Desperate, Alice grabs the hand that is over her mouth, trying to free herself. A memory crosses her mind for some seconds and then vanishes. She is lying on the ground and someone is next to her, grabbing her waist and putting a hand over her mouth…a warm hand…
"Ssh, be quiet" a voice whispers in her ear. And that voice is not Michael's or Tom's. It is deeper and warmer. Out of the corner of the eye, Alice sees a copper-skin face and a long black mane.
The native man has found her! She knows that she should be scared of being at his mercy again but, for some reason, she feels safe. Alice thanks God that it was him and not the trappers who found her. Deep inside, she knows that he will protect her.
There is no time to waste, so Uncas guides Alice to some bushes and motions her to crouch and hide behind them. She obeys and observes as he throws his travel pack to the ground and hides himself behind the tree where she was moments ago. He picks the tomahawk from his belt and, putting a finger over his mouth, motions her to be quiet.
For some minutes nothing happens, but then, Alice flinches, watching Michael appear among the weed. She remains silent, trying to be unnoticed, as she observes him approaching the tree where the native man is hidden. He walks slowly with a cruel smirk on his face.
Hearing some steps behind the tree, Uncas tights his grip on his tomahawk and braces himself to deliver the first blow.
"Finally you are mine, pretty one" Michael says, but before he has finished the statement, he finds himself in front of a red-man with fierce eyes. His expression changes from fun to terror the moment he recognizes the indian he knocked down, hours ago.
He doesn't have time to react, as the first blow is delivered and he feels and excruciating pain on his right leg. Falling to the ground, he repairs on the wound caused by the indian's tomahawk. Blood pours from it and he realizes that he hardly will get out of this alive.
Hearing someone else approaching, Uncas looks up and sees the other man running to his friend's aid, a knife on his hand. He tries to stab Uncas on the chest but the Mohican blocks his attack with his tomahawk. They fight but the trapper proves to be a weak rival for the experienced warrior and finally he deliver a blow on Tom's leg, like he did to Michael.
From her hiding place behind the bushes, Alice watches the fight, unable to look away. At first, she flinches every time Tom tried to stab the native warrior, but he quickly proved to be far superior than the evil trapper. At that point, both men are lying on the ground, their legs severely wounded and unable to run away. She tenses herself, knowing what is going to happen now.
Uncas observes the bastards lying on the ground, totally at his mercy. Only he knows what kind of torments he would like to inflict upon them right now. The image of those monsters, trying to hurt Alice, his sweet Alice, wanting to abuse her and maybe kill her after that, makes his blood run cold.
He is going to kill them. He doesn't mind the terror reflected on their eyes and how they are trying to crawl, unable to get up and run. Any man who tries to force himself upon a woman, must be punished with death. His father had told him once and he has always remembered that lesson. But he realizes he can't give those bastards the painful death he would like. Not with Alice witnessing the scene.
The poor girl has already suffered so much that the last thing she needs right now is to witness a bloody massacre. And he doesn't want for her to think of him as a cruel murderer, when he is not like that.
"Please, let us go" Michael begs terrified, knowing what is going to happen.
How many times did Alice begged them to let her go? But they ignored her. So he will ignore them as well.
Raising his tomahawk with fire in his eyes, he deliver two quickly blows on their backs, ending their lives forever.
Alice, who has been watching the whole scene, can't help to breathe relieved, watching the corpses of the two men who tried to hurt her. Slowly, she gets up at the same time that the warrior puts his bloody tomahawk on his belt again and turns to her.
Uncas observes Alice and thanks Master of Life that he was able to reach her before something else happened to her. He repairs that she is trembling from head to toe, probably of fear and relief at the same time.
"Are you alright?" he gently asks, not wanting to approach her, for fear of scaring her even more.
Alice nods with an empty expression on her eyes. Then, she seems to take all that happened at once and she shakes her head, sobbing silently.
