The captain ordered the troop into a slow canter across the rolling meadow, heading due south. All Serena could do was ride along. She was a prisoner of her own kind. She would have to pick and choose the time when she could escape, but first she had to find out how and why the U.S. Army had found her. Where were they taking her? Back to Kingston? A shiver wound up her spine, and she bit hard on her lower lip to keep from crying out.
Near dusk, Anderson called the troop to a halt. They had met a military wagon train on the grassy plain, and camp would be made. Serena saw the open stares of the men as she was escorted by Anderson to a tent that had recently been set up by several soldiers. Her swollen breasts ached from the long, hard ride. She thought of Wakinyela, and knew that Dreaming Bear would take her to another mother to be nursed. At least her daughter wouldn’t die in her absence.
Anderson smiled down at Serena and guided her toward the tent. “I want to be the first to welcome you home, Miss Rogan. I’ve asked my men to give you all the possible amenities we can, few that they are. The tent is yours for the night. I’ve managed to round up a washbasin and water, and there’s even a cot with blankets for you to sleep on. Unfortunately, I don’t have any women’s clothing for you, or you could change out of that rag you’re wearing.“ He opened the flap of the tent. “There’s even a comb and brush with a mirror we’ve managed to find for you.”
Serena turned and looked up into Anderson’s badly sunburned face. He was fair skinned, and his long blond hair rested against the collar of his uniform.
“Please, Captain, we have to talk. Thank you for the tent, but it doesn’t mean anything to me.”
Anderson sighed and placed his hands on his hips. “Miss Rogan, I know you want to go back, but think, will you? You’ve been a prisoner for more than two years among those savages who stole you from—”
“I wasn’t a prisoner!” Serena tried to steady her voice. “Oh, please, you don’t understand, captain? I didn’t want to have to tell you all the horrible, sordid details, but I wasn’t a captive.“ She launched into the story of how she’d come to America in the first place, how Kingston had kept her a prisoner and then dumped her for dead along the river. She saw Anderson’s face grow dark as she finished the story.
“Look,” Anderson said, “it was Mr. Kingston who notified the fort that there was a white woman, you, who had been taken prisoner. According to him, you were his washerwoman, and you had gone to the river to wash clothes and were jumped by a bunch of Sioux warriors. He said he tried to get you back last winter, but that a medicine man by the name of Black Wolf came and recaptured you.”
“My husband rescued me from that evil man,” Serena hissed. “If it hadn’t been for Wolf, I would have died. Kingston is lying to you! Can’t you see that?”
Pushing the hat back on his head, Anderson moved uncomfortably. “Miss Rogan, I’ve got to tell you, Mr. Kingston is highly regarded by the commander of our fort. I was at that dinner when Mr. Kingston made an emotional and sincere plea to have you rescued.”
“He’s lying!” she cried.
“I don’t know, ma’am.”
“Then you think I’m lying?”
He shrugged and looked down at his dusty black boots. “Ma’am, I’ve been out here on the frontier for seven years. I’ve seen many women stolen by Injuns, and their behavior is just like yours. I guess what I’m trying to say is that if you live with those thievin’ redskins long enough, you get so you believe you’re a part of their life. But you aren’t. You’re a white woman. You deserve your freedom, and that’s what we’re going to give you.”
“Then let me go right now,” Serena quavered, “because if I’m as free as you say, Captain, I’m going to march right out of here, mount my horse and go back to my husband and daughter!”
Sadly, Anderson said, “No, ma’am. The commander has given orders to have you sent back east on a military wagon train that’s heading for reassignment in Ohio. If you have relatives, we’ll gladly send them word that you’re alive and well, and see to it that you get back to them.”
Bitterly, Serena glared up at the officer. “I have no one in America, Captain. My family died in Ireland. I’m the only survivor.”
“Then, the commander has already made arrangements for you to be sent to a God-fearing Dutch family that has a farm along the Ohio River.”
“I don’t want to go there!”
“You don’t have a choice, Miss Rogan. We know from experience that it takes about two years to get a woman who’s been held captive by Injuns to finally get comfortable staying with her own kind again. Frederick and Camille Gent have agreed to take you in and offer you employment so that you can get back on your feet.”
