So Wide the Sky

by Elizabeth Grayson

  That didn't seem to worry Hunter as much as it did her. "Those braves don't know what a hornets' nest they stirred up when they took Meggie. We'll let them know and see if we can't convince them to send her back before the whole United States Army descends on them."

  Cass lowered the field glasses, uneasiness lapping through her again. "How long do you think we have before they get here?"

  "Two days, maybe three. We don't know when Drew realized Meggie was gone, and some of the trail is bound to have been washed out by the storm." A smile hitched up one corner of his mouth. "Besides, the army's best tracker is here with you."

  Hunter was doing his best to tease her. Cass did her best to smile back. "I know he is."

  He grinned and nudged her away from the edge of the bluff.

  Cass and Hunter entered the Cheyenne camp a few minutes later. Yapping dogs heralded their arrival, but no one challenged them. Instead people pointed and put their heads together as they passed, speculating, Cass supposed, about why she was here. She rode with her head held high. Returning to the Cheyenne in the company of Lone Hunter, the army's famed Arikara scout, gave her a credibility she wouldn't have had if she had come alone.

  Still, what Cass wanted most was to see some sign of Meggie. But her little girl was neither among the children who ran along beside them, nor in the care of any of the women who trailed them toward the central campfire.

  Standing Pine was waiting when they dismounted. Though he gave no outward sign, Cass knew he must recognize both of them.

  Hunter stepped forward. "Standing Pine, revered chieftain of the Cheyenne, allow me to introduce myself. I am Lone Hunter of the Arikara, come to offer you and your people my greeting and my friendship."

  The Indian's eyebrows rose. "We have met before, I think."

  "Some months ago," Hunter answered, "in a situation not quite so cordial as this."

  Standing Pine's mouth curled as if he were remembering that day when he and his men had ridden down on the party of cavalrymen. "It had to do with returning your companion to the whites."

  Hunter nodded. "I am pleased that you remember Cassandra Morgan."

  "The woman I remember was known to us as Sweet Grass Woman," the Cheyenne corrected him. "Has this woman forsworn her Cheyenne name now that she lives among the whites?"

  A Cheyenne woman would have allowed Hunter to answer for her, but Cass wasn't a squaw anymore. She was no longer the wife of a United States Army captain, either. Not belonging to anyone seemed to give her the right to speak for herself.

  "I have forsworn nothing," she told the man who had once decided her fate. "Sweet Grass Woman will always live within my heart, as will the friends I made among the Cheyenne. But it was necessary for me to become someone else in order to make my way in the white man's world."

  "She is Cassandra Reynolds now," Hunter put in. "She married the long-knife captain who claimed her months ago."

  "So the high-nosed Reynolds took you for his own. Why then is he not here with you? Why have you come to us at all?"

  "We have come with an important message for those who would live in peace," Hunter answered.

  Standing Pine's eyebrows rose. "How do you know peace is what we seek?" he demanded. "Our ally Red Cloud rides out against the white soldiers in their forts."

  "But you are here," Hunter pointed out, "not in Red Cloud's encampment."

  Standing Pine's mouth narrowed, and his nostrils flared. "I can be in Red Cloud's camp before moonrise tomorrow. Red Cloud would welcome me and my warriors."

  Hunter seemed to shrug off the Indian's boast. "We have come to speak of peace, not of Red Cloud."

  Cass held her breath, wondering how Standing Pine would respond when Hunter told him why they'd come.

  As it was, Standing Pine gave Hunter no chance to explain. "Before we speak of important matters, surely you wish to refresh yourself," he suggested, suddenly all smiles and generosity. He gestured for a small, moon-faced woman to come forward. "Blue Flower, show these visitors the way to their lodge."

  Cass instantly recognized her old friend and bit back a smile when she saw that Blue Flower was carrying a gurgling baby on her hip.

  They followed Blue Flower through the camp to a small tepee nestled against a rise above the creek. It was freshly aired and stocked and swept. Wood stood stacked on one side of the door, and buffalo bladders of fresh water hung on the other. Beds were made up with blankets and furs, and there were woven mats spread out across the floor.

