I do not own the characters from the movie last of the Mohicans or the places, i make no money off this story so please don't sue me. The only character I own in this story is Shiloh, so no stealing her please. Ok, an explanation before you begin is in order. This story is a prequel to the movie, I came up with the idea when Alexandra cameron asked "Why is Uncas with you, he should have settled with a woman and started a family by now"...Nathaniel was really quick to cover for Uncas there and I thought...what if he had loved someone prior to the movie. so that's what this story is about. No, it is not a Mary sue... I look nothing like the girl mentioned in this chapter. Please don't hate me for writing this, i love the Uncas/Alice pairing as much as the next person...I just had an idea I wanted to implement. Again, reviews are always welcome...I just hope I don't make anyone angry with this story. I also very much intend to finish "Count the stars", I will be writing these concurrently.

here goes!

Uncas could hear her voice ringing in his ears as he fell, hear her scream somewhere above him. He could feel his life ebbing away and felt as though he should be frightened, but there was no fear in him. Only a sense of sadness, the crush of defeat. He had scaled that mountain to save Alice but in the end he had failed her.

"Alice," he thought as he fell into blue. "where are you now? Possibly dead or bleeding, or did my family arrive to save you."

As his thoughts grew farther and farther apart, memories rose in his mind like phantoms. Faces danced before his eyes of people he had loved and lost. Then he saw her face. He saw her face when she was happy, smiling at him with laughter in her eyes.

Uncas had only loved two women in his short life, and in the end he had been unable to save either. His last coherent thought before death came to claim him was one word, a name.

Shiloh.

Two Years earlier

"Uncas, hold up a minute," Nathaniel called as the 17 year old ran on ahead of him.

"The buck is wounded, it ain't gonna be able to run very far."

Uncas did stop to wait for his brother but gave him an impatient look. He gave the animals they hunted far too little credit sometimes. If they had life in them they would keep moving, and the buck didn't look as though it were ready to give up yet. When Nathaniel had caught up to him they raced off into the trees after their kill, looking for a trail of blood or uneven tracks. Surprisingly they hit a fork in the path and found both. Uneven hoof prints going to the right and blood trailing off to the left. The two men looked at each other with confused eyes.

"Do ya think it leads in a circle," Nathaniel asked, indicating the paths with the barrel of his gun. Uncas shook his head, bewildered.

'It's possible," he responded, though he couldn't fathom why the buck would run in a circle. there were no other tracks to suggest it was being chased by a larger predator. Nathaniel shrugged and started down the hoof trail.

"Well, I'm taking this way," He said over his shoulder. "You try the right, if we meet in the middle we'll have our answer."

"And if we don't?" Uncas asked.

Nathaniel turned back to him and tossed him a riffle.

"If we don't, whoever comes across the buck first can fire a shot into the air. Just don't go so far into the woods that it can't be heard."

Then Nathaniel was gone and Uncas was faced with the trail of blood. With a sigh he hefted the riffle in his left hand and began down the path. The blood trail was sporadic at best, disappearing briefly and popping up again. Even if it wasn't the buck, something hurt had gone this way, he just wondered what. He followed the trail until it nearly dead ended into some brush. Then it was gone. It didn't make sense, even if something had died there and was removed there would still be some tell tale signs of a mess. It was just gone.

Then a movement in the brush caught his eye, a slight rustle to the branches that was too animated to be the wind. It was a slight movement but he was used to looking for subtle movements in the woods.

He crept to the brush cautiously, not wanting to startle whatever was hiding there. If it was the buck, it could still hurt him and would probably try if he wasn't careful. Quietly, carefully he approached the thick vegetation and gently moved some leaves aside. He expected to see the buck they had shot, breathing it's last into the earth. He even expected he might see another dead or dying animal. Instead, he saw a pair of dark eyes staring up at him.

For a moment, Uncas didn't know if what he was seeing was real and he froze. A girl, about his age, stared up at him from where she crouched in the bushes. Her curly dark hair fell about her face as she huddled there looking up at him. Her dress was the same as any other colonial girl in the area but she was no colonial. From the look of her she was at least half Indian.

He raked his eyes over her, and realized now where the blood trail had come from. She seemed to be covered in it. It was smeared all over the front of her dress, splattered on her face, he even thought there might be some in her hair. She held one arm tight to her chest and shrank from him as he knelt in front of her.

"I won't hurt you," he said in english, hoping that she could understand him. She seemed to, there was some flicker of understanding in her eyes.

"What happened to you," He asked, keeping his voice quiet and gentle. she looked as if she could bolt at any moment. Her eyebrows knitted for a moment as if she were thinking and she choked back something that might have been a sob. When she looked at him again, there were tears in her eyes.

"I don't remember," She whispered.