She spoke slightly above a whisper as she held the food out to him with trembling hands. “Food?” she asked.
She was more than surprised when he lifted his head and bit into the meat and bread. He lay his head back down as he chewed, watching her as she sat there holding the remainder of the food. He noted the pleased look in her eyes. She was encouraged by this smal response to her offer of help.
Sensing her fear and tension, Gray Eagle relaxed the hard, cold expression on his face and in his eyes. He must not frighten her too much or she would not come to him again. The secrecy of her help made it more acceptable and tolerable to him. He would accept her help as long as necessary and let the others wonder at his great stamina. A light smile played across his lips at the thought of their amazement at his prowess.
of their amazement at his prowess.
She noted the change in his mood and the half smile. She misunderstood the reasons for them and involuntarily relaxed her own guard. He could not help but notice the smile that lit her green eyes and tugged at the corners of her mouth. As his eyes scanned her features with a strange look, she realized she was staring at him. She flushed a deep red and looked away. She struggled to bring these unfamiliar emotions under control.
Gray Eagle slowly ate the meat and bread, delaying as long as possible to observe her more closely. When he was finished, she held the canteen to his lips for him to drink. As he did so, his gaze captured hers and held it prisoner for a time. She tensed and averted her gaze to the canteen until he had had his fil. He tilted the canteen up with his chin to indicate he was finished. She replaced the top on the canteen and laid it down beside her. She reached into her apron pocket and produced the jar of balm. She held it up for his approval with the unspoken question in her eyes. He looked from her eyes to the jar of balm, then back to her eyes. Knowing it truly to be medicine, as it had eased the pain and redness of his wounds, he nodded his head for her to apply it once more to his chest.
Alisha removed the top and spread the salve across the red welts as gently as possible. She wondered at the two, perpendicular scars on the muscles on his chest and lightly traced them with her fingertips. His ease and cooperation were taking her off guard and she relaxed as she worked on the injuries.
She admired the hard tone and beauty of his body. She had never before thought of a man’s body as appealing and beautiful. She felt giddy and lightheaded touching and caressing the rippling, smooth firmness. His skin was silky and warm to her cold fingers. smooth firmness. His skin was silky and warm to her cold fingers. He observed the effect he was having on her and was secretly pleased. He found himself thinking, if I were not bound, I would take her now.
Just as she was finishing, they heard voices nearby. She stiffened and terror traveled her face. Her head quickly turned toward the door as she waited, quiet and stil to see if she were discovered. He read the panic and fear in her expression and wondered what they would do to her if they caught her aiding the enemy. Surely she must be aware of the danger of being caught with him. Stil, she had to come. He wondered how much his safety meant to her. Did she now fear for herself or for him?
She was unaware her hand had moved very close to Gray Eagle’s face… much too close…. As the voice moved away, she sighed relief and relaxed weakly.
Like the strike of the snake, Gray Eagle’s head came up and his teeth clamped tightly onto the side of Alisha’s left hand. Shocked by the surprise and pain of his attack, Alisha tried immediately to jerk her hand free. That only served to increase the pain and his hold. She stared at him with terrified eyes as tears began to rol down her cheeks. Why had he suddenly turned on her like this?
“Please …” she whispered in a quavering voice, but heonly glared icily at her. Her other hand went to his face and pressed on his jaw, trying to free her hand from his teeth. He bit harder, tasting blood, feeling skin break and touching bone. Horror and pain were evident in her emerald eyes.
She pleaded with him as she puled gently on her hand. Gray Eagle watched the disbelief in her expression. He thought, I wil see just how far her protection for me wil go. As her silence continued, just how far her protection for me wil go. As her silence continued, he was amazed that she did not cry out for help even though the pain was great and she was only a winyan. He thought, she fears for my life and yet I am Indian and she is wasichu. This I do not understand.
She lowered her head as she wept silently. In an anguished voice she asked, “How long wil you inflict this terrible pain on me?
