Gray Eagle’s mind was racing with enticing ideas of how to enchant this woman again. His prowess and manhood would be tested, challenged. He thrilled to the sport she was presenting. Suspense and exhilaration flooded his body and heart. Cunning ploys came to mind. He grinned. He would attack her senses with skills and cunning to shine brighter than his prowess upon the battlefield. His keen mind and smoldering body anticipated this stirring game.
He halted at dusk to make camp for the coming night. She needed rest, but she also needed time before facing new challenges and problems. He dismounted and handed her down. He spread his blanket upon the ground and suggested she sit and rest while he built a fire. She readily obeyed his words, unaware this was the duty of a woman. Feeling drained by her first day of activity, she lay down.
He dropped to one knee beside her prone body after the fire was going. He smiled, offering her some food and water. She sat up and accepted it, ravenously hungry for the first time since regaining consciousness. She returned his smile and thanked him. He sat down beside her while they ate in silence. Later, he sat gazing into the colorful flames while she lay upon the buffalo skin, watching him.
Aware of her eyes upon him, he remained motionless, hoping she was feasting upon the masculine vision he presented. Recalling days past, he knew her opinions of his looks and prowess. The flames danced upon his bronze frame and face, inspiring the desired effect in her. She wondered if the glow in his black eyes came from the fire’s reflection or some other place. When she realized she was boldly staring at him, she turned to lie upon her stomach.
“What animal does this skin come from?” she abruptly asked, fingering the furry mat, shattering the magical silence.
He laughed as he flung himself down beside her, propping his chin upon his hands. With great enthusiasm, he told her about the awesome beast known as the buffalo. He told her of suspenseful and daring hunts, of how they used every part of the animal for some purpose, of the importance of this animal to their way of life. She was amazed by his explanation, for nothing of the animal was wasted or tossed aside. At her request, he told of his camp, his customs, his family, and his people.
She turned her face toward him as she made her next request. “Tell me about Gray Eagle. Who are you? Why did I select you to love and marry?”
“The Great Spirit blinded your eyes to all other men and made me irresistible to you,” he promptly jested. “He sent you to me as a reward.”
The glow in his eyes danced merrily as he laughed. “To reward me or you?” she teased in return.
“Both. For he also blinded my eyes to all other women; I could see only you. That is how love should be. Do you not agree, Little One?”
She ignored his question to ask another one, “How old are you?”
“Thirty of the white man’s years.”
“You said you don’t have any brothers or sisters?”
“None by blood, but a friend who is like a brother to me.
“Who is the chief of your tribe—that is what you call them?” She continued her questions along what she considered safe ground.
“There are seven tribes in the Sioux Nation; Oglala is the most powerful. We are Oglala. My father is called Running Wolf; he is chief of the Oglala,” he said, pride and respect shining upon his face.
She leaned over to stare fully into his face. “Your father is chief and your tribe the most powerful; yet, you say such things without vain pride. Does that mean you’ll be chief after him?” she queried, amazed.
“Yes. You will be wife to the next Oglala chief,” he added, grinning.
“Me?” she asked, then realized the magnitude not only of his importance but also of her own. She shook her head as if dazed. “Alisha Williams, wife to a chief? That sounds too incredible to believe,” she absently murmured.
“To my people, you are Princess Shalee, wife of Wanmdi Hota, my name in Sioux,” he playfully elucidated.
“Wanmdi Hota…” She tested the name upon her tongue. It stirred no memories, but, “It has a nice sound to it. Wanmdi Hota,” she tried it once more, then smiled. “Do I call you Wanmdi Hota or Gray Eagle?”
“Most moons you call me something else,” he hinted mischievously.
“I probably shouldn’t ask, but what do I usually call you?” She took his tempting bait. If he really was a stranger, why did this closeness and rapport seem to come so readily and easily? Perhaps he was irresistible!
