Love by Dawn

by Therese A. Kramer

  Hawk Nose looked down at the beauty. His mind still locked in the past he saw his love as young as the day he first saw her. He let out an animal howl as he pounded his proud chest.

  She was finally his.

  TWENTY-FOUR

  Late that afternoon Moon Glow watched as the men returned with a bride price that would make all other fathers envious. “You return so soon, my husband,” she declared. “I thought you would be gone for at least three days.”

  “The gods were with us,” declared Blue Thunder. “We have returned with six magnificent animals,” he proudly told her and she kissed him soundly. Hunter said he wanted to tell his sister the good news and he ran joyously to his dwelling. He returned to tell them that Casey was not in the wickiup.

  “Where’s Casey?” inquired Blake.

  Moon Glow pulled herself from her husband’s embrace and frowned. “I don’t know,” her brows forked and she shook her head. I have been so busy with my duties and children that I lost track of the time. She had been with Blue Moon and Grey Wolf for a while telling them a story. Then the girl had gone to the creek but it had been a while since she left.”

  She pulled her brows together in anxiety and she didn’t like the queasy feeling making her stomach knot. Ashamed that she forgot about her new friend, Moon Glow put her hand on the concerned man’s arm. “She’s probably still down at the stream enjoying her time.” Trying to reassure Blake, she touched his arm with a light squeeze.

  He sighed, “I hope you’re right. I’ll go and get her.”

  Moon Glow gave her husband a worried look. “The girl knows better than to go there alone,” she said frowning. Her husband hugged her again saying, “Do not fret, my love. You cannot keep your pretty eyes on friends and watch our children also.” He was correct, but she still didn’t like the feeling that something was wrong and she was right.

  When Blake returned he looked pale and worried. Before she or anyone else could question Blake, he shouted, “She’s gone!

  “Who could have taken her?” Hunter questioned.

  Blake shook his head. “When I ran down by the creek there was no one there, my heart nearly stopped. But, I saw signs that there had been a struggle and I thought that a wild animal had dragged her off, but… there were no signs of blood or paw prints. Studying the tracks more closely I concluded that she was taken by another Indian. But who and why? Upon further searching I spotted a small red object in the dirt. I picked it up to discover it was a small earring covered with blood. After wiping it clean with my thumb the object appeared to be a metal hawk with an animals paw in its mouth.” He showed it to Hunter shaking his head. “I don’t know who could have taken her, but this is the earring I found,” declared Blake.

  Moon Glow watched Hunter study the object in Blake’s hand, his brow creased with worry and confusion. She had a suspicion about the object, but she prayed that she was wrong. She walked over to Hunter with Blue Thunder behind her. Upon noticing the object in Blake’s hand reflect the sun, her legs weakened. She definitely remembered the earring and all the horror that she suffered by the crazed Indian who wore it. This was something she could never forget. Gasping, she faltered and would have fallen, but her husband caught her in his strong arms. The knot in her gut just got tighter.

  “I knew I should have killed that evil brave when I had the chance,” growled her husband in his Athabscan tongue. She did not miss the terror in Blake’s eyes or the pulse leap into his strong bronzed jaw. Hunter looked bewildered.

  She interrupted her husband’s words and added, hoping to explain. “His name is Hawk Nose and one time he tricked me. I was swollen with my second child when Blue Thunder had gone to the neighboring village to kill the men responsible for almost slaughtering another clan: his people. Hawk Nose was badly wounded and I cared for him but he took my kindness for love. When Blue Thunder was gone for so long, Hawk Nose promised to help me find my husband, but he took me in the wrong direction. When the winter snow fell in the mountain, I had no choice but to stay with him.” She sighed. “There’s more to the story, but I’m sure you want to go and find her.”

