Through the Fire (The Native American Warrior Series) (22 page)

Rebecca reached down into the neckline of Shoka
’s shirt and lifted the dented locket, warm from his skin. “This saved his life, but he was knocked out completely.”

Renault whistled, and Kate touched the globe with her finger.
“You truly must love Shoka to give him your locket.”

Remy handed Shoka a bowl of the thick porridge.
“How you escape?” he asked in his heavy accent.

Shoka nodded toward Rebecca.
“She held off the warriors with my pistol while I lay knowing nothing. I woke to hear her tell Tonkawa she would drop him if he came near.”

Renault coughed and hid a smile behind one hand.
“I can imagine.”

Lieutenant Remy tipped his own hand to Rebecca in tribute.
“Well done, Madame. You have great courage.”

Kate stared at her.
“You did that?”

“
She is a fighter, your sister. Do you not know this?” Shoka asked.

“
Yes. But Becca couldn’t defeat these warriors alone.”

“
No. Others arrived to aid us.”

Renault drew his brows together.
“I’ve heard of Tonkawa. Not a war chief yet, but a respected leader, and determined.”

“
His eye is on Rebecca now,” Shoka said.

“
No doubt. I expect we will see him in a larger party.”

Kate
’s forehead wrinkled. “Who are these warriors?”

“
Catawba. Enemies of the Shawnee and French, allied to the English,” Shoka replied.

“
English? But you said he would steal Becca?”

Shoka
’s mouth tightened. “Tonkawa does as he likes.”

“
He’s something of a renegade,” Renault said. “Even apart from him, the English have difficulty maintaining strong tribal allies. The Cherokee will turn on them before long.”

“
The English treat all warriors like dogs under their feet,” Shoka said in disgust.

“
All English?” Kate pressed him.

“
The Quakers do not and a few others. Father Andrew.”

“
A priest?”

“
Anglican,” Renault supplied. “An itinerant priest who travels the frontier. He and Shoka are…friends.”

“
Most unusual.” Kate laid her head on Renault’s shoulder. “So many different people. All these tribes. Some who should be enemies are allies and some allies are enemies. This war is so confusing.”

He pressed her hand to his lips.
“I know, and likely to become more so. There is something I must tell you.”

Chapter
Thirteen

A stiff wind swept up the face of the rocky overlook, rippling Shoka
’s shirt and blowing back the lengths of his hair. The clear blue sky stretched above him and two black ravens soared high overhead. Mountain ridges rolled in every direction, their deep purplish-blue waves brushed with gold by the late afternoon light. It was a splendid sight, but no more so than the woman hanging back behind him.

He pivoted toward Rebecca, bemused at her timidity. He reveled in heights.
“Come. You wish to look upon the fort.”

The wind whipped her skirts and cloak as she wove her way between the boulders at the brink, deep uncertainty in her eyes.
“Must we stand so near the cliff?”

“
To see well.” He closed his fingers around her arm and guided her beside him onto a tuft of flattened grass. Only a rockslide, a few stunted trees and shrubs rooted stubbornly amid the stones, lay between them and the vast expanse below.

She clutched at him.
“Shoka!”

He wrapped her in his arms.
“I have you and will not let you fall.”

She relaxed her frantic grasp. Secure in his embrace, she pushed back her blowing hair and gazed down at the wooden palisade rising from the green clearing.
“Like a ship on a grassy sea. It’s not as big as Loudoun.”

“
You see from a distance. Yet you are right.”

Even so, Warden was impressive. A sturdy blockhouse stood at each of its four corners, and he glimpsed other log buildings within its walls. He guessed them to be a magazine for storing ammunition, a commissary for provisions, and the officers
’ quarters. If supplies were ample, the settlers inside the fort could hold out for some time. But this was not the case. Rebecca had spoken of as few as eighteen men garrisoned there and the war party numbered close to seventy.

“
It’s a strong defense, yet poorly manned,” he said.

“
I doubt Captain Bancroft will readily surrender, though. It’s a well-timbered structure,” she pointed out.

“
Does not wood burn?”

