Beth’s eyes scanned her surroundings once more. There was an old man who continued to observe her with an intriguing interest. On many occasions since her arrival, he seemed to reason, then immediately argue with Eagle Eye over an important matter. She noticed that the renegades treated the elder with respect and affection, even those who seemed to disagree with him. Some appeared to believe his words, some seemed on the edge of being persuaded to lean in either direction, and others were visibly unconvinced. The latter group included their scar-faced leader, the only person who used a scowl and belligerent tone with the one who must be their shaman or past chief.
She had overheard part of a talk between them so many times since her arrival that she had committed it to memory, though she couldn’t translate the meaning. The older man would say the same things as he pointed at her: “Kuu -tsiighaa’. -Tsiighaa’ye’ aku’i.”
The angry and stubborn warrior would shake his dark head and grit out, “Todah. Tl’ee’ -jet. Indaa ‘ent’iin. Chéek’e.”
The white-haired, wrinkled-skinned man would refute, “’Andi.”
“Todah.”
With resolve in those gentle brown eyes, he would refute again, “’Andi.”
“Todah. Chéek’e.”
After a repetitive series where neither altered his opposing opinion, the elder would shake his head in concern and murmur, “Duu ‘akada.”
Following one of those curious encounters, Eagle Eye stalked to her location and towered over her until she lifted her gaze to his face. A look so truculent was stamped on it that she almost flinched from its potency.
“Why do you hate me so much? What harm have I done to you?”
“You like coyote; you bring evil, death, bad things.”
“I’m not evil just because I’m white. I don’t hate and mistreat Indians. I have Indian friends. I speak against the bad things on the reservations. I am not a coyote or witch. I can be your friend and helper.”
“You be friend? You help?” he scoffed, and spat on the ground.
“I’m not your enemy, Ea—” She halted her tongue before it spoke his name, preventing a perilous mistake. “Eliminate me and you provoke war.”
“What is e-lim-men-nate?”
“To murder me, to kill me, to slay an innocent woman.”
“You not in-no-cent. No whiteskin in-no-cent. You coyote, enemy.”
As he spoke those words between clenched teeth, Beth watched him drizzle fringes over her head, chest, and lap which she had dropped along the way. A malicious sneer curled one corner of his wide, full mouth. His jet eyes gleamed with victory and his parting tone was filled with taunting.
“You not smart as Eagle Eye. You not Flamehair in shaman’s vision.”
Beth saw his long ebony hair swing outward from powerful shoulders as he whirled and walked away, creating a trail of chilling laughter with each step. In horror, she realized he considered her a threat. To herself and her mission, she was a failure.
She yelled at the retreating warrior, “I left those signals so my family could track me and rescue me! I didn’t leave them for soldiers to use to find and attack your camp! Release me, Eagle Eye, or you will find yourself in big trouble!”
Eagle Eye spun to face her with a narrowed gaze that fired imaginary bullets at her. He exposed a violent loss of temper and burning rage that stiffened his body as he screamed at her, “Silence or I will cut out your insulting tongue and wicked heart! No rescue will come; no trail to follow. Soon, you and your people will die.”
Beth comprehended his cunning deceit to Jim, and probably to all whites: he could speak very good English! Don’t underestimate him again. She wondered if the fringes were only those from the trail or if the scout had found her message under the rock and destroyed it. She prayed for Navarro to stay on the crucial mission in order to defeat Charles Cordell and Eagle Eye. She also prayed her partner wouldn’t risk his life and steal valuable time to seek and rescue her.
