When Linnett was finally alone with just the child for company, she stared down at his glossy black head in disbelief. Who would have thought that an act of human kindness would cause so much grief and trouble? Still, even had she known the outcome, she couldn’t have just left the child to die.
But what on earth could she do now?
She wouldn’t marry this Ya-whatever-his-name-was, that was certain. Will had said that he would represent her at this council, but could she trust him? He had also said that he was now a relative of this man, Ya-something. Bear Man -- she would call him that, since his name meant bear and she could see why, the man was enormous! Linnett shuddered. He wanted her for his wife but it couldn’t happen, surely? She was married to John under God’s holy law, and God would not allow this thing to happen, she reassured herself.
There was a commotion outside the lodge and an elderly woman entered the dwelling. She held out a soft suede native dress to Linnett, who accepted the gift with a nod of her head. The woman then spoke to the child, holding out her arms to him. He clung to Linnett, burying his face in her neck. Linnett smiled despite the situation and eased him upright. She smoothed back his hair and kissed him on the forehead. “Now come along, it is time for you to go, but I will see you before I leave here.”
Linnett placed him on his feet and gently pushed him away from her. The small boy turned and wrapped his arms around her neck, giving her a swift hug, before he walked to the old woman and took her hand. The woman smiled a toothless grin at Linnett and left, taking the child with her.
The entrance darkened and Will entered. He coughed, saying, “Put on the dress, Linnett, it will honour the Council.”
Will turned his back, and Linnett did as he bid, stripping quickly out of her torn and muddy clothing and pulling the soft beaded garment over her head. It was beautiful, a very soft, pale buttery colour with a fringed hem. It was shorter than any dress Linnett had ever worn before, ending at mid-calf and showing off her ankles. It fitted her body like a glove, so much so that Linnett’s pantalets bulged out at her hips. Quickly, before she thought better of it, she whipped off her pantalets. It felt strangely liberating and free to be bare, with no petticoats or underclothes to hamper her movements.
“Time to go,” Will said and folded back the hide flap for Linnett to step through. She took a couple of deep breaths and walked slowly behind Will. They passed through the pressing crowd of interested Abenaki people. Will directed Linnett towards a long wooden cabin. When they reached the steps, Will walked up and cried out in a sing-song voice at the entrance to the building, and a voice from within sang a similar reply. Will entered and again held the hide back for Linnett.
Inside, a group of mainly elderly women sat in a semi-circle around a fire. Opposite them sat Bear Man and the child. Linnett noticed that the elderly woman who had collected the child minutes before sat in the centre of the women. Will bowed his head to the council before sitting cross-legged beside Bear Man. Linnett also bowed her head in greeting but remained standing.
Bear Man’s dark eyes raked over Linnett’s body and then he began to speak, his voice deep and guttural. Linnett looked down at his back, bulging with muscles. His veins stood out like small snakes on the surface of his thick, muscular arms and his skin was the colour of tea.
He stopped speaking, and the elderly woman she had seen earlier smiled at Linnett. Her face was creased and weathered with age and she looked wise. Linnett began to feel hopeful. The old woman spoke and she gestured that Linnet should sit but Linnett remained standing until Will pulled her to the floor beside him. Only once she was seated did the woman begin to speak to her again and Will translated for her.
“Ever since the child was found, he has longed for his chosen mother Sun Woman. You are to be honoured by Bear Man, who wishes to take you for his woman.”
Linnett nodded and forced herself to listen and not interrupt. When it was obvious the old woman had finished speaking, Linnett spoke. “My name is Linnett. That is the name of a bird that lives in the land far away across the sea where I come from. Please can I ask your name wise lady?”
Will looked at Linnett in some surprise and smiled, giving her a brief nod of approval as he translated her words. The wise woman glanced sideways nodding approvingly to other council members and then she spoke smiling at Linnett. “You are right, introductions should come first. I am Soaewaah, Small Speech. I am elected representative of the Supreme Council and I sit among the famous League of Nations. We the council, enforce law in our villages. You are welcome Linnett-bird.”
Linnett smiled and nodded waiting for Will to finish the translation before speaking again.
“I thank you Small Speech for your welcome and hospitality. I am pleased to see this child again, he has become very dear to my heart. I already have a husband whom I love dearly and who will be missing me. I do not know this man and I cannot marry him for I have sworn a holy oath to forsake all men but my husband.”
Will translated again and a murmur went up from the assembly. Finally Small speech spoke. “You have no children of your own. Here is a child who needs a mother, he has chosen you and since his father, who is a very great warrior agrees to take you, we cannot understand your objections.”
