Where Mountains Blossom

Chapter 2

Rokiayah POV
Going outside to investigate I was met face-to-face with a man that seemed to have been lifted from the pages of a Native American history book. He stood there shirtless wearing a skirt-like garment that left his muscular hips exposed.

Studying him carefully I noticed that he was wearing no shoes and held a large spear in his hand. Making him look more powerful than he already did. His tanned skin and red undertones told the story of a life exposed to the elements.

Every bit of his body was covered in muscle. Even his hands and feet looked muscular which indicated just how strong he was. His height appeared to match mine, around 5'9 or slightly taller. The rising sun highlighted his face; causing me to pause in my observations of his body drawing my attention upwards towards his face.

Immediately the first thing that drew my attention were his dark brown almost black eyes that were surrounded by dense eyelashes.They were observing my own with the same curiosity and interest and what felt like a mutual connection.

Letting my eyes roam, more of his face  I observed that his features were captivating. His cheekbones were strong and his nose was straight with a subtle curve. The darkness of his eyes, eyebrows, and eyelashes, and contemplative lips painted a mysterious portrait.

His thick coal-colored hair cascaded down his back. With a single feather, braided into the top of his hair. As well as other accessories that I couldn't quite discern.

He was breathtaking. For a moment we just stared and observed each other, no one daring to move a muscle. Time stopped for a second until something flashed in his eyes and disappeared as soon as it came. Breaking him out of the trance. And suddenly he was heading towards me.

Instinctual alarms were starting to go off in my head. Blaring so loud and telling me to escape. So without a second thought, I jetted.

Moving with a speed and agility that I didn't know I had through the unfamiliar forest. Honestly I did not want to fight him even though I could, I just wanted to evade him and hoped that he wouldn't chase after me but of course he did. He chased after me with the speed and grace of a trained warrior, who was familiar with his terrain.

However, my background in running track and competing in marathons gave me the endurance I needed. Filling me with the hope that I could and would escape him.
And if he caught me I was intent on not going down without a fight. I prayed to God his will would be done. Whether it meant I escaped or a different outcome. The man was slowly catching up with me. I could feel it, but I was not going to let it end this way.

Commanding the last bit of strength and energy I had within me I used that to propel myself forward.The situation that I found myself in was turning out to be a truly formidable ordeal. First I tried to save someone from falling off a cliff only to end up falling off with them. Then I woke up in an unfamiliar part of the forest with my body aching and my head pounding. I then had to gather resources to make a fire to keep warm, to form a spear to hunt fish, and to construct a tent for shelter. And here I am, running for my life from a Native American man whose intentions I was uncertain of.

Life has a funny way of tossing you into challenges. But let's return to the task at hand, running for my life. My feet burned, my heart was racing and everything else around me seemed to blur into the background. Yet he was still chasing me with more stamina than I anticipated. Hearing his footsteps closing in on me I started to slow down my pace, taking a moment to catch my breath.

It was time to face him head-on.
My dad had made sure to really prepare me and my siblings for everything that he could, when it came to survival. Just think of my dad as Bear Grylls 2.0. And if he couldn't teach us that meant he would hire someone else to do it for him. So his teaching included how to use a gun, a bow and arrow and how to fight with a knife.

While he had sent me and my siblings to kickboxing classes since we were around six years old. He wanted us to be able to gain real world experience. We even attend a few competitions here and there.

My brother was there first since he was the oldest and then I was next since I was the middle and my little sister was last since she was the youngest. But ironically we were all within two years of each other. My brother is 22, I am 20 and my youngest sister is 18.
So using the skills I had acquired after taking 14 yrs of kick boxing. I slowed my pace completely. If it was my time to die, I would make sure I went down fighting. With that settled I composed myself, recalling what my Russian teacher had taught me and I got into my battle-ready position.

As I prepared myself, he too stopped and observed me once again, but this time, he spoke

"I don't want to fight you I'm trying to help you"

"Oh really", I replied, "it didn't look like you were trying to help me when you chased after me, and what If I don't want your help"?

"You have no choice", he replied, "you look lost and I can tell by your clothes, the way you talk and act that you aren't from around here plus you're injured."

What he was saying wasn't false but how did I know that I could trust him? I thought to myself. I could tell that he could see my apprehension to believe him on my face; so he inched closer to me ever so slowly and looked me straight in the eye with sincerity evident and told me,

"Come back with me to my village I won't hurt you and neither will my people. We will address your wounds, clean you up, feed you, and give you a change of clothes. And if you don't like my village you can leave but if you do then you can stay and build a life with me and my people".

"Do you promise"? I asked

To which he replied, "Yes"," as the chief of my people I promise".

I'm going to ignore the fact that I could build a life with himself and his people, but with the look in his eye and the offer that he was giving, I couldn't possibly deny him.

"Ok", I said.

"What do you mean, 'okay'?" he asked.

"Ok I will come back with you, please lead the way".

A look of relief overcame his face as if he was anticipating a different answer that he was going to have to fight me over.

"Wait"! I exclaimed, "What is your name"?

"My name is Weayaya, but you can call me Weaya , and what is your name"?

"Weayaya", I replied without thinking and he looked up at me, "yes that's me", he said with a serious look on his face.

"My name is Rokiayah. But you can call me Roki".

"Rokiayah", he replied.

There was something intimate in the way that he said my name and a very strange feeling washed over me. And honestly I wasn't sure if I liked it or not. Anyway, he started walking and I followed but I couldn't shake that feeling that something was off so I asked a question that I wasn't expecting an answer for.
"What year is it"?

"Currently the year is 1830", he replied

At that moment my brain had finally had enough and so had my body. Everything went blurry and a ringing sound in my ear. I fainted right there on the spot.
Maybe it was the time warp adrenaline that I had been on that made me faint, or maybe it was because I was wholly too exhausted to function anymore. Whatever it was all I could think about was how the heck am I going to get home.

Before I fainted I could hear the slightest worried call of my name before everything went dark again for the second time today.