by Mike Blakely
“Very well, my friend. If we take a girl from the Northern Raiders, I will give her to you. But, I warn you. My vision tells me that when we fight the Northern Raiders, your hatred for our enemies will make you go to battle like a Crazy-Dog-Wishing-to-Die. I will not let you keep any Northern Raider girls until your anger has blown away like the ashes of a fire. You do not have to beat a captive woman without reason to make her good with your seed. If she fears you, she will not know how to raise brave sons. If you want to follow me, Whip, your sons must be as brave as you.”
After resting two sleeps, Horseback led his men to the northeast. They traveled far under each sun, moving from river to river, until they found the Corn People drying buffalo meat at camp on the Lightning River where it cut across the plains. They saw the village from a distance, and Horseback stopped his men long enough to choose the finest pony from his herd. He would ride this good pony into the camp of the Corn People, and the True Humans would see him carrying the shield that had been sliced open in battle with strange hairy white men far to the south.
“My son, I have counted the horses,” Shaggy Hump said with a smile, as they spotted the village in the distance. “You have one hundred and one. Never have I dreamed of one warrior owning so many. I am proud my son owns more horses than any True Human before him.”
Horseback smiled over the withers of his good pony as he prepared to mount. “When I told Teal I would bring her father one hundred horses, she told me I must promise only ten. I do not think she believed I would ever have one hundred. But now I see that it is wise to have promised only ten. Her father will see that I have one hundred, and that will make him feel good about giving his daughter to me, yet I will only have to give him ten. I will have plenty of horses to attack the Northern Raiders and to give to the brave warriors who have followed me. Teal was wise.”
“She will be a good wife for you. Looks Away likes her. River Woman does not like her yet, but she will, my son. Teal will bear good grandsons for me. I will teach them how to hunt, how to ride, and how to use their weapons. I will not let them see my hair turn white or my teeth fall out. No brave warrior dies old.”
“Do not speak of dying on this day, my father. This is a good day for a scalp dance.”
“And for a feast. I am hungrier than hungry.”
Horseback smiled and thought of Teal. He swung onto his bear-skin pad and waved at his friends who were holding the herd of horses. Out here on the grass and sage plains, no deer trails would cross his path, requiring his homage, so he urged his mount forward at a lope. When Teal saw him, he would be riding in triumph.
43
She was thinking of him the moment he appeared.
Strips of fresh buffalo meat lay draped over Teal’s arm as she carried the heavy red meat to the drying rack. Suddenly the camp of the Corn People began to stir around her and hooves rumbled the ground. Her heart pounded, thinking Northern Raiders had come to carry her away to a life of wretched slavery.
Instead, she saw Horseback, which only made her heart pound harder. He rode a beautiful pony. Scalps dangled from his belt. Behind him, a huge herd of horses came over the rise of the riverbank, clouding the air with dust. Never had Teal seen so many horses in one place, and she felt laughter burst from her lungs as tears sprang in her eyes. Teal was a good daughter. She ran first to the drying rack to hang her buffalo meat.
It was not unusual that Horseback should appear as she thought of him, for Teal thought about Horseback all the time. He had been gone on his great search through many suns, and she worried that he might not ever come back, that she might not ever know what had happened to him.
But here he was. Horseback! See how he rode! She counted the warriors who rode with him. She knew from the stories that he had left with four warriors. Look! There were still four! And so many horses, and so many strange things! Horseback’s medicine was strong! A woman rode with Echo! A captive? A wife? She realized quickly that Horseback could have claimed this woman, but he had let Echo have her! This was good!
She stood by the drying rack and watched him as his eyes searched for her. He had not seen her yet, but his gaze was darting like the blasts from the eyes of the Thunderbird. When at last he found her, his eyes struck her like lightning and made mysterious powers swarm inside her, all through her body, down the back of her neck, around the nipples of her breasts, through her belly, high between her thighs. She bit her lower lip and wondered how she looked to him, her hair loose and blowing, her hands painted with buffalo blood, her moccasins dusty. Maybe it was better this way, for now when he saw her next, she would look much finer, wearing the golden wedding dress her mother had helped her make from a perfect antelope skin, knowing Horseback would disapprove of her using the hide of a deer, which was sacred to him.
He rode by her with a most serious and prideful scowl. Behind him, all his horses and warriors were lining up on the riverbank, the ponies wanting to drink at the river, yet fearing the lodges of the Corn People. “Teal,” he said. “Where is your father?”
Her heart beat so furiously that it pounded all the breath from her lungs. She pointed with a tilt of her head and managed to draw in a breath. “Resting in his lodge.”
When Horseback rode away toward her father’s lodge, Teal found herself surrounded by excited girls.
“He has come for you!” said her friend Little Cloud. “Look at all the horses!”
Grass-in-the-Wind grabbed her arm. “He has taken scalps! He has strange things on his pony!”
Slope Child spoke to her from behind. “Yes, he has gone far, and now he has come back to take you to his lodge, Teal. The warrior in his loin skins is too big for you. I know this, but you do not. You do not know how to please him. Before spring, he will want a second wife who knows what to do.”
