognized Ottfried, and Ottfried saw there was someone lying there.

  “Cat?” he asked and stepped closer. “Cat, get up, we—” Stunned, he recognized Karl Jensch. “You! I’ll be damned! A man in my wife’s bed! And her old friend, at that. Where did you come from, Jensch? How dare you show your face here?”

  Karl raised one hand placatingly while putting the other on his shotgun, just in case. “First of all, I’m not in your wife’s bed, but in your maid’s—if you can call her that. I don’t think you hired her. Or do you pay Cat a salary? Second, as you can see, I’m alone. So good morning, Ottfried. Nice to see you. When I came to find you all yesterday, I met your wife and your charming twins. Congratulations on becoming a father. All right, now that we’re having a normal conversation like adults, it’s your turn to ask how I am, what I’ve been up to the last few years.”

  Ottfried stopped him with a wave of his hand. “I have other problems. Get out now, I have to wake Ida.”

  Without giving Karl or his panting, still-saddled horse another glance, he rushed toward the house. Karl quickly led the animal into one of the stalls and put Brandy’s water bucket in front of it before following Ottfried toward the house. He wouldn’t dream of leaving now. It looked as though things were about to get a lot worse.

  “Get up! Cat, put down your stupid knife! I want nothing from you, woman! No time anyway if we want to get out of here unscathed. Pack your things, we have to leave!”

  “Leave? But why?”

  Now Karl saw Ida coming out of the next room, still half-asleep. The young woman had only thrown a shawl over her nightgown, and for the first time since childhood, Karl saw her hair loose, tumbling softly over her shoulders. She was beautiful—despite her pale, worried face, which was touched by a slight flush when she saw Karl appear in the doorway behind her husband.

  “If this is about Karl . . .”

  Ida looked back and forth between the men helplessly, but her husband hadn’t even noticed that his former rival was a witness to the scene.

  “Of course this isn’t about Karl.” Cat appeared behind Ida and hastily tucked her blouse into a skirt she had just pulled on. “This is probably about Gibson. What’s wrong, Ottfried? Did they lock him up?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous!” Ottfried began aimlessly throwing household goods into a wooden chest. “Come on, help me pack! We have to get out of here before Potter sleeps off his whiskey. Gibson made a run for it. He left us to deal with everything, and he took a horse too. Potter even accompanied him to the ship, but somehow he got off, got the horse from the livery stable, and took off. God knows where.”

  “So he doesn’t have any money in the bank in Nelson,” Karl said and stepped inside.

  “No, he doesn’t!” Ottfried raged. “I knew it was a trick. But I thought he’d come up with something! What do you know, anyway? And why are you still here? Get lost, Karl! You’re the last person we need here now!”

  “You let Gibson get away?” Cat asked him. “God, Ottfried, how stupid can you be? You should have forced him to pay!”

  “Should have, should have . . .” Ottfried glared at her angrily. “I thought he—he winked at me. I thought he’d get us out of it somehow. But that doesn’t matter now. Come on! Get your things. In a few hours, Potter’s going to notice I’m gone. If he comes here and wants his money . . .”

  “But we can’t pay him,” Ida whispered. “Or the Maori.”

  “What Maori?” Ottfried asked. “I don’t know about any Maori.”

  “I don’t think you know much of anything,” Karl said calmly. “You don’t even know where you’re going with your wife and children, do you?”

  Ottfried shrugged. “Away from here, for starters. Maybe to Nelson or the North Island. Maybe Australia. That would be good, our families are there.”

  “The ship won’t take you there for nothing,” Karl remarked, while Ida fell into one of the kitchen chairs. The futility of the escape must have been apparent to her. One of the children started to cry, and Cat went to look. A moment later she returned, both babies in her arms.

  “Take them, Ida. I’ll heat some milk. What now, Ottfried? Where are you taking Ida and the girls?” Cat’s heart ached, but she was pretty sure that her path would soon part forever from Ida’s, Carol’s, and Linda’s. Maybe she could accompany the Brandmann family for a few more days on their escape, but not to some settlement, and certainly not to Australia. In any normal town, people would soon ask questions about her role in the family.

  “I know a place.”

  Karl’s voice didn’t sound steady at all. And yet, Ida stared at him as though he were her savior. Ottfried looked at the man, too, and Cat saw deceit there. He might already be thinking about how to con his former neighbor.

  “First, though, we should sit down and talk about it. Ottfried, it’s no good to make a rash departure now. If you go to any settlement, the people looking for you will find you. The only sanctuary for you on this island is a remote farm. If you could find shelter there for a few months, the situation might blow over. Potter might even hunt down Gibson. The man doesn’t want blood, only money.”

  “You think I should settle somewhere on our land?”

  Karl shook his head. “No. The Maori found out how you and Gibson cheated them out of that land. I’d stay far away from their warriors, if I were you.”

