Brave Heart

by Lindsay McKenna

  After a few minutes, he asked, “Do you miss your people?”

  Serena saw the worry in Wolf’s eyes. “Sometimes,” she admitted softly. “But it’s Ireland I miss, not America. My parents are dead, and so are most of my relatives. I have nothing to go home to.“ She looked around and smiled softly. “The trees are so green here, Wolf. They remind me of my home. Ireland is so green. We don’t get snow like this where I live, but it does get cold and rainy.”

  “So you are happy among us?”

  “How could I not be?”

  “Washtay, good. Come, let us turn back. Your legs will protest enough tomorrow morning when you get up. You will use the gray mare as your personal riding horse from now on.”

  Delighted, Serena said, “Thank you, Wolf. She’s so old, bless her heart. I worry I’ll hurt her.”

  With a chuckle, Wolf said, “The gray will be steady for you. She will teach you well, Cante Tinza. In time, you will own a horse like Wiyaka.”

  It was her turn to laugh. “I’m afraid not! She’s very spirited and I’ll never be that good a rider.”

  Wolf gave her a burning, searching look. “No, you are exactly like this fine black mare, Cante Tinza. There is a fire in your soul. I see it burn in your eyes. Like this mare you have a heart that feels deeply and hard. You will someday ride a horse much like yourself. You will see….”

  Chapter Seven

  “What are you making?“ Serena asked Wolf. She had just finished changing Dawn Sky’s diaper and had placed her in the cradleboard for the night. The moon of the green leaves had come, and the village had just made camp deep within the Paha Sapa, surrounded by the towering pine trees.

  Wolf glanced across the shadows of the tepee. The fire was small tonight because it was warm. Soon, the cooking fire would be placed outside. When night came, the darkness would be complete within the tepee. “I am crushing the seeds of wild rose.”

  Serena had always been interested in Wolf’s herbal knowledge, but had shied away from showing her curiosity. He must have seen the look in her eyes, because he seemed to sense her needs before she ever spoke of them, which sometimes startled her.

  “Come.“ He gestured. “Come see what I am doing.“ He was using a flat rock that fit into the palm of his hand to roll the bright orange rose hips against a larger stone, crushing them into a powder. He was thrilled that Cante Tinza was finally expressing an interest in the medicines, and he waited to continue until she came to his side. Over the moons, she had lost all her wariness toward him, and now she could kneel only inches away from him without tensing.

  “What do you use this for?“ she asked, pointing to the fine, orange powder.

  He smiled. “This is not a medicine. I am going to crush enough of the seeds so that Little Swallow could show you how to make a jelly from the powder.”

  Serena straightened, her hands resting on her thighs. She met his smiling eyes. “You’re playing the heyoka again, Wolf,” and she laughed.

  Cante Tinza’s laughter created a longing so sharp and deep through Wolf that he avoided her sparkling green eyes for a moment. How beautiful she looked in her new deerskin dress. During the late spring and throughout the summer, the women wore deerskin, which was much lighter than elk. The dress had been lovingly fashioned by Dove That Flies for Cante Tinza, who often cared for the woman’s three other children while she fed Dawn Sky from her breast.

  Wolf continued to crush the rose hips methodically. Cante Tinza seemed to be able to read his mind, and she brought over a small birchbark container that had been sealed with pine pitch. Carefully scooping a handful of the powder into the container, he looked up at her very serious face.

  “You show interest in what I do.“ Wolf watched her facial expression closely.

  “Well—I—”

  “There is nothing wrong with being curious about what I do.”

  With a shy shrug, Serena laughed. “I’ve always loved plants and flowers. Almost every night, you crush some plant, and I’ve often wondered what it was for.”

  Wolf nodded. “Perhaps you have a skill for such a thing, as I do.”

  “Oh, no! I couldn’t…I’m sure.”

  He ignored her exclamation. “Come with me tomorrow morning? I go to gather hehaka tapejuta, wild bergamot. I need this for elk medicine.”

  Thrilled, Serena stared down at Wolf’s rugged, shadowed profile. Normally, at dawn, both went about their own duties, which were considerable. The demands on Wolf’s time were heavy. He doctored the entire tribe, which included performing many kinds of healing ceremonies, and collecting and making his own medicines.