  TWENTY-FIVE

  Casey came awake with a start and moaned. Her world was upside down when she opened her burning eyes. The ground moving up and down beneath her head confused her until she realized she was draped over a trotting horse. She moaned again feeling bile rise to her throat and had to swallow hard to stop herself from purging. Her head throbbed and the bouncing of the animal tumbled her innards. She was sure her stomach was now located somewhere behind her spine and that was not the only discomfort Casey was forced to suffer. She had the terrible urge to urinate and the next bounce made her lose control of her bladder. Immediately, the hot liquid ran down her leg, wetting the front of her dress and she groaned. Mortified at what happened, she smelled the acid odor and was sure her captor did also. But what did it matter? She couldn’t smell any worse than he. She moaned and he stopped and pulled her from the mount. He saw the soiled dress and frowned, noticing her predicament, but she said nothing. He dragged Casey, leading her to a stream where he ordered her to drink.

  “It will be a long time before we find more water.” He knelt and drank, then filled his deerskin pouch.

  Casey did as she was told for she was indeed thirsty. How long had she been out? With the sun shrinking from the sky, she guessed she had been unconscious since before noon. She licked her dry lips and splashed the cold water on her face. Even though the weather turned cooler again, she wanted to jump into the stream to rid the smell that clung to her legs and dress. Since it wasn’t possible, she did the next best thing and hiked her dress above her knees and washed her legs. She sensed the Indian’s eyes on her and looked to see him watching and smiling but…she was beyond caring. He had seen her naked at the stream and she had humiliated herself by losing control of her bladder, so what could be worse than his seeing her limbs.

  She gave him an icy stare, letting her hem drop, then marched away from him. By the horse she tried to ignore him while he relieved himself, chuckling. That mad Indian was simply enjoying himself at her expense. Though she burned within, Casey began to tremble from the cold. Her buckskin dress covered her arms, but she had left her leggings in the dwelling that morning before she foolishly went to the lake by herself. Soon the weather would be cold, and they were heading for the mountains. She wondered how they would survive with just a horse blanket that she was tempted to remove and throw over shoulders. Thinking better of it, afraid to irk the brave, she snapped, “I’m hungry!” Apparently the Indian thought her remark was unimportant helped her up onto his horse, this time in a sitting position. He climbed behind her and circled her waist.

  “I’m hungry,” she repeated, her voice more calm.

  “No time to eat. We camp later, I feed you.”

  She turned and gave him a murderous leer. “Can you at least tell me who you are?” She didn’t miss the odd light come into his dark eyes.

  “You play game with me? Have you forgotten that I am Hawk Nose? Well, I will make you remember me again.”

  Hawk Nose? A fitting name she thought. But he wasn’t making any sense. This whole damn predicament didn’t make any sense!

  The sun sank into the sky along with her hopes. Would Blake be able to find her? He found her once, could he find her again? What if he hadn’t returned to the village yet? Catching horses took a day or two she was told when they had left and Hawk Nose had covered their tracks by the stream. She was sure he had been covering them since they left the village.

  He kept his promise and broke for camp just after sunset. She was tied to a tree and then he went to kill their supper returning shortly with a prairie dog. The brave untied Casey handed her the bloody thing, ordering her to skin and cook it. Luckily, she knew how to skin and clean wild animals and did as she was told without a complaint only because she was starving.

  Casey never enjoyed a meal so much and noisily licked the juices from her fingers. She looked up se
eing that damn Indian watching her. Fire light danced in his dark eyes lustfully and she slowly withdrew her fingers from her mouth. Quickly, she wiped her hand on her dirty dress and looked away, not liking the feeling she was getting. Her food turned rancid in her belly and her breath became strained. She pictured him, any minute leaping to his feet and coming to her. Her imagination grew as the night stood still. Even the wolf stopped its annoying howling and it seemed all nature went to sleep, causing an eerie sensation.

  Heat rose to her neck as a repulsive image filled her thoughts of Hawk Nose taking her there on the cold hard ground. It was useless to try and swallow the lump in her throat, it refused to budge. Nervously, her eyes searched the ground for the knife she had used to clean the rabbit. She knew she had left it by her side. Slowly, her hand patted around the dirt, but all she could feel were twigs and tiny rocks.

