High on a Mountain (34 page)

“No. Although, when it’s a young couple
marrying for the first time, there’s more involved. The families
have to agree, and there’s a ceremony where they tie a blanket
around them. Like when Tayeni and I married. See that blanket
hanging over there, with the corners tied together? That’s our
wedding blanket. But when a couple were both married before…”
Gòrdan’s voice trailed off.

“Somehow, that doesn’t seem right. Like
you’re not really married,” Ailean said.

FORTY-TWO

Itahcah and Tenahwosi stood in front of
Gòrdan’s house, waiting for Ailean. When he awoke and came outside,
Itahcah handed him the hoe. Tenahwosi motioned for Ailean to
accompany them, and they set a rapid pace down the valley toward
the southwest.

Gòrdan watched them go, glad that Ailean
would have a home of his own, a place to live where, perhaps, he
could find peace and contentment. He went inside to finish the
preparations for his trip to Charles Town.

____________

As Ailean traveled along the dim trail behind
the two men, he watched for landmarks so that he could find his way
back to Gulahiyi village. The next afternoon, his escorts stopped
in a small valley with a wide stream running through it. They used
signs to explain to Ailean that the valley was his and walked with
him around the borders of it so he would know its extent.

When they came back to the middle of the
valley, Tenahwosi surveyed the wooded land. “How will Asgayagiga
live?” he said to Itahcah.

“Like any man lives.”

“But he has no shelter. He has no tools to
build a shelter. He has no food and no weapon to hunt for
meat.”

Itahcah shrugged.

“We must show him how to make a shelter. I’ll
cut saplings, and you go bring some meat,” Tenahwosi said.

“But we still have to go to the other
villages to tell them about Asgayagiga. We don’t have time to do
all that.”

“Go bring some meat,” Tenahwosi said.

Ailean stood by listening to the conversation
without understanding any of it. He watched as Itahcah frowned and
walked away. Tenahwosi beckoned for Ailean to come with him to a
stand of small trees near the stream.

Tenahwosi took a small stone axe from a belt
around his waist and chopped down six of the trees, trimmed the
branches from them and cut them to the same length. He picked up
one of them and gestured for Ailean to do the same. Ailean gathered
the other five into his arms and followed Tenahwosi to a level spot
not far from the stream.

Tenahwosi talked as he worked, explaining to
Ailean what he was doing, but Ailean learned from watching, not
from the words. Tenahwosi used Ailean’s hoe as a makeshift shovel
to dig a hole. He set one of the poles into it and tamped the dirt
around it. He marked the spots for the other five poles, and Ailean
took the hoe from him and dug the holes for them. They continued
working and erected a small temporary shelter with leafy branches
interlaced over it for a roof.

Ailean borrowed Tenahwosi’s axe and cut a
small sapling. He trimmed the branches from it and sharpened one
end. He went to the stream, squatted on the bank, watched and
waited. When a fish swam within reach, Ailean speared it and jerked
it out of the water.

Tenahwosi laughed. “Asgayagiga won’t starve
after all.”

Ailean looked at him, wishing he could
understand what the man said. He found some dry sticks, gathered
some dead leaves and grass and built a fire. He put the fish on a
stick and held it over the fire. When it was ready, he held it out
to Tenahwosi to let him have the choicest bit. Tenahwosi smiled and
broke a piece from the fish.

“
Wado
,” he said.

Ailean nodded. He pointed to the shelter.
“
Wado
.”

It was almost dark when Itahcah returned with
a haunch from a deer, wrapped in the deer’s hide. Ailean added more
wood to the fire, and Tenahwosi stuck forked branches into the
ground on either side of it to make a spit. They suspended the
haunch over the fire, sat and watched while it cooked.

The next morning, Tenahwosi and Itahcah
departed and Ailean had never felt more lonely. He explored the
valley, planning, thinking about where to start clearing the land
for planting. Since it had been under cultivation before, clearing
it wouldn’t be as arduous a task as clearing the cypress swamps had
been at The Oaks. Nor as hard as clearing the field which had been
his share on the croft.

