Tangled Passion (20 page)

“I apologize for my insensitivity out in the bush, you did a great job and I am sorry about the loss of one of your men,” Nathan began not sure how much impact he’d be able to make on Bushwacker. The big man simply nodded and continued to listen. “If it wasn’t for you we wouldn’t have been able to get as far and as close to the escaping slaves as we did and if it wasn’t for the mad beast I am quite sure we would have had them by now, under your leadership of course…”

“What do you want from me young man, don’t try to patronize me, I am already aware of everything you are telling me so get to the point, what do you want?” Bushwacker said without looking up at Nathan

“I need your help,” Nathan said.

“What kind of help?” Bushwacker asked giving Nathan a suspicious look.

“I need your help to get the slaves and you don’t have to come along, just get me people who know the bushes half as well as you do,”

“Half as well as I do?” Bushwacker repeated, smiling with pride.

Nathan nodded.

“Why are you so obsessed with this chase anyway? You seem more interested in catching the slaves than your father.”

“It’s a long story but I’ll share it with you if you promise to help me.” Nathan was desperate.

“Let’s hear it but I must warn you, even if the story is great and I agree to help you, it will cost you.”

“No worries, I just need you to help me,” Nathan replied and began talking.

“Holy Mary, mother of God!” Bushwacker exclaimed, jumping to his feet as Nathan concluded his story. “You think your parents had a hand in helping the slaves escape?”

“I don’t want to believe it but it’s a possibility and I am beginning to give it more thought.”

“I believe it,” Bushwacker said nodding continuously. He was convinced Nathan’s parents had everything set up–they let the slaves escape and then sent him on a goose chase to make it look authentic. “All of this is a setup,” he added, feeling insulted by Longstands. What if Longstands was the one who released the crazy dog on them, he wondered; a crazy dog that took the life of one of his best men and injured him. “Your father is a mad man!”

“What?” Nathan was shocked; he’d never heard anyone disrespect his father before.

“Yes, he is a mad man,” Bushwacker repeated angrily, sliding a brown envelope across the table to Nathan. “Read that while I get ready,” he added and limped to the back.

Nathan stared at the big man in shock until he disappeared around the back of the house then returned his attention to the brown envelope in front of him. It looked like the same brown envelope he’d given Bushwacker the previous day.
What’s come over Bushwacker?
he wondered, retrieving a note from the envelope.

“Now what do you think about your papa?” Bushwacker asked mockingly. Nathan was pacing back and forth, his eyes red and his body shaking with anger.

“How did you get it?” he asked; his head still bowed.

“Edwards.”

“I need to return home,” Nathan added.

“No, that is a terrible mistake. Now we must go after the slaves. We’ll find them and then you can confront your father, but first we must find your girl,” Bushwacker advised. He appeared dressed for a battle with a bandage around his calf and five men standing behind him. “These men cost twenty bucks a head. Me, I’ll do it for free, now let’s get going.”

Nathan nodded and wiped his eyes. It was hard to believe that his father had secretly instructed Bushwacker to murder Ashana while pretending to be doing everything he could to find her. “I can’t believe it!”

“Believe it my friend,” Bushawacker said putting his hand on Nathan’s shoulder. “Now let’s go get your girl.”

Ashana felt it running down her legs as they ran; it was warm and thick, sometimes it travelled fast and other times slower, but she refused to stop or tell Jonah about it—not when they had just being informed that an aggressive pursuer was on their tail. Now as they sat down to rest she dared a look. Jonah was scared at the sight of blood between Ashana’s legs; she let him gently spread her legs and noticed the alarm on the alarm on his face. She raised her blood soaked cloth a little higher; she was not half as scared as Jonah was but was just as confussed. Her menstruation wasn’t expected for another two or three days and even when it came it was never so heavy. “What do you see?” she asked, gently resting her back against the tree to allow Jonah a better view.

“Em...ah. ah, Ashana?”

“Yes Jonah,” she answered weakly like a mother who was now trying to get some sleep after been kept up all night by a troublesome child.

