The World Duology (World Odyssey / Fiji: A Novel) (52 page)

16

N
athan sensed it would only be a matter of time before he and the others were overrun. Behind the big boulder at the summit, he could hear Susannah reciting the Lord’s Prayer. He wished she and Sina would save themselves and flee.

Sina suddenly appeared from behind the boulder. Noticing that Waisale had been wounded, she rushed to his side. The young warrior frowned at her, annoyed that she was exposing herself to danger. Ignoring him, she hurriedly applied a makeshift dressing to his shoulder. “I never thought I would see you again,” Sina confided.

“I never lost hope,” Waisale smiled. “I thought about you every day.” He touched her face affectionately.

Nathan looked back to see what Jack was doing. There was no sign of him. The American guessed he was looking for a better vantage point. Nathan suddenly felt guilty he’d ever doubted Jack. He made a mental note to buy him a drink if they ever made it back to civilization.

While Nathan was thinking about Jack, the Cockney was making his way up the other side of the same hill the warring parties occupied. As soon as the outcasts had moved out of his line of fire, he’d decided to join Joeli’s party and had crossed over via a ridge connecting the two hills. He carried a musket over each shoulder as he hurried up toward the boulder where Susannah was sitting.

At that moment, Susannah was the only one who could see Jack. Not expecting to find another white man in the area, she was, to put it mildly, surprised. Unsure of his intentions, she stood up and prepared to alert the others.

“Morning, sunshine,” Jack called out breathlessly, flashing a cheeky grin. “Lovely day for a war, ain’t it?”

“And who are you?” Susannah asked, mystified.

“You know, I’ve been asking meself that same question for years, Miss,” Jack laughed, stopping in front of the young woman. “Me friends call me Jack Halliday,” he said, “so I guess that’s who I am.” His green eyes twinkled as he flirted with Susannah. “You can call me Jack.”

Warming to the irrepressible Cockney, Susannah said, “Well, I am sure my friends will be pleased to see you, Jack. They need all the help they can get at present.”

“I gathered that,” Jack chuckled. Looking Susannah up and down admiringly, he added, “If ya don’t mind me sayin’ so, I can see why Nathan risked his life for you.”

“You know Nathan?”

“Know ’im? If we was any closer we’d be lovers, Miss.” Susannah smiled at the other’s choice of words. Jack added, “Well, I best be makin’ meself useful.” He walked off to join the others.

The first Nathan knew Jack had crossed over from the adjoining hillside was when the Cockney flopped down on the ground next to him. Hiding his surprise, Nathan asked, “What took you so long?”

“Why, did you miss me smiling face?”

“Not really. We were enjoying the break.” As an afterthought, he added, “You weren’t making a pass at the Englishwoman, I hope.”

“Who, me?” Jack grinned. “Now that you mention it, I should’ve. Think she was pretty taken with me.”

Nathan hid a smile. Jack could tell the young American was pleased to see him. He appreciated the fact Nathan didn’t interrogate him about where he’d been since the previous night. Looking around, Jack saw that even Joeli’s warriors appeared pleased he’d returned. He noticed Joeli was still glaring at him, but even his glares didn’t seem as menacing as
before.

“I wasn’t gonna come back till I remembered what lousy shooters you lot are,” Jack mumbled.

“Well, I’m glad you did,” Nathan smiled, eyeing Jack’s two muskets. “We can sure use the extra fire power.”

“You got any more powder ’n shot?” Jack asked hopefully.

Nathan shook his head. “We’re nearly out.”

“Oh shite.
I’m nearly out, too.” Jack discarded one of his two muskets. “Guess I won’t be needing that.”

“Where’d you learn to shoot?” Nathan asked.

“Back at Koroi . . . my village. I hadn’t even touched a musket before I arrived there some years back. I soon realized my wife’s people had their share of enemies so I supplied ’em with muskets to help ’em out. That’s when I learned.”

“You got a family, Jack?”

“Oh, yeah,” Jack smiled as he thought of his beautiful Fijian wife, Namosi, and their two young children. “Me ’n Namosi have two kids and another on the—”

Jack was interrupted by a shout from one of Joeli’s warriors alerting them to signs of movement on the hillside below. It seemed Rambuka’s followers were preparing for one final push.

“Here we go again,” Nathan said resignedly.

The silence was broken by musket fire as the outcasts resumed their attack, firing as they came. The defenders kept their heads down for the moment. They were under strict orders to conserve their rapidly dwindling ammunition supplies.

Waiting for the outcasts to come closer, Nathan felt Jack’s hand on his shoulder. He turned to see his friend grinning at him.

