Savage Flames

by Cassie Edwards

  “It is done,” Shining Soul said, looking from one to the other of his audience. “Visible only to me, the Sun God did not await my ascent into his sky home, but instead came to me and hovered just above my head as I spoke of my wishes. The Sun God replied, assuring me that he would play a major role in what happens to the evil white man.” “How will it be done?” Lavinia asked, even though she found it peculiar to act as though she believed in this strange sort of magic. But while she was with Wolf Dancer, she had begun to believe that anything was possible.

  “He did not divulge to me how, but only said that it would be done,” Shining Soul explained. “He told me to wait one sleep and then go to the huge white house when the moon is full. That will be the time when the evil man’s end will begin.”

  Shining Soul rose slowly to his feet.

  He teetered as though he might fall, then steadied himself just as Wolf Dancer went quickly to help him.

  “When I enter trances, the magic takes away much of my strength,” Shining Soul said, his voice drawn. “I must go and rest now. Just know that what I have told you today is truth.”

  “We know,” Wolf Dancer said. He took Shining Soul gently by an elbow and helped him into his home.

  “My owl headdress,” Shining Soul said, leaning his head down for Wolf Dancer to remove it. “Please take it from my head and place it in its special case until it is time to wear it again.”

  Wolf Dancer gently lifted the headdress from the shaman’s head and placed it in its magic case, then went back to Shining Soul and helped him down onto his thick pallet of furs.

  After Shining Soul stretched out, his eyes already closed, Wolf Dancer gently placed a blanket over him. He knelt there beside his shaman for a while longer, and only when he saw that Shining Soul was asleep did he leave.

  When he stepped outside the lodge, Lavinia ran up to him. “Is he alright?” she asked, having seen how the trance had weakened Shining Soul.

  “He is elderly, but as I have told you before, he is a strong man, and will be among us for many more moons to come,” Wolf Dancer said. He placed his hands gently on her shoulders. “He will witness not only the first child born of our love for one another, but also the second.”

  “You are looking ahead to children?” Lavinia asked, smiling into his eyes. “That is wonderful, Wolf Dancer. I dearly wish to give Dorey a sister and a brother. Except for Twila, Dorey has been lonesome for other children.”

  “She will have a true family again once we have spoken our vows,” he assured her.

  He looked over at Twila and Dorey, then at Joshua. “Joshua,care for the children today, will you? Lavinia and I have much to discuss concerning our future.”

  “I will do that for you and Lavinia,” Joshua said, smiling at her. “Lavinia, you take your time with Wolf Dancer. De girls always have enough to do to keep dem busy.”

  “Before we can return to my home, which will soon be yours also, Lavinia, I must alert my people that they may leave their lodges and resume their normal day’s activities,” Wolf Dancer said. “You can wait for me, or go on to my lodge.”

  “I will wait here,” she said, then stood alone as she watched Joshua and the girls go to Joshua’s home, while Wolf Dancer asked one of his warriors to spread the word that their shaman had performed his spell.

  Then Wolf Dancer returned to her. “Come with me,” he urged, taking her by the hand. “There is something else I want you to see.”

  “What is it?” Lavinia asked curiously. Each day now she was being shown something new and exciting.

  “You will see,” he said, then led her through the thick vegetation until they came to the river.

  He suddenly stopped. He bent to his knees and lifted a rock that was not too heavy for Lavinia to carry, then gave it to her. “You will need this,” he said. “You have much to learn about my people, now, before we are married, and later, after we have shared our vows. From now on, we will share everything until we are no longer of this earth.”

  Lavinia hefted the rock and followed Wolf Dancer, then stopped and gazed in awe at what lay ahead of them.

  There were many rocks, stacked upon one another in the form of a wide circle.

  She gazed questioningly at Wolf Dancer. “Is this what you wanted to show me?” she asked, turning and gazing at the carefully stacked rocks.

