Tiopa Ki Lakota

by D. Jordan Redhawk

  ikceya

  for something to eat.

  On the other side of the dip, she could see a spear head slowly raise from the ground. It waved gently side to side, two times. In response, the small girl used hand signals to her party, preparing them for the attack. And then she heard Nupa's war whoop and the eight of them surged forward, hollering at the top of their lungs as they 'hunted' the dogs.

  The puppies scattered in clumsy surprise, yelping in fright at the sudden cacophony about them. The boys and Cinksi pretended to thrust spears into them as the trio scampered away. Their mother, a mean spirited animal by most of the camp's definition, got hold of one boy's spear and a tug of war ensued. Eventually, the remainder of the hunting party had forgotten the pups, laughing at the antics of the boy with the spear as the dog growled and gnawed her way on the haft.

  Nupa finally aimed a kick at her, to distract her from her chewing, and she pulled away to snap at his moccasin before trotting back towards her offspring. Once she was sure that all her pups were present and unharmed, she urged them away from the gaggle of attackers, keeping a watchful eye.

  Cinksi threw herself down onto the grass, peering up at the deep blue sky. Most of the other boys followed suit. The only one remaining on his feet was the boy who was studying the damage to his weapon.

  One boy pulled a waterskin from where it hung across his shoulder and took a long drink before passing it along. "I wonder how many buffalo my father took down?" he idled.

  "Your father is a good hunter," another answered. "But my father and brother will kill more than him."

  Nupa had his turn at the waterskin before handing it to Cinksi. "I had a dream last night. A vision."

  That information garnered the attention of the group, several sitting up to peer at the oldest boy closely.

  "What did you see in your vision?" Cinksi asked, intrigued.

  "My father, Sape, killed two bulls. Your father," and he nodded at the girl beside him, "killed a bull and a cow." And then he went around the circle and pointed to each of the boys, informing them how many kills their fathers and brothers had made.

  One boy looked suspicious. "Are you sure it was a vision, Nupa?"

  Indignant, the older boy puffed his chest out. "Want to bet on the outcome of the hunt?" When there were no immediate takers, he said, "Unless you believe my vision was a true one."

  "I bet my spear that you are wrong," the smallest boy said with a stern expression.

  This seemed to be the catalyst and each child began making bets of their personal items and toys. Those who believed in Nupa's vision put up their items to back his. The spear that Cinksi's father had made her two moons ago was bet in support of her friend.

  There was the sound of a horse and Nupa rose to his feet, he being the tallest to see over the small hollow and tall grass they were lying in. "There's a rider! The hunt must be finished!" He looked down to the pack, excitement in his dark eyes. "Let's go see if I am right!"

  The eight of them stood and trotted towards the camp that was now humming with industriousness.

  Once word of the hunt being finished reached the camp, the women and older girls gathered their knives and other accoutrements. All members of the camp proceeded to the killing fields with an excited buzz. They soon began picking over the corpses of the huge animals that had been slain by their warrior husbands and sons and brothers, identifying each by markings on the arrows and spears that were used to kill them.

  The boys all gathered with their older male family members, as the excited tales of the hunt began to be discussed. Soon, as the women and girls worked in the field skinning the great beasts, the men were sitting at the council fire, smoking pipes and filling the boys' ears with stories.

  Cinksi hung on her father's every word as he described waiting on the ridge above the tiny valley. She could almost feel the dry wind as her father received the signal to attack and swooped down on his pony to harry the herd.

  The buffalo had been startled, initially milling around in surprise at the sudden danger before finally settling on a course. They had stampeded and the sounds of their hooves on the hard packed earth were like the thunder in a stormy sky. Her father had pulled his horse near a well grown bull and had let his arrow fly. The buffalo had stumbled and fell to its death as he continued on to his next likely target. The second was a pregnant cow that hadn't die immediately. Her father had stopped his chase and put the cow out of her misery, a dangerous task as the wounded animal thrashed in terror and pain. By the time that was finished, the hunt had been completed, the remainder of the herd stampeding off.

