The Great Alone (17 page)

“Silk,” she murmured and touched it to her cheek. The vivid red against the black of her hair and the ivory of her skin made a striking picture.

“Here.” Andrei took the scarf from her hands and draped it over her head, then crossed the trailing ends to cover her shoulders. The transformation was remarkable. He seemed to be looking at the bust of a Russian woman with a tantalizingly foreign allure. He was slow to let go of the scarf and bring his hands to his side again.

“This is how it is worn?” she asked.

“Yes.” Andrei continued to stare, stirred by her.

“Are you going to the village?”

“Yes. I need to speak with your chief.”

“I will walk with you.” She removed the scarf and attempted to fold the slippery material into a small square. After several tries, she succeeded, then picked up her basket of ripe berries.

As they started toward the barabara, Andrei observed Many Whiskers waiting to greet him. He guessed the chief had been told that he had come ashore to see him. It was vital that he convince the Aleut to let him take some of his people with him. Conscious of the pad of bare feet walking beside him, Andrei turned his head slightly to look at the girl. Even though his thoughts were on the meeting to come, her profile made its impact on his senses. There was a moment when he knew a man could lose himself in her, then his thoughts took a different turn. Earlier he had dismissed her usefulness. Now Andrei reconsidered.

“Tasha, I have to talk to your chief on an important matter. I want to be certain my words are clear to him. Will you speak for me?” Andrei smiled.

“I would be happy to translate for you,” she agreed. Her dark eyes studied him keenly. “You wish to speak to Many Whiskers about having someone from our village accompany you to the other islands and translate for you.”

“You know about my request?” Andrei was faintly surprised.

“I have heard Many Whiskers seek the counsel of my mother and others about this.”

He frowned curiously. “Why would he consult your mother?”

“Before she became Many Whiskers’ second wife, my mother, Winter Swan, was the wife to Strong Man, the brother of Many Whiskers. He had great physical and spiritual powers. I think Many Whiskers wished to know from my mother how Strong Man would have felt on this matter. He had great respect for Strong Man’s wisdom of such things.”

“What did your mother tell him?” Andrei had not known she was a member of the chief’s family, but he had no qualms about soliciting information from her.

“I do not know.”

“What do you think she said?” He saw her reluctance to speculate on something she did not know and pressed for an answer. “It is important, Tasha, or I wouldn’t ask. I must have the chief’s help in this so that I can hunt and trade with other islanders in peace and friendship.”

She hesitated a moment. “The storytellers say Strong Man believed we should live in peace with the Cossacks.”

“He was a wise man.” A feeling of satisfaction took the edge off his tension. The winds seemed to be blowing his way. He smiled warmly at Tasha, realizing that she could be valuable in his meeting with the chief.

His men fell in behind them as they approached the chief. After greeting the mustached Aleut, Andrei explained the reason for Tasha’s presence at his side, concerned that Many Whiskers might object to the inclusion of a woman in their talks, but the chief nodded his approval.

“Soon my vessel will be sailing from your bay to the islands in the east. You are an important chief on Attu. Your name is spoken with respect on other islands.” Andrei had no idea whether that was true or not, but a little flattery never hurt. He waited until Tasha had finished her translation, then continued. “I wish to carry your greetings when I visit the villages to the east, so they will know we lived together in peace and traded fairly with one another.”

Andrei knew the chief understood much of what he said in Russian, but he listened patiently to Tasha’s translation of it. His command of Aleut was limited, but Andrei detected a few words of embellishment that Tasha added and realized he had an ally.

“The name of Andrei Nikolaivich Tolstykh is also known in the islands as one who does not cheat the Aleuts.” Tasha provided a Russian translation of the chief’s response, much of which he had understood. “That cannot be said of many of the Cossacks who come to hunt and trade on our island.”

Andrei had previously encountered the ill will created by other Russians out of greed. “It is important for the Aleuts on the islands I visit, to know that I come in peace and friendship. If Many Whiskers will consent to sending interpreters from his village with me, they can not only translate my words for me, but they can also speak from their own knowledge of my fairness in trading and my desire for peace with the Aleuts.”

“I have come to a decision on this.” Tasha translated Many Whiskers’ response, then paused to await the rest of it. Andrei schooled himself not to react, no matter which way it went. “He has chosen my brother, Walks Straight, to accompany you.” He was both relieved and disappointed by the decision. One was better than none, yet he preferred to have a minimum of two Aleuts with him. “He regrets that he cannot spare more hunters to go with you.”

“Tell him I understand.”

“Many Whiskers says that my brother is a good hunter and can help you find the islands where the sea otter are plentiful. And my brother understands the words of your tongue much better than Many Whiskers does.” She ceased a verbatim translation of the explanation. “It is also known that he does not like Cossacks. For him to speak in favor of you will carry much weight.”

Unconsciously, Andrei nodded approval, admiring the shrewd reasoning behind the choice. As the chief continued to speak, Andrei missed what he said and had to wait for Tasha to relay it to him.

“Many Whiskers says also that you will need a woman to cook and sew for you, and the women in the eastern islands do not know how to prepare the food the way the Cossacks like it.” She suddenly appeared stunned. Instead of concentrating on the chief as she had been doing, she turned to him, her dark eyes wide with surprise. “He says he knows your Cossack wife did not come with you … that she stayed in your land across the waters. Since you will have need of one … he offers me as your second wife. As a token of his friendship. He asks no gifts in return.”

Equally stunned, Andrei stared at Tasha. The chief had to know that he was not averse to the company of a native woman in his bed. During his previous visit to the island, he had obtained one for a few presents to her family. By Aleut custom, she had been his wife. They had no marriage ceremony as such. The contract was sealed by the presenting of gifts to the woman’s parents. Andrei also knew that to refuse the chief’s generosity in this case would be tantamount to an insult. He was thankful that the chief continued to speak, allowing him more time to think.

