The World Duology (World Odyssey / Fiji: A Novel) (53 page)

19

T
he cousins were right about where their quarry were hiding. Nathan and the two women were indeed hiding in the small stand of kauri trees. The American had ascertained the trees offered the only opportunity for concealment before the outcasts came after them.

Once the defenders had run out of powder and shot, defeat had been the only feasible outcome in Nathan’s mind. He had realized if he and the two women were still out in the open when the fighting ended, they’d immediately be seen and would quickly be run down. So he’d opted to hide among the trees even though he knew the outcasts would probably guess that’s where they were.

Nathan was under no illusions if Rambuka survived, he’d come after them, or his men would come in his place.
They’ll want the women back,
he thought,
but they’ll want the golden tabua even more.
Nathan looked at Susannah and Sina. “That’s it,” he announced. “Now they’ll come for us.” Nathan saw the fear in the women’s eyes. He smiled encouragingly to try and instill a degree of confidence in them that he didn’t feel himself.

Susannah asked, “What will we do?”

Nathan pulled his pistol from his belt, primed it then returned it to his belt. Pointing to some dense undergrowth nearby, he said, “You wait there. Make sure you keep quiet and don’t move.”

Nathan touched Susannah’s hand briefly to comfort her. As he looked into her eyes he sensed she feared for his safety as much as he did hers. Nathan wanted to say so much more, but he knew there wasn’t time. He withdrew his hand and strode off through the undergrowth.

Suddenly alone, Susannah and Sina looked at each other. Holding onto each other for comfort, they retreated into some dense foliage and made themselves as small as possible.

# 

From the cover of the trees, Nathan watched as the two outcasts came running directly toward his hiding place. He frowned as he realized they were onto him. “Damn,” he swore to himself. He drew his pistol and prepared to meet the approaching threat.

Tomahawks in hand, Rambuka and Uraia neared the stand of kauri trees. From the cover of the trees, Nathan watched as Rambuka signaled to his cousin to indicate he’d circle around behind. Uraia nodded. Rambuka ran off to his left, disappearing from sight.

Uraia walked directly toward Nathan’s hiding place. The American withdrew deeper into the trees then stood dead still, straining his eyes and ears to pick up any foreign sight or sound. There was only silence. He tiptoed forward, trying to second-guess where Uraia was.

Nathan froze when he heard ferns rustle close by. Unseen, Uraia was coming toward him through the undergrowth. Nathan nervously fingered the whale bone pendant hanging around his neck. As the outcast passed unknowingly within a few feet of him, Nathan stepped out behind him, his pistol raised. Uraia spun around, but he was too slow. Nathan shot him in the chest. The outcast
fell face-down, dead.

Elsewhere in the stand of kauri trees, Rambuka ducked reflexively when he heard the shot. He began running toward the direction of the sound.

In the undergrowth, Susannah and Sina cowered behind the large fern fronds as Rambuka crashed past them. They remained undiscovered.

Meanwhile, Nathan used his foot to cautiously roll Uraia over onto his back. The outcast’s sightless eyes stared directly at him. Nathan heard Rambuka crashing through the ferns behind him. This presented a new problem for him as there was no ammunition left for his pistol.

As Rambuka approached, Nathan hid in the undergrowth, hoping the Outcast would fail to find him, or the women, and simply go home.

Something tells me
that’s too much to hope for.

Nathan held his breath as Rambuka stumbled across the body of his cousin.

Rambuka spun around, looking for Nathan. For some unfathomable reason, his eyes locked onto Nathan’s hiding place.

20

A
ware he’d been discovered, Nathan threw away his empty pistol, picked up a fallen branch, and emerged from the undergrowth. Legs astride, he stood facing Rambuka, who was about fifteen yards away.

The Outcast looked back at Nathan, his eyes full of hate. Furious, he charged the American, his tomahawk raised.

Nathan swung the branch he was holding. The blow knocked the tomahawk from the other’s hand. Rambuka drew a knife and immediately dropped into the crouch of a seasoned knife fighter. Nathan drew his Bowie knife and went forward to meet him. They clashed head-on. Each managed to secure a firm grip on the other’s right wrist, thereby preventing his opposite from using his weapon. Nathan was as tall as his opponent, but lighter. They crashed through the ferns as the stronger Rambuka forced Nathan backward.

