Island Fire

by Bobbi Smith

  "Swallow all of it," he commanded, and, helpless, she obeyed. "If you move, I will kill you now," he told her coldly as he cut away her bonds, his hands idling unfeelingly on her body as he positioned her.

  The effect of the drug was immediate; Nelani couldn't have protested had she dared to.

  "Where is Tikiru?" a distant commanding voice demanded, and Nelani had no will to resist it.

  "With the white man," she mumbled.

  Manti was totally shocked. The white man? Surely not the husband of Espri . . .

  "Which white man?" he pressed.

  "The golden one . . . the one called Tommy." Nelani was not aware of her betrayal.

  "Where are they?"

  "I don't know . . . I don't know . . . maybe the bluff . . . I don't know." Her answer became fainter as darkness finally overwhelmed her completely, sweeping her into the blessed relief of unconsciousness.

  At the first sound of the drum, Tikiru tore herself violently from Tommy's arms. "No!"

  "What's wrong?" he asked quickly, trying to take her back into his embrace; but she pushed him away.

  "Somehow, we have been found out! I must go. I must leave now!"

  "But how do you know?" he persisted, disbelieving.

  "The drum . . . Manti has taken Nelani to the temple to sacrifice!"

  "Sacrifice? What are you talking about?"

  "He is going to kill her!" Hurriedly, she donned the sarong she'd worn, and forgetting her cloak, she started to race from the bluff top.

  Tommy wrapped his pareu around him and went after her, but as he reached her side, three of Manti's servants stepped from the forest.

  "Seize them!" the leader ordered.

  Tommy managed to knock down two of the men, but the third one struck him from behind and he fell heavily at Tikiru's feet, unconscious. The men then grasped her by the arms, but she glared at them and spoke with authority.

  "There is no need to use violence on me," she said calmly. "I will come with you without a struggle."

  Kneeling beside Tommy, she kissed him quickly and then stood, ready to follow the men back to Manti. They led her to a private chamber deep in the temple. Then one man stayed behind to guard her while the others went to fetch Manti.

  "My servants have led me to understand that you were found in the company of the white man," Manti declared as he entered the chamber.

  "It is true." Tikiru would not deny the obvious.

  "Hold her down," he directed, and despite the fight she put up, the three brawny men soon had her immobile on a mat on the floor. Kneeling down beside her, he brushed aside the skirt of her sarong and curtly ordered, "Hold her legs far apart. I must examine her to see if she has defiled herself with a man."

  She twisted and strained against his humiliating touch, but his cold hands explored her expertly, finding in her breached womanhood the answer to his quest.

  "She has forsaken her vow of chastity." He sneered in disgust as he stood up and looked down upon her. "Strip her of her garment and bring her forth to the altar to witness the terror her fleshly ways have caused."

  Espri was awakened by the sound of the drum and was horrified by the message it conveyed.

  "What is it? What's the drum saying?" Mitch asked when he awoke to find Espri up and preparing to leave.

  "Evidently there has been some kind of trouble and Manti the high priest is summoning all the islanders to the temple."

  "What kind of trouble?"

  "I don't know."

  "Wait, I'll come with you," he offered, sensing an urgency in the situation.

  "We'd better hurry."

  Espri leading the way, they headed for the temple.

  The villagers had already assembled, and they were shocked by what they'd found. The taupau's servant Nelani lay naked and unconscious upon the sacrificial altar while Manti prayed over her, offering up her soul to the gods as appeasement for the transgression that was, as yet, unknown to the islanders.

  Espri gasped when she realized what was about to happen. "Where are my grandfather and Father Pierre?" She glanced around, desperately trying to locate the only two men on the island powerful enough to stop the ritual sacrifice.

  "What is it? What's he going to do?" Mitch asked as he watched the priest in fascination.

  "Kill her," Espri answered succinctly. "And soon. I have to find Luatu."

  Rushing from Mitch's side, she ran back toward the village with him following behind, and she was grateful when she found her grandfather and the missionary just starting up the path to the temple. "You must come at once!"

  "What is it, Espri?" they asked.

  "It's Manti. He intends to sacrifice Nelani."

