White Shadows

by Susan Edwards

  “Let her go,” Winona demanded. She tried to charge Henry, but he just shoved her away.

  “You never were very brave, Jenny.”

  Jenny turned to Winona with tears streaming down her face. “Run, Winona. Get Clay—”

  Hoka Luta’s harsh voice stopped her. “I do not think so. If Winona runs, you will die,” he said, bringing his knife to her throat.

  Winona swallowed hard and stood still. Jenny’s eyes begged her to go, to save herself. She shook her head. “I will not leave you.”

  Another satisfied laugh came from Hoka Luta. “Ah, that is better. Now move. Stay in front where I can see you.”

  Knowing she had no choice, Winona did as told. She led the way, following Henry’s instructions. As they continued to climb, Winona grew more worried. “You will not get away with this. Clay will come.”

  Henry laughed. “He will not arrive in time. You two will die, and if Clay Blue Hawk comes he too will die. Your father will believe that he killed you, or that the two of you jumped to your deaths. Either by my hand or your father’s, he will die.”

  Winona continued to climb. When they reached the narrow ridge she stared down at the steep rocky slope on the other side. She swallowed her fear.

  “Why do you hate Clay? It was your father who killed his father. He was only defending his mother. You know the truth.”

  Hoka Luta stopped. “Yes, I know the truth,” he bit out.

  She had to stall him. “Then tell me. Convince me that you were justified in your actions.” She saw movement down below. To her shock, Clay stepped out of the trees directly below them.

  “Henry Black Bear!”

  Henry whipped around and used Jenny as a shield. “Clay Blue Hawk. At last. Come join us.”

  “No, Clay,” Winona cried out.

  Clay held his ground. “Let the women go. This fight is between us.”

  “Ah, Clay Blue Hawk, you are wrong. There is no fight. You will all die.” He took a couple of steps back, dragging Jenny with him.

  “Come join your sister. Prepare to die.” He held Jenny tightly before him.

  Winona knew Jenny was paralyzed with fear. That left her—she had to do something. But what? Seeing Clay starting to climb up to join them, she shook her head. “No, Clay, stay away.”

  He ignored her. Sweat shone on his chest and back and dripped down the sides of his face. He looked pale. He had to have been in pain yet when he met her gaze she only saw black anger there. Winona swallowed. If they got out of this alive, she’d have some explaining to do. She just hoped he’d forgive her.

  “Move to the edge,” Hoka Luta instructed Winona.

  She moved closer to Clay.

  Hoka Luta reached out with one hand and yanked hard on a strand of hair. “Not that way. Here. Over here.” He pointed to the opposite side with the tip of his knife.

  Winona moved slowly and stared down at the long, rocky slope. “You think I will jump?”

  Laughing, Henry nodded toward the lake on the same side of the ridge as Clay. “You will jump—and before your father arrives.”

  Seeing her father moving along the lake, Winona felt nothing but fear. All Henry had to do was get rid of them, and if Clay was still alive it would be his word against Henry’s. Clay didn’t stand a chance.

  “You will not get away with this,” she said, hoping to stall. Please, she begged the spirits. Let her father spot her alive and know the truth.

  Henry held the knife tip to Jenny’s throat “Now move. We do not have much time.”

  Winona saw Jenny’s eyes widen, then narrow. “No,” she said to Winona. “If you jump I will never forgive you. If I must die, so be it. But not you—” Her protest died when Henry yanked her head back and drew a bead of blood.

  “I can cut her throat and still shove you over. I have nothing to lose.”

  Sick to her stomach, Winona knew Jenny was right. No matter what she did, they would both die, and so would Clay. She glanced at Clay. What were they going to do? She tried to get him to meet her gaze but he kept his eyes trained on Henry.

  Where was Dream Walker? Where were his other friends?

  Where was her father? Beneath her feet she felt the rocky ground crumble.

  Seeing Eyes, White Wind and the two boys were hidden down in the trees, watching the drama unfold. Afraid, Seeing Eyes didn’t know what to do. Her husband was not here.

