Blackbird (6 page)

Katherine had never seen a naked man before, and she stared at his partially rigid shaft.  She looked back up to find him grinning at her.  Horrified, she closed her eyes. 

Adahya only laughed.

She scrambled to her feet, her eyes still closed.  “Please get dressed.”

“Have you seen enough, Chogan?”

“Just get dressed!”

“I should be asking the same of you.”  He laughed again.

Katherine looked down and suddenly realized that her wet underwear was exposing her as if she wore not a stitch of clothing.  She grabbed her clothes and ran behind a tree. 

Adahya was laughing again.

When she had dressed, she came back to the water’s edge.  Adahya had his leggings and breechclout back on, and she relaxed.  She perched herself atop a large rock and finger combed her wet hair, allowing it to dry in the sun.  After awhile, a feeling of being energized and refreshed lightened her spirit.  She began to hum softly.

Adahya climbed and sat beside her.  So close, in fact, their shoulders touched.

She stopped humming.

He draped an arm over her shoulder.

“What are you doing?”

“I like this kissing,” he whispered, his lips uncomfortably close to her ear.  “You are a good teacher, Chogan.”

“Well, we can’t do it anymore.”  She pushed his arm off her, suddenly irritated.

“Why not?”

“Because it’s insane.”

“Is it?”

“Yes, it is.  I have to get to Fort Ontario, and we’ve wasted enough time already.”

She slid from the rock, but when she passed in front of him, he caught her wrists. 

“Maybe you do not have to go after all,” he said.

“Don’t be silly.  Of course I do.”  She looked down at her wrists.  Adahya still held them, and now he was rubbing her pulse points with his thumbs and sending strange shivers of warmth up her spine.  She looked into his dark eyes.  Tiny gold flecks swam in their dark pools.

“Adahya’s woman brought much shame and regret to him, but he believes he is not all terrible like Song thought.”

Katherine tried to pull away, but he held fast to her wrists.  Remaining silent, she listened to him go on.

“Perhaps you would come to live at Adahya’s hearth and forget Knox.  Adahya is a distinguished warrior among the Hodenosaunee.  He would provide well for you.”

CHAPTER SIX

KATHERINE stared at him, speechless.  Her whole life she had dreamed of a man bending down on one knee before her, confessing love and promises of marriage and happily-ever-after.  Instead, she got a wet, half-naked Indian sitting on a rock asking her to become his woman. This was nothing she had dreamed of, but his admission was so direct.  And it was the most genuinely heartfelt thing anyone had ever said to her.

It was also the most ridiculous thing anyone had ever said to her.  He could not possibly think she would drop everything in her world to live with a Mohawk Indian whom she barely knew.  She could never love this man.  She had kissed him, and she had felt something powerfully close to carnal lust when he had touched her, yes, but she did not hold feelings for him.  She loved Joshua Knox.  And after she returned from Fort Ontario Joshua would be proud of her.  Proud enough to return her love.

Katherine pulled her wrists from Adahya’s grip.  He slid down from the rock and stood before her.

“Adahya, I don’t know what to say.  I--”

He pulled her into his arms.  “We will have a good life together, Chogan.  You will see.”

“No, you don’t understand.”  She pulled out of his embrace and stepped back.  “I can’t live with you.  I mean, I’m flattered for your offer, but--”

“But Adahya is a savage.”

“But I don’t love you.”

His eyes were seeking, as if he were trying to understand.  He reached for her again, but she kept her distance, allowing him to only grasp her hands.  “Love is important to you?”  He was massaging the backs of her fingers with his thumbs again, and she wondered if this was some sort of game in which he sought control over her.

“Isn’t it to you?”

“It is not necessary.”

Katherine gaped at him, now her turn to try to understand.  Of course, love was necessary.  It was the key ingredient to any relationship between a man and a woman.  It was what sealed a woman’s heart to her mate forever.  She had known people who had not married for love, but she herself could never do that.  She would not.

“You said yourself you loved Song,” she insisted.

“Perhaps I was wrong.”

Katherine did not understand.  To say he had never loved his deceased wife was callous.  He was staring so intently at her.  His thumbs still massaged the backs of her hands, sending tiny rivulets of warmth up her arms.  He was waiting for her answer.  An answer he would not like.

“You don’t even know me.”  She tried to sway him.

“Adahya knows enough.”

“I could never stay with someone who does not love me.”

“You stay with Knox.”

His words cut like a knife.  He had only known her for four days, but he always knew the exact words to cut her heart in two.  He preyed on her weakness, the fact that Knox did not love her, and he stomped all over it.  She could feel her bottom lip trembling.  “You have no right to say that.”

