Chapter 18

Kara was faintly aware of movement, but only faintly, her mind was consumed with the feeling of pain, agony like she had never felt before, the blackness swallowed her again and she felt nothing

The next thing she noticed beyond the pain was a faint chanting like noise, a constant thrumming of something but she couldn't think

Sometime after that she could smell something, like something being burned, some sort of vegetation maybe but she wasn't sure, she was also now aware that she laying down on something, it felt coarse on her bare skin, something cracked nearby with a radiating heat

She tried to open her eyes but they refused, she tried to mover her body but her muscles screamed in protest, she could do nothing but listen, she had the uneasy feeling that someone was watching her, she wheezed a breath, her chest feeling as though there was a full wagon parked on her

"Rest pale one" muttered a deep voice nearby

The strange voice had Kara alerted, though she still could not move or even open her eyes, she could hear her racing heartbeat in her ears

"You are weak and must rest" the voice said,

The words seemed unnatural to the man, the sounds cut short like it was not his first language and he had also called her 'pale one' Kara didn't want to admit it to herself but she could not deny the evidence that was slowly forming in her exhausting mind, it even pained her to think, but it was all she could do and the answer was not a pleasant one

She was in the hold of the Black Mountain Tribe, and no man or woman escaped freely from the mountain's grip

Though she struggled against it the blackness took her again

Next time she woke from it there was something cold and wet trickling against her dry lips, though her mind told her not to, her body gave in and she allowed the cooling liquid to enter her parched throat, she drank carefully, but even she could not deny that it soothed her

This time she managed to open her eyes, everything was blurred and dark around the edges of her vision, the light was harsh to her unused eyes, she blinked and inhaled sharply, her lungs aching and her chest burning with pain, she tried to focus, tried to move, a gentle hand was placed on her forehead and a voice said strange words to her that she did not understand

The blonde struggled against it, though she could barely move

The woman's voice spoke again, Kara strained her neck upwards and saw a fuzzy silhouette, she spoke again in a soft voice but the words were foreign to her, the woman turned her head and in a much louder voice called out to someone, Kara could hear footsteps and then another figure was standing over her, this one was a male and Kara could make out the shape of a bow and quiver on his back

"You must be still" his voice was strong

The woman said something to him again

"She cannot help you if you struggle"

Kara stared wide eyed up at them, her eyes a little clearer now, she was definitely in the company of the Native American Black Mountain Tribe, their skin was coppery in colour with long dark hair and dark eyes, Kara's heart rate quickened as it thudded against her broken chest

"D-Do-don't… Don't kill m-me" she tried to say, she had to find Lena, had to make sure she was safe, but with every sound she made, her chest felt like it was going to collapse in on her

"Quiet pale skin" the man uttered "You will not be harmed, unless you give us reason to"

Kara didn't know what to do, she wanted to run, she wanted to find Lena, but her body would not allow it, she looked up into the deep brown eyes of the young woman that had her hand to her forehead, they seemed kind enough as she gave Kara some more to drink, but her father had told her long ago that they were savage tricksters

She could do nothing as she laid there, her mind racing with all the possible

The blonde didn't fall asleep after that, though her body called out for more rest, her mind didn't want to give in, one of the tribe's people sat with her at all times, giving her fluids and some food, the liquid was sometimes water, other times it was something sour that Kara tried to refuse but she had been told in English to drink, the stuff made her feel a little queasy but after a while she noticed that she could feel her body again

A male was watching over her now, he had his back to her while looking out of the entrance, he was the man that had been there when she first remembered waking up the first one to speak English to her

"What are you going to do to me?" she croaked

The man didn't turn to face her, but she saw his bare shoulders drop slightly

"Rest" he said in his deep voice "When well you talk to Chief"

That was all he chose to say to her even though she questioned him a little more, he remained silent, seated by the entrance, staring out, the only time he moved was the couple of times that he helped Kara to drink, his eyes were a deep green, which the blonde found strange as every other member of the tribe she had been in contact with had dark brown, his complexion as well was lighter than the others

A woman took over from him as the light outside started to fade, the amber glow of a fire created shadows against the cloth of the tepee, Kara watched them for a long time her mind drifting as she found her eyelids starting to droop, the random shadows creating forms in her tired mind, they almost looked like bodes entwining the they were ripped apart