“Perhaps I should not say; it might embarrass you. Your face could flame like the fire. It might be you will choose it again,” he teased her.
Joining his merry sport, she studied him closely. “Let’s see… what would I call you?” She gave it some thought, then laughingly hinted, “Black Eyes, since you call me Grass Eyes?” He shook his head. “If I’m Little One, you might be Tall One? No?” she hinted as he shook his head again. Enjoying herself, she pondered his name and personality. She beamed as she stated, “Gray Eagle, warrior of the sky?”
He laughed. “You have called me such before, but your keen mind must think harder,” he huskily suggested, enjoying himself and this sport.
What would a woman call her husband, her love? She smiled smugly as she offered provocatively, “My love?”
His expression told her she had guessed correctly. “I see you have not lost your wits and cunning, Grass Eyes,” he complimented her intelligence.
The dangerous words had left her lips before she could halt them. “Are you my love?” She quickly pulled her gaze from his and stared at the fire beyond him. Whatever had possessed her to say that?
“I was, and I hope to be again, Shalee,” he insisted upon answering. “Open your heart to me,” he huskily entreated.
She trembled as she informed him, “It’s too soon, Wanmdi Hota.”
Why had she used his Indian name? Had her view of him as a man suddenly altered, so that now she saw him primarily as an Indian? She was tense and afraid. He could not press her, not after sharing such warmth. “Do not worry, my love; I will not force such feelings upon you. They must come freely, as before.”
She looked at him. “You are kind, Gray Eagle. Thank you.”
“Rest, Shalee. This sun has been hard for you. There are many suns and moons to talk again. If you have forgotten all else, remember I love you. In time, I pray you can return this love.”
“I will try, Gray Eagle; that is all I can promise you right now,” she replied honestly. “There is so much I do not understand or remember. The loss of five years of one’s existence is terrifying.”
“I can ask for no more. Sleep. I will guard you.”
Surprisingly, slumber came quickly to her. As the night chilled and the cover slipped from her shoulders, she instinctively gravitated to the warmth of his body and snuggled there. He smiled to himself as his arms encircled her and held her tenderly, sharing his warmth and love, though she didn’t know it. Soon, peaceful slumber claimed his cheerful mind and singing heart. His ecstasy had been returned to him and he would brazenly conquer it….
Chapter Seven
Shalee awakened to the carefree chirping of birds in the nearby spruce trees. There was a slight nip in the air this promising morning. She nestled closer to the object beside her, which radiated magnetic heat. Her eyes hastily opened as she realized her hand was moving over firm, smooth flesh upon a rich bronze chest. Her head jerked backwards and she gazed into the smiling face of Gray Eagle. She relaxed and smiled. “You startled me. For an instant I didn’t know where I was,” she confessed demurely.
As if suddenly realizing she was in the disturbing stranger’s arms, she reluctantly moved away. “You were cold. I shared my body heat with you,” he informed her to calm the uncertainty that gleamed within her green eyes.
“Thank you. Will we reach your camp today?” she asked, needing to dispel the heady aura around them.
“I think it best to camp here today. There are many things we must speak of before you return home. You need another moon to accept a life y
ou do not recall. I do not wish to hurt our son,” he said, reminding her of another trial to be confronted.
“What can I do? I could pretend to know him and to love him, but I can’t talk to him. I will be as much a stranger to him as he will be to me. You said I was intelligent, but I cannot possibly learn your language in one short day. What will you tell him?” she worriedly asked, imagining the anguish of a small child when confronted with a mother who suddenly could not pick him from a group of unfamiliar children.
“I will tell you about him. I will point him out and teach you his name in Oglala. I will say you are still weak and need much rest alone. He can stay in the tepee of Talking Rock and Little Flower. After the shock has passed, he will enjoy the game of teaching his mother to speak again. I will say the injury claimed your words.”
At the mention of two new strangers, she panicked again. “Everyone will be strangers to me! I don’t know any of your customs, or how to cook your foods, or to choose them. I’ll be like a baby there!”
