She recalled again how he had seemed to have materialized out of nowhere, appearing from a patch of fog.
She could not help believing that there were many things about Wolf Hawk that she might never know, or understand.
But she did know that she could not live without him. He was now everything to her. And soon she would be his wife!
She frowned a little. Not because she had agreed to be his wife, but because she feared his people’s reactions to the news.
If they didn’t approve of her, what then? Would Wolf Hawk feel that he must turn his back on her because his first duty was to his people?
She shook her head to clear it. She would not let anything spoil the joy of those precious moments before the earth had begun to shake beneath them.
She smiled. For a moment she had thought that their lovemaking had had a strange effect on her, making her feel as though the earth itself was shaking.
“I must get hold of myself,” she said out loud, then glanced at the birdcage where Georgina was sitting silently on her perch. Surely the canary had been frightened by the earthquake.
She went to the cage and smiled at Georgina. “Do not be afraid,” she murmured. “All is well, sweet thing. You can sing now. I wish that you would. It would lighten my mood.”
As though the bird understood her, Georgina began her beautiful warbling as she slowly strutted along the perch.
“Thank you, sweet bird,” Mia murmured, going back and sitting down by the fire.
She looked slowly around Wolf Hawk’s tepee.
She could still feel him there, even while he was gone. She felt so blessed to have been brought into his life. She could not believe that she was going to become his wife.
She thought about how so much had changed in her life in such a short time. She had always wondered about her future, whether or not she would find a man to love, and who would love her in return.
And she had! She was going to be living a life that she would have never imagined possible, for she would be living it in an Indian village with an Indian husband…Wolf Hawk!
Oh, but she did so badly want to become Wolf Hawk’s woman and have a home of her own.
And now she would have it all.
Her life wouldn’t be anything like she had imagined it would be previously. She was not going to live in a house or in a town.
She was going to be living in a tepee in an Indian village.
“With Wolf Hawk!” she said aloud, smiling at how lucky she was to have been rescued by him, even though at first she had been brought to his village as Wolf Hawk’s captive!
“I am still a captive,” she whispered, smiling at Georgina as she continued to sing. “A captive to the love of a wonderful man!”
She could not believe this was happening to her. It was like stories she had read about knights and beautiful ladies finding one another.
“I have found my true knight,” she whispered, giggling at the comparison of Wolf Hawk to a knight.
The thought of marrying Wolf Hawk was much more romantic and exciting than marrying a knight could ever be. Was not Wolf Hawk a great, powerful chief, the king of the forest?
“Listen to me,” Mia said to Georgina. “I have suddenly gone daft!”
She smiled and again gazed into the flames of the fire.
Something deep inside told her that Talking Bird was alright, which gave her the right to think about frivolous things such as knights.
She just hoped that Wolf Hawk would return soon.
If there were another earthquake, this time it might consume the entire Indian village. As quickly as that her dreams…her hopes…her desires…would be dashed.
Her future with Wolf Hawk would only be an impossible dream.
Chapter Twenty-seven
The winds of heaven mix forever,
With a sweet emotion.
—Shelley
Desperately clutching their rifles, Jeb and Clint walked cautiously through the forest on the mysterious island. They both hoped they would be safe there, at least for awhile until the danger of another earthquake was past.
“How can this island be untouched by the earthquake?” Clint mumbled as he looked cautiously around him, through a hazy sort of mist, then straight ahead again. “I’m afraid it’s some sort of witchcraft voodoo something or other that’s happening here.”
He looked over at Jeb. “Don’tcha feel it, Jeb?” he asked. He hunched his shoulders with fear now as the mist seemed to be slowly enveloping them.
“Stop thinkin’ up trouble,” Jeb grumbled. “Let’s jist find us a place to rest awhile until we’re sure there won’t be another quake. Then we’ll go and get those pelts and hightail it outta here.”
