And Kaylene was a crack shot. She would scare the pants off those men who had come to wreak havoc on these innocent people.
She would show them that a woman could stand up against them as well as a man!
Her heart thumping with a fear she could not deny over what she was about to do—actually shoot at people instead of tin cans lined up on a fence—she rushed outside.
When she moved to Fire Thunder’s side, his eyes narrowed angrily as he gazed down at her. There was such anger in his eyes at seeing her there, Kaylene recoiled somewhat.
Then she took a stubborn stand beside him, looked away from him, and raised the rifle to fire it.
But when she recognized who the invaders were, her finger seemed frozen to the trigger. As though in jerks, her eyes went from man to man, disbelieving that these were the men from her father’s carnival.
She paled and almost dropped the rifle when she saw the face of a man among them that she had thought was dead!
“How can it be?” she whispered, stricken numb as she stared at her father, whose horse was suddenly rearing and balking from the Kickapoo’s incessant spattering of gunfire. Kaylene wanted so badly to be glad that her father was alive. But his ruthless attack on the Kickapoo horrified her, even though she knew his reason for being there. He had come to rescue her.
But why? she despaired to herself. To rescue a daughter? Or someone who was nothing to him but a very valuable asset to his carnival? Everyone loved her act with the panther!
Still too shocked to fire the rifle, Kaylene gasped when his horse threw her father to the ground.
But that didn’t stop his determination to kill many Kickapoo. He grabbed the horse’s reins, steadied it, then used it as a cover as he began firing his rifle again.
A small brave ran from his lodge, panicking and crying, into the line of fire, and quickly fell to the ground, blood pouring from his wound. Kaylene snapped out of her frozen state. She began shouting her father’s name as she shoved her way through the hardened line of defense of Kickapoo warriors.
She heard the startled cry of Fire Thunder when he realized what she was doing, but she kept on moving toward her father.
She was keenly aware that she was now halfway between both groups of men.
But she was also keenly aware that her presence had caused a ceasefire, as she had hoped it would do.
“Father, I’m all right!” Kaylene cried as she broke into a run toward him. “Please leave these people alone! They are my friends!”
John Shelton stepped slowly from behind his horse and stared at Kaylene. His face registered shock at what Kaylene had just said about the Kickapoo being her friends.
He looked over his shoulder at the men he had urged to come with him today, to launch this attack on the Kickapoo, and saw that they were also stunned by what she had said. They had lowered their firearms.
Some were edging their horses backward, as though they were ready to retreat and leave him there to fight his own battle over a daughter that had aligned herself with “savages.” When a white woman took up with Indians, the white woman was scorned and ridiculed.
John looked desperately back at Kaylene as she kept moving toward him.
Then he looked past her as Fire Thunder stepped away from the others and started following her.
Anger came in hot flashes at this Indian having possibly turned Kaylene against her very own people. With wide, rigid nostrils and flaming eyes, Shelton slowly raised his rifle.
His gaze quickly shifted and he dropped his rifle when he saw a streak of black. He yelped with fear when Midnight leaped on him and knocked him to the ground, the panther’s broken leash hanging loosely from around his neck.
“Get off me, you goddamn overgrown cat!” John screeched. He lay helpless beneath the full weight of Midnight’s large paws.
Then he gasped with fright as the panther just barely sank its teeth into the flesh of his neck, as though John Shelton was another panther who was forced to submit and cower beneath Midnight’s power and prowess.
Kaylene was stunned to see Midnight there. But she had been foolish to think that he would stay leashed when he sensed that she was in danger.
And hating the man who had taken a whip more than once to him, to force him into obedience, Midnight was obviously taking pleasure in what he was doing to John Shelton.
With John rendered helpless, the men who had accompanied him swung their horses around and fled in a tearing gallop.
Fire Thunder stepped up beside Kaylene and glared down at John.
Midnight’s teeth were dangerously close to his jugular vein, so John lay perfectly quiet on his back, his eyes pleading up at Kaylene.
