1750

Her legs shook and her arm trembled as she handed the knife to Seth, hilt first. She watched him warily, ready to jump back but he took it and simply slid it into the sheath in his belt. In that moment, Keezheekoni knew that she had nothing to fear from this man.

Slowly, Seth recovered. He gave little thought to the woman before him. He had saved her from death, perhaps from something even worse than death, but he held no claim to her. He expected them both to simply go their separate ways. The months of learning to fear everyone slipped away after the heat of battle, it didn't even cross his mind that she could be a threat to him, perhaps he didn't really care. She could return to her tribe and bring their arrows raining down on him.

He had not expected to live through the fight, certainly not uninjured. Now he had to survive. He didn't really know why he had to live, only that he would continue to draw breath, continue to go eastward, continue to head home.

He had the tools to survive, but not the will. He had escaped from the ambush by the Frenchies with very little. He had grabbed his rifle and his pack and his brother. He had a blanket, cooking gear, spare flints to start a fire or replace the one that ignited the powder in his rifle, a small quantity of gunpowder and perhaps 100 of the .58 caliber balls that fit his gun.

The dead soldiers would be carrying more, which would improve his situation slightly but there was the distance ahead of him. He could not know that it was over 500 miles to his home. They had paddled much further. He knew only that he had to go east, if he was to get home.

Slowly, he rose to his feet; the fatigue of the fight still weighing heavily on him, draining his strength. He rummaged through the scant belongings of the dead soldiers. They carried very little, which surprised him. He took the gunpowder from each of them to supplement the meager supply that he had. They had no packs, only the muskets and other weapons that they carried and each had a canteen. They had no blankets, no rope, no other supplies.

Keezheekoni watched him. He was not stealing from the dead, he was collecting what he could use. It surprised her that he would need the equipment they carried. A man should not be alone in this place without the tools to stay alive. She watched him a moment, and then helped him search the bodies.

Seth could not understand. Englishmen should not be here, especially not soldiers. This was French territory, prohibited land for all Englishmen. What were they doing here? Why were they not carrying the equipment they would need, the equipment he needed.

There was only one possibility, they were an official scouting party. The question was, were there more of them and were they on foot or did they have a canoe? Could these men be his salvation?

Keezheekoni made her decision. She would stake her lot with this man. She didn't really know why, except that she had little to go back to, little to look forward to. This man had saved her. He seemed to be better than many of the men she had known before. The future was an unknown no matter what she did.

Keezheekoni had memories of happy times, but those were well in the past. She had known great tragedy and great pain in her 19 summers. She remembered the happy times with her mother and father. Times of play and fun and great happiness but those had ended nine years before when her father had gone hunting alone. He had simply vanished.

There had been no unattached warriors in their village and her mother blamed the other men for not having found her man, the love of her life. For several months, she kept up the vigil, waiting for her man to miraculously appear, but he did not. Instead the travelers came. Ottowa Indians, cousins and traders of the land. One of them, tall, thin, and good looking had had no wife. He offered the tribe many beads and knives for her. Keezheekoni had appealed to her father-in-law for permission to take her children with her to the land of the Ottowa, to the north. Kajika had the right to keep them, but he saw so much pain in Migisi's eyes and could not bear hurting her more. She could take his grandchildren. With that approval, Migisi had accepted, taking her 10 year old daughter and her 5 year old son to live far to the north.

Keezheekoni did not remember the trek to Kokotoni's village, only that it had been a long walk. What she did remember, was how he had turned from the strong protector, to the nasty husband. Neither violence, nor loud verbal abuse would have been tolerated, but Kokotoni did not miss a single opportunity to quietly insult Migisi. Her tears came quietly and frequently.

At first, Kokotoni had simply ignored Keezheekoni but then it had been her turn to hear his scornful words. Keezheekoni was miserably unhappy. She never felt she belonged. Her brother had faired slightly better, but he had not escaped Kokotoni's disdain. Her new half-brother had been the light of Kokotoni's life.

