by Merry Farmer
Sky Bear sneered at Aiden as if he would say something, but he too stopped. He peeked at Two Spots. His expression shifted from vicious anger to something far less certain, something almost worried. He pressed his mouth closed in a tight line, taking a few shallow breaths. Two Spots met his eyes for one hopeful second, then looked down, a deep blush painting her face.
After an awkward pause, Sky Bear grabbed hold of his anger again. Aiden watched the transformation and could tell that some other emotion had gotten in the way of whatever indignation the brave felt before. He spat out one final sentence, then turned on his heel and marched away up the hill.
“Sky Bear says you are not worthy of arguing with,” Two Spots translated. She licked her lips and lowered her hands, shifting in her spot, appealing to Katie. “Sky Bear told Brave Wolf how he plans to make you his wife, how you are full of fire and difficult. Brave Wolf did not like this thing. He told Sky Bear to only marry a woman who wants him, so he said he would make Burns With Fire want him.” She paused, glancing to Aiden. “You told him the same words his friend did.”
Of all things, the statement gave Aiden hope. Not everyone was in favor of Sky Bear’s crazy scheme to marry Katie. If enough people were opposed, it would be easy to stop the plan and take Katie away. All he needed was patience and a plan.
“I must go after him,” Two Spots said before Aiden could ask any further questions. She nodded to Katie, then ran off up the hill in the direction Sky Bear had gone.
As soon as they were alone, Aiden hugged Katie tighter, planting a kiss on her forehead. It wasn’t enough to set him at ease. He cupped the side of her face and tilted it up so that he could kiss her lips. He had wanted to kiss her for so long that a moan of relief vibrated through his whole body. It flared to heat when Katie kissed him back without a hint of reluctance. She embraced him as if she would never let go. He probably should have let her go, but it felt so good to kiss her that he kept doing it, lips pressing against hers, tongues touching and seeking. It wasn’t even a carnal kiss, but rather one of so much relief that it made him melt.
When he was finally able to let her go, he leaned back and drank in her beautiful face with a grin that reached into his heart and soul.
“What’s that look for, Aiden Murphy?” she asked, her sass back where it should be.
His grin widened. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but did I just hear you tell Sky Bear that you wouldn’t marry him because you loved someone else?”
Bright red spots rose to Katie’s cheeks, so tantalizing that Aiden wanted to lick them off. Day or night, dirty or clean, in silks or Cheyenne dress, she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. She tugged out of his arms with a grin to match his.
“Aye, I did say that,” she told him in her thickest brogue. “And wouldn’t you like to know who it is.”
She turned away to pick up the water skin that lay discarded a few feet away, tossing a look at him over her shoulder, so saucy that he felt it in his groin. She snatched up the other skin and headed back down to the river to fill it. Aiden watched her go, admiring the sway of her hips as she walked. What he wouldn’t do with those hips if given half a chance.
As soon as the thought began to heat him, he pushed it down. His grin dropped to solid determination. He wouldn’t get half a chance until he found a way to get Katie out of the village and back to their families on the trail. It was time he got to work on a serious plan for escape.
Chapter Twelve
A feast to welcome Brave Wolf and his family home was planned for that night. Katie jumped to help prepare the food before Magpie Woman came to find her. It wasn’t until after she had started cutting and seasoning strips of meat from a freshly killed deer that the ease with which she dove into work struck her. She had only been part of the Cheyenne village for three days, and there she was, chipping in like she was at home.
She stopped working and rocked back on her heels where she knelt next to the fire. Should she really be helping the people who held her prisoner? She looked up from her work, scanning the other women who were preparing the feast, studying their faces, their bent backs, their busy hands. Yellow Sun peeked up at her and smiled. Sky Bear’s sister. Smiling at her as if they were old friends. Confusion squeezed tight around Katie’s heart.
“Why have you stopped?” Two Spots asked from her other side. “Is something wrong?”
Katie took in a breath and twisted to face her friend. Her friend. It didn’t seem right… and yet, it did. That in itself filled her with more worry than any threats Sky Bear could make.
