The Legend of Tyoga Weathersby (48 page)

Tyoga looked up at the sliver of sky that could be seen from the depths of the gorge.

Tes Qua guessed that something had happened between Prairie Day and Tyoga. He was even suspicious when it took Tyoga so long to return from Green Rock Cove the day that they were summoned to Chief Silver Cloud’s lodge, but he never asked. He gave Tyoga a few minutes to cometo terms with Prairie Day’s marriage, before adding, “Tyoga. There is something else that I must tell you.”

Tyoga veered his gaze from the sky to him, and asked, “What is it, my brother?”

“Do you remember that night on the overlook when you told me and Prairie Day that you would leave the mountain?” Tes Qua asked.

Tyoga nodded.

“Do you remember what Prairie Day told you about Seven Arrows?” Tes Qua continued.

“She said that he was not dead. She told us that his spirit lived,” Tyoga recalled.

“She was right,” Tes Qua said matter of factly.

“I know, Tes Qua,” Tyoga replied. “Seven Arrows is now the Chief of the South Fork Shawnee. I have known this for a long time, my brother. And still I do not understand how it is that he survived such an attack. I heard his men screaming that his throat was cut and that he was dead. How is it that he is still alive?”

“I don’t know the answer to that, my brother. All that I can tell you is that when his body was placed at the feet of his Father, Chief Yellow Robe, the breath had not yet left his body. It is said that his hatred for you and Wahaya-Wacon is so great—he will not die until you and Wahaya-Wacon are punished for the death of his brothers. His revenge was to be his coupling with Sunlei. That did not come to pass. The debt that he now demands …” Tes Qua paused, “is the head of Wahaya-Wacon.”

“Why? Why kill the wolf?” Tyoga demanded. “Why doesn’t he come after me?”

“Because, my brother,” Tes Qua replied, “to kill the wolf is to destroy your soul. And you know as well as I that it is impossible for a band of Shawnee dog soldiers to get within a day’s hard march of Twin Oaks. You and your family are protected by all of the Algonquin in the tidewater.”

Tyoga nodded his head and said, “I know, Tes Qua. Seven Arrows has tried many times to get to me and my family. He has lost many braves in the attempt.” They sat silently staring into the flames of the oak wood fire.

As the night wore on, the Ani-Unwiya listened politely while Tyoga recounted his harrowing travels across the Appalachians, and how Trinity Jane and his friends, the Mattaponi, had saved his life.

He told them about his two children, Joshia Thomas and Rebecca Jane, with an enthusiasm tempered by the history he shared with his audience. It was not that Tyoga was ashamed of his children, but their existence was tangible proof of betrayal of the love they all knew he held in his heart for Sunlei.

There was no need for shame, and they did not hold his being a man with needs and desires that required attention against him. It was the natural course of a relationship between a man and a woman. Even casual dalliances often ended with like results.

All that mattered was that he had a family, and that he was a good father and provider.

It was not necessary for Tyoga to boast of his success. That word had crossed the mountains with a solitary trapper or a band of Algonquin braves passing through Tuckareegee.

They were proud of his accomplishments and pleased with his success. They envied him not at all.

Tyoga knew that his Cherokee friends had not traveled across the mountains risking the winter cold and threat of storms simply for a reunion and to share good news. As is the Indian way, good manners demanded a cheerful exchange at their reuniting. Even though Tyoga was anxious to hear the true reason for their journey, he adhered to Native American custom and spent four hours exchanging happy news before pressing the point.

“The news that you bring to me makes my heart glad, my brother,” Tyoga said to Tes Qua. “But surely you have not traveled all this way just to speak of these matters. Tell me. Is there any news of Sunlei?”

“There is, my brother,” Tes ‘A replied. “We know where she is. She is in great danger.”

At this news, Tyoga felt his spine stiffen and his energy surge. He needed to know more. There was no need for him to ask.

Tes Qua continued, “She is living in the land of the Iroquois in the village of Kaniataro along the banks of the St. Lawrence River—very close to Lake Champlain.”

Tes Qua paused to give Tyoga time to process what he was saying, and to allow him to brace himself for the news that he was certain he wanted to know.