  “Looking for this?” he intoned.

  Casey’s head snapped up. His expression guarded, she saw a hint of anger in his dark eyes and the Indian stood laughing. He wiped the bloody knife on his soiled breeches before returning the weapon to its sheath. He sneered wickedly, sat again and grunted.

  “So my Moon Glow still fights me.” He shook his head. “But you will forget Blue Thunder soon. When we get far into the mountains, far from village, you will learn to love me again. You loved this Apache once,” he pounded his chest, “you will love me again.”

  His dark eyes twinkled with evil making Casey shudder at his strange words. He didn’t make any sense until the light went on in her head; he had confused her with her friend, Moon Glow. Now she was sure he was crazy. That didn’t make her feel any better; there was no reasoning with a crazy person. She didn’t know whether to try to convince him she wasn’t Moon Glow or keep quiet.

  If Hawk Nose discovered his mistake, he might kill her. It was better to hold her tongue, just to stay alive to give Blake a fighting chance to find her. If he didn’t come, she would fight this red bastard to the death before letting him rape her. All she could do was pray and remain calm. Of course she knew that that was easier said than done.

  “Go to sleep, Moon Glow, we have a long journey ahead. Soon snow will fall making it dangerous to travel the rocky slopes.” He picked up the horse blanket and called her to him. “We sleep together. Keep watch on you better when you are in my arms,” he grinned.

  Casey gave him a very unladylike snort of sarcastic disbelief. If he thought she’d accept his suggestion, he was in for a rude awakening. Opening her mouth to tell him as much, she saw him touch his long knife and her mouth snapped shut, swallowing the angry retort on the tip of her tongue. What good would it do? Not a damn thing! Especially as se was unarmed and he had two weapons he could attack her with, and the knife would be the least painful than rape.

  Slowly she walked towards him seeing his teeth flash when he smiled. He seemed to have lost some of his hard evil features, but Casey suspected that the fire was just playing tricks on her mind. Nearing the brave his face became stern again and this time she saw his true self. His eyes were so dark that they drew her to him hypnotically with dangerous magnetism. Or was it just her fear? Trembling, she stood before him not missing the Indian’s chest heave with desire. The muscles twitched in his square jaw and his hawk-like nose flared. She sucked in a long breath, deathly afraid of him, but somehow her instincts told her he wouldn’t try and take her tonight. She remembered him saying that he would love her when they reached the mountains.

  She had time. She had to try and relax. She had to pray that he would keep his promise.

  They slept, spooned together but she lay awake in terror for a long time until she heard his heavy breathing. Then she closed her eyes and forced herself to find some sleep.

  The further they traveled, the colder the weather became. Casey watched worriedly as lose dirt and stones dislodged by the horse’s hooves fell down the slope. The air was getting thinner and colder the higher they climbed. The taste of fear was bitter in her throat and by the third day her teeth chattered under the only blanket they shared. At night she had no choice but to lay close to the Indian’s body to share the warmth. By then they both smelled so bad Casey no longer knew whose odor was worse. One night they found a small cave and the crazed Indian killed a rattler that lived inside and they ate it for supper. It made no difference to her what she dined on because the only meal he provided was at night and by then she was famished. That night he brought his pinto into the cave to keep warm. She would’ve rather slept next to the pony and made her thoughts known. He then made his thoughts known in his native tongue and she was certain his words weren’t sweet.

  So, as usual they slept spooned together but in the morning when she rose to get ready for the day’s journey, she turned to see horror etched on the brave’s face. He was looking down at his crotch and gasping. Immediately Cassandra saw the blotches of red on his buckskin pants and she understood what had happened and groaned. He looked at her with such distaste that she believed he would beat her for something she had no control over. Fear strangled any thoughts of embarrassment.