As he walked the valley each day, Ailean
found it harder and harder to think about his future plans. What
did it matter where he planted oats if there was no one to share
them? Why be concerned with pasturage for cattle if no one would be
with him to share the milk, butter and meat?

Ailean was grateful Ani-Tsalagi had given him
the valley, but he wished he had someone to share it with. It was
worth nothing to him if he lived in it alone.

____________

When the last customers left the tavern,
Latharn poured himself a drink and downed it in one swallow. It
wasn’t enough, but it would have to do until he could retreat to
his room with a bottle. He grimaced, took a breath and started
wiping whisky spills off the bar with a dirty rag.

The door swung open, and two men entered. One
of them was William Thornton, a local store owner Latharn
recognized. Thornton came to the bar while the other took a seat at
a table.

“A bottle of whisky and two glasses.”
Thornton laid coins on the wooden counter and joined the other man
at the table.

Latharn picked up the money and dropped it
with a metallic clink onto the other coins in the small box beneath
the bar. He carried the requested items to the men’s table and
returned to his station. He finished wiping the bar and stood
behind it, arms crossed, rag in hand, leaning on the cracked
plaster wall. He watched the two men pour themselves shots of the
whisky he craved.

“I don’t see how you do it,” Thornton said.
“I think I’d go crazy if I had to live with them savages.”

“Savages?” Gòrdan MacAntoisch said. “I’m from
the Highlands of Scotland. The Lowlanders and English call us
Highlanders savages and barbarians because we’re different. But
I’ll tell you, William, if Cherokees and Highlanders are savages,
there are just as many savages living inside English skins. There’s
no group of people anywhere which hasn’t its own share of both good
people and bad.”

“Gòrdan, I apologize if I offended you. I
just—”

“You should hear what the English and their
supporters did to some of my countrymen after The Rising in ’45. If
you want a description of savagery, you should listen to Ailean
MacLachlainn tell about it.”

Latharn dropped his rag. His chest
constricted, and, for a moment, he couldn’t draw a breath.

____________

Day by day, Ailean grew more lonely in his
beautiful valley. At last, the loneliness became too great to bear,
and he set out on the trail to Gulahiyi. The closer he got to the
village, the faster he walked.

When he was close by, he stopped to look
through the underbrush for fallen wood he could take to Kutahyah.
He gathered a large pile of sticks and broke them into short
lengths. The sun started its descent to the western horizon, and he
knew the women would be returning to their homes from the
field.

Ailean gathered the bundle of wood into his
arms, entered the village and walked through the settlement to
Kutahyah’s house.

He stopped at the door and called,
“
Osiyo
.”

In a moment, Kutahyah appeared at the door.
She greeted Ailean with a smile. She noticed the bundle in his
arms, and her smile grew broader. She gestured for him to bring it
inside and showed him where to lay the wood. She indicated that he
should sit on the mat by the fire.

An older woman, at work peeling cane into
splits, glanced at Ailean but gave him no further notice. He
assumed she was Kutahyah’s mother. He watched Kutahyah’s graceful
movements as she prepared this meal for him, their wedding meal.
She poured some water into a metal trade pot, placed it over the
fire and put pieces of squash and other vegetables into it. She
mixed batter, wrapped it in corn husks and laid it in the coals.
Kutahyah sat with her eyes lowered modestly as she waited for the
food to cook.

When it was ready, she poured the vegetables
into a bowl and gave it to him. She retrieved the ash bread from
the fire and peeled the husks from it. Ailean accepted the bread
and began to eat. Kutahyah stared into the flames but glanced at
him occasionally as he ate.

Ailean nodded and made gestures he hoped
conveyed his pleasure with the meal. Kutahyah seemed to understand,
and she smiled at him. He pointed to her, to himself and clasped
his hands together. Her smile grew larger, and she nodded assent.
And he made signs he hoped she would understand, signs that meant
he wanted her to go with him.

Kutahyah spoke to her mother and gathered
some things, blankets, tools and other objects, and placed them in
a large basket. She also filled a smaller basket with corn and
other food items from the storehouse behind her mother’s home. She
slipped a tumpline over her head, past her shoulders and secured it
across her chest. She suspended the large basket from it, letting
it rest against her back, and picked up the basket of food.

