Savage Hero

by Cassie Edwards

  “He will be found, you know,” Brave Wolf said, easing away from her. He sat up, reached a hand to her, and drew her next to him. As they faced the fire, he pulled a soft pelt around both their shoulders, so that they sat, their shoulders touching beneath it. “He might even now be safe at the fort and making plans against us.”

  “I doubt they shall find him this quickly,” Mary Beth said, shuddering at the thought of his fury when he was discovered tied against the tree, his mouth gagged. “But, yes, he will be found. The soldiers will not leave a stone unturned until he is found.

  “I am amazed at you,” Mary Beth went on, gazing into his midnight-dark eyes. “How can you be so calm when you know that the colonel will be found and that he will waste no time coming here to seek vengeance against you and me. He must hate me with a passion.”

  “The colonel will be too blinded by his anger and humiliation to even think about the time I have had to round up help to fight against him,” Brave Wolf said. He smiled slowly. “He will not consider just how many might now be here to make a stand against him.”

  “I hope your calculation is accurate about how many men you need to make a solid stand against Colonel Downing,” Mary Beth said.

  “Word has been sent by my scouts about the colonel’s plans, and many Crow clans are coming together even as we speak. We will form a united front against the enemy,” he said, smiling slowly. “And there are others arriving soon that might surprise you.”

  “Who?” she asked.

  “Do you not recall me making mention of a Colonel Anderson from another fort that I urged you to go to instead of Fort Henry?” Brave Wolf said.

  “Yes, I remember. He is in command at Fort Hope,” Mary Beth said. Her eyes widened as he told her that Colonel Anderson would also join the fight against Colonel Downing.

  “I am not certain whether or not I told you everything, how I knew this colonel from another time, another raid on innocent Indians,” Brave Wolf said, his voice tight. “We became fast friends when we met one day to defend a weakened band of Crow, who were in the midst of a massacre from a renegade group of Cheyenne. At that time, we discovered that soldiers from another fort were fighting alongside the renegades. The colonel in command was none other than Colonel William Downing.”

  “Truly?” Mary Beth gasped.

  “Colonel Downing retreated under fire and later paid for his misdeeds by being ordered to the guardhouse for a month,” Brave Wolf said, sighing heavily. “But he soon was assigned a new post, Fort Henry, where he seemed to walk a straight line, until now.”

  “So you sent for Colonel Anderson to help fight the evil colonel,” Mary Beth said, nodding.

  “Yes, I knew that Colonel Anderson would want to help with this fight,” Brave Wolf said, his eyes narrowed. “I anxiously await his arrival. We will embrace once again as friends.”

  “You do seem to have worked it all out,” Mary Beth said, sighing with relief.

  “Colonel Anderson and his soldiers have been spotted!” a voice said from outside the tepee. “I have sent a warrior to greet them.”

  “That is good,” Brave Wolf said, suddenly standing. “I shall join you all soon in the council house.”

  He reached down and grabbed his fringed breeches and stepped quickly into them, then drew a fringed shirt over his head. His fingers went through his long, jet-black hair, straightening it.

  He turned to Mary Beth and reached a hand out for her. “Come with me,” he said thickly. “Be a part of the council.”

  “Truly?” she asked, rushing to her feet. “You truly want me to?”

  “You are a part of me, so, yes, I wish for you to sit at my side in council, for soon you will also be a part of my people,” he said. He bent low and picked up a doeskin dress that she had been given as soon as she arrived at the village; the silk dress had been burned in his lodge fire.

  She slid the dress over her head, then stopped and gazed into Brave Wolf’s eyes. “What about Night Horse?” she blurted out. “What if he is discovered here by Colonel Anderson?”

  Brave Wolf’s eyes wavered, for he had temporarily forgotten the dangers of his brother being there and what Colonel Anderson might think about it.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  He clothes himself in the skin

  of animals and decorates himself

  with the plumage of birds.