  Ottfried’s face turned into a mask of fear. “But then I can’t go anywhere! They’ll kill us all! Like in—in Wairau—”

  Karl shook his head again. “No, they won’t, because I’m taking you with me to the pl
ains. Chris Fenroy will take you in if I put in a word for you. I’m going to buy into his farm with my hundred sheep, and you can work for us, Ottfried.”

  Cat looked back and forth between Ida and Ottfried tensely. She immediately grasped that this was their best option. For Ida and the girls, at least. Jane Fenroy wasn’t exactly Cat’s ideal neighbor, but Carol and Linda would be safe at Fenroy Station. Cat saw Ida cross herself absentmindedly and murmur a prayer of thanks. Cat wondered if it was genuine, or just an act to show Ottfried that she was also grateful to God and not to Karl Jensch. Probably both. However, resignation and injured pride were at war in Ottfried’s face. He must have known that he had no other choice. But to work for someone? Not even as a proud craftsman, but as a farmhand for Karl, whom he’d despised?

  But then his face twisted into a kind of grim smile. “All right, Karl. But I’m not coming as a dirty day laborer. I still have a bit of money left. I didn’t tell you about it, Ida.” He winked at Karl complicitly. “If you tell women you have money, they spend it faster than you know! We sold more land recently.”

  “Great,” Cat said sarcastically. “Soon we’ll have the next disgruntled customer on our doorstep.”

  “I also won at poker recently,” Ottfried continued. “Anyway, I’ll buy a few sheep. I’ll buy into the farm too. I don’t need to beg, Karl. And you won’t be a laborer’s wife, Ida Brandmann. Not as long as I live!”

  Chapter 54

  Ida thought Ottfried should buy his sheep from the Redwoods, and Karl recommended the Deans brothers. But Ottfried wouldn’t listen to anybody. Supposedly, he had excellent connections at the cattle market in Nelson.

  “And unlike nosy neighbors, no one there’s going to start telling people they’ve seen me. The men can keep their mouths shut.”

  “That usually costs extra,” Karl remarked. “And I doubt the market dealers have better animals or prices than breeders. But fine, if you think it’s safer to ride to Nelson, do as you wish. I’ll take Ida and the children ahead to Fenroy Station. Cat, too, if she wants to come.”

  Karl was surprised when Ottfried didn’t oppose him traveling alone with the women. But even he seemed to realize that Ida and the children would only impede him on his long trip to Nelson. Karl wondered how Ottfried would herd his valuable animals once he’d purchased them. It would hardly be possible for one man alone. But Karl didn’t care. He’d bring Ida, the children, and Cat to safety. Cat declared her intention to accompany her friend to Fenroy Station and then join a Maori tribe. She said she was tired of the pakeha lifestyle. Karl wondered how she’d feel when she saw Chris Fenroy. In any case, the young woman firmly rejected the idea of traveling to Nelson with Ottfried to look for another job, and Ottfried didn’t pressure her.

  In less than two hours, Ida and Cat had managed to load all their household goods and supplies onto one of the carts. They’d hitched up the two bays, Karl rode next to them on Brandy, and Ottfried rode the remaining horse to Nelson. Karl assumed he would sell the second cart there. He didn’t quite believe in Ottfried’s secret savings.

  “We would have heard about any more land sales. Ottfried would have bragged about it,” Cat said when Karl broached the subject. Ida was careful never to speak ill of her husband, but Cat’s disgust with Ottfried was plain, and she didn’t hold back. “You heard it, Karl, he brags all the time. This morning it was about his excellent connections with those livestock merchants, and before, it was about his huge tracts of land. Now he suddenly claims to have made deals that none of us knew about? Poker winnings seem more likely. Or maybe he knows where Gibson has some money hidden away! We’ll see if he turns up at Fenroy Station with a herd of sheep or if he makes a run for it like his friend.”

  It was clear that Cat was hoping for the latter, and Karl caught himself praying for it as well.

  First, Karl led the small group to Port Cooper to collect his belongings. There was also a post office in town, and as Karl had hoped, Chris Fenroy’s answer to his letter from Wellington had been forwarded. The young man opened it with an uneasy feeling. What on earth was he supposed to do with the women, children, and sheep if Chris refused his request to buy into the farm?

  But he needn’t have worried. In fact, Chris’s letter sounded euphoric. He was wildly happy about the sheep, and even more so about welcoming his old friend as a helper and shareholder at Fenroy Station. We’ll need more land, of course, he wrote, but I’m optimistic as far as that goes. The Maori are sure to lease us as much land as we need. You can move into our old house if you like; it’s been standing empty since we moved. Once you find a wife, we’ll build another, bigger farmhouse for you. Cheerfully anticipating your arrival. Jane’s happy too. Regards, Chris.

  Karl smiled at his addition of “Jane’s happy too.” Sure she was.

