by Jenna Kernan
Lucie held her breath and waited. Sky turned to go, but before he could, Eagle Dancer roused and called him back.
Over the next week, Lucie had her hands full and Sky avoided the house as much as possible. This morning she watched him chopping cord wood, swinging the ax so hard that it sent the split pieces jumping in two directions as the ax head sank deep into the block. At least he was still here. His presence gave her peace, because she trusted him to protect her.
She had meant to speak the words that freed her as soon as they secured Eagle Dancer’s release. But that had not worked out as she intended. As he grew stronger, she prepared to tell him the truth and say goodbye. When that happened, Sky would see her safe and then leave her.
Lucie held no illusions about that.
She searched the yard for the boy. His nephew had been like a ghost, avoiding the house. She found No Moccasins at the stove one evening eating what was left of her cornbread.
The rations, she had learned, were pitifully inadequate for two people, but for four they were vastly insufficient. A pound and a half of beef, of the poorest quality, a half pound of corn that was rough, not even ground to meal, and a half pound of flour each day made for a monotonous menu.
Sky had purchased extra beef, bacon, coffee and pinto beans, but the others had no resources beyond what was provided.
Today White Bull visited Eagle Dancer, checking his progress and bringing him news from his people. After the healer had departed, Eagle Dancer asked Lucie to call Sky, because he had something to discuss with him. Sky spent most of his time out of doors, entering only for meals. He even slept outside, but he came at her insistence.
Eagle Dancer waited until Sky had settled beside him on the buffalo robe before speaking. Lucie soaked the corn that she would serve mixed with the beans and leftover beef for a stew, making as little noise as possible, as she wanted to hear their conversation.
“White Bull has delivered Joy Cat’s answer to your proposal to wed.” Lucie frowned.
“He will bring his daughters here for you to meet. If they are agreeable he will approve the match.”
“What dowry?”
“He can no longer own horses, so he asks for food, a cow, five pounds of coffee and two of sugar. It is a large dowry, but he reminds you of your debt and that you will gain two good wives.”
Lucie found herself before them, without even recalling crossing the room.
Sky stared up at her as he spoke. “I am pleased to meet them again.”
Eagle Dancer smiled and then glanced at Lucie. “No Moccasins tells me they are journeying here and will arrive today. Do we have coffee to offer them and sugar?”
She stood glaring at Sky. This was wrong.
“Sunshine?”
She roused herself and glanced at Eagle Dancer, who was looking with confusion from one to the other. She returned to the kitchen area. “I have brown sugar and coffee.”
The party arrived shortly thereafter. The women wore colorful shirts, one peach and one pale blue. Their skirts showed they had trim figures and that the lack of food had not diminished their charms. They were both younger than Sky but did not look it. Perhaps the years and hardships made them appear older. Lucie hated them both on sight. It took all her restraint not to slop coffee on them or order them out of her house.
But it was not hers. She never had a home of her own. And even if she did, a tantrum wouldn’t keep Sky from doing as he promised. He would marry them both and become a squaw-man. There were many whites already, across the river, married to Indian women in order to qualify for a government land grant to begin the newly opened tracts.
She watched Sky as he spoke politely to the women. His posture seemed stiff and his jaw tight. Lucie felt sick. Her coffee tasted burned in her mouth and she set it aside.
After what seemed like hours, Sky bought them passage on a riverboat for their return, so they would not have to walk the fifty miles south. Joy Cat would not speak directly to Sky, but did sit beside him in the wagon. They set off after supper. Later, Lucie checked his usual sleeping place and the corral where Falcon slept, but Sky had not returned by midnight.
She knew that Eagle Dancer had looked forward to spending time alone with her as much as she was dreading it. She did not know what he intended, but she planned to tell him she would not stay. As it happened, the illness made him tired and he fell asleep after supper.
Tomorrow, she promised herself, but when she woke she discovered Sky had returned, wearing a wide grin that darkened her mood. No Moccasins appeared as if Lucie had rung a supper bell and she served the meal, being sure that Sky’s biscuits were black on both sides.
He glanced from the biscuit to her. She waited for him to say just one word. Instead, he lifted one hard nugget and took a huge bite, his eyes never leaving hers. Lucie pressed her lips together and stalked away, angry that he would not accept the gauntlet she had thrown. Why did she care what he did? If he wanted to toss his life away, then what business was it of hers?
Lucie was honest enough to realize that she did care for him, but was not fool enough to long for a man who did not want her. Was she?
The floor seemed to drop from beneath her feet as she realized that she did, with her whole bruised heart.
She did care because…she loved him.
Lucie lifted her hand to her mouth to cover her startled expression as she stared at Sky. She loved him, this man who avoided others because of the pain he carried in his heart.
Lucie was so distracted that she did not note the sound of horses and the rattle of tack. But No Moccasins did. He sprinted to the rear of the house and slipped out the back window.
Eagle Dancer needed help to stand, but he walked to the door unassisted. There sat William Reilly and a contingent of soldiers, beside Mr. Livingston from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. David sat his chestnut horse beside Reilly, glaring at her with a fury that turned her stomach.
