by Karen Kay
She glanced once more toward Moon Wolf, and on impulse reached around her neck and untied the necklace that she always wore. Smiling sweetly, she placed it on his chest.
If she never returned, at least he would know that she had cared enough to turn over her prized possession.
“You will tell him what I have done,” she instructed the wolf; those golden eyes, staring at her, were the animal’s only response.
And with no more to be said, she turned away.
Something cold pressed against his cheek. He tried to brush it away. It wouldn’t leave.
Moon Wolf groaned. “Miistap-aaatoo-t annoma! Go away from here.”
It wouldn’t stop. Again and again that slimy object pressed against him.
He brought up his hand, only to find the snout of a wolf. “Makoyi, Wolf, what is it that you do? Let me be.”
A howl was all he received in response.
Moon Wolf opened his eyes to the darkness shrouded all around him. He reached an arm up past his head to where Alys always kept a lamp, his head spinning at the same time.
He felt miserable.
Quickly he lit the lamp and sat up, finding something dropping into his lap as he did so.
He picked it up. What was this? A necklace? Aa, yes. But not any necklace. He held it up to the light. This was the same one he had once given to Alys. Tsa? What was the meaning of this?
He glanced toward Makoyi, toward Wolf. He didn’t even put the question into words.
Makovi nudged him yet again.
“What is it?” he asked, tying the jewelry around his own neck.
Makoyi whined and ran away, toward the place where the cave emptied into the Claytons’ root cellar. Back again, nudging him up.
Moon Wolf rubbed his eyes and looked around him. Something was missing. What?
Again Makoyi ran away, toward the root cellar, then back.
“You want me to go out into the fort? Why? You know something, don’t you, old friend? Haiya, I will follow you.” Moon Wolf came up onto his knees and reached behind him for the headdress. His hands met with nothing.
He brought the light to that area, shed it all around.
Gone. “Tsa, what is happening?”
Makoyi howled.
Urgency filled Moon Wolf. There had to be only one explanation.
Trouble, with Alys involved in it. And Makoyi knew.
Gathering up his gun, his bow and arrows, and his knife, Moon Wolf followed Makoyi’s trail, trying at the same time to shake off his lethargy. Quickly, he jogged toward that part of the cave where it met the Clayton root cellar. He bounded up the ladder in a few jumps, pushing back the cellar’s false bottom, while both he and Makoyi burst upwards. In a matter of seconds the two figures emerged into the fort’s twilighted landscape, only to be met with the sound of gunshots.
But the shots were not directed at him. They exploded off in the distance.
Haiya! Alys. Was she in trouble? It couldn’t, it shouldn’t be, yet…
His gut twisting with premonition, Moon Wolf hesitated no longer than a mere moment. Besides, Makoyi was already leading the way, and Moon Wolf bolted after him.
It didn’t take long to find her, crouched down beneath a wagon for cover and, as he had suspected, his headdress fixed atop her head. The sight of her in danger gave him renewed purpose, and he pushed forward, a single swipe of his knife taking down one of the seizers in his way.
Makoyi struggled with the next closest soldier. Moon Wolf left the animal to finish the job, rushing himself to the next. Another swipe of the knife ceased that resistance, the element of surprise catching the trooper off guard.
“Wolf Shadow,” he heard her call.
He didn’t answer, there wasn’t time. Shots still fired from the other side of the wagon. He, too, took shelter beneath the wagon, placing his body between hers and the gunfire.
Still, he spoke no words.
Quickly he surveyed the enemy. There were only three of them left, but soon there would be more as the others in the fort awakened to the sound of fighting. He had to act—now.
Wolf whined from close by.
“We have only one chance,” he directed his words over the gunshots. “We must push this wagon onto its side…after the next shot.” He studied her briefly. Relieved that she appeared to be unharmed, he was able to smile encouragement at her. Later would come the lecture she so deserved. Another shot fired. “Now!”
