Apache Protectors: Running Wolf Part 18

"No," said Raven.

She glanced out at the waving gra.s.s and the storm-filled skies. "Sometimes in the wind I hear the calling of my little boy. I know my husband has guided him to the Spirit World and that they wait for me there."

"That's enough of that talk. We go," said Wren. "They will be coming for us now."

The women looked back, but instead of the warriors in pursuit they saw low black clouds sweeping across the plain in their direction.

"Rain?" said Snake.

Wren shook her head and drew her baby, still bound in his cradle board, even closer. "That does not look like rain."

"Snow?" asked Snake.

Wren nodded. "Perhaps it will cover our trail."

"Everyone up. We ride," said Raven. But she knew it was hopeless. The storm was too big and too fast. Soon she felt the sting of hail pound down upon them.

The hail grew to the size of her thumbnail. When it reached the size of a thrush's egg, she called another halt. They picketed the horses in a circle and the women all crouched on the ground beneath the buffalo robes for protection. The hail beat down upon them. From the edge of the robe Raven could see the white hailstones bouncing upon the ground and piling up upon one another.

When the hail finally slowed, they threw back the robe to find themselves surrounded by a Sioux raiding party. Little Deer screamed and Snake wept. Mouse turned to Raven and asked for her knife.

"Better to die here than there," she said, but Raven did not give it to her.

"Perhaps they will only return us to their village," said Wren.

"And perhaps they will only cut off our feet," said Mouse.

"Or send us all to the common women's lodge," said Wren. "Oh, I should have stayed with Pretty Cloud."

The men moved quickly. Raven knew their faces, but was surprised not to see any of the warriors she knew. These were the younger men, anxious to count coup and earn the rights a.s.sociated. Did they not even warrant the attention of the senior men?

No, she knew those men had feasted and danced after their victory against her people. They would not go chasing after a few missing women.

Raven did not run, but waited with the others as their wrists were tied before them and they were placed on the horses they had stolen. The ride back to the tribe took less time than their outward journey. Raven was ashamed to see that she had carved a half circle, instead of the straight line she had intended.

The warriors announced them with cries of triumph echoed by the boys who shook their fists as they pa.s.sed. What would happen now?

It was not until they reached the council tent that they were cut down and the horses led away. They were left outside the council tent in the mud to await their fate.

They watched the warriors come and go from the council tent. She watched Running Wolf exit the tent. He stopped and stared at her for a long time. Was that disappointment or fury? She could not tell from his grim countenance. But she recalled his warning on that star-filled night. If she ran, he could not protect her. The council now held their fate. Running Wolf turned and walked away.

"I will see my husband soon," said Mouse.

"Yes," said Raven. "Perhaps."

"Your mother waits for you there?"

Raven nodded, knowing in her heart that she was not ready to die. But this was not up to her. It was up to the circle of men now sitting warm and snug in their lodge, while their captives, wet and s.h.i.+vering, awaited their decision.

None came.

Finally Running Wolf appeared again and ordered the warriors on guard to take them to the tent of the common women. He told them to separate Raven and put her in the tent where a woman stayed when she had broken her link with the moon. She noticed as they were taken away that no man touched her, and she understood because they thought she bled.

Running Wolf was still trying to protect her, and though she did not appreciate being separated from the others, the knowledge that he still cared warmed her a little.

Later, as she lay wet and isolated in the dark, wrists still bound, she listened to Snake's baby cry in the night and then another voice crying and then another. Raven cried, too, quietly, alone in the night, while she waited and waited.

Chapter Seventeen.

Running Wolf sat before his mother's lodge. He felt sick to his stomach and sick at heart. She had run. Hadn't he told her that he could keep her with him? That he could marry Spotted Fawn and she would live with them. In time she might even have become part of the tribe.

Now she had done this stupid, selfish thing.

But it wasn't selfish. He knew that. She had done all she could, risked everything, to bring the other captives home.

If she had been selfish, she would have taken her horse and run. He doubted that even he could have caught her, for he had seen her ride.

Now what was he do?

Big Thunder arrived and sat beside him on the buffalo-skin rug he rested upon.

"Red Hawk is still calling for their lives," he said.

Running Wolf sagged. "Are they considering this?"

Big Thunder lifted his eyebrows as if the answer was obvious. "She stole the chief's horse."

"He can't ride it."

"He plans to have it killed when he dies so he can bring it along to the Spirit World."

Running Wolf knew of only one other warrior who'd asked that his horse be slaughtered at his death. Most men were content to wait for their horse to arrive, or they had a quirt or dance stick made with the hair of a favorite mount and that was sewn inside the buffalo robe with them before they were placed on the scaffold. Often their favorite horse's mane and tail was cut short so their mount could mourn with the tribe.

Running Wolf started to rise. "I have to go speak with them again."

Big Thunder pressed him back down. "Wait until he leaves. You two cannot be at the same council fire together."

"I was polite."

"You were gnas.h.i.+ng your teeth. If you keep on like this people will think you are crazy, or worse, bewitched by one of the captives." He gave Running Wolf a pointed look. "If any say such a thing again and others believe him, then none will listen to your words."

Running Wolf sank to the buffalo robe. "Has anyone said such a thing?"