“Do not distress yourself, Shalee. Others will care for you until you are well. They will teach you all you must know,” he encouraged.
“Did your people like me?” she abruptly inquired.
“Sha. Yes,” he translated the word.
“Sha means yes. At least I know one word,” she stated in exasperation. “You must teach me as much as possible,” she entreated seriously.
“Waste cedake,” he murmured tenderly.
“What does that mean?” she quickly responded, thinking her lessons had started.
“I love you,” he repeated in his stirring voice.
She flushed. “What is Bright Arrow’s name?” she hurriedly asked.
“Wiyakpa Wanhinpe,” he replied.
“Waste cedake, Wiyakpa Wanhinpe,” she repeated. “Did I say it correctly?”
“Waste cedake, Wanmdi Hota,” he teased lightly.
“What month is this?” She changed the subject again.
“At the fort, the Bluecoats called it April.” He wisely dropped his line of pressure.
“April, 1782… it sounds impossible. Five whole years gone.”
“When the Great Spirit wills it, they will return.”
She met his somber gaze and probed, “Will they, Wanmdi Hota?”
“Sha. The wilhanmna told me.”
“Wilhanmna?” she echoed inquisitively.
“Dream. Not once did my visions say you were dead. Each time I dreamed of you, you were smiling at me and holding out your arms to me. My faith was small; you were calling for me to seek you out, but I was too sad to understand the vision,” he explained.
“But dreams don’t always come true, Wanmdi Hota,” she argued, practicing his name at each occasion.
“They do when the Great Spirit sends them as messages.”
“How do you know the difference between a vision and a dream?”
“Often I do not, as with the message you were still alive. When our searches failed to find you or a clue of you, I lost hope. Brave Bear sent word to me and your father, but the braves were killed by white trappers. When the second brave came to my camp, my heart sang with joy at his news.”
“My father? My father is dead. I do not understand.”
“You are Princess Shalee, daughter of Chief Black Cloud of the Blackfoot Tribe. The village we left on the last sun was the camp of Black Cloud. The warrior who found you was his son.” He slowly began his incredible tale.
“They think I’m an Indian? The man who saved my life believes I am his sister? Why?”
“It is a long tale, Shalee. You are not Brave Bear’s sister. Black Cloud has no sons; Brave Bear has no mother or father. Black Cloud chose him as son and next chief when he was two winters old and his parents died.”
“But you just said I was Black Cloud’s daughter,” she refuted his confusing words.
He told her of how Black Cloud had once captured and loved a white girl named Jenny, a female with green eyes and fiery hair. A daughter was born to them, then kidnapped at two winters by the whites. “When you came to our lands, you carried the mark of Black Cloud. He says you are his half-breed daughter. That is how Gray Eagle could marry Alisha Williams. They did not see a white enemy; they saw Shalee, daughter of a chief, member of the Sioux Nation. He did not come to your side when you lay ill, for he did not get the word of your injury, just as I did not get it.”
“I was right! They did mistake me for someone else. You couldn’t have married me if not for their mistake, right?” she probed curiously.
“No. But I would have captured you as my slave and loved you in secret. As Shalee, we could join,” he stated matter-of-factly, leaving out many details she didn’t need to know yet.
“What mark are you talking about?” She seized upon a previous clue.
He touched her left hip and stated, “There, there is a symbol upon your body that proclaims you Shalee. The Blackfoot Tribe marks their children to show their name and tribe in case they are captured or endangered.”
“What mark? I have no mark there,” she said, denying his claim.
He pulled himself to the edge of the mat and drew the sign in the dirt: a crescent moon with two stars. “This mark is upon the hand of Black Cloud and the body of Shalee.”
“Impossible! I have no such drawing upon my hip.”
“It is there. Look with your own eyes,” he suggested.
She felt the place mentioned. Something was there, perhaps a scar. “How do you know?” she foolishly asked.