“I’ll be a prisoner,” Serena whispered hoarsely.
Anderson rubbed his jaw that needed to be shaved. “Not if you voluntarily stay, ma’am. But if you try to escape, that’s a different story.”
Fighting back tears, Serena looked out over the camp. The horses had been unsaddled and picketed along a rope strung between elm trees. At least fifteen tents had been pitched, and seventeen wagons had been filled with various military supplies. She wiped her tears away with the back of her hand and held Anderson’s gaze.
“Doesn’t it bother you that I’ve been torn from my baby? She’s only five months old. She needs me! How can you do this? How can you rip a baby from its mother?”
“I have my orders,” Anderson muttered.
“But my baby!”
“It’s a half-breed,” he snarled.
Shocked, Serena studied his hardened features. “That baby is human!” she shrieked, and launched herself at the officer, her fists pummeling his face, shoulders and chest.
* * *
Wolf stood tensely as Tall Crane and Little Swallow finished telling him of Cante Tinza’s capture by the horse soldiers. He had gotten back at dusk, only to be surrounded by tearful relatives. Holding Wakinyela in his arms, he finally sat down in his sister’s tepee. Dreaming Bear held Dawn Sky, both of them looking mournful.
Little Swallow served the evening meal to everyone in the tepee. Among them was Chief Badger Mouth.
“What will you do?“ Badger Mouth demanded after they finished eating.
Wolf gave Wakinyela to Dreaming Bear, who would take her and Dawn Sky back to his tepee for the night to sleep. When the children had left, he grimly met the chief’s narrowed eyes.
“I will find her and bring her home.”
“Little Swallow doesn’t know where the horse soldiers come from. There are many forts in the area.”
He heard the warning in the chief’s voice. Wolf unconsciously touched the braided-hair necklace around his neck. Fury warred with grief as he thought of Cante Tinza’s capture. He knew she would fight to escape—there was no question. “I don’t know where they are taking her,” Wolf admitted in a low, unsteady voice, “but I will find out.”
“You would leave our people without a medicine man?”
Wolf snapped a look at the old chief. His conscience railed him over the question. Wolf knew his duties were first and foremost to his people. Grimly, he said, “You are right—I should not leave—but my daughters need their mother. And I need my wife.“ He lifted his head and held Badger Mouth’s accusing look. “If your wife were captured by the horse soldiers, would you not go after her? Would you not forsake your duties to do this?”
“It is not the same and you know that!” Badger Mouth raised his hand toward the top of the tepee. The firelight danced off his grizzled hair. “There are any number of capable warriors who could lead in my absence to go after my wife. There are no other medicine men.”
“You have any number of women who know of herbs,” Wolf said.
“I do not want you running after that wasicun,” the chief said flatly.
Anger blinded Wolf and he rose to his feet. “Wasicun? Is that what you call my wife? The woman who saved the lives of many of our women and children?”
Badger Mouth held Wolf’s
glare. “Let her go. She is white. She belongs to the whites, not to us. Not to you.”
Fury raged through Wolf but he tempered it. “I know you have never favored Cante Tinza’s presence in our camp. You and several others. But that does not matter. She is my wife, and I will track her down and find her.”
Badger Mouth spit into the fire. “And for how long will you do this? What if they have sent her far away?”
“Then I will do whatever I can to find her, no matter where they have taken her.”
“She is lost to you!” the chief said in a thundering voice. “Release her!”
“Never!” Wolf turned on his heel and left the tepee, breathing hard. Overhead, the night sky was a blanket of stars. He halted and looked up at them. The pain in his chest was so great that it felt as if his heart were being torn from his body. The stars reminded him of the copper stars across Cante Tinza’s cheeks and nose. Closing his eyes, he saw her face, and choked back a sob. He loved her with his life. Who had done this to them? Who?
As he walked back to his tepee in the darkness, Wolf sensed that Kingston had done this to him in revenge. Was Cante Tinza going to be taken back to Kingston’s camp? It was the first place he would look. Right now, he had to prepare for a long, hard journey. There was much to do. If Kingston was behind her capture, Wolf knew that he would brutally beat her and probably kill her for what Wolf had done to him.
“Black Wolf! Wait! Wait!”