In one fluid motion, the two of them sprang up, as though they had planned this action all along. Lending it all their effort, they pushed the wagon up and over. Within seconds, the contents of the wagon spilled over in front of the soldiers, giving the two fugitives the cover they needed to escape.
Moon Wolf didn’t hesitate. Pulling Alys with him, he sped back in the direction of the cellar, Wolf hanging back to howl out their success.
“Makoyi, now. Oki, come on!”
A shot fired, followed by a screech. Wolf!
Moon Wolf pushed Alys on forward, while he sprinted back toward the wagon in time to witness the animal fall. Something akin to rage took form within him, but there was no time to act on it. Not now. Picking the animal up and turning around, Moon Wolf hurled himself back toward Alys, who, he discovered, had hesitated, waiting for them at the entrance to her cellar.
He handed her the animal and pointed to the cellar. “Go!”
“But—”
“Go now!” His voice brooked no argument, and she gave none further, as she pulled up the cellar doors and hurried to safety, Makoyi tucked gently within her grasp.
Moon Wolf sighed with relief, and, turning, rushed back toward the seizers’ fight.
He was no more than a few buildings away from the place when a friend stepped out of the shadows, pushing a buffalo robe into his arms. Moon Wolf acknowledged the man, accepting the article and pulling the robe around his shoulders.
“I did not know what she was intending,” his friend offered by way of explanation, handing over a bottle of whiskey. “I had heard that she was making inquiries about Wolf Shadow and was asking strange questions, but we did not know that she was a friend. No one gave her information. She is the one who has helped you?”
“She is.” Moon Wolf took a swig of the awful stuff, so that the stench of it was on his breath. Then he spit it out, pouring a little more of it over his body.
“And she is the woman who has been with you day and night for this past full moon?”
“Aa, yes, she is that and we have been together, but not in the way you might be thinking.” Another swig, which he just as quickly spit out. “She is a woman, yes, but there is nothing intimate between us. She is a friend. That is all.”
There was the hint of a smile in the other man’s voice as he muttered, “You are quick to assert that, my friend. Maybe a little too quick?”
“Haiya,” Moon Wolf snorted, handing back the bottle, “do not put meaning into my words that I do not intend.”
“As you say,” the man agreed, though the teasing quality did not abate. He tucked the bottle away. “I regret that I did not take her inquiries seriously.”
“Think no more of it. It is not your fault,” Moon Wolf answered. “She is strong spirited.”
“You are not angry with me, then?”
“Saa, no, why should I be? That woman is as easy to manage as the wind, I think.” Moon Wolf cast a brief glimpse around him. “Were you able to cover our tracks?”
“Only the ones leading to the cellar. The others, closer to the fight, are still there. The seizers are watching that place. Be careful, my friend.”
Moon Wolf nodded before pulling the robe up and over his head. He said, “Let us hope that the soldiers are still so groggy from sleep that they will not wonder what a drunken Indian is doing still up and awake at this early hour of the morning.”
His friend signaled agreement and, with a quick pat to Moon Wolf’s shoulders, faded back into the shadows.
Moon Wolf watched him for a moment before, taking a
deep breath, he began to sing his courage song in the best drunken voice he could muster. Perfecting his stagger so that he epitomized the image of a drunken idiot, he sauntered unsteadily back in the direction of the all too recent fight.
“Well, if it isn’t ole Moon Wolf,” Lieutenant Warrington’s voice alerted Moon Wolf to the man’s close presence. “Where’ve you been, you old drunk?”
Moon Wolf halted for an instant in his wobbling act and pulled the robe down from around his head. He had been erasing the tracks they had left behind and hoped that his disguise had once more masked the truth of his identity. He pasted an inane smile on his face, turned, swaying at the same time, and uttered, “Mor-r-re whisk-ee,” slurring the words.
“No more for you, you good-for-nothing rotten bag of fleas.”
Moon Wolf deliberately rolled his eyes until they bulged, then hiccupped. “This one not—hiccup—flea-bitten, not drunk either.”
