Any Port in a Storm: Chapter 9

Ash's Story

Makea, with impressive speed and surefootedness considering she was carrying a full grown man in her arms, leads along a winding trail that was so overgrown one might pass right by it without noticing.  She seemed to know the twists and turns by heart.  As we go I notice the earth began to take on a gentle downward slope.

I follow with a worry in my bones.  This didn't feel right.  I didn't like how she looked at Tony and I didn't like how she'd manhandled him without asking.  But right now she was our only hope.

It it not long before I see the until now constant green light of the sun filtering down through the canopy brighten up ahead.  We break the treeline into a large clearing of knee high shrubs and I am forced to stop to take in the view.

The island stretched out before me and it was magnificent!

The island, from what I could see, was a huge imperfectly circular expanse of the lushest and most beautiful tropical land I had ever laid eyes on.  The jungle forest curved forward to our right and left blocking the view to the island's edges and more forest was head.  But from here I could see ponds and falls and hills and caves and a biologist's dream of plant and bird life.  It was perhaps 4 or 5 miles from side to side and a bit longer than that ahead.  At the far side jutted up a towering rocky peak that dominated the island.  A long white ribbon ran straight down it's front from about three quarters of the way up and I realize it is a waterfall.  At its base was deep topaz blue lake.  Beside that was...buildings!  At least 5.  There looked to be a large garden patch near that and a dock that stuck out into the lake.

My excitement quickly shifts to concern as I see them.  That tiny collection of huts was no town or village and I saw no towers or power lines or any other indication of modern technology.  Looking around I realize this whole place seemed cut off from the ocean and I suspected those tall cliffs ringed the entirety of the island.

By this point Makea had gotten some distance ahead.  I shake myself of my concern and hurry to catch up.

Tony's Story

To say my predicament was awkward or that it was embarrassing would be an understatement.  What the hell do you say to a woman the size of a linebacker that was whisking you away like some helpless damsel.  I knew not what to do or say in such a scenario.  Making it ten times more difficult were the explosions of pain that would shoot up from my knee as my lower leg bobbed to her steady gait.  Only her hard deep breathing gives any indication that she was struggling with my weight at all.

In the end I just close my eyes and endure and hope this journey would soon be over.  Once I crack my lids to catch her staring at my face intently.  She looks away but then glances back at me.  I was obviously a curiosity to her.  Given Ash's and I's appearance and how Makea had found us it was natural.

Ash is quiet behind us, keeping pace and holding the walking stick I'd fashioned in both of her hands defensively.

One short rest break is taken, where nothing is said, but it isn't even two hours later until we are walking along the shore of a roughly semicircular lake at the base of the tall slanted peak we'd seen earlier.  A narrow waterfall tumbles down from high above filling the area with the low constant white noise of water falling into water.  Small falls were dotted here and there up the cliff face.

“Kea!”  I hear a woman's voice exclaim.

Turning my head I see slender woman with a definite family resemblance to Makea approaching.  Far off behind her I could see a cluster of huts a little way back from the shore, one of them had a steeple crowned by a well crafted cross.

The woman was darker than Makea all around.  Her skin was had a deeper shade of tan and her long hair and almond shaped eyes were nearly jet black.  She was much smaller and had the lean fit build of a swimmer.  Her perky round breasts almost seemed to defy gravity.  She wore a similar style to Makea but her tight midriff was exposed.

“Let me down.”  I say.  Makea finally does so, reluctantly.  Ash is instantly at my side.  I take my walking stick and turn to face this new person.

“I am Tony and this is Ashley.  We are shipwreck survivors and we need your help.”

The woman looked as stunned as Makea had the first time we'd met.  These folks obviously were unaccustomed to having company.

The two women speak to each other in some Polynesian language.  Both seemed confused and concerned by our unexpected arrival.

“Hello?”  I say impatiently.

All eyes fall on me.  The new woman smiles in an over friendly way that puts me on edge.

