My Savage Heart (The MacQuaid Brothers) (39 page)

“I don’t know, Neddy.” Caroline wiped hair from her face. “I don’t know.”

Just before nightfall she noticed the smoke filtering above the trees. Without a word, she motioned to Ned, who had stayed up with her despite his earlier reluctance.

“What do you suppose it means?” Edward bent over from the waist, his hands resting on his knees when Caroline stopped to catch her breath.

“I know it isn’t Raff. He’d never give his whereabouts away like that.”

“Then you think it’s the Cherokee?” Edward straightened enough to peer at his sister from under his shelf of nearly white brows.

“We’re going to find out.”

“Lord help us. Caro.” Edward scurried to catch up with her. “What good is it going to do Raff... any of us... for you to go marching into the Cherokee camp? We’ve no weapons.” He threw up his hands in despair. “No nothing.”

“I didn’t say we were going into their camp. But I can’t believe they’d chance having a fire unless they’ve captured Raff. And as for no weapons.” She paused, not exactly sure what to say to that argument. “We’ll think of something,” she finally mumbled as they made their way toward the spot where she saw the smoke.

“This is insane.”

“Shhh.” Caroline glanced over at Edward, finger pressed to her lips, as they hunkered down behind an outcrop of rocks near the Indian camp. They were far enough away to be in the shadows... she hoped. She also hoped the Cherokee wouldn’t be expecting her to come sneaking up on them. She and Edward hadn’t encountered any sentries except the ones she could see guarding their prisoner.

They’d tied Wolf to a birch tree. In the flickering light from the campfire, Caroline could see that they’d stripped the bark from the trunk and splashed the wood with black and red paint. It made an eerie background for their captive. Wolf stood, his hands tied behind the tree, his feet bound. He was naked to the waist, wearing only his loincloth.

“He’s wounded.”

“I know,” Caroline whispered. She noticed that immediately and the pain in his bleeding arm seemed to shoot straight through her.

“So what are we going to do?”

Caroline took a deep breath. “Let me think for a minute.”

“How does it feel now, Wa`ya?” You are alone. Stripped of your protectors, the English dogs. And waiting to die.”

Wolf met Tal-tsuska’s taunting stare, but made no comment. If he was going to die, he would do it with his pride intact.

“Nothing to say for yourself? You, who were always too ready to speak in the council house. So ready to work out a compromise between the two people who war for your soul.” Tal-tsuska puffed out his chest and strode back and forth in front of Wolf. Despite the cold, he too was garbed only in his loincloth. The same ochre and black they smeared on the sapling were painted in designs of war across his chest and pockmarked face.

“This war will not help the Cherokee,” Wolf finally said. “You may win at first, but in the end, they will destroy us.”

“As you have prophesied... even hoped for all along.” Tal-tsuska stepped closer, thrusting his face near Wolf’s.

“In your heart you know better than that,” Wolf said and returned the angry glare till Tal-tsuska finally looked away.

“I know the English are vermin who come to our shores to destroy us with their greed and diseases.”

“There is no denying there has been greed—”

“And disease! You have only to remember the loss of my wife, my children...” He paused as he pulled a knife from the sheath at his waist. “To look at my face.” He held the blade up threateningly close to Wolf’s cheek, then smiled savagely as he slid the blade along his own thumb. There was no change in his expression as a thin line of crimson appeared.

“Tell me, Wa`ya, where she is.”

“Drowned in the river.” The change of subject had come quickly, but Wolf expected it. He gave the same answer he had from the beginning. Ever since his capture near the head of a second falls, Tal-tsuska badgered him about Caroline’s whereabouts.

Wolf began to realize his cousin’s interest in her was not merely a means to settle an old feud between the two of them. It made Wolf hope with all his heart that she and her brother were well on their way to Fort Prince George. Knowing she was safe would almost make what he was about to endure bearable.

Tal-tsuska’s rough touch snapped Wolf’s attention back to his captor. With eyelids lowered and lips drawn back tightly from his teeth Tal-tsuska smeared the blood from his thumb down the center of Wolf’s chest. “Soon, Wa`ya. Soon your blood will stain this ground.” Then with a flourish, he sank the blade into the soft, sandy soil several feet in front of the tree where Wolf was tied. Firelight flickered off the polished steel and carved bone handle.

“Look at it, Wa`ya. Study it, until you can feel the sting of its bite. Feel your lifeblood leave you as I cut away your white half...” He paused, his stare meeting Wolf’s. “You may pretend you have no fear, but I know better. Too much cowardly English blood runs through your veins.”

With those words Tal-tsuska turned away. He walked to the fire and hunkered down.