“Why… why didn’t you tell me about this earlier on?” He stammered, his hands shivering.

“I didn’t know” she lied, not willing to scare him more than he already was. “Where is the blood coming from?”

“I don’t know,” he answered innocently.

“Well then look!” she said gathering all her energy to speak up, a little frustrated by his slow pace, she spread her legs a little wider and completely took off the cloth. He closed his eyes momentarily, then focused his face squarely between her legs, opened his eyes and closed them almost immediately to process what he had seen. It was a bloody sight; everything was red.

“Ash, Ash,” he called out gently but there was no response, at first he thought she must have fallen into a deep sleep, he wanted to let her sleep, but something bothered him about this sleep. He put his hand on her shoulder and shook her gently, “Ashana, Ashana!”

She heard her name very faintly but when she looked back, there was nobody behind her; she was walking all by herself in a long bright tunnel. She wondered how she got there and why she was there, most of all she really wanted to know why she was alone. She felt like she was supposed to be with somebody but she couldn’t remember whom or if she had to be with anybody at all. She continued walking deeper into the bright and inviting tunnel noticing the light getting brighter as she got closer to what seemed to be the source.

Her body was suddenly getting really cold. He felt for her heartbeat, his eyes clouded, and his head becoming foggy; his world seemed to be crumbling. “No! Ashana, No!” he screamed at the almost lifeless body, completely lost as to what to do.

After a long time of wailing and a vocal cord that was so strained it could no longer produce a sound capable of travelling his arm’s length, Jonah sank to the ground watching the body of the one person that meant everything in his life lie lifeless.

Even though Nathan was very pleased at Bushwacker’s sustained enthusiasm to capture the fugitives, which had resulted in the denial of any breaks since the chase resumed, he was gladly relieved when Kanker suddenly raised his hand and called for a stop. It was their first stop since the chase began early that morning. The man whose head was shaped like an avocado jumped off his horse, causing his bulging calves to dance like water in a plastic bag. His equally bulging eyeballs travelled from east to west sweeping the region in a mechanical manner.

The group remained still, watching Kanker who was still at the same location, staring intensely at a spot in the ground. Even when the others felt it was time to move on and that the spot had no more clues to offer, he remained put. It was as if he smelt something that none of them could smell and Nathan was already on his horse when he noticed the leader's hand fly up in the air a second time.

“Blood!” the leader screamed at the top of his voice. Nathan heard him but didn’t understand until he heard the translation.

“Blood! Blood!” Bushwacker translated, carefully climbing down his horse. Nathan jumped off his horse and joined the man who was already far into the bush pointing out blood-stained grasses. Nathan’s heart skipped a beat and several beats with the following minutes.

“Where’s the blood from? Is it human? What happened?” Nathan blurted, premature wrinkles suddenly taking residence on his brow.

“Gather the horses immediately; now we travel on foot,” Bushwacker announced and everybody followed.

Ashana was still hearing her name, sometimes it was loud, other times it was faint and distant, and yet other times she didn’t hear it at all. She turned to the beautiful woman that was now leading her and asked, “Did you hear my name?”

“No,” the woman replied immediately, still maintaining the same kind she had since they met. “I didn’t hear anything,” she said, shaking her head and gently nudging Ashana along. But Ashana continued to hear her name and it was growing louder and louder each time she heard it.

“Did you hear it this time?” she asked again, a little concerned but the woman simply shook her head once more and beckoned Ashana on, she had suddenly added a little haste to her pace and wanted Ashana to do the same.

“Wait!” Ashana said suddenly and halted. The woman smiled softly and stopped. “I hear my name and the voice is familiar,” Ashana said, looking at the woman for any sign of confirmation. There was none. “Listen and you’ll hear it too,” she added impatiently, it was impossible that the woman wasn’t hearing anything. The woman smiled but Ashana had already read the impatience on her face before she adjusted it with a smile. “Wait!” Ashana ordered, as if suddenly aware of something sinister and began walking backwards.