  —Anonymous

  As the sun was lowering in the sky, casting shades of orange and pink on the tepees in the Crow village, Brave Wolf and Mary Beth stepped from Brave Wolf’s lodge just in time to see Colonel James Anderson and his blue-coated soldiers ride up. Mary Beth gazed up at a slender man dressed in full uniform, whose hair was as red as the poppies she grew in her flower garden in Kentucky. His eyes were a shade of golden brown as they smiled down at Brave Wolf, then turned to Mary Beth.

  She immediately liked him. She could see the difference between him and Colonel Downing. There was not even an ounce of prejudice in this man’s eyes and behavior.

  “Hohahe, welcome to my village, kola,” Brave Wolf said, stepping up to the colonel’s horse and reaching a hand of friendship up to him. “It is always good to see my friend and ally.”

  He clasped hands with Colonel Anderson for a moment, then dropped his hand as he gazed at the huge contingent of soldiers the colonel had brought with him.

  Brave Wolf looked past them and saw how many Crow friends who had arrived to join the fight.

  There was no doubt in his mind that he would best Colonel Downing and his soldiers.

  “So this is Mary Beth Wilson,” Colonel Anderson said, dismounting. He held out a hand to her. “Ma’am, Swift Lightning, one of Chief Brave Wolf’s warriors, who brought the message that I was needed here, explained about your presence in his village.”

  She could tell by his gentle smile and his handshake, which she quickly accepted, that he held no resentment of her, even though she was wearing an Indian dress. She did not look past him to see the other soldiers’ reactions. Having this colonel’s acceptance was all that was important.

  “I’ve heard much about you, too,” Mary Beth said. “It is so good to know that some white soldiers understand the plight of the red man. Thank you for coming.”

  “I knew of your husband,” Colonel Anderson said, his smile waning as he eased his hand from hers. He clasped his hands together behind him as he stood tall and slim in his immaculate blue uniform. “He had recently been given orders to join my soldiers at Fort Hope. It is a shame that General Custer chose that day to attack, for your husband was to leave for my fort on that very date.”

  Mary Beth paled. “Lloyd did not confide that in me,” she murmured.

  “I am sure he thought he would have time to tell you later, after the battle at the Little Big Horn,” he said, his voice drawn.

  “Yes, I’m sure he thought he would be able to tell me later,” she murmured. Then she gazed up at the tall colonel again. “It would have been nice to know he was under your command, not Colonel Downing’s. He . . . he . . . is a mean, manipulative, cunning man. He has planned a massacre. He was going to start here, at Brave Wolf’s village.”

  “I am here to see that his plans are foiled before they even begin,” Colonel Anderson said, gently patting her on the shoulder. “Ma’am, please accept my condolences about your husband. I’m sure he was a fine man . . . a brave soldier.”

  “Yes, he was both of those, and . . . and . . . more,” Mary Beth said, her voice breaking. “I knew him since we were children.”

  “Come with me to the council house,” Brave Wolf said to the colonel, then looked past him at all the soldiers who remained dutifully on their steeds. “Please bring as many of your soldiers into the council as you please.”

  Brave Wolf smiled as he looked past the colonel at all the Crow warriors, who were also anxious to join the council. He was glad that when he had ordered a new council house built, he had seen that it was double the size of most normal council houses. This lod
ge was large enough for eighty men to sit in. It was twenty feet high, with the First Maker painted on one side of the room, the evil spirit on the other.

  “I believe we might be more crowded than usual, but comfortable enough,” he said, then turned to Mary Beth. “I want you to join us. What we will be discussing has much to do with you. You suffered at the hand of a soldier at Fort Henry.”

  “Ma’am, what happened to you at Fort Henry?” Colonel Anderson asked as he handed his reins to a small brave.

  “She was attacked,” Brave Wolf said when he saw that the question made Mary Beth uncomfortable. “If you will look at her neck, you will see signs of that attack. A soldier came into her room in the dark and started choking her. Fortunately, she was able to save herself.”

  “I am sorry to hear of such atrocious behavior,” Colonel Anderson said, frowning. “Was the man reprimanded?”