  He’d left the women behind to go search the lake area one more time. Seeing Eyes’s visions meant that their daughters were there, somewhere. Seeing Eyes had wanted to go with him, but he’d refused to take her. And no sooner had he been gone than another vision had come to her.

  She knew there was no time to wait for her husband to return, so she and White Wind had drugged the two warriors left to guard them. After several long hours of searching, she finally spotted the rocky ridge she’d seen in several visions.

  Beside her, Striking Thunder whispered, “I will go save them.”

  Her heart nearly stopped. “No, child. You must stay here.”

  “I can sneak close. I am small.”

  “Then what would you do, my grandson?”

  He held up his small bow. “I will shoot him.”

  “You have not shot at a man before.” She didn’t dare allow him to go. She glanced over at her daughter-in-law, who was biting her lower lip.

  The boy squared his narrow shoulders. “My aim is true. Those are my aunts. My father and grandfather are not here. It is my duty.” With that he stepped away, dodging his mother and grandmother as they tried to grab him.

  “Oh, heavens,” White Wind said. “We are going to hear of this.” She reached down to hold back her younger son. “You have no bow and arrow.”

  White Wolf looked grim. “I will go find my father and grandfather and bring them quickly.” Then he too slipped away.

  White Wind let him go. “Big trouble, my mother.”

  Seeing Eyes held her gaze. “You are right, daughter. But I am proud of my grandsons.”

  White Wind started forward. Seeing Eyes followed. “Where are you going?”

  “You do not think I am going to just sit here, do you?”

  Seeing Eyes groaned. She’d have some explaining to do, but she’d come this far. She could not just sit here and hope that her husband arrived in time to save their daughters.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Watching Henry carefully, Clay felt helpless. If he moved any closer he’d lose his sister. If he did nothing he’d lose the woman he loved—then his sister, for he had no doubt that Henry would kill them both.

  “Let them go, Henry.” He had to stall his enemy.

  Henry laughed. “Not a chance, old friend. They know too much.” Henry pulled Jenny toward the edge, where Winona stood. “If you try anything, Clay Blue Hawk, I will kill them both. If I die, so be it. But you will know that you caused the death of your sister.”

  Frustrated and afraid as never before, Clay let his gaze dart around, seeking anything that might help him. Somewhere behind him Dream Walker waited to help. But until Henry released Jenny, there was nothing anyone could do. Any abrupt move from him would force Henry to kill one if not both of the girls.

  Clay’s gaze snapped back to the ridge below Henry. He blinked once. Twice. Then a third time. Hidden in the rocks a short distance down from Henry, Clay saw a child. He quickly realized it was one of Winona’s nephews.

  He stifled a groan. Could this get any worse? He saw the small bow in the boy’s hands.

  Now he had to worry about a child trying to be a warrior.

  What kind of family did Winona have? Women and children in a war party, and small boys creeping up hills with bows and arrows? Where was Winona’s father and his warriors? Hell, where were his own warriors?

  As the boy got closer, Clay saw the look of steely determination on the boy’s face and readied himself. There was no doubt that a small arrow was going to be let loose. He caught the boy’s gaze. Wait, Clay tried to communicate.
/>   Clay shifted to the side. Henry shifted as well.

  “Not another move, Clay Blue Hawk, or I kill your bratty sister.”

  Clay froze. Satisfied, Henry took the knife from Jenny’s throat long enough to motion to Winona to jump.

  “Now!” Clay shouted at the same time that a miniature arrow flew from the bow.

  Startled, Henry jerked back, then screamed when the arrow flew into his backside. Clay moved fast. First he grabbed Jenny as she threw herself forward, then he whipped his knife from behind his back where he’d hidden it.

  “Now it is just you and me.” He noted the blood running down Henry’s leg.

  Breathing hard, Henry crouched. “You should have died.”

  Clay shrugged. “You failed.”

  Without glancing away from Henry, Clay spoke to Winona, who had scrambled away from the edge. “Take Jenny and go.”

  “I am not going anywhere,” Winona said behind him.