“This is a peaceful village full of friendly people,” she told Two Spots, frowning as she did.
“It is peaceful now,” Two Spots agreed. “The soldiers have gone away. The white men have made a great war amongst themselves.”
“Yes. We heard a lot about it when we first came from Ireland,” Katie said.
“If they make war on each other, they will leave us in peace,” Two Spots went on, smiling as she worked.
Katie wasn’t so sure. “That war will end someday,” she said and went back to work.
“Every year, more and more white men come,” Two Spots went on, her smile dropping as she ground some sort of root vegetable into a pulp to make cakes. “When I was a girl, there were only a few. Then there were more. Now there are many. We cannot set our tipis in lands where we once lived. Many of us have been killed. The braves become angry and make war on the white men, but then soldiers come and kill us.”
Her face was drawn with sorrow by the time she finished her history. The story left an uneasy lump in Katie’s gut.
“Is that why you have no family except your old aunt?” she asked.
Two Spots shrugged, keeping her eyes focused on her work. “My family was small. My mother grew sick and died when I was taken away. My father left and never returned. The others grew sick and died. It happens.”
She was right, but it left Katie feeling uneasy. Two Spots’ story was too much like the story of Ireland, of the famine and the trouble with the English. It was a story that didn’t seem to have a happy ending. It stayed with her as she finished preparing the meal, and when she helped to serve it that evening. She didn’t like the way she was able to blend in so easily with the Cheyenne when all she wanted to do was leave them, but she knew what it felt like to live at someone else’s whim.
Aiden was seated with the elders once again at the large fire pit near the center of the village. The feast to welcome Brave Wolf back was a large, communal one, so many of the Cheyenne who usually ate at their own tipis were part of the large gathering in the center of the village. Aiden smiled at Katie from his seat of honor, telling her with his eyes that everything would be all right. He had his fiddle at his side, ready to play when he was asked. But at that moment, he was talking to Grandfather.
Grandfather. The man’s lined face and slow way of speaking reminded her of her own grandfather. Her grandfather had worked hard his whole life to support his family, fought against the English in the few ways made possible to him, and eventually died when the Great Famine struck down so many. Katie had been a tiny girl at the time, but at the sight of Grandfather, she missed him terribly. As she drew closer with the meat she was serving, she paused to listen to what he was saying to Aiden.
“It was a fine day. We were many and downwind of the herd. They did not see us. Long Feather bragged that his dream was right and he would kill the most buffalo.” He glanced briefly to Katie to acknowledge that she was listening, his face smiling and bright with memory. “He did not know that we had made the cut in his bow, he just kept bragging.”
“You rascal,” Aiden chuckled. The sight of him happy and relaxed filled Katie with a sense of confidence. She set the dish she carried in front of the elders where they could reach it and sat beside it so she could listen to the rest of the story.
“When the signal was made to attack the buffalo, Long Feather let out his war cry and rode to the front. He made his promises in a lo
ud voice, full of pride. ‘I will kill the most buffalo today,’ he said. Black Elk and I, we pretended to admire him.” He chuckled. “We encouraged him to be bold and make the first kill. We all rode out together, chasing the herd when they saw us and ran. Then Long Feather drew back his bow to shoot. It snapped apart in his hands, just as we had planned.”
Grandfather broke into a long chuckle. When the old man sitting next to him asked a question, Grandfather gave a short explanation, and that man began laughing too. He turned to his neighbor to share the story, and soon all the old men were laughing and gesturing as if drawing a bow and having it snap, as though they were retelling the story themselves.
“Black Elk and I laughed and laughed,” Grandfather went on to Aiden and Katie. “Long Feather was so furious that he shouted and cursed at the sky. I have never seen a man so upset. He wailed and tore his hair. It only made Black Elk and I laugh more.”
“Did you catch any buffalo?” Katie asked, giggling at the youthful joy in Grandfather’s eyes.
