Victoria

By S E J Kenney
(Published with Permission)


Aritka’s right wrist chafed under the rope that led her forward and ever on toward some unreachable end.  Her left arm carried a child of perhaps five months.  Aritka cuddled and comforted her but the poor child was crying of starvation.  If Aritka did not find a wet nurse for her soon, the poor child would die.  Aritka clutched her tightly as she stumbled.

“Come on, come on!” anxiously pressured her captor.  From up on his horse, he glanced down at her briefly and then he looked ahead again, where a pack mule was tied to a tree.  It shied at their approach but the black rider jumped down off his horse and caught its head.  He untied it and led it to his own horse and secured him there.  “Girl, can you ride?”

Aritka could see that the mule was steady.  She held the child closer and nodded.  “Yes,” she said, “I can.”  Once she had mounted, the black rider secured her to his horse as well and mounted.  The pack mule followed his nobler cousin obediently and quietly, but the child in Aritka’s arm was not quiet.

 “Can’t you smother that thing?” growled the black rider.  He glanced around uneasily.

Aritka held her still more protectively.  “She will need a nurse,” said Aritka, “and soon.  I do hope there will be one where we are going.”  The man said nothing.  “We are going somewhere, yes?”

 “Of course we are,” said the black rider.  He kicked his horse into a quicker gait.  “A few more miles,” he said.  “It shouldn’t take an hour.”

The two rode on in silence, listening uneasily to the baby’s cries.  The black rider knew his prize could still be stolen.  He kept his pistol in one hand and his eyes wide open.  Aritka knew that rescue from her captor would not necessarily bode well for her.  They were in territory that did not belong to her tribe and even though it was not by choice that she invaded their boundary, they might still treat her harshly for it.  Aritka offered her knuckle for the child to suck on, and the baby satisfied herself with it for a while.

[All Rights Reserved]

To Be Continued....