Chapter 10: The Departure

The first couple of days before the departure were not easy for Powhatan to handle either. Every night he would dream of his daughter shivering with the effects of cold and loneliness of wasting away in a cell of stone walls with no escape. The only way out of there was to accept the sentence given to each prisoner after the trial. He never knew if it was the death sentence or lifetime, but it was troubling for him to see her alone, hopeless, and fearful of never seeing her people again. Seeing the hurt behind her eyes pained him to the bone. And it must have upset her mother's spirit as well. John would often drop by the village to do his best to comfort Powhatan, Nakoma, and the rest of the villagers telling them that Pocahontas was alive and well, he hoped. He still did not know of the wounds on her back. But on one night, Powhatan burst from his hut telling John that he had seen his daughter with marks from a vine that snapped like the crack of lightening. Most of his dreams were like visions and that troubled him, John, and Nakoma. Yet he couldn't bear to tell it to the villagers fearing that it would worry them to death. The news of Pocahontas in captivity was bad enough for them to hear already. And he didn't want to increase their fears. Powhatan could only reveal his visions to Nakoma, John, and Thomas in his tent secretly out of close earshot. As much as he hated to hear of Ratcliffe take his daughter into custody for a false crime, he knew there was a worse day ahead coming soon. And that would be the day when the ship leaves for England with Pocahontas where she will be tried for conspiracy of bringing down Jamestown.

Even if John was going to sneak back up on that ship with Nakoma and Thomas to do his best to save Pocahontas, Powhatan tried to keep his spirits alive hoping that Pocahontas would be brought back safely. His heart was always troubled and the villagers were full of fear for each others safety. Soon the leaves from the trees were starting to turn red and gold which signaled the coming of autumn. To Powhatan, it was already feeling like an eternity since his daughter was taken from her people and her fate would remain unknown to the tribe for a lifetime.

Everyday John would go visit Grandmother Willow with Meeko, Flit, and Percy so that she would give him comfort and encouragement. Most of the times, he was uncertain if this plan of his would work or if he needed to rethink a different kind of plan to open the king's eyes to see what a horrid liar Ratcliffe really was. The departure was getting closer as John knew, but the journey back to England was longer and perhaps that would give him time to think of a few other things till then. The warm days and cold nights did little to bring joy and hope in his heart, despite the friendliness of the three animals by his side. Everything in the forest reminded him of Pocahontas and the times they would spent running, and walking with the forest animals. He had better respect for the earth and its creatures than before, thanks to her help in understanding the balance of nature. Powhatan's vision of her being scarred worried him the most. What if she really had been whipped on that ship and it was all because of him? Imaging her like that brought a greater anger within him and he wanted to make sure Ratcliffe would pay for it when this was all over. Or so he hoped it would be.

Then the day that Powhatan and the villagers dreaded finally arrived on the last week of September. It was the day that the ship would finally set sail and take Pocahontas away from her people with the possibility of never seeing them again; or John for that matter. He couldn't even see his daughter to tell him how much he cared for her or to say goodbye one last time. He sat inside his tent grieving as memories went through his head of her growing up from childhood to adulthood. Those were the best times. Times often bring changes for everyone; for good or bad.

"Chief Powhatan!" Kekata, the medicine man brought the chief out of his thoughts when he noticed that he drifted off somewhere else in his mind.

"What is it Kekata?"

"John Smith is here to see you. He wants to wish us all good luck before he leaves." The medicine man moved out of the way to allow John to pass with Thomas and Nakoma.

Seeing the look on Powhatan's face, John cleared his throat to think of how to say his goodbyes. "I thought I inform you that we'll be on our way to the ship soon. It leaves in half an hour." It felt odd for him that he was returning to the one place where he had grown up all his life and left when there was never anything waiting for him. But he had to do this, for her and her people. He hardly cared what would happen to him afterward anymore. He had to save her at all costs.

"Good luck on your journey," Powhatan shook his hand as a sign of thanks. "I only wish there was something I can do to let her know that I love her dearly."

"And I'm sure she feels the same way," John assured. "I'll be glad to tell her for you. This is a difficult situation. And it's been hard not only for her, but for all of us. But I promise all of you that I'll do everything I can to have a talk with the king. He might not listen, but I have to at least try. Sure he can be stubborn and negative. And sometimes, most citizens are not happy after meeting with him. But I'm going to try."

A small proud smile crossed Powhatan's face after listening to every courageous word from John Smith, his daughter's lover. Rising up from his spot, he went over to John and threw his arms around him. "Take care, my brother. I'll be waiting."

All John could do was say thanks before allowing Nakoma and Thomas to say goodbye to the chief. It almost seemed likely that this would be the last time they would see this village for a while. The trip back to England would be a long and tiring journey and they were doing everything in their spare time to be better prepared for it. Kekata gave John a few healing ointments for any injuries, blankets, clothing, and food supplies.

Then it was time for them to leave for the ship. Walking out of the tent, John led them through the forest path back to Jamestown where he wanted to say goodbye to a few other friends as well. He handed Thomas and Nakoma dark cloaks before climbing up on the rail to the ship. No soldiers had bothered to stop them since they believed that the three were traders who often traded goods with the tribes and villagers. The three managed to sneak down into the bottom where Pocahontas was being kept. Before John went down, he took one last look at the land far in the distance as the ship was preparing for the departure. He didn't want to live his one true place here, but he knew he was returning to England to do what was right. With that, he went down below before any of the guards had a look at his face.

Down below, Pocahontas was curled up in a seating position with her arms crossed over her legs and a warm shawl over her shoulders. The echo of footsteps rang in her ears. Believing it was more of the guards, she cried out in anger. "GO AWAY!"

"Pocahontas it's us," the voice of Nakoma whispered kindly to Pocahontas when she noticed a few tears spilling down her friend's face.

"Nakoma?" Pocahontas felt a small relief in her heart and dragged over to the bars of the cell. "Is that you? How did you sneak by?" Then she flinched in pain from a scar.

Author's note: I will probably not be able to return to this story till Thanksgiving week. I'm real busy with an animation project and I need to get it done in time. I'd like to thank the reviewers for giving me encouragement with going on. But I still need time to think of what else to come up with. So stay tuned.