Lovers To Friends

"We need to find a settlement..find someone that will be able to remove those irons" Uncas remarked as he walked ahead on the narrow trail.

"We can't! They'll want to know why I've got these goddamned things on."

"Then what else do you suggest? Cut off your hands?" Uncas said and Anna saw the hint of a smile as he glanced back at her.

"Would you like a woman with no hands?" Anna laughed lightly, and he closed his eyes for a moment realising what they were doing. They were acting like nothing had happened and he couldn't do it. He had to tell her what he had been wrestling with all night in his mind and it was tearing him up inside to say it.

"Anna" he started as he turned to face her. "I cannot take you as a wife."

It was blunt and brutal. Anna felt as though all the air had been sucked from her lungs and she looked into the woods so he couldn't see the tears welling in her eyes. She believed after the truth had been laid out, after all the fights and tears the night before, they might have had a chance...

"So that's it, after everythin' we've been through..."

"Anna..." he started and tried to take her arm but she shoved him away.

"As soon as we reach the next settlement, I'll leave..."

"I don't want you gone. I want you to come back with me to the Delaware village. Your child should grow up amongst its own people."

"How much longer do we have to stay here for?" Alice asked as she braided a section of hair.

"Until we are clear of them redskins dearie" the man whose name she had learnt as Hugh Dunbar called over the rush of the waterfall.

The body of the unfortunate soul who had died the day before from his extensive wounds had been dumped into the water by Hugh who had fought with Duncan over it as he was convinced the Indians would track them if they found the man's remains. But it seemed he had spoken to soon as they were spotted by some young Indian boys who started to throw rocks and sticks at them. They had been forced to retreat further down the steep rocky terrain where they had found a small entrance that led to a sheltered cavelike area than ran behind the waterfall and had spent the night without disturbance.

"This will all be over soon Alice" Duncan said as Hugh cast him an irritated look. "We will find Cora and return back to England as soon as we can."

"We need to lose the horse" Hawkeye hissed as he saw movement on the canyons above them.

"What is it?" Cora asked alarm in her voice as he climbed down first and lifted her down.

"Tokal eyaya hwo" he shouted and rushed at the horse.

"What are you doing?" she exclaimed as the animal took off into the woods and he hauled her back by the arm.

"There's someone up there...could be friend or foe. I ain't takin' the chance to find out though. The horse is to easy to track. We walk from here."

Cora suddenly let out a scream as a flaming arrow whizzed past her head and hit the tree behind them. Hawkeye pushed her to the ground covering his body with hers as he risked a look upwards but could not see anyone. But the arrow belonged to an Indian, a hostile one at that and Hawkeye realized they were an easy target on the ground, they had to get to higher ground and fast. He took a deep breath and hauled Cora to her feet as he ran through the cluster of trees that provided them with some cover. He could hear the sound of water nearby and his gaze settled on a rushing waterfall about two hundred yards ahead of them. Cora gripped onto his hand as they crashed through the clearing until they reached the edge of a rocky slope.

"What now?" she called, both hands clasped over her ears as the sound of the water crashing down bore through her head.

"Cora! Cora!"

Hawkeye heard the voice and his head snapped upwards at the sight of Major Heyward, a man he did not recognize and Alice looking down at them. Duncan stared in disbelief at both of them and Cora cried out at the sight of her sister alive. After another long drawn out debate, they had left the cave and it was just as they stepped out into the warm air, he had seen the flash of a striped skirt and thought he had finally succumbed to madness.

"Go! Up!" Hawkeye shouted and Duncan shook his head as Cora gripped onto the first rock, pulling herself onto the small ledge.

"Down! We go down!" he shouted back but his pleas were ignored until he was forced to extend his hand to both of them.

"Alice! Thank goodness!" Cora broke as she embraced her little sister tightly, tears of relief running down her cheeks as the other three men stood awkwardly looking at one another.

"Where's Uncas?" Hawkeye asked as he tried to gain control of his breathing after the hard climb.

"He left with Miss Wheeler.." Duncan said.

"Uncas saved me" Alice murmured as Cora tucked a blonde strand behind her ear.

"You saw Anna? When?"

"Yesterday...a band of savages chased us down... we barely got away with our lives."

"I think you are bein' hunted Major. We were jus' attacked half a mile back, shot at with a flamin' arrow. Sound like your boys?" Hawkeye asked.

Hawkeye watched as Duncan's face drained with colour and he looked over at the two Munro sisters. Hugh didn't say a word as he ran a hand through his hair, his face a picture of apprehension and fear as Hawkeye pulled out his dagger.

"We can go back into the cave behind the waterfall and hide..maybe they will pass us by?" Alice suggested with wide eyes and Hawkeye blinked at her.

"That might jus' work" he said in a low voice and Cora nodded to him once in reassurance as they turned back towards the cave.

Uncas watched from the stream as Anna crouched on the ground and sank the irons under the water, then tried to squeeze her hands through for the umpteenth time. He shook his head as she let out a frustrated cry and stood up, her face and wrists bright red from her efforts.

"I told you that wouldn't work" he said dryly as he came forward. "We need a blacksmith."

"And where are we goin' to find a blacksmith Uncas? Preferably one that won't report me to the militia after he sees these around my wrists" she snapped.

"I'm only tryin' to help you" he said and she sighed, then shook her head.

"I know..I'm sorry Uncas. I'm jus' so exhausted..tryin' to make sense of my life now..."

"I know the feeling."

"Uncas...what will you do once we return back to village?" Anna asked, her tone hesitant as she looked at the ground.

"Find my brother if he didn't make it back."

"And.. what about..Alice?"

"She will return to England..." Uncas' voice trailed off. "I have decided I will settle with a Delaware speaking woman just as my father intended."

"I could always learn how to speak Delaware..." Anna cracked nervously with a small laugh but there was also a hint of desperation in her voice and he looked at her with a sad smile.

"Come..." he said simply and she bit the inside of her cheek as she followed him back on the trail.