Lucie slipped out and stood beside Eagle Dancer.
“Ma’am,” said Major Reilly, “would you be so good as to translate? Our usual translator is…incapacitated.”
“Drunk,” furnished Sky. “I’ve met him. He can barely speak Lakota.”
“More reason to use a trusted source.” Reilly faced Eagle Dancer, but did not dismount.
Lucie had a bad feeling. Were they going to arrest him again?
“We have made no progress on the murder. Eagle Dancer has not found the culprit and delivered him as he promised.”
“He is still very ill,” she said, defending him.
“Translate, please.”
She did.
“So we are ceasing all rations to all members of both the Sweetwater and Bitterroot tribes on the upper and lower reservations until we have the man in custody.”
Lucie gasped and Sky scowled. She repeated the message.
Eagle Dancer’s face remained placid, but Lucie noted a slight tick at his jaw.
“We do not know who has done this thing,” he said.
Lucie relayed his words.
“You deliver the guilty brave.”
“This food is promised us by the Great Father in Washington.”
Lucie repeated what he had said.
“As you have promised to keep our laws. A murder has been committed and we will have justice.” Reilly paused, waiting for Lucie to stop speaking and then continued. “Rations cease as of tomorrow morning. No hunting outside the reservation. If you want to avoid privation, we will be back in the morning for the culprit. Rations recommence on delivery of the man in question.”
Lucie delivered the ultimatum.
“You will kill our women and old people.”
She was still translating as Reilly shouted to his men and wheeled about. The men thundered away, leaving a fine cloud of dust to settle over them.
Chapter Thirteen
Sky tracked No Moccasins to his hiding place by the river and was about to confront the boy with his suspicions when No Moccasins surprised him wi
th a confrontation of his own.
“Why do you pursue the wife of my uncle?”
Sky went completely still as a blast of cold air seemed to blow around him. If it was obvious to a boy, was it also obvious to his uncle? He did not want to embarrass Eagle Dancer and he had not intended to…
“I do not pursue her.”
“Your eyes do. I watch you and it is so.”
“I did not come to speak of Sunshine, but of the man I shot.”
No Moccasins dropped his gaze.
“I will not tell the bluecoats, but I must know. Did you go back?”
No Moccasins nodded once.
“Alone?”
A shake of his head.
“Did you kill this man?”
No Moccasins lifted his chin. Tears streaked his face. “Their arrows brought him down, but it was my blow that finished him.”
“Whose arrows?”
“Running Horse, Red Lightning and Water Snake.”
“Sweetwater?”
No Moccasins nodded.
“Older or younger?”
“Sixteen and seventeen winters, so they do not have to go to school.” No Moccasins sighed. “I broke my uncle’s war club.”
“Where is this club?”
“I’ve hidden it well.”
“Is it far?”
No Moccasins shook his head.
“Show me.”
He followed No Moccasins down a dry gulch. The boy made for the abandoned hole of some rabbit and knelt. He used a stick to avoid a run-in with a snake and fished out a bundle of tied grass. He stood and offered it to Sky.
Sky unwrapped the club, seeing the broken point immediately. Dried blood darkened the smooth wood and coated the brass studs nailed about the head. The boy had killed a man and in so doing kicked a hornet’s nest of trouble.
“Did you tell my uncle?”
“No.”
“But there will be no more rations because of me,” said No Moccasins.
So he had heard what the soldiers had said. Sky looked at this boy’s defeated posture and saw another, racked with guilt, unable to change a terrible mistake. There was no question that Reilly would make an example of the boys. But would he hang them? Sky feared he would. No Moccasins looked at Sky, his face determined. Once Sky had stood before Eagle Dancer in the same way—alone, riddled with guilt and uncertain what to do.
“I have to surrender myself.”
The very words Sky had spoken. Sky felt a prickling down his spine as if he could feel the hoop rolling back around to the beginning, moving in the circle that was the way of the universe.
“No. Let me speak to your uncle. This is a decision for the elders.”
No Moccasins nodded his acceptance. “Yes. They will decide.”
But Sky knew what must be done, realized now he had not come here for Lucie or to wed the sisters. He had come back for this.
Eagle Dancer spent the day in discussions with the other head men over the issue of rations. The next morning Lucie woke to the buzz of many voices. Overnight their yard had bloomed with tribe members who had come to witness the confrontation between their leaders and the bluecoats.
Sky was not among them and Lucie feared he was again visiting Sacred Cloud’s two sisters, but could not believe he would leave them here to face the soldiers alone.
Lucie left the solemn assemblage to gather water at the spring that fed into the river and found Sky waiting for her there. Lucie drew up short at the sight of him. The thrill of excitement rippled through her. He had sought her out in this private place. Her anticipation died when she took in his somber expression.
She forced herself not to show her eagerness for the sight of him, grasping the handle of the bucket before her as she waited for him to speak.
“Lucie, I came to say goodbye.”
His words struck her like a blow. How could he leave her now, when the soldiers were coming at any minute? Didn’t he care what happened to the people he professed to love?
