Glory looked around. The Cheyenne were yanking up the floorboards, dragging out the old guns, reassembling them. Their dark faces looked set and grim in the moonlight that streamed bright as day through the dirty windows.
Two Arrows peered around the window jamb. “There are many sentries posted now,” he said, “marching around this barracks, ready to spread the alarm and shoot anyone who sticks his head out.”
Little Shield said, “We have our few weapons and our clubs; maybe we could overpower some sentries and take their weapons.”
Glory leaned against Two Arrows, and let him slip his arm around her. So this was what it was all going to come down to; a pitiful chance at escape when the deck was stacked against them.
“You’re trembling,” he said gently. “Are you afraid?”
“No, just cold. In your arms, I am never afraid, love.”
He held her close. “Proud One, I have done what I could for you; I’m sorry I couldn’t do more.”
She smiled at him and put the tip of her finger on his lips. “No apologies, my love. I wouldn’t trade one day of these weeks with you for a hundred years with anyone else.”
He caught her hand and kissed that fingertip. “I want you always to remember, Proud One, that whatever I did, I did for love of you.”
He was talking about kidnapping her, she thought, but his face was so grim, so tragic.
Old Dull Knife stood now, and even the children ceased their whimpering as he began to speak. “Late tonight, we will make our break. Remember, there are wooded bluffs along the creek about two miles from here. It is almost impossible to get a horse up those bluffs, so if we can reach those, we may outwit the soldiers.”
Two miles, Glory thought, two long miles through subzero temperatures, running across the snow with a full moon lighting the scene as bright as day for pursuing soldiers on horseback. To Two Arrows, she whispered, “Some of these old ones and children are too weak; they can’t make it that far.”
Old Moccasin Woman, standing nearby, seemed to hear her. “We will make it,” she said firmly, and held little Grasshopper with her china doll against her bosom, both wrapped in the wool blanket. “We will make it or die in the attempt. Listen, everyone, beyond the bluffs a few more miles, there is a big cave that few whites know. If you make it past the bluffs, go to the cave. We will be safe there while the soldiers search for us.”
Two Arrows listened to her describe the cave and nodded. “I know that place.”
Dull Knife looked around at the hungry, thirsty people. “There is nothing to do now except rest. Late tonight, when the soldiers are relaxed and most of them in bed, we will make our break for freedom. The dog soldiers, as is the custom, will cover our retreat.”
“No.” Glory shook her head, looking up at Two Arrows. “No, it’s suicide to linger, you must go with me!”
He held her very close and kissed her. “Dear one, I am a drunken Injun scout no more; I am a dog soldier, bravest of the brave. That is their tradition, that they cover the retreat, delay the enemy, at whatever cost.”
The tears came to her eyes then, and, almost, she told him her secret, but she knew it would not change his decision. “And I am a dog soldier’s woman,” she answered, “and I can die as bravely by your side.”
“Let us not talk of dying,” he whispered. “Let us talk of love and living and how it will be in the spring when the chokecherries are ripe and the new fawns are born. Let us talk of freedom and riding at a gallop across the prairies with the wolf leading us up into the Buckhorn Mountains and buffalo, thick as a great brown sea, waiting for our bows.”
Glory swallowed hard, imagining all that and wanting nothing more than to live to experience the spring with her lover. “And we will dance around the fire and eat juicy ribs,” Glory said, and forced herself not to weep. “Then we will swim naked in the river and lie out on a rock in the sun like otters to dry.”
“And when we are dry,” he said against her ear, “we will make love and then swim again, and there will be plenty of food and all the cold water we can drink.”
Around them, the Cheyenne were settling down to rest. Two Arrows put his arms around her, and they both stood looking out the dirty panes of the window. Outside, the sentries marched, looking cold and miserable, the moonlight gleaming on their brass buttons. She watched Muldoon approach a sentry, stand and talk to him. Muldoon had a deck of cards in his hand. The one sentry paused and then motioned to another.