  “What is elk medicine? Once I heard Deer Woman speak about it in the moon lodge. She giggled and covered her face when she spoke of it.”

  Wolf grunted. “She probably wants some to put into Swift Elk’s food to force him into marrying her.”

  “What?”

  “Some medicine men and women possess elk medicine. It is a love medicine, Cante Tinza. I take the elk’s heart and part of its hoof, and mix it with this herb. If you place the elk medicine in someone’s food or drink, then they will begin to love whoever placed it there. It is a very powerful medicine. I once knew a young warrior madly in love with a maid who didn’t want him at all, who brought many horses to me for just a pinch of the powder.”

  Her eyes widened. “Does it work?”

  Wolf smiled over at her surprised features. The moons had filled out Cante Tinza. Her face was no longer painfully narrow and drawn. She looked beautiful to him. “Ask Tall Crane.”

  “Him? He used it?”

  Chuckling, Wolf said, “Many years ago my friend Tall Crane came to me. He’d fallen so much in love with this maid that he begged me to help him. The maid had eyes for another, but I felt her heart wavered between the two warriors, so I promised to help Tall Crane.“ Wolf held up his hand and placed his thumb and index fingers close to each other. “One pinch into the maid’s food and her heart swung to Tall Crane within a week. He played his flute for her outside her parent’s tepee, and she went for walks with him. Tall Crane’s mother had gifted him with a trading blanket, and he used that as a courting blanket.

  “Of course, Tall Crane had competition. Each of the suitors would stand in line outside her parent’s tepee with their courting blankets. Each warrior had his turn placing the blanket around himself and the maid to talk.”

  “What did they talk about?“ Serena asked. Like a child, she loved it when Wolf would stop and spin a story.

  “Many things. Understand that this went on at dusk every evening. Each warrior would tell the maid of his exploits that day. If he had been on a hunt, he would tell her how he did. If he counted coup against the Crow he would relate that story. And if the warrior took too long, the other suitors would throw pebbles at his blanket to remind him his time was up. If he refused to move along and give the other warriors a chance to speak with the maid, they often forcibly ejected him.”

  Serena smiled. “So the elk medicine you gave Tall Crane worked?”

  “It did. Within a month, the maid chose him for her husband.“ Wolf placed more of the ground powder into the birchbark container. “They were very happy together.“ He frowned.

  “But Tall Crane lives alone in his tepee now.”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh, dear. What happened?”

  Wolf sat up and scowled. “A man named Blackjack Kingston gathered his many miners and attacked our village two summers ago. He timed it so that all the hunters were gone for the day to hunt for food. He also knew, through someone who has never come forward to admit their deed, that the warriors who normally remain close to the village to protect it from such attacks, had left to count coup against the Crow, who were trying to take the Paha Sapa away from us. I was with that war party, for the medicine man always goes along to care for those who are wounded.”

  Serena felt the agony radiating from Wolf, and his eyes were filled with anger and pain. “You know Blackjack?“ she asked, her throa
t closing with fear.

  “I do,” Wolf rasped. “The wasicun attacked our village late in the afternoon. His intent was to murder as many of our people as he could. He was a coward, because the only ones left in the village were the children, women and elders. There were fifty miners. Our women fought courageously, and killed ten miners. Among our people, Tall Crane’s wife and baby were murdered.”

  “Oh, no!” Serena cried, pressing her hands against her mouth.

  “The hunters came back at dusk and heard our women wailing and crying. Fifteen of our people were murdered, and as many others had various wounds. One of the hunters rode after the war party. He caught up with us two days later to tell us the news. We hurried back to camp. By the time I arrived, five more people had died.“ Wolf shut his eyes. “Most of the tepees were burned to the ground, and the miners had stolen everything they could, including some of our young maids.”

  Fists knotting against his thighs, Wolf growled, “From that day forward, I vowed to kill Blackjack Kingston if the Great Spirit ever put him in my path. I wait for that day.”

  Tears smarted in Serena’s eyes. “What happened to the women the miners stole?”