“Everything is calm now, so why not try leaving again?” Clint whined. “Like I said, this here island is spooky as hell. And you know it lays just across the river from that Injun village. That alone makes me shake in my boots. What if one of those Injuns seen us beach the boat on the island? Don’tcha think they might put two and two together and figure out that we’re the ones responsible for the two braves’ deaths?”
“I’m sure they’re as spooked about the quake as we are, so they won’t be comin’ to see what’s happening on this island,” Jeb said. “And let’s not borrow trouble by thinkin’ on Injuns at a time when we need to just be thinkin’ on gettin’ outta here as soon as we feel it’s safe.”
Jeb flinched when he heard a loud whirring above him. He looked quickly up. “Clint!” he cried, stiffening. “Look above you. In the break of the trees where we can see the sky. Didja see that large hawk? Lordie be, it’s the same bird I saw before. Did you hear the noise those wings made?”
Clint looked up at the sky and saw nothing, then gave Jeb a sour glance. “You’re lettin’ your imagination run wild,” he snapped. “Stop borrowing trouble, do you hear?”
“But I seen it, Clint,” Jeb snapped angrily. “And I heard it. How could you not have seen and heard the same thing? You’re right beside me.”
“If you saw such a big bird, where is it now?” Clint demanded. “Look up there. The sky is clear not only of birds, but clouds. I’d say our worries are almost over. Soon we’ll be in the boat on our way back to St. Louie, where we’ll be rich men once we sell those pelts. Lordie be, Jeb. Those are some of the richest, finest pelts we’ve gathered up in years. The fox is prime fur. Them alone will make us set for life.”
Jeb scarcely heard what Clint was saying. He was still confused by how the huge hawk could be there one minute and gone the next. It was as though someone or something had plucked it from the sky.
Then he jumped in alarm when he saw something else up ahead. It was a wolf bounding through the trees away from them.
What frightened him the most was the thought that where there was one wolf, there was usually a pack.
He looked on both sides of him, and then over his shoulder, but when he saw no signs of any other wolves, he again focused straight ahead on the one he did see. It still ran onward, apparently having not realized that Clint and Jeb were so close.
And then Jeb stopped dead in his tracks. Were his eyes playing tricks on him? He thought he saw the wolf suddenly change into a muscled, scarcely clothed Indian!
Jeb reached out for Clint. He had stopped behind him, his eyes wide with fear.
In desperation, Jeb grabbed hold of one of Clint’s arms. “Clint, you can’t tell me that you didn’t see what I just saw,” he said. He gulped hard. “How can it be? How…can…a wolf…change into a man? And…and…I’d bet my last dollar that the hawk I saw…changed into that wolf!”
“This has to be a haunted island or something,” Clint said, coming out of his own fearful amazement. He slapped Jeb’s hand from his arm. “And that Injun up there surely lives on this island.”
He blinked his eyes and then rubbed them, but when he looked ahead again, he still saw the Indian. The warrior was running somewhere mighty fast, thankfully away from him and Jeb.
“I don’t kno
w what’s goin’ on here but I do know one thing,” Jeb said, already turning and running toward the river. “I’m gettin’ off this island as fast as my legs will carry me to the boat. Come on, Clint. Let’s get away from this place before someone turns us into toads.”
As Clint ran beside Jeb, he wanted to laugh at Jeb’s joke about toads, but he was too terrified. He had always heard that Indians practiced witchcraft, but this took the cake! He just had to forget about having seen it or else he might lose his mind. What they had witnessed just didn’t happen.
Yes, it had to have been a figment of both his and Jeb’s imagination!
Clint’s knees were weak with fear. Suddenly they buckled beneath him and he fell into a thick clump of bushes, crying out when thorns pierced his breeches and stabbed him in his legs.
“Good Lord, Clint,” Jeb said, stopping and reaching down to help his partner up. “Now’s not the time to be a big baby. Come on. We’ve got to get to that boat.”
Wolf Hawk stopped dead in his tracks when Clint’s yelp of pain carried to him on the wind.