“If Knox loved you he would protect you.  He would not allow you to go off with strangers.  He would not let you face danger to save his name, to fight his battles.”

“He doesn’t know I came here, and you know that.”

“I know he left you unprotected.”

“Thomas and Robert--”

“This Thomas was off hunting, and Robert is a child.  Knox left you to be protected by an unreliable man and a child.  Anything could have happened to you. Such actions are without honor.  If you were Adahya’s woman, no danger would come to you.  You would not be left to be scared or to worry that you would not be taken care of.”

Katherine felt a tear escape and roll down her cheek. He was right. Joshua never loved her, and he probably never would.  Despite this man’s pledge to her, loneliness returned to her like a torrent.

Adahya brushed her tear away with his fingertip.  “If it is love that you seek, I cannot promise that you will love Adahya, but I will honor you and keep you safe.”

She had a death grip on his hands, she suddenly realized, and she let go of them.  He was not going to make this easy for her.  And there was no easy way to tell him the truth.  “Adahya, I can’t live with you.”

There.  She said it.

“You could think on it.”

She shook her head.  “No.”

“Women require much time to make up their minds.”

“Adahya, I could never love you.  I love--”

“You love Knox,” he finished for her.

“I--yes.  Yes, I do love Reverend Knox.”

His face went from that of kindness to the stone-cold glare he wore when she first met him.  Without word, he left her and began gathering his belongings.

“Adahya, I’m sorry.  Please don’t be angry.”

He shrugged on his jacket and slung his weapons over his shoulder.  “Get your things.  We will reach Fort Ontario by morning.”

He walked off, leaving her there alone.

* * *

ADAHYA cut through the thick forest like a phantom spirit. 

He could not recall when he had loathed himself more.  He had not spoken to another woman other than his mother and his sister-in-laws since Song left.  It felt good to talk to a woman again, to have one show his some attention.  But he had misjudged this meddlesome white woman and acted like a fool.  To ask a woman to share his hearth after Song had walked all over him was one thing, but to ask a white woman, and to be rejected by her no less, was a whole other matter.  From this day forward, he would have nothing to do with women.  He vowed this on Hawenneyu and the Great Mother.

“Adahya, wait!”

She was far behind his pace, but he did not slow.  Let her get lost out here for all he cared.  It would serve her right.  Except he did not want her to get lost.  Alone, she would die out here, and he did not want her to die.  He did not want any harm to come to her whatsoever.

He did not know when these feelings of protectiveness for Katherine had come over him. He supposed it all began when she had first kissed him.  These feelings were strong, and he had no clue as to how to make them cease.

If he took her to Fort Ontario a noose would likely be waiting for her.  Katherine’s death would be his fault.  When he had first agreed to escort her, he knew she would be killed, yet he had not cared.  He had only been in this for the trade goods which her death would bring to his people.  Now everything had changed.  She had rejected him, yes, but he still did not want her to die.  He could not let her die.

They were not more than ten miles from Fort Ontario.  He would tell her he had lied to her, betrayed her, plotted to kill her.  He could tell her this truth then take her back to Knox.  He did not know which plan he despised more: telling her he had betrayed her or taking her to back to Knox knowing she might be lying in the bastard’s arms that night.

He had no choice.  He could not take her to the fort to be killed, and he could not take her back to Knox.  He would take her to his village.  He had no other choice.  He would take her by force if necessary.  He would keep her at his hearth until she forgot Knox.  Adahya would make Katherine his woman, and she would learn to stay with him, regardless whether she loved him or not.

Adahya’s spirits lifted.  Katherine would become his woman.  And it would be different this time.  Katherine was not Song.  She was not vain and cold.  And she would never leave him.  He would not let her.  He would not lose another woman.

Adahya waited for Katherine to catch up to him.  She looked at him, questioning in her gray eyes.  Smiling, he resumed walking.  Cross-cutting off his original path, he turned east and led her toward the Mohawk Valley.

CHAPTER SEVEN

THOMAS Whitman paced the floor of the mission.  Reverend Knox would be here soon.  He prayed it would not be too late.

Kate had been gone four days now.  He could not believe it when Robert had told him what she had done, and he would never forgive himself for not being there to stop her.  The girl was headstrong as Hades, but he did not think she was bloody stupid.  It was senseless enough to go to Fort Ontario where it was crawling with women-starved Redcoats.  But to go with a Mohawk Indian….

He cursed Robert a thousands times over for allowing her to go with the red bastard.

