Song of the Raven

by HELEN HARDT

  “Use your head, brother,” Bear said. “If she had been kidnapped, would the kidnapper have let the cow loose so she wouldn’t starve?”

  “You are right. I wasn’t thinking.” He needed to be thinking.

  “I understand. You worry about your woman. But keep your head. You will need it.” Bear stood. “Let’s go.”

  Raven silently vowed not to let his heart rule his mind. “We must find her.”

  “We will, Raven, we will. I promise you I will not let you down.”

  Raven stared into Bear’s golden eyes, so different from his own, yet so alike in their fierce determination.

  They would find Ella. And when they did, Raven would never let her out of his sight again.

  Chapter Nine

  The jostling of the wagon stirred Ella’s stomach. It was night again. They had been traveling for over twenty-four hours. Her father must be exhausted, but still he persevered. At some point he’d have to sleep, wouldn’t he? And then she’d run to Raven.

  She sighed, the straw from her bedding prickling her back. Run to Raven. How could she? She had no idea where she was, or how far they’d traveled, or what direction they were going. Her throat tightened, but no more tears came. Perhaps she had cried them all away.

  Beside her, her mother slept fitfully, soft snores escaping her lips. When the wagon stopped, Ella jolted. She heard her father’s deep voice speaking to the horses. What was happening?

  When she heard her father’s footsteps coming toward the back of the wagon, she closed her eyes, forcing her breath to come in shallow, even puffs, feigning sleep.

  The wagon jarred and blankets rustled as Ella listened to her father lie down next to her mother. He cleared his throat.

  “She’s asleep, Bobby,” Ella’s mother said softly. “Come to me. Rest your head.”

  “Can’t.” her father said. “Can’t let them…take her.”

  “Shh. It’s all right. Sleep, my love.”

  The love and devotion in her mother’s voice soothed Ella. Her parents loved each other. Needed each other. Had been through…well, hell…together. They were soulmates. Mates of the spirit, as she and Raven were. Her mother understood.

  One day, so would her father.

  When both her parents’ breathing had evened, Ella quietly stole out of the wagon.

  * * *

  “I do not understand,” Bear said to Raven, as they ate a small rabbit they had caught, skinned, and roasted over a campfire. “No wagon tracks, no horse droppings. It is like they disappeared. How is it that a preacher is so good at covering his tracks?”

  “Luck, perhaps.” Raven gnawed on the meat, eating only for sustenance. Though he normally enjoyed rabbit, he found no joy in this one. The taste did not soothe him. A thought niggled at him. Ella’s father. He was not what he seemed on the surface.

  “We will find her, Raven.”

  Raven nodded. He had no wish to harm Ella’s father.

  But he would if he had to.

  * * *

  Ella’s legs felt like jelly under her as she forced them to keep moving through the dark, dense woods. Why hadn’t Raven come for her? Something must have happened to keep him away. Something terrible. He hadn’t been on a horse the previous night. What if another bear had attacked him? His leg still wasn’t completely healed. Ella shook, her mind a jumbled mass of fear, anger, passion. She stopped to rest and sat down on a bed of downy moss. Moss so like the patch where she and Raven had made love. She lay down and closed her eyes, and the darkness took her.

  “Looky here, Jasper.”

  Ella jerked awake at the male voice. The light of a lantern shone in her eyes and she blinked. Before her stood a balding man dressed in a dirty shirt and trousers. His lips curved upward to reveal rotted teeth.

  Icy tentacles of fear gripped her. “Wh-What do you want?”

  “Oh, I think a little of your sweetness might quench our thirst, eh, Jasper?”

  Another man strode toward her. This one was tall and lanky and stank to high heaven. Had he wrestled a skunk? “Whatta ya got there, Irv?”

  “Found myself a sleepin’ beauty.” Irv brought his head closer and his rancid breath nearly made Ella lose what little was in her stomach. “Spread your legs, darlin’.”

  Ella winced. Her heart thundered against her breast. Surely he didn’t mean…

  “I mean to have a little o’ you. It’s been a long hard day, and Jasper and me, well, we ain’t any richer than we were a coupla months ago. Cain’t afford the whores in town. I reckon you’ll give us a little for free.”