As time passed, the sun moved westward of the secluded camp. Beth couldn’t dismiss from her mind what the pugnacious leader had said: “You not Flamehair in shaman’s vision.” She presumed the older Apache was the shaman he mentioned, and she knew all Indians believed in visions. She concluded that a prophecy about a redhead was at the crux of the two men’s conversations. The keen-witted Beth wondered if there was a way she could use their superstitions and beliefs to save her life and win her freedom. But how could she play off of a dream without knowing its contents? How—
Beth’s gaze widened and her mouth fell ajar as Navarro Breed walked into the clearing as if he were taking a Sunday stroll in a secure area! His bold approach and physical appearance astonished her. From weeks on the trail and for disguise, his sable hair was longer than its usual shoulder-grazing length; a narrow red sash was secured around his head in Apache fashion. His cleanshaven jawline and upper lip caused prominent Indian features to be noticeable. He wore high-top moccasins and fringed buckskin pants that clung to his splendid physique. A longer and wider red sash was tied around his waist, with ends dangling to his knees. A vest allowed the hard and rippling muscles in his hairless chest and arms and the firmness of his midriff to be exposed. An Indian amulet was suspended around his neck, unlike the one given to Lane. Thongs of a leather-and-beaded armband tied around his left upper arm swayed from a confident stride. The only weapon he wore was a knife in a sheath at his waist!
Heavens, my love, what are you doing here? They’ll kill you! Eagle Eye isn’t a man to be trusted or challenged. You aren’t crazy or reckless, so what daring ruse do you have in mind? You shouldn’t have come; the mission is too important to abandon. You said no partner can be rescued if the risks and odds are too great. These are!
Not once did Navarro glance her way or slow his pace as he headed straight for Eagle Eye. As Beth observed the shocking and frightening scene, her heart pounded and she trembled. She felt weak from dread, and from so little food and water for two days. God, protect him, please.
During his advance to the renegade leader, Navarro made the sign for Peace. He wasn’t surprised to be encircled by the band, but he was stunned to see who was standing near the glaring leader. Navarro’s expression and behavior did not expose his recognition of Sees-Through-Clouds, the elderly shaman he had captured and taken to San Carlos three years ago, the Wise One who had related to him a vision about Beth—not Jessie. How strange their paths should cross again when a “woman with hair burning as flaming rocks” was trapped between them…As he made signs for Truce, Friend, and Apache, the baffled Special Agent noted that the white-haired man also didn’t reveal they knew each other.
Eagle Eye sneered, “You white, not Chiricahua.”
“Shi-ma, Chiricahua. Shi-Tsúyé, Chiricahua. Shi-Chu, Chiricahua. Shi ‘ik l’idá beedaajindánde, Chiricahua. Tl’ee’ K’us, Chiricahua.” Navarro watched how his knowledge and command of their language affected the hostile leader as the hazel-eyed man revealed that his mother, maternal grandfather and grandmother, and maternal ancestors were Chiricahua. He witnessed anger in the warrior’s gaze when he related an Apache name.
“Duu nliida, Half-breed.”
Navarro refused to be provoked by Eagle Eye’s insult. “I carry the blood of two sides; ‘Andi.”
“It is true, you half-breed,” Eagle Eye translated the stranger’s words to prove he, too, could speak an enemy’s language with ease.
“Which tongue do you choose to speak, Eagle Eye?”
“You chose white world. Do not dirty Chiricahua with your tongue.”
“My mother’s people would not accept me because my father was white, a man she chose to love. That is the reason I entered the white world. I’m bound to both worlds, Eagle Eye, and want peace between them.”
Navarro witnessed the warrior’s command of English during a subsequent tirade.
The rebuttal was so loud and vehement that Beth caught every word.
“There can be no peace! We will not live as captives on re
servations! We will not cut our hair, wear white man’s garments, speak only their tongue! We will not give up our weapons and forget the hunt! We will not be farmers and slaves! We will not honor their special days and forget our rituals and be halted from our dances! We will not put their god in Ysun’s place, for the whites have many gods they call the Giver of Life; we have one Great Being with many helpers! We will not go to their schools to learn and do white ways! They can not civilize us when they are not civilized! We will not let their diseases kill our bodies! We will not cower, beg, be shamed! We are Chiricahua; we can not become whites!”
As if noticing how his tirade shocked onlookers, Beth and Navarro watched Eagle Eye force himself to calm down; but his tone remained loud and clear to be heard by his followers.
