Proud Wolf's Woman

by Karen Kay

  Neeheeowee grabbed the rope he’d slung across his shoulder, leaping out of the ravine at the same time, and within seconds he had the feet of the mustang hobbled. He then approached the head of the pony, a mare, slowly, placing his hand first over the animal’s eyes, then gradually bending down to breathe into its nostrils.

  To Julia’s amazement, the pony became instantly docile, leaving Neeheeowee with nothing more to do than let the mare rise. He petted the animal, he crooned into her ear, he then removed her hobbles, transforming the hair-rope into a sort of bridle, and jumping onto her back, he rode her over to Julia.

  Julia stood amazed while Neeheeowee grinned.

  “Now,” he said, “I will use this mare to capture three more ponies.”

  “You will ride that mare?”

  “Yes,” he said. “She will not fight me. She is docile and will remain so. She is conquered.”

  “But how can that be?” Julia asked. “It is not long enough for you to be certain she is docile.”

  Neeheeowee gave Julia a strange look. “How long it takes,” he said, “has no bearing on whether she is tame or not. She will not fight me.” Here he leaned down toward Julia, the look on his face at once wicked. “Be careful, woman,” he said, “or I will use the same technique on you.”

  She snorted, though a smile pulled at the corners of her lips. She had climbed out of the ravine and had begun to approach the mare, slowly at first and then with more certainty. She reached out a hand toward the mustang, cooing softly to the animal at the same time. After a while, she asked, “Why do you breathe into the pony’s nostrils? Is there a reason?”

  “Haahe,” he said. “When I breathe into her nose, I impart some of my Spirit into her. It helps her to obey me later.”

  Julia smiled, petting the mare a little more. “Why do you need to take three more horses?” she asked after a while. “There are only two of us.”

  Neeheeowee looked away, pointing to the herd. “We will each one of us ride a pony,” he said, “while the other two will carry our supplies. Besides”—he sent her a lopsided grin—“we do not want to come into the camp of my brother, Tahiska, as though we were poor relatives. Two of these mounts will be a gift for your friend and her husband.”

  “I see,” Julia said, nodding. “That is very thoughtful of you.”

  Neeheeowee grunted in response to her compliment, and then handed her his lance. “Take this and keep it with you. I will be gone for a little while taking these ponies. Use it if you must.”

  Again, Julia nodded, looking on as Neeheeowee turned his wild pony, now docile, and lay down flat on her back as he approached the remaining animals in the herd, a few miles distant. Julia shielded her eyes from the sun as she watched the whole procedure of taking wild ponies, which seemed to be the same as what Neeheeowee had done before except that here each pony was taken by running him down, choking him, throwing him to the ground, and then hobbling his feet. The rest that followed was always the same, with Neeheeowee breathing into the mustang’s nostrils as a last action.

  Amazingly, the whole procedure took less than an hour for each pony thus obtained. And by sunset Neeheeowee led four new mustangs into their camp.

  He hobbled them all, then petted each one, pampering them, talking to them soothingly, and there was not one part of the ponies’ bodies that did not feel his hands. Julia looked on, mesmerized by what she saw, especially when she considered how little time it took to accomplish it.

  She said as much to him as she walked up to him where he still petted and groomed each animal.

  “These are not the best of the herd,” Neeheeowee said in explanation. “The fleetest and the best of the herd get out of the way the fastest, and there is no catching them at all, for they are always the leaders of the pack. The only way to capture them is the same way I captured this mare, but it is not worth it to be done, for it kills the character of the horse. Those horses I traded for you at the Kiowa camp—do you remember them?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “They were horses that were the best I could find out here on the prairie, leaders all. It took me some time to capture them for I would not take them by the ‘ceasing’ method you saw me use earlier. To capture ponies like that one needs a gentle mare to lure them and then to capture them and tame them. Once I had them I then trained them to be the best warhorses on the plains. They were a special trade.”