  As the stories trickled through, some of the older girls began arriving with the raw livers of their kills. Cinksi's eldest sister trotted up with a breathless smile and handed three of the livers wrapped in a skin to her father with an exuberant smile.

  Wanbli Zi took his delicacy, thanking his daughter. He settled the bundle on the robe he was seated on and pulled a knife of obsidian form the sheath hanging around his neck. With great care, he sliced the two larger livers into chunks and passed them to others around the fire even as they did the same with their own prizes. The liver of the animals were strong in spirit and endowed the Lakota hunters with strength and courage. In this way, all the men of the camp could partake of the spirit, even the elder council members who did not participate in the hunt.

  The smallest liver, that from the fetus held within the cow Wanbli Zi had slain, was held up in front of Cinksi. The warrior looked down upon his youngest daughter with grave intent. "This is the liver of the unborn tatanka

  whose mother was killed by my hand. Tonight, we will all feast on it after it has been boiled."

  Cinksi's eyes were full of love and adoration as she listened avidly.

  "Today, however, I give this liver to you, my cinksi

  of the heart, so that you may grow strong and brave." And the warrior handed the small organ to his daughter.

  The girl's dark eyes widened in surprise. "Thank you, Ate

  ," she murmured with delight in her voice. She received the meat and bit into it, savoring the saltiness of the fresh blood, the tenderness of the organ's texture. Cinksi could almost feel the surge of energy from the unborn buffalo's spirit fill her as she finished her treat. And then another warrior was speaking, telling his tale of the hunt and all eyes were on him.

  And so the late morning went. After the women had finished their duties of skinning the animals and slicing up the meat, everyone in the camp returned to where the carcasses were laid out and helped transport them back to the camp. By the early afternoon, the hides had been staked out and meat was cut into strips to dry in the sun. The atmosphere was one of happiness and excitement, as the camp prepared to feast that evening.

  There was a creek nearby that the warriors cleaned themselves in while the shaman, Inyan Ceye, was off seeking a vision. Cinksi ran off after the pack of boys as they scampered off to reenact the hunt as they had heard it. The women and girls had already cleaned themselves of the butchering and were beginning to roast meat or tan the hides of the buffalo.

  "Nupa!" the girl called. "You were right! My father did kill a bull and a cow!"

  This brought the attention of the other boys. They all considered what their fathers and brothers had told them of the hunt, comparing it to what Nupa had seen in his vision the night before. Eerily, the eldest boy was correct in all of his accounts.

  "You should be a shaman," a boy said, his dark eyes wide. The others agreed with him.

  Nupa shook his head in scorn. "No. I do not wish to be a shaman. It was just one dream. Nothing more."

  "Maybe we should start our own society from your vision," Cinksi suggested.

  Around her, the boys gave their heartfelt approval to the idea.

  "We could create a ritual and a song," one added.

  Another boy spoke up, fingering the feathers on his spear, "And a special dance."

  As the pack bowed their heads together, ideas filling the a
ir around them, a thunder could be heard in the distance. It took a few moments for any of them to notice, until Nupa suddenly sat upright and said, "Wait! Listen!"

  The thunder grew louder and the reverberations in the ground under their behinds signaled something moving closer. Most of the pack stood and peered around, searching for the source.

  It was still light out, the end of summer allowing for the long daylight yet. The warriors of the camp had noticed the approaching riders, as well, and were up and ready for whatever came their way.

  In the distance, a group could be seen approaching on their ponies. As they came closer, their appearance became one of the Lakota band under the chief, Zintkala T'e Zito

  . They came from the south, but circled around the established camp until they reached the eastern entrance. There they rode into the cleared area, a group of seven warriors, none of them looking particularly happy.

  As the party had entered through the proper entrance of the camp and the two bands were not at war, most of the warriors relaxed a bit. But their weapons were still kept close at hand. The pack of younger boys and Cinksi came pelting back into the clearing to watch the proceedings.

