Her uncle looked at her as if the opinion of a mere woman was less than important. “Snake is right. Time is what we are running out of. If our people are to survive at all against overpowering odds, we must breed big, strong sons to fight the bluecoats!”
She started to say that by the time that son would be old enough to fight, it would all be over, the West closed down, and the Indians on reservations. She saw the future clearly and it did not show free-roaming Indians riding at will, attacking each other and white ranchers.
Tall Bull stared into the fire. “We are headed up to Summit Springs to rest and let our ponies grow fat on the tall grass for a few weeks. I do not think the army knows this place. That would be a good place to celebrate a marriage.”
She knew better than to argue. Somehow she would have to figure out a way to escape before that wedding took place. She had no idea how she would do it. The two white women were too sick and weak to escape and she wasn’t sure that she was hard-hearted enough to leave them behind.
Snake stood up, scratching his privates. “I see some of my men looking over the captives. I have a hunger on me for a woman, too, until I can properly marry Morning Star.”
“No,” Luci protested, “the women have been raped almost every night by some of the warriors. Don’t let them!”
But Tall Bull’s mouth was a grim line. “Some of our women and children begged at Sand Creek and it did them no good.” He looked over at the crippled Bear Cub, who sat his horse up on the ridge, guarding the pony herd. “Captive women are a spoil of war to be enjoyed by the victors. Do you expect my men to be any more noble than the soldiers?”
The white girls looked up, saw the warriors coming, and began to weep. There was nothing Luci could do to stop it.
Luci watched the cruel Snake take first one girl, then the other. When he stood up, another warrior waited to take his place between the captive’s white thighs. The Indian women were disinterested as they went about their chores. Men had always behaved like that and captured women should be expected to serve a man’s needs. Certainly some of them had at various times in the past been captured and raped.
There was nothing she could do to help the two; she couldn’t even help herself. In a few days, probably during the hottest days of July, the Cheyenne would be at Summit Springs and Luci would be forced to wed Snake.
She watched the savagery, wept, and wondered if the cavalry would ever find them. Surely they must be searching the plains. That meant sooner or later there would be a battle. The Cheyenne would die fighting rather than surrender. They were her people and she could understand their primitive way of life though she didn’t condone it.
Luci had no hope of surviving such an attack. She only hoped she might get one last look at Johnny Ace before she died. That alone would have to be enough. Otherwise, she tried not to think of him. It made her too sad to keep going and she had to try to help Susanna and Maria. Johnny Ace. She thought of him every waking moment.
July. The sun beat down mercilessly on Johnny and Cody as they scouted ahead of the Fifth along a creek. They found the ashes of an old campfire and the tracks of many unshod ponies. Johnny felt his pulse quicken with hope.
Cody looked over at him. “Dog Soldier camp?”
Johnny nodded. “Yes,” he said, and squatted to examine the print of a small shoe in the mud of the creek bank. “And they’ve got at least one white woman with them.” He wondered if it might be Luci.
“There’s at least two missing,” Cody shook back his long locks. “Alderdice says his wife was taken and the neighbors who found Weichell’s body say he had a pretty blond bride.”
Johnny didn’t even want to think about what would happen to the two women. At least if the Cheyenne had Luci, she wouldn’t be harmed since she was Tall Bull’s niece. The other thought that haunted him night and day as he scouted ahead of the Fifth was whether she, too, was being held captive or did she ride with them willingly because of some handsome warrior whom she had fallen in love with? The thought of her in another man’s arms drove him nearly crazy as they rode back to report to the major and General Carr.
The general wiped the sweat from his portly face and cursed. “We’ve been out on this wild-goose chase for almost a month now and we never seem to get any closer! Our food and oats for the horses are almost exhausted. Some of the men are worn to a nub or sick.”
Johnny didn’t answer–it wasn’t his decision to make–but he didn’t envy General Carr the choice. As he had said, many of the men and animals were no longer fit to travel and the Fifth was short on everything–except hostiles.