Little Cloud stepped between Teal and Slope Child. “Do not listen to this wild one who couples like a bleeding she-dog. You do not have to know what to do. The wisdom is in your heart. The winged ones know how to build their nests when the time comes. This is what my grandmother says.”
Slope Child laughed. “I have never heard your grandfather moan with pleasure in his lodge.”
Teal smiled, refusing to let Slope Child intimidate her. “Elder friend, you are wilder than wild. Why don’t you get a husband?”
Slope Child smiled. “I will be a wife someday, but I wish to be a second or third wife who doesn’t have so much work to do. My husband will have many brothers, so when he goes away, I will still have men in my lodge to lie with me.
The girls gasped and giggled at Slope Child’s brazen ways. Teal liked hearing what Slope Child had said, for Horseback had no brothers at all.
“Go now,” said Grass-in-the-Wind to Teal. “Go bathe in the pool around the river bend, and make yourself ready for your wedding. We will listen to the talk in the village and come to tell you what we have learned.”
* * *
Teal expected to be married to Horseback before the sun had set, but strange things began to happen. She heard about it while bathing. Girls came running to tell her the news.
“Horseback has given many wonderful gifts to your father!” said Little Cloud.
“What kind of gifts?”
“Ten horses!”
“And strange iron tools from the south,” Grass-in-the-Wind added. “Horseback told your father that hairy white people made the tools. There is one that cuts like two knives bound together. Another that makes fire when struck.”
Slope Child came swishing to the pool, her skirt held high on her thighs, as if she had really been running fast. “Listen, bride,” she said, “you are not to be married today.”
Teal splashed water, turning quickly in the pool. “Why do you say this?”
“Horseback has not returned to the Burnt Meat People yet. He came here first, to give the gifts to your father.”
“I will marry him now and go with him to the Burnt Meat People. We will return later to our own village. My husband will provide
for my mother and father here, with the Corn People. It is the way.”
Slope Child shook her head. “Horseback has had a vision.”
“What kind of vision?”
“He will not tell anyone what he saw, but his vision has told him he must attack the Northern Raiders before he can marry you. Tonight we will hold a scalp dance to celebrate his victory over hairy-faced white men in the south. The next night, we will hold a war dance, to prepare our warriors for battle. Then Horseback is going to attack the Northern Raiders. He says his vision tells him they are camped only three sleeps away for a warrior who rides horses.”
Teal looked at Little Cloud and Grass-in-the-Wind as if she did not believe Slope Child.
“It is true,” said Little Cloud, “and it is a revenge fight.”
“Revenge?” Teal said. “For what? The Northern Raiders have not attacked our village for three winters. The elders have chosen our camping places wisely.”
Little Cloud held her upturned hands wide apart. “Horseback has said that it is a revenge fight according to his vision.”
“He says he flew in his vision,” added Grass-in-the-Wind, “and saw you gathering roots.”
Teal felt her flesh gather with spirit-powers, tightening all over her body. She began wading out of the pool.
“Are you alright, my friend?” said Grass-in-the-Wind.
“One day when I was gathering roots, I had a strange thought about Horseback. I was sad. I felt that he was dying. Then I heard a hawk and looked straight up. I could not look at the hawk because he flew just under Father Sun.”
“Was it Horseback in the shape of a hawk?”
“I believe so.”
Teal wrung out her shiny black hair, then pressed water from her flesh with her palms, first from her arms, then her body, and finally her legs. The other girls admired her grace, the fullness of her high breasts, the smoothness of her skin as she stood drying in the cool breeze.
“Now I am clean for the scalp dance,” she said. “It is good that Horseback goes to attack our enemy. It is good that he has had a great vision, for it will protect him. I am going to dance well at the scalp dance, and at the war dance on the next night. If my husband is wounded when he returns, I will take care of him.”
“If he returns alive,” Slope Child said. “Horseback is very brave. He will seek danger.”
“Hush!” said Grass-in-the-Wind. “Teal is not afraid. She makes prayers to the spirits!”
“So does Slope Child,” said one of the other girls. “She prays to the spirits that make all peckers stiff with lust!”
The girls gasped at the suggestion, then laughed. Even Slope Child laughed. Teal laughed, too, hiding the bad feeling she felt in her heart She had hoped to be married to Horseback by the time the moon rose. Now she would have to wait, and dance, and pray, and wait some more.
Still, she felt excited. Horseback had come to her first, even before going to see his own mother. She knew that life as the wife of a great warrior would require courage, and she did not intend to show any lack of courage now. She was not even a wife yet, but she was prepared to serve her husband-to-be. Besides, in the chaos of two nights of dancing, she knew opportunities would arise to meet Horseback in secret. She was ready.
Horseback was the one. The Corn People girls all talked about him since meeting him during the great camp-together. He had been born on the day of First Horse. He had special powers over the hearts of horses. He had traveled to the land of hairy-faced white people. Now he had seen a Great Vision. Teal barely knew him, and already, she loved him very much.
* * *
The camp of the Corn People went crazy with dancing through two nights. The first night, Teal had no chance to be with Horseback, for he danced under the scalps hung high on the scalp poles, and he danced well, and he danced all night long. He slept all the next day, for he seemed very tired from his long journey.