“We did,” he told her. “We made many kills that day. Even Long Feather. Someone brought an extra bow for him so he could hunt too. Tricks are all well and good, but the tribe needed to eat. We needed the skins for our tipis and the bones for our tools.”
“Is that what I was using this morning to scrape the hide?” Katie sat up straighter, uncertain whether she found it fascinating or disturbing.
Grandfather shrugged and began to answer when he was cut off by the now familiar bark of Magpie Woman shouting an order. Katie twisted to see Magpie Woman and Two Spots striding toward her around the feasters. As usual, Magpie Woman wore a frustrated, peevish look. Her anger was quelled somewhat when she saw it was Grandfather talking to Katie, but that didn’t stop her from hissing sharp words in Katie’s direction.
“Magpie Woman says you are lazy to sit and listen to stories when there is work that needs to be done,” Two Spots translated. Magpie Woman stood with her fists at her sides, struggling to show respect to the elders. Katie had a feeling Magpie Woman’s words were more colorful and that Two Spots was sparing her. A few of the older men and women near them frowned at Magpie Woman and muttered to each other.
Magpie Woman stepped forward to grab Katie by her arm and yank her to her feet.
“Ow. Get off of me, you daft cow,” Katie snapped right back at her.
Aiden set his food aside and was halfway through getting up, anger in his eyes, when Grandfather stopped him with a hand on his arm. He said something to Magpie Woman, and she stopped tugging Katie. In fact, her expression dropped to a mild scowl and she let go of Katie entirely.
“Grandfather says that it is important for you to listen to the stories,” Two Spots said, more than a little awed. “He says that it is important for us all to listen to the stories so that we remember who we are, who the Cheyenne are, but it is doubly important for the white man to listen. They need to know so that when they come, they will understand and leave the Cheyenne in peace.”
The feasters who were listening hushed. Aiden sat down and bowed his head, as if considering those words. They gave Katie an odd, tickling feeling, like she was in church and had heard something profound. When Grandfather motioned for her to sit, she did. He motioned for Magpie Woman and Two Spots to sit as well, and they did.
“Playing tricks on our friend was harmless fun,” Grandfather explained. “But as arrogant as he was, Long Feather was not left out of the hunt. We needed him to kill buffalo so we could eat. He needed us because no man can survive on his own, even if he talks big words with no meaning.”
As he spoke, Two Spots translated for Magpie Woman, who clenched her jaw tight and stared straight forward. Aiden raised his eyes to meet Katie’s. He smiled, warm and inviting. She couldn’t have survived on her own. She had a prickly feeling that she couldn’t have survived without him. Hadn’t he once told her that if he and his family hadn’t left Ireland to go with her and her family to America, he wouldn’t have survived?
“It is right for a man to go off on his own—to seek a vision or complete a quest—now and then,” Grandfather went on. “But we live best in our village. Villages are best when the people all work together for the good of the whole.”
He was right. Katie’s heart squeezed in her chest at the idea. She and Aiden had left their village to find a new one. Their families had. Until they found a new spot to lay their heads at night and call home, it was the people that were her home. Aiden was home.
Grandfather went on to say something in his own language, but Katie watched Aiden. He said nothing, but his expression spoke volumes. He met her eyes and smiled. She was his home too. If she was sitting closer to him, she would have reached out and taken his hand. And she would have enjoyed it. Saints preserve her, what had happened to her?
Aiden had never seen Katie so… settled. Not at home in Ireland, and not at any point during the journey. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen her sit still and listen to an old man’s stories. Back home, she was always the one to wiggle and squirm when the old folks told their tales around the fire at night. Now she seemed downright peaceful. Of all things, it made him want to laugh and kiss her almost as much as when she was fiery and restless. It seemed that working on her own at the tasks the Cheyenne had given her had smoothed her out. Perhaps she didn’t need him watching and waiting by her side all the time.
If things had been different, if the world had been a kinder place and their lives hadn’t been in peril, he would have been tempted to stay in the Cheyenne village with her, learning the language and the ways of these people. He could only wonder what Katie would learn and do and say the longer she was around the likes of Two Spots.