  “This is not the time to argue,” Clay ground out. “Take my sister to safety.”

  “No, Clay. I am not leaving you.”

  He heard a scrambling noise behind him but dared not take his eyes off Henry.

  “Your woman and sister are stubborn,” Dream Walker said from behind him.

  Clay breathed out a sigh of relief. “It is about time you showed up,” he said.

  “I saw the boy and didn’t want to disappoint by shooting first.” He paused. “He did well.”

  Clay grunted. “Take the women and get them to safety.”

  “He will not take us anywhere,” Jenny argued. She stepped to her brother’s side. “He took away our family. He took me from you. Let him die a slow death—like our family.”

  Henry licked his lips and dropped his knife. He held out his hands. “Go ahead. Kill me,” he said with a sneer.

  Clay shook his head. “Pick up your knife. We fight.”

  “No. You want to kill me, then do it.”

  “Fight me, coward.”

  Henry smiled and took a step back. “If I die, you will never know the truth. You will never know why my father killed yours.”

  Clay stalked his prey. “Your father was a coward. He killed his best friend over a damn game of cards.”

  Shifting his eyes to the side, Henry shook his head. He gave a half bark of nervous laughter. “You fool. My father killed yours because he learned that Clayton Coburn had raped my mother.” His lips twisted with hate.

  “You lie.” Clay jumped forward, grabbed Henry’s knife and tossed it. The weapon landed buried in the ground between Henry’s legs. “Pick it up.”

  “No. We are brothers. Your father is my father.” Henry held out his arms. “Can you kill your own brother?”

  Clay felt sick at the cruel joke. “You are no brother of mine.”

  Henry nodded toward Dream Walker. “Ask your good friend. He knows the truth. He will say I speak true.”

  Without taking his eyes off Henry Black Bear, Clay shook his head. “You go too far, Henry.” Henry Black Bear would soon die, and the murders of his family would be avenged.

  Dream Walker walked over and joined him, standing to one side but not between the two men. “He speaks the truth.”

  Startled, Clay glanced from Henry to Dream Walker. “You expect me to believe that this man is my brother? How is that possible? I cannot believe it.”

  “In this, your enemy speaks the truth.” Sadness tinged Dream Walker’s voice.

  Clay felt ill. Was he still sick? Weak, ready to pass out again? “If this is true, why have you never spoken of it to me?”

  “It is the truth. Just as he is your brother, sharing the same father, I am your brother.”

  “We have always been brothers, you and I. Your family adopted me. My family did not adopt him.” Frustration rose in day. He wanted to fight, not talk.

  Dream Walker shifted so he could see both men. “You do not understand. You are my blood brother. We share the same mother, while you and Henry share the same father.”

  “Impossible.” Clay’s mouth went dry.

  “My mother was caught in the sleeping mat of a trapper. Clayton Coburn. She made it clear that she wanted to go with this white man. My father let her go to him, but he refused to allow her to take me, his son, with her. I stayed behind to be raised by my father’s family. He took another wife, who then became my mother as well.”

  Dream Walker paused. “I have known the truth for many years, but you loved your father and I could not destroy your image of the man who sired you.”

  Clay was speechless. “My father loved my mother, and she him.”

  Regret filled Dream Walker’s voice. “Your father loved many women.”

  Henry’s voice turned bitter. “My father would never have learned the truth had your father kept his mouth shut. But he got drunk and taunted my father with the knowledge that he had no son while he, Clayton Coburn, had sired seven.”

  “No. This cannot be true.” Chills ran up and down Clay’s back. His father had been devoted to his mother—to all of them.

  “Oh, it is the truth. I heard it all. Your father bragged about you, your two brothers, me and two others—twins. That is why my father killed yours, then came to take your mother. He was after revenge. He was going to take her and use her the same way your father used my mother. He wanted a son. A true son.”

  Clay remembered Henry’s anger, and the crazy words that hadn’t made sense back then. He saw Henry take another step back and narrowed his eyes. “Do not move,” he warned.