Linnett took a deep breath and placing her hands protectively over her belly, she said, “I am with child. I carry my husband’s son.” Will raised his brows and Linnett glared at him. “Make sure you tell them exactly what I said,” she hissed. Will nodded and started to speak but just then, Linnett’s kidnapper, Bear Man, leapt to his feet and grabbed Linnett and before she knew what he was about, he placed his hand over her belly pressing hard. He growled at the council and two of the women stood up, a furious row breaking out.
Amidst all the screaming and shouting, a rattle sounded and suddenly there was silence. Everyone sat down once again and the woman, Small Speech, walked around the fire.
She smiled at Linnet and spoke. Will translated. “I am sorry for the behaviour of these dogs. Will you allow me to feel for the child within?”
Linnett could only agree with a nod, whereupon the old woman felt around Linnett’s womb area. As she pressed and prodded she muttered to herself, shaking her head. Will translated, “She says it is possible that you are with child, but she cannot tell at this stage.”
Small Speech turned to Bear Man and spoke with him at some length before turning back to Linnett. “Bear Man wants you even if you are with child and says that if you care for his son, he will care for yours. The spirits will decide whether you should bear a child.
“The council will talk of this and you will be told of our decision at sun set.” Once again, Will had translated, and then he bowed to the council before taking Linnett’s arm and dragging her away.
The wait seemed interminable, the afternoon dragged on, and Linnett paced about inside the lodge. No one spoke to her, but she noticed a very pretty girl peering in from the entrance with a furious scowl on her face. Will had vanished. Once Linnett lifted the entrance flap and looked out, she found two Indian braves standing outside presumably guarding her. Surely the council would find in her favour? She was a married woman and she might be carrying John’s child!
Linnett wished now that she had voiced her suspicions to John that she was with child, but she had been waiting to see if her courses would start again. If they did not, then she guessed she must be at least three months with child. Dear Lord, she prayed, let my husband find me soon.
When it had grown dark, Will returned and took her back to the council. The woman Small Speech was there, but Bear Man and everyone else, including the child, had gone. As before, Will bowed and Linnett copied him. He translated as she spoke. “We have not taken our decision lightly. We have not taken any account of your holy oath, for it is a white man oath. We can find no reason why Bear Man should not take you to wife.”
Stunned, Linnett dropped to her knees and pleaded with the old woman to set her free now. Will tried desperately to translate all that she said, but for the most part Linnett was incoherent with shock. Will finally gave up and hunkered down beside her. Linnett was aware that Small Speech had gone. “Come now girl, really it is not so bad. Yaogah is a very good man. He will look after you well. The other lassies will be very envious of you, you know. He is considered a great catch.”
Linnett screamed at Will, “Let them have him, then, for I have a husband, do you hear me!! Why does no one hear me...I- have- a- husband-!!” Linnett broke down and wept. Bear Man appeared and picked her up. He carried her back to his lodge, dumped her on the furs, and then he and Will spoke together in low voices.
Will stooped over Linnett and spoke to her before he left, “I advise you strongly to co-operate girl. These people have some very nasty ways with those who won’t. I cannot help you anymore; it is up to you now, girl.”
Linnett shut her eyes and muttered, “I would rather die, Will! Just go away!” Will shook her by the shoulder and shouted, “Damn it, woman, that’s just what you will do, die! None too pleasantly either! At least while you live, there is hope. You’re no good to your unborn child or John dead! Think on that, woman!”
Will turned and nodded to Bear Man before leaving them alone. The huge native stood like a statue staring down at Linnett for a long time. Suddenly, with the speed of a cheetah, he reached down, and grasping her arm, he hauled her up against his chest. His hand gripped her chin.
He stared down into Linnett’s green eyes and his other hand slid over her breasts, squeezing, assessing and claiming. Linnett drew back her head and spat in his face. The man released her and wiped his eyes. Linnett took the opportunity to bolt forward towards the opening, but as she bent to escape, a large arm snaked around her waist and hauled her back inside the lodge.
He twisted a hand in her thick hair and pulled her head back, forcing her chest out. Linnett’s breasts jutted, outlined by the tight leather dress, and the huge man mauled them, squeezing and kneading Linnett’s tender flesh. Without thinking her action through, Linnett twisted her head and sank her teeth deep into Bear Man’s arm. He immediately let go of her hair with a guttural curse and he sucked his injured bloody wrist. Linnett dropped onto the furs behind her with a whimper of fear. Then she looked up into his face and blanched at the expression of fury there. No longer inscrutable, he was livid with her.
Bear Man dropped down beside her and reached out his huge hand. Grabbing Linnett by her hair, he dragged her face down across his enormous, hard thighs. Linnett struggled in vain; she knew this position only too well and she knew it would bode no good for her.