Uncas' heart breaks and realizes that he needs to find a way to comfort her. Slowly, he walks in her direction, as someone would approach a frightened animal. When he is next to her, the Mohican gives her some seconds to walk away, but she doesn't move. Slowly, he reaches for her and touches her arms delicately. She looks up and seems mesmerized by his warm eyes.
"It's alright. You are safe now" Uncas says honestly and, slowly, wraps her in his arms.
Alice allows her tears run down her cheeks, feeling safe for the first time in a long time. She is aware that the situation is totally improper, but she needs the comfort those arms are providing her.
"Let's go. We need to find a safe place to spend the rest of the night" Uncas says after some minutes, noticing that she seems to have calmed down. He picks his travel pack and offers her his hand.
Alice accepts it and lets him guide her through the woods. She can't help to look one last time at the two corpses. Instead of feeling repulsion, she feels nothing at all.
"Don't look. I'm sorry you had to see me doing that…" Uncas says softly.
"They deserved it. They were savages". Alice resolves, glad that they will no longer be able to harm any other woman anymore.
"Are you warm enough, miss?" Uncas gently asks, putting a hide over Alice's shoulders. He sits on the ground next to her, in the clearing next to a river, where they have decided to rest.
Alice nods and smiles timidly, handing him his canteen, after taking a long sip. In fact, she feels really warm with the hide over her shoulders and the nice fire the man light up, moments ago.
"Are you hungry?" Uncas asks, wanting to be sure that she doesn't need anything else. They don't have any food, but he still can pick some berries from the bushes for her.
Alice shakes her head. She still remembers the food Michael and Tom provided her with and the memory makes her nauseous. They keep in silence for some moments, until Alice finally finds the courage to ask something she has been wanting to ask since they arrive there.
"We have been walking hand to hand for a while and I still don't know the name of my savior".
Uncas chuckles at that, enjoying the feeling of being called her savior. "Uncas" How strange it is to tell her his name, as if it was the first time they meet. "You can call me Uncas, miss Munro".
Uncas. Alice tries to search that name in the deep of her mind, but is unable to find it. That man assured her that they met each other, but her mind is so empty of recent memories that his name sounds as foreign to her as his face. But she resolves that she likes his name. It is so exotic that suits him perfectly.
"After all that we've been through, I think you can call me Alice" she says warily.
Uncas' eyes soften, realizing that the first hurdle between them has already disappeared.
"Thank you for coming to my aid" Alice says, after a moment of silence. "I can't imagine what those savages would have done to me if you had not appeared".
"Don't think about it. I won't let anyone hurt you again". Uncas gently says.
"I'm sorry for my behavior towards you." Alice apologizes. "Since you rescued me from my captors, you were always kind to me and I treated you badly. I was scared and lost and…"
"I understand it, Alice" Uncas cuts her off. She doesn't need to apologize because her reaction was totally normal, given the circumstances, though he likes the fact that she seems to have changed her opinion about him. "I shouldn't have yelled at you either. I guess this situation is really complicated for both of us".
He understands it. I was mean and cruel and he is not even angry at me. She feels bad for her manners towards him. Her silly prejudices made her believe that she couldn't trust him only because he was a red-man. Instead, she trusted two white men who tried to abuse her and would have done it if it wasn't for the man sitting next to her. Uncas. How could I be so stupid?
Still, it was difficult to trust him completely. She doesn't remember anything about him and he tells her an illogical story about her and her sister that is hardly believable…
Suddenly, Uncas gets up and takes off his belt and his torn dirty shirt. Alice flinches by a moment but then, he goes to the river and kneeling beside it, he starts cleaning his chest and face. She realizes that there are some small cuts on his chest and arms, probably because of his race trough the forest. She also repairs on the small gashes on his forehead and remembers how Michael broke the empty bottle on his head.
She gets up slowly, throwing the hide on the ground, and goes to him. She kneels beside him and, without saying a word, rips a piece of her skirt and wetting it in the water, starts cleaning his small gashes.
Uncas allows her to do the task, totally entranced by her gesture. She seems focused but, at the same time, a sad expression crosses her mind every time she repairs on a new cut on his skin.