She closed her eyes and drew every muscle tight.
“Indeed it does. I can still hear the flames, feel the heat and smell the smoke. What a nightmare.”

He kissed her cheek, chilled in the breeze.
“Tell me.”

“
Our country manor burned to the ground when I was twelve years old. We barely escaped with our lives. I dragged Kate down the winding stairs and we crawled from the house. The servants carried Papa out. He’d drunk too much whiskey as usual.”

Shoka tightened his embrace.
“Where did you live?”

“
Our grand home in London still remained. It wasn’t enough for Papa, though. Nothing ever was.”

He hated that she still judged a deep part of herself by how that vile man had treated her. Even more, he hated what lay before them.
“You are enough for me. You are everything. Come what may, remain behind tomorrow.”

“
But if Captain Bancroft refuses
Capitaine
Renault’s parley, he or Uncle Henry may listen to me. I must try.”

“
Rebecca, I beg you not to go.”

She lifted her eyes to his with an expression of somber wonder.
“I never thought to hear you beg.”

“
Not for my own life. For yours, I surrender all pride.”

“
How I long to escape this path and be with you. Take me far from here, now, and I will agree to your request.”

He would give almost anything to do that. But his friends were relying on him, his people in need.
“I cannot.”

Her mouth trembled.
“Nor can I do as you ask.”

Violent upheaval rocked him at her refusal. She didn
’t understand what she was undertaking or the desperation mounting in him. “You will make me crazy.”

“
I can’t help it. You’re no coward. Why ask me to behave as one?”

“
There is no dishonor in remaining behind. I would rather see you hidden in safety than risking such danger.”

“
Are you so certain I will be?” she asked.

“
I do not possess the sight to see the future. But I fear you will enter the fort.”

“
I won’t.”

He was silent. The wind whistling in his ears and the distant shrill of birds filled the hush between them.

She dropped her eyes to the narrow valley below and he followed her gaze. The mellow light spilled over Warden and the stream behind the palisade glinted through the trees. Scattered sheep, no more than gray dots, grazed in the clearing and the woods fanned out on all sides beyond the meadow.

“
So peaceful,” she murmured

“
Tomorrow it may not seem so.”

“
If I do find myself in there, somehow I’ll find my way back to you.”

Grim coils snaked foreboding through his heart.
“It is not so simple.”

“
Trust me.”

“
I must. Or leave you in the trees. Come.”

“
Where?” she asked.

“
We must join Black Knife’s party in the woods beyond Warden to ready the fort for attack.”

She cringed at his words.
“How do you prepare?”

“
This is not for your ears.”

“
Shoka, please. I must know what to expect.”

“
Tonight we will ring the base of the fort with brush.”

She swallowed hard.
“And light it afire?”

“
Not yet. The darkness also gives cover to the men inside, to put out the fire.”

“
What then?”

He was loathe to tell her.
“Near the brush we will place pine knots that lead back to the stream bank. In the morning warriors will wait there, hidden from sight. They will light the first knot.”

“
Only one?”

“
Fire flashes from one knot to the next until the flame reaches the brush.
Capitaine
Renault told Black Knife to use fire arrows, to burn more holes in the walls. When there is much fire and confusion within, we will fell the door with a sturdy log.”

She shrank from him just as he
’d feared she would. “Very effective strategy. And terrible.”

“
The French know much of building forts.”

Revulsion welled in her eyes.
“And consequently how to destroy them. Is there nothing you can do to stop this horror?”

“
You know Black Knife’s terms. Unconditional surrender.”

“
I should hate you for your part.”

He wrapped her in his arms.
“Do not,” he pleaded. “This war goes far beyond me. Beyond any of us. France battles England, England battles France, each aided by different tribes.”

She buried her face in his shirt, muffling her voice.
“What is it all for?”

“
To determine who will possess this vast land, its wealth and furs. Yet Shawnee and tribes allied with us fight only for our portion. We have no wish for the whole of this land.”

“
It’s beyond me to understand all you say. I only know that Kate and I have family in that fort.”

“
I will do all I can to aid them,” he vowed.