On the second night, Horseback bathed in cold water, purified himself with smoke, painted his face black with war paint, and went to the lodge of the elders with the other men. There he listened to the old warriors tell stories of great victories and strokes counted in battle. When the more experienced warriors had spoken, Horseback had the chance to tell what had happened at the fight with Metal Men in the far south. His talk held the attention of the men more so than that of any other speakers, for although Horseback was a warrior of very little experience, he was known to possess great medicine. Teal only heard some of the story, for she had to listen through the hides of the lodge, like the other women.
After the telling of stories, there was dancing. Again, Horseback danced well, never looking up for Teal. The drums sounded like spirit-thunder, and the trained voices of singers stirred the souls of all True Humans with loud wails and high piercing yells. As dawn neared, the warriors who would accompany Horseback went to their women, for soon they would have to gather their weapons and mount their war ponies.
Horseback found Teal between the dancing circle and the lodge of her father. He looked fierce and powerful painted for battle. He wore a headpiece of buffalo horns and carried a new shield that had been given to him by the Corn People, to replace the sacred shield the Metal Man had damaged in the far south. A single yellow feather protruded from his scalp lock.
“My woman,” he said. “Pray for me while I am gone. I will bring back scalps.” He strode closer to her, his fierce eyes gleaming bright from the black paint on his face, searching her all over, as if passing judgement on a fine horse.
She took two small steps toward him—cautious steps to show him she wanted to be nearer, yet did not want to interfere with his preparations to fight. When they came together, she pressed herself hard against him, feeling her own heart beat furiously. “My warrior, I have something to tell you.”
“What is it?” he said, his hand slipping around the back of her neck.
“I have been riding horses. When I go to dig roots, and no one sees, I catch my father’s horse—the one that drags the rope. This horse teaches me to ride. I no longer fall off. My father does not know about this, but it is true.”
“This is good, woman. When I take you for my wife, we will ride together. You will see.”
His lips were on her cheek now, so Teal turned her face toward him and felt his lips on hers. She leaned harder against him and felt the spirit-mysteries swarm over and through her again. Then he was gone.
44
Two warriors from the Corn People joined Horseback’s revenge raid. One was Teal’s father, High Feather, who was known as a great foot-warrior, but was learning the ways of the young horsebacks. The other was Horseback’s friend Trotter, who was promised to marry his little sister, Mouse, when the Moon of Green Grass returned. Trotter was the best horseman among the Corn People and wanted to prove himself to his future father-in-law, Shaggy Hump.
High Feather rode the Spanish saddle tree covered with sheepskin. He had seen this strange saddle and admired it, so Horseback had given it to him. Now, after a day of riding, High Feather praised the saddle, though Horseback could see that the hard riding had made him sore.
“If I do not return from this battle,” High Feather told Horseback, “you must give this saddle to my daughter when you take her into your lodge. It will keep her from falling off. She thinks I do not know, but she has been riding my horse.”
The second day, they passed from a rough sage country onto high rolling plains covered with fine grass, brown now after the time of frost. When the sun started down, they found themselves among ponderosa pines, and knew they had crossed into the country of the Northern Raiders.
“My son,” Shaggy Hump said as twilight gathered around their tired ponies. “You are leading us to the lodge pole camp of the Northern Raiders, though I know you have never been there. I raided this camp many winters ago, before you were born. How do you know where to find it?”
“I have seen the way in my vision,” Horseback said. “Ride ahead, my father, and watch for signs o
f the sacred deer. When darkness comes and the giant cannibal owl rises into the sky, we will camp. I do not want to stumble across any sacred deer trails in the dark.”
Shaggy Hump nodded. “We have passed from the country of antelope, into the country of the deer nation. I will watch the trail for you, my son. Your power protects us. We must all honor it.”
Horseback slept soundly that night, for he wanted to search his dreams for spirit-guidance. When he awoke, he could only remember one dream. In the dream, Whip’s sister, White Bird, was saying, “Help me, Horseback. Help me, friend of my younger brother.” She was only standing there in the dream, as she might stand in her own camp of the Burnt Meat People, yet Horseback awoke with his heart beating furiously, and his body covered with sweat.
The warriors did not speak that day until the smokes of the Northern Raiders’ camp were seen in the sky. They gathered around Horseback as he put his war bridle on his battle pony, which he had spared from riding until now.
“This fight is for revenge,” Horseback said. “Only I know the reason for this revenge, but you will know soon. Trust my vision. We have cause to hate and kill our enemies.” He swung onto his pony, who started to prance and snort. “Stay out of Whip’s way. He will be angry. Do not race Whip for strokes counted in battle. There will be plenty of strokes for all of us, for this is a big enemy camp. Fight on the backs of your ponies. My vision says we must use the spirit-power of our horses to defeat our enemies. When you see me chase the horses of our enemies through their camp, you will know the time has come to finish the battle and go back to our own country.”
The True Humans looked at each other, drawing courage from the black face paint worn by all, and from the tattooed scars of the old ones. Their weapons and shields looked good, dancing with feathers and scalp locks.