"Is there anyone else with you?" Teuila whispered to the guard outside her gate, fishing for more information. "How many warriors are left to protect our village?"
"There are five of us," the tribesman replied. "But don't get any ideas about trying to escape again. We have every side of your cabin under surveillance, so even if you were able to untie your binds, you'll be unable to leave the hut. Now shut up and let us focus on keeping an eye out for other threats."
Teuila paused to consider her options. She could stay holed up here and wait until the battle was decided before she made her next move. There'd be plenty of other opportunities to steal away into the jungle after things quieted down. Her father couldn't keep her tied up forever. She could try to escape and rejoin Jade in their private lagoon and fortify their defenses to avoid detection from any further searches. Or she could unite with her father in the attack on the other village and keep an eye on Manaia to make sure he didn't stab the chief in the back.
The more she thought about it, the less appetizing the idea of waiting it out seemed to be. There were far too many variables at play for her to risk the lives of her loved ones. Besides the threat to her father and the rest of his war party, there was her family and the rest of the villagers to think about. If her father lost the battle, there was no way of knowing how the victors would treat the remaining women and children. She knew they intended to kill all the men, but did that mean the young boys as well? And would the remaining women be simply absorbed into the new tribe, or would they be treated as sex slaves for the enjoyment of the conquering heroes?
And what of Jade? Even if she was able to find her way back to their lagoon and remain hidden, how could Teuila be sure she hadn't left a trail back to their hiding place? Te' knew how to use the riverbeds to hide her footprints, but Manaia and the other tribesmen were excellent trackers and would sooner or later pick up Jade's trail. Whether it was her tribe or the other clan that eventually found her, neither could be trusted to keep her safe and protected.
She knew that one way or the other, she'd have to find a way to escape to make sure that Jade was safe, then join her father and do whatever she could to ensure the success of their mission. But how could she escape from her hut if it was being monitored on all sides? It wouldn't be as simple as slipping out the back with the help of her nona. The first order of business was finding a way to break her bonds. She wouldn't be much use to anybody if she couldn't free her hands.
Te' wiggled her body along the floor until she found a sharp spur on one of the posts supporting the wall. Then she beg
an rubbing the cords binding her hands as quietly as possible against the knob, trying to splinter the twine. She could hear the fiber pulling and tearing, but it took fifteen minutes before they finally snapped and freed her hands.
Now what? she thought, rubbing her aching wrists. How am I going to get out of here with five people watching me?
She peered through a gap in the far wall of her hut and noticed the diminishing reflection of the moon on the water, indicating it was moving higher in the night sky. Time was running out if she was going to have any chance to help her father. She already knew where the weak spots were in her hut, and for a brief moment she considered wedging out the back and making a dash into the woods. But if she got the timing wrong and was caught, she wouldn't have a second chance at her escape.
As she peered down at the leafy mats covering her floor, she reflected back to when she and Jade had built their own improvised house in the trees. She knew the floor of her hut was built the same way, with lashed poles supporting the foundation. If she could get underneath the webbed floor, the guards might not be able to see her while she planned her escape route. Teuila peered in the direction of the front door, watching the guard swiveling his head from side to side as he looked up and down the courtyard for any sign of suspicious movement. Then she pulled back a few of the leafy mats to inspect the floor more closely.
Each of the poles was spaced about an inch apart with tight binding connecting them every foot in length to keep them from separating. She would have to remove the ties from at least a dozen joists for a distance of three or four feet to have any chance at bending them enough to give her space to wiggle through. At least the ties were made from flat strips of inner bark instead of braided leaf strands, which would make it easier for her to dig her nails into the fiber to loosen the knots. But each of the ties were made in the form of a double constrictor knot, which made them all the more difficult to untie.
Te' cursed, realizing it was going to take longer than she hoped to disentangle the posts. She chided herself for not keeping the small paring knife for herself, but she realized Jade needed it as much as she did.
I guess we'll just have to do this the natural way, she thought.
For the next half hour, she painstakingly pinched and pulled each of the ties until they fell away to the floor of the pit six feet below the raised platform. Then she pulled two of the poles in opposite directions until the posts bunched together, leaving a narrow hole to squeeze through. Taking one last glance in the direction of the front door to make sure she wasn't being watched, she squeezed her legs and upper body through the hole, then dropped silently to the ground below, flexing her knees to absorb the impact.