“I'm sorry.”  She says in near perfect English, though the accent was still weird.  “My name is Miru.  This dull creature is my sister Makea.  She didn't hurt you I hope.”

Makea nods to me as if meeting me for the first time again.  “Makea.”  She smiles.  A wide, bright and quite lovely smile.  It transformed her from fearsome to friendly in the blink of an eye.

“Er...nice to meet you.”  I say to Makea before turning back to her sister.  “No, she did not hurt us.  Quite the opposite, she found us lost in the forest and brought us here.”

“You said you wrecked?”  Miru asks with intense interest.  “From a ship?  From the ocean?”

“Yes.”  Ash says, obviously relieved to have someone besides Makea to address.  “Our ship sank in a storm.  We were floating for weeks before...”

Miru holds up a hand.  “Father will want to hear all of this.  Come, you can tell us all together.”

I take and lean heavy into my walking stick.  “Fine, fine.  Lead the way.”

Ash steps forward and extends her hand to Miru.  The woman seemed amused by the gesture and reaches out to hold Ash's hand.  Ashley shakes.  “We are so happy to have found you.  Um...where exactly are we?”

Miru considers the question for a moment, as if it was a peculiar thing to ask, before at last responding.  “Father calls this place...Purgatory.”  

Ash and I look at each other with rising trepidation.

Continuing to hold Ashley's hand Miru pulls her along.  “Come.  Come meet our family.”

Makea hesitates then says something rapidly in the other tongue they spoke.  I clearly make out the word “Huali” numerous times in their back and forth.  Miru calms her sister with some words then together we all make our way toward the buildings.

As we get close Miru calls out in English.  “Father!  Father!  Strangers have arrived!”

A face appears in a nearby window.  A beautiful face!  A stunningly, achingly beautiful face!  It was something out of a fantasy.  This girl was younger than the other two with slender, fine boned features and far more pale skin.  Her shoulder length hair shone in the sun the color of lustrous copper and her eyes...my god, her eyes!  They were pure pale sky blue and as big as I'd ever seen on a person.  Her face was perfect.  Symmetrical, elegant, and cute as a pixie.  I could tell she was around the same height as Ashley.

Despite everything going on, despite everything I had gone through, despite the pain in my leg, my breath catches in my throat.  Quite simply, she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.

She looks in our direction yet I soon realize she couldn't see us.  She squints hard and at last makes us out then spins and disappears from sight.  I hear her sweet sing-song voice call out.  “Father!  People!  New people!”

Out of the corner of my eye I notice Ash looking my direction.  I refocus and continue forward.

Ash's Story

I couldn't believe it.  Now, of all times, Tony's eye is caught by that fey wisp of a girl we'd just seen?  I wasn't jealous, I knew Tony was loyal, but I was annoyed.  We had bigger concerns right now than fawning over some South Pacific beauty queen!

We make our way forward, past a long log cabin, and into a large central space.  Ahead of us, built up onto a nearby hill overlooking the area, was the chapel building we'd seen from a distance.  To our left and right were the buildings.  The construction was an odd mix of indigenous grass huts and solidly build log buildings.

We are brought to a stone ringed fire pit and there we wait.  We don't have to wait long.

The first person we see emerge is a middle aged Islander woman who cautiously makes her way out of the long cabin we had passed by.  It wasn't hard to guess that this was the mother of the two women we'd met.  Her attire was similar to Makea's though she had an extra length of fabric slung over her left shoulder.  She was stoutly built dark skinned woman who had her curly graying black hair up in a bun.

Next to appear was the slender girl we'd seen in the window.  She was dressed differently from the others.  Over her svelte shoulders was a sort of long loose fitting floral decorated poncho that covered her from her neck to below her knees and was cinched at the waist with a rope, her pale willowy arms stuck out the sides.  A leather string was tied around her neck with a crucifix hanging from it.  She was a small woman, barely taller than me.  Tony liked small women and I catch him checking her out again.  So does Miru.  My cheeks burn with an embarrassed blush as Miru's curious eyes look back and forth between my husband and I.

