Savage Courage

by Cassie Edwards

  As his shotgun struck the ground, the impact caused it to fire. Mountain Jack was shot full in the chest.

  “No, no . . .” Mountain Jack said, crumpling to his knees. He rested there for a moment, staring from Shoshana to Storm, then fell over face forward, dead.

  Shoshana looked quickly around as the others, awakened by the gun’s blast, came running, weapons in hand. Their eyes were wide with fear, especially Dancing Willow’s.

  Storm noticed a beaver scurrying away, oblivious to what it had caused by having made so much noise as it scurried through the brush.

  Storm smiled at Shoshana, then drew her into his embrace. He felt how hard she was trembling. “That evil man is finally, truly dead,” he said, stroking her back. “My wife, he will never trouble us again.”

  “I can’t believe he was able to threaten us again,” Shoshana murmured, clinging to him. “I thought Colonel Hawkins would make certain of that.”

  “Mountain Jack was skilled at deception. He was able to fool everyone into believing he was dying,” Storm said from across Shoshana’s shoulder. He spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear as they gathered around, their eyes on the dead man. “He escaped and found his way here, although I am certain we were the last people he wanted to come across. He was a fool not to travel onward when he saw our camp, but the need for revenge kept him here.”

  He looked toward the spot where the beaver had disappeared. “It was a beaver that got the best of Mountain Jack tonight,” he said, laughing low.

  Shoshana gazed up at Storm. “A beaver?” she said, eyes wide.

  “It was a beaver that startled Mountain Jack into turning around,” Storm said. “I imagine he thought it was the panther coming to finish what it had started. He didn’t know that the panther was dead.”

  “In a sense, the panther did finalize its kill,” Shoshana said, shivering at the thought. “It was fear of that panther that killed Mountain Jack.”

  Storm turned and gazed at the scalp hunter’s body again, then looked over at Shoshana. “But enough about Mountain Jack,” he said. “Although it is night, I would like to start for home. I do not think this is the place a woman carrying my child should be.”

  “Yes, take me home,” Shoshana said, sighing.

  “Did we hear right?” Dancing Willow asked as she stepped up to Storm and Shoshana. She gazed with a strange expression at Shoshana. “Are . . . you . . . with . . . child?”

  “Ho, my ish-tia-nay is with child!” Storm said proudly, causing his men to smile.

  He tried to ignore the bitterness he saw in his sister’s eyes, for he now knew that nothing would ever make her accept Shoshana. He just hoped that she would never carry her jealousy too far again. If she did, he knew what he would have to do.

  Banish her!

  He placed a gentle hand on Shoshana’s belly. “And I will do everything within my power to protect our child . . . to protect my wife,” he said thickly. He spoke three names. “You three ride with us tonight. The rest stay. Tend to this man’s body, and protect our horses. Start for home tomorrow with the new horses at first daylight.”

  Everyone agreed, but Dancing Willow stamped away. Shoshana ignored her.

  She was so glad to be on her horse alongside Storm as they made their way toward home. She was still trembling from what had happened.

  But she knew that the terror of the attack had not harmed her child. She was determined not to allow anything to get in the way of her having Storm’s son, especially not Dancing Willow!

  Yes, she thought to herself, smiling. This child she was carrying was a son.

  She thought of her mother. She hoped that Fawn would live long enough to hold her grandson in her arms. In some way she felt it would make up for the years Fawn had been separated from her daughter.

  “I’m so anxious to be home,” Shoshana said. “Except for our journey to Canada, I don’t plan to go on any more outings like this. I am ready to be a wife who tends to wifely things.”

  “And then motherly things,” Storm said, smiling at her. “My wife, you make this husband very happy and proud.”

  “That is my mission,” Shoshana said, smiling softly. “I have never felt more feminine than I do now.”

  “You could never be anything less,” Storm chuckled.

  They rode onward in silence, and soon morning began to break along the horizon.

  “We are soon home,” Storm said, nodding. “Ho, soon . . .” Shoshana murmured, yet something made her suddenly uneasy.

