Silence rang in Erin's ears, Colonel Munro was still wearing the same expression of reserved coldness towards her in response to what she had just said.
"Betray me? As far as I know I haven't agreed to anything yet!"
"You are out-gunned and out-manned," Erin pushed on, "you will have no choice but to take their terms. But they will betray you."
Munro gave Duncan a dark look, brow arching in a clear cut question, was this woman mad? Duncan had no answer and his shoulders raised in a hesitant acceptance that none of this was playing to any of his expectations.
Munro turned his steely gaze upon her fully, his jaw set. "And how will they betray me then, lass?" He fell back on this now patronizing sounding term for her, but his eyes remained stony.
"There is a man among them. A Huron war chief called Magua."
"Magua?" Duncan blurted out the name and Munro held up a hand, telling him silently to be still, there would be no further outbursts, he was in control.
"Yes, Major, the very same man. He blames you, Colonel, for all his misfortunes, and he has sworn a blood oath to kill you and your daughters." Erin glanced at Cora, who looked utterly flabbergasted by all this news.
Slowly, Cora's face took on an expression of realisation. "He was the man that ambushed us on the road. The guide that was not a guide. Nathaniel said he was aiming a gun at me." Cora looked like a deer in headlights, her hand fluttering at her breast, the pieces all beginning to make sense.
"He meant to kill you then, and he will try again," Erin said, with a firm nod.
"Where have you heard this, girl? How do you know all this?" All signs of patience were gone from Munro's voice, Erin now demoted in words to a mere slip of a thing. His eyes were searching, accusing her of something he hadn't fully formed yet.
Erin ignored him. "He will gather all those he can to him, all those that still hate the English. He will go against the surrender and lie in wait on the road. The French will secretly encourage it, but publicly claim they have no part. He will ambush you as you leave the fort. Less than a mile or so from here..." Erin pointed to the area she thought looked familiar from the vague memories of maps in her cloth bound edition of the novel.
"Ambush a surrendered army?" Duncan was incredulous.
"Yes, Major. There are those that don't play by your English rules, as you have never given them that courtesy!"
He looked fully aghast and Erin had to reign in her tongue. "They will kill many men, woman and children too. Take others as captives. This whole thing is about revenge and you cannot prevent it. The wheels are already set in motion." She turned back to Cora. "They have been, before we even arrived here."
Colonel Munro had become deathly quiet.
The dying fire gave a frantic pop and Erin started, the tense situation fraying her nerves.
"So... you are telling me, girl," the word was now spat as a plain insult, "my choices in your scenarios are to stay in the fort, and we will all be destroyed by cannon fire; or surrender, and be butchered on the road?" He seemed to have grown a full foot as he spoke, which appeared a fantastical feat as he was not a tall man, but now his imposing form glowered over her, every muscle tensed in grave disapproval.
Erin felt herself shrinking under his intense glare, words deserting her.
"Yes, Sir." She finally pushed the words out as a mere whisper. "But you can warn the men, have them ready to fight, to defend themselves. We can save you and your daughters." Erin glanced at Cora who had sat down once again, a hand covering her mouth.
"I thought this horror was over." Cora sounded like she was fighting back tears.
Colonel Munro still seemed unready to commit to this outlandish theory.
"Magua's target, is you, Sir." Erin met his eyes, and with difficulty tried to hold them.
"Is it now?"
"Yes." She suddenly wanted to reach back and find Uncas' solid form to reinforce her own strength, but took a deep breath instead.
"You must insist the French give you a personal guard to the next place of safety, to Fort Edward. An armed escort, to protect you and you daughters. I believe this will make Magua at least hesitate, but I believe he will still attack. He has nothing to lose. When he does, you must flee as fast as you can, there can be no victory if you stay and fight, only death." She gulped down another breath and stilled, waiting for the impact of her words and what the retaliation would be.
Colonel Munro studied her for a long, uncomfortable moment, and then his eyes went to Uncas.
"You have said nothing, young man. What do you say to all this?"
"I believe her," Uncas said simply.
Colonel Munro's eyes were back on Erin, a little wild with the thought that this all could indeed bear some truth.
"Where did you hear this?"
Erin hesitated. "I cannot say. Please believe I only want to help."
"Your brother has already stirred up trouble here." He was again looking back at Uncas, trying to find something or someone to blame this all on. "Is it your plan to stir up more, Sir? For I will not let it stand." He pointed a finger in reproach at Uncas. "You can join your brother if that is the case!"
Erin felt a shot of pure terror snake up her spine, if Uncas was imprisoned, all could be lost. She quickly stepped forward, using her body as a physical shield to the accusations, taking the brunt of Munro's anger, defending Uncas from the unwarranted hostility.