He turned and saw two men, one on the ground, the other reaching a helping hand to him.
Wolf Hawk had been too focused on getting to his grandfather to have heard the intruders on Shadow Island. He supposed they had sought shelter on the island from the earthquake.
That had been their first mistake.
The second was allowing Wolf Hawk to know they were there.
No white man was welcome on his grandfather’s island, now…or ever.
Before Jeb could cock his rifle, Wolf Hawk was there, taking the weapon away from him.
Clint struggled to his feet, his eyes wide with fear. He would never forget the terrifying sight of the wolf changing into this Indian.
He knew that it hadn’t been his imagination, yet how could it have been real? All he knew was that Indians were capable of mysterious things, and that was frightening.
Wolf Hawk wasn’t certain if these men had seen his transformations. If they had, he could not allow them to spread the news to others. Yet he was not a man of violence. He did not wish to kill them.
Suddenly he recognized the amulet necklace that hung around the one man’s neck, and Wolf Hawk knew to whom it had belonged.
These were the very men who were responsible for the deaths of the two braves.
He could only conclude they had brazenly returned to Winnebago land to get the pelts they had left behind.
But Wolf Hawk didn’t immediately accuse them of the deaths. He would think through just how they should pay for their crime.
He realized now that Talking Bird must have known the two trappers had returned to this area. He had purposely caused the earthquakes to force them to seek safety on the island.
Talking Bird most certainly had the power to do this. He could do all sorts of magical things that no one would ever believe.
But Wolf Hawk knew. And he understood, for Wolf Hawk was a part of the old Shaman’s magic.
Wolf Hawk decided to play a mind game with these two men before taking his final vengeance against them.
He acted as though he had no idea who they were.
“Why are you on this island?” Wolf Hawk asked, his eyes moving from one to the other.
It gave him much plea sure to see their fear. He wanted to laugh out loud at them, but if he did, they would know that they were definitely in the presence of their enemy.
Clint stood beside Jeb now. They exchanged nervous, troubled glances.
“We were on our way to St. Louis,” Clint said, his voice thin with fear, for something told him that this Indian was toying with him and Jeb. But he continued with his lie, fabricating it as he went along. He just hoped that he sounded convincing.
“Our…wives…went ahead of us,” he said. “They are waiting even now for us.”
Astute as he was, Wolf Hawk could always tell when someone was lying. As the man talked, his eyes had not rested, jerking from side to side. And both men were shifting uneasily from one foot to the other.
Ho, the man was lying and Wolf Hawk now knew for certain that these men had returned for the pelts that had been left hidden at the fort.
To pull these men more deeply into the game that Wolf Hawk was playing with them, he suddenly handed the rifle back to the man he had taken it from. It was safe to do this, for he knew that he was no longer alone with the men.
He felt the presence of Talking Bird behind him, hidden from the view of the two men. Talking Bird would not allow them to get the better of Wolf Hawk.
He saw the amazement in the man’s eyes as he took the rifle back from Wolf Hawk. Clint’s hand trembled as he took possession of the rifle, for he felt that something was very wrong. No Indian would trust a white man enough to hand him back the means to kill him.
Unless…
“The earthquake is over,” Wolf Hawk said, looking slowly from one man to the other. “The waters are calm. Go now. Go in peace.”
Clint and Jeb exchanged wary glances, not knowing what to believe.
“Are you serious?” Jeb asked, while Clint gave him a burning glance for asking such a foolish question.
“You can go,” Wolf Hawk repeated.
Clint gripped his rifle hard. “Thank you,” he said thickly.
He turned quickly, and with Jeb running beside him, they hurried to the boat. In a matter of minutes they had it out in the water and were quickly paddling back toward the fort.
Wolf Hawk smiled cunningly and allowed them time enough to get to the fort. Then he would prove to them how wrong they were to put trust in someone who despised the very ground they walked on.
