by Deanna Jewel
Mai’s eyes narrowed as she pursed her lips, her grip tightening on her knife, ready to kill if need be. “You are wrong. I will not give up the white woman.”
“She does not belong to you. I have come to reclaim what is mine.”
Amid the commotion, Kate noticed the bruise containing a small cut on the inside of Mai’s forearm just above her wrist. She wondered why Mai would want to slit her wrist if not to bleed herself to death.
Heated words brought her attention back to Scar Face and Mai, but Kate remained still, wishing they would leave her be.
“She will never belong to you.” While Mai’s fingers whitened on the handle of her knife, she pulled out a small pouch containing liquid and for the first time, glanced at the Blackfoot. “This will help deliver her soul to me. She is mine!”
Before Kate realized what Mai would do, a dark liquid spilled from the pouch and covered Kate’s face. She quickly rolled over, wiping her eyes and spitting.
This woman is mad! What black magic did she think to use now?
“There. My blood will move with yours and we will soon be one.”
Kate glanced up in time to see an arrow pierce Mai’s heart. The woman’s eyes widened as she stared, open-mouthed, at the Blackfoot. She staggered back a step. Then two, before crumpling to the ground.
When Kate turned, the Blackfoot’s bow contained another arrow pointed directly past her. She quickly looked over her shoulder as she lay on the ground to see Taima in a dead run.
Her heart sank to think the Blackfoot would kill Taima this time for sure. Thinking only of her husband, she stood and darted toward Scar Face, hatred pumping through her veins. The bastard would not succeed. She’d see to it. If she could knock him off the horse to the other side, Taima could attack. As she closed in with her arms stretched up ready to shove him over, the Blackfoot quickly moved his bow, and with his free hand, grasped her wrists.
In one swift move, he lifted her and turned his horse away. Kate could no longer reach the ground with her feet as she dangled from the side of the horse. Her body slammed against the Blackfoot’s thigh and the animal’s ribs as it galloped away from Taima. The bones in her wrists crushed together within his hand though she tried to budge them apart.
Turning her head to see Taima, Kate thought for sure her neck would snap like a twig with each riveting stride the horse took. Her arms ached as the savage held them above her head; numbness crept into her fingers.
Though Taima ran after them, the Blackfoot rode a bit faster. She had to think of something to slow him down before he reached the end of the valley. Surely he couldn’t hold onto her in this manner for very long as her body tugged against his grasp. Kate clenched her jaw each time it bounced on the hard thigh beneath her.
An idea sparked her thoughts.
Suddenly and without warning, Kate sank her teeth into the Blackfoot’s thigh and bit down as hard as she could. He bellowed like a wounded grizzly and tossed his arm to the side, hurling Kate backwards and away from the horse.
She had obtained the desired effect. Escape was her only thought.
As she hung from his outstretched hand, she pressed her wrists apart and broke his hold on her.
Pain shot through her hip when she hit the ground, but she quickly rolled from the horse’s path. A bit stunned from the fall, Kate glanced up to see Taima continue his pursuit of the Blackfoot, his knife held tight in his hand. The savage had slowed his horse and turned around in time for Taima to yank the other man from the animal’s back.
At the same instant, like a horrible nightmare, Kate saw the Blackfoot drop his bow, pull his hunting knife, and sink it deep into Taima’s mid-section. Not only once...but twice. Bile rose in Kate’s throat as the blade sank a third time into Taima’s ribs, surely puncturing a lung.
The Blackfoot stepped away, holding his side and Taima heaved forward onto the ground.
Kate rose and raced for Taima at the same time as Ahanu appeared. He lifted his bow at Scar Face, took quick aim, and released his arrow into their enemy’s chest. Grasping the arrow, he stared wide-eyed at Kate before falling onto the rocky ground.
Taima groaned as Kate knelt beside him, her heart torn with anguish. She quickly looked him over and felt for a pulse at his throat. Warm tears wet her cheeks. Through blurry eyes, she saw his open to glance up at her. He lovingly caressed her cheek, his thumb moved lightly over her lips, then wiped away another of her tears.