"Lena" she mumbled as she once again fell into a deep dreamless slumber

The next couple of days went the same way, each day Kara could feel more of her strength coming back to her, she noticed that the younger tribes people who interacted with her often would smile in greeting, this wasn't like the stories that she had grown up with about the savage that killed any white man that wandered onto their lands and murdered any without hesitation

The blonde started to relax a little more around them and found that her body felt even better, she no longer tensed her muscles every time someone got close to her and whatever that sour, awful liquid that they kept feeding her was actually making her feel so much more alive, it was sort of like an adrenaline rush, Kara had never felt anything like it before

"Can you sit?" the voice came from the entrance

Kara didn't need to see him to know it was the green eyed man

In truth the blonde had thought about moving but fear had gripped her, she couldn't remember exactly what happened to her before, but she knew that when she first woke that she had tried to move but nothing happened and no she worried that perhaps she wouldn't be able to, had they broken her beyond repair

"Can you sit?" the man repeated, he was now looking at Kara, watching her

"I don't know" Kara whispered, swallowing the lump that was starting to form in her throat

"Sit" the man said as he shifted a little closer to Kara "Sit"

"Gimme a minute" Kara snapped at him

"Do not fear it" he answered back, his voice still deep but something else echoed within it, encouragement

Kara focused on the cloth above her, taking deep breaths, slowly, starting off with something smaller, she wiggled her fingers, they were stiff and shook a little with the effort she had to put into just moving her fingers, next her arms, she winced as her chest pulled painfully at the movement, she dropped her arms, she wheezed out a breath

"Again" the man said instantly "Try again"

"Back off" she gasped, tears escaping her lashes against her will

"If you can come back from the veil of death than you can sit" he reached out and grasped her shoulder with one hand while the other went under her back

Kara looked up into his green eyes, panicked a little by the sudden contact, she relaxed after a moment, realising that he was trying to help her, she took another gulp of breath and clenched her teeth together, trying to ignore the pain that flooded her entire body, her chest and stomach screaming for her to stop, but now she had help

She yelped out in pain through her teeth, her jaw clenched so tight that it felt like it was going to pop, she opened her eyes, her limbs were trembling uncontrollably with the effort but she was sitting upright, aided but sitting

She leaned heavily onto the stranger's steady form

"Good" he mumbled "You will heal"

Kara nodded, unable to speak, she was in so much pain but her heart thudded quickly with joy as she realised that she could move, she let out a breathy laugh as she stared at her feet underneath the blanket she had been wrapped in, she wiggled them and they moved

"Rest now" the man spoke again, helping her back down into a lying position, the blonde gulping breaths "Tomorrow you speak with chief"

Kara was too exhausted now to really take in what he was saying, her eyes closed and she drifted into a deep slumber, but it was far from peaceful, she kept seeing Lena's face as the blonde had been dragged away from her by the grip of Lex, hear the woman she loved screaming out her name, staring down the barrel of the gun that was shoved into her face, feel the impacts on her body from Lex's gang, before finally being kicked into the water.

She gasped awake, she tried to move, back away from the nightmare, but her arms gave out as she collapsed back onto the makeshift bed she had been laying on

"Dreams can no more harm you than shadows in the daylight"

Kara jumped a little by the sudden voice, she craned her neck to see an old man with long gray hair sitting across from her, silhouetted by the firelight outside

"I am chief Denali" he greeted

"Kara" she responded

He nodded slowly "You have survived much Kara, your spirit is strong" he twisted something in his hands, it glinted in the light, it was a blade, rustic in shape but it looked sharp none the less

"Are you going to kill me?" she asked quietly

The Chief looked up to her and to her surprise he smiled, the wrinkles deepening around his eyes in amusement

"I am glad to know our stories are still being told by the pale faces" he chuckled "But they are that young Kara, just stories"

Kara's mind was still groggy from sleep "I don't understand"

"You need more rest young one" he stood stiffly "Just know that no one here will harm you, unless you try to harm them, we shall speak when you are more rested, I just wanted to see you for myself, you have an unusual spirit young one"

He shook his head "Rest now"

He shuffled out of the opening, Kara laid back and stared up at the cloth once more, she exhaled 'just stories' he had said, what did that even mean? It couldn't be, Kara had seen the bodies that were sent into town with warnings written across them, the letters red from the blood, broken bodies

Kara scanned the small area for some sort of weapon, something to defend herself with, they must be keeping her alive for a reason, her mind darkened at the thought, she did not sleep the rest of the night