Tes Qua looked at the ground. “She has been taken by the Chief of the Iroquois nation.” He stopped and bowed his head.

Tyoga gazed off toward the canyon wall and whispered, “Quisquis?”

When Tes Qua did not answer, Tyoga shut his eyes in sorrow and disbelief.

Quisquis was a fierce and mighty Iroquois warrior whose cruelty in battle and barbaric treatment of prisoners was known and feared by Indians and settlers alike. He had many wives and children. He had been known to dispatch female offspring by bashing their heads against a boulder or tree trunk when the balance of male to female children was not to his liking. His wives who consistently gave birth to baby girls often met the same fate.

Both men stared silently into the fire for a long time. Tyoga finally broke the silence. “I should have tried to find her, Tes A. I should have tried.”

“No, my brother,” Tes Qua replied. “There was nothing that you—or the men of Tuckareegee—could have done.”

“What do you mean, Tes?” Tyoga asked with a look of incredulity in his eyes.

Tes Qua paused for a moment, and replied, “When I could stand not knowing what had become of her any longer, I assembled a hunting party in defiance of Silver Cloud’s wishes, and set out to find her. We traveled first to see Lone Bear in the village of Chickamaugua. We learned that Sunlei forced the People to allow her and Wahaya to leave the village. Lone Bear told us that she did it to protect the lives of his family and the Chickamaugua People. The Shawnee discovered that Sunlei was with the Chickamaugua, and a war party did arrive at the village to take her. When they learned that she had escaped, the Shawnee set Lone Bear’s lodge on fire. Still, no one would tell them that Lone Bear’s son, Kicking Elk, had but two days earlier taken Sunlei under the cover of darkness toward the northwest and the land of the Delaware.”

“But, Tes A, that’s toward the Iroquois,” Tyoga said in disbelief.

“Exactly, Ty. Lone Bear was sure that the Shawnee would never follow them into the land of the Iroquois. It was risky for us as well. Yet, we were determined to find her, so we began our trek to the Ohio valley. We followed the Kanawha Trail and were very near to Chillicothe when we came upon a Cherokee hunting party camped south of the Scioto River. They told us that Sunlei and Kicking Elk were captured by a band of Cuyahoga Iroquois months before our arrival. The Braves told us that Kicking Elk’s rotting, burned remains were found nailed to a tree. There was no sign of Sunlei.”

Tes Qua stopped while Tyoga closed his eyes to grimace at the thought of Lone Bear sacrificing his son to secure Sunlei’s safety. It must have been a horrible death. Sunlei must have witnessed it with her own eyes.

Tes Qua said, “We were determined to carry on our search for my sister. We left the Kanawha Trail and headed north along the banks of the Ohio River. We had not traveled a full day when we came upon many French marching to the south. We jumped from the trail and hid in the bushes until they passed us by. We journeyed on to where the Hockhocking River branches to the north from the Ohio, and found a French encampment of several hundred men. Iroquois walked among the French soldiers as if they were part of their army. We were too few, and were surrounded everywhere by the French and Iroquois. We waited until darkness, and ran from Ohio as quickly as our feet would carry us. We did the best we could.” He searched Tyoga’s eyes for reassurance that the tiny band of Cherokee Braves had made the right decision. “At least, we tried.”

Tyoga put his hand on Tes Qua’s shoulder and said, “I know you did, Tes. You made the right decision.”

In the quiet of the canyon, they listened to the crackle of the dried pine as it burned to white hot ash.

Tes Qua continued, “A year ago, Prairie Day’s husband, Talking Crow, ventured north into the land of the Iroquois to trade with the Seneca. He brought word back that Sunlei had been living among them along the northern shore of Cayuga Lake for about three years. They treated her well and she was content. But when Quisquis found out that she was with the Seneca, he made them give her to the Kanetairo Iroquois under threat of war. He took her away, and she has been with him ever since.

Wahaya remained on the rocky outcropping overhead. He was illuminated by the light of fire only when a flare of pine pitch launched glowing ash toward the sky.

He was in plain sight, but neither man took notice. They were lost in their own thoughts.

