Tucker dived for the shotgun hanging over the door. "Perfectly safe, my-"
The bear slashed at Tucker, and he stumbled back. The door tilted open at the upper left corner.
Braden grabbed Amy around the waist. He tucked her behind him. Ian caught Meredith by the shoulders and shoved her at Braden. Snagging Meredith around the waist, Braden put his body between both women and the bear. Ian ran for the door.
The bear roared. A paw slammed. The leather hinge on the bottom broke. Only the rickety wooden latch held the door closed.
Tucker, landing his back with a hard thud against the st.u.r.dy row of cedar saplings that formed the door, shoved it into place. His body and the protesting latch stood between the rest of them and a thousand pounds of enraged bear.
Tucker reached over his head, lifted the gun down off its pegs, and tossed it. Ian snagged it in midair. Braden ducked beside the door and lifted the heavy bar they dropped in place every night to secure the cabin.
Amy dashed for the bag of herbs she"d been collecting ever since she"d arrived. Thrusting her hand deep in the bag, she dug until she found the leather pouch she"d so carefully filled.
The beast barreled into the door with a vicious snarl. The door shook, and Tucker staggered forward a step. Bracing his legs, Tucker jammed the door back in place.
"When I say so, let the door go." Ian lifted the gun, keeping the barrel pointed upward over Tucker"s head.
"No!" Braden shouted, lifting the ma.s.sive beam. "Let"s get this bar in place. It"ll be enough to keep the bear out. He"ll go away eventually. If we let him in, you might not get him before he hurts the women."
Amy swung the wooden shutter in the bedroom aside and poked her head out the window, looking toward the bear.
Braden caught Amy"s movements out of the corner of his eye. "What are you doing?" He turned toward her.
"Scat, hintak xoodzi! Shoo, bear!" She tugged the slipknot that held the pouch closed. The bear swung its ma.s.sive head at her. He fixed his beady black eyes on Amy as if he could already taste her tender flesh. The bear reared up on its hind legs. She threw the bane at the bear, pouch and all.
The pouch hit the bear full in the face, and a little puff of the bitter herb dusted its snout. The growling roar cut off and turned to a whine. He retracted his claws and swiped at his face.
Braden grabbed Amy around the waist. "Get away before he-"
The bear"s whining grew louder. Braden quit hollering and turned to see the animal drop on all fours and shake his head frantically, sneezing and rubbing his face on his furry foreleg. The bear looked up, and for a second, Amy stared into his eyes.
"I know it hurts, hintak xoodzi, old friend, but you should not have come here. The salmon swim thick just over the hill. Quit being lazy and go find your own food. Leave us in peace."
Meredith shoved herself in beside Amy.
Ian stepped up behind his wife. Amy saw Tucker ease the door open an inch and peek through.
The bear seemed to be crying. Amy grinned. She knew the bitter powder would do no harm, but for a while it would sting something fierce. "Big baby."
The bear shook his head again like a dog shaking off water. Huffing, his nose and eyes streamed. Then, with a wail as if he"d been soundly spanked by his mama, he turned and galloped into the woods. Amy hoped he was going fishing. The water would soothe the sting.
Meredith turned once the bear disappeared. "You have a bear repellant in your case?"
"Of course." Amy laughed. "No one lives in the midst of wolves, bears, and wolverines without a supply of it. I call it water carrot."
Tucker set the door back in place, and when it fell toward him, he dropped the bar across it with a loud clatter. "Water carrot?"
Ian stepped away from the window. "I"m really familiar with these woods. I"ve never heard of water carrot."
Amy shrugged. "It resembles a carrot and smells of it a bit. That may not be its true name. It is something my people use. We also call it yan. Before the missionaries came and told my mother"s people about Jesus and the one true G.o.d, we used yan as a magic charm to ward off evil spirits."
"And bears?" Meredith asked, shaking her head, still glancing nervously at the woods where the bear had disappeared.
Amy laughed. "Yes, all large dangerous animals. Now we know it is not magic; it just burns."
"And where do you find this water carrot?" Ian"s brow furrowed.
Pleased Ian showed this eagerness to learn more about this new homeland of his, Amy said, "I will show you. It is dangerous though. I"m careful to never, never touch it with my bare hands. It is a deadly poison if eaten, and the juice would make you very sick if it touched your skin."
Amy thought of the plant for a second and then added, "Oh, I remember now, one of the missionaries told us yan goes by another name in the English language."
"What name?" Braden asked.
