Were the Indians any less civilized than the wasicu then? Life was hard and merciless for the Indians: kill or be killed, even when they wanted to live in peace.
From where she now stood, Kimi could only stare in fascinated horror at the evidence of Hinzi’s maleness.
One Eye put a sharp knife into her numb hand, pushed Kimi forward into the circle formed by the curious onlookers. Someone had started a fire nearby. Kimi’s mouth felt so dry, she couldn’t swallow. She looked from the blade in her hand to the naked, helpless soldier. The muscles rippled in his lithe body as he seemed to see the knife in her hand and pulled at his wrists, struggling to break free. Perspiration stood out on his handsome face in great beads.
For the first time, she saw fear in his pale blue eyes, not fear of death or pain, but fear for the loss of his maleness. Such a waste, Kimi thought, to geld a fine specimen of a man like this one. He wasn’t going to beg for mercy, no matter what she did to him, that much was clear.
He began to swear and fight the thongs that tied him. “No! Damn you! No!” He pulled at his bonds again. Kimi took a deep breath of the smoke from the camp fire and watched him struggling to break free. The hard muscles of his belly rippled as he twisted against the thongs, and she saw the lean power of his hips. This one could drive hard and deep into a woman, make her know he was there, have her arching herself up, clawing those lean hips and the corded muscles of that strong back, begging him to plunge deeper still.
“Kimi, get on with it!” One Eye snapped.
She started, terrified that he might have read her thoughts. Had she no shame? She looked from him to the waiting crowd, at the soldier fighting his bonds. She stared at the camp fire, looked at the naked soldier and knew that next they would see how well he withstood fire without screaming in pain.
She couldn’t do this. She must do this. Kimi forced herself to approach Yellow Hair, knelt on one knee before him as he fought to break free, shouting and cursing, but not begging for mercy.
The people yelled encouragement; “Finish it, so we may begin the torture! Who will be first to put a burning stick on that white skin?”
The crowd roared approval at the remark, looking forward to the entertainment to come.
Kimi paused uncertainly. Suddenly she wanted to throw down the knife and run away. Very slowly she looked up into the soldier’s stoic, angry face. His expression was pale but grimly determined as he set his mouth in a hard line. His eyes widened as he looked at her. What was it that surprised him so? That a woman could take part in such a thing? Lakota women were as brave and savage as their men. To survive against the tribe’s many enemies, they had to be.
Yet she had a sudden feeling that she could cut him slowly to small pieces with her knife, even cut off his manhood and throw it in his face, and he would not whimper or beg for mercy.
There was sudden confusion on the far side of the camp and Kimi looked around, relieved for any diversion that would postpone the inevitable.
Somewhere an elderly woman shouted, “Tatanka Iyotake of the Hunkpapas and some of his warriors have come to council with our chiefs.”
The crowd turned, abruptly more interested that Sitting Bull was in camp. Kimi breathed a sigh of relief.
One Eye frowned. “We will see what these leaders think we should do.”
Some of the Hunkpapas dismounted and came forward.
The short, stocky Sitting Bull, wearing the scarlet sash of his Strong Heart society, paused to look. “What is happening here, my friend?”
One Eye spoke with respect. “As you see, Tatanka Iyotake, we make ready to geld and kill a bluecoat soldier. You have arrived just in time.”
“One Long Knife is of little concern,” the leader shrugged, “I come to discuss future plans.”
Even though, as a woman, she really wasn’t supposed to speak, Kimi saw her chance because she knew now she couldn’t bring herself to torture the Hinzi. Perhaps her status as wife of a respected warrior who had been killed in battle would cause the braves to overlook her impudence.
“It seems to me we are in too big a hurry to kill the captive,” Kimi blurted to the important leader. “Yellow Hair would do better as a hostage to insure the soldiers won’t attack this camp. Later we might even trade him to them. They won’t give us cartridges and tobacco for a dead man.”
The Strong Heart nodded. “For a woman, you think and speak well.”