  It was only when the proprieties of welcoming had been observed that Cass could reach out for Blue Flower's child.

  "Oh, he is beautiful!" she cooed, taking the baby in her arms. "What is his name?"

  The child looked up at her, his soft mouth bowed and his black eyes wide with wonder.

  Cass smiled, enchanted by the perfection of his pudgy hands and the rosy roundness of his cheeks. She had wanted a baby of her own for as long as she could remember, and holding this child made her ache with delight and envy.

  "We called him Little Sparrow," Blue Flower told her, "because he was so small when he was born. But see how he has grown since then."

  "He's a wonderful big boy."

  "That it is so, I owe to you. He would have died if you had not sent the cans of milk."

  Cass glanced up at her friend, pleasure warming her cheeks. "I am glad there was something I could do to help."

  Cass wanted to ask Blue Flower if Meggie was here. She wanted to find the little girl, to go to her and hold her as close as she was holding the other woman's child. Even if they succeeded in getting Meggie back, her time with the child could be counted in hours. Cass couldn't bear to miss so much as a single heartbeat.

  Hunter paused for a moment to admire Blue Flower's child, then he excused himself to see to the horses.

  The Indian woman watched him go. "Lone Hunter is a good man," she observed.

  "Yes, he is," Cass answered.

  "An able warrior."

  Cass nodded.

  "A man the women will watch with hungry eyes."

  Cass looked up, startled by Blue Flower's words.

  "Will you sleep with him tonight," the woman asked, "or do you wish to stay with Sharp Knife and me?"

  Though Cass supposed it would be wiser to pretend to be Captain Reynolds's devoted wife, she couldn't abide the thought of being separated from Hunter when there was so much at stake.

  "I will stay here," Cass told her friend.

  "And what of your white husband?"

  Cass sighed, remembering. "I am no longer welcome in his home, but I love his child."

  "The white-haired girl."

  Cassie's pulse leaped. "Is Meggie here?"

  "Since yesterday," Blue Flower confirmed. "Runs Like a Doe said she must be yours. The paint was faded, but the child wore your mark upon her cheek."

  "Is Meggie safe?" Cass demanded. "May I see her?"

  "Is that why you have come—to take back this bright-haired child?" When Cassie nodded, the younger woman went on, "It is Runs Like a Doe's nephew who brought her in. He means to give her as part of the bride price to the family of the woman he wants to marry."

  "Is there any way we can dissuade him?"

  Blue Flower nodded thoughtfully. "Perhaps if you made him a better offer, you could change his mind."

  Cass thought about the horses they had brought, and dread clamped like talons around her heart. What would they do if the horses weren't enough to buy Meggie back?

  "Where is she?" Cass demanded. "I need to see her for a little while."

  The Cheyenne woman compressed her lips. "I think it is better that you wait. Man on the Right might take exception if you were to see the child. That could make a trade more difficult."

  Cass glanced down at the baby in her arms. He had pursed his lips and was blowing bubbles.

  "Could you wait if it was Little Sparrow they were keeping from you?"

  Blue Flower hesitated, and then inclined her head. "I would wait. You
have forgotten how a Cheyenne woman behaves."

  "Sometimes I think I never really learned."

  "Then you must pretend," the other woman offered sagely. "It is what they will expect of you."

  Cass bit down on her impatience. Blue Flower was right. As much as she wanted to turn the camp upside down looking for Meggie, she must not antagonize the people with whom they would barter for Meggie's life.

  As if she could read the acquiescence in Cassie's face, Blue Flower took the baby back.

  "You should know," she said, tucking a blanket around her son, "that your Cheyenne husband is dead."

  Cass was startled by the news. Though she harbored no affection for Gray Falcon, her enmity had faded. "What happened?" she asked.

  "He has been with Red Cloud since the spring. He was killed only a few weeks ago in a battle near the fort they call Phil Kearney. They say the troopers had some magic guns..."