Fortunately, the foundation of her hut was surrounded in leafy thatch similar to the kind coating the walls, so she had a modicum of cover concealing her from prying eyes. She crept to the back corner of her hut and parted the leaves carefully, peering out the crack. There were two guards standing at opposite sides of the hut keeping a close watch on the edge of the jungle for any suspicious movement. With a good twenty feet from the edge of her hut to the forest, there was a good chance she'd get tackled before she was able to reach the brush.
She'd have to create some kind of diversion to distract the guards, then slip over to the adjoining cabin from which she'd have a better chance to steal into the jungle. She looked around the base of her hut and found a large rock then picked it up and parted the curtain. She waited until both of the guards were looking in the opposite direction, then she threw the rock as far as she could straight into the opposite brush. The guards looked at one another, then one of them motioned for the other to check it out.
As the first guard stepped into the bush to investigate the disturbance, Te' pulled the leaves covering the side of her hut aside and sprinted across the lane, diving underneath the adjacent cabin. She waited a moment to catch her breath, then she parted the covering at the back of the new hut to see if the coast was clear. By this time, the other guard had returned to his position, shaking his head to indicate that it was likely just a bird rustling the leaves. From her new position, Te' could see that she was still too close to the guards to attempt a dash into the woods, so she crawled across the laneway separating the next two huts and took shelter one cabin further away.
But with each cabin further from the chief's signifying a lower status in the tribe, the floor of the third cabin was only a couple of feet off the ground, and she had to crawl on her elbows and knees to reach the furthest side away from the guards. As she rustled through the leaves, she could hear children's voices above her, so she knew this was one of the cabins that was being used to hide the remaining villagers.
But she didn't have any time to check on their wellbeing. She lifted the grass skirt at the far end of the cabin, then crawled out into the laneway, crouching low as she peered in the direction of the guards. She waited once again until they were looking in the opposite direction, then she prepared to sprint to the cover of the woods. Just as she was about to leap forward, she felt a hand touch her on the shoulder. Turning around fearing she'd been discovered by one of the guards, she was surprised to see the face of her grandmother peering through the slats in the wall, reaching out her arm toward Teuila.
Teuila squeezed her hand and Nona nodded silently toward her, blowing her a kiss with her other hand. No words needed to be spoken between the two women. They both knew where Teuila was going, and her grandmother simply wanted to wish her well. Te' looked up at Nona and lifted her finger to her lips, instructing her to keep the children quiet. Then she glanced in the direction of the tribesmen guarding her hut and leaped to the edge of the forest, disappearing quietly into the jungle.
26
Teuila knew she'd lost precious time fashioning her escape and that she'd be hard-pressed to catch up with her father. There was no time now to check up on Jade to make sure she was safe. She had to assume that she'd found her way back to the lagoon and that she would wait for Te' to return as she'd promised. There'd be plenty of time to attend to Jade later. Right now, her priority was to catch up with the war party and make sure Manaia didn't stab her father in the back.
The good news was that by now she was familiar with her way to the other tribe's camp and was able to cover the distance in half the time. Still, it took her almost three hours to traverse the island, and by the time she neared the other tribe's camp, the moon had risen almost directly overhead. As she neared their village, she heard the sound of tribesmen singing and chanting around a flickering light in the distance. Not wanting to set off any warnings in case her father was still preparing to attack, she found a point on top of a hill overlooking the village and peered around the woods trying to locate the position of the war party.
She couldn't see them on any of the high ground, but as she glanced down the slope, she saw the backs of warriors creeping through the jungle in a semi-circular formation, closing in on the tribesmen prancing around the fire. When she turned her head to make sure the other tribe was unaware of the encroaching invasion, her eyes suddenly flung open when she caught sight of a familiar blonde figure tied to a stake in the middle of the square.
It was Jade! How had she managed to get captured by the other tribe? And what were they planning to do with her?
Teuila could see logs and kindling spread around the base of the post she was tied to in the familiar shape of a fire starter.
Oh my God! Te' thought. They're planning to burn her alive! Just as she’d feared in her wildest dreams!
But as she watched her father's war party creep closer to the fire pit, she realized Jade was in grave danger of another threat, just as severe. Her position next to the band of targeted warriors placed her in the middle of the coming crossfire. Teuila had to get her out of there as quickly as possible. As she began sprinting down the hill in the direction of the camp, she heard the war party scream as they surged out of the woods, flinging arrows and spears in the direction of the tribesmen.
H