Chapter 14
Gwen had wanted to speak to her father again tonight, but Sebak had forbidden it. When a loved one dies on Umi, the deceased person’s mate is expected to stay with the body that night, until at midnight, when the body is cremated. Then at dawn the mate takes the ashes and distributes them over a place called the Fields of Eshe.
“Isn’t Eshe the name of the plant that keeps everyone healthy and gives you a long life span?” Gwen had asked Sebak.
Sebak had nodded, but said nothing, then departed hurriedly with a group of men that Will had said he believed to be Sebak’s guards. Although the natives had carried no weapons, all six of the men with Sebak had been very young, quite tall and muscular.
Since watches didn’t work here on Umi, there was no way to tell the exact time. But not long after Sebak departed, natives went around and extinguished all the central outdoor fires. Two men motioned for Gwen, Will, Jordan and Cheryl to enter their huts.
“Let’s do as we’re told, for now,” Will said. “No need to create a problem until we figure out what’s what around here.”
Although she and Will dreaded the thought of telling Cheryl about her friend Tori’s death, they felt she had a right to know, so they invited the other couple to join them in their hut.
“Tori’s dead? How … ? I don’t understand.” Cheryl’s eyes filled with tears.
“She was strangled and left on the beach in Puerto Nuevo,” Will told her. “There’s a good possibility that Mick McGuire murdered her.”
While Jordan held a weeping Cheryl, he looked directly at Will. “What can we do? We can’t let the guy get away with killing Tori and Molly Esteban, too.”
“There’s nothing we can do now,” Will said. “But once we get off this island, we’ll turn him over to the proper authorities.”
Jordan took a grieving Cheryl back to their hut, leaving Will and Gwen alone to settle in for the night. For the first time since entering the hut, Gwen took a really good look. She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting, but definitely not the neat, well-maintained contents that, although certainly not modern, were not crudely constructed. There was a wooden table and four chairs in an area near a fireplace in which a roaring fire blazed. A large black kettle hung over the fire, its contents smelling of stew. A bowl of fresh fruit and a large, oval loaf of bread, surrounded by thick, fat, glowing candles, graced the center of the smooth, polished tabletop. On the other side of the room was a glossy wooden bed framed by sheer fabric that created a canopy. The bed itself boasted a thick cotton mattress and was covered with creamy white bed linens, in a cloth similar to the clothing the natives wore, and topped with a thick white quilt. The walls were a mellow cream, as if once white and now yellowed slightly by age. There was no indoor bathroom. Cheryl and Jordan had explained that the natives bathed in the nearby lagoon and that four centrally located outhouses were spread about the village.
“You’re awfully quiet.” Gwen placed her hand on Will’s shoulder.
Sitting in front of the fireplace, his chair sideways to give him a view of the door, he glanced up at her. “There’s something not right about this place.”
She smiled. “You mean other than the fact that its very existence is an incredible mystery and that if the Eshe plant really can prolong life, my father will become very famous.”
“And very rich.”
“I don’t think the money matters to him.”
“Probably not,” Will said. “But it will matter to others.”
“You mean once we’re off the island and my father takes the plant back to the world.”
“Yeah, if that ever happens.”
“What are you trying to tell me?”
Will’s shoulders heaved, then relaxed as he took a deep breath. “There is no logical explanation for why this island even exists, yet here we are. And for all intents and purposes, we’re trapped here, with no way to leave.”
“Don’t you think Sebak will help us leave, just as someone once helped my father leave all those years ago?”
“Possibly. We can hope they will. But something tells me that they’re not going to be too keen on the idea of your father taking samples of the Eshe plant with him.”
“But why would they object?” Gwen knew the answer the moment she asked the question. “Oh. They don’t really want anyone else to know about the existence of Umi, do they?”
“Which doesn’t make sense if your father’s theory is correct that this island is visible only every fifty years.” Will rose to his feet, rubbed the back of his neck and cursed under his breath. “Do you realize how crazy that sounds? An island the size of Umi going undetected just isn’t possible.”
“We’re like Alice Through the Looking Glass, aren’t we? We’ve entered another world.”
“You said it, honey. That and then some.” Will paced back and forth, then paused and looked right at her. “If this island is invisible, then these natives or maybe the scholars of Umi that Sebak mentioned know a way of cloaking the island or it happens naturally somehow. Then for some reason, every so often, maybe every fifty years, or twenty or whatever, it becomes visible to the outside world. If it’s every five or ten years, then once this place is known to the world, and the Eshe plant is proven to provide longevity—”
“The world will come calling and the island will be overrun by outsiders.”
