by Karen Kay
The music played out a happy melody while the dancers stamped their feet, the women twirled in circles before their men, and the people on the sidelines clapped.
Soon the music stopped and, with Alys already wrapped in his arms, the lieutenant pulled her closer toward him.
Rage swept through Moon Wolf, and without thinking, without even waiting to see his woman’s response, which was perhaps a counter to the lieutenant’s move, Moon Wolf acted, pushing himself away from the wall, positioning himself beside the couple.
With a deliberate stagger, he bumped into Lieutenant Warrington, sending the man sprawling onto the floor.
“Humph, Lou-ten-tant,” Moon Wolf slurred his words. “Let this one help you up.” He bent down to assist the lieutenant to his feet, to brush the dirt off him, with none too gentle a hand.
Lieutenant Warrington stood, refusing any help. Pushing Moon Wolf away, the officer slapped out at him; Moon Wolf, as though unable to fully comprehend, countered each strike, “trying” at the same time to aid the man to his feet, making quite a show of it. But amid all the confusion, Moon Wolf “inadvertently” stumbled back into the man once again, pushing the officer back onto the floor and landing conveniently on top of him. Again, amidst a tug of war of hands and arms, Moon Wolf managed to pull a few punches in most strategic places.
“This one comes to you…with heap big knowledge…” Moon Wolf slurred his words and repeated the whole process, only this time, in brushing the man’s uniform, he “accidentally” bumped into the lieutenant’s sword, causing the tip of it to hit the poor fellow in his cushioned backside.
“Stop it, you fool.” Lieutenant Warrington tried to disentangle himself from the Indian, resulting in a skirmish that served to produce the same effect as before: the lieutenant ended up on the floor.
Moon Wolf jerked the lieutenant roughly to his feet, bumped into him and, as only a drunken man could do, clutched his cape, and “unexpectedly” ripped it.
“Oops, Lou-ten-tent. You have torn your cape,” Moon Wolf observed.
“You clumsy oaf!” Lieutenant Warrington jerked himself away and turned toward Alys, who was hiding her expression—at least her lips—behind her fan.
But her eyes danced with merriment. The lieutenant couldn’t have missed it.
“If you would excuse me, Miss Clayton,” the officer’s words were clipped. “I am sorry, but I must see to my uniform.”
She inclined her head. “By all means.”
With a curt nod to her, the lieutenant spun around on his heel and should have left forthwith. However, a misplaced moccasined foot had been left in his way, and the unfortunate man tripped over it, falling flat on his face.
A trill of feminine laughter sailed through the air, while the lieutenant, red-faced, squared off against the swaggering and “drunken” figure of Moon Wolf.
“You are the sorriest excuse for a human being that I have ever seen.”
Mumbling his words, Moon Wolf responded, “But this one has…information for…more whiskey…”
Lieutenant Warrington hissed out another oath and, sweeping what was left of his cape over his shoulder, stomped from the hall. Curious looks and giggles followed him.
Meanwhile, the music, which had been stopped all this time, started up again, and people were once more taking to the dance floor.
Alys sent a puzzled glance toward Moon Wolf, who motioned her outside with a quick dart of his eyes. He then stumbled and staggered his way to the exit, looking, to all the onlookers, the epitome of a once proud warrior, turned drunk. And, singing his courage song in his best falsetto voice, he made his way toward the back of the building, there to meet his lady love.
Or so he hoped.
Chapter 14
“You must be careful. Lieutenant Warrington is a dangerous man. You should not anger him unnecessarily.”
Her whispered words fell into a rhythm with the sighings of the wind as she waited for his reply, her back to him, as though she stood alone, out here in the night.
She reclined near the shadows of a building; he hidden by them completely, she more obvious to any onlookers. Above her splashed the light of a million stars, illuminating her dress and her features in an iridescent glow; below her, the firm feel of the dry prairie grass cushioned her feet, though her step felt light against it. In the distance, the river rushed by, its current reminding her of the hushed murmur of a whisper, the quiet sound accompanied only by the mournful howls of the wolves and the wind as it swept across the prairie.