The third person to be summoned is heard before he is seen.  Clomp, clomp, clomp.  The heavy steps of bare feet on wood echo through the cabin the older woman had come from.  Filling the doorway is a huge barrel chested white man with graying ginger red hair.  He had a big bushy beard and was balding on top.  His narrow suspicious eyes were a dull green.  He had on only a pair of well worn shorts.  In his massive right mitt was a revolver!

Tony spots it too and holds out his hands.  “Woah, woah!  No need for the gun!”

The big man steps down from the cabin and slowly approaches us.  A tense silence fills the air.  This must be “father”.

I didn't think a human being could be more menacing than this bear of a man but I am immediately proved to be wrong.

The final inhabitant of this place glides from out around one of the huts.  At well over 6 foot tall she towered over all but the big man.  She wasn't as thickly built as Makea but her long sleek muscles were easily visible.  She wore only a knee length skirt, her tanned torso bare and her large breasts exposed.  Her dark auburn hair was cut so short as to be spiky on top.  Various piercings ran up her ears along with a gold ring in her bottom lip.  Her left shoulder had an intricate round tattoo upon it.  In her hand was a heavy vicious looking club.  She was the very image of an Amazonian warrior woman.  She was also drop dead gorgeous but this was secondary to her more fearsome qualities.  What made her so scary though was the piercing look in her striking hazel eyes.  She was ready for a fight!  Like a shark around its prey she slowly circles around behind us.

Tony glances her way but his eyes were firmly on the gun toting man.

“There is no need for that.  You can see we aren't a threat.  We were shipwrecked and washed ashore.  We need help.”  He is talking fast.  “D-do you have a radio or...phone or...”

The gathered group look us over with a mixture of disbelief and a powerful curiosity.

The big man measures up my husband and squares up to him.  “We don't have anything here.”  He says in a thick Irish accent.  Makea's and Miru's accents suddenly make sense.  “Best you two come back from where ya came from.”

Tony and I look at each other.  “Uhhh...  We can't!”  I say.  “We would if we could but...”

Just then the young pretty woman approaches us.  It is not until she is within 6 feet of us that I see her blue eyes focus.  She gasps and brings her long fingers to her lips.  “Hoh!  His hair!  Look at his hair!”  She stared at Tony's blonde locks as if they were something miraculous.

“Come back from there Marama.”  The man snaps.  Not waiting for obedience he steps forward and roughly shoves the girl away from Tony.  The poor lass falls to the ground but is quickly helped up by Makea.  “They're dangerous.”

“We are not dangerous.  We need help.”  Tony says.  “Listen, sir, just get us to a radio and...”

“I told ya.  We don't have no radio.  We don't have anything.”  The man says.  His voice is deep and gravelly.  “We don't have it, we don't need it, we don't want it.  There is none of the things you want here.  Head back out to sea.”

“Please.”  I beg.  “Can't you see?  We have nothing.  We lost our dinghy.  We have nowhere to go.”  I turn my attention to the older woman.  “Can't you see?  We're lost a long way from home.  You are our last hope.”

Miru steps up and speaks, seeming to translate for me.  The man says something in the other language, cutting Miru off.  Next the warrior woman speaks from behind us and I don't like the sound of what she was saying.

I too hold my hands out.  “Please.  My husband is hurt.  We've been through so much just to get here...”

“Husband?”  The big man shifts his eyes to me.  “You married?”

I am momentarily taken aback by the question.  A deep fear sets in at what might he might be hinting toward.

“Yes, we're married.”  Tony bristles, stepping in front of me protectively.

“Priest married ya, did he?”  The man asks.

My eyes flit up toward the chapel then over to the blue eyed girl's crucifix.  Before I could say anything Tony shakes his head.  “A judge actually.  A friend of ours.”