  Ella shuddered. They were bigger and stronger than she was. She could never fight them off. “Please…” Her voice came out hoarse and squeaky.

  “She’s sayin’ please.” Jasper came nearer. “I think she wants ya.”

  “No.” Ella shook her head. “Please, don’t hurt me. My father… My…my husband.” Raven’s face flashed into her mind. Where was he? Why wasn’t he here to protect her?

  “You know, Irv, this chit looks a tad familiar to me. She’s that preacher’s girl, I think.”

  Irv breathed on her again, and Ella heaved. Nausea overwhelmed her. Her belly cramped and she heaved again. Nothing came up.

  Jasper guffawed. “Seems you make her sick, Irv.”

  “You’re right. She is the preacher’s brat.” Irv bent and ran his tongue over Ella’s cheek.

  Ella grimaced and her bowels churned.

  “You cain’t take her,” Jasper said. “You’ll go to hell fer sure.”

  Irv let out a chortle. “Think I’m goin’ already. So what’s the harm in takin’ a little honey before I go?”

  “Well.” Jasper spat a wad of saliva onto the moss.

  The mixture of phlegm and tobacco landed next to Ella. She heaved again.

  “I guess you got yerself a point there.”

  Ella thought quickly. Papa had always said she could sell spectacles to a blind man. Here was her chance. “You’re wrong,” she said. “You can go to heaven. All you have to do is ask for forgiveness and live a righteous life hereafter.”

  “You’re lyin’ through your teeth, little lady,” Irv said. “There ain’t no way God’ll ever forgive my reckless life.”

  “You’re wrong. I swear it.” She fidgeted. This had to work. It had to. “My father’s a preacher. I should know.”

  “She has a point, Irv,” Jasper said.

  “See? He believes me.”

  “Hmm.” Irv lifted his brow. “All I need to do to get to heaven is ask for forgiveness. Lead a righteous life?”

  “Yes. I swear it. God will forgive you. You have my word.” Please, Ella begged silently. Please let them believe me and leave me alone. Raven. Oh, Raven, where are you?

  “That’s darn nice to know, little lady,” Irv said, and then spat. “And I think I might just believe you after all.”

  “I’m glad.” Ella breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Just one thing though.” An evil smile spread over his pockmarked face. “I reckon he’ll forgive me tomorrow as well as today. So that means I can taste a little of you before I begin this here new righteous life o’ mine.”

  “Now you’re talkin’,” Jasper said. “I never thought of it that way.”

  “That’s why I’m the brains o’ this operation,” Irv said. He tore Ella’s dress down the front, revealing her breasts through her chemise.

  “No. Please.” Ella hated to beg, but she had no choice. She couldn’t bear the thought of these men’s dirty hands on her body. She gathered all her strength, but couldn’t move against both of them. “Y-You’re wrong. Now that you know the truth of God, he will punish you if you don’t start your righteous life. He…he’ll send you to h-hell. Tonight. I swear it!”

  Irv’s evil laugh slithered over Ell,a and she heaved again. This time the remains of her dinner appeared, covering Jasper’s phlegm.

  “Damn, Irv,” Jasper said, “Guess we can’t kiss her now.”

  “Hell, I reckon she stil
l tastes better than I do.” Irv let out a raspy chuckle. “And get a load o’ those.” He grabbed Ella’s breast.

  She screamed as Irv closed his mouth over hers.

  She squirmed as he forced his tongue past her lips. She retched, writhing to get away from him. His clammy hands traveled downward and lifted her skirts. When his fingers grazed her thigh, her body shook violently. She tried to scream, but his mouth still covered hers.

  In the near distance, a high-pitched shriek ribboned through the night air. A strangely melodic sound.

  Within seconds, a voice from heaven itself.

  “Get your hands off my wife.”

  Chapter Ten

  The whizz of an arrow pierced the air, and the weight of Irv’s sweaty body fell upon her. In an instant, the man was flung off her, landing twenty feet in the distance.

  Ella looked up at Raven. Wonderful, beautiful Raven! Her heart soared. He had come!