Her hair stirred against her neck, but whether from the wind or from a gentle caress, she could not tell. Nor would she turn to determine it. No one must see her; no one must be alerted to what she did, that she stood here in the shadows…with him…
At last he proffered, “Aa, yes, the lieutenant is a dangerous man. It is good that you see this.”
“Nor is he an honest man,” she replied. “What dealings do you have with him and what were you talking about—having information for him?”
Moon Wolf paused for an instant and then said, “He pays the drunken Moon Wolf to gather all the information that he can on the notorious Wolf Shadow, that the lieutenant might find out who this scoundrel is and hang the man.”
“Moon Wolf, no! This is a dangerous game you are playing.”
“So it is and yet I have been playing it for some time now.”
Alys drew in her breath. “It cannot go on. Sometime he will discover your true identity and then you will be…”
“Did I not tell you that my life is forfeit? Did I not explain to you that this is the reason I would make a bad husband? But this is also a thing I must do if I am to be of any help to my people.”
Another long pause. This time, her own. “I see,” she said at last, and she did. However, that didn’t mean she liked it.
After some time, he mentioned, “I was waiting in the caves for you to return.”
She didn’t answer.
Again, he hesitated. “You did not come back to me.”
“There wasn’t time,” she whispered all at once, “the lieutenant was waiting for me at my house and I had no choice but to accompany him.”
“You could have been busy. If my memory is correct, you were.”
“What? And have him grow suspicious of me and follow me to the caves? I think not.”
“You did not have to dance with him.”
She snorted. “A simple dance means nothing.”
“And yet it looked like very much to me.”
She widened her eyes, though she did not turn around to look at him as she voiced, “Moon Wolf, are you jealous?”
He gave no answer, though at length he said, “I did not like seeing you with another man—and especially the lieutenant. I am hoping that I will not have to see that again. If you are to marry another in the future, and I hope that you will, I pray I will be gone by then.”
“It is possible I might not marry again.”
“And yet, you should. I know this.”
She glanced over her shoulder.
“Do not look this way!”
She faced back around, though she did comment, “Perhaps you should stop trying to marry me off to another and enjoy our time together.”
“Perhaps.”
More silence, until she asked, “Where is the wolf? Does he wait for us in the caves?”
“He has gone to seek a mate.” A hint of humor tinged Moon Wolf’s voice.
“Your pet? To seek a mate? Will he return?”
Moon Wolf reached out a finger to trail a line of sensation over her neck, causing her heartbeat to race, her stomach to lurch and a moan to escape her lips. He commented, his breath hot on her neck, “I do not think he will be greatly successful. The human scent is too strongly imbedded in his fur. I believe that this alone will keep the females away from him. At least for now.”
“And in the future?”
“The wolf mates with another but once and for his entire lifetime. It is not
something I can stop. I only hope that if he does leave me to make a home with a wife, he will not trust other human beings and try to become close to them. He does not understand to fear them.”
She nodded.
His fingers grew more insistent, and he muttered, “I shouldn’t…I know it, but I want you…again.”
Her stomach dropped.
“I did not like seeing you with another. If I could, I would pronounce you mine before the rest of the world.”
“If I could, I would let you. I do not understand entirely why you do not do this.”
“Do you not? Look around you. Who here would welcome you if we announced ourselves married?”
She remained silent.
“We have been through this before. Our hearts are as one, but the color of our skin sets us apart. I must think, not of myself, but of you, of your acceptance within my own tribe, with your people; I must think of our unborn child and what life would hold for he who would be not wholly Indian, or white. But most of all, if I live, and if I am to hold on to you, I must find a place for us to live. A place where we can prosper without fear of prejudice. Do you know of such a place?”
She couldn’t answer. She knew of no such haven—not even back east.