“Exactly.”
“My father won’t leave here without the Eshe plant,” Gwen said.
“We need to talk to Sebak tomorrow and get some things settled.” Will grasped her shoulders. “You have to convince your father that our only chance of leaving this place alive may depend upon him.”
Gwen glowered at Will. “How can you ask me to persuade my father to give up his lifetime dream of bringing back this miracle plant to the world?”
Will tightened his hold on her shoulders. “What’s more important, your father trying to take the Eshe plant with him or our living long enough to leave this island?”
Gwen jerked away from him. “What makes you so sure that it’s an either-or situation?”
“Gut instinct,” he told her. “And if you’ll think with your head instead of your heart, you’ll know I’m right.”
Dr. Emery Arnell observed the beautiful sight as dawn light shimmered pale-gold over the Fields of Eshe, a valley located four miles from the village of Oseye. Emery and Sebak had been taken from the crematorium to the fields by a rickshaw-type conveyance pulled by two strong young men from Sebak’s village.
Emery stood on a knoll overlooking the endless fields where the tall, willowy Eshe plants grew in profusion. Their yellow-green leaves glistened with dewdrops in the faint illumination. The early morning air was crisp and clean.
“Come,” Sebak said. “I will walk with you as you distribute your woman’s ashes.”
Emery held the silver urn in which Molly’s ashes had been placed. He had known her for such a short time, but had come to adore her, perhaps only in a way a doddering old fool can love a beautiful, young woman. Even knowing that she had played him for a fool did not lessen his fondness for her. After all, in the end, she had given her life to save his.
As they entered the fields where the knee-high plants grew, Sebak pointed to the urn. “Turn the cap and it will open partially, enough to allow a small amount of ashes to come out, a little at a time.”
Emery nodded, turned the urn’s round cap and then followed Sebak as he led him along the narrow paths, up and down the rows of Eshe plants. It took no more than five minutes to empty the urn, which Sebak took from him, laid on the ground and stomped on it with his foot. The silver urn, apparently made of some porous and easily broken material, smashed into tiny shards no bigger than a child’s fingernails.
Sebak then turned to Emery and said, “We will walk to the end of this row and then offer our prayers for the afterlife of your woman before we return to Oseye.”
Sebak’s prayers were in his native tongue, one Emery suspected was unknown anywhere else on earth, perhaps a dialect spoken thousands of years ago.
They were taken to within a mile of Oseye by the rickshaw-type buggies, then were put on foot to continue their journey.
“I have many questions,” Emery said.
Sebak nodded.
“I told you that I washed ashore on this island fifty years ago, when I was only twenty. I have been searching for Umi all these years without any success. Why was I never able to find this island again?”
“I recall when I was a youth of forty, a young boy from the outside world arrived on Umi, in the nearby village of Niut. I have a cousin who lives there who told me about this boy.” Sebak walked slowly, keeping in step with Emery. “You were helped by the people of his village, and once you were recovered, you were sent back to your world.”
“Why did your people send me away? Why wasn’t I allowed to stay and—”
“You were sent away to save your life, just as you and the others must leave very soon. You cannot stay in Oseye. It is not safe for outsiders to remain on Umi.”
“I’m afraid I don’t understand.”
Sebak was silent for several minutes, then he paused and faced Emery. “Here on Umi, we live a long, healthy life filled with peace and contentment. We have good food, sweet music, happy days of work and nights of pleasant sleep.”
“You live in paradise,” Emery said.
“Yes, paradise.” Sebak’s brow wrinkled. “There are several villages spread out over the island, all similar to Oseye, but the high priest and his scholars, along with their elite brigade and their families, live in the center of the island, atop Mount Kaphiri.”
Emery’s heartbeat accelerated as excitement flushed through his body. A high priest. An elite brigade. Brilliant scholars.
“I must meet with your high priest,” Emery said. “I must see everything here on Umi. Meet everyone—”
“No!” Sebak clamped his hand over Emery’s shoulder. “The only contact we have with the priestly tribe is when the Eshe is distributed every year to the villagers.”
“I don’t understand, if you grow the Eshe, why is it not available to you—”
“The Eshe does not belong to us. It belongs to our high priest. He and he alone harvests the crop each year. We are given enough Eshe for the entire village ….” Sebak paused, then his gaze locked with Emery’s. “We exchange the life of one villager for the Eshe. Usually the oldest person in the village volunteers to go with the elite brigade.”