“Just wanted to say it’s been a pleasure knowing ya,” Jack said in recognition of the fact they may not survive what was to follow.

“Likewise,” Nathan said, shaking the other’s outstretched hand.

The pair aimed their muskets at the approaching outcasts who were now closing fast. Just below them, Nathan saw Joeli preparing to fire his musket. Under his breath Nathan said, “Not yet, Joeli. Not yet.” Not taking his eyes off the outcasts, Nathan asked, “So why did you really come back, Jack?”

Jack chuckled. “Damned if I know. I must be two farthings short of a penny.”

The outcasts were within ten yards of the defenders when Joeli finally fired his musket. This was the signal for the defenders to open fire. Nathan and Jack fired in unison and a dozen other shots rang out.

Six outcasts fell in the first volley. It wasn’t totally one-sided: three Qopa defenders were also killed in the exchange.

Despite their losses, the outcasts kept coming. As they overran the Qopas’ front lines, vicious hand-to-hand fighting ensued. Rambuka was to the fore. Using his musket as a club, he dispatched two defenders in his path. Uraia fought alongside his cousin with equal fury.

Joeli spotted Rambuka and swung his musket around in the Outcast’s direction. In his excitement, he accidentally discharged the weapon as he was still raising it to his shoulder. Throwing the musket aside, Joeli charged Rambuka, whale bone club in one hand and tomahawk in the other.

Rambuka saw Joeli coming and picked up the loaded musket of a fallen outcast. Firing from the hip, he shot Joeli at point-blank range. The impact of the shot knocked Joeli backward. The ratu rolled a short distance until his journey was brought to an abrupt halt by a protruding rock. Joeli lay motionless, clutching a gut wound. He knew instinctively he’d been mortally wounded.

In half a dozen strides, Rambuka reached Joeli. Standing astride his half-brother as the fighting raged around them, the Outcast raised one arm above his head triumphantly. “Joeli is mine!” he shouted before uttering a blood-curdling war cry.

17

D
rawing his hunting knife, Rambuka bent down to cut Joeli’s throat. He looked up just in time to see Waisale almost upon him. Now out of ammunition, the handsome young Qopa warrior had swapped his musket for a tomahawk.

Waisale was desperate to save his friend and ratu. He swung his tomahawk at Rambuka. The Outcast ducked beneath the swinging weapon, stepped forward, and thrust his knife upwards, burying it up to its hilt in Waisale’s chest. The young warrior sank to his knees, staring up at Rambuka. He died like that, still kneeling.

A woman’s screams attracted Rambuka’s attention. He looked up to see Sina staring down from the large boulder above. Susannah appeared next to her. Grinning at the two women, Rambuka pulled his knife from Waisale’s chest. The young warrior toppled forward and lay unmoving, face down in the mud.

Still screaming, Sina started running toward Waisale. Susannah grabbed her arm and tried to restrain her.
“Sina, no!” Susannah cried as she struggled to hold her friend. She looked around for help and saw Nathan. “Nathan!” she shouted.

Nathan, who had witnessed Waisale’s death, rushed to Susannah’s assistance and helped pull Sina back behind the large boulder. “Stay here!” he said harshly to Sina, pushing her back. The young woman collapsed into Susannah’s arms, sobbing. “Keep her here,” Nathan ordered.

Meanwhile, Rambuka was anxious to finish Joeli off and recover the golden tabua he was sure his half-brother had in his possession. Turning back to Joeli, Rambuka suddenly found himself confronted by two warriors intent on protecting their ratu. They, too, had been reduced to using their muskets as clubs. The Outcast was forced backward before their onslaught. Priming his borrowed musket as he backpeddled, Rambuka shot one of his attackers dead then grappled with the second. The two rolled down the hill in a life-and-death struggle.

Near death, Joeli could only watch the mayhem happening around him.

Nathan returned to the fray in time to see Rambuka stab the warrior he’d been grappling with. Looking around, the American also saw that Jack was making good use of the last of his ammunition. The Cockney’s hands were a blur as he fired, primed his musket, and fired again, killing two more outcasts.

However, Nathan’s immediate concern was for Joeli. He rushed to the ratu’s side and dragged him to the temporary safety afforded by the large boulder that Susannah and Sina were sheltering behind.

The women looked on as Nathan cradled Joeli in his arms. Blood flowing from the ratu’s gaping stomach wound now covered both men.

Oblivious to the rain that fell, Joeli looked up at Nathan through pain-filled eyes. Speaking English, he gasped, “Nathan Johnson . .
.we are brothers.” Nathan nodded. Joeli reached down into his rations pouch and drew out the precious golden tabua he’d retrieved from Rambuka’s hut. He handed it to Nathan, saying, “This belong to my people.”