Amy carefully turned away from the group and washed her hands thoroughly as she tried to remember. "It was something about one of your ancient teachers. We studied him a bit in school." She dried her hands and turned back to the four of them, only then noticing the way they were staring at her, as if she"d wrestled the bear single-handedly rather than just tossing the bane at him. And that"s when she remembered.
"Socrates." She nodded with satisfaction.
"What about him?" Meredith asked.
Ian slipped his arm around Meredith and rested his big hand on her slender waist.
"He drank the potion from this plant."
Silence stretched long in the room.
At last Meredith asked, "You mean hemlock?"
Amy snapped her fingers. "Yes, some people call it hemlock."
Ian dropped his arm from Meredith and buried his face in both hands. "Bear repellant."
"She"s got hemlock in a bag." Tucker"s shoulders began to tremble in a way Amy couldn"t define, almost as if he were laughing. But what was funny about any of this? He ducked his head then turned his back and went to the door. He must be preparing to mend it.
"Well, he will not be back, and it is time to fix supper. I will get smoked salmon. It will cook up quickly."
Braden rested his hands on her shoulders and turned her back to the dry sink Ian had fashioned out of a three-foot section of a hollowed-out bud gum tree. "First, before you cook our supper, why don"t you wash your hands once more?"
Amy reached for the pail of water, but Braden blocked her hands and poured the water for her, then carefully wiped the bucket where she"d grasped it moments earlier. Amy let him help as she washed again, though she couldn"t imagine why. Had he seen a smudge on her hands that she"d missed?
As Amy washed, Meredith came up beside her and handed her a bar of soap. "What else do you have in that bag?"
Amy accepted it and kept scrubbing. "Oh well, tundra rose, of course, and mooseberries. A bit of devil"s club, although not enough. I got tired of dodging the thorns and will go back later for more. I brought in a bit of spruce tip-hard to run a home without that. And there are crushed leaves that make a wonderful mosquito repellant. We can rub it on our skin and-"
"It"s not made out of nightshade, is it?" Amy noticed Meredith wringing her hands together.
"Nightshade? I have never heard of that. Does it grow around here? Does it make a good tonic?" Amy wiped her hands again on the flour-sack towel hanging on a peg near the sink. When she finished, Braden took it between two fingertips, held it far from his body, and tossed it out the window.
"How about foxglove?" Tucker kept his back to her, apparently fascinated by the door, his shoulders shaking harder now.
"Foxglove? My, no. That is not an Alaskan plant. Do you people know nothing about the northern lands?" Amy crossed her arms, wondering why they were all staring at her except Tucker, who ignored her as blatantly as the others stared.
"Wolf bane, maybe?" Ian asked. "That"d keep the mosquitoes away, I"m thinking. After all, it stands to reason that anything that"ll scare off a wolf "ll scare off a mosquito."
Amy frowned at them.
"Any poisonous mushrooms in that bag, Amy darlin"?" Braden shook his head at her. "Or maybe you"ve stored up a little rattlesnake venom?"
Suddenly they all burst out laughing.
Just as Amy"s feelings began to pinch, Meredith threw her arms wide and hugged Amy until she could barely breathe.
Meredith whispered in her ear. "I"m so glad you"re here."
The words and the tight hug were so sweet Amy hugged her back. She thought of Braden"s arms around her on the cliff, then later when he tossed her here and there as he stood in the breach between her and a savage bear. It was a completely different kind of feeling from Meredith"s hug, but he"d been trying to save her, even if it had slowed her down. It healed a lonely place in her heart to know he"d put her safety above his own.
The laughter quit hurting, and soon she joined in.
Meredith pulled away. "What in the world is a hintak xoodzi?"
"It is my people"s word for the great white bear."
"Your people?" Tucker asked.
Braden and Amy exchanged a glance. Braden gave her an encouraging nod.
"Braden, you and Tucker run and fetch me the salmon. Ian, get a fire started in the fireplace. Meredith, you get comfortable at the table. I am hopeful the salmon will not upset your stomach as much as the mutton. When we are together, I will make supper while I tell you all about hintak xoodzi and my people."
Chapter 14.
A my wanted to march straight down to her father"s cabin and confront the man who now lived there. It galled her to admit it, but she was too frightened to go alone. She didn"t want to further frighten Meredith, so she didn"t try to get the whole family to help her. She focused on Braden, but although two weeks had pa.s.sed since the attack on the cliff, he still refused to help.
She was turning into a nag, and it was all his fault. He also wouldn"t let her go anywhere alone. Amy got some satisfaction out of ordering the stubborn man around while he followed her. It neared mid-June. The days were hot, but a cool breeze kept them comfortable as Amy tramped through the woods with Braden ever watchful at her side. The snow had melted away from all but the mountain peaks.