Bear Man lent sideways slightly and pulled out, from a sheath tethered to his side, a large dagger. He slit Linnett’s tight dress from hem to waist, exposing her bare bottom. Linnett let out a banshee wail of fury and frustration. Only her husband had the right to punish her this way! This indignity should not be happening to her, especially not with this barbarian!
Linnett stilled as she felt a large hand roughly explore her bottom cheeks, and then she stiffened as the fingers of that large hand dipped between her legs, thrusting and invading her private area. Linnett tried frantically to struggle free, but he pinched her soft thigh hard, twisting the tender skin viciously.
Linnett gasped and thrashed her head, her mouth searching for flesh to bite and tear, venting her rage. When a loud slap and a sharp pain sliced through her buttock, Linnett shrieked with fury. She gasped as a volley of powerful, painful slaps scalded her bottom.
The spanking was hard and harsh with no let-up. On and on the man pounded her bottom until Linnett lay sobbing, her body jerking as each heavy blow fell. Finally the man stopped. He slid his hand down between Linnett’s legs, and thrusting brutally, he pushed his fingers inside her. He roughly fondled her sex. He was violating and humiliating her. This continued until the weeping Linnett thought his next move would be to surely rape her.
Suddenly he pulled his hand away and pushed her roughly off his lap. Standing, he licked his wrist, which was now dripping blood. He stared at her with his unblinking black eyes, dark and furious. Then he spoke harshly to her in his guttural tongue and spun away quickly and fluidly, disappearing through the entrance flap still clasping his injured wrist.
After Bear Man had gone, Linnett fell sideways. Her arms clasped around her upper body, her legs drawn up, she lay curled into a ball shaking and weeping. Finally shuddering, she sat up and immediately a sharp object dug into her hip. Reaching down beneath a blanket, she pulled out Bear Man’s dagger. Linnett pulled the sharp knife to her and stared at the blade. Why did this man want her so much?
Any young woman of the tribe could mother his son. Was he drawn to her because of her blonde hair? He seemed to be fascinated by the colour. Linnett twirled the knife in her hands, and then before she could change her mind, she reached behind her and grabbed a skein of her hair, twisted it at her neck and drew the blade across the wedge. A cascade of rippling honey fell into her hand, and she placed it on the fur bed she was sitting on.
Perhaps if he found this gift from her, he would let her escape and not pursue her. If he did give chase and he caught her, perhaps without her hair he would soon release her. Anyway, she needed to get away now before the man came back and finished what he had intended.
Linnett quietened herself by taking deep breaths; she began to think. The doorway was guarded but the back of the lodge wasn’t. Linnett used the dagger to pull and scrape at the mud and rushes that were the main components of the back wall’s construction.
It took her about a quarter of an hour or so to make a hole just large enough for her to wriggle through. Worrying that at any moment Bear Man would be back to finish what he had started, she glanced over her shoulder every few seconds. Her heart was racing and beating so loudly she was sure someone would hear.
Lying on her stomach, she squeezed through the small gap. Standing up on the outside, Linnett gently brushed the earth from her dress and thought what a dreadful mess she must look by now. Her native dress was all ripped and torn, split up to her waist at the back and she was covered with dirt. Her skin was scratched and bruised from her escape through the undergrowth earlier.
She ran lightly from lodge to lodge, always keeping to the shadows. A dog came up and snarled, but all at once a small, shadowed form caught hold of the dog and whispered a command. Immediately the dog fell silent and lay down.
Linnett waited to see if this person was about to give her away, but as the form moved close to her, Linnett realised it was a young girl. She recognised her as the girl Linnett had seen at the lodge earlier, scowling at her from the entrance. The Indian girl took hold of Linnett’s hand and quietly led her around the perimeter of the encampment, keeping the dogs that growled quiet by giving them a softly spoken command.
Once they were at the edge of the village, she pushed Linnett towards the cover of trees and melted away into the darkness. Linnett took a deep breath and crept through the undergrowth. When she was far enough in, she ran like the wind into the cover of the forest.
It was pitch dark and she couldn’t even see her feet, let alone where she was going. After struggling downhill and tripping over tree roots, her head smacking on the low overhanging branches, Linnett became exhausted. Eventually, she collapsed in a heap on the ground, her chest heaving painfully from her exertions.
After a while, she stood up and continued to push her way through the trees, heading to a lighter area of ground that might lead to the edge of the woodland. It turned out to be a clearing in the forest, and as Linnett crept around it, she was grabbed from behind and lifted off her feet. A hand clamped itself over her mouth before she could scream.