  The obvious leader of the party glared down from his pony.

  Their own chief, Wagmiza Wagna

  , approached with a welcoming smile on his face. "Please! Come to our feast this night! The great wakan tanka

  has blessed this camp with great bounty and we would enjoy it with the brave warriors of Zintkala T'e Zito!"

  "Hoh

  !" the new arrival spat. "Your people have chased away the tatanka

  that we were preparing to hunt. We will not eat the meat offered from thieves!" His pony pranced around in response to the rider's agitation.

  Wagmiza Wagna sobered at the insult, his face becoming stone. He cast warning looks at the younger warriors of his camp who bristled in response. "No man owns tatanka. The meat cannot have been stolen from you and yours. Had we known you were in the area, we would have offered to hunt with you."

  "That is not acceptable! We will return to our people and seek a vision of war." And with that pronouncement, the leader whirled his pony around and raced out of the camp, his party of warriors following, whooping and hollering.

  Cinksi watched the old chief sadly shake his head. A peek at her father and she could see a face comprised of worry and anger. "Ate?" she asked, reaching up to tug on the end of his shirt.

  Wanbli Zi looked down at his daughter, the expression faded to one of love. "Yes, Cinksi?" He placed a large hand on her head, caressing the thick, dark hair.

  "Are we going to go to war?"

  His dark eyes looked up, into the distance where the riders had ridden off to. "I do not know, Cinksi. We shall see."

  1768

  It was the noise that woke her up. Bleary eyed, Cinksi sat up in her buffalo robes and rubbed her eyes. To her left was her father who was also rising, albeit with more energy. As he scooped up a spear and headed for the tiopa

  , the girl's mother was getting up, a dress being pulled over her head as she spoke rapidly to her three children.

  "Wake up! Wake up! We are being attacked!"

  Galvanized, Cinksi dived out of bed, still wearing her breechclout and grabbing for her own spear. Her heart beat a tattoo in her rib cage and fear was an icy trickle down her spine. As her older sisters both dressed, she dashed for the tiopa, ignoring the warnings of her mother.

  Peeking past the leather covering, she saw the camp in a turmoil. Ponies were kicking up dirt in the central clearing, their riders howling and attacking her people as they ran about. Women and children were running away and the men were standing and fighting their attackers, who were painted in garish colors that could be clearly seen in the early dawn.

  Cinksi saw her father standing before the tent in nothing but his breechclout, his long hair flying as he reached out with his spear and unseated an enemy. He clubbed the other man who sank into unconsciousness before tossing a look over his shoulder and seeing his youngest child.

  "Cinksi! Protect your mother and sisters!" Wanbli Zi yelled. And then he turned back to parry another attack from someone else.

  The girl could see several of the ti ikceyas were being brought down by the horsemen. Embers from the banked fires were scattering like fireflies under the ponies hooves.

  Even as she watched, a face painted with streaks of blood red seemed to rear up in front of her, leering. Cinksi yelled in surprise and automatically thrust her spear at her attacker, scratching his face. As he cried out in pain, she scrambled backward into her mother's lodge.

  Behind the man, Wanbli Zi turned and saw him. Within seconds, his spear was imbedded in flesh, turning red with blood.

  Inside the ti ikceya, Cinksi's sisters were huddled at their mother's side. She prowled near the doorway, not sticking her head out of it again. It was frightening, the not knowing, but her father had given her a task and she would die doing it.

  Above her there was a whipping sound and she looked up. The top of the lodge was ominously moving back and forth. As it toppled from the rope that had been thrown around the poles and pulled by a horse, she pounced on her family, shielding the youngest of her siblings with her own body.

  There was a loud crash and a scream near her ear. A heavy weight thudded too close for comfort, grazing Cinksi's arm, and then buffalo hide was suddenly surrounding them. Followed by silence that was broken only by the attacking party's whoops as they raced away.

  Cinksi gingerly raised her head, trying to see through the buffalo hide that was the ti ikceya. The younger sister was beneath her, crying, and she could hear her mother trying to get out from beneath the stifling weight.