  “Yes, it is important for you to know about this,” he said. “We should go close enough for you to place your rock with the others.”

  “Why am I going to do this?” Lavinia asked, following him until they came to the circle of rocks. Up close, she realized the rocks formed a wall higher than her head.

  “This is a sacred circle of rocks,” Wolf Dancer said. He stepped closer and placed his hand on one of them. “It has been built by people who bring stones here in memory of a loved one who has journeyed on ahead of them.”

  “I have brought only one stone, but I want it to represent my mother and father, as well as my husband,” Lavinia murmured, wanting to embrace this Seminole belief.

  “Lay it with the others,” Wolf Dancer encouraged, stepping back. “Speak with all of the stones that are there and tell them what is in your heart.”

  Lavinia stepped up to the stones and very carefully placed the one she had brought with the others, making certain it was secure so that it would not tumble free after she was gone.

  She gave Wolf Dancer a questioning glance.

  “Tell them your feelings, but not aloud,” he said. “It is between only you and the sacred rocks. They will hear your thoughts.”

  Lavinia began thinking to herself how she missed her parents and her husband, and thought of everything else that had made her feel so alone these past months, even when her husband was alive.

  But she then thought with gratitude of what she had found with Wolf Dancer, feeling blessed in every way since their acquaintance.

  Having thought everything that she felt needed to be expressed, Lavinia turned to Wolf Dancer and smiled. “Thank you for bringing me here,” she murmured. “I felt the presence of my parents and my husband as I stood thinking about them.”

  “They were there,” Wolf Dancer said, drawing her into his embrace and holding her gently against him. “They always will be, now that you have placed your stone there to represent them. Come here when you need them. They will be here for you.”

  “It’s wonderful that you understand about my husband,” Lavinia said, gazing up into his eyes. “Most men would be jealous, even of a dead husband.”

  “Jealousy is a wasted emotion,” Wolf Dancer said, placing a gentle hand beneath her chin.

  He brought her lips to his and kissed her, then whispered, “Let us go home, woman. I believe you have learned enough today about my people and their magic.”

  “I shall never tire of learning about your people,” she said.

  Holding hands, they walked back toward the village, Lavinia truly feeling blessed that she had found this wonderful man who cared for her so much.

  Then she thought of Hiram. Although a spell had been cast to ensure that he would finally get his comeuppance, she knew how shrewd a man he was. She prayed to herself that he would not find a way to escape what was planned for him.

  While he was out there somewhere, possibly plotting how to get her, she knew she could not rest easy!

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  If you remember’st not the slightest

  Folly that ever love did make thee run into,

  Thou hast not lov’d.

  —William Shakespeare

  It was so wonderful to awaken in your arms,” Lavinia said as she sat with Wolf Dancer beside the fire, eating their morning meal. “And soon I shall do that every morning. It is so hard to believe that we are actually going to be married. The first time I saw you, I thought you were a figment of my imagination as you sat there looking so handsome in the tree. It is strange how seeing you didn’t frighten me. I think deep down inside I knew even then that you were my destiny.”


  “And that you are mine,” Wolf Dancer said.

  His gaze roamed slowly over Lavinia, finding her beautiful in another new dress that Moon Beam had brought for her.

  There were no beaded designs on it. It was just the brightest white doeskin he had ever seen.

  It seemed to have been meant for a woman of such beautiful pale skin. The color of the dress blended with her skin tone, creating a vision of loveliness.

  Lavinia gazed at the food spread before her on awooden platter. Everything looked delicious. Moon Beam had brought not only the lovely dress that Lavinia wore today so proudly but also a tray of assorted meats and orange slices.

  Since she had moved to Florida, Lavinia had grown to love the fact that she could just reach up and pluck an orange from a tree. It was so special to enjoy the sweet fruit that way.

