Chapter 4 - Reunion
Grey Feather found a weird-looking scene. A house in the White's style, made of grass and earth. Not far away there was a wagon with a bowed roof spanned white fabric. On the ground lay the broken body of a checkered dog. He checked the area for a threat but found everything silent. The Absarokee warrior directed his mustang carefully closer and stopped when he found the source for the shot they had heard. A dead bear lay next to an injured horse. What had happened here? He got off his horse and inspected the dead bear. It had a shot wound from where a puddle of blood had painted the earth red. The area around its neck was soaked with blood too. The place looked like a massacre.
Still analyzing the huge animal, he rounded the bear, to where the hurt mare lay. He took a closer look at the horse now. There was no chance to save the animal. Kneeling down, he drew his blade from his neck holster to put her out of her misery. While Grey feather spoke a prayer for the animal's spirit, he suddenly heard a clicking noise next to him. Slowly he looked up and found himself in front of a White youngster smeared with blood, pointing one of the White's firesticks at him.
"Who the hell are you?" the boy shouted at him, but the Indian understood not a single word.
Instead, he let his knife drop to the ground, bringing his hands up in a universal gesture that he was no threat.
Grey Feather looked him straight into the eyes showing not a hint of fear. The youngster stared at him with intense blue eyes. The teen was shaking from exhaustion and despair. He had to say something to de-escalate the situation. This must be one of Wade's boys. He had to use a word in the boy's language but he didn't know much, only what he had been able to recall from their injured White in the camp.
*** WWT - prequel ***
"Wade …," the Native said, followed by words in a language Cole had never heard before.
Cole lowered the rifle a bit; he didn't know what to do next. The man pointed northways and repeated "Wade" in every sentence. Why was his uncle not with the man if they had met? Did they capture him? Was he hurt? Cole was unsure to trust the man. But what other choice was left? Daniel needed help, more help as they could give, or not only his uncle would be lost but also the last remaining part of his blood-related family.
He signed the man with a nod of his head to go to the house, still with the rifle at the ready.
He pointed at the bear with the words, "Daniel was hurt by the bear. He needs help!" Cole knew words were probably useless here, but he had to say something, at least to give his worries a name.
*** WWT - prequel ***
Grey Feather recalled the word the boy had used from Wade - 'Daniel'. That was one of Wade's boys. Was his captor Daniel? Carefully he followed and went to the soil house he was directed at. He eyed suspiciously the Schooner as well as the house.
He entered with the boy on his heels. Grey Feather didn't know what to think of this all. It seemed the Whites planned to stay here, even had cut trees for more of their weird buildings.
Inside, he forgot his concerns about strangers here. He spotted another boy lying on a blanket. Pale, shaking, and younger as his captor. He thought of his girl and his little son at home. Wouldn't he want some strangers to help his kids should they be in such a situation?
His captor pointed at the hurt boy and said something with the word 'Daniel' again. Grey Feather glanced at his captor, then at the third boy in the room who sat next to the injured, trying to calm the kid. He came closer. The little one looked like a small version of Wade, though without that crazy hair in his face. The Absarokee was nearly sure now this had to be Daniel.
Carefully brushing the sweaty hair from the boy's face, he kneeled down next to the boy. Daniel lay on the side staring wide-eyed at him. It was not fear. The boy seemed to be in some kind of shock.
The two stared at each other for a moment. Grey eyes met dark brown ones and it felt like a thread of fate winded around another to build a thick and strong rope. Grey Feather felt it - this was the right place to be - his destiny was connected with the survival of this boy.
He tried to speak calmingly to him, guessing his age. He was around ten winters or maybe a bit older. Grey Feather had only seen the bear as a possible threat outside that could have harmed the boy. He was scared of what injury to find on the little one. He rounded the small shape to have a better look at his back.