By the time Ailean finished eating, she stood
by the door, waiting.

I guess Gòrdan was right
, Ailean
thought as they strolled side by side through the village.
We’re
married now
.

He glanced at Kutahyah, and the anticipation
of beginning a new life with her beckoned him forward, tightened
his muscles, made him wish they had already arrived in his valley.
Excitement made his steps quick and light, the ball of each foot
resting on the ground a brief moment before he pushed forward.
Again and again, he had to slow his pace to match Kutahyah’s.

Once, he looked down at her and she raised
her eyes to meet his, and the desire he’d felt on the mountain at
the sight of her awakened and filled him. And an immediate sense of
remorse followed, erased the craving, and he came to a
standstill.

Ailean stood rigid as a cold torrent of guilt
poured over him, through him. Mùirne was his first love. She had
given her life for him, and he was being unfaithful to her memory.
How could he do this? But he remembered the aching loneliness of
living by himself and knew he couldn’t bear it. Not ever again.

Kutahyah, who’d taken a few steps after he
stopped, paused and turned to him. Ailean looked at her, saw the
softness in her eyes as she looked up at him. He swallowed, brushed
his hair from his face. With slow, deliberate steps, he walked at
her side.

FORTY-THREE

“Excuse me,” the bartender interrupted. “Did
you say ‘Ailean MacLachlainn?’“

Gòrdan frowned. “Aye, I did.”

“You know MacLachlainn?”

“Aye.”

“Where is he?”

The intensity of the man’s manner, the hard
glint in his eyes, disturbed Gòrdan. “Why do you want to know?” he
asked.

“I…I’ve known him for years. I heard he
disappeared and, well, I’ve been worried about him.”

“You don’t have to worry about him. He’s all
right,” Gòrdan said, and turned back to his conversation with
William Thornton.

He regretted having mentioned Ailean’s name
in a public place. He hoped his thoughtlessness and loose tongue
wouldn’t bring trouble to Ailean. But the intent expression on the
bartender’s face disturbed him, and he glanced over his shoulder at
the man again.

Gòrdan changed the subject. “I need more
muskets, William. And pots. And knives. I can’t leave without a
full load of—”

“Sorry, but I don’t have much. The other
traders almost cleaned me out. You should have been here two weeks
ago,” William said.

“I guess I’ve got no choice but to wait for
the next ship,” Gòrdan said. “Unless…I could go up to George Town,
see if I could get some trade goods there.”

“No, no,” William said. “You don’t want to do
that. Just wait here. There’s bound to be a ship in any day now.
Besides, you need to let your horses rest before you set off
anywhere. They look in need of rest and a good feed,” he said.

“I suppose you’re right. It’s just hard to
sit and do nothing while I wait.”

____________

Latharn listened to the discussion between
the two men while he tried to appear nonchalant and unconcerned.
But there was no other mention of MacLachlainn. This trader knew
the whereabouts of MacLachlainn, but he wasn’t going to tell
Latharn where that was. He would have to find out some other
way.

____________

Ailean wanted to stop for the night while it
was still light, and he picked the first level place he found. But
Kutahyah shook her head, and they continued on. She rejected
several sites he chose, insisted on continuing along the trail
until she found a spot that suited her.

She set her baskets down, took a blanket from
the large one and spread it on the ground. She sat on one side of
it, rummaged in the smaller basket, and brought out pieces of
venison. She offered some venison to Ailean, and he accepted it
with gratitude.

She gazed up at Ailean, and he knew she
wanted him to sit beside her. He joined her on the blanket, his
shoulder brushing hers, and the excitement he’d felt as they walked
down the village street stirred within him again.

A rosy glow from the setting sun filtered
through the trees and came to rest on Kutahyah. Ailean’s excitement
transformed to desire, and he yearned to touch her soft,
deerskin-clad shoulder, wanted to run his hand over the sleek hair
that flowed down her back. But his tangled emotions—desire for
Kutahyah and longing for Mùirne—mingled with the guilt he felt for
wanting Kutahyah and threatened to smother him. He had to get past
these conflicted emotions, had to push them aside.