Kaylene stared down at him for a moment longer, her thoughts again filled with whether or not this man was her true father.
She tried to see some likeness of herself in his features and saw none. She tried to think of some of her features that might be her mother’s. There were none.
“Kaylene, for Christ’s sake, get Midnight off me,” John managed to whisper. He scarcely breathed when the panther’s teeth sank somewhat deeper into his flesh. He could feel a small trickle of blood flowing down his neck from a small puncture wound.
“Midnight, come here,” Kaylene said, slapping her hands at him.
Obedient to her every whim, wish, and desire, Midnight swung around away from John, and went to Kaylene. He hissed and bared his fangs at John again when John glared at him.
Under any other circumstances, Kaylene would have leaped into her father’s arms, so glad to know that he was alive.
But too much held her back. His attack on the Kickapoo. And her questions about her true parentage.
She looked past him, at those Kickapoo who were helping their wounded into their lodges. Tears sprang into her eyes when she saw Little Sparrow kneeling beside the wounded brave, holding his hand as his parents knelt over him, inspecting the wound.
She looked over at Running Fawn’s lodge. Where was she? Even Black Hair wasn’t there.
She suddenly recalled that Black Hair had gone on a hunting expedition. Surely Running Fawn had taken advantage of his absence and might even now be with her girlfriends, having fun with their Mexican boyfriends.
“White man, get on your feet,” Fire Thunder demanded as he glared down at John, his rifle aimed at him. “You are lucky I do not send a bullet into your heart for what you have done today to my people.”
John cowered beneath the threat of the rifle, then slowly rose to his feet. He glanced over at Kaylene. “Daughter, tell him to aim that firearm elsewhere,” he pleaded. His hand went to the puncture wound at his throat. He wiped the blood from his flesh with his fingers, then lifted them before his eyes.
His gaze went to Midnight. “If that damn animal wasn’t so important to me, I’d kill it right now with my bare hands,” he said through clenched teeth.
First, his reference to Kaylene as his daughter made her wince, as doubt again filled her as to whether or not she was.
Secondly, how he spoke so threateningly to her panther, and then stated the reason why he wouldn’t truly harm the animal—that Midnight was too important to him, made Kaylene once again wonder about her importance to him.
“You call me daughter,” she blurted out, taking a bold step toward him, as two warriors came and grabbed each of his arms, to hold him steady between them. “Am I? Am I truly your daughter? Tell me the truth! I was stolen as a baby, wasn’t I? You raised me only to use me, didn’t you?”
Kaylene felt lightheaded and sick to her stomach when she saw his reaction to her questions.
Chapter 19
I was young and foolish,
And now am full of tears.
—WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS
Seeing how her father paled at her question, as a child might do when caught stealing and by him not quickly saying that what she said was foolish! Hogwash! Untrue!, Kaylene knew without him speaking that he was not her father.
She fell
back a step or two, as though she had been slapped.
John moved slowly toward her, his wavering eyes never leaving Kaylene. “Why did you ask such a thing?” he asked warily. “Why are you acting this way? What have the savages done . . . said to you, to make you look at me as though I am a stranger? Why would you doubt that I am your father?”
He reached his arms out for her. “Aren’t you glad to see that I’m alive?” he said sadly.
Kaylene swallowed hard, torn with feelings for this man. Although throughout her childhood she found him unaffectionate, still she had thought that he was her father, and that alone was the reason she had loved him. And now?
“How did you come out of this alive after being left at the pit?” she said, taking another step away from him when he took one toward her.
She now knew without a doubt that he wasn’t her father. How could she ever forget that look in his eyes when she asked? A look that totally convicted him.
“A Texas rancher came by and found me,” John said, again smoothing a trickle of blood away from his neck with his fingers. He wiped the blood on one of his trouser legs. “The snake? It fled without attacking me. The rancher took me back to the carnival campsite. After I was strong enough, I rounded up my men to come and rescue you.”
