Forever Ecstasy (17 page)

Morning Star was tired, but elated. She was eager for Joe to return, and hated for him to leave even for a short period. Soon, they would share so many adventures and confront so many challenges on the trail. She glanced at the shaft of light coming through the ventilation opening at the tepee point. The full moon could not pierce the heavy hides, so the enclosed area was nearly dark. If only they were alone in this cozy… Morning Star warned herself again to cease such hopeless yearnings and dreams. She forced her eyes shut and told herself to go to sleep.

Neither was Singing Wind asleep. She hoped that Sun Cloud hadn’t noticed the strong pull between their daughter and the grandson of her husband’s uncle. She knew that her love, her chief, had enough to worry over without including their youngest child. When Sun Cloud gathered her closer to his body, Singing Wind relaxed and eased into slumber.

Sun Cloud wished he could do the same. He perceived the restlessness in everyone in his tepee. He sensed the attraction between his daughter and new-found cousin. He trusted Morning Star, but love was powerful, often irresistible, as it had been be
tween himself and his wife long ago. He remembered the risks and chances they had taken to be together. He didn’t want his child to be hurt by craving a food she must never taste. If only he could keep them apart, their temptation would be easier to control. Maybe she would not win the contest to become Tanner’s helper. He would do all he could to make certain she lost. If she won, it would mean it was the will of the Great Spirit. He had made many sacrifices in the past for his people. Surely Wakantanka would not make his daughter another one…

As Joe saddled Star, Sun Cloud gave him directions to the fort. The chief tied a beaded band around his forearm with markings that revealed Joe as a friend of the Red Hearts. “If other Dakotas approach, point to the
isto wikan
and say,
Mahpiya Wi, mitakola, mita tahansi.
It means, Sun Cloud, my friend, my cousin. They will let you go in peace. If Crow or Whites approach, remove from your arm and hide.”

“Pilamaya.”
He thanked the chief, then secured his bedroll and rain slicker behind the cantle, and positioned his saddlebags. He suspended a canteen and supply sack over the horn and slid his Sharp’s rifle into an oblong leather holster. He was wearing a Colt pistol at his waist, and a knife sheath above his ankle. Tanner had trained him to be a near expert with guns and knives. Joe turned to Sun Cloud. “I’ll tell the Army your people aren’t responsible for those raids on boats, wagons, homes, and soldiers,” he said.

“We raided Crow camps to look for Red Heart arrows to learn if they seek to make us look guilty,” Sun Cloud said. “We found none. Many times we find tracks of shod horses, white man’s shoes, but we do not know who rides them. They travel too far to follow. We will wait to learn if you can stop the war breeding this season. If you cannot, leave our land and do not get trapped between us.”

Joe asked a troubling question. “One thing I don’t understand, Sun Cloud; why did you allow a small party to journey to Bear Mountain when there are Crow and bad whites in the area?”

“No Crow or other enemy band will attack a sacred party at a holy place. We did not think the evil whites would be in that area
this soon. We believed they would wait for us to move our camps to the plains to hunt buffalo before they cause trouble. Whites do not honor sacred lands and times. Others went because they felt the Great Spirit’s call; it is our way.”

Singing Wind joined them and handed supplies to Joe:
papa,
dried strips of meat-similar to the white man’s jerky,
aguyapi,
pones of bread of which half were plain and half were speckled with dried nuts and fruit, and
wakapanpi,
prepared meat and berries— what the white man called pemmican. Still unadjusted to speaking English at this time, she told Joe,
“Ake ecana wancinyankin kte. Wakantanka nici un.”

Morning Star smiled and said, “Mother says, Good-bye, I see you again soon. May Great Spirit go with you and guide you.”

Joe smiled and responded, “I’ll return as soon as possible. Good-bye, Sun Cloud, Morning Star, Singing Wind. Thanks for everything. I’ll do my best to win peace for your people.”

Joe mounted his roan, glanced at the three upturned faces, smiled again, and left the camp. As he rode away, he recalled what the chief had told him was the council’s orders: the vote was to spare his life, to let him seek an honorable treaty, to allow him to defeat Snake-Man, and to distract their foes during the buffalo hunt. If Joe failed, there would be another council meeting and vote for war. This morning he had noticed Knife-Slayer, Hawk Eyes, and Night Stalker watching his every move and listening to his every word. He prayed that Sun Cloud could control them while he was gone. He kneed Star into a gallop.

