High on a Mountain (33 page)

But he could not forget her.

____________

Ailean chewed a mouthful of venison and
swallowed, gathered his courage and asked, “Who is the tall woman?
The one with the long hair. It flows down her back. I’ve seen her
once or twice.”

Gòrdan raised his eyebrows. “I thought you
weren’t interested in having a wife.”

“I’m not. I just saw her and—”

“Like I told you, a man needs companionship.”
Gòrdan grinned.

He turned to Tayeni and they conversed in
Tsalagi
briefly.

“Are you speaking of the woman who goes about
with a basket? The one who goes up into the hills for roots and
other medicines? Leaves her hair loose instead of done up like the
rest of the women?” Gòrdan swirled a hand in the air above his
head, simulating the coiled hairstyles
Tsalagi
women
wore.

“Aye. I saw her on the mountain today.”

Gòrdan and Tayeni spoke with each other
again, and he told Ailean, “That’s Kutahyah. She’s a widow. That’s
why she doesn’t fix her hair. Her husband was killed in a skirmish
with
Ani-Kawita
last year. He was a real hot-head.”

“A widow. She looks…sad,” Ailean said. “I can
understand how she feels.”

“Part of her sadness might be from still
being a widow after such a long time. With
Ani-Tsalagi
,
young widows marry again soon. But Kutahyah still lives alone. In
her mother’s home.”

____________

Jim Satterfield had proven unequal to the
task of finding MacLachlainn. After weeks of fruitless tracking,
Latharn insisted Satterfield take him to Charles Town. He suspected
all along that MacLachlainn would go to a seaport and try to get
passage on a ship bound for Scotland, rather than lose himself in
the wilderness as Satterfield suggested. And Charles Town was a
busy port.

Latharn himself wanted more than anything to
return to his homeland. This hot, humid place with its overgrowth
of vegetation, dangerous reptiles and stinging insects was
uncomfortable in the extreme, and he hated it. He longed for the
cool, clear air and open spaces of Scotland.

If he’d had enough money, he might have
relinquished his obsession with killing MacLachlainn. But his
expedition with Jim Satterfield left him too low on funds to secure
passage.

The sale of his furniture and other
belongings had not brought him enough money. The cost of his
passage to South Carolina and the subsequent expenditures for
lodging and food had depleted his funds. Latharn disputed the
amount Satterfield demanded for serving as his guide, but in the
end, he paid it.

“I didn’t give you no guarantees,”
Satterfield pointed out. “I just told you I’d guide you and we’d
hunt him. Never said we’d find him.”

Latharn glared at Satterfield and counted out
coins into Satterfield’s open hand. He turned on his heel without a
word and searched for the nearest tavern. He had to have a drink.
Then, he’d decide what to do.

____________

Kutahyah thought about the white man when she
lay down that night. She remembered the
anetsa
game,
remembered how strong he was and how bravely he fought, struggling
on even when he was covered from head to foot in his own blood. A
woman would be fortunate to have a man so strong and determined, a
man who could bring home plenty of meat.

Yes, he was strong, but he was also kind.
When he saw he’d startled her on the mountain, he purposely showed
her he was no threat by sitting down. A strong man and a kind
one.

Her husband had been a strong man. But not
kind. He even struck her once when he was angry. She had kept that
violent act a secret.
Tsalagi
women were strong and
commanded respect from their men. Kutahyah would have been shamed
had anyone else known of the incident.

She had feared her husband, but she also
feared becoming an object of pity and contempt, had his unkindness
to her been common knowledge. After he died, she had been in no
hurry to marry again for fear that life with another man might be
just as bad. And she was afraid she might discover she herself was
lacking in some important way, a way that had brought his disfavor
upon herself.

But the white man…he seemed different. She
wondered what it would feel like to be held in the white man’s
strong arms, and her thoughts awakened feelings she hadn’t
experienced in a long time. A yearning to be held and loved
engulfed her and made her catch her breath.

Foolish, foolish woman!