  Now, at least, Karl could make his way to the plains with a little less worry. At least he was welcome; who knew what Chris would say about Ottfried. But Chris knew how Karl felt about Ida. He wouldn’t refuse her shelter. And with her, of course, came Cat, the woman Chris loved. Life at Fenroy Station probably wouldn’t get any easier for Chris, but it would certainly be more interesting.

  Karl didn’t encounter David Potter in Port Cooper. At the pub, he heard that Potter was on his way to Purau in search of Ottie. Reginald Newton, the lawyer, was also gone. He’d rented a horse and then departed for Butler’s farm. He probably intended to analyze the problems on-site and then write an indictment. All of that would likely cost the farmer a fortune and hardly yield any results, but it seemed that Butler had money.

  Next, the group headed to Riccarton, where William Deans greeted Karl with the news that his herd had grown, with eight of the ewes lambing, most with twins. “My soul, young man!” he said in his rumbling voice. “You seem to have acquired quite an entourage! Two beautiful women!” He scrutinized Ida and Cat in disbelief and with visible envy. Then his eyes fell on the girls, and he grinned broadly. “And children too! I’d like to see anyone else do that, Jensch! Not to mention a new dog.”

  He nodded at Chasseur, who had immediately befriended Deans’s dogs, circling the pen in front of the house, where around fifty ewes were waiting to be milked.

  “Seems to have a herding instinct. Might have briard blood, long-haired as he is. Or bearded collie, maybe.” He pointed at his long-haired sheepdogs, which really did look related to Chasseur. “Your family can stay here for a few days, and I’ll keep an eye on things. Maybe you can get the sheep up to Fenroy Station with just the mutt and your little collie.”

  Karl was introduced to John, the second Deans brother, and Cat and Ida were welcomed hospitably by their wives. Ida explained that her husband still had business to take care of in Nelson before joining them at Fenroy Station. She played the good wife, wearing an apron and bonnet. Cat, however, wondered if anyone could miss how she looked at Karl Jensch. Ida would never cheat on Ottfried, Cat was certain of it now, but she found comfort in being close to her true love.

  Ida exchanged cheese recipes with the wives of the Deans brothers, but she didn’t give away all of her secrets. She was planning on starting a cheese dairy soon, although the Deans brothers were of the opinion that the future of New Zealand’s sheep farming lay in wool.

  “There’s space for thousands of sheep here,” William said, and in his gaze, huge herds already seemed to be trekking into the highlands. “But they have to be kept half-feral. And who’s going to buy your products? We have enough dairy sheep right now to provide an entire city with cheese, but so far, they’re drinking a lot more whiskey than milk in Port Cooper. And think of the access routes. We’re close to town here, but it’s already a huge effort for the Redwoods to get their cheese into the shops without spoilage, and Fenroy Station’s even farther away. Wool, on the other hand, can be stored indefinitely. Sales are guaranteed; the factories here and in England are fighting for it. Soon, there will be convoys of shearers traveling from one farm to the next like they do in Australia. Focus on wool breeds. You
chose well, Karl! Your animals are excellent. Now, don’t you go breeding them with inferior ones.”

  Karl nodded and hoped Ottfried’s market sheep wouldn’t end up being unfavorable for the breeding at Fenroy Station. He threw himself eagerly into the master class in sheep farming the Deans brothers were giving him. He had always enjoyed working with animals, and it made him happy to see Ida thrive in the company of the brothers’ wives. The ewes were still lambing, and the women lent a hand when there was trouble. With their small hands, it was easier for them to help when the tiny creatures got stuck in the birth canal.

  Cat was quite adept at this, thanks to her midwifery lessons from Te Ronga. In fact, she found working with the sheep to be unexpectedly fun. She had enjoyed the cows in Sankt Pauli Village and Purau, but their size had always frightened her. The sheep were smaller and more manageable, and their lambs were particularly adorable. On top of that, Cat loved to work with the sheepdogs. She was musical and learned the different whistles to control them faster than Ida or Karl.

  Ida, too, found unexpected joy in helping with the lambing. She had a firm, determined grip and, to Cat’s surprise, wasn’t deterred by blood or other bodily fluids. When the little creatures stood bleating next to their mothers, Ida beamed with pride.

  “So you like being on a sheep farm?” Karl asked her cautiously when she presented him with the newest woolly arrivals.

  Ida smiled shyly. “Who wouldn’t like it here?” she asked, gesturing widely at the farmhouse and the pastures around Riccarton.

  Raben Steinfeld hadn’t been this beautiful on the finest of summer days. The landscape was actually vaguely reminiscent of Mecklenburg if one ignored the silhouette of the Southern Alps, sometimes clearly visible, sometimes wreathed in mist. Now, at the beginning of summer, the tussock grass was lush and green, and the sheep looked like spatters of white paint on the verdant pastures. The farmhouses of the two Deans families were simple wooden structures but cheerfully painted. Behind them were the stables and the shearing sheds. The bright blue sky was dotted with white, cottony clouds, as though another herd of sheep were grazing there. The Avon flowed into the distance.