Susannah and Sina suddenly appeared behind Rambuka. As soon as they had heard the pistol shot, they’d run to see how Nathan was faring. Susannah was hobbling badly: she’d fallen and sprained her ankle in her haste to reach Nathan’s side.

Noticing the women over his opponent’s shoulder, Nathan shouted, “Get out of here!”

Neither woman moved. They seemed mesmerized, their eyes transfixed on the deadly dual unfolding before them.

Rambuka glanced over his shoulder and leered at Susannah. Turning his attention back to Nathan, he brought his knee up into his opponent’s stomach, forcing him to release his grip on his wrist. Nathan rolled away, but was not quick enough to avoid the blade of Rambuka’s knife. It slashed his forehead, leaving a nasty gash. Susannah screamed.

Blood flowed freely down Nathan’s forehead and into his eyes. He blinked repeatedly, trying to clear his vision. Again, Rambuka came at him. Nathan lunged at him
with his knife. Rambuka parried the blow and slashed his opponent’s arm with his own knife, causing Nathan to drop his weapon. Nathan cried out in agony. Susannah screamed again.

Sizing up the situation, Sina picked up a rock and hurled it at Rambuka, striking him on the side of his head and causing him to drop his knife. The Outcast was momentarily stunned. Nathan reached for the knife, but Rambuka recovered quickly and kicked it away into the ferns.  Both men were now unarmed.

The American made a desperate lunge at his opponent. Rambuka easily threw him aside. Crashing backward through the ferns, Nathan landed in a pond and found himself waist-deep in water. The Outcast pounced on him, grabbing him in a headlock and forcing his head under the water. He held him there for several terrifying moments.

Nathan came up for air, gasping. Again, Rambuka forced him underwater. Nathan frantically struggled to free himself from his opponent’s iron grip.

At the pond edge, Susannah could only look on as the drama was being played out in front of her. “Nathan!” she cried out. Susannah desperately wanted to help him, but felt rooted to the spot. She and Sina watched, horrified, as air escaping from Nathan’s mouth bubbled to the water’s surface.

Beneath the water, Nathan knew he was close to drowning. His fingers closed around Rambuka’s, but still he couldn’t break the other’s grip.

Can’t breathe!

As the seconds passed, he became more desperate; he began to feel drowsy; everything seemed to be happening in slow motion; terror was slowly replaced by an overwhelming sadness as he remembered Susannah and how he’d never expressed his love for her.

Is this what it has come to? My whole life has been a failure and now it has to end like this.

Nathan stopped struggling as he felt death approaching. It wasn’t as bad as he’d feared. In fact, it was almost pleasant . . . like falling asleep. Everything was becoming foggy.

The American removed his hand from Rambuka’s and subconsciously let it stray to the whale bone pendant hanging around his neck. His fingers caressed the pendant as they always did when he was stressed.

The pendant!

Nathan tried to marshal his thoughts. An idea was forming in his mind, but his brain was so starved of oxygen he was having trouble converting the idea to a plan of action.

Now beyond thought, he instinctively tore the pendant free and, holding its sharp end up, thrust it directly upward. The pendant’s dagger-like point lodged in Rambuka’s neck, piercing the left carotid artery and forcing him to release his grip on Nathan. Blood immediately gushed from the wound.

Nathan’s head broke the surface of the water. Gasping for air, he threw himself to one side, afraid Rambuka would launch himself at him. The attack never came. Looking around, he saw the Outcast was on his knees, holding both hands to his neck as he tried to stem the flow of blood.

Disbelief registered in Rambuka’s eyes. Nathan had seen that look once before—on safari in Kenya when he’d witnessed an antelope turn on a lion, mortally piercing it through the heart with one of its horns as the lion went for the kill.

Using the last of his remaining strength, Nathan jumped on top of Rambuka and forced his head beneath the water. The Outcast resisted violently, but Nathan managed to maintain his death grip on him.

Rambuka’s efforts grew feebler. Eventually, all resistance ceased. Nathan released his grip on his victim and left him lying face down in the water.

Looking on from the side of the pond, a relieved Susannah wanted to wade through the water and throw her arms around Nathan, but she was too emotionally spent even to do that. All she could do was sob.

Near collapse, Nathan looked down and saw his pendant on the bottom of the pond. Reaching down, he retrieved it and clasped it firmly in his hand. For some reason, the feel of it against his skin reminded him of Joeli’s father, Iremaia, the pendant’s original owner. Strangely, the memory brought him comfort. It was as if the spirit of the old ratu was with him now. He touched the pendant to his lips before staggering to the edge of the pond and collapsing into Susannah’s arms.