But…the man, he was so strong. And so
handsome.

She rolled over on her blanket and tried to
go to sleep.

____________

Latharn had almost no money left by the time
he found employment. The owner of the tavern he frequented needed a
bartender to replace the latest in a succession of men who worked
for him briefly. Each had listened to the siren call of opportunity
and left in search of more lucrative pursuits.

Shame at the thought of such a menial
occupation made Latharn’s face burn. But the position provided him
a place to sleep in the storeroom at the back of the building and
enough coins to buy a little food. And coins to buy his necessity,
the bottled liquid life he couldn’t do without.

FORTY-ONE

It was past the time Gòrdan usually started
for Charles Town. He had plenty of hides and other goods he
obtained from
Ani-Tsalagi
in trade, but he didn’t want to
leave until the question of Ailean MacLachlainn’s plans was
settled. He liked the big man and felt uncomfortable leaving him on
his own, unable to communicate. He remembered what it was like, not
knowing the language or the ways of
Ani-Tsalagi
.

And Gòrdan had worked long and hard to
establish a relationship of trust with
Ani-Tsalagi
. He
didn’t want it marred by some ignorant action of MacLachlainn’s. He
decided to tell Tayeni about Ailean’s request to rent land.

“The man wants to rent some land for a home.
Land where he can farm and raise cattle.”

“But he is a man,” Tayeni said. “Men don’t
farm. That is woman’s work.”

“Men farm in his country,” Gòrdan said.

Tayeni thought it over. “He would have his
own house and provide his own food?” she asked.

Gòrdan smiled. He knew she was anxious to be
rid of this guest with the large appetite.

“Yes. He would live on his land, not here in
the village,” Gòrdan said.

“I will speak to the elders.”

____________

Tayeni did more than speak to the elders. She
set about gaining public approval for Ailean’s request, talking to
everyone who would listen. She talked first to her aunt, Uayula,
who was a Beloved Woman of the Bird Clan.

“Asgayagiga helped remove the disgrace from
our village. Surely we can give him a place to live,” Tayeni said.
“A place some distance from here.”

As Uayula considered the proposal, she
stroked the new blanket her husband won for her in a bet on the
anetsa
game. “Yes, I suppose it would be a good thing.”

The next day, Tayeni talked to other women as
they worked their plots in the cornfield together, repeating the
argument she used with her aunt. One of the younger women
disagreed.

“Why do you want to send him away? I like
watching him walk through the village. I’ve never seen a man as
tall and strong as he.”

“Better not let Yahcahyah hear you say that,”
another chided, and all the women laughed.

“No, no.” Tayeni hurried to stop the current
trend of the conversation. “He wouldn’t be sent away. We just need
to reward him, give him what he wants.”

____________

Kutahyah stayed on the periphery of the
discussion, privy to the ebb and flow of social life of the women
of the village but not part of it. She listened to the gossip but,
as was her habit, didn’t say anything.

I wish he wanted
me.

She stopped working and stood erect,
surprised by the boldness of this thought. She considered it for a
moment. And faced the truth of it.

Yes, I
do
wish he wanted
me.

On her way home from the fields in the
afternoon, when Kutahyah neared the spot where Ailean sat on the
river bank, she walked slowly, lingering, wanting him to look up.
She looked back over her shoulder after she passed him, and he
raised his head at that moment. He turned toward her, scanning the
area. When he looked in her direction, she smiled at him, then
lowered her eyes and continued on her way.

____________

Ailean jumped up and followed Kutahyah,
overtaking her with his long strides.

“
Osiyo
,” he said.

“
Osiyo
.”

He didn’t know how to say anything else to
her in her language. They meandered through the village, eliciting
curious and questioning looks from those they passed.

He glanced at her discreetly as they walked,
not wanting to give offense, not knowing what behavior was
acceptable between unmarried people and what was not. Being this
close to her for the first time he noticed the smoothness of her
richly colored skin, and he wanted to touch the gleaming hair that
flowed down her back.

