Note: I hope everyone enjoyed the previous chapter, I only heard back from one person. Okay, we're onto the big massacre scene. I had to do a lot of thinking about how to handle this. I watched the scene in the movie a dozen different times to see how it was handled. Really, all I wanted was to make Alice fight back a little on her own. I thought, if it were me what would i do? so this chapter reflects all of that. Again, I hope everyone enjoys that chapter. Tomorrow, the waterfall chapter should be up. I'm going to be nearing the end of this story soon and I just wanted to say how much I appreciate the nice reviews. You've all been so kind and encouraging to me while I wrote this. So, that said, here's chapter 7!
Chapter 7
Massacre
The morning of their departure from Fort William Henry came very quickly, more quickly than Alice would have liked. She wanted that night with Uncas to last forever, for that storm to never end. Alice and Uncas had more moments of passion in that stockade, with the rain pounding overhead. He took her two more times, breathing her name into the darkness. No matter what happened in the days to come, Alice would never regret going after him in the rain.
When it had finally lessened, when their passion was spent, he had taken her back to her fathers quarters. The had held each other tightly outside the room, whispering promises in the dark. Alice went to sleep that night with the memory of his lips on her skin, of his hands running up and down her back as she moved above him.
When morning came, she barely had time to think about anything so intimate. She was roused from pleasant dreams before first light to help her sister pack up the room. Sunrise saw them out near the large fort doors, with everyone lining up and ready to leave. Alice and Cora were riding on one of her fathers favorite horses. Cora, being the older sister took the reins and Alice clung to her sisters waist like a child. As their decimated army filed out of the fort and down the hill, Alice glanced behind her for Uncas and his family. She saw a flash of dark hair that might have been his but he was soon lost in the sea of faces. Alice glanced around her as the horses ambled down the hill. She stared into the faces of the french mans army. Some looked at her with a lack of expression, others with a quiet smile. A few viewed her with open disdain. Alice turned her attention ahead, looking at her fathers back as he rode ahead of them. She didn't know what lay ahead, but she certainly didn't want to see the angry faces that lay behind. When the last of her fathers people had left the fort, the Frenchman's army surged in. The red men of his army whooped and hollered on their way in, it was a gloating sound and Alice was happy when it faded behind her.
She didn't know how long they traveled through those woods. It became very hot at midday, with the sun beating down on their backs. The heat made her drowsy. she leaned against her sisters back and shut her eyes. The soft rocking of the horse was comforting, the chattering of many voices played like a lullaby in her ears. With a small contented sigh, she fell asleep.
A scream from the back of the line brought her around. Alice's eyes popped open and she looked wildly around her. Her sleep fogged mind, trying to find the source of the noise. The horse below her quivered nervously, pawing the ground and snorting. Cora patted his neck soothingly, as her eyes flew around. They were on a trail that led through a small clearing in the woods. Alice turned toward those trees as the soldiers raised their guns. The company continued forward but at a slower pace, as her father walked the edges looking for danger. It was too quiet in the woods, even the birds had stopped singing. Tensions ran high all around, as the silence became more and more oppressive. Then a cry rent the air, cutting through the perfect silence. It was followed by another cry, and then another as a thousand voices rang out through the forest.
"What's happening," Alice whispered to her sister, her blue eyes searching in vain for even one of the many whooping cries.
"Cora, what's happening?"
Her sister never had a chance to answer her. At the end of the line of trees, down where the tail end of their entourage was crying out in horror, gunfire began to erupt. It moved in a straight line up the trail, coming ever closer to the front of the line. Alice saw bursts of flame erupt from muskets as Cora maneuvered their horse off the trail. She jumped off and grabbed her sisters hand. With a tug, Cora pulled Alice off the horse and into some bushes as one of her fathers soldiers raced over to protect them. Cora dove into the tall grass and pushed her sister down next to her. The soldier remained standing in front of them, firing off his gun wildly. The sound of gun fire was deafening, and smoke soon came to fill their nostrils and burn their eyes.
"My god, What's happening," Alice screamed over the noise.
There was a rustle of activity ahead of them, the sounds of hundreds of feet hurrying forward. Alice raised her head to see a sea of red bodies come swarming out of the woods. Some carried tomahawks, other rifles. All wore dark paint on their chests or faces or both. Alice watched the scene, transfixed. The red men descended on her father's army from all sides, cutting and killing their way through a mass of red coats.
Cora jumped to her feet, grabbing her sister's wrist and pulling her backwards at a run. Alice followed blindly, the soldier directly behind her. A gunshot sounded behind them, Alice heard rather than saw the soldier fall. She felt something hot rush past her arm and saw it graze the top of her sisters arm. Cora screamed as blood came to stain the upper part of her sleeve. It was a flesh wound, the bullet had not gone through her arm but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. She stumbled a moment, gritted her teeth and continued forward. Alice turned her head to the side and her eyes found chaos. The trail was a vast ocean of dead bodies. Men with red coats and men with red skin lay over the trail like a morbid mosaic, their blood staining the earth.