  "What?" Luatu and Father Pierre glanced at each other in outrage.

  "There have been no human offerings here in years! Why is he reverting to that savagery?" Father Pierre asked worriedly. "What could have happened?"

  "We don't know, but we'd better hurry," Mitch urged.

  Luatu and Father Pierre led the way, bursting into the temple just as Manti ended his chant. Startled by the disturbance the two men caused, the pagan priest looked up, his fiery eyes meeting those of the missionary in a haughty, hate-filled glare.

  "Manti!" Luatu's voice rang out across the temple as he hurried forward to the altar with Pierre close behind. "What is the cause for this?" he demanded imperiously.

  "The sacred vows have been defiled. They must pay for the desecration with their lives," the high priest answered fiercely, his bloodlust obvious.

  "What sacred vows?" Luatu asked, noting the fresh blood on the young girl's throat and breasts.

  "The taupau . . . it is because of her wicked actions that Nelani must die."

  "I do not understand," Luatu ventured. "What has Tikiru done?"

  "She has forsaken her vow and has joined with a man."

  "Who?"

  "The white man, Tommy."

  "Tommy?" Mitch had followed them to the forefront, and he now looked worriedly around for his friend. "Where is he?"

  "The defiler has already been dealt with," Manti declared. "Now it only remains to punish the women." He gestured to the men who were standing in the shadows behind the altar, and they came forth, pushing Tikiru before them. "Witness, people of Malika! Your priestess has forsaken you. She will pay with her life for her wickedness!"

  The crowd murmured excitedly at the sight of Tikiru.

  "Grandfather! You must stop him! You can't let him kill them, no matter what they've done!"

  But it wasn't Luatu who stepped forward to challenge Manti as he raised his knife to cut the drugged girl's heart from her chest; it was Father Pierre.

  "You must not do this, Manti. Killing is wrong—always," he declared loudly.

  "Be gone, white man. You know nothing of our ways. It is just punishment for the defilement Tikiru has wreaked upon the temple. Only with these deaths will the gods be appeased."

  "And only with their lives will my God be satisfied," Pierre returned fearlessly, and he reached out to touch Nelani. "You will have to kill me before I allow you to harm these two women."

  The priests' eyes met and clashed over the young woman's motionless body, but Manti was not intimidated. Viciously, he slashed downward with the deadly weapon, but Father Pierre blocked his lethal blow, deflecting with his own arm the knife that would have ended Nelani's life. Luatu moved then, and with Mitch's help he managed to restrain Manti and to knock the knife from his grip. Manti and Pierre faced each other again as the blood dripped to the altar from the deep cut on the missionary's forearm.

  "Nelani and Tikiru must die!" the pagan priest insisted, trying to break free from Luatu and Mitch.

  "Take them, Father," Luatu ordered, and Father Pierre nodded as he lifted Nelani's limp body from the altar and motioned for Tikiru to follow him.

  Luatu and Mitch did not release Manti until they were certain that Father Pierre and the two women were safely away. Then, addressing his people, Luatu spoke.

  "The
old ways are no more," he declared imperiously. "Return to your homes now!"

  Manti stood, silently seething, behind his chief.

  Luatu turned on his one-time friend. "You are welcome to remain here, but I will hear no more of your desire for killing. Remember this." He was fierce as he glowered at Manti.

  "You cannot end our ancestors' ways so easily." Manti sneered.

  At this comeback, the chief's expression hardened. "It is only because of Father Pierre that I do not see you dead now," Luatu told him mercilessly.

  Blanching at the threat, yet very aware of Luatu's power to have him killed, Manti was distraught. "I will not stay here and face the ridicule of the people!"

  "I would not bid you to go, but I will not accept your presence on Malika if you cannot be at peace." Luatu had always been aware of the antagonism Manti had for the missionary, but he had never realized the depths of that resentment until now.

  Manti stormed away without answering.

  "I must see to Father Pierre," Luatu said gruffly as he watched the man who'd once been his friend walk off.

  "If you have no objection, Luatu, I'd like to come with you," Mitch offered. "I'm worried about Tommy, and I think one of the women may know where he is."