  The rifles, Cassie thought. Those rifles had cost Fort Carr so dearly. They had cost Lila Wilcox her son and Alma Parker her husband. Now Cass learned that though the rifles had saved the lives of other soldiers, they had cost the lives of Cheyenne and Sioux warriors. What was she to think of that? Was she to grieve for those men's families? Or was she to grieve for two great peoples who refused to find a way to live in peace?

  Cass drew a ragged breath. "Thank you for telling me this. I had wondered if he was here in camp."

  Her duty done, Blue Flower moved on to other matters. "I would invite you and Lone Hunter to come to my husband's lodge for your meal tonight."

  Cass smiled. "That would be nice."

  "It pleases me to do it after all you have done for me. Do you need anything else before I go?"

  Cass looked down at her grimy skirt and rumpled bodice. "I wish to be clean," she said.

  "Then I will have fresh clothing brought to you," Blue Flower said as she turned to go. "Come to our lodge tonight, and after the evening meal we will see who else comes by to join us."

  * * *

  Hunter prowled around Standing Pine's camp for the rest of the afternoon. Under the guise of seeing to the horses, he talked to one of the older boys who was tending the herd. He learned that the warriors who had returned to the camp the day before had brought in a dozen horses and a fair-haired child.

  When Hunter ambled back along the perimeter of the encampment, he saw that the drying racks behind each lodge were hung thick with drying jerky. It meant the summer hunt had been successful, and if the Cheyenne had stockpiled food enough for winter, it left the men free to go to war.

  He'd already seen some preparations being made, men repainting their war shields, and their fletching arrows. Still, this band was here and not with Red Cloud.

  Hunter puzzled over that meant until he chanced to offer a twist of fresh tobacco to two old men who were sitting in the sun. While he smoked with them, they explained that the camp was deeply divided between those who wanted to escalate the war and those, like Standing Pine, who favored a negotiated peace. Feeling as if he finally understood what was happening in the Cheyenne camp, Hunter headed down to the stream to bathe.

  He had just donned his clean shirt, breechclout, and moccasins when a Cheyenne woman stepped out of the trees at the edge of the creek. Even though the years had streaked her hair with gray, she stood as lithe and straight as the shaft of a spear.

  "Have you come for the white-haired girl?" she wanted to know.

  Surely everyone in the village must have guessed why they had come, so Hunter inclined his head. "Do you know if Meggie is safe?"

  The woman smiled a little. "She has been with me."

  Hunter took comfort in that, though this woman was a stranger. "Then I thank you for seeing to her care. Is she all right?"

  "She was frightened by being carried away. And she wants her mother."

  "Then may I bring Sweet Grass Woman to see her?"

  The woman pursed her lips. "That is not wise. Sweet Grass Woman has long been a friend to me and my family. Tell her Runs Like a Doe will see no harm befalls her little girl."

  "And if she still wishes to hold her child?"

  "Sweet Grass Woman learned the lesson of patience with great difficulty, but she will wait."

  The woman's insight pleased him. "And will the brave who captured Meggie be willing to trade?"

  Runs Like a Doe frowned and shook her head. "My nephew is a fool if he refuses."

  Hunter fought down a swell of concern. Surely once Standing Pine understood who Meggie was and the risk of keeping her here, he would persuade the young warrior to accept what they were offering. Still, he needed to have a plan of his own for Cassie's sake.

  "If he does refuse," he said softly, "I will need to know where you are keeping Meggie."

  Runs Like a Doe knew what he was asking—that by answering she would betray her nephew and perhaps her tribe.

  "I will bargain honestly with the man," Hunter promised. "I will address the council on Sweet Grass Woman's behalf. You are wise enough to see that this is no time to anger the whites by stealing their children. We must take Meggie back, or a great misfortune will befall your people."

  The woman watched him, weighing his sincerity. "We are in the lodge farthest to the north in the circle," she finally said. "It is the one painted with three buffalo."

  Hunter inclined his head. "Thank you for trusting me. I will not misuse the gift you have given me."

