COLORS OF THE WIND
Chapter Six
Virginia
Spring, 1607
Closing the leather flap of her hut,
Pocahontas walked over to her bed and lay down. She closed her eyes and tried to
block out the many voices that floated in her head.
"This is the right path for you. Kocoum
will build you a fine house with..." Her father's voice rang in her
head, and all at once, it was Nakoma, "Pocahontas, marry him. Do you
not realize how fortunate you are?"
Pocahontas rolled to her side. "I can
give you anything," her future husband's voice sang through her head.
She squeezed her eyes tighter as all the voices merged in to one loud,
insisting, never-ending voice.
*****
Springing from her hut, Pocahontas began
to run. She did not need any light, for the forest that had surrounded her
throughout her whole life stretched before her. She ran, swift as the young
deer, and when the trees began to blur and the ground began to fly with her
feet, she still kept her fast pace. The voices got farther away as she darted
off the forest path and into a thicket, forcing a path of her own through the
dense leaves and branches. She burst out on the other side, stopping dead as
her father's face came into view. She stood, her back against a weeping willow,
her father walking quickly to stand beside her. Pocahontas looked up and met
her father's gaze as his hands reached towards her neck and gently placed her
mother's necklace around her neck. Glancing down and then quickly back up, she
saw that her father had vanished. Looking down again, Pocahontas froze as the
necklace began to move. It wrapped itself tighter around her neck. Grabbing the
necklace, she pulled at her neck. It was no longer the necklace that had been placed
around her neck, but a snake with its head facing her. The snake hissed, and
flinging it to the ground, she began running again. Coming to a river, she
jumped into her canoe and began paddling fiercely down the river. The usually
smooth river suddenly gave way to rapid, fast-moving water, and she fought to
keep the small boat under her control as it came up to a huge waterfall.
Gasping, she saw Kocoum's face through the mist of the water as it prevented
her from going over. Determinedly, she pushed the canoe closer to the
waterfall, sighing with relief as the boat slid over the image of Kocoum's
face, his face opening and finally disappearing.
*****
Pocahontas jerked up in her sleep as beads of
cold sweat poured down her face and onto her chest. She pulled the deerskin
blanket closer towards her as she shivered in the cool spring breeze that
suddenly blew through the hut's flap.
"Kocoum," her voice whispered.
"I never would've thought that you were
so taken by nightmares, Pocahontas," his voice said as he knelt beside her
bed.
"I…I never thought..."
Her words were silenced as he placed a single
finger to her lips. It caused her to sit up more properly and face him.
"Pocahontas," Kocoum said, his
voice gentle. "Give me a chance. I mean you no harm in coming to visit
you." When she didn't answer, he continued, "Your father had sent a
messenger to my village in the north, asking me to come and help your people
with the war against the Micawomacs. I agreed, and said that I would help my
brothers, but did not know I would fall so deeply for the chief's beautiful
daughter."
At this, Pocahontas blushed. "Not me, Kocoum.
Not me. Go back to your village. Find a woman to give your life to."
"No, for I have found her. Pocahontas,
you are a wild child, you don't know your boundaries, and no man would have the
wits to put up with you, but I do."
Pocahontas' eyes narrowed. "How dare you
tell me that I do not know my boundaries?"
"I shall help you see them," Kocoum
said as he leaned closer.
"I do not favor you," Pocahontas
said flatly.
"Who do you favor, then?"
His question was simple, but Pocahontas had
no words for his answer.
"Just as I thought," Kocoum said as
his mouth closed the distance to her own in a swift, soft kiss. "Tell me,
princess, do you favor me now?"
The young woman tried to force the blush down
that had risen in her cheeks, but sat stunned as Kocoum's kiss lingered on her
lips.
Finding her voice, she replied, "You are
a good man, set in your ways as I am set in mine. This is a bad match, Kocoum,
one that will bring you shame and bring me sorrow."
"Why shall it bring me shame?"
"You said it yourself that I am a wild
child, but a match between you and Nakoma..."
"I like the wild children," he
retorted, and smirked.
"Kocoum, listen to yourself. Listen to
me!" Her voice rose. "Do you not understand? I am not so easily tamed
as…as…" She stopped.
"As I think," he finished for her.
"Yes," she replied. "You are a
good man. Marry a good woman. I am not ready to walk this path just yet."
"At least allow me to court you. Your
father will be displeased to hear of this."
"Say nothing of it," she replied.
"But I must!"
Pocahontas' voice became desperate as Kocoum
got to his feet. "All right. I consent to court you."
"Good," he said. "The wild child
is easier to tame than she gives herself credit for."
Pocahontas closed her eyes as what he had
just done hit her in the face. Just courting, she thought. For now,
at least.