  Another man—was that her father?—held Jasper at bay.

  She shook her head, trying to clear the fog. It wasn’t her father. But it was a white man. Dressed like an Indian.

  Raven knelt beside her. “Ella. Tehila. Are you hurt?”

  “N-No. He didn’t…” Her throat constricted. Fog thickened her thoughts. Those men. Those dirty horrible men had almost… Tears moistened her eyes. “But he tried. And I wasn’t…I wasn’t strong enough. If you hadn’t come…” She looked into his black eyes. His kind, worried eyes. “Wh-Why didn’t you come for me? I-I thought another bear had attacked you. I was trying to come to you.”

  “Ah, tehila. I am so sorry.” Raven scooped her into his arms and held her tight against his bare chest. “If anything had happened to you…”

  She choked out a sob. “I-I’m all right.” She reached for his cheek and stroked it. He was so beautiful in the moonlight. Her own personal savior and hero.

  “I came for you the next night, but you were gone. We tried to track your father, but could not. Finally, early this morning, Bear was able to track you. I knew you had left your father.”

  “He stayed awake for over twenty-four hours. I got away as soon as I could.”

  “You should have stayed with him. He would have protected you.”

  “No.” She stood up but nearly lost her footing. Her mind raced through the haze. “I don’t want his protection. I want yours. I—” Her feet gave way, and she stumbled against Raven’s hard chest. “I don’t understand why I can’t get my mind and body to work.”

  “Because you’re frightened, tehila. Those men tried to force themselves upon you. You have reason to feel the way you do.”

  “Is… Does…” Ella’s insides quivered at what she needed to ask. What she needed to know about Raven’s people.

  “What is it?”

  “Do the men of your tribe…do they…take women like that?”

  Raven held her body from his, though still held her steady. His chiseled jaw twitched. Only slightly, but Ella noticed.

  “Did your father tell you that?”

  “Goodness, no! He never speaks ill of anyone. Or at least, he never used to. It’s just…I’ve heard…”

  Raven’s hold gentled a bit, and he sighed. “Some of my kind do. As do some of your kind. And I’m sorry that you now have personal experience of that.”

  She shuddered, and he drew her to him again. “I’m taking you home.”

  “To my cabin?”

  “No. To my camp. You are my wife, Ella.”

  Warmth coursed through her. His wife. “But we haven’t been married yet.”

  “We are married in the ways of my people. We have been since we joined our bodies. That is all that matters.”

  Ella didn’t argue. She had no desire to. Being safe and secure in Raven’s arms was all that mattered.

  “Raven?”

  “Yes?”

  “Who’s that man?” She nodded toward the white man dressed like an Indian. He had bound Jasper’s legs, arms, and mouth and tied him to a tree.

  “That is my brother, Wandering Bear.” He turned his head toward the tree where Jasper was tied. “Bear. Come and meet my Ella.”

  The white man stalked forward slowly, his eyes narrowing. “Good day.”

  “Well…good day to you, too, Mister…Bear.”

  He cleared his throat. “Just Bear is fine, new sister.”

  “Of course, and you may call me Ella.” She held out her hand. “It’s very nice to meet you. Raven has told me a lot about you.”

  “As he has told me about you.”

  Ella stared at the handsome white face. His hair was long—longer than Raven’s, like he had told her—and fell nearly to his knees in a thick chestnut braid. Strange that she’d mistaken him for her father earlier, through the fog that had coated her mind. They were about the same height and build, and their eyes were similar, though Bear’s were lighter brown, almost gold. But there the similarities ended. He might look white, but clearly he was Indian through and through. He had a savage look to his handsome face, his golden eyes. A look she had never seen on her father’s visage—until recently.

  Ella turned back to Raven. “You should know, Raven, my father will come for me. He”—she cleared her throat—“knows how to track. H-He used to be a bounty hunter.”

  “Ah, that explains much,” Raven said, nodding. “Bear is the best tracker in our tribe, and even he could not track your father. It was you we tracked, once you escaped.”

  “Escaped? You make it sound like he imprisoned me.”

  “Didn’t he?”