  She could not put her finger on what it was. She just had a strange sense of dread. . . .

  Chapter Thirty

  Can I see a falling tear,

  And not feel my sorrow’s share?

  —William Blake

  Riding up the familiar pass, Shoshana recognized that she was close to the stronghold. She was sorely tired, and after she went to her mother and hugged her, she would sleep the rest of the day.

  She had her baby to protect.

  She sat up straight again in her saddle when she caught a movement at her right side, where something had slithered into a loose pile of rocks. It was chunky and striped and very fast.

  “That is a marbled salamander,” Storm said, noticing it. “With fall so near, most salamander females will be seeking out sheltered nooks. As summer gives way to fall, these salamanders breed. The salamander we just saw is not seeking safety in the rocks. It will travel on down the mountain and when it finds a low-lying swale in the forest, it will lay clusters of up to one hundred eggs in dry leaf litter, or under a rotting log, then wait for the water to come.”

  “What water?” Shoshana asked, always amazed at Storm’s knowledge of nature.

  “Rain water,” Storm said. “As fall rains fill these low depressions, rising water inundates the eggs. They hatch and within days are on the prowl, seeking out tiny aquatic animals. Months later, when spotted salamanders, wood frogs, and other spring-bred amphibians arrive at the pools, the marbled salamanders are months old and far ahead of the competition.”

  “How do you know these things?” Shoshana asked, eyes wide.

  “My grandfather and my father taught me many things I am certain white fathers do not know to tell their children,” Storm said softly.

  “Please be the teacher to our children that your grandfather and father were to you,” Shoshana said, then gazed quickly ahead when she heard a horse approaching down the narrow pass.

  She soon saw that it was one of Storm’s warriors who had stayed behind at the village to keep watch on the band. Storm did not completely trust Colonel Hawkins to leave his people alone.

  Would Mountain Jack’s escape bring the soldiers up the mountain in search of the evil man? After Mountain Jack died, Shoshana had thought it might be best to take his body back to Fort Chance in order to prove that he was dead. Then the soldiers would have no need to search for him.

  But Storm and Shoshana had chanced going there once. A second time might prove deadly.

  They had decided to leave the body for the soldiers to find when they came looking for him.

  “Who is that coming toward us?” Shoshana asked, drawing rein just as Storm stopped to await the warrior’s approach.

  “This warrior is called Two Wings,” Storm said, nodding a welcome to the warrior.

  “What takes you away from the stronghold?” Storm asked the warrior, whose eyes went to Shoshana and lingered there.

  “From our lookout I saw you coming up the pass,” Two Wings said. “I chose not to wait for the signal of your arrival.”

  “And why did you decide that?” Storm asked. “What do you have to say that could not have waited until we arrived?”

  “I have sad news,” Two Wings said thickly, his eyes sliding over to Storm, then back to Shoshana.

  Shoshana’s heart skipped a beat. The face of her mother flashed before her eyes.

  “Tell us, then,” Storm said, drawing the warrior’s eyes back to him.

  “It is No Name, who
m we now know as Fawn,” Two Wings said, his voice drawn. “She passed on to the other side peacefully in her sleep, a smile on her face.”

  “No!” Shoshana choked out, tears spilling from her eyes.

  She was heartbroken over the news, yet she had been half expecting it.

  But it seemed so unfair that she had only recently been reunited with her mother, only to lose her again. But this time she was truly gone. There would be no chance meetings again, not until Shoshana joined her in the sky.

  Storm saw how the news had devastated Shoshana. He reached over and wrapped his arms around her, lifting her over to his horse and onto his lap.

  He held her close as she sobbed and buried her face against his chest.

  “It is unfair,” he said to her, as though he had read her thoughts. “But I urge you to look at what happened in another way. Fawn has not been well for some time now, yet she lived long enough to be reunited with you, Shoshana, her daughter. And did you not hear what Two Wings said? Your mother died with a smile on her face—a smile of happiness over having gotten to see and be with her daughter before she took her last breaths of life.”