“Do not cry for me, White Woman. Know I love you. Though my body will no longer be here, know my spirit will reunite with yours...I will find you.”
She couldn’t help it, she cried even harder, holding the palm of his hand to her lips. His eyes closed. He lay so still she thought for sure he’d died.
“Taima...nnoooooo!” Thinking she’d lost him forever, Kate laid her head on his chest and held him, her hand covering the wound at his side. She prayed she could stop the bleeding and bring him back to life, but warm liquid continued to seep between her fingers.
When Taima caressed her hair and cupped the back of her head to hold her tight, her heart soared, though she knew he had been gravely wounded.
“I will miss you, but you must be strong, little one.” He kissed her hair. “Look at me.”
She took a deep breath, but it caught in her throat. A new tear made its way down her cheek as she bit her lower lip.
Kate glanced up when Kelee appeared and knelt on the other side of his father. His blue eyes also pooled with tears.
Taima winced in pain, but reached for her ring at his throat. “Cut this leather and tie it around my son’s neck. He shall carry this for me now.”
He paused to struggle for air, then looked at Kelee, who took his father’s hand. Kate did as Taima requested. She wiped her bloody fingers on her dress, then cut the leather strip around his neck. She caressed his throat and bent to kiss his cheek, then leaned toward Kelee. Reaching around his neck and under his hair, Kate retied the leather strip. Her emerald ring now hung at Kelee’s throat.
Father and son needed to be alone, she knew, but it couldn’t be helped right now.
Taima touched the ring that Kelee now wore. “Nechan, my spirit goes with this ring. I want you to pass this on to your sons, and they, to their sons. In time, it will be claimed by its rightful owner.”
Kate wished she could somehow comfort Taima as he took another slow, painful breath before he continued.
“You must be strong, my son. I hate to leave you alone, but I fear I will not survive this.” Another slow breath. “You will become a man too soon in my absence. May the Great Spirit watch over you.”
A tear slipped down Kelee’s cheek. Kate’s heart ached for his loss as she watched him fight to be brave. She wanted to hold and comfort him.
“But Noshi . . .”
Taima touched Kelee’s lips. “I love you, too, son.”
He closed his eyes again and drew in a ragged breath. Kate feared it would be his last and she wasn’t ready to let him go yet. Blood covered the ground around him. His wounds still bled severely. She kept a watchful eye on him, wishing things would have been different. If the Blackfoot would only have left them alone, she and Taima could easily have dealt with Mai.
She would lose the one man she’d truly loved.
Again, the memories of the loved ones in her past reminded Kate of the curse she knew existed whenever she dared to love too much.
Death haunted her again.
Taima would die because he tried to love and protect her.
More tears slipped down her cheeks though she tried hard not to cry. She caressed Taima’s cheek and he opened his blue eyes that she would forever miss. “I knew I should not have loved you so much. You know I tried not to,” she said, then again covered the wound in his side with her hand as she settled next to him.
He touched her arm and struggled to keep his eyes open. A slight smile curved his lips. “You don’t listen well, White Woman.” Another pause; another breath. “I will always be w
ith you...” he said and slowly closed his eyes.
Kate waited.
The sound of her heart pounded in her ears.
Taima lay so still.
Then, as she feared, with one last breath, his head fell to the side and his hand slowly slipped from her arm.
Her scream sounded foreign to her and for a moment, she thought perhaps it was Aiyana. She threw herself onto Taima’s chest, holding him tighter.
“Why couldn’t they all just leave us alone?” she screamed, her chest heaving with each spasm. She’d loved him, yet he’d paid the ultimate price in return. Rocking as she held him one last time, Kate prayed silently to the Great Spirit for comfort and answers...though she found none.
Suddenly, she sat up and searched the ground around Taima. Finally spotting her prize, she quickly crawled over to it, and with bloodied fingers, grasped Taima’s hunting knife.