She smiled, just a little. “I don’t suppose we could bring a child up in the caves?”
He grinned too. “Saa, no, I do not believe so. All men and women, all children, too, need the camaraderie of their own kind. One cannot live alone for long without the mind being taken away by the Above Ones.”
“Do you mean ‘being taken’ as in crazy?”
“Aa, yes, it is so. Look here to me. Even the Wolf Shadow has friends within the village that help him, and the always has Makoyi.”
She became silent, reflecting for a moment. “Perhaps it is up to us, then,” she said, “to create this kind of place. Not only for ourselves, but for others like us.”
“Perhaps.”
“It has to start somewhere.”
“How wise you are.” His lips followed where his fingers had led him. He nibbled her skin, his breath hot against her, sending chills along her nerve endings. Murmuring, he said, “But we must cease this talk. We are not safe here. Someone could see us. Hostile eyes might find us, and I would not know it. Better it is if we return to the caves.”
“Is that advisable? Will the lieutenant not be looking for you and the ‘information’ you have for him?”
“I will see him tomorrow.”
She hesitated. Finally, though, she proffered, “And you think this is prudent?”
“He will not expect me tonight.”
“Then I will return home at once,” she said.
“Home?” he asked. “To the caves?”
She arched her neck against his silken caress. “To the caves.”
He set her slightly away from him, then murmured, “You must go now. I cannot take you there at this moment and we must not be seen together.”
He dropped his hands from her, and she stepped forward. Without turning around, she beseeched, “Do not be long.” With that said, she stepped away, hurrying back in the same direction from which she had come.
Lost in the shadows, Moon Wolf contemplated her every movement with admiration, a slight grin on his face. So much was he taken by her that he became temporarily oblivious to the other eyes that observed him. He started to step forward, instantly jerking back as he sensed another’s attention upon him. Noiselessly, he sank back into the shadows.
He let the blanket fall from his head and glanced around him; nothing. He listened carefully, barely breathing; he heard nothing.
Yet, someone was out there. He felt it.
A tiny rustle sounded off to his right; footfalls, barely discernable, fading away. It had to be an Indian, one man alone. No white man that he knew of could remain so silent.
But was the Indian friend or foe?
Foe, most likely, or the man would have presented himself. Who could it be? Moon Wolf knew the Indians in the fort personally, called most of them friend; none would spy on him.
Who was this, then?
Gathering his robe about him, Moon Wolf hunched down, moving forward silently, each step carefully placed. Instead of the hunted, he would become the hunter; his safety, and perhaps Little Brave Woman’s, depended on it.
He skulked after the intruder, following his tracks like a hound when the sound of the man’s steps were no longer audible.
He pursued the man round one building, and another, finally coming to the end of the trail; the berthing of Lieutenant Warrington.
“Humph!” Moon Wolf muttered softly to himself. Lieutenant Warrington.
Circling the quarters cautiously, for it might be guarded, Moon Wolf traced the man to the entrance. And there he waited, his senses attuned to the slightest of movements, the faintest of sounds. Finally, satisfied that no one else watched this place, Moon Wolf stole toward the window closest to the two figures inside, and, crouching down, listened.
The voices were low, barely audible. Still, of one thing he became certain: no Indian accent was this. This…this scout was a white man. A white man spying on an Indian?
Perhaps the man was a white hunter, those who had taken to the habit of lodging with the red man. Such might account for the man’s ability to sneak upon a person and remain unnoticed.
But these speculations answered none of Moon Wolf’s questions: Why was the white hunter here? And on whom had he been spying? Little Brave Woman, or himself?
What was the lieutenant’s involvement in this? What were these two attempting?
“I don’t believe you,” came the jarring voice of the lieutenant. Moon Wolf listened carefully.
“I seen the calico out there in the moonlight, Cap’n,” replied the white hunter.
