Frontier

[Raynesleigh]

Dasan, son of a chief of the Obijiwa was already coming to trade goods for slaves. He was here for the need for a slave. He had not had one and as his father was dying, he was hoping to find a woman to cook and clean while he tended to tribal duties. His father needed a successor and he was that successor. He frowned when he saw his brothers of the Chipewa coming with slaves and horses. He approached and sighed. "Enyeto," he greeted. The man was a boorish one, a truly cruel bastard and he could see the white girl by him battered and bruised, looking as though she had bore the brunt of his cruelty a few times or more.

"Dasan," he said then looked at the white girl by his side and pushed her forward. "This is the slave we are giving you. I have few to spare and we have the four horses you wanted." 

Dasan frowned, seeing that her wrists were raw and bloody, bruises everywhere. She would not be working for a few days given her injuries. Some slave. He motioned to the men behind him and they gave the feed and food to him then he watched as Enyeto (meaning Walks Like A Bear), slipped his hand over the girl's breast, barely concealed under those rags. Dasan stopped him.

"My slave now," he glared. Dasan was not fat like Enyeto. He had a physique of a warrior and wore buckskins over muscular calves. His skin was a burnished copper and his black hair tied back with some leather. It was summer so he wore only a vest of soft doe skin over his sculpted chest. He looked at the white girl and untied her wrists then walked toward his horse with her, getting up and then pulling her up beside him.

"What is your name?" he asked in English. He knew English and some French from trading but it was limited.

-----

Aurora woke with a sigh, looking around the small cabin, wincing as she sat up. She had been here for nearly two months. Half of it she did not remember from being in a feverish state. But she knew a man named Mathieu, a freed slave had saved her. She had been left for dead when Indians had attacked the wagon train. Her sister. Lord only knew where Belle was. She prayed that her sister was safe but there was little more she could do. Her leg had been broken and it still pained her to put pressure on it. She swallowed then slipped the sheets down and saw the fire in the grate, a pot bubbling slowly. Grunting, she forced herself up and then looked around at this room she had come to have as a home these past weeks then moved so that her feet were hanging off the bed. She quickly did her private business and then sank back down. Feeling dizzy and so tired. 

"oh mon dieu m'aider," she frowned then adjusted the woven shawl on her shoulders. Her black hair loose and falling all about her shoulders, down her back. She swallowed and then saw the bucket of water and reached over, drinking from the ladle before putting it back into the bucket. Slowly wiping her mouth. She had a few scars and Mathieu had said more than once that she was lucky to be alive. She did not feel lucky. Her mama, papa, and brother was dead. And her sister Belle, she had no idea where her womb sister and twin was. The eighteen year old sighed and wrapped the shawl closer around her and got up slowly and walked to the door. She unlatched it then stepped out, wearing her ill fitting dress and shawl to hide herself though the young man had already seen her naked. She saw him chopping wood and slowly walked out to him and slipped down onto a log.

"Good morning," she said in slightly accented English. She knew enough of it to be understood. Her blue eyes were tired but she was determined to enjoy the sunlight and morning air.

[anjelrocker]

There were days that she wished that she were no longer living and there had been times when she had thought about killing herself by drowning in a river or using a rope and yet, she knew that her parents watching her in heaven would be so upset as for her siblings. She thought of her sister who had been bleeding and most likely dead on the ground during the attack. She had seen them scalping the men and women in their party as they were deported to the thirteen colonies by the English, she had grown up in Acadia and yet, the British were forcing them out. She had been hit over the head with something and fell unconcious before she had woke up here. And now, she was a slave to the filthy bastard who drank too much of the alcohol before he would force himself on her and when she resisted, he would beat her and lock her up for a few days.

And now, he was giving her away... she was afraid since she knew the devil that tormented her... but this one, she did not know what he would do with her. The Mi'kmaq had always been kind to her when she had been a child but these indians were savage and barbarians. Looking up at the tall devil, he was much taller then her 5'0. Of course, he spoke English to her as she hated the language having been forced to learn it as she pretended that she did not know what he was saying. "Ques que?" She said to him, a look of determination in her eyes as she looked like an untamable mare. Of course, the bastard who had made her life a living hell had said that she could not be tamed no matter how much he beat her and that was why he was selling her to the other indians... so they could deal with her.

