This is the second "Last of the Mohicans" i've decided to try out. This is in essence a "what if" story. I always wondered what would happen if Magua thought he had killed the sisters during the massacre. what if they didn't meet the others until until after that last battle? It gives me a bit more to play with at any rate. The pairings are Alice/Uncas, Nathaniel/Cora. I love reviews, just keep them polite...flamers will get no response from me.
Gunned Down
The explosion of gunfire happened so quickly that Alice couldn't tell when the bird song ended and the screaming began. She had been riding behind her sister on the horse when the first shot was fired, when the women and children began to cry out. Now the world around her was deafening and so smoke filled she couldn't see where danger was coming from. She couldn't see her father, or hear Duncan anymore.
In a vague sea of fog, she saw her sister dismount from the horse and lead it toward a clump of trees. Alice looked around wildly, confused by the sounds and disoriented by who was shooting and from where. Before she could get down from the horse there was a shot fired very close to Cora's shoulder. The horse reared upward and threw Alice sideways off the saddle. She hit the dirt hard and felt the wind being knocked from her chest, then the horse took off.
She heard Cora call her name as she was dragged along with the frightened horse, her foot still tangled up in one stirrup. She cried out in pain, trying to reach up and untangle her shoe. She was pulled over a sharp rock and cried out as it dug into her ribs. With a mighty grunt, she kicked her foot upward and felt it slip from the stirrup. She fell heavily to the dusty ground in a roll. The momentum carried her backwards from the horse and she screamed as heavy hooves pounded into her newly freed legs.
Cora ran blindly into the mayhem after her sister and the fleeing horse. All around her, gun shots echoed and re-echoed against the trees. She had seen the horse rear up, seen her sister fall and all at once both were gone. She raced after her sisters fleeing screams, calling out madly.
"Alice," She screamed over the noise. She felt a hand on her shoulder and swung around wildly with her fist. There was a crack as her hand hit something solid, a cry of pain. Her satisfaction at landing a blow over rode any pain in her hand. She caught sight of an abandoned musket and grabbed it from the ground. Whirling around she aimed it at the face of her attacker. She saw surprise glint for a moment in the Indians eyes and then she pulled the trigger. Then he was gone, and she was running again.
"Alice," She bellowed at the top of her voice, projecting out from her diaphragm. She called over and over until there was a weak answering cry. Then the cry took on a little more strength, and a little more, until it was as loud as hers. She would know her sister's bird song voice anywhere. She turned toward that cry, answered it with her own and kept moving towards it.
A sudden sharp burning in her shoulder stopped her. She staggered, and knitted her brows in confusion. She brought a hand up to rub the pain away and felt something wet. Cora looked at her hand and found it smeared with blood, she blinked, shaking her head. What had she been doing? The noise around her seemed to mute as she looked at that blood, as she tried to make sense of it. Then another sharp burn started in her back. She took a step forward, realizing with slow dawning horror that she had been shot. She turned back to where she thought the shots had come. There was a man with half his face painted black, he had a gun pointed at her. Their eyes met over the barrel and he pulled the trigger again.
Magua watched the dark haired child of Munro fall to the earth and felt nothing. He had killed the gray hair, he had taken the man's heart. He had struck down the oldest daughter with little effort, his revenge was nearly compete. He listened,as Cora had, to the cries of the younger girl. The bird voice that, even wounded, sounded lovely. With her death, the circle would be complete and magua's heart healed. He walked idly through the carnage, followed the cries of the daughter with moonlight in her hair. He found her quickly enough, laying on her stomach amongst the soldiers bodies. Even as he stood over her, she continued to scream for her sister. He wondered why she didn't get up and run. With a shrug he cocked the gun at her back and fired.
With the death of the soldiers complete, and magua's revenge satisfied, the Huron stood amongst the bodies. Magua made his way to what remained of his warriors and they looked to him, waiting for a sign that all was done. Magua looked at each one in turn for a moment then held the heart of Munro above his head. He threw back his head and let out a whooping cry that was echoed by each man in turn. It was a cry of triumph, a cry of closure, a cry of pain. It meant so many things and nothing at all. At the end of the cry the warriors turned back toward the forest and headed home, leaving the dead to bleed in the dust.
As the Huron warriors left the battlefield, three solitary figures entered. An older man, his dark haired son, and his white son. They stepped into the death with wide eyes, amazed and revolted all at once. Chingachgook and his sons had been following the war party from the Cameron's cabin, thinking them a small band. No small band of dog soldiers could do this much damage. Uncas moved through the bodies like a silent dark ghost, his face passive and torn at the same time. Nathaniel took the other side, his face showing the full horror of the situation.
Nathaniel stopped at the body of a young woman with curly dark hair. She lay on her back, head turned to one side, with a hand curling lightly near her face. He knelt by her body and felt for a pulse but there was none. His eyes lingered on her face and he sighed heavily, running calloused finger tips down her cheek. Even in death she was quite beautiful, it was a horrible waste of life. He stood up to move on when he felt someone grab his ankle. He started and looked down again. A small feminine hand gripped his ankle like iron, a pair of angry brown eyes stared up into his. The same woman he had, moment ago, though dead stared up at him with fire in her eyes.
"Where is my sister," She hissed through clenched teeth.