“Don’t get too familiar, Jake. It’s Lieutenant Warrington to you.” The lieutenant took a shot of something, whiskey most likely, for he grimaced before he asked, “And who was the man with her? What outfit is he with?”
“I don’t rightly know, Cap’n,” the man emphasized the word. “Couldn’t see the man’s face, standin’ in the shadows an’ all, though I did smell whiskey on ’im.”
“I hire you for your information, man, not your ignorance. Why didn’t you wait until he had stepped out of the shadows?”
“I did, Cap’n. He faded back into them shadows, though, like he knew someone was watching ’im. And when I checked ’em, he was gone.”
The lieutenant paused a moment. “I see. And where did she go?”
“Back to her home, I believe, Cap’n. It’s what she said she was doin’.”
Moon Wolf heard steps stomping one way, back again, over and over. “So,” it was Lieutenant Warrington speaking, “she is having a secret tryst with someone else. That would explain why she is rarely at her home when I have gone to call on her.”
“Seems likely, Cap’n.”
“How could she do this to me? Me? Why, I have gone out of my way to be tolerant of her, even when she has been much too inquisitive. And I have done my best to coax her into affection for me.” A long pause followed. “But there is a certain amount of distaste in her eyes whenever she thinks I am not watching. Distaste? Why, the harlot. Who does she think she is?” More steps, going away, coming back. “Why, I’ll tell you this, if it weren’t for her mother’s wealth and that prime property that Miss Clayton will eventually inherit, I’d spurn her for less’n that…”
“Beg pardon, Cap’n, but you ain’t got her yet.”
“But I will, my good man.” Another long pause. “I will.”
“She’s a right pretty calico, Cap’n. That’s fer sure. Hard ta believe you ain’t got a hankerin’ fer her alone, only fer her money. But then, never could get a grip on you tenderfoots from the States.”
“Watch it, Jake. I’m a terrible man to cross.”
No response from Jake.
“Now, I want you to watch her. That’s all. Put a watch on her day and night until
we discover who this bullwacker is that she thinks is better’n me. That’s what I’m paying you for, not your opinions or your…” The lieutenant’s voice changed, becoming slyer. “I must say, if he is a soldier, a transfer might very well be in order…”
“And if’n he ain’t, Cap’n?”
The lieutenant didn’t answer all at once. “You just watch her, Jake. Find out who this man is and let me worry about the rest. But when I finally get her—and I will get her—I’ll…”
Moon Wolf didn’t wait to hear more. He didn’t need to.
Alys had unwittingly drawn attack upon her person, simply by not being romantically inclined toward the lieutenant. And what had he meant by saying when he finally got her? What sinister plan had he devised for her?
No mistake, Little Brave Woman would have to be more careful than ever. She could no longer afford the luxury of coming and going from house to cellar on a whim.
Moon Wolf jerked his head to the left and frowned. His Alys would have to remain in the house, here in the fort, in order to draw the attacks away from her. At least she would need to do this until he rendered the danger from the lieutenant harmless.
Taking a moment, he said a silent prayer of thanks to the Above Ones, to his ancestors. At least he had been warned.
“Tell me about your pet wolf,” she entreated, “and how he came to be with you.”
Moon Wolf drew his right arm under his head, his left acting as a cushion for her, Alys’s body snuggled in close to his. They reclined in the open, on a grassy knoll close to, but away from, the spray of the falls. Wrapped in a buffalo robe, they were shielded from the cool, though refreshing, mountain air. Above them, and spread out in all directions, lay a canopy of stars, all of which twinkled and shone with a hazy light.
Had he ever looked more handsome? She didn’t think so. His dark hair had entwined with her own, and strands lay across her arm like silk. The fragrance of his skin, clean and fresh-smelling, combining with the scent of the grasses, the trees and the pureness of the invigorating mountain air, was intoxicating. The potpourri sent her head spinning slightly, causing her to think of other things, perhaps more pleasant things, that they could be doing with one another rather than simply lying here.