Nathan took the golden tabua from Joeli and placed it in his backpack. “I will see they get it,” Nathan assured him.

Joeli then looked at Susannah and Sina. His eyes began to glaze over as the life slowly ebbed out of him. “You must take women to safety.” Joeli touched the open wound in his stomach then lifted his bloodied hand skyward. Rain drops mingled with blood, splattering his face. “Red rain,” he said, studying the blood-red raindrops.

“
Red. . . rain.”

18

A
s Joeli died in Nathan’s arms, the rain intensified, as if on cue, washing the blood from the young ratu’s face. The American now understood why the Qopa referred to this region as the Land of Red Rain.

Nathan was more deeply affected by Joeli’s death than he would have believed possible. Looking into the ratu’s open but unseeing eyes, he knew he would always remember Joeli as a true and loyal friend.

Susannah leaned forward and closed Joeli’s eyes. Next to her, Sina sobbed uncontrollably, but the Englishwoman appeared to have found a new inner strength. She recognized she needed to be strong for Sina and herself.

Nathan couldn’t believe how much courage Susannah was showing in the face of death. As he looked into her eyes, he wondered if he was the reason she was being so strong just as she was the reason he was remaining staunch.

With the sounds of fighting drawing closer, Nathan tore himself away from Joeli’s lifeless body and looked around the boulder. At a glance he saw that Jack and the other defenders were in danger of being overwhelmed by the outcasts.

Both sides had sustained heavy casualties, but the Qopa had fared worst. The remaining five defenders were now outnumbered two to one and all except Jack had run out of ammunition. The fighting was now entirely being conducted at close quarters, and the weapons being used were mainly clubs, knives, and tomahawks.

Rambuka, with his cousin Uraia by his side, was fighting with a fury that inspired the remaining outcasts, whereas the Qopa, without their ratu, were becoming dispirited—as if they could sense they were fighting a losing battle.

Nathan’s fingers strayed to the whale bone pendant hanging from his neck. Thinking
through his options, his fingertips subconsciously traced the carvings that ran the full length of the pendant, from its rounded end all the way down to its sharp, dagger-like tip.

The American looked back at Susannah and Sina and immediately experienced conflicting emotions: he wanted to help Jack out and remain loyal to Joeli’s warriors, but he also wanted to save the two women in his charge. Looking around the boulder again, he saw Jack staring directly at him.

“Run for it!” Jack yelled.

Nathan hesitated. He couldn’t believe this man he hardly even knew was willing to sacrifice his life for him.

“Run, damn you!” the Cockney shouted.

Their
eyes locked for what seemed an eternity, but was in fact only the briefest of moments. In that instant, Nathan sensed they were kindred souls. He looked at Jack then back to the two women in his charge. The women’s safety was paramount in his mind. So, too, was Joeli’s dying wish. Yet the loyalty he felt toward Jack and the surviving Qopa could not be denied. A thousand conflicting emotions gripped him, momentarily paralyzing him.

Returning his attention to the battlefield, Nathan saw it was now seven against three—Rambuka, Uraia, and five other outcasts against Jack and the two Qopa trackers, Penaia and Rewa. To make matters worse, the three defenders had all been wounded. Jack had a minor flesh wound, but his two Qopa companions were both gravely wounded and were so exhausted they could hardly defend themselves.

Nathan’s mind was made up: he couldn’t desert Jack and the others. Turning to Susannah and Sina, he snapped, “Stay out of sight!”

Both women nodded, wide-eyed. They were too frightened even to speak.

Without another word, Nathan left the cover of the boulder and scrambled to join the others. The Cockney saw him coming and shook his head disparagingly, making it clear he considered the American crazy. Jack was too busy to say anything: he was frantically priming his musket as a disfigured outcast ran at him, knife in hand. Nathan shot the outcast dead just before he could reach the Cockney. Jack flashed a look of gratitude Nathan’s way.

Not ten feet away, Rambuka and Uraia were hacking at the wounded Qopa trackers with their tomahawks. It was clearly only a matter of time before Rewa and Penaia succumbed to the cousins’ fury. Uraia was the first to strike, clubbing Rewa to the ground then burying his tomahawk in his victim’s chest; then Rambuka brought his tomahawk savagely down on the head of Penaia. The tracker was dead before he hit the ground but, with another swing of his tomahawk, Rambuka decapitated him to make doubly sure.

As Nathan tried to prime his musket, he was hit by the sickening realization he was out of powder. Throwing the musket aside, he drew out his pistol from beneath his shirt just as two outcasts ran at him, their weapons raised. Nathan shot one dead while Jack dispatched the other with a well-aimed musket ball.

