Hawaii - James Michener [38]
"Yes."
"Are you hurt?"
"My shoulder."
"Broken?"
"No."
"Wait for me at the canoe." He thrust her toward the shore and then caught her again, muttering, "We have come to kill your father. Do you still want to go?"
"I’ll wait at the canoe," she said. Now he heard Mato shout, "We've found him!”
"Save him for me," Teroro pleaded, swinging his club, but when he reached the prostrate figure of Tatai he saw that Pa had already killed him. Grabbing a handful of thatch from a roof he spread it about the dead man's head. "The new king of Bora Bora!” he cried derisively.
"To the canoe!" the steersman shouted.
"Not before we destroy this place!" Teroro cried, and grabbing from the woman's hand the brand by which she was inspecting her breadfruit, he swept it along the thatch of a nearby house; the rising wind ripped the flames along, and soon the sacred channel of Oro and the environs of his temple were ablaze. In this light, the men of Bora Bora retreated.
At the canoe a battle raged, only prompt reinforcement saved the craft, for one of the guardians was already dead and the other was badly wounded. As the Bora Borans drove back the attackers and leaped into the truncated canoe, Tehani ran from a clump of palms, crying, "Teroro! Teroro!"
"Traitor!" the defeated Havaiki warriors cried, already inventing an explanation that would excuse their defeat. They launched their spears and in their frustration would have killed her, except that Teroro left the canoe, leaped into the surf, and ran back to rescue her.
"We are in danger!" the steersman warned, standing the canoe out into the channel.
But Teroro continued running until he intercepted the girl and swept her into his arms. Then, dodging spears, he dashed for the beach and into the surf. He might not have made the canoe, except that Mato dived into the channel and took the girl, whose shoulder was so damaged that she could not swim. Together they lifted her into the canoe and set their course for Bora Bora, but before they had left the shadow of Havaiki, Teroro said to the girl, "We found your father."
She replied, "I know."
The return trip was one of intense excitement, marked by psychological relief at having struck a blow at Havaiki and at the just punishment of a stranger who had presumed to rule Bora Bora. And there was the ironic joy of knowing that before Havaiki could retaliate--if indeed they ever dared try--all involved would be on the open sea, far from Bora Bora.
But above all, there was great animal joy in realizing that during the strike at Havaiki, the promised storm had actually formed and that it now blew with real force, for although the unexpected strength of the westerly made the journey back to Bora Bora difficult, it also meant that the one essential requirement for a long journey to the north was at hand.
"This storm will blow for days!" Teroro assured his men.
At daybreak it became possible to turn and run before the wind safely into the lagoon, and as they reached its protection Teroro drilled his men in the story they must tell: "We took West Wind for a trial. The storm came up. We saw we couldn't get back. So we laid over in the channel at Havaiki," He repeated the sequence and added, "In this storm no one from Havaiki would dare come here with the true story."
"What about the girl?" Pa asked.
Everyone looked at Tehani, huddling wet in the hull, and it was immediately apparent, especially to Tehani, that the simplest solution to the difficulty she presented would be to knock her on the head and throw her into the storm. Pa was ready to do this, but Teroro stopped him.
"She's my girl," he said bluntly. "We'll take her to my house."
"She'll betray us."
"She won't. We'll say that while we were in the channel I went ashore to get her for the journey north."
"Do you intend taking her?" Mato asked.
"Yes. She's my girl."
"What about your wife Marama?"
"She can't bear children. She can't go."
"This one will betray us!" Pa warned.
Teroro reached down into the hull