Before he could begin to consider the wild idea, the mood of the feast changed.
Sky Bear and his friends—including Brave Wolf—had been sitting across the fire pit, slightly removed from the elders. Aiden had kept an eye on them talking amongst themselves, debating something in low voices. Brave Wolf had been deeply involved in whatever they were talking about. As Grandfather finished his story, Sky Bear seemed to come to some kind of a conclusion. He stood, saying one final word to Brave Wolf and the others, then stepped forward.
As soon as he approached, Aiden’s jaw tightened and his gut clenched. He set his food aside and prepared for a fight. Katie tensed as well, her relaxed smile hardening into wary suspicion. Sky Bear didn’t approach her, though. He marched, back straight, chin held high, to stand square in front of the elders. Then he spoke.
“Sky Bear says he would like to speak to the elders,” Two Spots translated.
Grandfather replied with even words and a nod.
Sky Bear began speaking, looking at each of the elders in turn. “He says that the elders are wise men,” Two Spots translated as he said his piece. “They know the ways of our people. They know what is right. He says that he took Burns With Fire from the fort fairly, that he did not kill a man or steal anything else. Grandfather always says that he should take a new wife to replace the one that was killed by the white man. He has done this thing that was asked of him. Now he asks that the elders make Burns With Fire accept him as her husband.”
At the end of his speech, Sky Bear glanced to Katie. Aiden ached to stand up and punch the presumptive brave in the face to show him what he thought of his request, especially when Katie flinched at his pointed stare. Anyone who made Katie feel fear would know what real fear was when Aiden was done with him. If he stood up and did something now, though, it would bring more trouble than he was ready to deal with. He turned to Grandfather, anxious to hear what the old man would say.
Aiden wasn’t the only one. The people close enough to hear what Sky Bear suggested murmured amongst themselves, no doubt debating the idea. Aiden had never wished he could speak Cheyenne more. He would set them all right if he had to.
“I hear this thing that he says,” Grandfather repeated what he had just spoken in Cheyenne for Aiden and Katie’s sake. “It is unusual, but
it is not unheard of. A man can take what was stolen from him from an enemy.”
“Katie is not a thing,” Aiden grabbed at his chance to defend her. “She is a person. She is a wonderful, beautiful woman. She should choose who she wants to marry.”
Grandfather nodded and translated his words for the others. Several of the elders nodded and hummed as well. Still, Aiden was tense. They were walking on a knife’s edge.
Sky Bear met his protest with clenched fists and a set jaw. He spoke something again. The effort to be civil was hard in his tone.
“Sky Bear says that Burns With Fire will choose him over the weak white man when she sees what he has to offer her,” Two Spots translated.
“I will not,” Katie mumbled. Her eyes met Aiden’s in a desperate plea.
Sky Bear spoke again, his patience slipping, and moved closer to Katie. He grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet as he spoke. Katie yelped in protest.
Aiden jumped to his feet. “Let go of her,” he demanded, trying desperately not to make matters worse.
A jolt of anxiety passed through the people watching. Two Spots leapt to her feet. “Sky Bear says he will take Burns With Fire to his tipi to show her what she will have as his wife,” she said hurriedly, holding out her hands to stop the fight. “He is not trying to harm her.”
Katie wrenched away from him. “He could show me the moon and stars and I still wouldn’t want to marry him. I’m through with trying to explain this.” She crossed her arms.
Her show of temper brought a ghost of a smile to Aiden’s lips, but there wasn’t time to enjoy it. “You have her answer,” he said to Sky Bear.
Two Spots translated. Sky Bear looked as though he could have stuck a knife in Aiden’s heart. Aiden grinned, telling the brave he would like to see him try. Instead, Sky Bear turned to the elders. The calm in his voice as he laid out what sounded like a plan sent a nervous itch down Aiden’s spine. That itch got worse when the elders nodded and hummed, as though they agreed with him this time.