  “I see,” Julia said, then hesitated. “Why did you spend so much time with them? You must have had some plan in mind.”

  Neeheeowee looked away from her, his attention still seeming to be on the mustangs. At last he said, “There are some things it is better not to mention, for in broaching these things, one can hurt another or possibly make them feel indebted. You have asked me about this so I will tell you if you truly wish to know, but I fear that it may not be to your liking. Do you still listen?”

  “Han,” she said. “Yes.”

  “I was going to trade those particular mustangs for the fine guns that the Kiowa possess. I wanted them so that I could track and kill all the Pawnee who were involved in the killing of my wife.” He shrugged suddenly. “I traded for something else instead.” He smiled. “Someone else. I do not regret it.”

  Julia couldn’t speak for a moment. At last, though, she said, “How you must have resented me.”

  He paused. “I did at first,” he agreed, “but it did not last long. One look at the way your fringe moved with each step you took gave me so many more problems that I forgot to be angry.” He chuckled, but still he did not look at her, his entire attention centering upon the animals he had taken today, or so it seemed. And then he added, “I am glad I have met you again. I do not regret giving those horses away.”

  By the time he said this he was on the farther side of first mare he had caught this day, his hands still rubbing up and down her. After a while, he glanced up and over the mare, his gaze catching Julia’s, and the two lovers looked at one another for a very long time. Julia was uncertain what to say. At last she averted her gaze. “I did not know,” was all that she said.

  Neeheeowee patted the mare one more time, then coming around the animal, he stepped over toward Julia. He came up behind her and, placing one hand on her shoulder, he bent toward her, saying, “My regret over the fate of that trade lasted but a moment. If I could, I would give more for you now than all that I possessed at that time.”

  Julia spun around toward him. “Would you?”

  Neeheeowee grinned, but he said nothing; instead, he pulled her into his embrace. He brought her head in so very close to his own and Julia, looking up at him, thought her world surely spun. She closed her eyes, bringing her head back to rest on his chest. And that’s when she heard it, the whispered words that meant so much to her, “Do it again for you? Never doubt it,” he said, and Julia hardly even dared to breathe.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Julia had prepared a stew for their evening meal and both she and Neeheeowee sat around the fire, satisfied, their hunger sated. Off to one side, the horses nickered to the accompaniment of one cricket after another while a thousand stars gleamed in a black sky overhead. Neither Neeheeowee nor Julia spoke. Neither one felt the need, their silent companionship enough.

  At length, Julia said, “Tell me about the Lakota camp where Kristina lives. I know already that the Lakota are the same tribe as the Sioux, that the tribe calls itself the Lakota, that the name Sioux is a name given to them by the white man.”

  “Haahe, yes,” Neeheeowee said, and then thought a moment. “There are seven bands of tribes within the Lakota,” he began, “and your friend lives with her husband in the Minneconjou band. It is like any other Lakota camp, only the Minneconjou generally range a little north of the other bands. Their people are known for their excellence in hunting and in warfare as well as for their intelligence. They have many great orators, and their wisdom is always sought in council. Your friend does well for herself.”

  “I am so glad,” Julia
said. “Please, Neeheeowee, tell me about her life there.”

  He paused. “She and her husband, Tahiska, have three children now, I believe; a boy and two girls, and the children keep their mother and her many relatives busy.”

  Julia thought for a moment. “What do you mean her relatives? She left her mother and father behind her. How could she have relatives in a Lakota camp?”

  “There are many rules of living amongst our people that may be different than yours,” he said. “Let me explain. When Kristina came to live with the Lakota, she found herself amongst in-laws, and it is always hard for a new wife to settle in when she must always guard what she says. Around in-laws there are a great many taboos, and so Kristina was not able to find a place where she could relax. After a year, there was a man and his wife who saw that the young Kristina, though happy with her husband, could never be herself amongst the people. They took pity on her and because they had lost a daughter two seasons of the moon ago, they adopted Kristina into their own family, to replace the daughter they had lost. It is a pleasant situation for Kristina, for now there is always a place where she can go and never worry about doing or saying the wrong thing.”