  "Both of you, come. I am sure Father's arm will need some attention," the old chief told Mitch and Espri.

  When they had returned to Luatu's home, they found Pierre gently caring for both of the women, unmindful of his own injury. He had covered them with blankets and was trying to rouse Nelani from her drugged stupor.

  "How are they?" Luatu asked.

  "I think they will be all right, although I'm not sure what drug Manti gave Nelani."

  But even as he spoke, the girl began to stir. With a soft groan, she opened her eyes and was startled to find herself safely ensconced in the chief's hut. "What happened? How do I come to be here?" When Nelani saw Tikiru sitting beside her, she gasped audibly. "You came!"

  "He was going to kill you, Nelani, because of me," Tikiru told her brokenly. "I'm sorry."

  "Father, come out for a moment," Luatu said quietly, and Pierre stepped outside, wondering what he wanted.

  "Yes, Luatu?"

  "Espri will bind your wound for you," Luatu explained.

  For the first time Pierre noticed the ugly knife wound on his forearm. He smiled crookedly in wonder. "I am certain that it will hurt tomorrow, but right now I feel nothing." Joining Espri by the fire, he sat patiently while she cleansed the injury and wrapped his arm in soft, clean cloths.

  When Mitch and Luatu went inside the hut to talk with the women, they found that Tikiru was trying to wrap a piece of cloth around her in some semblance of dress so she could leave.

  "Where do you think you're going?" Luatu asked.

  "Tommy . . . he's injured, maybe dead . . . have to go to him . . ." She was visibly trembling.

  "You know where Tommy is?" Mitch broke in anxiously.

  "On the bluff top."

  Luatu looked at Mitch. "Have you been there? Do you know the path?"

  "I haven't been up there before, but I know how to get there," Mitch answered.

  "Go, then, and try to find your friend." The chief glanced at Tikiru before he stepped outside with Mitch. "If he is alive, do not bring him back to the village. These are a goodhearted people, but the taupau has always been sacred and pure. It will not rest well with them that she has forsaken her vows and taken a lover. They would resent Tommy's presence, no matter how willing a partner Tikiru was."

  "I understand," Mitch answered, praying all the while that Tommy had come to no serious harm.

  Luatu watched him go and then returned to face the two women.

  "Tikiru, I want to know exactly what happened tonight," he said.

  She lowered her eyes submissively. "I have failed to keep my vows and am not worthy of your respect or consideration."

  "Tell me everything."

  Tikiru faced him resolutely. "There is little to tell. I had a vision many nights ago. A vision of the golden-haired white man. When Nelani told me that a man with hair the color of the sun had been rescued from the sea, I knew I had to see him, to find out the meaning of my dream. I fell in love with him."

  "And despite your vow not to join with a man, you had relations with him?"

  "Yes, Luatu." Tikiru considered apologizing, but did not. She was not sorry for the time she'd spent with Tommy, and she knew that she would probably do the same thing again if she had the chance.

  The sound of voices distracted the chief from his inquisition, and ordering her not to leave the hut, he went outside to see what the disturbance was. An angry group of torch-bearing islanders was crowding the path to his home so Luatu went forth to speak with them.

  "What do you want?" he demanded, standing firm and strong at the end of the path. "Why have you gathered here?"

  "Manti was right!" one man cried out. "The taupau has abused her vaulted position and has been defiled. She deserves death! It is so written by the ancestors!"

  Luatu folded his arms across his massive chest and scowled at them. "The old ways are dead. You have accepted Father Papin, have you not?" At their answering murmur, he continued. "What does Father tell us about forgiveness?"

  "But she took a vow!" another yelled heatedly.

  "Who are you to judge?" Luatu thundered. "Leave."

  Knowing the fury their chief was capable of when angered or defied, they turned, grumbling, and headed back to the village.

  "The natives are restless tonight." Pierre spoke cautiously to Espri as she finished tying the bandage about his arm.

  "Grandfather will settle everything. He always does," she told him with great confidence, although in her heart she worried. There had never been a situation like this before, where there was a direct conflict between new and old.

  "They are gone for now," Luatu said with some measure of relief as he joined Pierre and Espri. "I think, Father, it will be best for everyone if you take the women to another island."