Life had been misery. The joy sucked from her childhood.

The miserable years had passed, and she had reached womanhood. The raging hormones within her had caused her to take several lovers among the boys her age, but none of them appealed to her for more than occasional pleasure, each reminded her of her evil step-father. She was not happy with her new tribe but she only knew that the old was far to the south. She had asked her mother frequently how to find her old home, but her mother had told her that she should make her life here, among these vile people.

It had been Kokotoni who had done it; he had trudged overland through the snow and the tangled forest with a sled full of pelts to trade with the French at Detroit. It had been a demonstration of his prowess and his strength. Her step-father had come back with many things. Muskets, powder, balls, salt, knives, steel needles, thread, salt, and beads. He had also come back with the white mans pox.

She had had no time to rejoice when Kokotoni had died, because the disease spread through the Indians with wild abandon and the first to fall ill had been her family. Many died after Kokotoni and among the first had been her mother. Keezheekoni had little time to cry for her, because by that time both her 14 year old brother and her 6 year old half brother were showing the early signs of the illness.

By the middle of March, she had cremated all of her family and fully 80 percent of the other villagers. The tears came. Why she had been spared was a question without an answer. What was clear was that there were too few of them left to tend the corn and squash. Too few to hunt. Too few to live. The only blessing was that all of the survivors were young and stood some slim chance of being accepted into other tribes of the Ottawa clan. The elders who might have been a drain on other tribes were all gone, only the strong remained.

Keezheekoni, had never felt that she was an Ottawa. She clung to her Potawatomi identity. When spring finally broke, the group had abandoned their log and mud lodgings and struck out on their own, each to find his or her own way.

The rest had traveled to well known villages close by. Keezheekoni, however had struggled south, in search of her roots, her people, the only ones with whom she had been happy.

She had been going south for three weeks, hauling all her worldly goods on a travois made of a couple saplings with a deer hide sewn to it. The going had been slow, but unlike Seth, she did not fear the people of the land. Most nights she had slept under the stars, but on several nights she had slept in the comfort of villages. Each night she had cried herself to sleep.

On those rare occasions when people had sheltered her, they had also shared their meals. Most days she subsisted on the plants and roots she gathered as she walked. Each night she set snares for rabbits and she had caught several.

The future held little for her. She had only a meager hope. Her only future would be to accept a man quickly as her husband. It was not a path she wished but one of practicality. Her only hope, that he would not be the monster that her step-father had proved to be.

She had been walking for three weeks, making slow time through the virgin woods. She had not seen Seth, hiding in the bushes by the trail, when she drug all her possessions past him.

She had walked right into the four red coats. She hadn't seen them or heard them. She had known immediately what was about to happen. They would take her and then they would kill her. Keezheekoni had expected no rescue. She had not expected to survive, only to make it as difficult for them as possible. She had fought well, but they had been upon her before she knew they were even there.

Now she was alive. She breathed the air deeply and tried to let the tension out of her. It was unbelievable that her attackers were dead and not her. Incomprehensible that she had been saved by another white man.

She watched Seth for a moment, and then realized several things. He was alone, stranded. She had no conception of why that should be, but she knew it. She also saw his confusion as he looked for supplies and came to the same conclusion. Either these men had a canoe close by, or they were not alone.

When Seth grabbed the arms of one of the dead soldiers, she understood immediately and helped him drag all four bodies into the brush, where they could not be seen. For a moment, she wondered if a fate like this had befallen her father, and then she dismissed it. This man would have been but a boy when her father had disappeared. Her father's fate might have been at the hands of other men, but most likely other Indians, or perhaps a wounded bear or a simple accident. A broken leg could kill as surely, if not so rapidly, as an arrow through the heart.