“
So will I.”

****

A tranquil palette of gold and mauve rimmed the tops of the oak and chestnut trees and touched the warriors gathered in the woods to the north of the wooden palisade. Some of the timber had been felled, leaving spaces for the assembly. An expectant hum buzzed through the men like the low drone of an agitated beehive. Warden wasn’t visible from where they’d grouped, but Rebecca had no doubt the braves knew exactly where it stood.

No one in the fort was yet aware of their furtive presence. No campfires had been lit, only cold food eaten for supper, and the men kept their voices to a murmur. Any unwary soul venturing from Warden this night would swiftly regret his carelessness.

Her stomach churned. More than anything else she wanted Shoka by her side. Heedless of onlookers, she threw her arms around his neck. “Stay with me.”

“
I cannot.”

“
What of your shoulder?”

“
Would you make an old man of me? Today you prevent me from hunting. Now you wish me to remain behind like one crippled with age.”

“
But you are wounded.”

“
I will keep watch.”

“
Why not another?”

He succumbed to her persistence and gathered her against him.
“Because when you are not with me, making me forget all else, I see and hear what many do not.”

“
True,” Renault agreed from behind her. “I need Shoka’s eyes and ears, and his skill with a musket if we are seen.”

“
That’s not heartening.”

“
I did not mean to increase your alarm. He will come and go like a spirit of the trees.”

Rebecca tried another tactic.
“What if Kate wakes to find you gone and warriors all around her? She trusts him.”

Renault stepped around them and cast a tender eye at Kate lying fast asleep beneath a maple. Only one cheek and a few reddish-brown curls peeked out from under the blanket.
“The poor girl is utterly spent. I’m hopeful she will not rouse until my return, but if she does, you will be here.”

Rebecca slid her hand from Shoka
’s neck and clasped the sleeve of Renault’s navy field coat. “Scant comfort I shall be. Please,
Capitaine
, I am also afraid.”

He seemed to realize it was an admission not easily made and squeezed her hand.
“Of the warriors?”

“
Some, still. Though mostly of tomorrow.”

“
I regret your suffering, dear lady. These men will do you no harm.”

“
But I feel as if the world is closing in on me.”

“
Events are not always as we fear, Madame.”

“
No. Sometimes they are worse.”

“
You will be well,” Shoka soothed. “Go sleep by your sister.”

“
I can’t. Not until you return. Likely not even then.”

“
What if we leave Meshewa with the warriors remaining behind?” Renault suggested. “You like him.”

“
Too well,” Shoka said gruffly.

Renault arched an eyebrow.
“You object to your young cousin? He would be of comfort to her.”

“
She has had enough
comfort
from this one.”

A faint smile curved Renault
’s lips. “What of Lieutenant Remy, then? I am confident I can persuade him to stay.”

“
You have a sharp wit,
Capitaine
,” Shoka muttered. “My sides shake with laughter.”

“
What would you have me do? Black Knife grows impatient and Wabete will storm over here in a moment to pry her from you. We cannot leave the poor lady in this state.”

Shoka gave a short nod.
“Call Meshewa.”

Renault waved the young brave over, making a valiant effort to check his humor.

Meshewa looked from the Frenchman’s twitching lips to a tight-jawed Shoka and back to Renault in confusion. “You wish me,
Capitaine
?”

“
Oui
. Stay with Madame Elliot.”

Frowning at his cousin, Shoka put Rebecca from him with gentle but firm hands.
“I will return,” he said, and strode off with Renault.

Gray twilight swallowed his tall figure along with those of the others and the men vanished into the trees.

Meshewa stared after them. “Shoka is angry with me.”

“
He cares far too much for you to remain so.”

“
Yet he knows I care for you.”

“
He knows you cannot help how you feel,” she reasoned.

“
Sometimes I think to die from wanting you.”

“
No. I am not such a prize.”

He turned to her with undisguised longing in his blackened eyes.
“You are all that is fair. I will never find another.”

“
If I had two of me, I would give one to you.”

A smile lightened the sadness in his bruised face.
“Impossible.”