  The girl moved, trying to increase her range of motion. She was able to succeed and found she could move her spear. Just a little bit. With steady pressure, Cinksi edged the spear to a place against the hide, hoping to cut an opening since her knife was still at her sleeping area. All the while, she was murmuring encouragement to the sibling beneath her.

  As she worked, she could hear her father's yell as he called for his family. Her mother responded, guiding him to where they were huddled. Other voices could be heard, the men gathering to help remove the large logs that were pinning Wanbli Zi's family beneath the hide.

  And then they were free. And Cinksi was helping her younger sister from where she was cowering. She could see her mother fighting through, crying, blood on her arms though there was no wound.

  Cinksi's eldest sister did not come out.

  The wind was blowing gently, rustling Cinksi's hair which had been cut short in mourning. She stood next to her father as they regarded her elder sister's burial. Her mother and sister had already left, wailing in misery at their loss.

  Wanbli Zi looked down at his youngest child and felt pride fill his heart. He was sure that, had Cinksi not thrown herself across her sister, there would be two children dead. "You are a very brave wicincala

  ," he said. "You protected your sister from harm."

  Cinksi's dark eyes were wet with tears and her lower lip was pouted out. "But, I could not save my cuwekala

  ," she sniffed, grasping her father's hand. "Maybe if I had done something else...?"

  The warrior crouched down in front of his daughter. "No warrior can save everyone who is in danger. Not even ones you love, Cinksi. And no warrior should question what is past. To do so will make you crazy with pain and grief. What is done, is done." He pulled her into an embrace. As she nuzzled his chest, her sobs becoming audible, he said, "I think that everyone in the camp is proud of what you have done, putting yourself into danger to save your sister. You have a true warrior spirit, my cunksi

  . For all of your seven winters, you are stronger and braver than most men."

  Cinksi let her father's words wash over her as she mourned her elder sister's passing. To herself, she vowed, I will always protect my people from harm. I will always strive to be stronger and braver than most men. And then she t
hought, I will be like my father.

  1773

  The sound of hooves approaching garnered Cinksi's attention. She looked up from her task, braiding leather and hair together with three small feathers, to see her friend. Nupa was considered a warrior now at fifteen winters, a man. He carried himself tall and proud in his saddle as his pony trotted closer.

  "Hau

  , Cinksi!" he called as he neared.

  The girl grinned and waved at him, tucking her project back into a pouch and jumping from a rock to her own pony. She noticed several other young men riding closer, relieving the older children of their duty to guard the herd of ponies as night grew closer.

  They pulled up short next to each other.

  "How was the day?" he asked with a smile.

  "Bad. Nothing happened."

  Nupa laughed, his voice still sounding strange to the girl's ears now that it had lowered. "Nothing happening is a good thing, Cinksi!" he insisted.

  "Not if you were out here," she grumbled good-naturedly. Glancing at the other riders who were out of earshot, she asked in a low voice, "Do you know when we are to reach summer camp?"

  "The elders say sometime in the next two days." Nupa scratched idly at one of the scars on his chest. "Are they going to allow you to do the Sun Dance?"

  Cinksi hung her head. "Hiya

  . The elders say I am wicincala

  and only hoksila

  can do the Sun Dance."

  Her friend's face frowned in sympathy. "I am sorry, Cinksi. You, of all of us, should be able to participate in the Sun Dance. You are the bravest warrior I know!"

  The girl shrugged slightly, spirits raised a bit at her best friend's praise. "I will seek a vision when I reach my womanhood," she avowed.

  "That would be good. And then, no elder can deny you." Nupa looked around at the change of guard. "Go home, Cinksi. Your mother is making a stew. I almost stopped at her lodge to eat before coming out here."

  Cinksi chuckled. "I am surprised you still live with your own mother. You spend so much time with mine." She dodged under his expected swing and brought her arm around to touch him on the back as she kicked her pony forward. "You are slain!" And then she rode away. Fast.