Alice slept easily that night, despite the hard ground and the loud screeching of bugs that seemed to continue unabated throughout the night. She never heard such noise in her life—between the bugs, the owls, and the other creatures she knew not how to identify, she thought the forest was louder than London itself.
Strange, then, that when she met Uncas' eyes, that she felt nothing but a deep abiding calm. The noise of the world seemed to disappear altogether, a rushing sound filling her ears as though she were holding a seashell to her ears at Brighton Beach.
"Good morning," he said to her, as he handed her a cup of tea, and he whispered a small phrase in Mohican to her that she knew to be his term of endearment for her. Cora seemed not to mark it, and Alice felt a thrill, not only at that he would say such words to her, but that it was their intimate secret.
Her eyes shone with emotion as she thanked him for the cuppa, allowing her soft fingers to linger just slightly around his dark callused ones.
The private joy of the morning was soon disrupted however, as Nathaniel returned from a pocket of thick trees with a cloud of fury on his face.
"What is the matter?" asked Alice to Cora, who seemed to have knowledge of Nathaniel's mind better than even his father and brother.
"I know not," hissed Cora, shoving Alice out of the way as she walked quickly to the strange white man.
Surprisingly, he seemed little interested in her beautiful sister. "Father! Brother!" He called out. "Come!"
Chingachgook immediately stood and grabbed his bow and arrow. Uncas rose as well, but not before looking back at Alice with a small warning in his eye, a warning that almost seemed to say: "Stay."
Did he think she wander off again? She huffed internally. She was no fool. Though, of course, she reasoned, her behavior up to this point had not proven so.
The three men went back into the dark woods together. Cora continued pacing up and down the banks, shooting complaints to Alice as they came to her head.
"Why do you smile so, stupid girl? Are you mad?..."What can they be doing out there?...I won't wait a minute longer, I shall know what they are speaking of! It concerns us no doubt!...How can Nathaniel expect us to keep still like schoolchildren? I won't abide it!"
Alice felt a shock of loyalty go through her. Cora meant what she said. She would not wait much longer without seeking out Nathaniel. But that was the difference. Alice would wait as long as Uncas asked her to, and even without speaking aloud, she knew he had asked her to. So she would wait quietly, no matter how long it took. She would wait.
But even as she was thinking this, noise came from the trees as the three men reentered the clearing. Alice tried to meet Uncas's eyes, but she found them to be clouded over with an emotion she could not quite define—Rage? Ferocity? No, she thought with a sudden cold feeling: Murderousness. The icy feeling kept her pinned to the ground, her hands still clasping her now cold cup of tea.
Cora, meanwhile, had her fingers interlaced on Nathaniel's bicep as she shook him angrily. "What has happened?" she cried out. "What has happened?"
"A warning," said Nathaniel, prying her fingers loose none too gently. "A warning."
"What do you mean?" asked Cora, her eyes flashing. "From the Huron?"
"Yes," said Chingachgook. "We have not escaped them. They have been following us for many miles."
"Then why have they not attacked?" asked Cora. "Surely we are outnumbered?"
Nathaniel scoffed at that. "Outnumbered? They are the bear and we are the rabbit. We are defenseless prey in their iron jaws."
"But then why—
"We know not," said Chingachgook, cutting her off. "We know not why they watch and wait like the spider in his web. But they are doing so, most assuredly."
A chill went through Alice's bones. "Even now, they are watching?" she asked, directing her question to Uncas.
He spoke not, but tipped his chin down in a barely noticeable nod.
"Aye," said Nathaniel, "Or they are very close."
"How do you know?" Cora asked. "How can this be so? It defies reason. Why would they not just attack us and take my sister and I for ransom?"
"Ransom?" laughed Nathaniel. "They desire no gold from the white man! They want blood, blood from your Father and his line. And they shall not rest until they have it."
At that remark, Uncas hissed in anger at his brother, but Nathaniel continued with reckless abandon.
He continued, "Your father has murdered Magua's family, his wife and children, along with half of their tribe. He wants not a farthing from the killer you call Father. He wants to rain down vengeance upon him—starting with you two."
Cora went pale at this, and shrank down the ground. "What are you speaking of? What infamy do you speak? This cannot be true!" she cried, "My father is a noble man. He is no killer. How dare you speak such slander to me?"
"It is God's truth, Miss Munroe," said Nathaniel, returning to her formal address. "And I would dare speak it to him as well as you. Did you not wonder why Magua went to such lengths to attack the redcoats? It was not merely for a couple of pretty English women. Your vanity is making you blind to reason!"
Cora flushed with rage.
Still Nathaniel raged on. "And be assured the Huron are not far, the warning is writ large for us to see-"
Chingachgook raised a hand to stop his son, but he blundered on.
"-The dismembered corpse of Major Duncan now litters the woods a mere distance away. The ground is verily painted in his blood."
Alice felt faint.
Uncas now stopped his brother with a sharp guttural Mohican phrase.
Nathaniel seemed to come to himself, and looked down at the ground in perfect silence.
Cora too was finally silenced, her mouth an "O" as she stared at these messengers of doom in disbelief.
For her part, Alice shut her eyes and sank her head in her hands. Poor Duncan. He was an annoyance at times, surely, but he died for their protection, and he was nothing less than a hero.
"Are you certain it is him?" Cora finally asked.