At first Emery was uncertain that he had understood correctly what Sebak had told him. Surely he did not mean that a villager’s life was given in exchange for the Eshe. Perhaps the person simply went into some type of servitude.
“What happens to the person who is taken?”
Sebak said quietly, “This person is sacrificed by the high priest to appease the gods.” Sighing heavily, Sebak released his hold on Emery’s shoulder.
The truth hit Emery hard. This incredible paradise, this magical island that he had spent his life pursuing was ruled by an order of priests who demanded human sacrifice in exchange for giving the villagers long life and good health.
“Outsiders do not understand the ways of our world,” Sebak told him.
“Have very many outsiders found Umi?”
Sebak nodded. “Many? Over thousands of years, quite a few have been brought to Umi. When the island is visible for one month every ten years, the sea brings visitors to our shores. In the past, long ago, the high priest ordered their deaths, fearing the world would learn of Umi. But we are not killers. We do not wish harm to anyone. We, the people of Umi’s villages, send our unwanted visitors away whenever we can, before the elite guard learns of their existence and takes them to the high priest. This is what was done for you fifty years ago.”
Emery grabbed Sebak’s arm. “Can you help us leave Umi as soon as possible?”
“Yes, of course. The elite brigade will not make their rounds to Oseye for three weeks. We are the last village on their route.”
Clutching Sebak’s arm tightly, Emery asked, “And you will give me some samples of the Eshe plant to take with me, won’t you?”
Sebak flung Emery’s hand from his arm. “No, you cannot take any of the Eshe plants with you. It is forbidden for anyone to cut the Eshe plants except members of the elite brigade. We are allowed only to scatter the ashes of our loved ones in the fields to nourish the roots of the Eshe plants.”
“But how would the elite brigade know if I took only a few plants.”
“The Fields of Eshe are guarded day and night by the power of the high priest. If one plant is removed, Lord Baruti would know.”
“I don’t believe this. It’s simply something you’ve been told to prevent you from harvesting the Eshe yourselves.”
“The high priest does not lie to his people. It is blasphemy for you to say such a thing.”
Realizing he must reassure his host, the man in whose hands his fate and the fate of his party rested, Emery said, “Then I apologize. I meant no offense. I will, of course, abide by your laws.” Yes, he would apologize. He would try to make things right. He would say whatever was necessary to reassure Sebak. But in the end, no matter what, he would not leave this island without a sample of the Eshe plant.
Gwen woke warm and safe in Will’s strong arms. When had he come to bed? What time was it? Why was she in his arms? Coming out of a restless sleep, she opened her eyelids, then closed them when Will’s lips pressed against her neck. She shouldn’t be lying here enjoying this moment. She should still be angry with Will. They had argued last night. She had been so furious with him that she had walked away from him, to end an argument neither of them could win. She had gone to bed, fully clothed, leaving him standing by the fireplace. She had lain there for hours, waiting for him to come to her, to apologize, to tell her that he understood her need to support her father, that he would stand by her, come what may.
But she had fallen asleep waiting.
Will nuzzled Gwen’s ear. She shivered. All he had to do was touch her and she unraveled. She hadn’t meant to fall in love with Will. After all, she knew only too well that he wasn’t in love with her.
“Still mad at me, brown eyes?” he whispered as he eased his hand down over her belly and slipped it between her thighs.
Her femininity clenched and unclenched, longing for the feel of his fingertips without the restriction of her slacks and panties.
“I might still be a little upset with you,” she told him.
“Tell me what I have to do to make things right.” He nipped her neck as his thumb stroked her through the barrier of her clothing.
“Mmm-mmm. Please don’t do that. I can’t think when you touch me.”
He flipped her over onto her back and straddled her hips. Gazing down at her, he smiled. “It’s not necessary for you to think. Just feel.”
He kissed her throat, then nudged his way to the V-neckline of her blouse. She quivered as his hot breath fanned over her skin. And when he opened his mouth and brought it down on one breast, she gasped. He suckled her through her blouse and bra, making a damp mark on the material.
She bucked up, bringing her mound against his hard sex.
“We’ve got on too many clothes,” he told her, then lifted himself up and off and quickly removed all his clothes.
She unbuttoned her blouse and removed it, then discarded her bra, slacks and panties. When he came back to her, they were both naked and aroused. She held open her arms to him.