  "I was thinking the same thing," he agreed. "Are there men you can trust to send with me?"

  "My own personal servants will accompany you," the chief pledged. "There are some who fanatically follow Manti and would think nothing of capturing Tikiru and Nelani and taking them back to him for sacrifice. For that reason, I want no word of their whereabouts revealed."

  "I understand, and I will take the utmost caution." Father Pierre stood up and shook Luatu's hand. "It will be best if we leave immediately."

  "Come. Let us tell the women of our plan."

  The two men reentered the hut.

  "You will be leaving the island with Father Pierre," Luatu told Tikiru and Nelani. "It is the only way I can ensure your safety."

  "What of Tommy?" Tikiru asked fearfully. "Is he alive?"

  "We have not heard anything yet, and we do not have time to wait. There are those among the islanders who would not hesitate to hand you over to Manti."

  "But I don't want to leave Tommy," Tikiru protested.

  "There is no way I can allow you to stay. To save your life, you must go," Luatu pronounced. "If Tommy is still alive and you were to be seen together by the villagers . . ." He did not say more; there was no need.

  Tikiru was devastated. "I understand, but, Luatu, please, could you send me word of Tommy? I could not exist, not knowing his fate."

  "I will send word through Father Pierre," he agreed. "Now, you must go, while it is quiet."

  Ordering his men to lead them to the secluded beach across the island from the village, Luatu bade them safe journey.

  "I will look forward to our next meeting, old friend," Father Pierre told the chief as they clasped hands.

  "It will be good."

  "Espri," Pierre called out, and she came across the clearing. "God bless you, ma petite, and may your journey to your new home be a safe and happy one."

  She hugged him tightly, knowing that they would probably never meet again. Her eyes misted at that thought, and h
er smile lacked conviction. "Thank you, Father. Please . . . be careful, yourself."

  "I will," he assured her, and then he disappeared with the others into the darkened forest.

  Mitch raced up the narrow path that led to the bluff. Manti's words rang in his mind—"The defiler has been dealt with"—and he dreaded what he might find.

  "Mitch!" Tommy's call pierced the silent darkness as he stepped from the overgrowth to the side of the path.

  "Tommy! Thank God you're alive!" He embraced the other man with great relief.

  "They've taken Tikiru . . . I must find her and help her." He was desperate to rescue his love from her fate at the hands of the high priest.

  "It's over, Tommy," Mitch told him solemnly.

  "What are you talking about?" he demanded, his soul freezing at the thought of her possible death.

  "Tikiru is safe. The chief and the missionary saved her and her servant girl."

  Tommy shook with relief. "Then I must go to her." He started to rush past Mitch, but his friend restrained him.

  "Luatu insisted that, if you were alive, I was to keep you away from the village. Despite their Christian conversion, the islanders were still upset when they discovered that their taupau was no longer sacrosanct."

  "Mitch, I love her . . . I need to see her."

  "Perhaps tomorrow, we can arrange a meeting, but for now it's safer for both of you if we stay as far away as possible."

  Tommy looked lost. "All right," he finally agreed, knowing that the only alternative was to overpower his friend, and, the way he was feeling, that would be impossible.

  "Are you hurt?" Mitch suddenly asked, noticing how unsteady the younger man suddenly seemed.

  "I don't know," Tommy admitted, grimacing as he touched the back of his neck. "I was out for quite a while."

  "Let's head back to my hut. It's far enough from the village for us to be safe."

  The desperation of the night over, they headed slowly in the direction of Mitch's home.

  Tikiru was crying quietly as she followed Luatu's men through the forest and out onto the beach. The horror of what she'd just been through had stripped her of her dignity, and she was lost in a sea of confusing emotions. Her selfishness in ignoring Nelani's warnings and doing only what she wanted had cost her more than she'd ever imagined. Tommy was probably dead and Nelani had suffered most cruelly, all because of her. Her guilt nearly unbearable, she regretted that she had not died on the altar. It would have been far better, she reasoned, to have ended her life at the same time as Tommy rather than face the rest of her days knowing she was responsible for his death.