“Child of Water and Killer of Enemies, children of Ysun and White Painted Woman, wait to help us take back our land and pride. The Thunder Beings will roar with happiness when we reclaim their home. We have done the Gahan dance to call mountain spirits to guide us; we will slay the white Evil; the Mountain People will sing and dance soon in victory. The Power is with us, Halfbreed. The Magic Plant grows many and large; soon, Sacred Pollen will be cast upon the face of Earth Mother. In six suns, we will have great magic. Before the next full moon, only Chiricahuas will ride this land.”
For those who knew English from years on the reservation, Navarro spoke in a measured pace so his words could be translated for those who didn’t. “Your great magic is weapons from a devil called Charles Cordell. He breaks the white law to bring them to you. He’ll be captured and punished. If you accept his guns, you and your people will be attacked and killed. The white men coming to trade are evil and greedy; don’t trust them.”
“Their greed changes nothing. They supply what we need for victory.”
Navarro slowed his delivery even more and spoke in a confident manner, and was astonished he wasn’t interrupted by the infuriated leader. “There can be no victory for your band, Eagle Eye. General Miles has many soldiers and scouts; he has many weapons, powerful weapons. He rides this very sun to capture or slay the Chiricahua who fled the reservation and returned to warring on the whites. He has more soldiers than trees in these mountains. Friends and allies and enemies of the Chiricahua have joined the Great White Soldier to help him find you and defeat you; his scouts are Apaches who know this territory and the Apache ways. How long can you hide from them? When the bullets are gone from your trade, the guns you buy will be useless. When that dark day comes, how will you and your braves battle the whites you have challenged? How will you protect your camp and people? The children, the women, the old ones? You give your people false hope and lead them toward destruction. How many of your family and friends must die because you refuse to see the truth and yield to it?”
“The one to die is the white witch who brings bad medicine.”
Navarro’s heart skipped a beat. “She’s not a witch, Eagle Eye. She’s not your enemy. Her heart is good and her words are true. She’s here to help your people survive, to find peace.”
“Let her prove she is not bad medicine.”
Sees-Through-Clouds stepped between the two speakers. “She not witch. She Flamehair, Vision Woman. She come to protect and lead us.”
“Lead us where, old shaman? To captivity? To dishonor?”
“To peace. To life. To our people’s survival. If we to live past days of white man’s coming and evil reservations, we must do her words. It what sacred vision command; we must obey.”
“It was a dream, Old One, not a vision. The Power would not send a white woman to be our leader. She is evil. She tricks you. She must die.”
“If disobey sacred vision, Eagle Eye, Ysun punish with death.”
Navarro and Beth observed the favorable effect on the renegades after the shaman’s words. But the cunning Eagle Eye was quick to reason against them.
“Do you forget the words of Goyathlay: ‘This is my home. Here I stay. Kill me if you wish, for every living thing has to die sometime. How can a man die better than fighting for his own?’ His words are true; it is better to die in honor and freedom than to live in shame as the white man’s prisoner.”
The lawman knew how revered Geronimo was but he had to speak against his teachings. “It’s easy to die, Chiricahuas. It takes more courage, wits, and strength to steal peace and life from your enemy. Raid his heart and mind for acceptance and understanding, not his lands for goods he will recover in battle. Be cunning; take the land he offers on this sun; later take more and more by little bits. Become stronger by learning all he can teach you. How can you win victory over an enemy you do not know? You must not be provoked to recklessness by his cruel words and laughter; they cannot pierce the skin and bone of powerful warriors. When insults do not work, they will grow tired of trying and stop speaking them. You will earn their respect for being strong and smart. It is not the Apache way to lose hope, to forget your wits, to be reckless, to make a challenge you cannot win.”
“You are blind, Halfbreed, a fool. You are the whiteman’s dog.”