One of the talents that Belle had was that she could learn languages rather quickly when she said in the tongue of the former tribe. "I do not give name to filthy ones like you." She spat, blue eyes burning as she looked on not looking at him. The truth was that she wanted to go home and yet, she could not because there was no home for her. Atleast not anymore. The idea made her mournful and yet, she did not want to cry... she could not cry. She was thin and her clothes were tatters, and her entire family was dead... Belle did not think she had a reason to live anymore.

---

All he had wanted in life was to live free and as a free man, Mathieu was happy with the quiet life that he lived. It was out in the backwoods where he did some trading with the neighbouring native americans since migrating here after his father's death and his freedom in his father's will with a little bit of money to start off with. His father had been an English man and his mother had been a french african slave. And yet, apparently... his father had loved his mother and as a kindness to her. He had given Matheiu his freedom. He had a good sized cabin as well as some friends from those neighbouring native clans and the german settlers. He had even learnt a little bit of German from them and had thought about asking for one of their daughters as a wife.

Of course, that was before he had found the young French woman in the river and so, he was able to communicate with her in French as well as he had been helping her. She had had an arrow in her back which had saved her since the wound had healed but taking it out. Oh, how she had screamed... remembering that pained him as he put the axe down and smiled at her. "Good Morning, ma cherie... are you well?" He asked her before stretching himself and said. "Let me check the leg to see it is healing." He mentioned having not tried to mistreat her in anyway, he thought that she was beautiful and yet, he knew that she had had a rough time from her feverish talk as well as when they did speak. If anything, he enjoyed her company, perhaps out of loneliness but also because she was not a simple country maiden, she could read and write... and she was helping him with those skills.

[Raynesleigh]

Sighing, he fixed her slender frame on the horse, riding bareback and astride. "Fine then...I will call you girl till you come to trust me. I will not be treating you like he did," he said in his own language then looked at her. "Je ne vais pas te faire de mal," he swore and then walked his horse, turning it as his men began to follow behind on the new horses. She was a slight little thing, reaching his chest, if that, and her skin, the parts not bruised, were pale as fresh fallen snow. Her dark hair, once cleaned would be a silken mass of black hair. Blue black like a ravens wing. He said nothing else and road to the village and called for his sister to help him.

Dasan quickly carried her into the stick and mud hut. Their village was full of such huts covered by trees with a stream close by. Their canoes were tied and docked. Canoes they used more often but he had need of the horses. If only to travel faster where rivers and streams didn't connect. He sat her down on his mat and then closed his eyes, massaging his jaw before grabbing a bowl of crushed herbs.

Moema entered and took the bowl and looked t her. She was younger than his twenty four years. Not yet married to any of their tribe but she was their best healer and apprenticed under their healing and wise woman.

"Heyota?" she asked and he could not help but nod.

Moema sighed and looked at her. "Moema," she said motioning to herself.

"She is French..." Dasan told her and Moema nodded as she knew more French than he did.

Moema looked at her, speaking in French. "I am going to tend to you. I promise I won't try to hurt you...the man that kept you before...they call him a bear for reason," she said smiling gently. "It's alright...my brother is big but gentle...you have no need to fear..." she soothed and then started to rub her wrists and clean her flesh. She tried being as gentle as possible, Dasan standing not far behind.

-----

"I think it's fine," she said, slowly raising her dress and showing him her bandaged leg. She had learned quickly enough to leave propriety aside as he had had to change her clothes and had seen her naked several times. Aurora supposed a little leg was nothing.

It was wrapped well, the bruises long faded but the pain still strong. He had pulled an arrow from her. Or rather pushed it through her, avoiding the vital organs. It had been embedded so deep that pulling it out would of caused more damage. That had been the wound causing her to fever.

"I can put weight on it now. More than before," she said then sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. She knew a lot of white women would hate to be tended to by a man with his color skin. It was a nice brown color and he had the whitest teeth. He was also very kind to her, which was more than could be said for most men she had known. She and her sister had married backwoodsmen. While the husband of her sister had been gentlemanly enough to wait on the consummation, the night she had married him, he had taken his consummation in a drunken stupor. She had not expected his roughness. They had been offering protection. And what protection did she have now? He had been killed and scalped along with his brother. She had miscarried his babe and that to had caused her to fever as well. But now she was here.