  “We went after Kingston’s men. I led the war party with Tall Crane. I prayed for a thunderstorm to slow Kingston’s progress toward his camp. That night it rained and hailed, and the thunder beings hurled bolts of lightning all around the Paha Sapa. We sneaked through that storm and located Kingston and his men. Their wagons were buried in mud, and at dawn we fell upon them. Our maids were in chains and ropes, but we brought them home.

  “Kingston managed to escape, but he knew that Tall Crane and I were after him. We killed ten more miners without suffering any wounded among our warriors. All of our maids had been raped, and it was a bittersweet homecoming. But the women were honored at a special ceremony, for they, too, fought their captors.”

  Serena was silent for a long time. “I didn’t know this. Poor Tall Crane. He’s such a good man. I often wondered why he looks so sad. I sometimes find him outside his tepee, at the end of a day’s work, just sitting looking off in the distance, his eyes filled with tears.”

  “Elk medicine works both ways,” Wolf told her gravely. “The person using it also falls more deeply in love with the maid he gives it to.”

  “Will he always grieve for his wife and child?”

  With a shrug, Wolf said, “The Lakota take the bond of marriage to their heart. Tall Crane loved deeply. I know several maids are interested in him as a husband, but he shows no interest in them.”

  “How terribly sad,” Serena whispered. She watched as Wolf’s face became a mask of anger as he continued to grind down the rose hips. “Why didn’t you tell me you knew Blackjack?”

  With a snort, Wolf glanced over at her. “I wanted you to heal first. My heart went to you when I understood he had raped you. It made me angry once again. In a way, he murdered a part of you that will never be given back to you. The wasicun has no heart. He cares for no one but himself.”

  With a shiver, Serena wrapped her arms around herself, the terrible memories of her days as a prisoner flooding back to her. “I’d almost forgotten about him,” she admitted softly, “because I’m so happy here.”

  Wolf saw the fear in her eyes once more and admonished himself for bringing up the wasicun’s name to her. He reached over and gently eased her arms from around herself. “You are safe here with us. With me.”

  Serena tried to smile but failed. Wolf’s touch, as always, was gentle. She clasped her hands tightly in her lap. “Sometimes,” she admitted, “I have terrible nightmares about him coming to get me again.”

  “He will have to kill me first,” Wolf growled. “I will never allow him to take you, Cante Tinza. Never. If he tried, I would come after you. You have my word upon that.”

  Serena felt an incredible power radiate from Wolf as he ground out those words. She drowned in his black, velvet eyes, lost in the deep tenor of his promise. “I believe you.”

  “We are never truly safe, Cante Tinza. The Crow wait to attack us, and the miners sneak onto our sacred land, which is bound by treaty to be ours alone, to steal the gold from the creeks and rivers. The Lakota have many enemies, and this is why we move so often, to avoid an attack. That is why you must always go with a group of women to gather roots or berries. There is safety in numbers, my woman, and I always want you to be on guard.“ Wolf looked away, realizing he’d called her his woman once again. How had the words slipped out of his mouth? Only a warrior who wanted to marry a maid would use such a reference. He wondered if Cante Tinza understood that. Little Swallow and the other married women were sharing much of the Lakota culture and customs with her, but she could only learn so much at a time.

  Serena stared at Wolf, who had resumed his grinding and crushing duties. His woman. That was the third time he’d used the phrase with her. What did it mean? Shaken by their talk, yet longing to have Wolf touch her once again, Serena forced herself to get up and leave his side. As she moved to her pallet to unbraid and comb her hair, which she did each evening, Serena couldn’t explain the ache in her lower body, or the yearning in her heart each time Wolf was near.

  “Tomorrow morning, you take Dawn Sky to Dove That Flies and ask her to care for her. Tell her that we will be back by early afternoon.”

  Serena nodded and opened the parfleche she had recently made and painted. Wolf had gifted her with many items over the previous months—among them, an elk bone comb. As she picked it up, she wondered if that, too, was considered elk medicine. Did that explain why, in quiet moments, unbidden thoughts of Wolf came to her? Why she dreamed of him touching her in a loving way? Had he placed the powder in her food? That was nonsense, Serena decided, for Wolf had been the epitome of a gentleman around her. He treated her with great respect—as an equal—and never touched her.