Determined to join him, she knelt and lifted the knife high. Kate closed her eyes and screamed as loud as she could, at the same time bringing the knife quickly toward her heart.
She would soon be with the man she loved.
Yet...something stopped her.
Hands with a vice-like grip wrapped around each of her wrists and pulled them apart. She struggled furiously and screamed again, angry at being cheated of her goal.
“Kate, this will not bring Taima back,” Ahanu shouted at her.
He sounded miles away. “I’ll not stay in this world without him. Leave me be!” she cried.
Ahanu shook her hand until the knife flew aside, then he pulled her to her feet.
Why wouldn’t everyone just leave her alone?
Jerking from his grasp, she headed toward a huge boulder next to a tree. Kate recognized the petroglyphs as those she’d seen in Whiskey Basin in Dubois, but before she reached the rock, she tripped.
In her haste to escape Ahanu, her fall brought her headfirst into the boulder where darkness once again surrounded her.
Chapter Twenty-Three
July, 1997 Dubois, Wyoming
Brandon Wakiza gripped his ax tight and gave one more cut to the piece of log. It split, landing with the rest he’d just finished cutting. Sweat beaded his forehead, and he wiped it away with the sleeve of his blue denim shirt. Pausing from his work, he glanced out over the green, rippling valley that surrounded his property just outside of Dubois. Beyond that, snow still covered the peaks of the Ram’s Horn Mountain.
Brandon shaded his eyes from the sun and drew in a refreshing breath of summer air, thick with the scent of sagebrush and a hint of rain. He loved the smell. Distant gray clouds filling the blue sky would soon cover the valley.
His horses, corralled near the stable, drew his attention. Nearby sat the silver Trailblazer that belonged to Kate, the young woman who’d lost consciousness in Whiskey Basin three days earlier when she hit her head. She still lay unconscious in the house.
He’d called his close friend, a doctor in town, to come and have a look at her. Brandon insisted she stay here with him and not be transported to some hospital. His friend advised him otherwise, but said to call with any changes to her condition.
So far there were none.
He turned and looked toward the house, thinking of the woman who lay in his extra bedroom. Memories of visions he’d had over the years came to mind...images of a white woman.
The same white woman who lay inside.
He’d spoken to his grandfather many times about the visions. His grandfather advised him to listen to his heart and be ready, for one day he would find her. Brandon wondered if this played a factor in his reasoning for not yet taking a wife. He couldn’t say he’d fallen in love with the white woman of his visions, but he continued to live alone in the mountains. Maybe he’d secretly hoped she would one day appear in his life.
Perhaps that day had happened, he thought. But would she want a man of tainted blood...a half-breed Shoshone?
Brandon touched the cherished emerald ring at his throat. The ring had been passed down to the first born son of each family over the years until the woman who it belonged to came back to reclaim it...so the story went. He wondered what part he played in this age-old story. Legend said Taima, his great, great grandfather, had vowed his spirit would one day return to join with the woman he loved.
Could his grandfather’s spirit live through him? That would at least explain the visions of this beautiful woman who now slept in his room. And the frequency of the visions as of late.
Thinking back on the drive to Whiskey Basin with Kate, Brandon could only assume fate had somehow brought her to him for their chance meeting in town that day.
* * * * *
Tossing his ax aside, he headed for the house to get a drink. Around the corner of his expansive log home, Smoke bounded toward him, the stray gray wolf he’d adopted years ago who decided to stay on. Brandon was glad he’d stayed. The wolf kept him company up here where there was nothing but nature to converse with.
The cell phone attached to Brandon’s hip rang. He answered it as he took the porch steps two at a time into the house, followed by Smoke. The wolf sat at his water dish and waited while Brandon refilled it.
“Dave, there hasn’t been any change. I’ve checked on her throughout the day. She doesn’t have a fever, but she seems to toss about in her dreams,” Brandon said, opening the refrigerator to grab a diet cola. “I promise I’ll call you as soon as there’s any change. Thanks.”