[anjelrocker]

Watching the young indian woman as she was wrapping her wounds around her wrists, her face softened when she heard that she could speak French. It was not the best but it was better than some of the French she had heard in her past. "The Bear man is a stupid bastard, I hope he dies in his own feces." She said with a harsh voice, there was no love lost when she thought of her former master... as for her husband, she was sad for his death since she had only known him a month before their home had been attacked by the savages. "Ow.." She said biting her tongue as she did not want to show any pain anymore.

She had to wonder why these indians were kind to her and yet, the others were not when she had been there for two months. "Why are you kind when the others savages were not so?" She asked, her guard was still up because she had trusted one of the woman at the other tribe until the night she had escaped but was caught because her supposed friend had told others of her plan. Her friends from the Mi'kmaq would have never been so low as to give away her plan. All she had wanted was to escape from hell and yet, she was still in another kind of hell.

Belle would not give her name yet, prefering to be called girl then to be called her actual name. Blue eyes locked on the indian who was behind his wife or sister... from the look of them, they were siblings but she could not be sure as she wondered what made him so tall... he was almost twice the size of herself but in length unlike the bear who was larger in width. "Merci..." She muttered reluctantly as she then looked down at the ground to her wrists, the pain was immerse and yet, she would not cry... well, perhaps she would when she knew that she was alone.

---

"You still should not put alot of weight on it." He said to her as he checked it seeing that it was straight. He had given her a walking stick since he wanted her to keep off of the leg. "It is healing properly, that is good." He smiled at her before lifting himself up. To him, she was a beauty and to have a woman like her as his wife. Well, one could only dream since some white men were disgusted to think of a black man and a white woman and yet, it was happening... masters and slaves. He was the product of a union like that. Well, a favoured slave and her master. "Aurora, you said that you do not have family?" He asked her curiously wondering if she wanted to return to Quebec or to a community with other white folk... after all, he was an outcast for a reason as he waited for her answer.

Standing up, he knew that she was lucky to be living... although, she had lost her baby. He had buried it on his land after the healer from the neighbouring tribe had helped in her healing. It was not them who had harmed the poor young woman...

He remembered her husband and his brother... as well as there had been a twin sister who looked so much like the other. And yet, they were all dead. He had done some trading with them since he had a small farm here with a number of chickens, a few goats and even a cow named Betsy.

[Raynesleigh]

Moema looked at her, testing her ribs for broken bones then doing the same to her arms and to her legs. She had also noticed that this young woman had winced when she had brushed against her breast and there was a slight rounded hardness to her belly. She quickly finished her examining and cleaned the woman free of blood before reaching for a fresh doeskin.

"Here...this is mine...but you have now to where yes? Not rags..." she offered a kind smile. "We will let you dress in private," she said then stood and looked at her brother. "Come out and wait o she can change," she said then moved from the hut herself. Dasan looked at the white girl then turned and moved from the hut, standing at the only entrance there was.

Moema looked at him. "She is pregnant..." she said after a moment in their language.

Dasan's gaze hardened. "Pregnant? That Heyota. I should have known he would sell me someone who would not work well after to long. How along do you think?" he asked, angry that he had been tricked. The man Heyota had no honor in his soul yet Dasan had wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Moema sighed. "Seven weeks to nine. Barely. Do you suppose she was from the three wagons that heyota's men attacked?" she asked.

"Possibly. I know white men will come here or to Heyota. Savages they call us and do not give a care that we did not do it. One savage is as good as another," he said then gave a breath that sounded more like a growl.

Moema squeezed his arm. "She needs a good man as her master. To protect her. I know you Dasan. You talk hard but you are always kind. She needs kindness."

He nodded. "Tell father I will visit him soon," he said and she nodded, turning and walking away. He waited a moment longer then entered the hut, seeing her dressed better.

"Bath...tomorrow with other women," he said in her language though his gruff voice did not go over the fanciful words well. Walking to a clay pot, he poured her some broth made with bear meat, herbs and roots and handed it to her. "Eat."