“Have you gone insane? Perhaps we should return to England... to Bedlam.”

She wasn’t returning to England, and she most certainly wasn’t going to Bedlam, but Caroline didn’t have time to argue
those
points with her brother. “’Tis the only way, Ned. We can’t overpower seven warriors. Raff has a chance to, but not if he’s bound.”

“And I’m supposed to race into their camp, grab the knife and slit his knots before several savages slit my throat?”

She knew it sounded foolish, and dangerous, but she could think of nothing else. “I told you,” Caroline said, hoping she was right. “They will pay you no heed for I shall create a diversion.”

“By walking into their midst.” He took a deep breath. “I won’t let you do that, Caro.”

Caroline shifted to peek over the boulder they hid behind. “’Twill work,” she insisted as the plan played itself out in her mind. She was fairly certain the Cherokee didn’t know her brother was involved in any of this.

“Let us pretend I do free him,” her brother whispered. “What is to stop him from taking off into the woods and leaving us at the mercy of those heathens?”

“He won’t.”

He turned to face her. “Are you certain of that?”

Caroline raised her chin. “I am willing to bet my life on it.”

“And mine, too, Caro.”

She knew what she asked of him. Knew how much courage it would take for her brother to do as she bid. He was so young. And she loved him so much. And she was so proud when he sidled closer to her.

“Tell me again what I’m to do.”

Caroline gave him a quick hug. “Now don’t forget after you cut Raff loose and give him the knife, I want you to disappear into the forest. Then for Fort Prince George.”

“I won’t leave you here alone, Caro. What kind of brother do you think I am?”

“A devoted one.” Caroline reached out to touch his smooth cheek. “I haven’t thanked you for coming with me. And what you are going to do now—” She smiled. “’Tis a very brave thing. But I need you to send help. Try to reach the fort as quickly as you can and tell them what happened.”

“And they will send soldiers?”

“Yes.” Caroline hoped he believed her lie so he would leave. But she knew there would be no one sent out from the fort to rescue them. If her plan didn’t work. If Wolf couldn’t defeat the warriors guarding him, they would both die.

What the hell!

Wolf heard the commotion, the excited shrieks and cries, on the other side of the camp. He glanced around to see a glimpse of moon-kissed hair before it was obscured by Tal-tsuska’s raised arm. Yanking on his ties did no good. But as his heart sank, Wolf did it anyway, so savagely his hands grew slippery from his own blood. Why was she here? What had possessed her to just walk into the midst of a Cherokee war party?

You. She did it for you
. The nagging truth made him strain all the harder.

Then off to the side, another movement caught his eye as someone darted from the tangle of underbrush. “Edward, for God’s sake help her!”

Sliding to his knees in the dirt, Edward fumbled for the knife. His hands were so sweaty he had to try twice to pull it out of the ground. He didn’t even bother to stand, only crawled into the shadows behind Wolf and started sawing at the leather around his legs.

“Not me.” The hooping and hollering near Caroline grew louder, and Wolf had to yell so Edward could hear him. “Help her.”

“I am,” is all Edward said as he pushed to his feet and sliced through the bloody thongs binding Wolf’s wrists. Then he slapped the knife handle against Wolf’s palm and disappeared into the darkness.

H
e didn’t miss a beat. With a savage roar, Wolf exploded toward the warriors... toward Caroline. His eyes and mind were active during his capture. He knew exactly where every weapon in camp was located and by the time he reached the Indians... by the time they even knew he was loose, he’d scooped up a war club that he used to bash one warrior’s head. The knife pierced the ribs of another as he turned toward the unexpected threat.

“Get out of here?” Wolf screamed as he swung out again with the club. One more Cherokee fell to the ground, his expression still registering shock.

But the element of surprise was gone. Three of the remaining men faced Wolf, their weapons poised. Only Tal-tsuska stood apart, behind them. And he held Caroline.

Without considering the odds, Wolf hurled himself forward. He slashed with both hands, catching one of the men on the temple with the club, slicing the other across the chest. But his attack was not without penalty. Though he dodged and ducked, the third Indian drew blood as he swung his tomahawk. The blow glanced off Wolf’s shoulder, knocking him to his knees.

Dropping his weapons, Wolf lunged for his adversary’s legs, yanking him down with enough force that he hit the packed dirt with a thud.

Caroline fought Tal-tsuska’s attempts to drag her across the campsite, but he hardly seemed to notice. His one arm bound her to his side; and though she strained to see how Wolf fared, she could not. But she feared it mattered naught. With an awful sense of defeat, Caroline watched Tal-tsuska snatch up his rifle.