“I wouldn’t take any bets on it.” The lieutenant paused. “Did you see what happened here tonight?”
Moon Wolf staggered forward, clutching onto the lieutenant. “Mor-r-re whisk-ee.”
“No more.” The lieutenant disengaged Moon Wolf’s hands from upon him, none too gently. He made a face. “Whew, you smell worse than a skunk in heat. I think you’ve already had more than your fair share of liquor for the night. You were supposed to be watching here and listening. And you had better be doing that or I won’t be giving you any more of the brew. Have you news for me?”
Moon Wolf didn’t answer at once. Instead he kept on singing.
The lieutenant tried again. “You good-for-nothing varmint, what news have you?”
“Mo-r-re whisk-ee.”
“Not until you tell me what you have heard.”
More singing followed the demand, and the lieutenant began to lose all patience. But then, just as the man made to turn away, Moon Wolf volunteered, “There are those—hiccup—who say the Wolf Shadow was killed.”
“Killed?” The lieutenant stomped back. “Killed, you say? Why you no good old bummer of an Injun. You’re crazier than a loon. If he was killed, what do you call this tonight?”
Moon Wolf staggered forward. “Information must be…not good.”
“Pshaw! Not good, you say. Is that all you can tell me? Now, what use are you to me if you can’t get me the details I need?”
“Much good is this one…heap big good.”
Lieutenant Warrington snorted, “I wouldn’t take bets on that either. Now, no more whiskey tonight, do you hear? There’ll be none for you at all until you tell me what I need to know.”
Moon Wolf teetered unstably. “No more whis-kee? But you promised you would get the white man’s drink for me—hiccup. Said you nothing of these…details you needed.”
“Details?…” The lieutenant made a face. “I need to find myself another Injun is what I need to do. You’re turning out to be nothing but a no-account dirty critter, and a drunk.” The lieutenant turned away and began to stroll off in the opposite direction.
“Don’t need another,” Moon Wolf called after him. “This one good.”
“Good for nothing.”
“You tell this one what you need to know,” Moon Wolf staggered after him, adding another hiccup for good measure. “This one will get it. Besides, know…that all others are afraid…to be cursed, they are…”
Lieutenant Warrington stopped, and shook his head before he turned around. “All right, then,” he said. “See if you can manage to get it right this time. I need to know the identity of this Wolf Shadow, not his state of health, nor any other trivial facts about him. I need you to discover how the trickster gets into and out of the fort without leaving a single trace. Who helps him? Who are his friends? D’ya hear me? That’s what I need to know, not, not…and no more whiskey until I get what I want.”
Moon Wolf deliberately bulged his eyes. “But what you ask is impossible. They say he is a ghost. How can I?…”
“That is your problem, not mine. And he is not a ghost.”
“But—”
“If you can’t do it, I promise you that I will find myself another Injun, curse or no curse, and damn you and your whiskey.”
Moon Wolf remained silent, swaying slightly.
“Good,” the lieutenant asserted. “I guess we understand one another well enough.” And with that said, the man stomped off, back toward the barracks, anger marking his every step.
Moon Wolf watched for a moment before turning away. Hiding a grin with the easy stoicism of his race, he pulled the robe back up around his head, continuing to erase all signs of his and the new “Wolf Shadow’s” tracks.
Chapter 8
“Is he still alive?” He crouched down beside her, where she squatted over his pet, and extended his hand to stroke the wolf.
“Yes,” she responded, watching that hand and his long fingers in fascination, “the bullet didn’t hit any of his vital organs. See?” She bent over and pulled away the bandage she had set to the animal’s wound, pointing to where the bullet had grazed its chest.
Moon Wolf drew in his breath, the sound of it resembling a hiss. He asked, “Will he live?”