-----

Aurora sighed. "No...unless my sister is alive. If she is, I can only pray that she is safe." she swallowed. "Papa and momma were killed...so we came here, my sister and myself, with our older brother. He died from a snake bite. We had nowhere to turn except to these older men. We were heading farther west when the Indians attacked us and my husband's friends...." she shuddered. She had been one of the first injured and remembered seeing her sister screaming as she was dragged off out of sight. There had been so much blood and death. Her husband being killed before her eyes. She had managed to crawl out of sight to keep from being scalped, helpless with the arrow so deep and the cramping pains in her belly.

She grieved that she had not cared the babe to full term, but she guessed it was for the best.

Adjusting the shawl, she looked at him. "Do you have any family. I know you mentioned that you were a man born into slavery. Did you have any brothers or sisters?" she asked gently, not wanting to offend him or anything like that.

[anjelrocker]

She was dressed in some clean clothing that was soft on her skin as she frowned at the tall indian who told her that she needed to bathe tomorrow with the other women. Well, she hoped so as she did not want to bathe with the men as she watched him curiously. His sister or relative had said that he was gruff but kind and he had yet to beat her. Then, he could easily drink some alcohol and become mean like the Bear Bastard. Looking down at the food, she put her nose up just as her stomach grumbled and she reluctantly took it from him.

Bringing the bowl to her lips, she sipped at the broth and chewed at the meat as she wonder what he had bought her for. She supposed it was what she had been doing before... being a housekeeper like she had been for the Bear but he had said that he would not use her like the other savage had. "Merci..." She said quietly as she thought of her life before she came to this horrible land. The British had done this by making them leave which had killed her Mere and pere. Sadly to leave the land that they had farmed on for centuries. That was when Sebastian took them to the Ohio Valley where there was said to be rich land but he had passed on from the snake bite. From there, she had wed the younger brother of the Smithsons. His name was Albert and he had been kind to her, something that she had not been use to since they had started the journey to this backwoods hell. She did not know if she had loved her husband but the kindness had been something that she had liked about him.

However, they had only be wed a short time... as for her sister who looked like her except for a few minor differences, she had not been so lucky having been wed to the older brother who had been a cruel to her. Something that she had tried to talk to her husband and yet, he could not have done anything about it.

The distant far away look left her as she looked to the tall native with a sad look in her eyes before looking away. "Could I sleep, please?" She asked wanting to curl up into herself and not think of her life. Belle wanted to be dead and yet, she was too proud to die since she wanted to live for her sister. Her best and oldest friend since they had shared a womb together.

---

He had had brothers and sisters but they were the offspring of his mother and her husband and which all of them had been younger than himself. The problem was that they were his half siblings and they were still slaves. His mother was dead now and the man who had been her husband. Well, he had never been kind to Mathieu. He was an outcast from both the white society as well as the black society because he was both but neither. "I have some half siblings but, we are not close." He said as he lifted the axe and put it over his shoulder.

"Indians... if your sister was alive when she was taken, she is most likely a slave to them." He had seen a number of white slaves to the native americans. "They do not kill if kidnapped but, we could look for her when your leg is completely healed and you can walk properly." He knew that the other woman was a twin and he did have some money and goods, perhaps if found... they could trade for her sister... if she was still alive.

[Raynesleigh]

"Yes...sleep," he agreed then walked to a corner of the hut and grabbed some bear fur. He quickly made her a pallet. Then he looked at her. "Please don't run...to weak..." he told her hoping he was understood well enough. He cleared his throat, adding more wood to the fire pit so it would stay warm and then left her to rest. He went to visit his father, prayed, then returned to the hut where he could finish making his net. He would be fishing tomorrow with his men and would rely on his sister to care for his new slave.

He sat on his own pallet and then started to mend his net, not really looking at her as he worked to make his net, singing a low song in a quiet voice. A means of prayer that he would make the net strong and durable for tomorrow.

-----

Aurora looked at him and sighed. "That will be good." she hoped her sister ad not suffered. To think they might of raped her....it made her stomach curl. Her husband had never raped her really. As a husband he had had rights to her body. She had never really enjoyed it and he had been rough with her. But a woman only had two options of security in this day and age. One was marriage, the other prostitution. Selling your body to a single man seemed a better idea then selling to many. Standing, she used the crutch to hold herself up.