“No!” Some of the men of yesterday’s war party protested and pushed forward. “No, we brought back this captive; we demand the right to test his courage by fire and blade!”
Kimi whirled on them. “You would question the wisdom of Strong Heart warriors? Perhaps he is right. Alive the soldier might be used as a hostage to protect our camp or trade to the soldiers. Dead, he is worthless to our people.”
A murmur of agreement ran through the crowd at Kimi’s words, though many were grumbling at the talk of losing the morning’s entertainment. She saw the hesitation on One Eye’s face and knew that even he saw her wisdom. “What should we do with him in the meantime?”
Kimi shrugged carelessly as if it mattered little to her, although suddenly it mattered a great deal. “Hinzi might be useful as a slave. With my husband dead, I have need of a beast of burden to carry wood and water.”
One Eye frowned. “The whites geld their beasts of burden to make them docile and tractable. Even if we don’t kill him, that’s what you should do with this soldier. Let him live so he might be of use as trade goods or as a hostage, but take his manhood.”
“He is already weak from loss of blood,” Kimi argued coolly, “he may not survive the knife.”
Judging from the murmur of the crowd, the people seemed to agree with the warrior that the virile white male should be gelded.
The important warriors who had just arrived seemed to have more important things on their minds. “We are here to council and smoke. Anyway the woman is right; he might not survive the loss of blood. It is fitting that he be given to Mato’s widow as a slave until he is ransomed ... or a meeting of the Wicasas, the Shirt Wearers, decide to kill him.”
An even greater murmur of agreement ran through the crowd. Sitting Bull, Red Cloud and Crazy Horse of the Oglalas, were gaining the peoples’ respect. “Yes, give the soldier to Kimi to be used as a slave! The wasicu will not attack our camp if they fear to kill one of their own. As a hostage, he will insure the safety of the people.”
Kimi stood there holding the knife, staring up at the big, naked soldier tied hand and foot before her while the warriors discussed it. What would she do if they changed their minds? She could not go against her people, yet the unspoken plea in his blue eyes touched her woman’s heart. Finally it was decided that the question as to what to do with Hinzi should be postponed. Until a final decision was made, the soldier should be given to Kimi to be used as a slave.
One Eye argued, “It is not seemly that a man occupy the tipi of two women.” However, even as he said it, he cut the ropes and the soldier collapsed in a heap.
“Hinzi is not a man, only a slave,” Kimi sneered. She walked over, nudged him with her moccasin contemptuously. “He is no danger to anyone right now. He can’t escape, he can’t even stand alone.”
It was true, and everyone seemed to recognize that fact. Two warriors lifted him up out of the dirt and half dragged, half carried him back to Kimi’s marriage tipi with the curious trailing along to watch.
Kimi stopped and put her hands on her hips as she considered. “He might not survive another night outside in the cool air. Bind him again and tie him to a stake inside the lodge.”
She stuck the knife in her clothing and followed the warriors as they dragged the soldier into the tipi she would have shared with Mato. She went inside and stood watching as they tied his hands together, drove a stake in the ground above his head, and tied his wrists to it.
“Tie his ankles, too,” Kimi said, remembering the soldier’s attempt to escape before morning. She had told no one about tha
t, but she wasn’t sure why. Yes, she was. Because it would mean his death.
Wagnuka frowned and shook her head. “Daughter, you will regret this. It is not seemly to have this naked man in your lodge.”
“Man? Hinzi is only a beast of burden,” Kimi laughed coldly. “What are you so afraid of, Mother?”
The old woman hesitated. “I–I–nothing. I only know that the whites always bring our people grief. To have this one here will surely bring us even more trouble—or more soldiers. We should have killed him so we wouldn’t have to worry about him escaping and bring troops back to our camp. I will get us food.” She went outside.
Kimi knelt by the half-conscious man. His thigh still bled a little. It looked bad to her. If it weren’t cleaned and bandaged, he could lose that leg, and a slave with a bad leg was useless as a horse with a broken leg. The beast always had to be destroyed. She looked at him lying there, his eyes closed. She had mixed feelings toward him now because of the bravery he had just shown though seriously injured. He was no white devil; he was only a man after all, with all the weakness and wants of any man.