  “That was a good thing they did for her.”

  “Yes,” he said, “but now, too, they are happy grandparents, for her children are their own and are treated as though they are blood relatives. For our people, it is the same thing.”

  “I see,” Julia said. “Tell me, Neeheeowee, do you like it amongst the Lakota?”

  “Yes, particularly in certain bands of the tribe.”

  “With the Minneconjou?” she asked.

  He nodded. “It is so.”

  Julia glanced at Neeheeowee. “What are their rules of living?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well,” she said, “let us take a young couple—like us, for instance. Let us say that this young couple stole away to be married. Is there much trouble in the camp if they do this?”

  Neeheeowee shrugged, giving her a knowing glance, but he said nothing. After a while he began, “It is always best for the girl if she is bought—that is if a suitor feels strongly enough about her to give horses or other gifts to the parents. A girl must guard her maidenhood well, for if she slips, and the boy throws her away after, the incident is never forgotten. She will never marry. But this rarely happens. Most elopements work out, and the parents and others in the kinship accept the girl’s choice and everyone settles back down to the harmony of their lives. It is more often done in the Lakota camp than in the Cheyenne.”

  Julia paused while she mustered her courage, but she could not hold back for long, and finally she asked, “Would we be considered a married couple to the Lakota?”

  Neeheeowee sent, her a quick look. “Hova’ahane, no,” he said.

  “Why would we not?”

  “Because,” he said, “I do not consider us married. And there is the difference.”

  There was little Julia could say to that, and so, shifting away from Neeheeowee, she gazed out over the landscape.

  “It is there, up ahead, only a few hours away.”

  “We have arrived so soon?” Julia asked Neeheeowee, who had just this moment dismounted. “I…” Julia looked down at herself, at the travel-weary dress she wore, at the moccasins, caked with dirt and grime. “I would like to freshen up, maybe wash my dress and bathe before we get to their camp.”

  Neeheeowee nodded, pointing to a stream that ran nearby. He smiled, then said, “It is so I thought. It is why we have stopped. We will both of us bathe and put on our best clothing before we reach the camp of my Minneconjou friends.”

  Julia smiled a relieved “thank-you” to Neeheeowee as she, too, dismounted, bringing her pony and her packhorse close to the stream for grazing, hobbling both.

  “They know we are here.”

  Julia heard his deep voice and gasped. “They do? You mean the Minneconjou?”

  “Haahe, yes,” Neeheeowee said. “The scouts from the Minneconjou would have reported our party to their camp several days ago. I saw them watching us, and one of them I recognized. They will know it is I who approaches them. They may not know who you are, so I think that your friend, Kristina, will be surprised.”

  Julia sent Neeheeowee an acknowledgment with her smile and then glanced up toward him. “Where do you go to bathe?”

  He smiled. “I will bathe here, too.”

  Julia’s head came up in an instant. “That is not possible.”

  He lifted his shoulders. “There is nowhere else.”

  “There must be somewhere else. Neeheeowee, you know we cannot bathe in the same area. You know that if you watch me, or if I watch you…there…”

  “I do not know anything of what you say. Do you think these last few days that I have not guarded you as you bathe? Do you think I haven’t looked?”

  “Yes, I knew you guarded me, but I didn’t know you were watching, too. Now I know. Now I would…it would…I would…I could not do it, Neeheeowee.”

  He shrugged. “That is your choice.”

  It was the only thing he said before he proceeded to untie his leggings and, finishing the job, threw them off to the side.

  Julia watched with something akin to amazement and something else more akin to lust. “Neeheeowee,” she said, “you cannot do this.” Yet, for all her talk, she did not take her gaze from him, not even after he removed his moccasins and began to untie his breechcloth.

  “I hear you,” he replied to her. “But I do not think you have it right. You seem to be the one who cannot do this. I am going to bathe. Do you watch, then?”