“Do you have any idea how much I want to be inside you?” He rubbed himself intimately against her.
She grasped his shoulders and lifted herself against him, joining him in the undulating dance. “I want that, too, but we can’t.”
“Yeah, I know.”
When he kissed her and his big, hard body covered her, she longed for any excuse to succumb to temptation. They were trapped on an island that wasn’t supposed to exist, in a world that neither of them understood. Weren’t the odds against their ever escaping from Umi? If they were forced to remain here, she would continue to be Will’s woman, wouldn’t she?
As his hands caressed her, aroused her, and his mouth tormented first one breast and then the other, all rational thought ceased to exist for Gwen. She was ruled by her needs, by the primitive longings urging her to mate with Will.
As her hands covered his body with enticing caresses, her desire grew stronger. “Make love to me.”
“That’s what I’m doing,” he mumbled against her breast.
She circled his erection and urged him between her thighs, opening herself for him, inviting him in.
“Are you sure?” he asked, his voice a husky groan.
“I’m sure.”
He didn’t wait for her to have second thoughts. He slipped his hands beneath her, cupped her buttocks and lifted her up to meet his downward lunge. He shoved into her; she expanded to take him completely. Nothing had ever felt so good, so right. She wanted to shout, “I love you.” She wanted to hear him say that he loved her, too. But as soon as he began moving inside her, in and out, increasing the tempo ever so gradually, she didn’t need words any more than he did. All she needed was Will. Buried inside her. Making passionate love to her. Filling her world so completely that nothing and no one else existed.
Her release came first, in a frenzy of sensation. And then, as if her climax triggered it, his came seconds later. They moaned and shivered with pleasure. And when Will collapsed on top of her, she wrapped her arms around him, capturing him, keeping them joined as the aftershocks of release rippled through them. Minutes later, he rolled over and off her, then pulled her to his side and kissed her.
Neither of them spoke for a good while afterward. They just lay together enjoying those lethargic, sated moments after sex.
Will caressed her naked hip. “Are you okay, brown eyes?”
“I’m fine,” she said. “No, I’m better than fine. I’m wonderful.”
Will chuckled. “We’re good together. You know that, don’t you?”
“Yes, I know.”
“When we get off this damn island, I’m buying you some red panties and a red bra and we’re going to spend a week in bed at some swanky hotel, doing nothing but making love.”
“A whole week, huh?”
“Yeah, at least a week, then we’ll—”
A loud banging on the hut’s single wooden door interrupted Will midsentence.
“Will. Gwen. It’s Cheryl. Jordan sent me to get you two. The Professor is back and he’s talking crazy, saying all kinds of wild things about high priests and human sacrifices.”
“We’ll be there in a minute,” Will said.
“Hurry, will you? Jordan’s trying to calm The Professor, but he’s not having much luck.”
Will and Gwen rummaged around on the floor and the foot of the bed searching for their rumpled clothes. After gathering up their garments, they took turns hurriedly washing up, using water from a clay pitcher sitting on the hearth. They dressed and left their hut, intending to go next door to the hut Jordan and Cheryl shared. But once outside, they heard Jordan and Emery Arnell arguing, then Gwen’s father came storming out of Jordan’s hut.
“Daddy!” Gwen called to him.
He stopped and stared at her.
“What’s wrong?” She went to him, took his hands in hers and forced a smile, hoping to reassure him. “Please, tell me what’s going on.”
Jordan and Cheryl emerged from the hut, but didn’t approach Emery. Will glanced at Jordan who shook his head.
“Jordan refuses to believe me. He thinks I’ve lost my mind,” Emery said.
“I’m sure that’s not true.” Gwen glanced at Jordan. “Please, tell my father that you don’t think he’s crazy.”
“I didn’t say he was crazy,” Jordan said. “I told him that he was talking crazy.” Jordan focused on Emery. “Tell them what you told me. About the high priest and the human sacrifices and—”
“It’s true,” Emery said, his eyes wild. “Sebak told me. There are villages all over the island, but high atop the mountain is a city where the high priest lives, along with his scholars and an elite brigade. Although the villagers are kind to visitors from the outside world, the high priest orders outsiders to be killed. He will not let them leave the island.”
They all listened as The Professor rambled on. His tale of the sacred Eshe plant, human sacrifice, a diabolical high priest and a murderous elite brigade seeming far-fetched. But the more Will listened, the more convinced he became that Emery Arnell was telling the truth, that Sebak had shared this crucial information with him.
