Chased Distance: A Novella (WLW)

Preface: August 19th, 1852, Qualla Boundary, North Carolina

!!!My novels are completely off-limits to any adaptations and if plagiarized, you will be reported!!!

Ensley ran as fast as her short legs would carry her toward the only thing she could discern in the distance that wasn't trees and grass, wheezing as her side split and cried for her attention. Resettling the babe in her arms, she checked her torso as she continued onward, finding blood coating her petticoat and moaning at what little time she had left. She had to get the child to safety. If ever she was to be reunited with her father, her family, Ensley had to get help if not for herself, then for the little one.

She glanced down at the wailing babe and shushed her, hoping they wouldn't be spotted by the very things that chased them. Ensley peeked back over her shoulder and groaned as she realized the two men from earlier were still hot on her heels, but didn't slow her labored trod. She tucked the baby into her chest and barrelled through the last of the forest trees. Once she emerged, she released a breath of relief as she surmised her previous assumptions were correct and eyed a large stone wall past a clear field.

However, as soon as she began running across the grass, she felt her legs growing weaker, as if someone was literally draining her energy and faster by the moment. Ensley had but one goal: Get the child to safety. She kept repeating it in her mind as her feet slowed and she fell to her knees, refusing to cease her journey. A wall stood only about three yards away and she could make it. She knew she could. She had to make it and find someone to protect the little one no matter the cost.

Ensley slouched forward and kept the babe tight against her chest as she crawled along the warm grass, but could feel the last of her stamina drifting to the blades below.

"Howdy, Ensley!"

As she heard a familiar tone call from behind herself, she peeked back over her shoulder and found one of the two men chasing her emerging from within the woods. His fellow associate came out behind him and they stared at her from across the field, their malicious intent pervading across the clearing and blasting her square in the chest with its potency. Ensley shivered and turned back around as she heard them progressing on her even and she finally made it to the stone wall. Although, they never made it that far.

"Back!" A man in a baritone voice called as he leapt over the wall, grabbing an arrow from the quiver hanging on his back. He wracked it along his bow and aimed it past her at the men who chased her dog-tired into the night. As she tried keeping her eyes open, Ensley turned over and fell flat onto her back, keeping the child snugly in her arms as the last of her strength left her. "Stay back!"

The Qualla Native was quickly joined by two other men and a woman, all aiming their various weapons right at the men who were now slowing their plod.

"Out of the way, ya damn redskins! That woman's ours!" One of the Caucasian men pursuing Ensley fussed as he pulled his pistol from its holster, but got no further.

An arrow was flown into his shoulder and he released a yelp as his pistol plummeted to the Earth below. As his partner jogged to his side, Ensley felt a hand on herself and craned her neck to look at its owner, finding a compassionate gaze sent back her way. Her body ran cold, but she couldn't let it, nor the wailing of the man who chased her smother her determination.

"Leave!" One of the native men yelled in a booming voice that Ensley was surprised didn't shatter the wall behind them.

Eventually, the Caucasian men turned around and began their slow trod away, but not without a few last parting words. "We will be back, Ensley, and we will take you and the child."

With that, they jogged back toward the woods and disappeared within, prompting Ensley to glance at her saviors once more. "Pl-Please... The... Th-The child..." She stuttered as she felt a warm liquid oozing from between her lips, yet kept her gaze with the woman kneeling at her head. "Safe... K-Keep her...s-safe..."

As all her stamina left her, Ensley fell back once more and the woman at her head grasped the baby. She carefully cradled her in her arms, examining her face as she brushed some of the blood strewn on her tiny cheek. Sitting flat atop the ground, the woman angled the little one close toward Ensley and she felt her breath slowing. She knew what would come next and as much as she wished to stay, she'd fulfilled her duty. She had kept the child safe. Alive.

With her last breath, wheezing her words as if they were the wind itself, Ensley muttered the last sentence that would ever leave her lips as she watched the sleeping babe. "Bethany...keep h-her sa...fe..."