A little ugly voice scoffed at her. That’s not why you want him to stay and you know it. You’ll say anything to keep him with you. Her next words proved the voice was correct.
“Eagle Dancer needs you.”
He nodded. “I want you to understand, before they come. Lucie, it’s the only way I can repay my friend and give meaning to my life.”
So he was going to marry the sisters, regardless of the cost.
She turned her back so he could not see her shatter before him like ice. Lucie’s throat ached. His life with her would have no meaning, no purpose? Why had she allowed herself to believe he might be different, that he could do what no one else could do and love her for who she was?
Lucie dashed the tears from her cheeks, resigned to the truth now: that everything between them had been a terrible mistake, that her love was one-sided. She ignored everything he had told her in her effort to convince him, to force him to share her feelings.
Her breath caught as she realized that she acted exactly like Eagle Dancer. She was trying to keep Sky against his will, force him to feel what he clearly did not. Her stomach cramped as she recognized the similarities.
No, she would not be like him.
She straightened, forcing her face to placidity. Somehow she managed to meet his gaze.
“Go to them, then. I hope they bring you joy.”
“What?”
“Forever Flower and Dragonfly. And I’m sorry for the cruel things I said. You should do what your heart tells you.”
He stared at her in stunned silence. She turned to go, hoping her legs would carry her up the small incline.
“Lucie, wait. You don’t understand.”
Somehow she kept moving. At the top of the rise her tears were falling hard and she could not see where she was going. She only knew she had to get away from Sky. His voice pursued her, closer now. “Lucie, listen.”
She ran into someone. Eagle Dancer caught her. She stared up into his frowning face as he glanced from her and then to Sky. She ducked her head and slipped away, dashing past him and leaving both men behind.
Lucie reached the yard only a moment before Eagle Dancer and paused as she saw the dust that forecast the imminent arrival of the military. Iron Bear and White Bull stood before their people, somber as deacons.
Was that why Eagle Dancer had been seeking them out, to tell them the soldiers were here?
The women huddled closer, shifting nervously at the army’s approach. They knew exactly what the cavalry were capable of and Lucie knew they had good reason to be afraid.
All the people waited silently to witness what the army would do, standing unarmed and helpless as stalks of wheat before the scythe. Lucie stood with the women, in a group behind the men.
Major Reilly drew up before the elders, reining in his black horse. He had brought a show of force uninvited onto land that the government had promised would be patrolled by Indian police. They stood behind the riders and infantry men.
“Are you prepared to turn over the man responsible?” asked Reilly in a voice of a born commander.
Some of the women around Lucie flinched at the barked question.
The translator had come with him today. He dismounted and wobbled forward as if still recovering from a Saturday night. Lucie was prepared to step in if he misinterpreted his words, but he did not.
Eagle Dancer remained where he was, looking handsome and fierce in his formal attire—leggings, war shirt and a single sacred eagle feather, wrapped in trade cloth and tied to one of his long braids. The group fell silent as any congregation.
“This white man was killed far from our lands and without our knowledge. You punish us for something that is not our doing. You break your own treaty and the word of the Great Father in Washington and come onto Lakota land to take what we cannot give.”
The translator got that right, except he said president instead of Great Father and he changed Lakota land to reservation.
“Maybe this will help.” R
eilly leaned heavily on his saddle horn as he spoke and then called to a man behind him. “Sergeant, bring up the arrows.”
A lanky officer hurried forward holding a bundle sheathed in canvas.
“Show him,” ordered the commander.
The soldier approached Eagle Dancer as Reilly sat his horse, watching. His man unwrapped the folds to withdraw several arrows.
“These were taken from the corpse,” said Reilly. “Just got them from the school yesterday. You expect me to believe you don’t know exactly who these belong to?”
Eagle Dancer leaned forward and then straightened too quickly. He knew. Lucie was certain he recognized the marks. His face remained placid but his eyes searched the men beside him. Others in the group were less careful with their expressions.
“They dug this out of his skull.” Reilly lifted a white lance point and held it between his index finger and thumb. Then he lowered his voice. “You can’t protect him, chief. He’s got to come with us. We know there were three, but we’ll settle for one—the one who carried this lance.”
The translator leaned in and Eagle Dancer turned his face away in disgust.
“Your man stinks of whiskey,” said Eagle Dancer.
The translator said, “He ain’t saying.”
Sky stepped forward. Lucie thought he would correct the error but instead he extended a war club. Lucie saw at once that one of the two points were broken.
Where had he gotten this? Reilly accepted the club and fit the point in his hand against the broken edge. He smiled.
“Good work, Mr. Fox. You found the murder weapon.”
Lucie held her breath as a premonition of doom soaked her body in a cold sweat.
Reilly leaned toward Sky. “You know who’s responsible?”
“Yes. I am.”
Reilly’s smile dropped.
“I found him molesting a boy and I stopped him.”
This is what he meant earlier—what he had tried to tell her. He wasn’t talking about marriage. Sky hadn’t rejected her for the sisters of Sacred Cloud. He had found a way to regain his honor by accepting the blame for something he did not do. And when he said goodbye…