Alice was so busy looking at the death around her that she didn't see the indian until he was almost upon her. He was coming at her with a wicked looking knife, swinging it in a wide arc at her face. With a cry she dodged backwards, feeling a slight stinging sensation on her forehead. She fell to the ground and her hand landed on the barrel of a musket. She looked up to see the red man bearing down on her. With all her might she swung the musket upward, the butt end of it catching him in the nose. He cried out as she scrambled to her feet, his hands going to his bloodied face. Alice swung the musket again, slamming it into the side of his head. He fell at her feet, and lay there unmoving. Alice looked at him, lying there with blood pooling around his head and wanted to retch. She looked up and away from him, her eyes looking at anything but what she had done.
Some distance away she saw her father, swinging at the Indians with his sword. Before her eyes, the horse was shot out from under him. It fell, trapping him beneath it's weight. Alice was frozen to the spot. She watched in silent horror as an Indian with half his face and chest painted black strode over to her father. She saw a knife flash in the sunlight, saw it arc downward. Her breath stopped in her throat when the indian lifted something bloody above his head, looking triumphant.
Alice's body felt numb. It unfroze enough for her to take a step back. She shook her head, denying everything that had just happened. She had not just killed a man, she had not just watched her father die. It was a dream, a horrible nightmare. Soon she would wake, find herself still sitting behind her sister on the horse. They would reach the fort, she would leave again with Uncas. None of what she was seeing would be true.
A rough hand suddenly gripped her face, feeling very real. It turned her face to the left, the fingers digging painfully into her cheeks. Brown eyes stared into hers, eyes framed by an equally brown face. But the eyes were not filled with warmth and love as Uncas were. These eyes were cold and promised death. The hand held no tenderness as he raised his tomahawk to strike her.
"No," Cora cried as she slammed into him from the side. He lost his grip on Alice's face, and swung the hand around to strike her sister. The closed fist caught Alice first on one cheek before it collided with the side of Cora's head. Alice fell backwards onto her behind, feeling dazed. Through the hazy vision, she saw the red man lift her sister up by the hair. Saw him bring his tomahawk to her head. She saw her sister about to die and then Nathaniel was there. He appeared, as if out of nowhere. He swung his tomahawk into the side of the mans head. Blood flew through the air and splattered across Alice's face. It was warm and sticky, she brought her hand up slowly to her face and her fingers came away smeared with blood. She looked at that blood in shock, her mind not comprehending how there could be so much. Her fingers went lazily to her upper forehead and came away with more blood. The man she had killed, had managed to cut her before he died.
There was a gentle hand at her elbow and she looked mutely up into the face of Uncas father. He pulled her quickly to her feet and spurred her forward into the smoke. Her sister and Nathaniel joined them, Cora's arm hanging limply at her side, blood running down it in little rivulets. They made their way through the writhing bodies, until Alice could hear the river. She noticed that they were now joined by two wounded British soldiers. Uncas helped one along, Nathaniel the other. They ran, and fired muskets, and ran again. Soon they same to the edge of the lake and Nathaniel noticed some canoes. He yelled something in Mohican to his father and they all changed course.
When they reached the canoes, everyone scrambled in quickly. Uncas settled himself down in front of her, sparing a glance over his shoulder. Alice looked ahead, eyes wide and scared. The boats pushed away from the shore and they raced through the smoke, away from the firing guns and war cries. Soon there was only the sound of paddles hitting water.
Alice stared straight ahead, seeing nothing. She only vaguely heard Duncan's voice somewhere to their left. She turned her head slightly to look. He was in another canoe, some distance to their right, with a musket pointing at Nathaniel. He was yelling something. Then he put the musket away and they were racing forward again. Nathaniel said something to his brother, and Uncas dove into the lake. Alice looked after him, startled, only to see him remerge near Duncan's canoe. He crawled into the boat with the other man and helped him row.
They rowed in silence, the only sound was the lapping of the water and their heavy breathing. The journey took them down a small waterfall, which soaked everyone through. Alice didn't notice the wetness, even when it flattened her hair to her head. She didn't feel the coldness of the lake seeping into her bodice. She didn't notice the water and blood running into her eyes, she also didn't notice when the canoe stopped moving. Alice sat in the canoe with her eyes on her hands, they lay palm up in her lap. she looked at the blood that was a little of hers and a little of the dead Indians. In her mind she saw the man with the painted face holding that bloody organ above his head.
There were fingers on her chin, lifting her face. She looked up, blankly into Uncas face. His lips were moving, he was talking to her. She blinked, uncomprehending. Something odd passed over his face and he touched the side of her head. It hurt, but she made no sound. His eyes returned to hers as he took her hands. With a gentle pull, he got her to step out of the canoe. The others waited ahead, some looking worried, others looking tired. Uncas led her by one hand to where they waited. She allowed him to lead her but felt nothing. Not fear, not regret, not even love. Her emotions were dead, they had been left behind on the battlefield with her father. She felt Uncas squeeze her hand and wondered if anything would ever feel real again.