Beside her, Two Arrows chuckled. “Muldoon thinks to help us. I would not be surprised if after a while, most of the sentries are off in a card game with that old rascal!”
The barracks around them was so quiet, she could hear the gentle breathing in the darkness.
“We need to rest if we are to escape tonight,” she said, leading him to their bunk. “Make love to me.”
They lay down, and he took her in his arms and held her very close, sheltering and warming her with his strong body. “My dear one. If only I could hold you like this always.”
“Don’t sound so final,” she murmured, and kissed him. “We’ll get out of this together; we must get out of this; I can’t lose you now.”
“You won’t lose me, Proud One,” he reassured her. “No matter what happens, I want you to remember all the times we spent together. Memories are like golden coins in a bank; you can take them out and spend them over and over again.”
“You talk as if you are going to die,” she protested. “I don’t want you to die; I’m afraid for you to die!”
“We all die, Proud One, each one of us; it is only important that we use whatever time we have, live it to the fullest. Someday, when you are an old lady with grandchildren around your knees, you will perhaps take out those gold coins and smile a little as you sift through those memories, thinking of me.”
She was crying now, she couldn’t help it. “We will leave this place together,” she insisted fiercely. “We must make it out. We can’t have come all this way only to die shot down in the snow like starving dogs!”
“Hush, sweet,” he commanded, and kissed the tears from her lashes. “You wake the others.”
“Make love to me,” she said. “Make love to me as if it were the very first time.”
“With you, Proud One, each time is as wonderful as the very first time.” He gathered her into his arms, holding her as if he would never let her go. After a long moment, she reached to touch his face, and felt the hot tears there.
Around them, others slept the sleep of the doomed and the exhausted, but time was too precious to waste on sleep when these next few minutes might have to last a lifetime.
He opened the drawstrings of her doeskin dress, pushed up her skirt. They clung to each other, kissing in the darkness as if they would never get enough of the taste of the other’s mouth and skin. His hands were warm on her body as he pressed her against the heat of him.
It was as if it were the very first time, she thought in wonder as he stroked and kissed her breasts. She remembered all over again what it had been about this virile, passionate warrior that had swept all her reason and inhibitions away.
She was glad to forget about the terror and death that awaited them outside. For an hour, time seemed meaningless, and they made volatile love as if it was both the first time and the last time, caressing each other’s bodies, kissing and exploring every summit of experience.
She tilted her body up to meet his, meeting thrust for thrust, daring him, no, challenging him to go even deeper into her hot sweetness while she dug her nails in his broad back, pulling him down into her while his mouth sucked her breasts into two points of pulsing fire.
They made it last a long, long time, and when he finally buried himself in her and gave up his seed, it was with a sweet finality as if he never expected to make love to her again. Then they lay in each other’s arms, quiet and lost in thought, content to be together. There was so much to say, and yet, nothing to say, that had not already been said.
She
didn’t want this night ever to end, knowing that death awaited some of them before morning. When she turned her head and peered out the dirty window, the full moon still lit the snow as bright as day and here and there a solitary sentry walked in the cold, the ice crunching beneath his boots. She felt the precious time slipping away in spite of everything she could do; not the richest or the most powerful could stop the sands of time, but she must try.
“Love me again,” she demanded, and arched her back, raising her hands above her head against the steel frame of the bunk, offering her breasts to him. The little beaded bracelet gleamed on one wrist in the moonlight.
He smiled in the dim light and leaned over to kiss each nipple. “Almost, you could tempt me to stay; never leave.”
“Let me tempt you then,” she said, her arms still above her head, her wrists resting against the steel of the bunk.
He caught her wrists with one big hand, holding them against the iron as he kissed her breasts. “Remember, I did this to you as a captive.”
She smiled in remembrance, liking the feel of his hard hands pinning her wrists above her head so that she was a helpless prisoner of his passion as his hot mouth kissed her breasts. “Keep doing that,” she smiled, “and then taste all the way down my body.”