The white man was confused. She could see that he did not know how to proceed. She could feel the gore drying, caking on her skin and in her hair. That feeling was strange. It actually warmed her to know that those men had gotten the fate that they had planned for her. Their deaths warranted, welcomed by her. Still their blood and brains and gore were not pleasant on her skin.

Keezheekoni examined the place where the men had jumped her. The trail of broken branches they had left behind to get here was plain, and it led toward where she knew the river to be. She wanted to get to that water to wash away the signs of violence that covered her body and the tatters of her clothing. She pulled her travois into the brush and then walked up to Seth.

The man was still confused. She looked into his eyes and then nodded her head in the direction of the tracks the soldiers had made.

Seth had expected her to simply continue on her way. He had not expected her to still be with him. He did not know why she wanted him to follow her, but it was obvious that she did. Was she leading him into a trap? The fact that she had hidden her possessions and was leading him away from the trail she had been traveling, made him believe that she was helping him. He decided to trust her.

It took only moments to realize that she was following the trail of the soldiers. She also turned to glare at him when he made noise pushing the tangled brambles out of the way. She was concerned about the possibility of other soldiers. Seth, on the other hand, had stopped worrying. If there were other redcoats here, they would have come running at the sound of gunshots.

They had come only about 200 yards when they found the camp. They were on the bank of a small river and two large canoes were hidden by freshly cut brush. Seth's eyes lit up. The canoes were half full of supplies. Powder, salt, jerky, sea biscuits and best of all, a freshly killed deer.

They both spent several minutes watching for other signs of life, but Seth was convinced within a few moments that there had been only the four of them. It was safe. For the first time in many weeks, Seth felt hope. He had a way home.

He watched the woman peel off the soiled clothing and throw the rags down. He had never seen a naked woman before, but he knew this one was something special. Her skin dark and smooth. Her curves so pleasing to his eye. Her flat stomach flowed to her large shapely breasts capped by darker nipples. He could not take his eyes from her. He felt his penis springing to life, even though he had no conscious sexual thoughts.

The river water was cold and the bed muddy and sucked her feet into the sticky silt when Keezheekoni stepped into it, but it still felt good on her dirty skin. She could feel Seth's eyes on her as she washed her hair and then cleaned the gore from her. She watched his eyes when she emerged. She felt the warmth of his appreciative gaze on her body, cutting the chill of the cold water. She made no attempt to cover herself as a white woman would have. Nudity was quite normal for her.

She needed to get the remnants of her garment. It would never be clothing again but it was a good piece of leather and if ever it would be useful again, it needed to be cleaned.

She had known this man for two turbulent hours, or perhaps less, but she felt strange things. She had just been through the most traumatic event of her life. She had known that she would be violated and killed. This white man had saved her from that fate, that vile death. She still felt the fear and loathing and the dread. She could not think of normal sex, would not for a long time, but she felt a strange warmth from his gaze. She also felt gratitude toward him for saving her. She didn't know how she knew, but she knew that he had no experience with women.

She felt a strange humor at the look on his face. She could see that he would not try and take her, would not harm her. Strangely, she felt safe with him. Still, she could see the desire in him and see too that he was suppressing it, perhaps not even aware of it and that knowledge warmed her slightly, not in a sexual way, but in a human one.

They had not said a single word to each other, each had understood the futility of talking, but now a slight upturn of her lips, not quite a smile covered her face.

"You're dirty, come here, lets wash you." She said to him.

Seth didn't understand the words, but he understood many things in that moment. He understood what she wanted him to do. Understood that it was a human and not a sexual invitation. Understood that she was playing with him. Understood that he liked the sound of her voice.

He gave her a sly half smile and then accepted the challenge. He peeled off his clothes and joined her on the river bank. He had not washed since his brother had died. He had not cleaned his clothing since the day before the ambush, when he had lost his sole set of spare clothing.

There was no contact between them. They both waded into the cold water. He splashed himself with the cold water, scrubbing away the dirt with his hands, cleaning his hair. He spent the time blushing at his nudity in front of this strange beautiful woman.