"Pull that limb down so I can cut it." She jabbed an impatient finger at a stunted little tree with bright scarlet branches as thin as a whipcord. Amy simmered like a pot over a hot fire with the lid clamped down tight. She wanted to go to her father"s, and she couldn"t with Braden watching her every move.
"What are these good for?" He took notice of everything she did and helped any way she asked. This time, she was cutting tender red twigs off a dogwood tree. She respected his wish to know all about this new land. She"d been a teacher in Seattle, and it seemed natural to share her knowledge.
"I will weave a design into baskets with them." Holding up the narrow, supple twigs, she drew strength from their beauty. "The red makes a nice border design."
Satisfied with her stack of colored twigs, she went on to a stand of alder trees. Braden followed along, acting as pack mule. Amy noticed he never fully relaxed or let his attention wander from the woods around them.
"The alder bark treats infections, and I use it to tan hides." She carved slices of bark, careful to leave plenty intact so the tree would heal.
Another day, Amy pulled out the wickedly sharp knife, her only tool, and began carving. "This is a bud gum tree. Ian used a stump from one for his sink. We can also make buckets from the bark, then waterproof them with the gum. Then we will dig into the ground and steal roots. They make excellent rope."
Braden shook his head as if the bounty of nature amazed him. She climbed hills and scrambled over rocks, ignoring the ache of her hands, which still bore sc.r.a.pes from her fall off the cliff. The scabs on her hands and face were mostly gone, and the skin had toughened. She hacked away at trees and shrubs without giving a thought to asking for help. He insisted on helping, of course, but she"d have let him stand by and keep watch if he hadn"t offered.
She moved on to a thicket. Long yellow spines stood guard over the tender inner branches, and fragrant white flowers dotted the bushes.
Amy pulled leather gloves from her pocket and tugged them on. She had tanned the sheepskin and cut out the fine leather to make them. "Do not help with this one. You do not want a thorn in your skin. It will fester, and it is very slow healing."
Braden caught her arm as she reached for it. "Then why don"t you leave it alone?"
Amy smiled as she straightened away from the plant. "This plant does not want to share itself, but it is a plant my people prize, and we have learned our way around the stubborn thing."
"Prize for what?" The large stand of shrubs with their fierce thorns formed an impenetrable thicket that reached up the steep incline in front of them.
Amy"s smile turned into laughter. "My grandmother would tell you it wards off witches and bad luck."
"Witches, huh?" Braden had set the bulk of his load on the ground, keeping his gun at hand. "Well, we don"t need that since I don"t believe in witches."
"Neither do I, but it makes a restorative tea, and I want some for Merry." Amy smiled. Then the smile faded. "She is getting much better, I think."
A stubborn expression came over Braden"s face. "Yes, much better. This is the third morning in a row she hasn"t been sick, and she stayed in the cabin while you cooked breakfast. She"s still not ready to be left alone."
They"d talked of going to her father"s often. Braden always had excuses why now was not the time. "She would not be alone. Ian would stay with her." Amy"s eyes narrowed. "You know I need to go."
"Amy, we just can"t-"
"If it were your father," she cut him off, "you would go. Do not tell me otherwise."
"It would be different in Oregon with a sheriff in town and a marshal"s office to keep peace in the countryside. In Alaska, with no law closer than Dyea, the sheriff would never tramp hours into the woods after a criminal. Alaska is still a territory, and the law outside of town resembles the law in any wilderness."
Amy turned away from the nasty plant. Jerking her gloves off, she clutched them in one hand and whacked her other hand with the soft leather. "I know, and I have been patient, but it is time, Braden. We could be down there and back in one day."
Braden snorted. "The sun doesn"t set. One day lasts six months."
She slapped the gloves into her hand again. "I am tired of waiting." Slap. "I am giving Merry a few more days." Slap! "Then I am going with or without you."
Braden caught the gloves, an irritated expression darkening his eyes.
"I am not going to fight the man. I am going to wait until he is gone, then slip in and out quickly." She held tight to the other end of the gloves and yanked on them.
Braden refused to let go. "You"re staying right here."
"Now that I have been warned, I do not need a bodyguard." She wrenched at the gloves and stumbled forward. "I know how to move through the woods. I know the signs of others in the area. I would be fine."
One hand landed on Braden"s chest, the other firmly grasped the gloves. She looked up at Braden.
He dipped his head and kissed her.