  “No, I…” Julia stood as though struck dumb. She knew she should move away, or at least turn her head away. She couldn’t, however, do it.

  She watched as he removed the breechcloth, drawing in her breath as she beheld the beauty of him, for he stood before her now in nothing save the beaded necklace that she had given him so long ago.

  He looked over to her and, upon seeing her heated gaze at him, he grew in size, Julia’s eyes widening in response to it.

  “Do you forget your rules?” he asked, bringing Julia’s attention straight up to his face.

  She thought she saw him smile, but she couldn’t be certain. “No,” she said, at last. “I do not. I will go up the stream a little way and I will bathe there. I will try not to disturb your bath.”

  He grinned. “I would like you to disturb my bath.”

  “Neeheeowee!”

  “Julia!”

  She sighed: “I cannot do it. I resolved to myself—”

  He’d taken a step toward her.

  “Neeheeowee, you said that you would help me to do this.”

  He took another step. “I said I would try.”

  “You are not trying.”

  “I am.” He suddenly stopped and breathed out loudly. “I find I grow weary of this, and I find I want you, Julia. I want you in my arms, I want you to lie with me in my sleeping robes. I want to feel you next to me when I awaken each morning. I—”

  “Neeheeowee!” She had stopped the flow of his words, but she couldn’t stop the damage done to her strength. She yearned for him, and she found herself aching for him in ways that were entirely feminine. But she managed to say, “Marry me, then,” before, with the sweep of her arm, she flung back her hair.

  Neeheeowee became sober all at once. “You know I cannot marry you, Julia, but I will promise you that I will love you all of my life.” He closed the gap between them with a quick step and, pulling her in toward him, so very, very gently, he kissed her. “Here,” he said, stepping back from her. He pointed to her heart, resting his hand there. “Here I feel the beating of your heart telling me of your desire for me. So, too, does mine beat. So, too, do I love you. There is nothing more that I can give you but this. But this I give you freely.”

  Dark eyes stared down into her own as one slow moment after another passed. “Neeheeowee,” she said at last, “you must know that I love you, too, but witho
ut marriage I cannot—”

  “Shh,” he said. “I know. I do not fault you for what you do, it is only that I want you. I—”

  “Neeheeowee, I can’t. I—”

  She had no chance to say more. Neeheeowee had already taken her lips against his as though in coup. His tongue explored her mouth, then left it to trail kisses over her cheeks, her eyes, her brows, back to her lips, over to her ear, down her neck. She was swept up in the excitement of his kiss, and Julia felt herself weakening with the need for fulfillment.

  “Julia,” he said, his head coming up for a moment. “Touch me.”

  “Neeheeowee, I can’t—”

  “I need to feel your hands on me.”

  Julia gulped, breathing in his intoxicating scent as she did so. Never had she wanted to do something more in her life. Never had she felt that she couldn’t. Still…

  She reached out toward him, toward his engorged shaft. She touched him, gently at first and then with more and more vigor.

  She heard his indrawn breath and felt her resolve weakening, her own needs beginning to take precedence over her conscience.

  “Neeheeowee, please. I can’t…I…”

  He shuddered, and though he moaned, he drew her hand away from him all the same. “Yes, I know,” he said, and pulling her in closely toward him, he rested his chin upon the top of her head. “I know you cannot do this. I know I have tested you too far. And though I may regret it in the days yet to come, I will honor your requests. But know this, Julia, married or not, with me or not, I vow to you that I will love you the rest of my life.”

  And with this said, Neeheeowee stepped away from her, turned, and sprinted toward the water, diving in and swimming away with all the vigor of love unrequited.

  And Julia, watching him, pondered, if only for a short while, the wisdom of letting him go.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Julia!” Kristina called out, and Julia turned her head to catch sight of her friend, waving. Julia laughed, then waved back, finding herself crying back, “Kristina,” despite the fact that there were other people she did not know huddling around her.