  Serena sighed as she unbraided and combed her hair. Would Wolf do such a thing without her knowledge? A part of her wished that he had, but that scared her, too. Her rape was still too fresh in her memory. Another, larger part of her whispered that Wolf was too honorable to resort to such trickery. She understood as never before how much trust the Lakota had in him. Wolf never lied, and never stretched or embellished the truth in any way. He was a man who walked with great humility, even though he was the second most powerful person in the village.

  A fierce emotion that had no name flowed through Serena as she considered all these things. Dawn Sky was greatly loved by Wolf, and several times each day, he would pick up the baby and play with her to give Serena a break from watching her. Serena was amazed at how the men, when they weren’t busy with their own duties, would pitch in to help the women.

  Every moon, Serena spent five to seven days in the women’s moon lodge as they gave their blood back to Mother Earth. She looked forward to those times spent with the many other women who shared the same moon time. Those five days gave her the rest she needed from the dawn-to-dusk work demands upon her. Serena had learned to bead, quill and make leather goods during those times. The women taught her the ways of women—their songs, their stories and what was expected of a Lakota maid. Yes, the moon lodge was a wonderful hiatus from the backbreaking work, and yet Serena missed Wolf acutely during her time there. A woman who was on her moon was considered too powerful to be around men. And she, especially, because she lived in the tepee of the medicine man, and could pull the power from all of his medicines and render them weak or impotent.

  During those days, Wolf cared for Dawn Sky and took over her womanly duties without complaint. He always had her favorite meal, deer stew, waiting for her upon her return to the village. And always he had some small gift for her—usually sweet-smelling flowers lying on her cleaned and folded robe. Serena realized that life had taken a turn she’d never expected, and she was happier now than she’d ever been.

  After combing her hair, Serena allowed it to fall free around her shoulders. Would this happiness last? She wasn’t sure, because she always felt
dread stalking her. Placing the comb back in the parfleche, she lay down with her back to Wolf, and closed her eyes. It was too hot to sleep beneath the robe, so she now slept on top of it.

  As sleep claimed Serena, her last thought was looking forward to hunting herbs with Wolf. How long she had wanted to go with him, but she’d lacked the courage to speak up. She didn’t know if it was proper to ask such an important favor from him. A soft smile shadowed her mouth and a joy flowed through her like the quiet river they camped beside.

  * * *

  “There it is,” Wolf said. He pulled Wiyaka to a halt. They stopped at the edge of a large, oval meadow surrounded by pine trees. Cante Tinza was riding the old gray mare.

  “The bergamot?”

  “Yes.“ Wolf dismounted and dropped the rawhide jaw cord. Wiyaka would stand where the cord dropped. The day was young, and Father Sun was still not above the pines of the Paha Sapa as Wolf came around to the gray mare. Cante Tinza was not a good rider yet, but she tried her best. Often, she would have trouble dismounting because her dress caught in the cottonwood saddle.

  Wolf smiled and held out his hands to her before she dismounted. “Do you want help today?”

  With a laugh, Serena nodded. “I can see the story of my falling off and ripping my dress has gotten back to you.“ She watched pleasure come to Wolf’s dark eyes as he opened his large hands and spanned her waist. He easily lifted her up and out of the saddle and placed her lightly on the green grass of the meadow.

  “Thank you,” she said breathlessly, aware of his hands still lingering around her waist. She felt his strong fingers against her, and an unexpected heat flowed through her lower body. Serena lifted her chin and gazed up into Wolf’s strong, harsh features.

  “Yes, Deer Woman came running over to me to tell me that you’d fallen off the horse and ripped your new deerskin dress.”

  Serena smiled wryly. “Everyone was laughing, Wolf. I had been with the women gathering dandelions for a meal. Luckily, I had given Dawn Sky’s cradleboard to Little Swallow before I tried to dismount.“ She reached down and touched the hem of her newly repaired dress. “The fringe was too long, and caught between two pieces of wood. I had thrown my leg across the horse to dismount when I realized—too late—that my dress was staying with the saddle! So I screamed, lost my balance and pitched off into a heap. The old mare didn’t move a muscle. She just turned her head around and looked at me, wondering what I was doing flat on my back. I started to giggle because I was so embarrassed, but all the women, bless them, laughed with me, not at me. Dove That Flies got my foot out of the stirrup and helped me up.”