Sabella's Journey

Chapter 14

"Stay still, will you?" Chaska's irritation was evident in his voice. "I can't get it out safely if you keep moving."

"There's an arrow stuck in my arm! How in God's name am I going to stay still?" I groaned in pain and frustration as blood spewed out of my arm.

Chaska had brought me back to his hut, cradled in his arms. He had carried me, screaming my lungs out – more of an exaggeration than actual pain. Although he was worried, his eyes did roll every few minutes at my continuous babbling of how I was going to die, but he didn't say anything.

"Just breathe, Bella." Gently, he took hold of my chin with his fingers, moving my face, which was fixated on the bloody wound, to look at him instead. "Focus on me. Okay?" I nodded my head in compliance. "This is going to hurt just a little – "

My screams echoed – what felt like throughout the forest but were probably only around his hut – as he pulled the arrow out of my arm without warning.

"What the hell!" My eyes widened, mouth agape as he quickly placed a cloth to stop the blood from the hole in my arm where the arrow once was. "You could've warned me."

"If I did, it would've hurt more," Chaska simply stated, removing the cloth and placing a wet one once the bleeding had eased. "Did you see who did this to you? I'll kill them."

"Woah there, big guy..." I smirked. "...he was one of your people."

"What?" He turned to look at me, seeming to be in disbelief. Chaska quickly grabbed the bloody arrow, inspected it thoroughly, and then dropped it back down on the ground with a sigh.

"Well?" I asked to be certain.

He hesitated for a minute, biting into his thin lower lip. "You're right. I know who he is," was all he finally said.

After Chaska had finished cleaning and bandaging up my arm, he stormed off towards his father's hut. Unknowingly to him, I was sneaking right behind. I pressed my ear against the hut, earning me a few glares from the others, but nobody said anything. When I heard the two of them speak inside, I sighed in frustration – I couldn't understand a word they were saying. Both men were speaking in their native tongue, but the rise of Chaska's voice made me believe they weren't having a friendly conversation. After minutes and minutes of bickering between the two, everything went silent inside. I pressed my ear harder onto the wooden hut in hopes I could hear clearer, even though I knew it didn't work that way – it was still worth a shot.

"What are you doing?" I yelped in surprise, grabbing hold of my pounding heart as the voice of Chaska spoke behind me. "Were you spying on me?" he asked, arching his eyebrow in curiosity.

"Haha..." I smiled at him all the while rubbing at my heart from the mini heart attack I almost had. "...noooo. I was just...um..." I turned around, rubbing my hand up and down on the wooden hut beside me. "...I was just admiring the fine craftsmanship of this work," I told him, batting innocent eyes towards his smudge glare.

His mouth went open for a while, staring intensely at me as if he knew that I was lying. He sighed, finally closing his eyes, rubbing his temples with his fingers and nodding his head – was it something I said? I couldn't tell.

Chaska took his eyes off me as he shot death glares at something or someone. I followed his gaze, turning to my side to see what or who it was. My eyes grew twice the size at the man who came into the village – he wasn't just any man; he looked like the same one who had shot me and ran away – coward.

Chaska gently grabbed hold of my shoulders from behind me. "Stay here," was all he said as he stormed off into the direction of the Indian who still held the bow in his hand that he had used to shoot me with.

Chaska stacked swiftly towards the man who hadn't gotten the chance to do anything as Chaska's fist collided with his face. Blood spilled instantly, and the Indian crumbled onto the grass ground as gasps and screams came from some of the villagers. Chaska wasted no time as he, too, got on the ground, colliding his fist with the Indian's face repeatedly.

"Why did you do it?" Chaska asked with a rage-filled voice, knowing full well the man under him was too battered to say anything. "I should kill you!" His fist collided again with the man's bloody, almost unconscious face.

A few men quickly stepped in, pulling Chaska away from the badly beaten Indian. "If it sees you anywhere near her again, you're dead. You hear me?!" Chaska tried to loosen his grip on the other men's grip but was unable to as he spoke, his eyes turned dark with anger. "Dead! This is your only warning!"

"Enough!" An old, cracked voice rang out through the small opening of the fight as the chief came. His eyes fell on the beaten Indian as others picked him up, taking him into one of the many tiny huts, then he glared at his son, disappointment once again spreading through his face when he saw Chaska breathing hard from pure rage, still being held tightly by other towns. The old man walked up to his son; he nodded at the two to let go of Chaska's arms, their grips loosened, but Chaska pulled away before their hands were completely dropped. "You've brought great shame toward me," the chief told Chaska.

Chaska glanced at me, eyes quickly settled with tears. "If you weren't going to do anything, I had to take matters into my own hands, father."

"You would choose this..." The chief gestured his hand toward me. "...over your own people?"

I saw Chaska gritting his teeth together before looking back at his father. He spoke again, "She is my people. I don't care if you're disappointed. I don't care if any of you are disappointed! This is my life!" Chaska turned to look at everyone, who held shocked expressions upon their faces.

The chief sighed in defeat. "Is this what you want, son?" he asked Chaska.

Chaska nodded. "Then I or no one will stop you. But you will live your life every day knowing that you are no longer any son of mine. You are a disappointment to me, your dead mother, your people, and your ancestors."

The tears Chaska had tried so hard to contain poured down his saddened face at his father's words. Without uttering another word, he bowed his head at the man in front of him and quickly strode off in the direction of his hut, ignoring everyone as the pain of losing everything he loved consumed him.