  With no warning at all, the brave tore off his pants leaving him naked waist down before her unbelieving eyes. He waved them under her nose and yelled, “Go wash. It is unholy for woman in her monthly time to touch man.” He continued to wave the garment. If the situation wasn’t so serious, she would’ve laughed. Imagine an Indian who fears nothing and walks around in such filth should be so upset over a little blood.

  Flabbergasted, she could only stare at the soiled pants. The garment was flung into her face and she jumped back letting the pants fall onto the ground. Casey’s senses were awakened by the feel of his soiled pants on her face. Disgusted by his action and the smell of her own blood and his grim on her skin, she wiped her hands across her mouth, and snapped, “And where would you like me to wash them?”

  She had to ask.

  “Outside!” he bellowed.

  She shook her head and asked in a silly squeal, “But where?”

  Outside!” Hawk Nose bellowed his face masked in rage.

  Casey turned frowning, and then shrugged. “Fine,” she mumbled to herself, trying to hide the smirk on her face. His features were livid and his temples pulsated so that she thought he’d have a stroke. If she could only be so lucky! When she reached the mouth of the cave, she saw that it had snowed lightly that night. She understood what he wanted her to do.

  The blanket was left on the floor of the cave where it fell and she was sorry she hadn’t taken it with her. Though the sun shone brightly it was very cold outside. Kneeling on icy snow for many minutes, scrubbing the stain from the crotch made her knees numb. Goose bumps rose on her arms and legs and her hands became red with numbness before she had all the stains removed. She refused to wash the whole garment and returned to the warmth of the cave with little circulation left in her limbs. That bastard was sitting by the small fire with his lower body covered with the blanket. She was glad she didn’t stain it for she did not cherish the idea of seeing him walk around in his undressed state. She handed him his pants but he refused to take them.

  “I cannot touch pants until you finished with curse. You must remain away from me until you are done. We must stay here until then. When you overflow you wash pants again before I put them on.”

  “What?!” Casey shrieked with dramatic scorn. “You made me go out into the cold to wash your stupid pants, almost getting frost bitten and you don’t want to wear them!” She flung them at him and he jumped back as if a rattler had leaped at his heels. The damn idiot let them lay where they had fallen and picked up the blanket that had also fallen from his body. He grunted and ordered her to sit in the corner. Casey contented herself with a contemptuous snort.

  “You know the ways of the Indian, Moon Glow. Why are you acting so strange?” Hawk Nose spat out in his native tongue and eyed her curiously. The cave did funny things to the color of her eyes; they did not look the same, but were darker. He shook his head; his mind had b
een doing tricks to him lately. But her hair was still like the glow of the moon and she was still very beautiful.

  The next day he rose at sunrise. It had been many days since he captured Moon Glow and he missed the warmth of her body. He longed for the day he could make her his. He wanted the moment to be special, not with the anticipation of someone close behind. They were being followed, he was certain. He had spent many moons dreaming of her underneath his body, lusting for him as much as he did for her. He would build them a tepee first and roast a wild turkey. His plans for their first time together had been embedded in his mind for a long time. Although, there were times he came close to breaking his promise to wait; the smell of her so close nearly drove him crazy. He knew it best to remain resigned; Moon Glow needed time to forget Blue Thunder.

  He was patient and determined. If it weren’t for his love for the beautiful Moon Glow, he would have died back in that cave, when he captured her the first time. She had gone into labor and he fought off wolves being brutally ripped apart by the wild dogs only to be left to die from fever and infection, but he was not about to walk the path to the happy hunting ground. It was this sheer perseverance and will power to one day capture her heart that kept his spirit alive. Now she was here with him and he would make her his, no matter what or who stood in his way.

  Now, Hawk Nose was annoyed at her for what happened but woman’s time was the ways of life and he had to accept nature. He did not like delays and he hoped that he was far enough away from the village and that the snows covered up what trail they left behind. He did his best to hide any signs, but Blue Thunder was a good tracker. He had found them once before.