His eyes flickered open and he looked up at her, seemed to struggle to find the words. “Thanks. Pilamaya. You saved me back there.”
Kimi shrugged, understanding more of his drawling words that she had thought she knew. She answered coldly in a mixture of Lakota and English. “Don’t thank me yet. They were right, you know. A gelded slave is a more submissive, more docile animal to deal with.”
Just a flicker of anger and defiance flashed through his blue eyes and he cursed softly under his breath. “If I ever get loose, you cold chit, we’ll see who’s submissive and who’s the master.”
“What? What did you say?” She must have imagined his words. It was unbelievable that he might still be so arrogant and defiant when he was helpless in her power.
He smiled ever so slightly. “I think you understand more English than you let on.”
Maybe she did. Kimi didn’t question that. Many of her people had learned to speak a little. She took a deep breath to control her anger and brushed the hair from her eyes. “You’re filthy! I wouldn’t keep a pet dog as dirty as you. You will smell up my lodge.” She got a gourd of water and a little of the soap weed the tribes farther to the south had given her. Now she knelt by him and hesitated.
There was pain in his handsome face, but a trace of defiant triumphant still. “Don’t be afraid to touch me. I’m tied down and harmless.”
“I am not afraid of you,” she snapped. “If I were, I’d geld you. I still might.”
A flicker of fear crossed his face although he struggled to keep it immobile. Men, she thought. What was it about men that made their manhood more valuable to them than their lives?
She took the soap and a scrap of his ragged uniform and began to wash him. His skin felt warm under her hands. When she washed across his wide chest, his eyes closed, and he smiled ever so slightly and his maleness hardened. Kimi felt her face flush like fire. He was much bigger when aroused than she could even have imagined. She heard her mother coming, grabbed a buckskin garment that had belonged to Mato, threw it across his maleness to conceal it. She could only be thankful that the lodge was semidark.
Wagnuka entered, stared at their captive curiously. “I brought some stewed meat as a gift to you from Gopher. I think he would consider taking you as a second wife when a little time has passed to make it respectable.” She gestured toward the captive with a sneer. “Do you intend to waste it feeding him?”
“He’ll hardly be of any value as either a slave or a hostage if we let him starve to death,” Kimi said carelessly as if it didn’t much matter to her one way or another.
Her mother snorted in disgust and handed over a steaming gourd. “He doesn’t look like he’ll survive. No matter. I have told some of the other women I will help with the tanning of some hides.” She left the lodge and Kimi listened to her footsteps fade away.
Kimi held the gourd and took a few bites with the horn spoon. The meat tasted hot and delicious. The soldier watched each bite that went into her mouth.
“You must learn to be obedient,” she said, seeing that he watched her. “If you beg nicely like a puppy, perhaps I will give you a few bites.”
“Go to hell!” Only a muscle twitching in his temple betrayed his anger.
“Very well, you may watch me enjoy it.” She answered coldly and continued to eat. The scent of the cooked meat filled the lodge and he sighed and turned his face away. He looked weak and she remembered he was wounded and really should be fed to give him strength, but she steeled herself. When this slave learned to obey his mistress, then she would feed him.
She ate half the bowlful, waiting for him to change his mind and beg. She decided she could be as stubborn as he was. His face looked pale in the semidarkness, but he did not ask. Kimi hesitated. If she did not give him something to eat, in his weakened condition, he might die.
“Here,” she lied, “I find I have more than I can eat after all.” She put her arm under his head, lifted him and held the horn spoon out to him.
He shook his head. “I–I do not beg.”
Kimi was the one who now wished she knew some of the white man’s curses so she could use them. “Eat,” she commanded, “before I change my mind and let you starve.”
She held the spoon to his lips, and he wolfed it down so fast she was afraid he would choke. After a while, he looked a little stronger and sighed with apparent relief. Kimi was only too aware of the warmth of his head on her bare thigh where the doeskin shift had scooted up.