  “Oh, no.” The urge to defend her father overwhelmed Ella. “It wasn’t like that. My father and mother, they’ve been through a lot. A lot I didn’t know about. A lot I still don’t know. You see, their son, my older brother, was kidnapped by Indians. Long ago. I was barely three at the time. I don’t remember David at all. I know I should feel something for him. But how can I feel for someone I don’t remember? It’s…very sad.”

  “I am sorry for your parents’ loss, tehila, as well as for yours. I do not agree with those of my people who take what is not theirs to take.”

  “Don’t you?” She couldn’t help grinning. “Didn’t you go to my cabin to take me?”

  “That’s different. You are mine to take”—his eyes blazed—“wife.”

  He embraced her, brushed his lips over her neck. When he raised his head, he said, “I am sorry you lost your brother. I do not know what I would do without mine. Or my sister, Singing Dove.”

  “Don’t worry about me. I told you I don’t remember David. But my parents do, and they feel the loss greatly. That’s why they’re so protective of me. I’m all they have left, and now you’re going to take me away from them.”

  “You do not wish to go with me?”

  “Oh, yes, of course I wish to go with you. It’s my heart’s desire, Raven. But I’m beginning to understand my mother and my father a lot better. And there’s more I don’t know. Stuff my mother wouldn’t tell me. She said…she said it’s my father’s story to tell. But she also said Indians were kind to them once.” She let out a sigh. “My kind father, the preacher… Well, it turns out I really don’t know him at all.”

  “You can never really know another person, Ella,” Bear said from behind her. “Only the Great Spirit truly knows what’s in a person’s heart and a person’s soul.”

  “Or a mate, brother.” Raven smiled at Ella, his beautiful full lips lowering to hers. When he was just a hair’s breadth away, he whispered, “You, my mate, my wife, my love, see everything within me. And I see everything within you.” He crushed his mouth to hers and kissed her.

  Her skin tingled as she parted her lips eagerly, drinking in his spicy taste, his essence. Her bodice still open, she pressed her body to his, her nipples tightening against his sculpted chest. Raven, her mind whirled. Raven, how I love you.

  From somewhere, a throat cleared.

  “Brother,” came Bear’s voice.

  Raven’s lips tensed slightly but he di
d not stop the kiss.

  “Brother,” Bear said again.

  Raven’s mouth slid away and he pressed moist kisses to Ella’s cheek. She shuddered.

  “We must go. Her father has no doubt missed her by now, and he will track us.”

  “You have not left him anything to track, have you?”

  “No. But he is an excellent tracker, clearly. We must be on guard. It would be prudent to make haste back to camp.”

  “Agreed,” Raven said. He moved away from Ella, but leaned down and nipped her earlobe. “When we reach camp,” he whispered, “I have plans for you, my wife.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Ella’s nerves scuttled as she rode into the Lakota encampment that was Raven’s home. Her bottom sore, she clenched her fingers tightly in the fabric of her ripped bodice, covered herself as best she could, and leaned backward into Raven’s solid torso, hoping his closeness would ease her discomfort. Conical tent structures spotted the vast area. Horses grazed, and little brown children ran about, not seeming to notice Ella. Men and women, though, told a different story. Black eyes pierced her from every angle. She tensed and grabbed Raven’s strong forearm.

  “Do not be afraid, tehila,” Raven said into her ear.

  “But they’re all staring.”

  He chuckled and pressed his lips to her neck. “That is because you are so beautiful.”

  “It’s because I’m so pale,” she hissed.

  “Bear is as pale as you are.” He motioned to his brother who rode beside them.

  “No. He is tanned. From the sun. I am not. My mother always insists on my sunbonnet.” She was babbling. She knew it. It didn’t ease her nervousness. “Where are we going?”

  “To my tipi.”

  “You really live in tipis? I didn’t believe it, but now I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”

  “Some tribes call them lodges. But yes, we do live in tipis.”

  “Are they…comfortable?”

  “I do not know that word, tehila. But the tipis serve us well. Now, in the heat of the summer, we cover them with a thin buffalo hide that helps them stay cool inside. In the winter, we drape heavier cloths around the inside to stay warm.”