He had seen worse injuries after a bear encounter but still - this was serious. He looked up and searched the room for more people, a wife maybe. But there were only the dark-haired teen and the other blonde. If the two had taken care of Daniel alone, they had done a good job of bandaging him, considering the amount of damage. The four long cuts had already soaked the white fabric and the warrior was instantly worried.
He glanced back at the dark-haired one with the rifle. "You have to come with me to our camp," he said in his tongue but they didn't understand him. He tried it with signs. The dark-haired finally took the rifle down and tried to make any sense of the signs. The blonde had been silent until now. The two began discussing hotheadedly.
He looked back at Daniel and patted his small shoulder reassuringly. They needed Bahena's help and the medicine they had at home to cure him. The boys could not stay here on their own. Wade would not be any help with his broken leg. Out here alone, the four would not survive the winter with two of them injured.
The Absarokee began walking through the small space of the house, inspecting the supplies and preparation they had while the two were still quarreling. He spotted the rifle leaning at the wall now. So Grey Feather risked it to go outside, which made the dark-haired follow him instantly talking to him, though didn't take the rifle with him.
Grey Feather stopped him with a firm grip on his arm and laid a finger on the teen's lips which stopped his tirade instantly. He looked into his blue eyes. He had never seen such an eye color; it was like looking into the summer sky, though tears of desperation shone in them. He wished they could understand each other.
A nickering of the poor horse brought both their gazes to the animal. Their gazes met again and he was sure, even though they didn't speak the same language, their minds thought the same.
Together they approached the mare, kneeling down next to her on the ground. The Absarokee stroked her calmingly and looked back at the youngster, carefully he gathered his knife from the ground which he had dropped there earlier.
The teen swallowed but nodded at him. Grey Feather spoke the prayer for the horse's spirit again and pushed the knife precisely into the right spot of his neck to end it as quickly as possible.
*** WWT - prequel ***
Cole felt all the movements of Bonnie's breathing stop. Dead. Like Beama, like the black bear. Daniel had to survive this, he just had to! He felt so desperate and exhausted.
"Please, save Daniel!" he sniveled at the Indian with tears now running down his cheeks.
The man nodded and pointed at the Schooner while making an all-including gesture with his other hand.
Cole understood that he wanted them to drive with him. He really hoped wherever he wanted them to go there would be Wade and help for Daniel. Cole nodded and walked back to Sam to help him prepare everything.
*** WWT - prequel ***
They made miles slowly. Sam followed the Indian who had come to their camping ground this morning. He guided them northwards. Where did he live? Where would he guide them exactly? Sam assumed he had heard the shot Cole had fired at the bear. But Cole had told him the Native had probably met Wade because he knew his name.
What a morning! The teen shook his head over the situation. He had never seen such rawness in anyone's face as he had witnessed it this morning in Cole's. His killing instincts had seemed to kick in. Of course, he had to kill the bear otherwise it would have killed them all, but his friend hadn't stopped punching the knife into the dead animal's skin until he had been able to get through to him.
He had been with the Wilmingtons for a little bit over a year now. A year with lots of positive changes in his life. He sometimes missed his mother and father, even his siblings but he felt deeply connected to the Wilmingtons. They were his second family. He could understand Cole a bit. For him, it was his only family. Without them, he would be alone. So of course, he fiercely protected them with everything possible.
What had taken place this morning had only confirmed what Cole had said to him before. No one was allowed to hurt his family.
Sam heard Cole whispering to Daniel, telling him the Tale of King Arthur. He smiled a bit. They had read it both. It had been standing in Bastian's library together with lots of other great stories.
He really wished they could be in the study now and read it to an uninjured Daniel. The bear had only scratched his little friend but one paw of the animal was as huge as his head. The damage it had caused was immense. He had read of bears before. They usually bit into the head or neck to kill. Daniel had just been in the way, had just bothered the bear while the animal had on the search for whatever it was after. He could consider himself lucky, should he survive this.
He let his gaze wander over the load area. Sam looked at the two cousins. They had taken him in as a brother in every way. Daniel had to survive this.