"Can I help somehow? I feel like I am little more than a nuisance..."

[anjelrocker]

He was right that she was feeling too weak to run away despite how much she wanted to run but where would she even go? She was no tracker and she did not even know where she was on a map as she curled herself up on the pallet with the bear fur. When he was gone, she finally allowed herself to cry. Belle cried for her sister, her older brother, her parents... her husband and even her friends from long ago. All she wanted was to have her old life or perhaps happiness. One of the other things she cried for was the baby that was in her womb. She knew that she was with child, only an idiot would not know after not having her monthly for the last two months. She was sure that it was her husband's but... she feared that it was the offspring of the bear. Clutching her stomach, she did not stop weeping silently as she heard him come in from where ever he had been.

She prayed to her God as she listened to his chanting song... her prayers was not to be saved by to be given safety and security for her child, she prayed that her family was waiting for her at heave's gate so that she could see how happy they were. Belle was catholic as she was saying the lord's prayer with her rosary, the only thing that she had been able to keep seen everything else had been ripped away from her and taken.

---

He could not help but laugh. "Aurora... you were injured in an attack by injuns, you are not a bother..." She was healing and even then, she helped out with the cooking and she kept his little home clean and tidied as she was recovering. "I like the company to tell you the truth, not many folks out this way..." Mathieu said with a sigh. "And you are a pretty good cook when you are not burning the food." The black man teased with a smile before patting her shoulder.

[Raynesleigh]

Dasan looked up, seeing her clutching a string of beads. He stopped his praying then sat the net aside. He also noted her face was tear stained. He got up, walking over to her then sank down, sitting her up with a single hand then brushing her hair back to see the bruises. "Should I call Moema?" he asked. "In pain?" he asked. Heyota had done a number on her. That was for certain. He checked her bandages then saw the dried blood on her bruised thigh. "Perhaps. Bath now?" he suggested. He would not be having any more dealings with Heyota. The man was cruel and had harmed a woman who had rebelled. Dasan did not believe hitting a woman caused her to obey. Steadiness, patience, perhaps scolding or hard labor, but nothing life threatening.

Not like this. Not this cruelty. A woman raped was not at fault as white men thought. He knew she would be wary of him and there was no way to get past that except to be gentle and show he would not pounce on her.

------

She crinkled her nose. "I only burned the corncake once and that was because I fell asleep on the herbs you gave me..." she teased him then leaned down, gathering some wood under her arm. "If you don't mind...could you get that hare from the salting rack so that I might start cooking it over the fire. I saw we had some broth left you were heating," she smiled. She walked into the house and then put one of the logs under the kettle and then sank back on the bed.

She saw the basket of corn and root veggies and started to cut and peel them to put them in the already flavorful broth.

Drawing her hair back, she hummed a soft song, trying to distract herself from her pain and grief of losing her babe and not knowing her sister's fate.

[anjelrocker]

Looking up at him with wide blue eyes from the suddeness of him being there, Belle was also comatose as she had wanted to be alone to sleep... and cry as she furiously wiped at her face and shook her head. "No... I am not in pain..." Atleast, she did not think so and then, she was always feeling like she was in pain as she waited. The idea of a bath was something that she wanted as she blinked a few times and nodded. "A bath?" She asked him as she pulled away from his touch. She did not want to deal with him anymore, she liked the woman who had helped in her healing. Using what indian language she knew, she said. "Wash, please now?" She asked pulling the bear fur to her closer like it was a security blanket as she clutched the rosary to herself as she looked down hoping that he would take a step back.

There was something that was not like the Bear but she still did not trust him because he was still a man. Her eyes pained her as they were redrimmed from the crying. "Can go to water by myself? I not run... do not want hurt..." She said in her broken Ojibiwa since she assumed that he understood. Did not all indians speak the same language?

---

Nodding, he watched her go as he finished with the chopping of the wood before going to the salting rack to get the requested hare for either a rabbit stew or soup. She wasn't a terrible cook as he thought of it and she was most likely right about the herbs as he finished up a few tasks outside before coming in with the hare and giving her it with a smile. He had a few more chores to do like feeding the chickens, the goat as with as milking Betsy. "Smells good in here..." He mentioned to her. "Do you need help with anything else Aurora?" He asked as he went to the door.