She wanted to get away from the woman as quickly as possible. The woman made no attempt to stop her; she simply stood there watching her go. After a few steps backward, Ashana turned around and began to run, she ran as fast as her legs could carry her towards the direction that her name was coming from—she recognized the voice. “Jonah!” she screamed excitedly, running wildly until she reached a point from where the call seemed to originate. Ashana stared at the curtain of gently swirling wind in front of her and a strong feeling that Jonah was behind it overtook her. After a few moments of hesitation she closed her eyes and jumped.

When Jonah heard his name the first time, it sounded like a loud whisper, causing him to turn around and inspect his surroundings frightfully. But when Ashana called his name the second time, he jumped from a mixture of fear and excitement.

“Yes! Ash… Ashana!” he half stammered and half shouted staring at her face as if it was the first time he was seeing her. He noticed the movement of Ashana’s eyeballs under her eyelids, watched anxiously as her fingers twitched, her arm moved slowly to her hair and her eyes opened lazily.

“Ashhh...Ashana!” he stammered, after she stopped blinking and stared straight into his eyes.

“Jonah!” she said resignedly.

“Are you hungry?” he asked her. It wasn’t what he wanted to say but it was the first thing that came to his disoriented mind; he was completely lost for words and too shocked to gather his senses. An ocean of tears swelled in his eyes as Ashana’s head moved slowly in response to his question. “Thank God you are back,” he said, then very gently he lifted her head and rested it on his lap. “How are you feeling?” he whispered like a father singing lullabies to a child. “I love you Ashana, I love you so much,” he wept as the last restraint that held back his tears broke and a shower of tears rained on Ashana’s face.

“I love you too,” she managed. He fed her small pieces of bread and gave her water to drink and a ball of happiness bounced continuously against the walls of his stomach; he was happier than ever.

“What happened?” she asked as strength slowly returned to her body. “I had such a weird dream,” she added before he could say anything.

“You fell asleep,” he lied saving the real story for the day when all of their current misery was somewhere in the distant past. He had noticed a sharp cut on the inside of her thigh and managed to stop the profuse bleeding but the other bleeding from between her legs he figured was due to the natural monthly bleeding that women experienced. Bleeding so much at the same coupled with the running and lack of proper food must have caused her to faint. Jonah concluded.

“I feel really weak,” she said interrupting his thought.

“Go ahead get some more rest Ash,” he said, still caressing her hair.

“Hmm,” she groaned trying to sit up.

“No! No!,” Jonah said, trying to persuade her to remain still. “Please relax and get some rest,” he insisted.

“Jonah, aren’t we supposed to be moving?” she asked slowly returning her head to his lap. Some of her strength had returned but her last attempt to sit up sent her a clear message that she probably was better off taking Jonah’s advice.

A moment of silence descended on the two, each isolated and lost in their individual world of thought as they stared at the many shapes of clouds sweeping the face of the moon. When the temporary silence eventually broke, it was Ashana’s voice that shattered it, “How do you think she is doing?” she asked calmly. “My mother, how do you think she is doing?”

“She is fine, I believe. I really think she’d be okay, she is a strong woman and you know that. She is just as strong as you are and I am sure she’d be okay,” he said. He wished he could do a better job of reassuring her that her mother would be fine. He too had wondered many times how Ashana’s mother was keeping but had kept it to himself, not wanting to upset Ashana.

She nodded but her nod had grains of lack of conviction; she wished that his answer could allay her concern about her mother, which weighed a ton on her mind. She wondered if the already frail woman was really going to be okay and if she was as strong as Jonah thought. What if her mother was no longer as strong as she used to be? If that was the case, how much toll would her running away with Jonah have taken on the poor old lady? What would eventually become of her mother bothered Ashana immensely, sending a million thoughts, questions and fears floating freely in her head.

“Now that I am rested we must continue to move.” Ashana broke the silence once again.

“OK,” Jonah agreed half-heartedly but he was barely on his feet when his heart failed. A sharp pain slit through his chest; fear took a tight grip on his heart and threatened to squash it. They were surrounded by a group of men and as he looked up, his eyes met with the last pair of eyes he ever wanted to meet—Nathan’s.