“He says that I make fine parkas and know how to cook food the Cossack way. He says also that I can be of use to you in speaking your words to the villagers in the eastern islands. He knows that you will treat me well and be a good husband.” She blushed slightly. “He also says you will find the women of Attu are much more pleasing to the eye than the women on other islands.”

Pleasing to the eye seemed an understatement to Andrei as he gazed at Tasha. With difficulty, he refocused his attention on the chief, trying not to think of the long months—and long nights—ahead.

“Tell your chief that I am overwhelmed by his generosity—and very pleased. He does me great honor and I accept his wise decision. Please inform him that I wish to sail with tomorrow’s tide.”

CHAPTER X

Overhead, mewling seabirds wheeled, their ivory wings flashing white against a backdrop of gray clouds. Leaping and diving, a porpoise swam alongside the vessel’s bow as though escorting it out of the bay. A steady wind bellied the sails. Tasha turned her face into the wind and gazed at the wide stretch of sand, the bidarkas lined up on the shore. From this distance, the outline of her village was barely discernible and then only because she knew where to look.

Her heart ached to be leaving all that was familiar to her—the island, her home, and family—her mother and old Weaver Woman most of all. But her regret wasn’t equal to the excitement she felt. Hunters frequently traveled to other islands to trade or visit, but women seldom went unless the whole family, sometimes the whole village, made the journey. Tasha hadn’t been off the island since she was a little girl. Then it had been a trip to nearby Agattu to visit her mother’s family. Now, she was on her way to some unknown destination. Andrei Tolstykh, her new husband, had indicated to Many Whiskers that it might be as many as two summers before he returned to Attu.

Turning, she asked her brother, “Where will we go?”

“I have told the Cossack about Adak and the small islands clustered around it where the sea otter live in large numbers.” The reluctance with which he had imparted the information was evident in the flat tone of his voice. Walks Straight did not share Tasha’s enthusiasm for this adventure.

“The hunting will be good there.”

“If the villages give him permission to hunt in their territory,” added Walks Straight.

“They will. He will give them gifts in exchange, and we will tell them that he seeks to trade with them and live in peace.” She saw the skepticism in his look. “You know this is true. He is not like the others.”

“No,” he conceded grudgingly. “But he is a Cossack. Don’t trust him too much.”

Lately when he looked at his sister, vague memories stirred of another time when the Scar-Eyed One had made his mother cry. Now Tolstykh was her husband. He didn’t want his sister hurt, yet he felt powerless to prevent it. And he hated the Cossacks for making him feel this way. He had agreed to accompany the smooth-faced commander partly to honor the wishes of Many Whiskers and his mother, but mainly he hoped that by leading the Cossacks to new hunting grounds, they would all eventually leave his home island.

Walks Straight could tell by the look in Tasha’s big dark eyes that she paid little heed to his warning. She never looked beyond the sky color of the Cossack’s eyes to see the selfish greed. Before the Cossacks came, the Aleuts never killed just to take an animal’s skin. Now they killed the otter, took its fur, and threw its body to the sharks. It was not their way, and the Cossacks were to blame.

But his sister was a woman. She couldn’t understand that the life of a hunter was tied to that of his prey. Still he tried. “To the Cossack, an Aleut is like the sea otter. When they have taken what they want from him, they will throw the rest away.”

The waves crested to six feet in the heavy-running sea. When the vessel breasted the first of them and it broke across the bow, Tasha felt a rush of exhilaration. The journey had begun. She stood at the rail watching the roll of the sea and listening to the straining groans of the boat’s timbers as it slammed into another wave.

Within an hour, her head was pounding dully. The constant pitching of the vessel made the horizon go up and down with sickening regularity. The undulating motion made her stomach churn. She started feeling hot, and perspiration coated her skin. Moving closer to the bow, she let the sea spray cool her face, but it didn’t ease the rising pressure in her stomach. Her knees felt strangely weak.

It slowly came to her that she was getting seasick. The symptoms she had were the ones Weaver Woman had described when she told about two Aleut hunters on Attu who suffered from this malady. Tasha struggled to control her growing queasiness and tried to fix her gaze on some object that didn’t move, but her senses constantly told her of the heaving motion of the deck. They didn’t alert her, however, to the sound of approaching footsteps.

Once they were clear of the offshore reefs and well out to sea, Andrei ordered his mate to set an easterly course and relaxed his vigilance. He knew the dangers of this ocean, the quick onset of its fogs, high winds, and storms; and he took his time of ease whenever it came. As he left the mate at the helm, Andrei noticed Tasha standing at the bow, poised like a figurehead, her face lifted to the spray. The sight awakened fires in him that had long lain dormant. He walked to the bow.

“The winds favor us.” At the sound of his voice, she swung around. Andrei had a brief glimpse of the pallor of her face and the hugeness of her eyes.

A second later, she turned back and reached for the rail, to lean over the side. Thinking that she intended to throw herself overboard, Andrei grabbed for her. As his hands caught her shoulders, he felt the convulsive heave of her body and heard the retching sound she made. The vomiting spasms came one after the other until she finally sagged against the rail, too weak to support herself.

His hands continued to steady her against the pitching and rolling of the vessel. Reaching inside his heavy coat, he took out his kerchief and wiped the spittle from the corners of her mouth and chin. She was drenched with sweat, but her skin felt clammy to the touch. She murmured some sound of gratitude, the words unintelligible.

A pair of callus-toughened feet entered his side vision, sticking out from the length of an inverted bird-skin parka, the red-ocher-dyed skin to the outside. Andrei looked up at Walks Straight and met the accusing glare of his eyes.