This was all the Reverend’s fault.  If she had not been so infatuated, she would have used her head and never left in the first place.  She was only trying to win his favor.  Anyone could see that Knox did not care two bits for her.  He was too wrapped up in his work.  Kate was smart, sweet, and pretty as a peach.  Knox was a fool to deny her. Any man would be.

Robert suddenly bolted through the doorway.  “He’s back!”

* * *

URGING his horse out of the trees, Joshua Knox rode up to the mission.

His assistant, Thomas, ran out of the building and lunged at the gelding’s bridle

The horse spooked and tried to rear back, but Joshua held fast to the reins.  “What’s wrong, Tom?”

“She’s gone!”

“Who?” Joshua asked, jumping down from the horse.

“K-k-kate.  She’s g-g-g-gone.  She’s gone.”

Joshua gripped his assistant’s shoulders.  At twenty-four, Thomas was a bright and gifted servant of God with a prosperous future ahead of him.  But when he was troubled, one could not understand a blessed thing that came out of his mouth.

“Speak slowly, Thomas.  Where did she go?”

“S-S-Savage.  He t-t-took her.”

“Took her?”

Joshua stared at Tom.  He had half expected Kate to be gone when he returned, figuring she would take a horse and ride back to her father in Albany.  In a moment of weakness, he had kissed her. She had been sitting so close to him, looking doe-eyed and full of adoration.  It had been a mistake.  They were simply friends.  Nothing more.  One day he hoped to take a wife, but it would not be Kate.  She was a good girl and would make some man a good wife, but he sought a woman more reserved and less outspoken.

He gripped Thomas’ shoulders.  “You mean to tell me that a savage just came here and took her?”

“N-no.  She went willingly.”

“An Oneida?  Maybe she just went to see Little River.”

Thomas shook his head wildly.  “N-no.  M-Mohawk.”

“How do you know he was Mohawk?”

“R-r-r-red-- T-tell him, Robert.”

“He was wearing a Redcoat’s jacket,” the boy answered for Thomas.

Knox looked at the teenager.  Tall and lanky, Robert nearly reached Thomas’ full six-feet-four height.  The boy looked like he was going to cry.  “Kate said the savage would take her to Fort Ontario.  The Indian wanted you, but Kate asked him to take her instead.”

“She wanted to sp-sp-speak to Colonel Butler,” Thomas broke in.

Robert nodded.  “She said something about some papers.”

“My documents!”Joshua blurted.

Dashing into the mission, he made his way upstairs to the desk in the corner of his sleeping quarters.  Furiously, he yanked open the drawers, sending their contents flying in every direction.

He ran a hand through his thick blonde hair.  He was ruined.  Kate had ruined him.  She had known that he recorded all his dealings with the Oneidas and the Colonial cause, and he knew she would never intentionally destroy him.  But Kate knew nothing about the church money, the tithes which he had taken to buy trade goods to win the Oneidas’ support in this war--no one did.  Many had accused him of putting the war before his obligations to God, that was, after all what Reverend Wheellock had wanted to speak to him about in Albany, what he had warned him about.  Joshua knew he put the Colonial cause before his church, before God Himself, in fact, but he could not help it.  This was important.  The dream of a new democratically-run country was important.  Surely God would understand that.

If those records fell into the hands of the church members--of Reverend Wheellock!--he would never preach again.  And when the British saw them, they would hang him for treason.  He was ruined.  He was a sitting duck here.

Tossing his trunk onto the foot of his bed, he began throwing in his belongings.

“What are you doing?”  Thomas was calmer now, and his voice was strong and steady.

“I’ve got to get out of here.”

“Why?  We’re got to find Kate.  What’s wrong with you?”

“I’ve got to leave here.”

“You’ve got to help me find Kate.”

Wide-eyed, Joshua shook his head.  They would kill her, he knew.  For all they knew, she could be dead already.  Kate was a sweet girl.  She did not deserve such a fate, and he quickly prayed that they would be merciful and bring death to her swiftly without suffering.  But for all of them to follow her and get killed themselves.

That was senseless.  He had to leave.

Blocking his path, Thomas just glared at him.

“Well, you can’t expect to go there,” Joshua reasoned.  “Thomas, you will be murdered.”

“And what of Kate?  My God, Knox!  The woman is in love with you, and you d-d-d-on’t even care if she dies!”

“You coward.  You don’t even care what’s happened to her, do you?”  Thomas removed the wooden cross from around his neck--the one Joshua had given him when he first came to work at the mission.  Angrily, he threw it on the floor.  “You keep it!”