How can I feel that way? Mùirne died for me.
I have to be loyal to her memory. I can’t touch another woman.

He paused for a moment, torn between his
attraction to Kutahyah and his memory of his beloved Mùirne.
Kutahyah glanced up at him, their eyes met and a warmth enveloped
him, imparted from their tenuous connection. It erased his
hesitancy, and he fell into step beside her again.

When they reached Kutahyah’s house, she
paused, looked up at him with a smile and went inside. He waited,
stood on one foot and the other, unsure whether she meant for him
to follow her. When she didn’t come out or say anything more to
him, he returned to his accustomed spot on the river bank.

Each day afterwards, he watched for her. He
joined her when she passed him on her way from the fields to her
mother’s house. One afternoon, a young man was standing at her
door, one foot propped on a bundle of firewood.

Kutahyah said a few words to the young man,
and he became angry. She gestured toward the wood as she talked to
him. He picked it up and stalked away. Kutahyah turned and looked
up at Ailean, her eyes filled with an emotion he couldn’t
decipher.

____________

After much private discussion, the elders
called a village meeting and the people gathered at the town house.
Tayeni’s aunt, Uayula, spoke in Ailean’s behalf.

“This man helped Gulahiyi win the ball game.
Without him, we would have lost again. Now, he has made only one
request in exchange for the help he gave us. He wants a place to
live. I think we should grant his request.”

The people to whom Tayeni had spoken openly
murmured in assent, some also rising to make statements in favor of
granting Ailean’s request. No one disagreed with Uayula’s words.
One of the elders rose to speak to the people.

“We owe a debt to Asgayagiga. If he wants
land to live upon, we will give it.”

Since Ailean had made known his intention to
raise cattle, the elders decided the plot of land granted to him
should be at least two day’s journey to the west, to keep the
cattle away from their crops. They selected the site of an old
village to the west. It had been abandoned years before when the
soil wore out.

They appointed Tenahwosi and Itahcah to
escort Asgayagiga to his new home, since they were the men who’d
brought him to the village. The two men had also been instructed to
take word to other villages that Asgayagiga would make his home on
Tsalagi
land with the approval of the elders of Gulahiyi,
and that he was not to be molested.

“The elders have decided to give you a tract
of land. It’s a gift of appreciation. The men who brought you here
will take you to it,” Gòrdan told Ailean the next day.

“Thank you. Is there a way I should express
my thanks to the elders?”

“Tayeni will help you do that. You and she
can meet with them, and she’ll know what to say. And later, after
you have harvested a crop, you can make a gift to the village.”

“I’ll do that. But what about the hoe they
took from me? Can I get that back now? I’ll need it.”

“I don’t know. I’ll ask Itahcah about it. I
think he’s the one who kept it.”

“Now, I have one other question for you.”
Ailean pulled his knees up and wrapped his arms around them. He
brushed his hair back from his face, smoothed a hand over the mat,
trying to work up the courage to ask what he wanted to know.

“Well, what is it?” Gòrdan asked.

“Something happened today that I don’t
understand. I walked with Kutahyah to her house, and there was a
man waiting for her. He’d brought her some wood, but she made him
take it away. He got angry and left and—”

“She just got a proposal of marriage from the
man,” Gòrdan interrupted. “And she rejected it.”

“I don’t understand.”

“When a woman has been married before, if
she’s a widow like Kutahyah and a man wants to propose, it’s pretty
simple,” Gòrdan said. “He takes some firewood to her. If she builds
a fire with the wood and cooks something for him to eat, that means
she accepted the proposal.”

“And then what?”

“He eats the food, and if he lets her know he
likes it, that means they’re both willing. He moves in with her.
Or, he’ll build a house for her, and she’ll move into it with
him.”

“But what about a ceremony? What about the
parson?”

“Their marriage customs are different from
ours.”

“But what about jumping the broom?” Ailean
asked, remembering his wedding day. “Don’t
Ani-Tsalagi
at
least jump the broom?”