Abruptly, she felt him run rawhide strips around her wrists. “What is it you’re doing?”
“Tying you up.”
“What kind of silly game is this?” She moved her arms and realized she was tied to the iron metal of the bunk.
“I’m sorry, Proud One.” He leaned over and kissed her lips again. “I love you more than you know; so I’m leaving you behind.”
“What?” She tried to jerk free, but the rawhide held.
“David Krueger is on his way here; I want you to be safe.” He stood up.
“No! I want to go with you!”
“Be quiet, you’ll alert the sentries and they’ll kill us all.” He leaned over and kissed her one more time. “Always remember that I loved you more than any other man possibly could.” He took the little daguerreotype from his waistband, smiled gently, and slipped it back inside. “I will think of you every minute of every day of my life if I make it. You forget about me and try to be a good wife to Krueger, he’s not a bad sort, and he loves you.”
“No! You can’t leave me behind! I—I’ve got something I’ve got to tell you!”
But he wasn’t listening; he had already begun to rouse the people, and they were making ready to go out the windows and make a run for it, gambling that the sentries would be too startled and surprised to shoot. Maybe a handful could get away before the soldiers recovered from their shock and took up the chase.
Glory protested, yanking at her wrists, but the rawhide on the steel held. Little Grasshopper stared down at her a long moment, holding the little china doll close.
“Grasshopper, untie me!” Glory demanded, but Moccasin Woman grabbed up the child and shook her head. “You are Two Arrows’s woman, and he loves you enough to leave you behind,” she said. “Treasure the memory of such a man!”
They were opening the windows, gathering up the guns. Glory went into a panic, yanking at the rawhide until it cut into her flesh. Nothing mattered but going with Two Arrows, and the Cheyenne were making ready to slip out into the night. They were going without her! She pulled at her bonds until it was agony, but she hardly felt it. She would not be left here; she was going with her man if it cost her her life!
Captain David Krueger smiled with relief as the sleigh clipped along at a merry pace and slowed as it pulled down the parade ground among the silent buildings silhouetted against the bright moon in the darkness. “Thanks, soldier, for picking me up at the train.”
The skinny youngster saluted. “Happy to do so, sir; hope you’ll like Fort Robinson. I’ll take your luggage to your quarters.”
David nodded, his mind busy as he looked around at the silent post. He could officially present himself to the commander in the morning. “Did my horses arrive, soldier?”
“Yes, sir, finest pair I ever saw; besides that fat buckskin Sergeant Muldoon rides.”
David grinned. “Ah, Muldoon! Can you direct me to the sergeant’s quarters?”
The other pointed. “I see a light under the door; Muldoon may have a late night card game goin’.”
David shook his head and started walking through the snow. Muldoon would never change. Here he had another chance and he still might sink his career if the commander caught him gambling. He wanted to find Muldoon right away, hear about Glory. He wouldn’t rest until he held her in his arms tonight; assured himself that it was really the woman he loved and that she was safe and sound.
God, it was cold! David took out his pipe, lit it absently as he walked through the snow, thinking about Texas, and bluebonnets and a woman with black hair that blew behind her like a wild filly’s mane.
He looked across the camp with a practiced eye as he walked. Strange, there were almost no sentries out. With those northern Cheyenne held prisoner here, the lack of sentries was very strange indeed. He wondered if Two Arrows were among them? Why hadn’t Muldoon told him that?
David smoked as he walked, his anger at the thought of the Cheyenne burning deep in his belly. Yes, they had been a formidable foe, one had to respect them for that. However, he didn’t intend that should stop him from executing Two Arrows. Had that savage touched her? David loved her too much to let it make a difference, but when he had Glory safely back in his arms, then he would seek out that damned savage and kill him if it cost him his captain’s bars.
He strode over to the door with the dim light filtering beneath, rapped sharply.