Wolf halted and turned. He saw Deer Woman running toward him.
“Where do you go in such a hurry?“ she asked, stopping in front of him.
“I go to find my wife,” he snapped. “Where else do you think?“ Wolf strode on.
“Stop!” Deer Woman reached out and gripped his arm. “Why don’t you let her go? She goes back to her own kind, Black Wolf. Didn’t you realize that she would do this someday?”
He jerked his arm out of her grasp. “Are you heyoka, girl? Cante Tinza was taken against her will.“ His mouth turned down. “And according to Little Swallow, if you had not run like a coward when the horse soldiers were coming, she would be here with us this very night.”
Startled, Deer Woman felt her mouth fall open. “Coward? You call me a coward?”
“I do,” Wolf rasped. “Little Swallow said you should have stayed and unhobbled the other three horses before riding off. Instead, you abandoned the other women. My wife stayed behind to help Dreaming Bear. The woman is old, and she cannot run.“ He saw Deer Woman’s face turn haughty, her chin rise, and her eyes blaze with anger. Wolf didn’t care. It was time she learned what responsibility toward other tribal members meant.
“You ran,” he said. “My wife and my sister did not run. They kept Dreaming Bear safe.”
Angrily, Deer Woman rattled, “You are the heyoka one, Black Wolf! You fool yourself into thinking that this wasicun really loves you! Her skin is white! Ours is red! You were blinded by the color of her hair, her skin, that is all!”
Blindly, Wolf gripped her by the shoulders and gave her a shake. “Lies fall easily from your mouth, girl. Keep your lips sealed, for you do not know of what you speak. I love Cante Tinza with my life. I will give it, if necessary, to find her once again.”
Wolf released Deer Woman, and she gave a cry and stepped away from him. “You go after her?“ she screeched, her voice echoing through the darkened camp.
Breathing raggedly, Wolf stared at her. “Even now, you do not understand. You have blind eyes, girl. You always will.“ Wolf turned to leave, but he felt her fingers dig into his arm.
“You will never find her!” Deer Woman sobbed hysterically.
“I will or I will die in the effort,” he snarled.
“No!” She gave him a sly smile. “I know you will not find her! I told Kingston last summer that the wasicun was here with us. He wanted her!”
Wolf stared at Deer Woman in shock. “You what?”
She released his arm and stepped away, smiling through her tears. “Yes, I went to him! Where did you think I had gone for a month, Black Wolf? I went to Kingston and told him.“ She wiped the tears from her eyes. “I love you! I have always loved you, and yet you only had eyes for that wasicun! Why can you not love me? I am a Lakota woman. Am I not pleasing to your eyes?”
Wolf held himself in tight control as he stared down into her shadowed features. He saw the wildness in Deer Woman’s eyes, and heard the unsteadiness in her voice. She was babbling.
“Did you go to Kingston this time?“ he asked in a dangerously low voice.
“No. I was praying to the Great Spirit that the wasicun would be taken away, and now she has been. Oh, Black Wolf, don’t you see? This is the way it should be. You should marry your own kind—”
Gripping Deer Woman’s arm, he jerked her to him. She gave a little cry as her hand came to rest against his chest. “You see this?“ he snarled as he held up his wrist in front of her eyes. “Look at that knife scar, Deer Woman, and look at it well. I took a ceremonial vow when my wrist was cut and placed against Cante Tinza’s wrist. Our blood mingled and joined. Only death can separate us, girl. Death!”
Deer Woman gave a little moan and tried to break out of his grip, but it was impossible. “She is nothing like us! Nothing!” she shrieked.
With a hiss, Wolf released her. “Nothing?“ he demanded hoarsely. “Girl, you are as prejudiced as the wasicuns!” He held up his wrist. “You forget one thing. When our flesh is cut, no matter what our skin color, we all bleed red. That makes us connected, girl. Connected!” Whirling around, Wolf left her standing in the middle of the camp. He wanted to kill Deer Woman for what she’d done. It all made sense to Wolf now. Kingston had been behind this with her help.
As he entered his tepee, he saw that his children slept. Dreaming Bear had unbraided her hair and was combing it. She nodded to him, her eyes sad.