  “There is enough food here for an army,” Lavinia said, laughing softly when she saw how that comment made Wolf Dancer’s eyebrows lift. “That’s what my father often said about what my mother put on our breakfast table. Although we had servants and cooks, my mother always insisted on making our breakfast. And what a breakfast it was! I shall never forget her pancakes.”

  “My father called them flapjacks,” she went on, giggling.

  “I am not familiar with those words…pancakes and flapjacks,” Wolf Dancer said, taking a bite of turtle meat and chewing it.

  “I shall make you some one day soon,” Lavinia replied, glad that she had learned how to make pancakes from her mother.

  “How do you eat this…pancake?” Wolf Dancer asked, shoving his empty plate aside.

  He leaned back on an elbow, stretching his bare, muscled legs out before him. Today he was again wearing only a breechclout.

  “With maple syrup or also with honey,” Lavinia murmured, reminded how Dorey had always enjoyed that particular breakfast.

  Her daughter had come early this morning just as Lavinia was getting dressed, and asked to spend another day with Twila and the “boys,” as she now referred to the two brothers. Dorey had also asked permission to go on a search for a honey tree with her three friends.

  Lavinia had hesitated, uneasy at the idea of Dorey leaving the village. She would never forget her own close call with the snake, and also knew how quickly an alligator could appear out of nowhere.

  Also she could never forget about the white panther that people said guarded the island. She hadn’t seen the white panther for quite a while now.

  Perhaps she never would again.

  Something told her that neither she nor the children had anything to worry about as far as that panther was concerned.

  But Hiram was another matter. He was a true concern, one that wouldn’t go away, at least not until the Sun God’s prophecy was fulfilled. Until then, she could not help being uneasy at the possibility that he was searching for her.

  She wondered if he would have the courage to come this far into the Everglades to find her. Or had he given up on having her?

  She prayed each morning and night for the latter.

  “My people depend on honey as a quick source of energy,” Wolf Dancer said as Lavinia pushed her empty wooden plate aside. “I am certain the two young braves know exactly where a honey tree can be found.”

  “Didn’t I hear you say earlier that some warriorshave gone out this morning on a hunt?” Lavinia asked, suddenly concerned. What if the children got in the way of an arrow?

  “Both young braves know where the hunters usually go, so they will not venture anywhere near,” Wolf Dancer said. He gazed into the flames of the fire, and then into Lavinia’s eyes. “In our village, the men bring to me all the game they catch. I will then divide it among the families according to their needs. Moon Beam will be one of those who gets the most, for she no longer has a husband to hunt for her and her children.”

  He smiled. “The chief is privileged to keep all hides, unless he wishes to give them to someone needy,” he said. “I have enough hides, so I shall give them to those who do not.”

  “You prove over and over again how kind and generous you are,” Lavinia murmured. She moved over to Wolf Dancer and slowly ran her hands across his bare, muscled chest. “Can you be as generous with me this morning?”

  “And what can I give to you?” Wolf Dancer asked, reaching out for Lavinia and bringing her down atop him as he stretched out on his back on the rich pelts beside the fire. “This?”

  He framed her face between his hands and brought her lips down onto his. He gave her a heated kiss, then put his hands at her waist and moved her beneath him.

  He did not bother undressing her. He just smoothed his hands up under the skirt of her dressand began caressing her where she was already wet with want.

  “Your breechclout,” she whispered against his lips as he moved his mouth to her cheek. She was breathless with the passion building inside her as he moved his fingers skillfully over her love mound. “My dress.”

  He said nothing. Only sat up and pulled her dress up and over her, then tossed it aside.

  He stood up long enough to remove his breechclout, revealing how ready he was to make love with her. His manhood was at its fullest.

  Lavinia reached out a hand and filled it with his flesh, moving her fingers on him. She was soon very aware of how she was making him feel.

  He was breathing hard. His head was thrown back in ecstasy, his long black hair hanging down to his waist behind him.

  She saw his jaw tighten as the pleasure built within him, and then suddenly he took her hand away and surprised her by placing her hand on herself, where his fingers had been only moments ago. He moved her hand over her mound.