“I’m fairly certain of it. There’s a lot of blood, but I believe it’s only a surface wound. I will go home shortly and get the herbs we will need to heal it. But if I am right, your wolf should be up and about again in a few weeks.” With a jerk, she raised her head and sniffed the air around her, asking after a few moments, “Moon Wolf, have you been drinking?”
He didn’t answer, merely stared back at her until at last he stood. Grabbing the lantern, which he had set off to the side, he signaled her to stand, too, and follow him.
She did as he asked, bringing another lantern with her.
They had gone only a short distance, their figures casting two large shadows on the cavern walls, when Moon Wolf suddenly stopped and rounded on her. “What is it that you do?” he demanded.
“What do you mean, what do I do? I am trying to save the wolf’s life.”
“That is not what I mean and you know it. What did you mean to do tonight at the fort?”
She swung the lantern to her side, set it down, and crossed her arms over her chest, her own shadow flickering against the walls. She said, “I might ask you the same.”
Moon Wolf ignored her. “Did I give you permission to act as me?”
“Did I give you permission to get out of your bed?”
“Since when do I need such a thing? I am well and have been up and hunting for several suns now. I am capable of fighting my own battles.”
“I beg to differ.”
“What sort of lies are these that you tell me? Can you deny that I have been hunting every day?”
She held her ground. “I would deny that you are well enough to go up against the soldiers.”
“I am well enough and I am recovered.”
“I didn’t think so at the time and I still have my reservations about it now.”
He scowled at her. “Do not bicker with me. It only causes us to leave the point, which is that you are not to go about disguised as me again. Do you not realize the danger you brought onto yourself tonight?”
“It is the same danger that you face whenever you go into the fort. Why should you have all the adventure?”
“Adventure? Is that what you think this is, why I do what I do? Do you not realize that I have no other life than this? Do you think I would not rather be with the rest of my tribe, listening to the old men talk of the long ago days, smoking my pipe and watching my children grow fat from lack of want?”
She swallowed, only one thing he had mentioned holding her attention. “You have children?”
“That is not the issue.”
She backed up, unaware that his shadow loomed over hers. She asked, not caring if it concerned the subject at hand or not, “How many children do you have?”
She could sense his anger, yet still his answer was polite as he offered, “I have no children
and we leave the point I am trying to make.”
“And your wife?”
His frown deepened. “Do I look the sort of man to be married?”
“Yes,” she returned. She could very well imagine it. From the recesses of her memory, she recalled just how well equipped this man was for such a role.
He made a sound deep in his throat, perhaps to vent his frustration, before he uttered, “If I were married, I would be with her now, helping her during the period of the white man’s terrible injustices to our people.”
“Then you are not married?”
His brows narrowed. “Saa, no, I am not married.”
She let out her breath, unaware until she did so that she had been holding it. She couldn’t quite bring herself to look at him as she came away from the wall and asked, “Why…why are you not married?” She risked a brief glimpse up at him to find him looking momentarily puzzled.
It was a fleeting impression, however, for he quickly swept all emotion from his countenance, pointing out, “I am not seeking a wife so do not put these thoughts into your mind, if it is a husband you are soliciting and the reason you ask me these questions. You will not find a husband in me for I have no time for such a pleasant thing. But again, we leave the reason why we are even now talking, which is your recklessness tonight.”
“It was not reckless,” she defended. “And I am not seeking a—”
“You could have been killed.”
“But I was not.”
“No thanks to your own lack of planning. Did you go there with no strategy in mind as to what to do if the soldiers attacked?”
“Strategy? I didn’t know I was supposed to have a plan.”
“Did you not? Then you should know better than to go out alone, with no one to help you if you should get into trouble. If it hadn’t been for Makoyi awakening me, I hate to think what might have been.”
“Makoyi? You mean Wolf? The wolf awakened you?”
He nodded. “And led me to you.”
“I didn’t know…” She glanced toward the wolf. “I didn’t realize that animals could be so…so…”
“Human? So capable of feeling? What do you think? That an animal does not experience loyalty and emotion, just as you and I feel these things?”