How long do you think I can endure this without crying out? If I do, they wil surely kil you for this. Don’t make me be the cause of your death. Please … make your hate and anger go away. Release me…
I can’t scream … I can’t…”
She gazed deep into his antagonistic eyes, pleading for mercy and release. Pains shot through her wrist and up her arm. “Why do you hate me? I have offered you friendship and help. I would only be punished for this, but you would die! Can’t you understand this?
How can I make you see you must let me go? They wil kil you!
Please…”
Determined to free her hand regardless of the pain or damage, she took a deep breath and flexed her arm. She clenched her teeth together tightly to avoid screaming. Alertly sensing her new intention, he abruptly released his hold on her hand. She puled it to her breast and held it there tightly with her other hand. She rocked back and forth on her knees, crying. He could not see her face which was obscured by her long hair faling over her forehead. He waited to see her reaction. It seemed a long time before she finaly raised her head and looked at him. Her tearstreaked face betrayed more than physical pain. She studied him for a few minutes, trying to find the answers in his face and eyes for his cruel behavior. Finding none, she looked at her injured hand for the first time. She saw the jagged, torn skin, her injured hand for the first time. She saw the jagged, torn skin, bleeding freely, and the swolen, bruised flesh. She tore a strip from the bottom of her apron. She opened the salve jar and rubbed some ointment on the torn skin. She painfuly moved her little finger to be sure it was not broken. Immediately, tears returned to her eyes and she winced.
Taking the strip from her apron, she wrapped it around her hand many times and tied the two, frayed ends with her teeth around her thumb. She picked up the salve and placed it back in her pocket. She picked up the canteen and arose.
She glared at him and said hoarsely, “I wil never come here again. I won’t try to help you again. If you prefer hatred and cruelty, so be it. Maybe I was wrong about you. Horace said you were savage and cold-blooded, but I didn’t believe him. Maybe for once he spoke the truth.” She thought she was speaking to herself for she didn’t know he heard and understood her words.
She left as secretly as she had come, never looking back. He watched her go and knew for certain he must have this girl with the courage of the mountain lion and the gentleness of the doe. Alisha didn’t realize the fierce determination she had instiled in Gray Eagle to capture and possess her, for she had only seen and felt his hatred and brutality.
Back in her cabin, she asked herself why he had wished for and tempted punishment and death. He must have assumed I would cal for help and the others would be furious and kil him, she thought. He seems so sure of himself, so daring and fearless. Why did he attack me so savagely like that? Couldn’t he sense I only wanted to help him, that I meant him no harm or contempt? Did he somehow know I wouldn’t cry out for help and was testing me?
Why?
Why?
For the first time, she had seen and felt the cruelty he was capable of inflicting. Soon, this incident would dim in contrast to what she would see and feel at his hands and mercy…
His hostility was like an aura surrounding him and stifling the air she breathed. Her body had felt cold and numb at its intensity and depth. When had he learned to feel these fierce emotions toward the white man? Had he been treated like this or worse before at the hands of other whites? Was
that why he fought her touch and help? She knew she could not risk going near him again, so she would never know why he did this to her.
She trembled at the thought of her uncle and the others finding out about her nocturnal visit to the smokehouse. What if he had not released me when he did? she wondered. What if he had increased the pain? She shuddered at those thoughts and whispered, “I’l not go near him again. I can’t trust him… or myself…”
Returning from the late meeting in Ben’s cabin, Thad joked lightly, “Talking to oneself, Lese, is believed to lead to madness.”
She jumped at the sound of his voice behind her. She turned and smiled up at him and quipped, “Maybe I’m already mad.”
His eyes went to the bandaged hand and he asked, “What have we here?’
She looked away guiltily as she told him the lie. “Just a slight burn while baking bread, Uncle. No need to worry. I put salve on it and it feels better already.”