He closed his phone, laid it on the counter, then stepped to his open patio door. Unbuttoning his damp shirt, Brandon pulled it from his jeans and left it hanging loose. The warm, sage-scented air gently blew through the house. Raking his fingers through his shoulder-length hair, he brushed it away from his face and took a long pull from his cola. Brandon heard Smoke’s nails on the hardwood floor as he ventured down the hall where he kept vigil outside the door of the extra bedroom since finding the mysterious woman.
Just who was she? The resemblance to the woman he’d seen in his visions was uncanny. Besides the visions, he’d dreamed of her often and found himself curiously attracted. Brandon turned and headed for the living room, his boot heels sounding across the stone flooring, then onto the hard wood floor of the other room. Smoke growled and joined Brandon, only to turn toward the hall and growl again.
He knelt next to the wolf and scratched behind the animal’s ear. “What is it, boy? Is she finally awake? Let’s go check.”
* * * * *
Drowsily, Kate covered her eyes and moaned as she turned away from the morning sun shining across her face. Her temples throbbed with yet another headache. The fresh scent of sagebrush drifted in on the warm breeze and made her smile.
A nearby radio softly played country music.
Cuddling deeper into the soft down of the comforter, pillow feathers poked her cheek. The pain in her head persisted as she fluffed the pillow. Kate raked her fingers through her hair to try and release the pressure that felt like a steel band wrapped around her head. A bump with a healing cut on her head made Kate wince when she touched it, instantly awakening her.
How had she hit her head?
Realization struck hard.
Snapping her eyes open, Kate sat up and glanced around. A clock-radio sat on the dresser playing the country music she had heard earlier. A white feather comforter covered the bed. She wondered what had happened to the lean-to and buffalo hides.
And what of Taima?
Where the hell was she at now?
The massive lodge pole bed was an exact replica of the one she’d admired at The Grizzly Moon Gallery. A lodge pole chair, bedside table, and five-drawer dresser matched the bed. Deep blue curtains accented the plush carpeting. The walls of the expansive room were constructed of huge pine logs. Kate wondered at the home beyond.
Swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, Kate noticed the over-sized green denim shirt she wore. The sleeves nearly covered her hands, the tails would reach her knees. She didn’t remember putting it on, so someone else
must have.
Kate sniffed the air. A familiar scent of men’s cologne hung in the room. Where was she and how did she get here? She couldn’t remember a thing. Taima had last taken her to see the ancient petroglyphs and now she sat in a beautiful home.
Her breath lodged in her throat as memories flooded her mind.
She must have somehow returned to the future, but...how? Thinking sharpened the pain in her head. Then she glanced at her hand, turning it over, checking her nails.
No blood...yet she knew Taima’s blood had completely covered her hand...as he lay dying...when she’d cut her tethered ring from around his neck and gave it to his son. She’d been unable to help him at all and now her heart ached again with the pain of her loss.
This couldn’t be happening. Closing her eyes, she massaged her temples and wondered how much more confusion she could handle.
An animal growled behind her and she nearly bolted off the bed. Distant boot steps sounded beyond the door of her room as she glanced up.
A man’s deep, velvety voice filled the quiet air and recognition gave way to hope. Her heart soared as too many explanations mingled in her mind. How could Taima be here with her in the future?
Taima’s clear voice conversed with someone. Of this, Kate was certain. She padded toward the door and quickly turned into the hall.
Kate gasped as she bumped into a broad, unfamiliar, naked chest.
His musky, yet familiar, scent assailed her senses.
The man grasped her upper arms as she quickly tried to back away. When she persisted in her struggle, he gently released her and she stepped back to hold onto the foot of the bed. A snarling gray wolf appeared in the doorway, but stayed behind the legs of the stranger. He spoke to the wolf, his voice obviously calming the animal.
Holding tight to the bed for support, her breath lodged deep in her lungs and she felt the blood drain from her face as her world careened precariously. She stared at the handsome half-breed who stood before her wearing an unbuttoned blue denim shirt.