“Help me!” Susannah ordered Sina.

The two women dragged Nathan from the water and lay him down among the ferns. Susannah was alarmed to see blood flowing from the gash in his arm and from a number of cuts he’d received to his head and upper body. She and Sina immediately began tending his wounds. They could see he was close to losing consciousness.

“Stay with us, Nathan!” Susannah shouted at him.

As the two women fussed over him, Nathan struggled to stay conscious by reviewing recent events in his mind. He found it hard to reconcile the fact that, of all the men involved in the recent hostilities, he alone had survived.

Why me?

Nathan couldn’t begin to fathom the odds of his surviving such mayhem. He’d never heard of a battle in which only one man survived. For the first time, he began to think someone, or something, may be watching over him.

That was the last thought he had before he finally lost consciousness.

# 

When Nathan came to, he became aware of something soft on his chest and a warm feeling over his heart. He glanced down and saw Susannah’s hand was resting on his chest. Looking up, he realized she was smiling at him. Her smile seemed one of immense relief.

“Welcome back,” she smiled.

“How long was I gone?”

“Long enough to have us worried.”

In fact, he’d been out to it for some time, though Susannah didn’t mention that. She was just happy to have him back in the land of the living. Susannah left her hand on Nathan’s chest. Beneath it, she could feel Nathan’s heart beating. She imagined it was beating in time with her own. That thought reassured her.

Feeling Susannah’s hand over his heart reassured Nathan, too. He thought it was fitting.

She owns my heart now. Without her, it could no longer continue to beat.

Looking around, Nathan noticed the rain clouds had gone and dusk was approaching. His head was throbbing. Lifting his hand to his forehead, he realized a shirt sleeve served as a bandage around his head wound. Leaf dressings covered the wounds on his arm and upper body.

“Sina worked some of her healing magic on you,” Susannah informed him.

Glancing at Sina, Nathan smiled. She smiled back, but Nathan could see the pain behind her smile. He knew she was missing Waisale.

Nathan looked up at Susannah. He managed another weary smile before exhaustion overtook him and he drifted back to sleep.

21

N
ext day, Nathan was feeling considerably stronger as he led Susannah and Sina up a steep bush track in the Nausori Highlands. Every part of him hurt following his fight with Rambuka, but he didn’t mind that too much. At least he was still breathing.

Susannah was hobbling badly as a result of her sprained ankle, which was now heavily bound, while Sina was in the best shape of all three. However, even she was moving slowly, exhausted by the events of the previous day.

The three survivors had spent the night out in the open, on the valley floor, before resuming their homeward trek at first light.

One painful step at a time, the trio walked in silence as they doggedly followed the trail leading back to Momi Bay. They didn’t talk: they felt numbed by recent events. The stench of death still filled their nostrils.

Susannah was still mourning the horrible death of her father while Sina hadn’t yet come to grips with losing Waisale in such cruel fashion so soon after they’d been reunited. And Nathan was feeling the loss of new friends—in particular, Jack and Joeli.

As they walked, Nathan wondered whether any of Rambuka’s outcasts would be following them. He knew that was always a possibility as, sooner or later, the outcasts who had remained at Tomanivi would come to investigate after Rambuka and the others failed to return.

The question is, will they realize anyone survived the carnage?

Nathan knew full well when they failed to find Susannah and
Sina, they would suspect the pair had escaped. And when they couldn’t find the golden tabua, he feared that could prompt them to hunt down any survivors. For the moment, he kept these thoughts to himself.

It was Susannah who finally broke the silence. Turning to Nathan, she said, “That man back there on the hill . . . Jack . . .”

“Jack Halliday,” Nathan said.

“Was he a friend of yours?”

“No . . . yes,” Nathan corrected himself. Struggling to find the words to explain his relationship with the Cockney who gave his life for them on the hill, he said, “I hardly knew him . . . yet it felt like I’d known him all my life. It was almost as if he was sent to help us . . . like a guardian angel.”

“He may well have been,” Susannah smiled.

“Not that I really believe in things like angels—” Nathan suddenly froze as two fierce-looking Fijian warriors materialized, as if by magic, out of the forest ahead of them.