  Henry waved his hands. “You were so smug. You had a father who loved you, gave you all he had. But my father refused to have anything to do with me once he learned the truth. Even after you shot my father, I nursed him back to health, but still he refused to accept me as his son. He talked about leaving. Alone. Said he had no son.”

  Henry paused. “I killed him. He had no son. I had no father.” His voice rose with fury.

  Shocked, Clay stared at the man who’d once been his best friend—an older brother. “So you killed my mother, brothers and sister, and tried to kill me.”

  Smirking, Henry took another step back. “Yes! I hated you. All of you. Even though my father killed yours, you still had each other, and I had no one.” His voice rose as he slid one foot back so his heels were over the edge.

  His mind numb, Clay lowered his arm. After all that had happened, all that had been said, what was he to do? This man was his brother, yet he’d killed Clay’s family out of bitterness and hatred—and Clay could not find it in his heart to forgive. A brother in blood Henry might be, but not in spirit or in his heart.

  Yet even as fury demanded that he avenge the deaths of his family, Clay spoke, his voice low. “You should have told me. We would have welcomed you into our family.” The word burned his throat.

  “And would you accept me now, my brother?” Scorn laced Henry’s words, even as sadness slid over his eyes.

  “No. You killed your brothers and sister, and the woman who cared for you.” Clay stepped forward. “You took your young sister and sold her and left me, friend and brother, for dead. Do not speak of family. You wanted no family then, you have no family now.”

  “Then we speak of this no more.” Henry’s eyes glittered with malice as he shifted slightly. Rock crumbled beneath his heels. “I took from you all who mattered. As your father destroyed my family, I destroyed his. Just as I take from you the right to avenge their deaths.”

  Realizing that Henry was about to end his own life and deprive him of seeking revenge, Clay lunged forward. Henry smirked and stepped out of reach.

  Winona ran to Clay and tackled him so he did not follow Henry. Jenny joined them, and together the three of them stared down at Henry’s twisted body lying among the rocks. Moments later, warriors burst through the trees and ran up the slope to stand with arrows poised at Clay and Dream Walker.

  Winona whipped around, keeping her body between her father and the man she loved. Jenny joined her. “No, do not harm
him,” she shouted to her father. Behind her, Clay tried to push past.

  “Golden Eyes, I can take care of myself.” Clay put his hands on her shoulders to move her.

  “Not if you are dead,” she muttered. She watched as her father and brother came forward.

  “Do not harm them,” she called out, staying in front of Clay. When the men in her family were several feet away, she held out her hands. “It is not as it appears,” she told her father. “Listen to what he has to say.”

  “Move aside, daughter.” Fury radiated from Hawk Eyes.

  “No—” She broke off when Clay once more tried to move her. Reaching back, she grabbed for his breechclout to hold him behind her.

  She froze when she realized she’d grabbed too low.

  “Golden Eyes, this is not the time.” Clay sounded amused. Beside him Dream Walker chuckled, and Jenny turned red.

  Winona didn’t budge or release him. If it took holding him there to keep him behind her…

  A flurry to her left drew everyone’s attention. To her surprise her mother and White Wind, along with her two nephews, ran to join them. They stood shoulder-to-shoulder with her and Jenny.

  “Wife!” The bellow came from both her father and her brother. Seeing Eyes patted Winona on the arm. “Release your man, daughter.” Her lips twitched. “He will not go anywhere.”

  Clay cursed loudly. “I need no women and children for shields,” he bellowed.

  Seeing Eyes glanced at him. “Young man, you are to marry my daughter, and you cannot do that if my husband acts rashly.”

  Hawk Eyes held up his hand. All arrows lowered. He folded his arms over his chest and glared at each woman and child and the two warriors. “Explain. Someone explain what is going on!”

  Winona felt Clay’s palms on her shoulders. “Allow me to explain, Golden Eyes.” He turned her to face him. “Trust me and your father.”

  Frowning, Winona glared up at him. “You are stubborn.” She eyed her father and brother. “And they are as well.”

  “You know me well.” Clay brushed his fingers across the back of her neck as he stepped around her and walked with Dream Walker toward her father and brother.