"This man has no part in this. I made him bring me here. I tricked him into thinking I could help his brother, when I really only had this information to tell you about the French and Magua."
She heard Uncas stir behind her and signalled with a subtle hand movement for him to be still.
"Being a liar does not help your case, madam!" Munro said, his ire fully on her.
"No, but the truth does not always serve the best path! Needs must, and my need is to save you!"
He frowned at Erin, had she pushed him too far?
"Father, perhaps we..."
"Silence!" Munro threw the word towards his daughter and Cora shrank a little back into her seat.
He advanced a few heavy footed steps towards Erin, his presence menacing, and she saw, out of the corner of her eye, Uncas tense. She shook her head ever so slightly, a gesture only he caught, and he stilled, his body relaxing at her silent request that no action or word of defence should be taken.
"You will tell me where you heard this?!" Munro's voice was raised in a cool demand.
"I will not... Sir. I cannot."
"If your intent is to sow dissent among my men with your witless ramblings I cannot allow it to stand!"
"These are not ramblings, I am telling the truth!"
He considered this a moment and then looked to Duncan, his lips a dour line, and then he gave a grim nod.
"Whether you speak the truth or not, we cannot have a mad woman, or a spy in our midst." Erin's eyes darted from Munro to Cora and back again, a bleak understanding slowly forming.
This wasn't going to end well, in fact, now Erin was stood here she wondered how they could ever have thought it would end any other way.
"Men!" Duncan's voice startled both Erin and Cora, the shrill sound making Erin's ears ring.
Uncas took up a widened stance, ready for a fight, his muscles tense and poised. Erin tried to grasp the words or actions that would defuse the quickly deteriorating situation, but before anyone had time to do any more, two men entered the room, guards who had been outside in the corridor.
"Seize that woman!" Duncan pointed at Erin.
"What?" Erin said dumbly. "No, wait!"
They were advancing fast, and suddenly Uncas was there, defending her from harm. He pushed one guard away as he came too close, but without any hesitation the other guard raised his musket butt and brought it down hard into Uncas' stomach and he dropped like a stone to the floor, winded.
"No, stop!" Erin screamed out the words as Uncas gasped on the ground. "Don't! Leave him alone. He had nothing to do with any of this. I swear it!"
"Father, stop!" Erin could hear Cora's desperate plea but her eyes were glued to Uncas. Erin tried to move forward, to see if he was alright, but she was caught around the upper arms in cruel harsh grips, jerked away and dragged backwards. The guards stilled a moment, awaiting Colonel Munro's next command.
"Take her to the cells. I don't have the energy to deal with what should be done with her tonight." Munro turned away, his hands upon the table as he surveyed the large map, intent on ignoring the commotion.
The guards gave a duet of "Yes Sir!" and she was frog marched towards the door.
"Colonel!" Erin called out, struggling against the hands that held her. "An escort, ask the French for an armed escort!" She was whisked out of the room before even finishing speaking, and she was unsure if he had even heard her at all.
Down the dark corridor she was half dragged and half carried, the steady marching of the men's heavy boots all that she could hear; but then someone was calling her name, the sound distant, and no more than a murmur of noise to her hearing, but the guards held her so tightly she could not turn to look who it was.
/
A/N
Another Friday, another fine mess for Erin.
Thank you all once again for the reviews and the readers passing by.
I'm happy to see that it is being picked up that there really hasn't been any romance/development between Alice and Uncas at least from the POV (aka Erin) we are getting (or is there? I'm teasing, sorry lol) It has been deliberate. I wanted it to be a lot like in the movie up until this point. What do we actually see between them if we look at this from a neutral standpoint? A few looks? A feeling we have? A want of something being there? It's really not a lot. My other half says he saw nothing at all until those last 15 minutes! (I was shocked by that, but I have heard the same thing from others over the years.)
I can try and fill in holes with my imagination (and boy, do I love imagining all the situations A/U could become closer and more bonded!), but what is right there is very sparse and yet, because of the waterfall/ending, I assume there must be more but that is still in opposition to the canon we are shown. It is a quandary that I have often thought about, the difference between what I watched and what I imagined and also what I wanted to happen... it can lead to some amazing and beautiful theories and wonderings and also expectations of what should be. I really wanted to explore that in this story. I have no idea if that makes any sense and writing out my brain's process is like trying to pin down a cat, but I won't say more as I hope it will be able to stand on it's own in the telling.
I'm taking a wee break next week, as I'm away for a few days and will not have time to upload but I will be back the Friday after. See you then :)