His brows knitted into a dark frown. “And this is the thanks I get,” he grumbled. “My very own daughter treating me as though I am a stranger.”
“You know that I’m not your daughter,” Kaylene said, her voice breaking. “I saw your first reaction to my question. Tell me the truth. You took me in only because you knew you had another child who would benefit you. Isn’t that so? Please tell me the truth. Where are my true parents?”
“How could you know this?” John gasped out, again paling. He glared over at Fire Thunder. “Are he and his people psychics?”
Kaylene’s knees grew weak. She gasped and covered her mouth with trembling fingers. Tears came to her eyes as she turned her face away from the man who had deceived her in the worst way possible.
Fire Thunder reached out for John and grabbed him roughly by an arm. He gave him a shove ahead of him. “You have hurt my woman for the last time,” he grumbled out. “Go. I have a perfect place for you. You still have to pay for stealing my sister, and for, in part, being responsible for Good Bear’s death. You must pay for what you did today to my people, and for what you have done to my woman all of her life.”
“I ain’t responsible for all those things!” John shouted. He stumbled as Fire Thunder gave him another shove when he tried to look at him. “I’ve come for Kaylene. I was going to release her from captivity! Now you, you damn savage, you’ve put all sorts of nonsense in her head! She sides with savages?” he laughed nervously. “Perhaps that’s best. After seeing her today, and how she took your side against me, she ain’t nothing better than a savage herself.”
Fire Thunder reached out and grabbed John by the back of the neck. He stopped him and turned him slowly around to face him. “You listen well, white man, to what I say, or I will hand you over to my people to let them choose how you die,” he hissed out. “It might be by removing your limbs, one by one. Or it might be instantly at the end of a rope. I would think you would prefer my sort of punishment. So, white man, close your mouth and stop saying things that get you deeper into trouble.”
“You said a while ago that Kaylene was your woman,” John said, eyes wide, and cowering beneath Fire Thunder’s steely, dark, threatening stare. “What did you mean by that?”
“She is going to be my wife,” Fire Thunder said, smiling smugly when he saw the look of utter horror in the depths of John’s eyes.
Kaylene moved to Fire Thunder’s side, Midnight beside her. Her eyes were red from crying.
It was the fact that she had been forced to live a lie that hurt. She doubted she would ever know her true parents.
“I am starting a new life here with Fire Thunder,” she said, clasping Fire Thunder’s arm possessively. “But I would appreciate it if you would tell me the full truth about everything. My memory only holds you, Mother, and the carnival. Won’t you tell me my true identity?”
“You are as crazy as him,” John mumbled, nodding toward Fire Thunder. “You belong together.”
“Then you still refuse to admit to the truth?” Kaylene asked, swallowing back another strong urge to cry.
“You’re so smart, figure it out for yourself,” John said, his lips tugging into a slow, mocking smile.
Kaylene turned her eyes away from him and closed them. A part of her cried out inside her, saying that surely this man was her father! Surely she had imagined the guilt in his eyes when she had first asked him whether he was or not? Surely she had only thought she had heard him ask if the Kickapoo were psychics? If he said that, he had condemned himself, twofold.
Yet now he seemed honestly hurt by her accusation. Oh, Lord above, was she wrong? Would she ever know?
Then the thought of her mother came to her. The woman she had called mother all of her life, who was as gentle as a spring breeze, surely would tell her the truth.
Kaylene would go and ask her. She would not rest now until she had all of the answers.
She composed herself and followed Fire Thunder, unsure of what his plans were for this man she despised, whether or not he was her father. He was a lowdown, evil man. He deserved the worst punishment for all that he had done throughout his life, to all of the children that he had enslaved at his carnival, and to her and Midnight.
She was surprised that Midnight had not killed him when he had had the chance. He had hated John Shelton for as long as Kaylene could remember.
Ever since Midnight had taken that first whipping with John Shelton’s sharp-tongued whip.