  “Yes, I know,” Shoshana sobbed out. “I know how wonderful it was that we spent time together again after having been separated for so long, but—”

  “My wife, your reunion was, in itself, a miracle,” Storm said softly. “That Fawn survived when so many others died on that terrible day, that she had the will to survive until she held her daughter one last time, is a miracle. She went happily, Shoshana, peacefully in her sleep. She is in the sky even now, gazing down at you with a smile.”

  “Yes, it was a blessing that we were together again, if only for a short while,” Shoshana said, wiping tears from her eyes as she gazed up at Storm. “I will bury my mother without feeling resentment or regret, without feeling cheated.”

  To herself, Shoshana was thinking how glad she was that she had revealed to her mother that she was pregnant before she died. Her mother at least knew that, although she would never get the chance to hold the child in her arms.

  But yes, her mother would be watching from the heavens. She would see, and Shoshana would feel her mother’s presence everywhere she went.

  “I am all right now,” Shoshana murmured. She inhaled a deep, quavering breath. “I am ready to go to my mother and help prepare her for burial. I know that your customs vary from those I have learned in the white community. Will you please teach me what is right for the burial of my mother?”

  “I will teach you as I help you,” Storm said, then placed her back in her own saddle.

  With Two Wings riding ahead of them, Storm and Shoshana traveled onward in silence. When they reached the stronghold, Shoshana went to her mother’s lodge and dismounted.

  A young brave came and took her horse away. Then Shoshana went inside where their shaman, White Moon, was kneeling beside her mother’s bed of rich pelts and blankets.

  A soft fire burned in the firepit. There was a smell of sage in the air, intermingled with other scents that Shoshana did not recognize.

  When White Moon saw Shoshana standing there, he rose slowly to his feet.

  He went to Shoshana and gently embraced her. “She went softly into the night,” he murmured. “She is now where there is no pain or heartache. She is with those who have gone on before her.”

  He gave her one last hug, then left the tepee.

  Tears streaming from her eyes, Shoshana knelt down beside her mother. She noted how peaceful she looked, and that she did have a soft smile on her lips.

  Her hair had been unbraided and brushed. She wore her loveliest doeskin dress, which displayed her own fancy beadwork.

  Vermilion had been placed on her face, and her hands lay with twined fingers across her bosom.

  “Ina, oh, Mother, I missed you so much through the years, and now I am forced to live with missing you again,” Shoshana sobbed, gently stroking her mother’s hand, which was cold to the touch. “But these past days were wonderful, Ina. Memories were made for me to cling to until the day I join you in the sky.”

  She wiped tears from her eyes with her free hand and smiled down at her mother, whose eyes were peacefully closed. “I am so glad that I shared the news with you about the coming child,” she said softly. “I can feel in my heart and in my soul that I am with child. I need not count out the days until I see that another monthly flow has failed to come. This babe’s heart will beat within me just as mine beat in your body those long years ago. Ina, I shall cherish being a mother. And I will always keep you alive inside my children’s hearts and minds. I will tell them all about you so that they will actually be able to see you as if they had known you.”

  Storm came into the lodge and knelt down beside Shoshana. “Are you all right?” he asked, sliding a comforting arm around her shoulders. “Is this too hard for you to bear?”

  “It’s hard, but I shall make it all right,” Shoshana murmured. “Ina is still with me, you know.” She placed a hand over her heart. “In here, Storm. She will live on here until the day I die.”

  “Ho, that is as it should be,” he said. “I urge you to rest before starting the task of preparing your mother for burial. I shall send for White Moon again. He can sit with her.”

  “To-dah, I shall do it,” a voice said from behind them.

  Shoshana and Storm turned. They were both surprised to see Dancing Willow standing in the entranceway. “Sister, it is you?” Storm said, rising. “How did you get here so quickly? Did you not wait to travel with the rest?”

  “I dreamed, my brother, a dream that awakened me abruptly. After that I came on ahead of the others,” Dancing Willow said, entering and kneeling down beside Storm.

