Page 99 of Red Hawk's Woman

Again, Red Hawk yelled, “You lie!” But he couldn’t be certain. “Haiya!” Was this frustration never to end?

Turning his back once more on the Thunderer, Red Hawk stalked away. But his parting words were, “One day, I will have my revenge.”

Again, the Thunderer laughed.

Red Hawk raced back toward the cavern. Had he been wise in leaving Effie alone? He had not scouted out the area before he left, nor had he looked for an enemy or an interloper. What if someone had followed them?

Could the Thunder Being have been telling the truth? After all, he was one of the Above Ones.

Urgency filled Red Hawk’s soul.

It seemed to take him forever to reach the cave, and when he did, he approached the place from the cliff above it. Coming down onto his stomach, he edged toward the end of the crag and looked down.

He could hardly believe what he saw. John Owens held a gun on Effie, who lay on the ground at his feet.

Worse, in Owens’s hands were the four artifacts, the means by which Red Hawk could end his people’s curse.

Help the enemy. Show mercy.

What? Show mercy to John Owens when he held a gun on his wife?

Yet wasn’t that what was required of Red Hawk if he meant to end the curse?

Then he heard Owens say, “I am going to kill you. Goodbye, Miss Effie.”

With those words, any confusion Red Hawk might have harbored left him. Curse or not, Grandfather be spared, Red Hawk would not let his wife die.

“I’m sorry, Grandfather,” he mumbled as he shot up from his hiding place. Speeding off the cliff, he bounded onto Owens, wrestling him to the ground.

In the excitement, the gun went off. Red Hawk hoped it had exploded harmlessly, for he could not pause to look. The two of them rolled over and over, onto the beach, into the water, first one of them on top and then the other.

Wet and struggling, they came up to wrestle further with each other, the water only thigh deep. Then they sank, as each one of them grappled for supremacy. Owens was oddly strong for a man his age, but as they fell farther and farther down into the water, looking into Owens’s face, Red Hawk realized at once that he had the advantage. Owens could not hold his breath underwater.

They continued to struggle, Owens now gone wild. At last, having no choice, Owens gulped, but instead of air he breathed in water. Not long after, his body went limp.

Grabbing hold of him, Red Hawk surfaced at once. The man was probably still alive and could be brought around if anyone cared to try. Since he had been a friend of Effie’s father, Red Hawk would let her make the decision.

As Red Hawk emerged from the water, leaving Owens’s body on the shore, the sea dog surfaced. It grabbed hold of Owens, and before anyone could object, the sea dog slinked away into the deepest part of the lagoon.

Tragic, yet it was hardly a loss, thought Red Hawk. He turned away. Only then did he look for Effie.

What was this? Was that Effie’s still body lying amongst the rocks and sand and mud?

No, it couldn’t be. Rushing toward her, he pulled her up into his arms. “Effie! Effie!”

Was she injured? Had she been shot? In her hands, she clutched two of the artifacts. Two others had fallen to the ground beside her. But he ignored them. Opening the top of her bathing costume, he felt for a heartbeat. There wasn’t one.

“No!” he cried out.

All at once, as though she would not let her life slip away so easily, she gasped in air, gulping. At last, her chest rose and fell.

“Effie!”

She opened her eyes and stared directly at him. “Are you all right?”

He laughed with relief. “I am fine. I do not think I can say the same for your father’s friend, however. The sea dog has him. And you, are you all right?”

“I think so, although I seem to have lost feeling in my left arm.”