Freewater: Chapters 19–36

She cinched a belt of braided vines and animal skin about her waist.

She felt along the cabin wall and her hands touched the most important part of her ensemble, her bow, only meant for use on special occasions such as this.

"H-h-hey," said Billy in a nonchalant way, as if hiding between cabins at daybreak was the most normal thing to do.

His gangly arms held two nervous hands fumbling a stone carving tool in one and a wooden bracelet in the other.

In Billy's mind, he was terrifyingly certain that the hunter was just outside of Freewater's confines, lurking under every bush and behind every tree, waiting for Billy to leave Freewater.

He'd watched her spend the better part of a year finding the right tree and then carving out the trunk with fire and jagged stones. Granted, the outcome was crude, with it being more splintering bark than boat, but it worked.

The boat leaned over, almost capsizing.

She studied the canopy of leaves overhead.

Sanzi ignored his trepidation.

Billy exhaled, taking in the lush green blanket of swampland trees around them.

Many times, her father returned from patrolling with small bundles sent by Suleman. Matches, flour, nails, a pan or bowl, sometimes even a shovel or knife. Every time they arrived, Freewater's inhabitants would celebrate and give thanks to their marauder hero, Suleman.

Billy took one last look at the serenity around him, then descended behind her.

Billy rappelled down the tall tree, his legs skidding and bumping the trunk along the way.

She lay asleep on her stomach and looked small under the layers of poultice cloth of elderberry and sumac on her back.

"I crushed and steeped those maypop flowers two full weeks in some of Crumb's whiskey. Don't think he'll miss it," he said.

"You'll go just as you are," Mrs. Light said to her sullen daughter.

"You almost got hurt. What have I told you about those ropes?" Mrs. Light chastised.

Just behind her, a space was open where her sister trudged into place, her face glowing with vexation.

In every way that she was muddy, wet, and disheveled, Juna was clean and composed.

She tried rubbing some of the mud from Sanzi's face, but it only smeared down her cheeks and neck. Juna shook her head in resignation.

Big Tree, festooned in white blossoms, blue berries, and caramel-colored acorns, loomed behind her.

Despite her angry tone, the circle of onlookers broke into resounding cheers and applause.

Ferdinand's shenanigans continued and no one noticed but Sanzi.

Relieved and incensed about her mistreated possessions, Sanzi was unaware when she was approached from behind.

Turner's eyes showed no mirth, only fiery seriousness.

Longingly, she eyed Sky's ornate leafy camouflage.

"We were on patrol in the west. There were two men," Sky said, removing her foliage headdress at that evening's meeting.

A fire pit burned in the center of the meeting room, and smoke left through a hole in the thatched roof.

Everyone in Freewater could pick a swamp sound, something derived from the panoply of sounds the swamp emitted.

That's another bridge I'll never walk on, another sky bridge I'll never even see because I'm stuck here! Sanzi thought.
Obstinate, Sanzi sat silent.

He pulled his bow taut and fired.

It hummed through the sky, arching high, flying over a cluster of side-leaning wood cabins, a neatly planted vegetable garden, then skimming the roofs of the dairy shed, the meat larder, and laundry.

Suleman descended from his treetop perch and melted into the darkness and mayhem. He reveled in it.

He held the firm belief that fear, over clandestine theft, was the best medicine for the sickness that was plantations.

Smoked meats, grain, matches, salt, and a tin cup—each item was folded into a makeshift sack from the sheets.

"Come, if your plan is to be free." Suleman beckoned.

Fact is, they're both still out there loose, and the tale is spreading all over the slave quarters, ginning up insurrection.

"How soon? And how much from each?" quibbled Mr. Boyd.

There was no movement from the small body on the pallet.

He sprinkled dry dirt on muddy pathways where he knew she'd travel, cut back vines that would impede her way, and even chased off snakes slithering nearby.