Only half an hour later they came to a small grove. Where the Indian told them to stop at its beginning. He said something to Sam together with a gesture to wait for him and vanished between the trees on his horse. The path he took was way too small for the Schooner.
"What's wrong, Sam. Why did we stop?" Cole asked from behind.
"I don't know, the Indian told me to stop and wait for him, then vanished into that grove." Sam climbed off the seat and joined the two others in the load area. "How is he?"
"'He' is awake and in pain. The fancy ride hardly gave me the chance to rest," Daniel's weak voice answered.
"Seems 'he' has not lost his sense of sarcasm by now," Sam shot back, just as snarkily.
Cole stroked carefully over Daniel's upper arm. "You bet, Mr. Smartass let me know every detail I recall wrong from the tale." A faint smirk washed over Cole's lips but was gone as quickly as it had come.
Sam looked at Daniel's back in concern. "We should change the bandages. These are soaked through."
Cole nodded and handed Sam the bag with fresh bandages. Sam began to search for fitting ones and prepared clean surroundings as best as possible. Before they had the chance to start they heard a shout.
"Boys? Are you alright? Daniel?" Wade's voice called out to them.
Sam as well as Cole came out of the Schooner. Not only the Indian they already knew helped Wade walk but also another, older and smaller one. It seemed Wade was injured and not able to walk alone. Sam couldn't recall a time he was happier to see his mentor.
Cole turned to Daniel, "Daniel it is Wade! He is alive. All is good now. He is with you in no time."
They both ran toward Wade to hug him. Wade smiled relieved. "Thank God, you are okay." His look changed instantly when Daniel did not show up. "Where is Daniel?" He took a closer look at Cole. "Is this blood on you, son? What happened?"
"Daniel is in the load area. He is hurt, Uncle. A bear came into the camp this morning. I'm sorry, I should have had a closer eye on him. Please forgive me," Cole looked to the ground ashamed.
"Dad!" Daniel shouted from the Schooner.
Wade patted Cole's shoulder. "It's okay, son. I know you did what you could. Bring me to Daniel."
*** WWT - prequel ***
The two teens took over to steady Wade and brought him to the Schooner. Wade was not prepared for the sight. His little son looked pale. With glassy eyes, he looked at him and relaxed a bit. He saw the blood-soaked bandages on his back. Shock and fear got a firm grip on his heart instantly. This was all his fault.
"Dad, you are here. We thought you were dead," Daniel said in a weak tone.
"I'm here, Daniel. Everything will be alright soon. I'm so sorry that I didn't come back in time."
Wade was not able to climb onto the Schooner without help. Exhaustedly sighing, he finally was inside, next to his son - his baby. In a calming gesture, he stroked his son's brown curls.
"What happened, Uncle?" Cole wanted to know from outside the Schooner.
Wade told them the important details of his encounter with the bear and his fall. Sam told him about the bear in the camp and that Cole had shot it.
"I'm so sorry, boys. Glad you are all alive. Let's see this, Daniel."
He made Daniel carefully turn on his stomach to inspect the damage. Bahena entered the Schooner too. Wade had heard the two Natives talk outside before the small man with the fox fur around the shoulders entered. Bahena was his name. This much he had found out. The man had turned out to be a skilled healer. He had steadied Wade's break well and he was only in little pain when he didn't try to walk. Now he watched Bahena inspecting Daniel's injuries with skilled and calm hands.
Wade turned to Cole and Sam, who didn't turn their gazes from what he did to Daniel. "This is Bahena, he is a healer or something. The other one's name is Baaóoshxíilisee. They had been hunting and found me."
Bahena handed him the same medicine he had given Wade in the night with a nod at Daniel. The brew had taken the spikes of the pain away and let him fall asleep fast. It would be best for Daniel right now.
"Here Daniel, drink this, it will help with the pain."
Soon Daniel's eyes fell shut after drinking the brew and Bahena began to work.
TBC
