Chapter 3: Kidnapped

(Hey everybody again! Thanks to Lilmizzrebel31 for the AWESOME reviews! This chapter goes out to you, chica! This is also dedicated to Cricket Spinner, one of my AMAZING betas, and a GREAT friend, from the DBCA. Note: the squares are in Cherokee alphabet, but the font won't work on here, so you guys got screwed over. XD Sorry!I got the translations from http / www . wehali . com / tsalagi / index . cfm) Oh, and CHECK OUT THE MOST AMAZING STORY EVERRR! IT'S CALLED "AN AUSTRALIAN PHAN IN PARIS! READ IT! READ IT I SAY! MWAH HAH AH AH A! IT'S BY NIGHTSHADESISTER-01! SQUEEEEE!

I'm done now. Enjoy! )

I awoke with a sharp pain to the side of my head. I was in a completely dark room, and I could see none of my surroundings. I turned over, and ran my hands along the soft fur pelts that made up my bed. I basked in the feeling of the soft furs on my bare skin that were so very different to that of my sackcloth-like sheets of home.

"Home," I whispered into the darkness, realizing that that was not where I was currently located. I was suddenly afraid. I didn't know where I was, and I didn't know what kind of foe or fearful creature had brought me here. Then I remembered. I had been hallucinating about Peter Pan and a dead Tinker Bell earlier this morning. I must still be dreaming. I heard the door start to creak open, and I huddled down into the furs, hiding from my captor. I heard a language I was not familiar with as light flooded the room. I heard some soothing noises in the speech of the person.

".  ?" I heard. (Bad pain. How?)

All of a sudden, I somehow understood.

"She is not up yet. She must have hit her head very hard, Peter," said an old woman's voice.

"But she must awaken soon, Little Creek! She has to fix Tink!" said a boyish voice I knew well. I shook my head, thinking that this must not be real. It was then that I realized my foolish mistake.

"She's awake! You must fix Tink now!" Peter said, gripping my shoulders and shaking me fully awake. I opened my eyes and groaned in pain. I hooked my arms outward and upward, and brought them inward in a circle, breaking Peter's grip on my shoulders, remembering my self-defense classes.

"Quit shaking me. My head hurts," I moaned, as Peter flew up into the ceiling in shock and surprise at being disarmed by a girl. I looked at my surroundings and realized I must have had a bit too much caffeine the night before to be having such vivid dreams.

I was in a teepee of many stained hides of animals. There were other skins hung around on the walls and on the floor. There were symbols written all over the walls, along with hanging spears and bows and arrows. I was on a pallet in the corner, and in the middle of the room, there was a blazing fire, over which was a large pot of steaming water. I looked at the end of my pallet to find a fawn-colored dress of deer-skin, and breeches of the same color. They were beautifully beaded with glass beads of reds, blacks, and silver. There was a pair of matching moccasins to the side of it. The woman, Little Creek, saw my looking at it.

"It is for you to wear while here in Neverland. Your skins got into many pieces," she said, gesturing to a pile of shredded linens behind my head. I groaned, and realized that I was naked. I blushed, and glared at Peter.

"Lemme guess. You had something to do with this," I said, rising to my feet, while simultaneously wrapping my fur blanket around myself. He blushed.

"When we came in through the trees, I was holding you at such an awkward angle, that the tree branches ripped them apart. I tried not to look, but-" I blushed furiously, and slapped him across the face.

"You PERV! GOSH! What a GUY! What's up with all guys wanting to see naked chicks twenty-four/seven! ARGH! GET OUT!" I said, shoving him out of the room. He didn't object, thankfully, and I turned back to Little Creek.

"Win-gah-poh,  How, or hello. I'm not sure what language you're using. I was just able to understand you," I said with a bow, and a hand-movement I learned from Pocahontas.