When Emery finished talking, he leaned against the hut, obviously exhausted. Gwen put her arm around her father and hugged him.
“I believe him.” Gwen glared at the others.
“So do I,” Will said.
“Have you both lost your minds?” Jordan asked.
“There’s one way to find out,” Will told them. “I’m going to speak to Sebak. If what Dr. Arnell has told us is true, we need to get off this island as soon as possible. Today.”
“No!” The Professor cried, “I will not leave without a sample of the Eshe plant.”
“Then you stay here and risk your life,” Will told him. “The rest of us are leaving today. We’d be better off floating around in the Atlantic, hoping to be rescued, than waiting here on this island, knowing we were going to wind up as human sacrifices.”
“I agree with Will even though I wanted to find this island so desperately,” Jordan said. “But if Sebak backs up The Professor’s story, then we must leave the island today.”
Will looked at Gwen. “Talk to your father. Make him see reason. I’m going to find Sebak.”
Before the sun rose high overhead, Will returned and gathered everyone together, including Mick McGuire, inside his and Gwen’s hut. His gaze went around the room, studying each person for a brief moment.
“Dr. Arnell was telling the truth,” Will said. “Sebak thinks we will be safe here for a few days, possibly another week or two, but the longer we are on the island, the greater the odds that the high priests’ elite brigade will discover that we’re here. If there was only one of us, it would be easier for them to hide us. But there are six of us.”
“Then I say we leave the island as soon as possible.” Jordan glanced at Emery.
“Leaving here sounds good to me,” Mick said. “But just how do you propose we do that? Our cruiser was destroyed in the storm and you said your boat’s motors aren’t working.”
“Sebak told me that my boat will take us to safety. He explained that when the high priest lifts the cloaking spell from around Umi, that act creates freak storms and disrupts everything within a hundred miles around the island. It’s some sort of weird magnetic field. Sebak feels certain that the Footloose’s engines will work now. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s our only hope.”
“And you believe this crap?” Cheryl asked.
“I’m going to take the lifeboat that Gwen and I left on shore, row back to the Footloose and check the engines myself,” Will told them.
“Won’t that be dangerous?” Gwen looked at him with great concern.
“How do we know you won’t make it to the boat, find out the engines are working and go off and leave us?” Mick got right up in Will’s face.
Will tapped Mick in the chest, warning him to move back, which Mick did. “I’d like to leave your sorry ass here on Umi and let the high priest’s elite brigade take care of you, but there’s no way in hell I’d leave the others.” Will looked directly at Gwen. “I’d die before I’d leave you behind. You know that, don’t you?”
Gwen’s heart lurched, tightened by a combination of joy and sorrow. How did she tell him that she couldn’t leave her father, who would not leave Umi without a sample of the Eshe plant?
“I trust you,” Jordan told Will. “Is there anything I can do to help you?”
“Just look after Gwen while I’m gone.”
“I can take care of myself,” she said.
“In our world, you probably can,” Will told her. “But not on Umi. I’ve told Sebak where I’m going and that I’m leaving my woman under Jordan’s protection. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I understand, and I’m sorry that I let my feminist instincts surface,” Gwen said. “You have enough to worry about right now. I promise that while you’re gone I’ll behave myself and not get in any trouble.”
“I won’t leave here without samples of the Eshe plant.” Dr. Arnell spoke up loud and clear, reiterating his intentions.
Gwen patted his hand. “Now is not the time to discuss this, Daddy. First, Will has to make sure the Footloose’s motors are working. Once he does that, we can make plans to leave.”
“As long as you understand—all of you—that I must have samples of the plant to take with me,” Dr. Arnell said.
Picking up his backpack, Will motioned to Gwen, who followed him outside the hut. He cupped her chin between his thumb and forefinger, then kissed her. “While I’m gone, don’t take any chances. And do your best to keep your father from going off half-cocked.”
He kissed her again, then strapped his knapsack to his back and headed toward the road that would take him through the jungle back to the beach. Gwen stood and watched him until he disappeared from sight.
Cheryl came up beside her. “You’re in love with him, aren’t you?”
“Oh, yes. I’m most definitely in love with him.”
“What are you going to do?”
“About what?”
“About choosing between your father and the man you love. The Professor won’t leave this island without a sample of the Eshe plant, and Will Pierce won’t leave this island without you.”