Pani Le-shar pulled at his mustache. “What do you think, sir?”
The general looked at Johnny. “You know Cheyenne as well as anyone, the major tells me. Where do you think the Dog Soldiers are headed?”
Johnny considered a long moment while slowly rolling a cigarette. Here in northeastern Colorado Territory, it was a long way between watering holes. There were only so many places the Cheyenne could camp.
Should he lead the Fifth on a wild-goose chase? At least Luci wouldn’t be caught in the midst of a heated battle. But suppose she was being held against her will? And what of the other captives? He wanted Luci to live, but he had his duty.
“Summit Springs,” he said thoughtfully. “If I were the Cheyenne, I’d be headed for Summit Springs to rest up. Not many whites know where it is.”
Major North pushed his hat to the back of his head. “Then they won’t be expecting us to find them there?”
Johnny nodded, lit the cigarette, and watched the smoke curl. “Of course, they’ll have scouts out, too, and there’s not much cover on that prairie. Unless we travel all night at a killing pace, they’ll know we’re coming before we get there.”
Major North leaned on his saddle horn and looked over the exhausted troops behind him. “Not many of our men and horses are up to making a ride like that, General Carr.”
The portly general looked from one to the other, then back to Johnny. “How far?”
“Too far,” Johnny said, “in the shape we’re in, but it can be done.”
Cody forgot himself and groaned aloud, and even the two officers looked bleak.
General Carr looked at North. “This is your man and you swear by him, so I’ll have to have that kind of faith in him, too. Major, order your officers to choose only the best of the horses and men. We’re traveling light and we’re traveling fast! We’ll leave the majority of the Fifth behind.”
Johnny studied the glowing tip of his cigarette. “We may come up against a superior force out there ahead since we don’t know if other war parties might be joining up with them. I think you should realize that.”
General Carr mopped his sweating brow again. “If we don’t hit them soon and hit them hard,” he said, “we’re going to have to give up on this campaign and return to the fort. The men and horses are worn out. Major, pass the word! Right now, all I can think about is cold water–lots and lots of cold water.”
Luci splashed cold water from the spring on her face and then took a gourd full to the two exhausted white women who sprawled under a tree. With the killing pace the Dog Soldiers had set the last few days getting here, she hadn’t been sure Susanna and Maria would make it through the heat without collapsing.
How long had she been with the Dog Soldiers? She shook her head, knowing she had lost all track of time. While it seemed an eternity, she thought it had only been five or six weeks.
“Where are we?” Susanna asked dully, sipping the water.
“Summit Springs,” Luci said, pitying the girl. Her belly was big with child, but that didn’t keep her from being raped. Luci looked at the pretty blond, Maria, wondering if she was pregnant by some Dog Soldier, but she kept silent. The girl had enough trouble without being reminded of that possibility.
Summit Springs. Her own time had run out. Probably in the next day or two, she would be forced to wed Snake and be at the mercy of his sexual appetites. She though
t wistfully of Johnny. Did he know or care where she was? What a fool she had been!
To keep herself from thinking about Snake, she distracted the two women by teaching Maria English. “You’ll need it when we’re rescued.”
“Rescued?” the pretty blond asked in her thick German accent, looking from one woman to the other.
Susanna seemed to forget her own problems then. “Yes, ‘rescued,’ Maria. We’ll explain and see if we can teach you some more words.”
Luci sighed and looked around. There was a small, treeless valley around the springs and a bunch of bluffs toward the back that made good places for sentries to watch off to the southeast. Surely if they were going to be attacked, the soldiers would come from the direction of Fort Sedgewick or Fort McPherson. The Indians must think that, too, since guards were always posted to watch the landscape to the southeast.
Tonight little Bear Cub sat up there on a rock, sketching in the lavender and pink twilight while keeping guard over the horses.
Luci managed to get enough smoked jerky to share with the white girls and took it to them. But when she went back to the big campfire and Snake looked her over, said to her uncle, “I weary of waiting for your niece to share my blankets.”
