Apache Protectors: Running Wolf Part 23

What was happening?

Someone pressed her hand down. She stared up at the stranger walking beside her. She glanced behind her to see the hindquarters of a horse, walking along, dragging her upon a travois. She tried to recall what had happened but it was fuzzy.

She had been waiting for something.

Death, she recalled.

But this was not the Way of Souls. She looked at the woman again. She had cut her hair short and her face and arms were black.

"She's awake," said the woman, and Raven recognized the voice. It was Wren, the one who lived with the old woman, Pretty Cloud.

Another woman stepped into view-Snake, she realized. Where was Mouse? She was the one who should be riding in the travois, not Raven.

And then it came rus.h.i.+ng back. The tea, the dizziness. Mouse telling her she was going to see her husband and son.

"She tricked me," Raven said, but her tongue was thick and her words slurred.

"Get her some water," said Snake. Wren disappeared from her view. "Don't talk now. He might hear you."

"Who?" She formed the word but nothing came from her mouth. The need to sleep dragged at her but she pushed it away.

"Running Wolf. He is leading us home. But we don't know if he will continue if he finds out what she did. He might take you back. He might take all of us back."

Was she gone, then? Raven looked up at the blue sky, picturing the road of stars that could only be seen in the night sky. They took her at night, yesterday? She stared at the sun and said a silent thank-you to the dove who had tricked a raven.

Someone helped her rise and held the horn cup to her lips. She drank thirstily and felt better. Her body still seemed to be moving in slow motion, but her mind was clearing.

"The one who did this. She is gone?"

Wren nodded, fat tears rolling over the black paint on her face.

"Then I will cut my hair." She fumbled, and then found her hair cut short.

"They told us to cut it for the chief. But we are in mourning for our sister," said Snake.

"She saved my life," said Raven.

"Yes. And she left you a message," said Snake. "She made me repeat it."

Raven waited, anxious and fearful of what Mouse had said. She'd held much hate against those who had killed her husband and son. Would her last message be one of revenge?

"She said that she loves you, loves all of us, and that we should remember her as a young mother with a fat, healthy son and a good husband. That she would be that again when she crossed the Way of Souls. She said she would see us all one day, but between now and then, we should live in happiness and joy."

That caused Raven to weep. Soon they were all weeping as they walked along on a path that would take them home. Was Mouse home already?

The horses continued along through much of the afternoon. Raven wanted to get up and walk, but they insisted that she must stay hidden. When the horses stopped, she knew that this would no longer be possible.

What would Running Wolf do when he recognized her? Would he be the man who loved her or the warrior who must do his duty to his people?

Chapter Twenty-Two.

Running Wolf saw to the horses, hobbling most, staking Song and Eclipse beside the lodge the women erected with a swiftness born of experience. Then they erected a second.

It was disconcerting to see them going about the mundane ch.o.r.es of setting the camp while still in their mourning black. Firewood, water, preparing the meal. All seemed so ordinary. His circ.u.mstances were anything but.

He was commanded by his chief to take these women home and then to pursue a vision quest before returning to his people. Did he want to return?

Once he had thought all he desired was to lead his people in war and in peace. He had thought to be Iron Bear's successor. Soon the people would choose. The council of elders would make the selection, but only after consulting with wives and warriors alike. The choice was an important one, and the chief must have the support of all.

His name, he knew, would not even be mentioned. If they asked him to a.s.sume the post, he would refuse. He was too broken inside. He had made his choice. Raven over his people.

And he had lost both.

The appointed leader of the women, the one with a son, the one Raven called Snake, came to speak to him.

"We ask to remove the black from our faces and bathe in the river."

He nodded. He did not care. They would see to themselves and he would see them fed as he took them across the plains to the lakes and mountains that were the home of the Crow people.

If they had not ventured into Sioux territory, he would never have met her. His life would have gone on as before and he would have been forever blind to the kind of love that took everything and gave everything.

Would he have been better off?

He did not know. He did know that he would not have traded one minute with Snow Raven for a lifetime as the leader of his people.

The sound of splas.h.i.+ng at the river told him that the women were having their bath, scrubbing away the grease and charcoal that marked them. In time their hair would grow out as well, and there would be no outward sign of their captivity.

But inside, they were marked. He did not think it was right, taking captives. Women were not like horses, to be stolen from their homes in the night.

The screams reached him a moment later. He leaped to his feet, thrust his war club into the waistband of his leggings and scooped up his bow and quiver. He had the bow strung as the others shouted.

This time the shouts were for him. "White men! Four! Riding with rifles."

What woman had thought to tell him not only the source of the threat but their number? The voice was familiar, but that was not possible.

Running Wolf cut the tether that held Song to the picket and leaped onto her back. He rode toward the women, ready to protect them with his life.

An instant later he saw the men. All wore the dark blue uniforms of the fighting white men. Two sat on horseback on the far bank, rifles across their knees as they laughed at the half-dressed women scrambling in the opposite direction. The other two charged into the water as if hunting game.

Did they think these women had no protector?

Running Wolf notched an arrow and shot both men before they even knew he was there. Both men in the river continued toward him, advancing on the women who had reached the near bank. One reached for the closest female, still in the water-Little Deer, he realized. The second man leaned far out to grasp the other, dressed in the dress of Mouse, but not Mouse.