He chuckled. “You are my wife; I know every mark upon you.”
She flushed again. She gradually became aware of a tangible clue in his tone. “You do not believe their mistake, do you?”
He sighed and shook his head. “I said nothing. I wanted you and loved you. I wanted Shalee to wife, not Alisha to lowly slave. My love and desire shut my lips to rejecting their mistake. Only White Arrow knows you are not Shalee.”
“White Arrow? The man you call brother and friend?”
“Yes. He is your koda. The truth will not pass his lips. You must tell no one, Shalee. The honor and happiness of Shalee, Bright Arrow, and Gray Eagle will die at such words.”
“You married me knowing I’m not this Shalee?” she persisted.
“Sha. Love does not see the color of skin or the hatred behind it. A man cannot live without his heart; you were and are my heart.”
Who was this man who loved her so deeply, who would risk and sacrifice so much to have her? “You said we met as enemies. Tell me about the first time.”
She knew he didn’t want to, but he hesitantly complied. “The whites who came to our lands with you built a wooden tortress. They hated me and my people. They killed Indians for joy and hatred. When I traveled near your fortress, three white eyes captured me and placed a rope around my neck. They took me to your fortress to be whipped and slain. Your heart was pure and gentle. You took a firestick as they whipped me and mocked me; you would not let them do such evil and cruelty. When they held me captive, you secretly brought food and water to me; you placed medicine on the wounds of their whip. I loved you and wanted you that very day. But my heart was filled with anger, so I refused such feelings.”
“My people did that to you? Uncle Thad? Joe? The others?”
“Koda Kenny had gone from the fortress many moons before that sun. The man you called Uncle was hunting in the forest. He could not stop them; they were many and he only one man. He did not resist their vote for my death.”
“You’re lying! Uncle Thad would never kill an innocent man! Why are you saying such cruel things?” she shouted in dismay.
“Hear me, Shalee! He did not torture me, but he did not free me,” he added to soften the sting of his prior words. “He spoke against such cruelty, but did not have the power to halt it. He was a good man.”
His words had the desired effect and she relaxed and listened. “They voted to kill me; they had killed others.”
As his words settled in, s
he asked, “Did I free you?”
He smiled. “You would have before letting them kill me, but White Arrow helped me escape. Later, I took you captive.”
“I was your prisoner!” she shrieked.
“For many moons, until Black Cloud claimed you as daughter. Then, we were joined. You lived in his camp many moons. Brave Bear loved you and wished to join with you. I fought a challenge with him to win you. That is why Chela was cruel to you; Brave Bear’s love still lives within his heart. Chela is Oglala; we were to join. But I met you and loved you. It is not the white man’s way to have more than one wife. I gave her as mate to Brave Bear when he lost you. Both men Chela had desired loved you.”
That certainly explained both Brave Bear’s and Chela’s actions! “You actually fought over me?”
“I would not give you up without it. For five winters we have been happy. But many more whites and Bluecoats came to our lands. They fear the name and power of Gray Eagle. They tried to kill you and steal our son to destroy me. I was forced to trade my life for our son’s. But the Bluecoats’ victory caused dangerous pride in their hearts. I tricked them and escaped the fort. But you were gone and feared dead. For many moons I mourned you. But you are alive and here now.”
“You didn’t want to tell me how we met because you were afraid of how I would feel about you?”
“Sha. Love came easily and swiftly, but not acceptance and understanding.”
She reasoned for a time. From nowhere a heartrending thought struck her forcefully: Her people were all dead; they had brutally tortured him; she was the lone survivor, captured by him. Did that mean…
God, how she hated to ask her next question, but it was necessary. “What happened to Uncle Thad and the others?”
“They were slain during a raid,” he replied under duress.
“By the Oglala?” she asked, praying he would say no.
“Sha,” the dreaded answer came forth.
Brazen Ecstasy Page 13