Kaylene’s eyes widened when she finally realized just where Fire Thunder was taking John . . . to the cage that she had been in, where Kaylene had spent the most horrible hours of her life.
Fire Thunder was going to make John know how it felt, also. And Fire Thunder was angry enough at this man that he just might leave him there, to die!
When they reached the cage, and John saw it, he let out a loud bellow like a cow being attacked by wolves. Shivers raced up and down Kaylene’s flesh.
She took a quick step behind Fire Thunder when John turned horror-stricken eyes up at Fire Thunder.
She slowly peeked from around Fire Thunder, scarcely breathing when John began to beg not to be placed in the cage.
“I’ll do anything!” he cried. He grabbed Fire Thunder by the arms. His fingers turned white in his ironlike grip. “Please don’t place me in that cage. I’ll do anything! Anything!”
His eyes cold and narrowed, Fire Thunder reached up and grabbed hold of John’s wrists and yanked his fingers away from his arms. He doubled a fist and hit him in the jaw.
John fell to the ground. Rubbing his jaw and groaning, he looked sheepishly up at the Kickapoo who had come to watch his humiliation.
Little Sparrow ran to Kaylene and took her hand.
Kaylene stepped from behind Fire Thunder and gave Little Sparrow a forced, reassuring smile.
Then she once again stared at John as Fire Thunder grabbed him from the ground, to wobble on his feet. Blood poured from the corner of his mouth. His jaw was already swelling from the blow—a purplish-black hue of color spreading across his face beneath his thin stubble of beard.
“Unclothe yourself,” Fire Thunder said, towering over John as the man cowered before him.
“What?” John gasped, his eyes staring up at Fire Thunder. “You are going to force me to strip?”
John glanced over at Kaylene, his eyes wavering. Then he looked up at Fire Thunder again. “I c-can’t d-do that,” he stammered.
“Then I will do it for you,” Fire Thunder said darkly. He looked over his shoulder and searched the crowd for Black Hair.
When he didn’t find him there, he realized that his friend and the others were still on their hunting expedition. He nodded toward another warrior. �
�Three Toes, come and hold the man while I unclothe him,” he flatly ordered.
A good-sized warrior, dressed in only a loincloth, came away from the others. Limping on a foot that was scarred and had two toes missing, he went to John and grabbed him by the arms and held him while Fire Thunder first removed John’s breeches.
John cried out and paled when Fire Thunder tossed the breeches aside and reached for the man’s underpants. “I beg you not to do this!” he screeched. “You can’t strip me naked! I won’t let you!”
John struggled with the hefty man, only to exhaust himself as Fire Thunder patiently waited for him to stand still again.
Then he nodded to Three Toes.
The warrior nodded back and quickly shed John of his shirt.
Fire Thunder smiled as he took hold of John’s cotton undershorts and ripped them from him, leaving him standing naked, all but for his shoes.
Kaylene swallowed hard. Her face flooded with color as John tried to hide his private parts behind his outstretched hands, his head hung shamefully.
She gasped and her fingers tightened around Little Swallow’s hand when Fire Thunder shoved John into the cage and locked the door behind him.
“You Goddamn savage heathen!” John cried, sitting all scrunched up in the small space. He gripped the bars with trembling fingers. “I’ll get you for this, savage. I’ll find a way to escape and then I’ll cut your throat! I’ll cut your heart out! Savage! You demon savage!”
Fire Thunder grabbed a rifle from one of his warriors. Void of expression, he raised the butt of the rifle and hit John over the head, quickly silencing him as he fell, unconscious, to the floor of the cage.
Kaylene was stunned by everything. She stared down at John and tried to find a trace of remorse for this man she had always called “Father.” But now, truly knowing the man and the worst of the deceits that he was capable of, she felt nothing but a sick loathing for him.
Kaylene stared at John for a moment longer, then turned to Fire Thunder. “What now?” she murmured. “What are you going to d-do . . . with—”
Wild Whispers Page 20