“Who’s there?” asked the startled, unmistakable Irish voice. There was also the sounds of a flurry of confusion and an excited murmur of voices as if the men were hiding the money and the cards.
“Captain Krueger, newly arrived.”
The door flew open and the old man jerked him inside in a bear hug. “Ah, lad, I thought you’d never get here! Boys, this here is the best captain in the cavalry!”
The men were falling all over each other attempting to stand at attention.
“At ease, men.” He tried not to grin. “You’re all dismissed; except you, Muldoon. It appears you’re breaking some rules here; we’d better discuss this.”
“Yes, sir.” Muldoon saluted, his blue eyes twinkling in his ruddy face.
David liked to be saluted, it showed respect. The others tumbled over each other to get out of the room. David waited until the last one was gone. Then they shook hands again and clapped each other on the back.
“Ah, lad, I thought ye’d never get here.”
“Muldoon, have you lost your mind?” David tried to sound gruff. “If the commander caught this going on ... hey, by any chance, were those the night guards?”
The Irishman looked suddenly devious. “Well, now, they very well might be.”
“The Cheyenne are prisoners here, and you’ve got the whole sentry force playing cards instead of guarding them?”
“Davie, things are terrible here—”
“Never mind about that.” David knocked the ashes from his pipe. ”You said she’s alive, where is she?”
“Aye, she’s still with the Indians. Two Arrows—”
“Two Arrows?” David felt a rush of hot anger. “Is that red devil here? I hoped he’d been killed!”
Before Muldoon could answer, all hell broke loose in the camp.
Twenty-two
Glory yanked again on the rawhide, struggling desperately to break free as she watched the Cheyenne silently climbing out the windows. The dog soldiers were waiting until the last as was the custom, each carrying whatever poor weapon he had. Most of them had no more than one or two bullets.
Two Arrows looked back at her one more time as she fought to break free. “Remember always how much I loved you,” he whispered.
“Two Arrows, please, don’t leave me behind.”
“Good-bye, Proud
One. Pray that we make it.” Then he, too, slipped through the window.
For only a split second, she stared after him, acutely aware that she was alone in the barracks. She yanked so hard on her wrists that she felt the rawhide cut into them and the flesh bleed, but she didn’t care. All she cared about was going with her man.
Seconds counted, she knew that. Any moment now, some guard would spy the Cheyenne slipping across the frozen ground around the barracks. With strength born of desperation, she worked the rawhide down the side of the bunk toward the floor and rolled over so that she could reach it with her teeth. She’d heard an animal caught in a trap would chew its leg off to get away and that was just how she felt now. Glory sank her teeth into the rawhide, began to tear at it with her teeth. Her wrists were bloody and every pull hurt, but nothing mattered but escape.
At that moment, she heard a sentry shout, followed by gunfire. Even as all hell broke loose outside, she chewed through the rawhide, stumbled to her feet and ran to the window. A bluecoat lay crumpled in the snow, another was firing after shapes disappearing toward the trees a few hundred yards away. Somewhere, a soldier shouted the alarm, and lights began flickering on all over the fort.
She must not be left behind! Glory went out the window, but beneath her feet instead of the hard crunch of snow, she felt a warm, soft body. She clapped her hand over her mouth to stop her scream, looked down, realized it was the body of old Sitting Man, his brains scattered across the white snow. She felt both guilt and relief that it was not her lover.
Glory took off running for the trees, following the disappearing people. She thought she saw Two Arrows’s big body far ahead of her, bringing up the rear of the escape, shepherding the others.
Her little feet went into the snow almost up to her knees and she gasped at the cold as it came up over her moccasins. For only a moment, she resisted the terrible need to quench her thirst by stopping to scoop up snow, realized her life was at stake, and kept running. In the distance, she could barely make out the dark forms of running people. They had fanned out along the terrain, evidently aware they’d be harder to hit that way. In the rolling terrain, she lost sight of Two Arrows.
Cheyenne Song Page 31