The man grunts.  “You ain't married then.  Livin in sin.  I could smell it on ya.  You stink of sin.  All outsiders stink of sin.”

There is long terse silence as Tony and I come to the horrible realization that this guy wasn't all there.

Makea was the first to speak, seeming to take up our cause.  

Miru speaks next, switching to English.  “They have nowhere to go Father.  Do you expect them to swim?”

The blue eyed girl adds softly.  “Sinners can saved Father.  And...they can tell us...of the outside...”

A low spine chilling laugh comes from behind us.  The warrior woman says something humorous only to her.  Miru rebuts her and the pair of them converse a short time.  How I wished I knew what they were saying!  I felt like we were on trial with no way to defend ourselves.

At last the mother raises her hand and the pair fall quiet.  All attention turns to her.

She turns to the man and speaks calmly in her language.  He shakes his shaggy head and glowers at us.  The woman speaks some more.  Her voice soothing and maternal.  He lets out a huff but I breath a sigh of relief as I notice the grip on the pistol loosen.  He nods as if in defeat.  The woman smiles and nods back.  He was a crusty old bastard but he obviously loved this woman.

“Alright.  You can stay.”  He points a warning finger at us.  “But we don't live in sin on this island!”

“Erm...”  Tony starts.  “...we don't want to stay.  We want to go home.”

The big man laughs.  “Good luck with that.”  He tucks the gun into the waist of his shorts.  Extending a meaty hand he says.  “Cormac Kane.”

Tony hesitates then steps forward and shakes his hand.  “Tony Butler.  This is my wife Ashley.  I'm sorry we got off to such a bad start Mr Ka...arrrggh!”

I watch as the Cormac squeezes my husbands hand with a vice like grip.  “She ain't your wife.”  Tony wrenches his hand back for the mad Irishman's grip and rubs it.  He goes to protest but Cormac continues.  “This is my family.  My wife Leinani.”  The older woman nods.  “My eldest, Huali.”  Suddenly the warrior woman was directly beside me, towering over my husband and I in an obvious show of fearlessness and dominance.  “My second, Makea.”  The big girl smiles warmly.

“We call her Kea for short.”  Miru says.

“Kea.”  Makea repeats and pats her chest.

“That is my third and most difficult child, Miru.”  Cormac grumbles.

“Most difficult because I'm the smartest.”  She quips.

Cormac rolls his eyes then points at the youngest of his offspring.  “And that is Marama.”  The disdain for the young woman dripped from the big man's words.  “If you are as helpless as Mara, if you cannot pull your weight, your stay here will not be long.  I'll feed your bodies to the crabs before I let another leech off the rest of us.  You need to work to eat.”

The girl hangs her head with shame.

“We'll work.”  I assure the man.  “We aren't afraid of work.”

“Once my leg is good...”  Tony starts to say before being rudely cut off.

“Miru, Ashley can stay in your hut.” Cormac instructs.  “Mara, give Tony your bed.  Tend to him until he can work.”

“Yes Father.”  Mara says meekly.

“Ashley can stay with me.”  The towering Huali at last speaks in a heavily accented English.  I tremble at the prospect.

“No.  Mara I said.”

“We would prefer to stay together.”  Tony insists.

“Over my dead body.”  Cormac says flatly.  “You will not bring your sinful ways onto my island.”

“But...”  Tony says.

The pistol is drawn and leveled straight at my husband's forehead.

“No!”  I plead, my heart suddenly pounding in my chest.

“Father!”  Kea gasps.

Tony shudders but stands firm.  “Isn't murder a sin?”

Cormac doesn't miss a beat.  “Not if its done in God's name.”

Being in no position to argue Tony holds his hands up, backs away, and bows his head in deference.  “Okay...okay...your island, your rules.”

Cormac lowers the gun.  “Fast leaner.  Good.”  He looks to his eldest child.  "Keep 'em apart."

And with that he turns and returns the cabin from where he'd come.