  "And now I must trust you with something else." Runs Like a Doe eyed him for a moment then dipped her hand into the beaded medicine bag that hung on a thong around her neck. She extracted a small, cream-colored square of paper folded over and over upon itself and placed it in Hunter's hand.

  "Do not look at this while you are in this camp," she instructed him. "Blue Flower says you care for Sweet Grass Woman, and I trust you to use this to help her if there is need."

  Hunter tucked the tightly folded paper in his own medicine bag. "I will guard it well," he promised and turned to Runs Like a Doe with a new round of questions. But she was gone.

  Cass was bathed and dressed when Hunter returned to their lodge. Her hair was neatly plaited down her back and bound with beads and leather. Her dress was made of doeskin, with a wide, fringed yoke and narrow skirt. The buttery fabric warmed the tone of Cassie's skin and delineated every curve.

  He let his gaze drift over her and smiled. "You are very beautiful."

  Cass ducked her head, though she was smiling, too. "It seems odd to be wearing just this after the months of corsets and stockings and petticoats."

  He was struck again by the difference between who she was and who she seemed to be. She bore a white woman's delicate features and pale, bright eyes, an Indian woman's tattoo and simple grace. Yet her strength, determination, and courage were uniquely her own, as much a part of her as breathing.

  Still, Hunter couldn't help wondering what she would do when they took Meggie back—where she would go and how she would live when this was over.

  "Would you come back here if you could?" he asked her.

  Cass looked past him as if she were seeing things he could not see. "I was never able to make a place here. I was not able to make a place among the whites. I want to find where I belong."

  The question was out of his mouth before he could bite it back. "And where do you think you'll find that?"

  Anywhere with you, Hunter willed her to say. Anywhere we can live and be free to love each other.

  Cass averted her eyes and turned away. "I don't know."

  Hunter tasted the dust of desperation on his tongue. He wanted to grab her and kiss her until she couldn't breathe. He wanted to touch her and hold her and lie with her, to bring her fulfillment. He wanted to find what it took to make her want him as much as he wanted her.

  He squatted down and poked at the fire instead. "I think I'll bring in a bit more wood. It's going to be cool come morning."

  Cass let out her breath as if she had been waiting for the dangerous moment to pass. "Perh
aps you can do that later," she suggested. "We have been invited to supper at Blue Flower and Sharp Knife's lodge."

  Carrying their bowls and spoons, Hunter and Cass walked the short distance to her friends' tepee. Lone Hunter of the Arikara was immediately accepted as a welcome guest. They ate and talked and laughed together through a pleasant meal. Just as they were finishing, Standing Pine called out and asked to enter.

  Cass flashed Hunter a long, acknowledging glance as the chief spoke to each of them and settled himself by the fire. Standing Pine obviously wanted to negotiate Meggie's release in private rather than taking the matter to the council. It was another sign that all was not as it should be in this camp.

  A young brave arrived and swaggered into the tepee a few minutes later. From the arrogance in his face, Hunter surmised this wasn't going to be an easy negotiation.

  Man on the Right dressed like the brash young warrior he was. His clothes were thickly adorned with beads and fringe. A red-tipped roach bristled from the crown of his slicked-down hair. He wore six beaded necklaces, and bracelets rode high on each arm.

  Once the introductions had been made, the newcomer took his place at Standing Pine's side and accepted the offer of Sharp Knife's pipe. Hunter took it in his turn and observed the age-old tradition of offering it to the earth and sky and to the cardinal directions before he smoked.

  Once they had put the pipe away, Standing Pine turned to him. "Lone Hunter, what has brought you and Sweet Grass Woman to this camp?"

  Hunter spared a glance to where Cass and Blue Flower were seated on one of the beds sewing, almost as if the discussion the men were having was of no consequence to either of them.

  "We have been following the trail of a child," Hunter answered, "a little girl whose hair is as pale as winter sunshine."

  Standing Pine nodded. "And what would you say if I told you we have not seen a child like that?"

  "I would say I am too good a tracker to be mistaken about where she was taken."

  "And why do you seek this little girl?"

  "We seek her for her mother's sake."