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Page 261
within the inn's compound, so she supposed she should be grateful that Nahtana seemed to like her hair right where she grew it. And that he'd left two others alivefor now.
She didn't know what had happened to Holly or René. She was afraid to wonder about them.
One of the other Indians gave Will a rough push, as though to punish him for sticking up for her. He, too, stumbled but righted himself and continued forward.
Mariah felt as if she'd been walking for weeks, although it could only have been hours. The shadows in the thick forest grew darker, the sun-speckled clearings fewer, but night had not yet fallen. She wasn't certain how she had kept going. She simply kept putting one foot in front of the other.
Sometimes, though, the carpet of dead leaves and moss gave way to fallen logs or vines. She was too tired, too frightened, to pay much attention to them. That was why she had stumbled. Why the Indian still had his fingers wrapped in her hair.
"Where are we going?" she asked Nahtana conversationally. Perhaps if she acted friendly, he'd be kinder.
He responded vocally, though she couldn't interpret what he said. She couldn't tell whether he even understood her question. He did, at least, let go of her hair. But he still walked beside her. She glanced at him. He wore the same outfit she'd seen him in before: buckskin shirt, breechcloth, leggings and a pair of moccasins. The braid hanging from the middle of his head looked rattier than before; making war on settlers must give little time for personal hygiene.
His features weren't very discernible in the darkness of the forest, but she sensed his scowl. What did he want from her?
She remembered Holly's story. Some Indians took white women as slaves or wives yet treated them nicely. But Holly had been beaten by Nahtana.
Swallowing hard, Mariah didn't let her steps falter again. Her heart pounded hard in her terror, but she began to talk soothingly, hoping the man beside her would respond to her tone. "I wish I could explain the future to you. I've nothing against you and your people." She glanced at him. His dark

 
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