Practice what you just told them to do; turn the other cheek and stay calm. “Does ‘the white man’s dog,’ an enemy, come in truce to save your people from certain death? No. I am a friend. I am one of the white law.”
“You are crazy to enter my camp and to speak with two tongues.”
“I do not lie. I earned the right to parlay in truce.” Navarro lifted his hands and unballed them to reveal the items he held, the amulets of every scout around the camp. “They are bound to trees at their posts. I did not harm them. By defeating them, I earned the right to enter and speak.”
“What do you want from Eagle Eye?”
“Help against the evil whites and peace with good ones, and my woman. Her,” he added, and motioned to Beth. Navarro saw the leader’s gaze widen in surprise, then glitter with spiteful mischief.
“The Power told me to open my eyes to see better in all directions. With my knife and hand, I obeyed and made these magic marks. She must fight to prove she is Flamehair; she must prove she is no witch.”
Navarro controlled his panic with difficulty. “You said she wasn’t the sacred vision woman. I will battle you with hands and knives for her possession, as is the Apache way to settle a claim.”
“This matter is not between us, Halfbreed. Sees-Through-Clouds says she is Flamehair. She must prove he is right or wrong. If she passes the test, we will become allies. If she fails, both will die a death slow and painful. If you know the Apache customs as you say, you know how a witch must die: we will hang her on a post by her hands with ropes and torture the truth from her tongue. We will make a great fire around her and burn the evil from her body and our land. We will bury her ashes in Earth Mother’s belly.”
Beth had never experienced such sheer terror. She feared her pounding heart would burst from her chest. She feared she would strangle on her dry tongue and throat. She felt as if every inch of her was quaking. She could be put to a horrible death soon. Navarro could be tortured and slain. The mission could be lost.
“She’s a woman, Eagle Eye; she can’t fight a warrior in battle. Your heart is black; you use this trick to defeat good, to destroy a sacred vision.”
“She will take the test; it is our way. If she fails, both will die.”
“Do you fear us and hate peace so much, Eagle Eye, you would have us slain and a sacred vision dishonored by using deceit?”
“I fear no white man, no white woman.” He yanked off his vest. “Their long knives cut my flesh; I did not die. Their whips beat me; I did not die. Their bullets entered my body; I did not die. They gave me bad or no rations, and I did not die. They can not kill me. Ysun and his helpers protect me and guide me. I will lead the Chiricahua to victory.”
Navarro removed his vest. “I did not die, either; I made peace because peace lets me live to do what I must on new suns and moons.”
Eagle Eye stared at the lash marks, and Navarro’s implied strength. “I mak
e no peace like a coward! We are Chiricahua; these are our lands! I will not live on a useless reservation like a beaten animal.”
“You’ll remain there only until you prove you’ll keep the truce. Prove you want peace by helping me trap the evil whites.” Again, Navarro saw that gleam of malicious mischief in those black eyes, and dreaded its meaning.
“If your woman proves she is Flamehair, we will obey your words. Bring the woman,” Eagle Eye ordered two of his followers.
Beth wondered if she could delude them into believing she was this “Flamehair” who had come to give them sacred advice. If so, many lives would be saved, including hers and Navarro’s. If she couldn’t be convincing, all was lost, and the renegades would go on the warpath. Worse, arms from Charles would entice more disgruntled Apaches to leave the reservation and join a band that appeared powerful enough to fight injustice. Her bonds were cut so she could join the group. Her body was so stiff she could hardly walk or stand straight, and neither Indian assisted her. She was relieved most of the talk had taken place in English, as that let Beth know what was required for success and safety.
The apprehensive redhead did not even glance at Navarro; to do so would be far too distracting and unsettling. She looked first into the gentle eyes of the shaman and smiled. “As you saw in your vision, Wise One, I have come as a messenger from Ysun to help save His children.” She drew her partner’s knife, severed a fiery lock of brightest copper, and gave it to the older man as a keepsake. She watched him accept the token in gratitude and reverence as if it were a holy gift from an Indian goddess.
Chase The Wind Page 46