“Be more careful, my child. I’d hate to lose the best cook around,” he spoke lovingly. With a merry twinkle in his eyes, he joked, “Bet you’ve forgotten what day it is in al the excitement. But I remembered and I’ve a little gift for you. Been saving it for a long time.”
time.”
He went to his clothes chest, opened it and produced a bolt of emerald green material. He grinned mischievously and said, “Happy Birthday, Lese.”
She squealed in delight as she unfolded a length and threw it over her shoulder. She went to the little oval mirror and turned and twisted several times as she admired its softness and color. “It’s beautiful, Uncle Thad!”
She ran to him and hugged and kissed him. “Thank you for remembering. Can’t you picture the lovely dress it wil make?”
Thad laughed at the way she danced around the room with the cloth. He slyly suggested, “When you get that fancy new dress finished, we’l have to find a suitable young man to come a-caling. She joined his joking and quipped back, “Uncle Thad, you’re impossible! I think I’l remain a spinster and live here with you forever. Besides, I don’t recal meeting any ‘suitable’ young men around here. I don’t care to court any of those I’ve met here.”
“Now, now, my girl,” he chided her gently. “It’s about time for you to start thinking about a family of your own, though I’l put up a fight to lose you. Most young ladies are settled and have their own homes and families by the time they’re seventeen or eighteen, especialy the ones as pretty as you. You turned twenty today. You don’t want folks caling you a femme seule, do you? I’m afraid they wil if you continue to refuse al gentlemen calers.”
She stuck her pert nose in the air and pouted prettily. “Wel, I don’t care what they cal me or say. Give me the name of one man here worth my time and attention and I’l pursue him post-haste. Besides, I haven’t noticed any gentlemen calers.”
“There is Fort Pierre,” he added slyly. “I hear there are quite a few handsome, available officers over there. I could arrange a visit few handsome, available officers over there. I could arrange a visit on business to show you off in that new green dress,” he teased.
“Might find a good catch over there …”
“Don’t worry, Uncle Thad. I’m sure the right man wil come along soon and when he does, I’l know. I promise you’l be second to know. Give me just a little more time to get accustomed to this land and its people. I have a lot to learn about life before I marry.”
“As you say, my child. You have a lot of your mother in you. She was stubborn and headstrong until she married your father. I don’t think I ever knew any couple happier than those two. You’re stil young and there’s plenty of time for you to find a good man to marry and settle down. I only hope I live to see that happy occasion.”
They laughed and talked for a long time. Thad missed the seriousness in Alisha’s voice and face when she had said she would not marry any of the men she had met here. Al young girls felt that way until they met a very promising young man and fel in love. Alisha knew she was serious, for none of them had made her heart flutter and her senses reel as he…. Forget him, Lese, she scolded herself. He is the last man you could or should ever love. Sadly she added, if only I had known what he was like before I had those feelings about him. Once begun, how do I stop them or control them? Oh why did I have to see and want him of al men?
After the meeting, Thad had sent some men to cut the brave free to move around the smokehouse.’ Without her knowledge, he had told the men to place a heavier bar on the door to secure it. Gray Eagle was free to move about in the confines of the smokehouse.
smokehouse.
They had not decided what to do with the brave at the meeting held in Ben’s cabin. They had reasoned and argued, but could not agree on the best way to haħdle this delicate and dangerous problem. Their final decision could have a major effect on al their lives and futures.
Simon had informed them of his belief the brave was the son of a chief. He based his reasoning on the amulet the brave wore around his neck. A trapper had shown him a similar one taken from the body of a slain Cheyenne chief’s son. The trapper had told him this kind of necklace was believed to hold great magic and could be worn only by chiefs and their sons. If this were true, he would be a most valuable hostage in the event of an attack by his tribe. They wouldn’t dare attack as long as he was their captive. Most of the men felt it was impossible to release him after what they had done to him this afternoon. Surely, he would return with his warriors for revenge. Thad refused to consider kiling him and secretly burying him, as some suggested. Thad decided it would be best to wait and see what happened in the next few days. They needed more time and cooler heads to come up with a solution. After a lot of heated arguing, they agreed to go along with him and wait, but for only three days.