  She looked past Storm at Shoshana. “Shoshana, I dreamed of your mother’s passing,” she murmured. “I knew that you would arrive home and find her gone. I came to be with you . . . to help you, for I am truly sorry about your mother. I am sorry for what you must be going through. I, too, lost a mother. I know the sorrow that fills the heart at such a loss.”

  Shoshana was uncertain how to feel about what Dancing Willow was saying. Her sister-in-law had taken a risk, coming ahead of the others despite the dangers of traveling alone. There was more than one panther on this mountain.

  Shoshana was touched by the effort she’d made to return to the stronghold. She rose and went to Dancing Willow. She held out her arms for her.

  Dancing Willow rose. They embraced.

  Storm looked on, feeling good about what he was witnessing. It seemed that his sister had finally gotten past her jealousy. There was no false note in what she said today.

  He believed that Dancing Willow was finally ready to be Shoshana’s friend, and a sister that Storm could again admire, be proud of, and love.

  “I am so sorry about all that I have done to make you uncomfortable as my brother’s wife,” Dancing Willow murmured. “I shall never again behave unkindly toward you.”

  “I believe you,” Shoshana murmured, then stepped away from her. “You said that you dreamed of my mother’s death. Dancing Willow, I ofttimes have had dreams, too, that came to pass. Sometimes I feel that it is a blessing, yet other times I don’t. Do you feel blessed to have such dreams?”

  “Ho, I do,” Dancing Willow said, nodding. “Those of us who dream are blessed. It is a miracle to dream of what is yet to come.”

  Shoshana turned and gazed down at her mother. “I dreamed often about finding my mother before it finally happened,” she said softly. “I shall . . . never . . . forget those dreams, nor the eagle that was a part of them.”

  “You dream of eagles, too?” Dancing Willow asked, bringing Shoshana’s eyes back to her.

  “Ho, I have, often,” Shoshana murmured.

  “Does it have large, golden eyes that seem to talk to you, and does it have large, golden talons?” Dancing Willow asked, her eyes searching Shoshana’s.

  Shoshana was amazed by what Dancing Willow had just revealed to her. It did seem th
e same eagle visited each of their dreams.

  Knowing this made Shoshana feel a sudden close bond to her husband’s sister.

  Storm came to them and hugged them both. “My big sister, my wife,” he said softly. “It is good to see that you two are becoming friends.”

  He held them away from him and looked at them one at a time, then smiled. “I believe you are going to be even more than friends,” he said, then took Shoshana’s hand. “Come, my wife. We must get you in your bed of blankets so that you can rest. Tomorrow is another day, and one that will be especially trying for you.”

  “Do go ahead and rest,” Dancing Willow said, coming once again to embrace Shoshana. “I shall sit vigil at your mother’s side. I shall be here until you come to prepare her for burial. Then, too, I shall be here for you. I shall help you.”

  “Thank you, Dancing Willow,” Shoshana said, flinging herself into her sister-in-law’s arms. “It is so good to know this wondrously generous side of you.”

  “Soon you will know all of my sides,” Dancing Willow said, laughing softly. She stepped away from Shoshana. “Little brother, see to my sister, will you?” she said, smiling at him.

  Shoshana felt the closeness of having been called Dancing Willow’s “sister” like a warm embrace. She smiled a thank you to her over her shoulder as Storm whisked her away.

  Shoshana took one last look at her mother before going outside with her husband.

  “It will be so hard tomorrow,” she said, tears again shining in her eyes.

  “Saying a final good-bye is always hard,” Storm said, taking her into their lodge. “But remember this, Shoshana: your mother died happy.”

  Shoshana moved into his arms. She clung to him as she began to cry again. She would get the tears shed today so that tomorrow she could be brave and strong in Storm’s people’s eyes as she went through a day that surely would tear at her heart.

  She knew this to be true, for she had already buried one mother. It would be no easier burying the other. She would cling to her memories of both, all of which were precious.