“You heard?“ he asked tightly as he walked quickly over to the saddlebags.
“Yes. The girl has shamed herself in the eyes of all of us.”
Wolf packed dried deer meat and pemmican. “I go after Cante Tinza. Will you care for our children until we return? Tall Crane has already promised that he will live here with them and be a father to them.”
Placing the elk comb in her lap, Dreaming Bear gave another nod. “You are like a grandson to me, Black Wolf. I will pray daily for your safe return with Cante Tinza.”
“I don’t know where they’ve taken her,” he muttered. “Perhaps to Kingston’s camp. I will look there first.”
“This could take a long time.”
“Yes.“ He glanced up at the old woman’s heavily lined face and sad expression. “I do not have a choice. And I do not want one.”
“Your children will be safe with Tall Crane and me. We are their blood relatives by ceremony. We will love them as you and your wife love them.”
Grateful, Wolf went over to his two sleeping children. Getting down on his knees, he gazed at Wakinyela, who slept in the cradleboard fashioned by Cante Tinza’s hands. Barely touching his daughter’s silky black hair, Wolf pressed a kiss to her tiny brow. Next, he went to Dawn Sky, who lay atop her robe, sleeping soundly.
He touched Dawn Sky’s smooth hair. “If we do not return,” he said softly, “tell them of our love for them, Dreaming Bear. Do not let them forget their mother, for she saved Dawn Sky’s life that day by nearly giving her own.”
“I won’t, my grandson. Go now, and may the Great Spirit guide your heart to her.”
Wolf got to his feet, saddlebags in hand. Kagi followed, wagging her tail. “I will take Cante Tinza’s wolf with me. She may pick up her scent when I cannot.”
With a slight nod, Dreaming Bear offered, “Kagi sees into the invisible worlds. She will be your guide, and she will warn you when enemies are near.”
Wolf took one more look at his sleeping children and felt a lump form in his throat. How must Cante Tinza feel this night? He knew deep in his heart that she must be crying herself to sleep with loneliness, fear and uncertai
nty. Without a word, he turned away and slipped out of the tepee. His vision was blinded by falling tears as he headed in the general direction of the horse herd, which was guarded by Lakota warriors. The wolf trotted alertly at his side.
* * *
“Now, you’re not goin’ anywhere, little lady,” Sergeant Blake admonished. He placed the ropes around Serena’s wrists and then guided her to the covered wagon. “I’ve lost enough sleep over you tryin’ to escape the past two days. And I ain’t gonna have the captain chewin’ my ears off about it. Today, you ride in the back of this here wagon. Now, up you go.”
Serena moved into the wagon filled with horse blankets and bullhide-covered saddles. Sergeant Blake chewed on a wad of tobacco, which made the side of his cheek stick out like a chipmunk’s hiding nuts. He tied the rope to the side of the wagon.
“Now, if ya wanna tend to womanly things, you jest let me know. There’s water nearby. All ya gotta do is ask fer it. We’ll be stoppin’ about noon and I’ll bring ya a plate of beans and biscuits.”
Sitting down, Serena watched the sergeant clamber out of the wagon and walk away. This was the third day of her captivity, and they were moving farther and farther south across the plains, leaving the Paha Sapa far behind. Every jolt of the wagon reminded her that her daughter needed her milk. Exhausted, Serena drew up her knees and rested her head against them.
According to the captain, they would be arriving at a fort by evening. Serena had tried each night to escape, only to be caught and brought back to camp. The ropes on her wrists were rough, chafing her skin. What would they do with her at the fort? According to Captain Anderson, she would be taken care of by the officers’ wives. The next morning, she would be leaving on another military wagon train bound for Ohio.
Her tears were endless. They sprang to her eyes each time she thought of her baby daughter. Her heart felt ripped apart when she thought of Wolf. She loved her family fiercely, and her anger over her return to white civilization made her want to escape even more. Who did these people think they were? She was a prisoner now as never before. Once Anderson had almost let her go. She had almost persuaded him because of her baby daughter, but in the end, his prejudice toward Indians won out. Didn’t white men have any heart, any feelings for humans—no matter what their color? Serena was convinced they were all monsters. She hated them for what they were doing to her.
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