He remembered the amulet hanging around the one man’s neck. He did not want to even think about the moment the man had taken it from Little Bull. It had been a sacrilegious thing to do, and that man would be the first to pay for his crime.
“White men, enjoy your last moments of life,” Wolf Hawk whispered to himself.
Chapter Twenty-eight
I’ll tell you how the sun rose—
A ribbon at a time.
—Dickinson
Wolf Hawk turned and smiled at Talking Bird. He hurried to him and gently embraced him, then stepped away.
“It is good to see that you came through the earthquakes so well,” Wolf Hawk said. He walked now beside his grandfather as they headed back to the old Shaman’s tepee. “Of course I knew that you would.”
They walked onward with wolf willows on both sides of them. “We were untouched, as well, at the village, yet there were many trees beyond that were felled by the energy of the quakes,” he said. “Also some of the banks of the river were disturbed. Otherwise, all is well.”
They walked in silence now as the songbirds in the trees serenaded them, and both relished this moment of peace.
When they reached Talking Bird’s tepee, he stopped and turned to Wolf Hawk. “You were good to come,” he said thickly. “But your Shaman grandfather is alright. You need not stay when you have more important things to do.”
“Ho, I do,” Wolf Hawk said gravely.
He looked over his shoulder, in the direction that the trappers had disappeared.
In his mind’s eye he again saw the hunting amulet that the one man wore.
Wolf Hawk would soon remove the amulet from around the trapper’s neck.
He would take it to Little Bull’s mother. She would then have a part of her son with her again.
“Those two men that you saw with me?” Wolf Hawk said, again gazing at his grandfather. “They are guilty of having set the traps that killed our two young braves. I am giving them false hope by allowing them to go on their way. But soon they will know that my kindness was only a ploy. I will soon have vengeance against them.”
Talking Bird smiled. He reached a wrinkled hand to Wolf Hawk’s bare shoulder and rested it there as he spoke. “I know who they are,” he said, nodding. “In my wisdom I knew they were in the water near our people’s homes again. I purposely c
aused the earthquakes to disrupt the white men’s plans, and to put terror into their hearts. I made certain that what I did with my powers did not bring harm to our people.
“Go now, my grandson,” Talking Bird then said, lowering his hand away from Wolf Hawk and dropping it slowly to his own side. “Follow through with your plan. You will find the men at the abandoned fort. That is where you can complete your vengeance. My role is over.”
Wolf Hawk embraced Talking Bird again, then as Talking Bird proudly watched, Wolf Hawk transformed himself into the hawk, and with his huge outspreading wings, flew up and through the wolf willows.
When Wolf Hawk reached the sky in his hawk form, he soared onward, his bold, wide eyes ever watching down below, until he saw the beached boat at the riverbank close to the fort. He dove downward, his wings causing a huge shadow below him.
When he reached the ground, he landed and once again became a man. His jaw tight with determination, his heart pounding at the thought of finally making these two men pay for their misjudgments in life, he ran toward the entrance of the fort.
He stopped momentarily and smiled when he heard sudden loud wails of despair. He knew what had caused them. The trappers had just discovered that the pelts were gone.
He ran to the cabin where his warriors had discovered the hidden furs.
When he stepped inside the door, the trappers turned pale at the sight of him. They had left him on the island, yet there had been no sign of a canoe. They must be wondering how Wolf Hawk had gotten there from his village.
Surely it had not taken long for them to guess why Wolf Hawk had not needed a canoe. Both men had no doubt seen Wolf Hawk change from a huge, powerful hawk to a wolf, and then soon after, to a man.
Ho, he could see in their wide, frightened eyes that they were wondering what other mystical powers Wolf Hawk might have. They both held rifles, but were obviously too afraid to use them.
Wolf Hawk stepped up to them. With each of his hands he grabbed the rifles from the men.
“Please don’t harm us,” both men said in unison.
“Please have mercy,” Clint begged, his voice filled with a whining that sent disgust through Wolf Hawk. To him, a man who whined like an unhappy puppy was not a man at all.
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