Tes Qua was summoning the courage to tell Tyoga the rest of the story. He finally broke the silence. “There is more, my brother. The French have signed treaties with the Iroquois. They have given them many guns and much whiskey in exchange for their word to fight with them against the British. Chief Quisquis and all the braves in the village will leave Kaniataro to go south to their winter hunting grounds. The village will be left unprotected except for a small group of French soldiers. While it is the Indian way to allow an unprotected village to remain in peace while the braves are away on the winter hunt, the English are not bound by our ways. The British have assembled many soldiers. They are on their way to take the Iroquois land of Kaniataro Wanenneh.”

Tes Qua paused once again to give Tyoga another moment to understand his words.

“Tyoga,” Tes Qua continued. “We have to get Sunlie out of Kaniataro. The British soldiers are already assembling in Albany. We hear that they will begin the march north very soon. They will be in the land of the Iriquois when the braves have left the village unprotected. The orders from their great father are to kill everyone, the French soldiers protecting the village, old men, women, and all of the children in the Kaniataro. They will burn the entire village to the ground and leave nothing remaining for Quisquis to rule.”

The news Tes Qua shared made Tyoga's blood run cold.

The plan that he had proposed to Governor Nott had the British taking over Kaniataro without firing a shot. It was to be a bloodless coup. The order to kill everyone left in the village while the warriors were away was little more than a plan for a massacre. It had taken all those years to plan the attack, assemble the soldiers and resources, and recruit the guides and interpreters.

By God, the British had done it.

But the plan Tyoga had outlined for the British to wrest control of Iroquois land from the French, and secure a quicker trans-Atlantic voyage for shipping the riches of the New World to Europe never included the murder of innocent women and children.

I had sent Sunlei away to keep her safe, but instead devised the very plan that has condemned her to death. What did I miss? Why didn't I anticipate something like this happening? If the lesson of the promise is that in all things there are but two outcomes, and that decisions made are always right because the end result is exactly as it was meant to be, how is it the right thing to do if my plan for securing the Mattaponi lands ends up killing the woman I love?

He knew better than to question why, but it would be inhuman to do otherwise.

He shook his head and looked up toward the stars shining in the early morning sky. High on a ledge of the valley's south wall, he saw the steady amber-orange balls glowing silently in the night. The faint gutteral growl locked their eyes in a union that had not occurred since that night on the escarpment.

Tyoga felt himself dissolve into the liquid fire of Wahaya's eyes, and the hazel drain from his own.

The sight and sound of Wahaya-Wacon clarified his course.

He felt his body begin to grow. His mind jettisoned the unforgiving errors of emotion and deliberation. He was infused with confidence and decisiveness. His choices had always been right. They would be right now. Lava-like rivers filled with the wild coursed through his veins to fuel instincts that were more animal than man. This was a time for instinctive response and primal decisiveness.

He would know what to do.

"Tes 'A," he said in a voice that was still his own but devoid of emotion or concern. "I am heading back to Twin Oaks. We are only about eight miles away. Let the others sleep. You get some rest as well. I will be waiting for you. There is much to do."

Uneasy with Tyoga's demeanor and tone, Tes Qua could not help but ask, "Ty, what are we going to do?"

"We are going to do what needs to be done. We're going to get Sunlie."

"Tyoga," Tes Qua continued, "there is one other that you will need to save."

Tyoga looked inquisitively at his friend but did not speak.

"She has a son. She named him Wahaya Utsti
(Little Wolf)
. He is five-years old."

Chapter 61

To Fill An Empty Heart

W
hen Trinity saw Tyoga coming toward the house, she could tell from his determined stride and swollen chest that something was amiss.

Tyoga’s steps were hard and deliberate, and she had seen that stare before. He walked right past Brister, who was peppering him with questions to which he would not respond. When they got closer to the house, she heard Brister asking, “Massa Ty, ya got to tell me wat’s happ’n. Come on ‘n let me carry your things into the house, Massa Ty. What you doin’ home so soon anyway? Missy ‘n me wasn’t expecting you home til night. Massa Ty—Massa Ty—”

Tyoga left Brister at the foot of the steps, opened the front door, and walked inside. Brister looked at the door before turning and walking away.

“Papa, Papa,” Joshia and Rebecca squealed in delight as they ran and hugged him around the legs.