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"Perhaps…but how do you know if I follow your steps I will be safe?" She beckoned.
"It is not important, how I know, but that I know."
"Is Josh all right?" She asked through the stillness of the night.
"He’s lost a lot of blood. We will stop at the first light and I will tend his wound. You will rest then. We will not travel by day, only by night."
"But couldn’t we see better by day?" The soldier protested.
"We do not need to see, for I know the way. Besides, the Comanche could see us better if we traveled during the day. They could pick us off easy. We don't want to give them the advantage…"
"And where are we going?" The soldier asked as he caught up to Chase. His concern was real.
Chase turned to look at him again, his face a mask. "We go to the north, to my people."
The soldier stopped, obviously warring with his own decisions. "What people? You're taking us from one renegade camp to another?"
"If you wish not to go, then you can stay here. But I don't advise it," Chase replied, seeing the soldiers face change. "I am Shawnee; we go to the Shawnee village to the north."
"Shawnee…"
There was a silence between them.
"Why didn't you just leave me back there?" Depression colored his voice.
"Because the Comanche will burn the station. Your men have been there, they know this. They will not let it stand. They must destroy it, so no more soldiers will come. At least that's their way of thinking; they don't understand how persistent the white man is. They would kill you." Chase smiled at him. "And you would die for nothing."
"Why is Shawnee better than Comanche?" Katherine's curiosity peeked.
"They are my people, they do not harm their own people. They will give us what we need. You do not remember that the Shawnee sides with the north and is their ali? Chase's glance slid to the soldier.
"But I'm a southerner," the young soldier said as if he needed to explain. "That makes the Shawnee sorta an enemy, now don't it?"
"Maybe so, but you still wear the bluecoat uniform. So for now we are on the same side, and we do not fight each other." Chase smiled.
"How do we know you aren't taking us to the Comanche camp?" The soldier asked staring at him.
"Stop it…stop it! Don't you understand he saved you from being killed back there? We will go with you," Katherine said quite finally casting the young soldier a quick frown that dared him to argue...
"You don't understand, lady. The minute I came with you, I became a deserter in the eyes of the army." The soldier said hanging his head, "Desertion is a hangin' offense. So if I seem hostile, it's because I know what I could face…back there."
"You didn't desert, but you are right, in their eyes, yes, you did." Chase nodded solemnly. "However, there are circumstances of life and death, Corporal, and this is one of them," Chase affirmed.
And then they saw it, flames and a wall of smoke rose from the south. Katherine nodded woodenly, "Let's go," she cried unable to voice her feelings any longer…
The soldier stood there staring at the fire for a long time then slowly began to follow them. Obviously resigned to his fate.
They walked for miles it seemed, until their feet would not go any further. They practically fell to the ground when they stopped. Hot, tired, and thirsty, no one could move for a few minutes.
Chase laid Josh down easy like on the ground, and gave him water. Then he glanced up at Katherine and handed it to her. She drank greedily at first, then slowed and handed it back to him. Chase gave the soldier a drink, and then glanced at them.
"Do not look about, do not show alarm, but we are being followed, but not by the bluecoats yet, nor the Comanche. We have a new enemy it would seem."
Katherine felt a chill run up her spine. Hawks! Would he continue to stalk her forever? Whatever did he want with her?
The soldier heard and came forward. "Who then?"
Chase stared at Katherine. "I do not know…but I'm sure she knows." Chase stared at her with open curiosity.