"Yes, surely," said Chingachgook. "They wanted us to know it was him…"
"They made sure of it. There was no doubt…and no doubt of the torture he suffered before his end," said Nathaniel, clearly about to continue with more gory details when stilled again by a rough noise from his brother.
"Oh, the dear, sweet fool," said Cora. "Why did he go off on his own?"
"What does all this mean?" asked Alice, this time directing her question to Chingachgook, since Uncas was angrily packing up their camp in swift movements. "Are they merely trying to torment us before they finally murder us as well?"
Chingachgook looked weighed down. "I don't know, Little Silver One," he said, "It is not our way. This behavior…it is not a custom or a war tactic we use. It is not our way."
"He's sick, that's all," cursed Cora in a flash of irritation, "This Magua. He is deranged. He wrongly believes our Father has harmed his people in some way, and now he plays this devilish game to make us scared and weak."
Alice asked, so quietly she barely heard herself, "Uncas, is it true about Father? Did he really kill those people?"
Cora looked down at her in rage for speaking out of turn. "Do not ask that man about our Father's character! You are truly a disappointment! Again and again, you prove yourself so."
Alice ignored her and waited quietly for Uncas to finish tying his pack. He looked down at the quiet blonde.
"Yes," he said.
His eyes looked pained and cautious, as though he was not sure what effect his words would have—if they would enrage her, shatter her, or worst of all, drive an eternal wedge between them.
But Alice seemed to experience no change at all. "Yes," she repeated, slowly. "Yes."
Instead, she evaporated, retreating into herself with this new information, deep into herself, into the part of her mind that was sacred and safe and untouchable. She began to hum tunelessly.
"What shall we do?" asked Cora, suddenly realizing that her Father's character was the least of her worries. "How shall we continue? How can we reach safety?"
Nathaniel cleared his throat. "It has already been decided. There is no other way but one."
"What is that?"
"We must separate."
"Separate!" cried Cora, her hands going to her neck in alarm. "Why ever for? There is strength in numbers, aye?"
"Not on this occasion," said Nathaniel, "If we separate, it will be more arduous for them to track all of us. This means that some of us might be able to reach safety…reach safety and send back help for the others."
"But that is exactly what Duncan tried to do to no avail!" pointed out Cora. "He could not make it to the Fort! It is not wise, surely?"
"We are no longer heading there," replied Chingachgook. "You are correct, it is not wise. It is too long a distance and too uncertain a terrain, especially with Magua following our every move."
"Then wherever will we go?" Cora gasped. "If not to our Father, where shall we go?"
"To our people," said Chingachgook.
"Your people?" wondered Cora in shock.
"Our camp is closer than the fort," said Nathaniel. "If we can make it there, we will have ready men who will wage war to protect us and ours. And perhaps our change of course will confuse the Huron, and earn us at least a small respite."
"We shall separate and take different paths. They will figure it out eventually, but hopefully we can gain a few miles on them," finished Chingachgook.
"But—
"This is the only way," said the older Indian man, with anger growing in his voice. "Collect your things. Nathaniel and I will accompany you. My other son will take your sister."
At this Cora gasped louder than she had the whole morning, looking down at her sister who was still humming with eyes closed. "What!? You cannot be serious! Without a chaperone? Her reputation!"
At that Nathaniel barked with laughter. "You little dustbrain," he scoffed. "Chaperone! Reputation? If we do not do this, she will have not have a scalp on her head…and I assure her reputation will be removed as well!"
Cora broke into a sob and reached down to grab her sister. Alice continued to keep her eyes shut but absent mindedly patted Cora's back. Uncas looked beyond the scene stoically, his expression betraying nothing as he stared intently into the forest.
"Alice, do you listen? Do you heed?" she cried. "Doom is upon us! They will break us apart. I may not lay eyes on you again, dear sister!"
Alice hummed softly, stroking Cora's dark hair.
"I cannot leave her like this," cried Cora, even as Nathaniel was roughly pulling her away.
"We must go," said Chingachgook.
"You don't understand," shouted Cora. "She is not well! Before we came here…she was in a convent…she was nearly mad. We only brought her out because they were mistreating her…she is not well, I say, she is not well! My father was going to have her in asylum here as soon as we were able to find a suitable place! Do you hear? She is not well!"
Uncas's dark eyes flickered and flickered during this confession, his face as changing and unknowable as the tides as the muscles in jaw jumped wildly. Yet within a mere moment, the stoic mask of the warrior returned.
"Lower your voice! Lower your voice, damn girl!" hissed Nathaniel, grabbing her by the shoulders roughly. "You will kill her with your hysteria before her madness."
Chingachgook said calmly and simply, "My son will care for her. He will keep her safe with his very life."
"Yes," said Nathaniel, fairly dragging Cora away from Alice by her hair. "You must calm yourself! This is the only way! This is the only way, I say! If you want her to have any chance of life, this is the way!"
"My sister—my sister! Sister!"
With that, Nathaniel clamped a firm hand around Cora's mouth, pulling her under his arms as he strode through the clearing. Uncas nodded to him as he did so.
"Goodbye, brother," Nathaniel said, looking over his shoulder. "I will pray to the Gods for your well-being and that we meet again safely in this life."
Uncas grunted.
"My son," said Chingachgook, sharing one deep look with his blood. Then, he turned and followed the struggling Cora and her captor.
Uncas looked down at a humming Alice and said nothing.
There was nothing left to say.