Susannah screamed as more warriors appeared, brandishing spears and clubs.

Sina was unworried. “It all right,” she assured her companions. “They our friends, the Mamanucans.”

Nathan and Susannah relaxed when Joeli’s friend Lemeki, the impressive, scar-faced ratu of the Mamanucans, stepped forward from the warriors’ ranks. The couple recognized him immediately. They also recognized other familiar faces dating back to the Mamanucans’ recent visit to Momi Bay. Likewise, the warriors recognized the white couple. They looked at Nathan with respect, having heard firsthand of his exploits during the outcasts’ attack on the village at Momi Bay.

Lemeki immediately began questioning Sina. Watching the ratu, Nathan noticed he looked increasingly concerned as he learned of the tragic events of the past few days. When Sina had finished talking, Lemeki barked orders at his warriors. They immediately attended to the needs of the weary trio, cleaning and dressing their wounds and sharing rations with them.

As soon as he could get her alone, Nathan questioned Sina. “What are these people doing here?” he asked.

“Elders at my village get word to them,” she said. “Tell them Qopa warriors need help. Now they go help.”

“Didn’t you tell him Joeli and the others are dead?”

Sina shook her head vehemently. “No . . . their spirits live. Lemeki find Joeli and pray for safe journey for his spirit. And for Waisale and others, too.”

Nathan said, “I wish to speak to Lemeki.”

Sina led him to the Mamanucans’ ratu. “The White-Face wishes to speak to you,” she advised Lemeki.

Seeing that he had Lemeki’s attention, Nathan said, “I left a friend behind . . . on the killing field . . . another vulagi, like me. His name was Jack.” He continued as Sina translated for him. “He deserves a burial.”

Lemeki nodded. “I will see to it.” The ratu meant what he said. Nathan had gone up further in his estimation following Sina’s description of the American’s exploits the previous day.

After Sina translated the ratu’s response, Nathan thanked him and returned to Susannah’s side.

When the Mamanucans had done all they could for the trio, they resumed their trek east toward Tomanivi. A grateful Nathan, Susannah, and Sina waved them off. The Mamanucans disappeared into the forest as quickly as they had appeared.

# 

Later that day, Lemeki’s warriors intercepted half a dozen outcasts who had been sent ahead to track down the survivors of the previous day’s carnage. Although not in possession of muskets, the element of surprise and superiority of numbers meant that the Mamanucans were able to kill the outcasts before they knew what hit them. In a few bloody minutes, the threat they posed to Nathan, Susannah, and Sina was snuffed out once and for all.

# 

The following day, Lemeki and his warriors stood on the summit of the hill where the members of Joeli’s party had made their stand. Only their bodies remained; the bodies of their enemies had already been removed by outcasts who had come looking for their comrades.

Studying the bloated, fly-blown bodies of their Qopa friends, the Mamanucans were filled with sorrow. The two peoples had been allies for many generations. Lemeki soon found the body of his old friend, Joeli. Devastated, he fell down to his knees beside the body, cradled it in his arms, and offered a chant to the spirits while his men began burying the other warriors where they lay.

Then Lemeki saw the body of Jack Halliday. Jack’s arm still lay protectively over Waisale’s body. Releasing Joeli, he walked over to inspect the white man. Jack’s green eyes stared, unseeing, back at him. Lemeki knelt down and respectfully closed Jack’s eyes. “May your journey to the Afterworld be speedy, White-Face,” he whispered.

Honoring his promise to Nathan, Lemeki personally dug a grave for Jack and saw to it that the Cockney received a fitting burial. The ratu whispered a prayer for his spirit and honored him as he would one of his own. Waisale, Joeli, and the others were given similar sendoffs.

As the last of the warriors was buried, the heavens opened and heavy rain lashed the hillside, drenching everyone on it and threatening to wash the newly dug graves away. Lemeki waited for the rain to ease.

After a long wait, the rain eased almost as quickly as it had arrived. Lemeki was relieved to see the graves were still intact. Raising his right hand skyward, he shouted, “We
the Mamanucans honor you, Qopa warriors!”

His warriors repeated the traditional Mamanucan salutation then, without a backward glance, began retracing their steps to Momi Bay.

Before leaving the Land of Red Rain, Lemeki thrust a spear in the ground. It would serve as a warning to others not to walk on the burial site or interfere with the Afterlife journey of the Qopa spirits.