"He has never stopped saying this. I said he was still mad because she unseated him. He was furious at me for that. But I said that you are protecting women, as we should all do, and that his actions seemed vengeful."

"And you have made an enemy of a man who may be chief."

"If he is elected, I will go and join the Crow," said Big Thunder.

That almost made Running Wolf smile.

"He has to talk himself out soon. The council is getting restless and wants him to give up the talking stick. I say, let him talk. It is the best way to see he never becomes chief. He is making everyone grumpy because they are getting hungry and stiff from sitting."

Running Wolf glanced at the sky that was changing fast from pink to blue. The captives had been returned early this morning.

"Has anyone fed the captives?"

"I don't know."

Running Wolf stood and poked his head in the lodge where his mother worked on a supper for them both. He asked her to bring the women food. She seemed as if she would refuse, but after a long silence, she rose and gathered pemmican from their stores.

She kept her voice low, so as not to embarra.s.s him before Big Thunder. "This is a time for putting food aside for the starving moon. Not a time to give away what we have."

"I will hunt again before then," Running Wolf a.s.sured.

Big Thunder walked part of the way with them.

"Will you tell me when he leaves the council?" asked Running Wolf, anxious for another chance to push for leniency.

Big Thunder nodded and cut toward the council lodge while Running Wolf followed his mother.

They stopped before the lodge of common women, but she refused to enter. That left Running Wolf to bring them the food and water. The young guards looked horrified that his own mother would leave him to feed bleeding women. Both were still without their first coup and anxious to show their strength. He was their war chief, after all, and such a task was demeaning to say the least.

"A mother can make a man do what no other man would ever expect," said Running Wolf. "The same can happen with a wife or daughter."

"I'm never getting married, then," said Living Elk, watching Running Wolf's mother disappear.

"Do not say that. You'll insult his mother," said Spotted Horse.

"Are they still tied?" asked Running Wolf.

Spotted Horse looked to Living Elk, who nodded.

"Come help me, then."

Living Elk preceded him inside and freed each woman so they could eat. Afterward Running Wolf walked with Living Elk the twenty paces to the separate smaller lodge where Mouse usually lived.

"Did you go in there?" asked Running Wolf. And better still, how would he get a moment alone with her?

"We just opened the flap and tossed her in."

And she had been lying alone and bound all day.

Running Wolf turned to Living Elk. "Tell Spotted Horse to watch the lodge of common women while you go and get me the hide of a wolverine."

"Wolverine? Why?"

Running Wolf exhaled his frustration. He was not accustomed to being questioned, and Living Elk realized his mistake. He turned to go but Running Wolf told him to stop.

"You can touch a woman who bleeds if you do it with the hide of a wolverine. Didn't you learn that?"

He shook his head.

He likely hadn't because Running Wolf had just made the entire thing up so he could be alone with Raven, whom he knew did not bleed. He'd chosen a wolverine because they were nearly impossible to trap, and so the furs were extremely scarce. It might take Living Elk a while to find what his war chief needed.

"I will find one," promised the young man. Then he set off toward the other lodge, presumably to speak to Spotted Horse.

Running Wolf bowed his head in shame. This woman had made him a liar. Still, he waited until he had ducked around the larger tepee before lifting the flap and entering the hovel of a lodge. The interior smelled of human sweat and musk and blood. His nostrils wrinkled and for just a moment he considered backing out, for though he knew Raven did not bleed, this place was soiled with the blood of other women, and he wondered if this might steal his power.

His hand went automatically to his throat and the medicine bundle that protected him in raids and battles. Then he called out to Raven.

"Here," she whispered.

He found her in an instant, struggling to rise, as she was still tied hand and foot. By feel he reached the bonds at her ankles and sliced through them. Next he cut the ones that held her wrists. She toppled against him.

"My legs and hands are asleep," she murmured.

He rubbed the blood back into them and fought the urge to sling her over his back and run for the horses. She could escape. He knew he could save her. And if he did this, all would know it was he who had let her go.

He would lose his place as war chief. He would forfeit any chance of succeeding Iron Bear. But he would still be a warrior of the Sioux. He could still serve the next chief and fight his people's enemies. Was she worth the cost?

Raven stretched her legs and then flexed her hands. He drew her into his arms and held her and she rested against him.

"I am sorry," she said.

"Why did you go? I told you I would take care of you. I told you we could be together."

"Yes. But what of my people? What about the ones who are not adopted by the Sioux? Little Deer will be made a common woman any day and Mouse and Snake are already ones. What of Stork, her son? Will he be a warrior someday?"

He knew that the baby was half Sioux, but he was also half Crow. Where did such a boy belong?

"He would be accepted by your tribe?" he asked.

"His mother is Apsalooke, so he is Apsalooke. The Black Lodges tribe will welcome him and teach him to be a man."

Running Wolf knew Stork would never join this tribe, and if Running Wolf did not do something to stop Red Hawk's efforts, they would all be put to death.

"These women are not your responsibility," said Running Wolf, feeling as though he was talking to himself.

"They are. Can't you understand? They are my tribe. They asked me to help them. How could I refuse? And although I have failed them, if I have the chance again I would still give everything I have to save them."

She shamed him, for he knew he did not have the love in his heart for his tribe that this woman held for hers.