The Red Horizon

Chapter 2

The walk was long and arduous.

Alice, reluctant to sever the only tangible connection between herself and her sister, had initially clung to Cora for fear that a renewed attack would be forthcoming. But the longer they'd trekked, the more impractical and cumbersome, for her sibling at least, the continued embrace had become. Still terrified, her senses in a perpetual state of high alert, she'd put on a dubious show of confidence when Cora had gently disengaged herself and promised not to venture beyond her visible horizon.

Everything will be all right, she'd said.

Alice had hated having to let go, mentally willing her fingers to release their bruising grip on her sister's hand so that their party could move faster along the narrow, muddy path. But since she'd had no choice, she'd decided to use the opportunity as an exercise in fortitude. She'd always wanted to be more like Cora, fearless and bold, and there would never be a more favourable set of circumstances to display those very characteristics.

That said, conversely, her mind was a continuous whirl of flashing images; the faces of nameless men, bloodied and battered, their mutilated remains dispersed across the ground on George Road. Husbands, fathers, sons, brothers. Their loved ones would never see them alive again. Despite her resolve to remain strong, the reality was that her nerves were even more frayed than before. As every step took her deeper into the wilderness, she fought to shove down the rising tide of panic threatening to overwhelm her.

Will we ever get to Papa? she thought in despair.

With great effort, she sniffed loudly, her breath shuddering as she struggled to control her emotions. As much as she longed to sit in a pitiful heap and cry her heart out, that was not presently an option. In truth, she feared that if she gave in to her real feelings, she might never be able to stem the flood of fear, anger and grief that broiled beneath the surface. Later, there would be time to reflect. But for now, she had to focus on getting where they needed to be. Forcing the crushing darkness back into the recesses of her mind, she concentrated on traversing the uneven ground. Before long, the effort proved to be a welcome distraction.

Nathaniel had not been exaggerating when he'd said that they'd be moving fast. Having stopped only once thus far to drink some water from a small stream they'd come across and to eat a hasty meal comprised of dried venison and a few wild berries, the pace was brutal. Their repast had not been particularly tasty or filling, but no one had voiced their objections as they dutifully chewed and swallowed before setting off again.

Alice was still wary of their protectors, but to the credit of the two Indians and their white companion, they took the task of escorting them to the Fort very seriously. They were hyper-vigilant, their rifles always at the ready, their eyes constantly scanning the dense foliage as they kept everyone moving along briskly. With the eldest Indian leading their party up front, Nathaniel followed ahead of Cora, then Duncan. Alice, slower than the rest, trailed behind the Major, panting slightly as she ambled up a steep incline and scrambled over a fallen tree stump. Bringing up the rear was the younger Indian, his proximity disconcerting at the start, but growing into a comfort as the day progressed; a contradiction she couldn't explain.

He hadn't said a word to her since they'd left the gruesome site of the earlier attack behind them, nor she to him, but every so often he'd come forward to aid her over a particularly tricky section of terrain. Initially she'd recoiled against his touch, her innate fear of his kind, so recently instilled, causing her to distrust his motives. However, because his manner, whether unintended or by design, was always impersonal and detached, it eventually acted as a soothing balm to her nervous tension. If he'd noticed her earlier incivility, he hadn't shown any sign of it, merely waiting patiently beside her as she picked herself up and continued forward. As time had stretched by uneventfully, she'd slowly become accustomed to his quiet, consistently steady and dependable presence.