Ben, Jed and Horace talked after the meeting, their voices floating to the nearby smokehouse and Gray Eagle’s ears. Jed said,
“I don’t give a damn what Thad says. I say if there’s no trouble by tomorrow we kil him.”
The other two men nodded in agreement. Ben suggested,
“What we kin do is sneak him out one night, take him to the forest and take care of him ourselves. Thad ain’t the only one around here with a vote and stake in this. He ain’t nothing but an ole fuddy-with a vote and stake in this. He ain’t nothing but an ole fuddyduddy.”
He laughed maliciously and continued, “We could have us a bit of fun with him first and then kil ‘im. Hel, we could hide the body where no one would find it. Thad wouldn’t be the wiser.
‘Sides, what could he do then?”
Jed grinned devilishly and agreed, “Yeh … I got me a few ideas I’d like to try on him. What we need around here is a new leader. Thad ain’t got the guts for dealing with these redskins. He made a heluva leader on the way out here. He had the smarts and silver tongue to keep the people in line. But out here, he’s no good to any of us. I say we git the people to elect you, Ben. We don’t need his talking and smarts anymore. What we do need is a man, a real man, to lead us now. I say we force him out.”
Horace chimed in, “And I’l take care of that niece of his. She needs a few lessons from a real man and I’m just the one to give them to her. She’s turned me down for the last time.”
Ben jumped in at those words. “I can’t let you harm Miss Alisha, Horace. She’s a real lady and an angel. Our quarrel is with Thad, not her. I can’t let you harm a friend of mine.”
“I didn’t mean I was gonna harm her. What I aim to do is marry her. She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen plenty. She makes my blood boil every time I’m near her.”
“Now what makes you think you can git her to marry you?”
taunted Jed. “From the looks of things, I’d say she hates the ground you walk on. She’s paid that Injun more attention than she’s paid you.”
“Is that so, Jed? I got the advantage over him cause I’m white and he ain’t. Besides, I’m available and he ain’t,” he reasoned further. Thinking of t
he way she had looked at the handsome further. Thinking of the way she had looked at the handsome warrior, he flared, “I’d like to set a flame to that manhood he’s so proud of and shows off with that tight loincloth. Heck, I bet he ain’t got enough to satisfy a baby heifer. If we could’ve finished with that lesson this afternoon, she would have seen him crying and begging for mercy. She wouldn’t have been so impressed with him then. Before I’m finished with him, he’l be sorry he ever turned her head his way.”
They talked on for a while longer, planning Gray Eagle’s tortures and death. Later, they walked off in separate directions to go to their own cabins.
Gray Eagle paced around the smokehouse loosening stiff muscles, ready to spring on the first person to enter the door. He thought on the words of the three men and sneered cynicaly. If the girl dared to come again, he would capture her and threaten her life in exchange for his freedom. Then, she would know what it was to feel the flame and the knife…
The next morning Gray Eagle awoke refreshed and eager to be gone. Morning was crawling by like a snail when his attention was claimed by the voices of two men in conversation near the side of the smokehouse. He eased to the wal nearest them and put his ear close to a crack. He recognized the voices of the two men known as Ben and Thad. He listened…
The old man was teling the giant man he could not go hunting with him today. He told of a secret dugout in his cabin to be used by the grass-eyed girl in case of an attack by his people. He said it had not been completed yet and he wanted it finished today. He told how he had concealed it under the boards of the floor under the table. Gray Eagle noted the worry and concern in the voice of the old man. He fears greatly for the life of the girl, he thought. the old man. He fears greatly for the life of the girl, he thought. Gray Eagle heard Thad say, “I’d never forgive myself for bringing her here if anything happened to her. She’s like my own daughter. Ben…” he continued hesitantly, “If anything ever happens to me, look out for her, wil you?”
Savage Ecstasy Page 6