  “Like the coward he was, he fled before anyone could get the chance to reprimand him,” Brave Wolf said, nodding toward the entranceway of the council house as he made a turn toward it.

  “And so he was never dealt with, eh?” Colonel Anderson said, going into the council house with Brave Wolf and Mary Beth.

  “He is paying for his crime now by having to hide,” Brave Wolf said, stunned noting that many of his people were already inside the council house. Brave Wolf nodded and smiled to them as he passed by, stopping with Mary Beth and Colonel Anderson when they came to a thick cushion of pelts that had been spread beside the fire for their chief.

  He nodded to the colonel to sit first, and then he and Mary Beth sat down with Brave Wolf beside the colonel.

  The evening was cool, the fire in the council house warm and welcome. Everyone became quiet as those outside filed in.

  Where there was no room to sit, they stood.

  Brave Wolf stood and smiled from person to person, then motioned with a hand for Colonel Anderson to stand beside him.

  “Our friend and ally Colonel Anderson has come to join our fight against those who wish to see us dead,” Brave Wolf said. “Welcome him, my people. Welcome him.”

  His people made grunts of welcome.

  Then Brave Wolf turned to the chiefs of the other Crow tribes. “Now let us welcome our Crow neighbors who have come to form a united front against the enemy.”

  There were more grunts, and then Brave Wolf and the colonel sat back down.

  A young brave brought a pipe wrapped in a red cloth to Brave Wolf.

  He nodded and accepted it, then laid it before him and slowly unwrapped it. The bowl was of red stone, which represented the earth. The stem of the pipe was wood, representing all that grew upon the earth. Twelve feathers hung from the stem, representing all winged things of the air.

  An Indian believed that to smoke was to pray. By mingling his breath with sacred tobacco and fire, the smoker was put in tune with the universe.

  Another young brave brought a tiny bag of tobacco. Brave Wolf took the bag and sprinkled the tobacco into the pipe, then gave the empty bag back to the child.

  Another boy brought a flaming stick to Brave Wolf. He also took this, then held the fire to the tobacco and sucked until the pipe was lit.

  Then he shook out the fire at the end of the stick, handed it back to the child, and held the bowl of the long, flat-stemmed pipe in his right hand. He took three puffs from it, then handed it to his left to Colonel Anderson.

  Brave Wolf was proud that Colonel Anderson had shared the pipe in council many times and knew the procedure well. Smoking was strictly ritualized. No one was ever to take more than three puffs at a time. Each man always handed the pipe with a ceremonious sweep to his left-hand neighbor, until it made its way around the room.

  Tobacco was one of the three holiest objects of worship to the Crow. All children wore a small packet of tobacco as an amulet necklace. The two other holy objects were the sun and the moon. To the sun a man always offered an albino buffalo cow if he had succeeded in killing one. The dead cow was placed on a scaffold set up in the prairie.

  Sharing the pipe took quite some time this evening, for there were many more present than usual.

  Finally it was done, and the pipe was laid on a stone before Brave Wolf, the smoke still slowly spiraling from the bowl. Brave Wolf sat with his back straight and his legs crossed, his hands on his knees, as he looked slowly around the room.

  “We are gathered here today to defend our rights as a people,” he said solemnly. “It is known now that there are those who are scheming to take not only our freedom from us, but also our lives. I have sent messengers out far and wide and spread the word to our friends about the planned massacre. It is good to see all of my friends today who have come to help defeat the enemy.”

  He turned his eyes to Colonel Anderson. “Although Colonel Downing is white, he is your enemy as well, and I am glad you realize that and have come to help fight him,” he said. “Thank you, my friend. We are honored today by your presence. It is good to have allies such as you.”

  He paused, looked away from the colonel, and momentarily smiled at Mary Beth, who was sitting quietly listening and watching. His pride in her made his heart swell; then he gazed into the crowd again.

  “The First Maker made the mountains, rivers, and land for all of us to share in a peaceful manner,” he said. “In those mountains are plenty of elk and black-tailed deer. White-tailed deer dwell at the foot of the mountains, and the streams are full of beaver. There used to be herds of buffalo, but they are not as plentiful now because of those whites who needlessly kill them. We must protect what buffalo are left.”