Luci glared at him. “You have two wives already.”
He grinned. “You know the taboos. When my son sucks at your breast, I will not touch you either until he’s weaned.”
Tall Bull sipped his strong, black coffee, munched dried jerky, and considered. “You are right, Snake. There is no reason to put it off now that we will be here a few days. We will have the marriage tomorrow night.”
Luci’s heart sank and she didn’t look at the ugly warrior. In her mind, she imagined him humping between her thighs, his wet mouth on her breast. Tomorrow night. That meant tonight would surely be her last chance to escape.
And go where? Her heart told her back to Johnny Ace, but her brain told her that was impossible. She’d figure out what to do once she got away.
Now that darkness had fallen, the old medicine tales could be told. It was taboo to tell the magic stories in the daylight; to do so would make one hump-backed. To the Cheyenne, a story was a possession like a blanket or a rifle. No man could tell another’s story. The medicine tales were passed down from father to son, although sometimes a man might make a gift of a story to a special friend.
She sat near the fire and listened. An old one stood and told a tale of the long ago time when the Cheyenne, the Tsistsistas, first got the horse, which freed them to ride across the great prairies when they had had to walk before. Finally, he said, “That is my story. Can anyone tie another to it?”
Then a second warrior stood and began to tell a tale connected to the first, how the horse helped on the hunt with the buffalo so that the people were better fed. When he finished, he, too, offered to let someone tie a tale on to his. Sometimes the telling went on all night, Luci knew. But the sacred tales must end by dawn. It was forbidden to tell the magic stories in the daylight.
Tonight, however, Tall Bull cut the stories short. “We have to see if the shaman has had any new visions to guide us so that we will know what we are to do.”
The gnarled and bent old man came from his lodge and settled himself before the crackling fire. He accepted a pipe from Tall Bull and smoked thoughtfully while he stared into the flames. On his chest were scars of the sun dance, denoting that a long time ago, he had been one of the bravest of the brave, who had survived that ritual torture.
She took a deep breath of the campfire smoke and the scent of the pungent mixture of tobacco and kinnikinnik, the red willow bark, which the old man smoked before he passed the pipe to the man on his right. It was so quiet as the people waited, that Luci could hear a cricket chirping over behind a far rock.
The old shaman cleared his throat and everyone leaned forward expectantly. “Yes, I have had a medicine vision; the same one I had before. I say, beware of the storm and the thunder from the north. I say, beware of the white horse.”
Everyone waited expectantly as if for an explanation, but the old man only stared into the fire.
Tall Bull shrugged. “What nonsense is this? Can you not explain? We all know the storms blow out of the west from the shining mountains whites call the Rockies.”
“I only tell you what the spirits whispered in my ear,” the old man said.
“Beware of the storm and the thunder to the north,” Snake repeated thoughtfully. “Beware of the white horse. Perhaps when we think on it, we will understand its meaning.”
Luci’s mind went to a big, black horse. If the shaman was to be believed, obviously Katis and Johnny wouldn’t be riding in to rescue her and the two captives.
The pipe continued to make its rounds. Tall Bull stared into the darkness. “We must all think on the shaman’s words,” he agreed. “Perhaps as Snake says, the message will be revealed to us.”
At that, the council broke up and everyone bedded down for the night.
But Luci didn’t go to sleep, though she wrapped herself in her blankets and pretended to. Tomorrow night, Tall Bull would force her to wed Snake. By this time a whole day from now, she would be spread-eagled in Snake’s tipi while he put his mouth all over her, forced himself between her thighs, and sucked her breasts. She shuddered at the thought, knowing she had to escape tonight. Would Bear Cub help her? If he wouldn’t, no one else would.
She waited until the camp slept, then sneaked up to where Bear Cub sat on a rock, keeping guard on the horses and watching the prairie to the southeast.
“Sooner or later,” she said, “the Fifth Cavalry will send the troops and we will all die.”