"! Hello to you, too! Come!)," she said, pulling me towards the pallet I'd spent the night on. I got a good look at her. She was small, and withered, but strong, with long grey and black hair braided down her back. She had big, wise eyes that were a peculiar moss-green color, and a small smile on her wrinkled, friendly face. She wore a dress similar to the one she wanted me to wear, only with green and yellow and red beads. "Here; get dressed," she said, as she pulled my blanket-covering off and grabbed what I figured was a hair-brush from a shelf. I quickly tried to cover my naked body, in embarrassment, and she laughed. Just then, in the middle of my embarrassment, three more ladies came in, one which had with her a baby and a small child. The first was a tall, beautiful woman about in her twenties. She had long, glossy black hair, and doe-brown eyes, along with a long, slender body with lean muscles and hips adorning every part of her. I was rather jealous. She picked up the dress and brought it over my head, smoothing out the wrinkles, and smiling into my face as she kissed each cheek.

" (I am Tiger Lily)", she said, as the second woman picked me up, and Tiger Lily pulled the pants up my legs, and placed the moccasins on my feet, as I looked wide-eyed in embarrassment. So THIS was the famous Tiger Lily. I had always envisioned her much smaller while reading the book. The second woman, the one that had lifted me, had taken the brush from Little Creek, and was brushing my hair. She was tall, but not as tall as Tiger Lily, but she was just as pretty. I had a feeling that she was maybe her mother. She looked very similar to Tiger Lily, only she had a tired look to her face, as if she's gone through some hard times. She embraced me warmly, and kissed my cheeks, just as Tiger Lily had.

"(Welcome I am Ocean Heart)" she said with a soft, yet strong voice that automatically calmed me.

When she was finished brushing out my hair, she and Tiger Lily took some beads from Little Creek and began to bead my hair. All except the mother. She placed her baby in a cradle-like pallet in the corner, and took some bowls and small drawstring bags made of animal-hides out of her bag. The child ran over and plopped her self into my lap, and gave me a hug and wet kisses on my cheeks. She giggled, as I joined her, and hugged her back. Her mother smiled at my not being worried of her invasion of my space. The little girl was such a cutie. She had little black pigtails down to her waist, and a little top and skirt made of dark deer hides. She had pink and purple beading on her clothing, but she wore no moccasins. She had big moss greens eyes, like that of her mother and of Little Creek. From that, I deduced that she must be Little Creek's granddaughter.

"Is this little cute your granddaughter?" I asked with a smile as she settled into my lap and played with a corn-husk doll. Little Creek stopped her beading and laughed.

"She is my great-granddaughter, Wandering Breeze," she said with a smile and a twinkle in her eye. "And that," she said, pointing to the mother of the girl and the baby, "is my granddaughter, Cricket Spinner." I must have had a funny look on my face, for they all stopped what they were doing and laughed.

"I am called Cricket because, like my daughter, I wander about and am difficult to find, like a cricket, but I can always be heard. I am called Spinner, because I am always spinning tales," she said with a smile. I couldn't see her, because the other ladies were working on my hair, but I liked her voice. It was very similar to my own: high-pitched, yet low-pitched at the same time, with lots of emphasis on favored descriptions and words, and a slight melody to every syllable. "This is my youngest daughter, Night-Shade Sister. She is called this because she is often most lively in the dark shadows of night." She was about 4-5 weeks I guessed, with dark, mysterious slate-grey eyes, and thick, coal-black hair that hung around her eyes. She cooed, and I grinned, and tickled her chubby neck. The ladies got back to their work, and Cricket Spinner came over to me, balancing 3 bowls of powder. Little creek handed her a skin, and she poured an amount of what I figured was, by the smell of it, bear grease into each bowl. Using her fingers, she slowly mixed each bowl together, and said a chant for each bowl. As she mixed, the mixtures became paints of black, red, and white. It was then that I knew what they were. War paints.

"What are the war-paints for, Cricket Spinner?" I asked, starting to shake a little.

"You are to fight Peter Pan. You need the strength, wisdom, and spirits of the Gods around you to protect you. You must be cunning, quick, and agile." She swiped shapes in precise mannerisms, each swipe with a chant. At the last chant, my hair was done, and the ladies raised me to my feet. They looked at me with pride. They herded me to a wall that held weapons. I chose a bow, a quiver of arrows, and a long, silver sword, with a ruby-encrusted hilt. I felt its great weight and power as I parried against an invisible enemy. I faced the women, and thanked them. I had accepted my fate, and I must defend my life if my plan did not work.

"She would have made a great wife, if she were not to be defeated so soon," was all I heard before I was pushed out into the bright sunshine, and thrust into a giant net.