Seth watched her scrubbing his clothing in the water, getting as much of the dirt out of it as she could. He watched her breasts giggle as she rubbed the clothing and tried to hide his erection under the water. She noticed and smiled slightly. Her smile only made her more attractive and made his hardness even stiffer.

Keezheekoni caught herself smiling, and couldn't believe it. The horror was still so fresh, and she could smile? She could find his erection amusing?

She laid out his clothing to dry in the sun and then put on her moccasins and headed back to reclaim her possessions. She could feel his eyes watch her naked bottom as she disappeared into the brush. She had not expected him to chase her, but she was relieved that he did not even follow. In that moment she knew that she had made the right decision. The fact that he would let her go, meant that she was safe to stay.

That temporary return to normality, ended abruptly when she had gotten back to her possessions. The travois was still there, still fine, but the memories of the horror flooded over her. Her body began to shake. Tears began to stream down her face. She had planned to put on her spare clothing, but she wanted to escape too much to pause. She simply grabbed the travois, not even bothering to put on the harness and drug it as quickly away from the scene as she could travel.

Keezheekoni was in a hurry, rushing from the scene of the horror. She did not notice the brambles cutting into her skin.

Seth had not expected to see her again. He had expected her to be on her way to where ever she had been going. He heard the thrashing of brush and grabbed his rifle. Then he saw her naked body rushing from the woods. He saw the tears running down her face, as sobs racked her body. He did not even think about his own nakedness as he pulled her into his arms.

For almost two hours he held her naked body against his as sobs racked her. She cried herself out against him. He felt comfortable holding her, it helped him forget the horror as well. Her body pressed against his gave him some relief from the despair that he had felt for weeks. His discomfort at being naked in a womans view was gone.

She felt good in his arms, the sun felt warm on their skin. The horror faded. Her tears ended. He was aware of the hunger aching in his belly.

He went to his clothing and found it still wet, then he rummaged in the canoes until he found some jerky and some sea biscuits. He would rather have cooked some venison, but he didn't want to light a fire until after dark. He held up the food and asked. "You hungry?"

Keezheekoni did not understand the words, but she understood what he meant. She nodded her head. She watched his naked form, lean and well muscled, but pale. His brown hair and blue eyes were different, but she found his features strong and attractive. She smiled at him. She knew his clothing was still wet and that she could get dressed any time, but he had only one set of clothing and would have to stay naked until it dried. She decided to remain as naked as he, until he could put his clothing back on.

He brought the food to her and she watched him eat it, following his lead. She understood that this was traveling food and not the normal fare of his people and it was a good thing because she found it less than wonderful, still it filled her and gave her strength. She could forage for them later.

Seth found two blankets and laid one on the ground. He had no idea what she would do, but she came to him and laid with him on the blanket. The feel of her naked body warmed him as much as the sun. He covered them with another blanket and they slept.

The sun was low in the western sky when they awoke. His clothing was dry and they both dressed. Seth still had no idea what she would do. He began rummaging through the canoes, deciding what to put in the one he would be taking. He left room in the bow for her, if she was coming. She watched him work and then went to the other canoe, sorting through all the things there, finding useful items and placing those aside.

When she had emptied the canoe into two piles beside it she began to pick items up one at a time. "Do you want to take this?" She would ask.

Seth did not understand the words, but he loved the sound of her voice and he knew what she meant. He would answer her each time. "Yes, we should take that." or "No, I don't think we need that". He emphasized the words with a nod or a shake of his head. Occasionally, he would hold up a hand and rummage through the canoe by him till he found a like item. "That one, this one or both?" He would ask. She would answer him by pointing to one or the other, or pointing at both.

Keezheekoni, liked the sound of his strong voice, even if she could not understand the words. Still, they were communicating perfectly. She took over packing the canoe, and put her things on top. She could feel his smile when he knew she was planning to go with him.