"I'm alright, don't worry" Uncas reassures her.
Delicately, Alice touches one of the cuts on his forehead. "It must have been so painful…when that bastard hit you…"
"It doesn't hurt anymore" Uncas says solemnly, looking directly at her eyes.
She can't avert her gaze, it seems his eyes have some kind of power over her. Finally, she realizes the impropriety of the situation and blushes deeply. Getting up, she walks away, overwhelmed, and sits on the ground again, covering herself with the hide.
Uncas observes her and shakes his head, realizing that he will have to take things slowly and not pressure her more than necessary. Getting up, he searches on his travel pack and picks his other shirt. The green one is dirty and torn without repair, so he will have to use the maroon one from now on.
"It's better for you to sleep now" Uncas says, after putting on his shirt. "There is a long walk tomorrow".
Alice nods and watches as he puts a fur on the ground and uses his travel pack as a pillow.
"You can sleep here. I'll keep watch" The Mohican informs her. "Then I will wake you up and you will have to watch, while I sleep for a while". He hates not being able to let her sleep for the rest of the night, but if he doesn't rest if only a bit, he won't be able to be alert the next day. "When you are watching, you will have to wake me up if you hear or see something strange. No matter how silly it seems, don't hesitate to wake me up".
Alice nods and lays on the bed Uncas provided for her, covering herself with the other hide. After a moment, she takes a deep breath and speaks.
"I'm going to trust you".
Uncas' heart jumps at those words. The deep meaning behind them is clear. She has not an idea about what happened to her or her family over the last weeks but is willing to trust him, a total stranger, to keep her safe.
He feels touched by her statement and he swear to himself that he will do his very best to be worthy of her trust.
"Thank you Alice. I promise I will protect you and I will take you to your sister" Uncas gently says. "Now rest".
Alice closes her eyes and wonders if it is a good idea to trust that man. Uncas. After her experience with Michael, she finds difficult to trust any stranger. But somehow, something in the deep of her soul tells her that, this time, she has made the right choice.
Sitting next to Alice, Uncas observes her sleeping soundly. She seems so fragile and delicate but, at the same time, he knows there is strength inside her. He saw it over the time they spent together and is one of the reasons he fell in love with her.
The Mohican is glad of having her by his side again. He was so scared of losing her when he and his family had to leave her and her sister at Magua's mercy…He still doesn't know what happened to her while she was at Huron's hands and he fears that her lack of memory has something to do with the kind of torments the evil chief could inflict on her.
And where they were taken her when I found them in the woods? Why was not Magua with them?
Those question will have to wait. Now Alice is safe and that is enough for him. She sighs peacefully in her sleep and he smiles. He would never get tired of watching her sleeping. The Mohican is aware that it is time for him to wake her up but he resolves to let her sleep a bit more. She needs to rest more than him.
Uncas remembers the way Alice cleaned his small gashes when she saw he was wounded. Her sweetness is still there, just like the rest of her. His heart broke when he discovered that she didn't remember anything about their time together, but now he knows that there is still a future for them. Alice trusts him again and memories can come back to her, given time.
I will help you to remember. Uncas vows in silence. He sees the braid on her hair and smiles, realizing that she has kept the symbol of his promise of finding her, even without having an idea about what it was.
Don't worry, Alice. I'm here with you now. Everything is going to be fine.
Author's note: Well, as some of you had guessed, it was Uncas who grabbed Alice, when she was hidden. I really enjoyed writing the scene where he gave those two savages what they deserved for trying to abuse Alice. Honestly, I agree with him that they deserved worse, but I can't picture Uncas being more violent than necessary in front of the woman he loves.
And poor Alice...she had a really bad time that made her realize that she can't trust any man only because he is white. So when she realized Uncas was a good man, she resolved to trust him. From now on, their relationship will change but it doesn't mean that everything is going to be perfect between them...There is still a long way to walk for them.
Thanks to all of you, my beloved readers! Especially to those of you who are following or reviewing the story. You mean so much to me. And thank you for this wonderful fandom we have created together!