  She blushed with the wantonness of what she was doing, for she felt a pleasure from her own caresses that usually only came with Wolf Dancer’s touch.

  “How…?” she said, searching his eyes.

  “It is just one other way to receive pleasure,” Wolf Dancer said, easing her hand away, then stretching himself over her and gently shoving his manhood into her.

  “While the children are gathering sweetness in the forest, we shall gather our own in the privacy of my home,” Wolf Dancer whispered into her ear. Lavinia’s breath caught with rapture as he delved even deeper inside her. “I love you. How did I ever live without you?”

  “I wasn’t truly alive until that day I first saw you,” Lavinia whispered back to him. “It was as though a magic wand had been waved between us, causing us to love one another at once.”

  “And it is forever,” Wolf Dancer said huskily.

  He gave her another meltingly hot kiss as his body continued moving within her. He was very aware of how she was writhing in response.

  Her soft moans came rapidly, making him sure that this time it would not take long for both of them to reach that place of pleasure that only those who were truly in love ever found.

  “Oh, how I need you,” Lavinia said as his lips fell upon one of her breasts, even as he continued to stroke within her.

  She gasped when he nipped at the tip of her breast, then swirled his tongue around it.

  She drew a ragged breath. “My love, oh, my love,” she cried as the heat of passion spread within her, her body growing even more feverish with this passion.

  He paused for only a moment, so that he could look into her eyes. “My woman, you are so beautiful,” he said huskily. “Your body was made for loving.”

  “And you are a master at loving,” Lavinia said ina flood of emotion. “You have awakened many pleasure points on my body that I never knew existed.”

  “There are many, many more, but I will awaken only a few at a time,” he said, chuckling teasingly.

  He kissed her again, his arms wrapped around her to draw her even more snugly into his embrace. And then he reached the peak of his pleasure. The euphoria that filled his entire being was almost more than he could bear.

  He thrust into her one more time and she clung harder to him, moaning as she found her own paradise in her lover’s ar
ms.

  She watched him roll away from her, his body so beautiful she wanted to kiss him all over.

  But she knew they should not stay undressed for long, for he had chieftain duties to tend to, and the children could arrive at any moment with their prize. And his warriors could arrive home with their own catch of the day!

  “Will it always be like this?” Lavinia asked, pulling the lovely dress over her head.

  She reached for a brush that Moon Beam had given to her. It was nothing like any she had ever seen before. It was made from the stiff bristles of some animal. She didn’t want to know which, or she might not want to use it.

  As it was, she didn’t have her own brush, or anything else, for that matter. She hoped to get a few of her belongings when she went with Wolf Dancer to the mansion tonight.

  This was the time that the Sun God had told them about.

  Tonight they would go and see that Hiram got his comeuppance.

  How?

  She didn’t want to know. She just wanted it over with, and quickly.

  She watched Wolf Dancer pull his breechclout on, covering that part of him that awakened so many luscious feelings within her.

  She felt shameful for thinking such things, yet this was a new life, with new awakenings each day, it seemed!

  “I’m a bit uneasy about what we are going to do tonight,” Lavinia said, her hair hanging neatly down her back.

  “You do not have to go if you would feel better staying at home while I see to things,” Wolf Dancer said. He took her hands and gently pulled her up before him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and gazed into her eyes. “Would you rather stay here?”

  “No, I’d better go with you. I need to see what happens with my own eyes, and also I would like to get some things from the house,” she said. “Dorey loves storybooks. I want to get some for her. She will enjoy reading to your people’s children. She can even teach them how to read. She taught Twila. Now Twila enjoys the books the same as Dorey.”

  She paused, lowered her eyes, then gazed back up at Wolf Dancer. “And then there is mymother’s Bible,” she said, her voice breaking with emotion. “I brought it with me after my parents died. I feel she is with me when I hold it in my hands.”