He nodded a little sadly. “I think we all know that, but we seem to have no choice. What I dream of is painting pictures of all my memories, the prairie when the sun is setting, new colts galloping with their mothers.”
“There is a man among the soldiers,” she said, “a gentle man who paints pictures, too. I think David would help you with your art.”
For a moment, the boy’s face lit up, then the hope faded and he shook his head. “It is too late for me, too late for the Cheyenne. We will be hunted down. My sketch book will be destroyed, I will be forgotten for all time.”
Her heart went out to him. “Perhaps not.”
He laughed without mirth. “The warriors will be remembered, but no one would remember a crippled herd boy who sketched pictures of his people’s history.” He hesitated a long moment as if building his nerve. “Do–do I hear right, that Tall Bull will give you to Snake tomorrow?” The hurt in his voice made her wince.
“That is what is planned.”
“If I were a proper warrior, one with many ponies and war honors, I would ask for you myself.” He hesitated as if expecting her to laugh.
She reached out and put her hand on his shoulder. “If I had my choice and if things were different, I would be honored. But I love a man who rides with the bluecoats.”
He did not ask for any details, and tears came to Luci’s eyes as she thought of Johnny. Yes, she loved him. No matter the chasm between them, no matter that it could never work out, she couldn’t dictate to her heart.
Bear Cub looked at her soberly. “You have been so very kind to me. I–” He hesitated a long moment then blurted out, “Hahoo naa ne-mehotatse.” Thank you and I love you.
He would aid her, no matter what kind of punishment it brought down on him. “Bear Cub, will you help me escape from here?”
“You know how much I care for you, Morning Star,” the boy said. “Whatever it is you want, I will help you.”
She thought then of the white captives, turned, and looked back toward the camp. They were tied up in a tipi below. She might slip away from the camp, but not with two sick captives who needed rest and food to travel hard. There was no way she could take Susanna and Maria with her. “I’ll have to leave them behind,” she thought aloud.
Bear Cub said, “Then Snake will be so mad about your leaving, he may torture an
d kill them.”
That was true. She had to admit that as she thought about it. Why should they be her responsibility? Each of them would have to look after herself. Didn’t she have a right to think of herself first? And what of Bear Cub? There was no telling what Snake would do to him for helping Luci escape.
“Luci, decide quickly what you will do,” the boy said urgently. “In a few minutes, a new guard comes to take my place and then your chance will be lost forever. I don’t care what happens to me; I want to help you.”
But she had already made her choice. She couldn’t escape when it would cost the others such cruel punishment, maybe death. “I’ve changed my mind,” she said reluctantly, standing up. But before she turned and ran down the path, she leaned over and kissed the surprised boy lightly on the cheek. “Hahoo naa ne-mehotatse.”
She went back to her tipi and lay sleepless most of the night, thinking of Johnny but knowing that this time tomorrow, she would be lying there weeping and smeared with Snake’s seed. For the first time, she noticed a fresh tear in her faded dress. It didn’t matter–tomorrow night she would be wearing fancy new buckskin.
Johnny squatted down to peer at a scrap of calico caught on a bush. Was that from Luci’s dress? Hope beat harder in his heart. She was with them! He examined horse droppings and decided how long ago they had stopped at this site. Turning back to look up at Cody who leaned on his saddle horn, Johnny said, “This campsite is not more than a day or two old. We’re gaining on them.”
“That’s what you’ve been saying for more’n a month now,” Cody grumbled as Johnny swung up on Katis and they turned to ride back to report to General Carr and Major North. The troops waited in the scant shade of some straggly cottonwoods.
Johnny didn’t answer. It was true that July now beat down on the luckless cavalry with all its heat while the so-called Republican River campaign chased the Dog Soldiers all over eastern Colorado Territory and western Nebraska. They were low on supplies, the men and horses tired and thin. If the Fifth didn’t see action soon, they’d have to give up the chase and return to the fort.
Cheyenne Caress Page 34
