Beyond the Cotton Fields

Chapter 17

Koi made his way back to his hut, fuming over his father's words. He entered the empty hut, panicking for a second then remembering that Lucy went to fish. He thought it was strange that she wasn't back yet, but he didn't think too much of it until he heard yelling.

"Chief! Chief!" A male voice yelled. Koi stuck his head out of his hut, along with other tribe members wondering why someone was yelling. He looked towards the woods opening and saw the two men Apenimon came with a month ago, carrying a body in their hands. He stepped out of his hut and met the men in the center of the camp as the chief and other tribe members did. The men placed the body onto the ground and those who had gathered gasped. Koi stood there, slightly surprised, as looked down at Apenimon's lifeless and bleeding body. Apenimon's lifeless eyes stared up at the gray sky.

The chief kneeled down and looked at Apenimon, closing his eyes with his fingers and trying to maintain his composure.

"What happened?" He asked, standing up, as he locked eyes with the two men.

"We do not know. We found his body in the snow next to the stream. There were fish scattered around his body. His bloody knife was beside his hand, and we found this harpoon close to his body." The man who carried Apenimon's legs pointed to the man who was holding his arms and the second man held out the harpoon to the chief.

The chief took the harpoon and examined it. He clenched his hands around it and looked at Koi.

"This is your harpoon, Koi. But, you were in my hut during this time. Who was using your harpoon?" He asked.

Koi looked at the harpoon, knowing the answer. He was, under no circumstances, going to tell his father that Lucy was the one using his harpoon. He would, immediately, think Lucy was the one who killed Apenimon. He knew Lucy was not one for violence. She wouldn't hurt a human being, nonetheless kill one. Apenimon was a snake, and Koi was satisfied that he was dead, but not at the expense of Lucy and their child.

When Koi didn't answer, the chief answered for him. "It was that slave girl, was it not?! She has killed Apenimon! My nephew! How long before she do away with another tribe member?!"

"Lucy did not kill Apenimon!"

"Where is she?! Where is the murderer?! She must be done away with before hurts more of us!"

"There was no one around when we found Apenimon, Chief."

"She must have ran away. No matter. The snow and cold will do away with her. If not, the white men will. She will feel the anger of Mother Nature for taking a son away from her in cold blood. I need 3 more men to help with the burial of Apenimon. We will return him to the Earth when the sun rises. Come, men." The two men picked up the body and followed the chief, as 3 other men stepped from the crowd and followed the chief and the two men. The rest of the tribe went back into their huts, mumbling to each other. Koi returned to his, with the intent on not staying long. He was going to find Lucy.

He grabbed his arrows and bow, put his knife in its holster, and headed back outside. He walked towards the outskirts of the village, where Lucy's hut was and where Apenimon and his men tied up their horses. As he walked, he tied his long black hair into a ponytail to keep it out of his face as he rode. Upon walking up to the resting horses, he untied one of the horses from the tree, climbed onto the large brown steed, not caring who's horse it was, and maneuvered the horse into the woods. He ignored the falling snow and made his way toward the stream.

He arrived to an area by the stream and saw blood-stained snow, fish, and a basket. He looked around, trying to find some indication of where Lucy may have gone. He hopped off the horse and looked through the snow. Next to the stream bank, he found shallow footprints that were slowly being filled in with falling snow. The small footprints kept along the bank, but for how long, he wasn't sure. Koi hopped back on the horse and led it into the stream. Riding the horse in the stream, he followed the footsteps, hoping the snow wouldn't cover them before he found Lucy.

***

The sun had gone down and Lucy could barely see in front of her. It had stopped snowing for the moment, but the clouds still covered the moon, preventing any light from reaching the Earth. She was shaking, the snow had soaked into her boots and almost numbed her feet. At this point, she didn't know where she was going. She didn't know if she'd live, if her baby would live, or if she'd make it through the night. She had been running for about 7 hours, or trudging for about 7 hours. When she heard the voices yelling for Apenimon, she ran for 3 minutes before she ran out of breath, walked for maybe 3 hours, then began trudging.

She kept going to try to give her baby a chance at living, but as time went on, the chances for her living were diminishing. She could barely pick up her legs, so moving was harder, and sitting to take a break was out of the question. With each step, her hope and will to survive decreased. At one point, she was ready to lay in the snow and let a frost-bitten death take over her body.

Just as she was about to collapse, she spotted an orange glow a few feet ahead of her. A glimmer of hope placed in front of her by God, it seemed to be. Although she couldn't move faster, she did keep moving. Her breath came out uneven and low, her blood felt almost cold, and her muscles felt like they were freezing in place. She trudged through the snow and the orange glow became bigger until she was able to make out a cabin. She stood a distance away from the cabin, seeing light seep through the windows. She looked behind the cabin, spotting a small barn.

She weighed her options: knock on the cabin door and risk being killed, or sleep in the barn and try to gain a little warmth and energy. She opted for the barn. She trudged the few extra yards to the barn and opened and closed the door.

A small amount of light from the cabin came into the barn, allowing Lucy to just make out a horse. She walked over to the stable, and the horse let out a warning breath. She felt along the gate and felt a horse blanket. She grabbed it and slowly climbed into the stable, wincing at every move. She fell on the ground and crawled around. She touched a pile of hay and immediately crawled onto the pile. She slipped off her boots and flung the horse blanket over her body. She curled into a ball, still shivering, and closed her eyes. Whether sleep or death took over her body, she would find out in the morning.