The two whites took stock of their situation; it didn’t look good. They were the last remaining defenders. Outnumbered four to
two, and almost out of ammunition, it seemed only a question of time before they were overpowered.

Nathan’s thoughts returned to the two women whose lives, he knew, depended on him.

Jack looked at him. “We have to run for it!”

It was as if the Cockney had read his mind. Nathan needed no second bidding. “Let’s go!”

The pair retreated behind the boulder where they found Susannah and Sina waiting, ready to flee. Without a word, Nathan grabbed the two women and began dragging them down the hill. He assumed Jack was following.

Jack never had any intention of fleeing. He knew they’d soon be chased down by the
fleetfooted outcasts, so decided to stay and try to buy the trio some time.

Through the rain, Rambuka caught a glimpse of the American fleeing with the two women. The Outcast guessed that Nathan now had possession of the golden tabua. He vowed to hunt the White-Face down.

A quarter way down the hill, Nathan looked behind and was alarmed to see Jack was still on the summit. The Cockney flashed a cheeky grin Nathan’s way then disappeared from view.
What’s he playing at?
Nathan asked himself. It dawned on him the Cockney never had any intention of fleeing. Jack was sacrificing himself to give him and the women a chance to survive.

Nathan’s heart went out to Jack and feelings of gratitude coursed through him. His heart also went out to Joeli, Waisale, and the others he was leaving behind. He realized, without a shadow of a doubt, they were true friends. It was a bitter-sweet realization: for the first time in his life, he’d finally made friends.

On the summit, Jack stepped out from behind the boulder to see the four remaining outcasts coming at him. At the sight of the musket in his hands, they dived for cover behind rocks. Jack smiled grimly to himself. He was aware he was down to his last musket ball, so knew he would need to find creative ways to stall his enemies.

After several long minutes, a squat, bearded outcast with a spear in each hand suddenly showed
himself and hurled one of his spears at Jack. His aim was off and he paid the price: Jack shot him dead.

As one, the other outcasts ran at their enemy. Now out of powder, Jack hurled his musket at the nearest outcast, an especially ugly individual, then drew his hunting knife and stabbed him in the chest, killing him. It was now two against one: Rambuka and Uraia against the Cockney.

Aware he was on borrowed time, Jack resolved he’d hold out as long as he could to give his friends more time to make good their escape. As the two surviving outcasts came at him, he bent down and scooped up a huge whale bone club lying at his feet. He wasn’t to know the weapon had belonged to Joeli. Jack whirled it about his head, forcing Rambuka and Uraia to remain out of reach.

The cousins bided their time. They knew if they weren’t careful they could both be taken out with one swing of the huge club. Jack waited for them. Rambuka finally came at him head on while Uraia approached from an angle.

Realizing he would have to deal with Rambuka first, Jack swung at him. Rambuka pulled up and the edge of the club missed his head by a whisker. At the same time, the Outcast lashed out with his tomahawk, shattering Jack’s left arm. Jack screamed in agony. The pain coursed through his body like hot irons, and he thought he was going to faint. With his shattered left arm now hanging uselessly at his side, he steeled himself for the end.

As the cousins closed in for the kill, Jack’s thoughts went to his Fijian wife, Namosi, and their two children back at Koroi. At that moment, he knew he’d never see them again. Nor would he see the baby his wife was due to have soon.

Rather than wait for death to come, Jack charged the outcasts, swinging Joeli’s club around his head. Rambuka met him head on, parrying a blow with his tomahawk. At the same time, Uraia brought his tomahawk down on Jack’s skull, killing him instantly.

The Cockney’s broken body rolled down the hill until it stopped against the body of Waisale. By chance, his broken arm ended up flung out over the young warrior’s chest, as if he were comforting him in death.

Rambuka and Uraia looked around them. The realization set in that they were the last men standing; the bodies of the fallen were strewn all the way down the hillside. Both sides had paid a terrible price.

Although they’d prevailed, neither cousin was happy. They knew there would be no
victory until they’d reclaimed the golden tabua. With that in mind, they hurried to the summit to try to catch a glimpse of Nathan and the two women.

Rambuka was first to round the boulder at the summit. Looking out over the valley below, he was perturbed to see there was no sign of the trio. Uraia joined him. The two studied every possible hiding place from their vantage point.

As the rain eased, Rambuka suddenly pointed at a stand of kauri trees on the valley floor a hundred yards or so distant. “The White-Face and his women are there,” he said with certainty.

Uraia nodded. There were no other hiding places nearby; in the time that had elapsed since the trio had fled the hilltop, the kauri trees offered the only possible hiding place. The cousins immediately began jogging down the hill toward the valley floor.