Running Wolf's eyes must have deceived him, because for an instant he had thought...

He gave a war cry.

The closer man pulled up, glanced back toward his fellows to find them both lying on the ground with arrows through their hearts. These whites who came to their territory were becoming more of a menace than either the Crow or Blackfoot. Running Wolf aimed at the nearer man, but the white pivoted and his horse turned as they made their retreat, so he swung his arrow to the man still advancing, still reaching for his prize.

He recognized her now. He did not know how it had happened or if he was only dreaming. But there was no doubt.

The woman in Mouse's dress was Snow Raven.

She turned toward her pursuer as Running Wolf reached for another arrow. Before he had it notched, she grasped the man's extended arm in both of hers, placed one foot on the horse's shoulder and pushed. The combination of his lean and her kick took him too far off balance. Running Wolf aimed but held fire as the white man toppled into the water with Raven. When he came up, Raven was on top of him and Wren had his rifle.

Raven rolled away and Wren danced backward with her prize. The man stood, drawing his knife. He had time to look once more at the two women before Running Wolf drove the arrow cleanly through the intruder's chest. The arrow pa.s.sed through and out the other side and the man fell backward into the water. The current took him as his horse watched his master float past.

All the women stared at him, watching, waiting. Little Deer, Snake holding her infant son, Wren and Snow Raven. He did not understand how that could be her in the dress that belonged to Mouse. Mouse had been ill, too ill to walk.

All this time, he had been dragging Raven on that travois. Which meant Mouse had taken her place and...

Now he understood the silence and the worry in their eyes. What they had done was dangerous, improper and so brave.

He stopped trying to think.

He swung down from the horse-her horse-and set aside his bow. Then he walked down the steep bank. She met him halfway.

He opened his arms to her and she clasped him about the middle. As he held her, he closed his eyes and thanked the Great Spirit for anything and anyone who had kept her here with him.

"I never thought to see you again," he whispered. His fingers raked through her thick, short hair and he laughed through the tears. "Why did you not tell me?"

"I did not know. They did not tell me, either. One moment the drums pounded and then next I woke on that travois." She drew back to look at him. "Are you not angry?"

"No. I am grateful for anything that brings you back to me."

The women gathered about them. Little Deer spoke first.

"It was Mouse's plan. She said you would forgive Raven. She knew because she said her husband would have forgiven her anything."

Snake pointed to the dead men. "What do we do with them?"

Running Wolf released Raven and then immediately dragged her to his side again. "Strip them of everything. Collect their horses and leave them for the carrion. I will scout. When I return we will travel through the night. This place is too close to the twin tracks of the wagons."

Raven started to move away but he pulled her back.

"You come with me, Little Warrior. We will scout together."

He retrieved the reins to Song and handed them to her. Then he returned to the camp to saddle Eclipse, his warhorse. Finally, he collected his lance and handed Raven his bow and quiver.

"We will have to get you your own bow soon."

Together they left the camp to search for more white soldiers.

Running Wolf thought that he had never seen Raven look so happy as when she rode her horse, unless it was when she was in his arms. They rode in a large circle, finding new wagon tracks closer to their lands than they had ever been.

"They pa.s.s through and frighten the buffalo. But I have never heard of them attacking women before," said Raven.

Running Wolf sat beside her studying the tracks from his horse. "They are becoming bold, and there are more of them. They cover the trail like ants walking in a line. Turtle Rattler said that they are building wooden lodges with high fences to the south. That does not sound like a people pa.s.sing through."

Raven looked along the twin tracks that traveled as far as she could see. "They have already built such forts in our mountains. Perhaps they are a bigger threat than our enemies."

Running Wolf considered that as wind blew through the tall gra.s.s. Night was coming and the cloudless sky promised a cold night.

"We must get back to the others. We will move north before we continue west," said Running Wolf. "Are you strong enough to travel?"

"They gave me something that made me sleep. I am well rested. But you have a lump on your head the size of a duck egg."

He c.o.c.ked his head and gave her a questioning look.

She smiled. "I felt it when you took me in your arms."

"I look forward to when we make camp again, so I can take you in my arms again."

She smiled at the promise. "That time cannot come soon enough."

He fingered the knot. "Big Thunder gave me this to keep me from coming for you."

"Thank the Great Spirit for him, then."

"Race you back to the others?" he asked.

In answer Raven pressed her heels to Song's sides and her mare leaped into a graceful gallop. He did not let her win, but he did enjoy the view as Raven and Song raced through the twilight.

They found the women packed and ready to travel. They moved slowly north, away from the white road that cut the plains. They stopped to rest when the new moon set sometime before the breaking of the dawn, and then moved forward again until they reached the cover of the woods that marked the territory disputed by his tribe and Snow Raven's. He wondered if she knew how close they were to the place where her tribe's fis.h.i.+ng camp had stood.

The lake was close, but her people would now be farther south as the cold crept over the land.

He called a halt at one of the streams that led to a great lake, and the women quickly erected the two lodges and prepared a simple meal. All ate wearily. Raven gave him a regretful look before joining the others in the women's lodge.

That was not how he had imagined their reunion when he had held her in his arms beside the river. But she was a free woman now and no longer his captive.

Perhaps she no longer loved him?

When he entered his lodge, the chill in his bones had nothing to do with the frost that covered the gra.s.s.

Chapter Twenty-Three.