He shivered ever so slightly.
“Hinzi, are you cold?”
“I do not beg for clothes, either.” His voice, though weak, was defiant.
“I need a fire anyway for what I must do next.” She went about building a small fire in the fire pit, pulled the bloody bandage off, and looked at the wound. It looked bad. Kimi pursed her lips, shook her head.
“What–what are you going to do?” There was sweat on his face again as if he had already guessed.
“That wound must be cleansed and it keeps bleeding.” She took her knife and laid it with the blade in the flames.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m going to sear that wound to stop the bleeding.”
“No, damn it, no! I want an army doctor!” He tried to pull loose from the stakes that held him, but they were driven deep.
“Stop that! You’re making the wound bleed again.”
He only struggled harder and began to curse in that Southern drawl.
“You must not make noise, that will bring everyone running and they might change their minds. I’ll try not to hurt you.”
“Don’t give me that! You’re looking forward to it, you savage little bitch!” He fought the thongs that held his powerful muscles prisoner.
Kimi hesitated, a little afraid of his strength and his fury. If he managed to pull free, his expression told her he wouldn’t hesitate to kill her. Yet she had to cauterize that wound. “I’ll give you some leather to bite on. White men put bridles on their beasts of burden.”
When he opened his mouth to protest again, Kimi put a leather strap between his teeth and tied it in place even as he tried to spit it out. He would need that leather, she thought almost sympathetically, to keep him from biting his own tongue when that hot steel touched that wound.
“Stop fighting. You don’t realize how lucky you are.” Kimi picked up the hot knife gingerly. “The others wanted to geld you; I’m trying to keep you from losing your leg.”
He struggled to get the leather out of his mouth, fighting to break free. His blue eyes flashed fire at her, amid muffled threats of what he would do to her if he got loose.
Kimi hesitated, looking from the wound high on his thigh to the glowing blade in her hand. “You’re helpless; you can’t stop me. If you don’t lie still, I might accidentally put this burning knife on your manhood.”
At those words, he stoppe
d struggling and lay still as death.
Kimi gritted her teeth as she knelt by him and looked first at his naked manhood, then at the bloody wound on his thigh. She wasn’t sure she had the nerve to do this, but it had to be done to stop the bleeding. She felt a little sick and swallowed hard. She looked down into his eyes. His virile, muscular body shone wet with perspiration. Very slowly she lowered the glowing knife toward the wound. She thought he would turn his face away so he couldn’t see her do it, but he glared into her eyes.
Kimi took a deep breath, stilled her shaking hand, and applied the fiery knife against the wound in Hinzi’s thigh.
He groaned, gasped, and bucked against his restraints, but he was powerless to stop her. The hot blade sizzled in the wet blood and the smell of burning flesh almost gagged her. She was going to be sick. No, she couldn’t get sick, she had to finish this for his own good. Out of sheer desperation, she kept the glowing blade against the wound while his muscular, naked body arched and struggled against his bonds. Then mercifully, he fainted.
Kimi sighed heavily with relief and shook all over. At least now she could finish what needed to be done without worrying about him breaking free.
After she had applied healing herbs, she wrapped his thigh in a scrap of trader’s cloth. She took the gag from his mouth, reached for some cool water, and began to bath his face very gently.
His eyes opened slowly as if he weren’t sure where he was as he looked up at her. “Lenore? Lenore, darling?”
A woman. He looked up at her and called some white woman’s name. For some reason, it annoyed her. “I am called Kimimila–butterfly.”
His face twisted with pain and anger as he seemed to realize where he was. “I must be delirious. For a moment, you almost looked like ... Damn you, you little savage!”
“You are either very brave or very reckless,” Kimi said, “I should beat you for your words.”
A look crossed his face and Kimi shook her head. “Don’t think about trying to escape. You can’t even walk and it’s a long way to any soldiers’ fort. Your only chance of surviving is to be very obedient and behave like any slave so that you anger no one or they might change their mind and order you killed.”
Sioux Slave Page 5