  He stopped, cleared his throat, then again looked slowly around him. “Above all else, it is our lives that we must preserve, and today we are gathered to talk about how that can be done, so that those who wish for our destruction will not be victorious over us,” he said forcefully. “When I sent word for our allies’ help, I had thought it would be to stand up against those who came to attack. But I have thought better of that. Why should we wait for the fight to come to us? Let us take it to them, so that if there is bloodshed, it will not be on our soil!”

  The listeners smiled, nodded, then grunted in approval.

  “We shall have a vote,” Brave Wolf said, standing. “Those who are in favor of going to Fort Henry, stand. Those who do not approve, remain seated.”

  Immediately everyone stood, women and children and warriors, as well as those soldiers who had found a place inside.

  Feeling pleased that everyone agreed with his plan, Brave Wolf motioned for everyone to sit again.

  “We will leave before dawn tomorrow. Our warriors have scouted the enemy. They see no unusual activity at Fort Henry yet, which means the soldiers are not ready to attack.”

  He smiled down at Mary Beth, then turned to his people again. “It might also mean that their colonel has not yet rejoined them,” he said, his eyes dancing.

  “Let us all leave the council house and eat and dance and sing,” Brave Wolf said, nodding toward the doorway. “After the women heard I was planning a council, they busied themselves making a variety of food for us to eat afterward. I believe I can smell it over the cookfires even now. There is buffalo tongue, roasted buffalo hump, and much more to share.”

  The women laughed softly and were the first to leave.

  Mary Beth saw Dancing Butterfly looking toward her, and hurried away from Brave Wolf to join her.

  “I am so excited about everything,” Dancing Butterfly said as she rushed inside her tepee with Mary Beth at her side. “Night Horse has remained hidden, but after the feast he is going to ask Brave Wolf if he can stay with his people. We can finally get married!”

  “I don’t believe Brave Wolf will ask him to leave, but what of the council?” Mary Beth asked as she helped wrap hot bread in big rolls of buckskin to take out for the feasting. “Will the rest of your people agree to let him stay?”

  “Why would they not?” Dancing Butterfly asked, lifting a heavy pot of rabbit stew from her fi
re. “They have seen how humble he has become since he has returned home. Surely they no longer see him as part of the enemy.”

  “I hope you are right,” Mary Beth said, but she did not believe that many had yet forgiven Night Horse for what he had done. She had heard too many wondering why he was still in the village now that he was well enough to leave.

  “I know I am right,” Dancing Butterfly said, beaming. “Perhaps when you say your vows with Brave Wolf, Night Horse and I can say ours at the same time.”

  Mary Beth gave Dancing Butterfly a quick look, then glanced away when Dancing Butterfly questioned her with her eyes.

  “Let us go and join the others,” Mary Beth murmured. “I am so happy that Brave Wolf has decided to take the battle away from the village.”

  “It is good to know that we will not have to fear being killed as we sleep in our lodges,” Dancing Butterfly said, shivering. “No one knew when the soldiers were planning to come. Now the warring is going to them. That is a much better plan.”

  “I plan to go with them,” Mary Beth blurted out. “I want to be a part of what happens at Fort Henry.”

  “You cannot do that,” Dancing Butterfly gasped out. “Fighting is for men only.”

  “I do not believe there will be an actual fight,” Mary Beth said, walking from the tepee with an armful of wrapped bread while Dancing Butterfly walked beside her carrying the heavy pot of stew. “When the soldiers at Fort Henry see how many are approaching them, and especially see that among them are white soldiers with Colonel Anderson at their head, they will not even attempt to fight. They will surrender immediately.”

  “You do not know that for certain,” Dancing Butterfly said, giving Mary Beth a worried frown.

  Mary Beth swallowed hard, for it was true that she was not certain of anything, except that she would not stay behind. After all, she was part of the reason behind this fight.

  Only tomorrow would tell whether or not she had made the right decision.

  Chapter Twenty-seven