Morning Star stood with her father for a time, but she was careful not to stare after Joe as he departed or to expose her warring emotions. It was the first time they had been alone since her return with the white man.

Sun Cloud said in his language, “I am happy you returned home safely, Daughter. It was rash to stray so far from the others.”

Morning Star accepted the gentle reprimand with love and respect. “I was distracted while gathering herbs for Payaba, Father. When I saw the two white men, I had to follow them and spy to decide if a warning to our people was needed. They could have been scouts for an attack. My father did not raise a coward,
and my mother did not birth a reckless fool. I knew the risks, but chose to take them. A chief’s people and his duty come first to him; I am a chiefs daughter, so I feel the same. Would you have me do less than I am able because I am a female? I believe my capture was the Great Spirit’s plan to allow a meeting with… Tanner.”

“I believe it is so,” he concurred. “You were wise and brave to trust him and to bring him to us, Daughter. Pride lives in my heart for your deed. You have much of your mother’s wits, skills, and daring. At your age, she was this same way. But her emotions often ran too deep, like a stream hidden beneath the face of Mother Earth. When heavy rains come, the stream can burst forth from its secret place and do much damage. Too often her love of adventure made her impulsive and willful. The first time I realized how strong my feelings were for Singing Wind, she was trailing white men to spy on them. Many times she rode alone and ignored dangers.”

Morning Star laughed and replied, “Those things made her a strong and brave woman, Father, a special one who captured your eye and heart. Only such a woman can be the best wife for a chief.”

Sun Cloud grinned and agreed. Then he warned, “If you are to ride with Sky Warrior, Morning Star, always remember you are Oglala, daughter of the chief. Do not let his white ways enter your head and heart.”

“I will remember your words and obey them, Father,” she responded, then prayed she could keep that promise.

After they parted and she headed to begin her daily chores, Night Stalker approached her. “It is a good day, Brother,” she greeted him.

“A good day,” he scoffed, “when a white man rides from our camp to expose our strength to the soldiers so they can return and attack?”

Morning Star was dismayed by his distrust and bitterness, by his dangerous need to battle the whites at any cost. “He goes to help us, Brother,” she argued, “not to betray us. He and his task were revealed to us in a sacred vision. How can you not believe, accept, and obey that?”

“I am not convinced the vision is real. If it is true, how do we
know he is Sky Warrior? Even so, he is but one wolf attacking a herd of strong buffalo. He cannot slay or halt its stampede. He will cease to try and will join them. We have vowed to battle the whites to victory or our deaths. There is no white man’s peace without defeat and dishonor. Every treaty has been broken or used against Indians. The whites invade our lands and seek to steal them. They challenge us, spit upon us, curse us. They desire all we have and will slay us to get it. If this is not so, why do more soldiers come and why do they build more forts? They do so to prepare to attack and take. The white man cannot be trusted. He is evil and greedy. He must be pushed back to his lands or destroyed. We wait for Tanner to seek truce while our foes get stronger. It is foolish and deadly.”

“No, Brother. If we challenge the whites, we will die. If we do not seek truce with the Bird People, the wars with them will continue forever and will endanger all children to follow us. I will help Tanner seek peace.”

Night Stalker’s long black mane moved about as he shook his head. “It is not our way for a woman to be a warrior!”

“Our way will die if our foes are not defeated. Tanner is the one to lead us to victory. And I am best trained to become his helper.”

“Prove it, Sister,” he challenged. “What will you say when you lose the contest Father plans? Will you shame your family with a pride too big? The warrior who boasts loudest is usually the weakest. When the time comes for him to prove his words, his skills fail and dishonor him.”

“What will Night Stalker say when his sister wins the contest, and when, at Tanner’s side,” she retorted, “she obtains peace for our people? You will be chief one day, Brother. The time must come when you think and seek more for survival of our people than for personal coups and honors.”

As she stalked away, he murmured to himself, “The granddaughter of Chief Gray Eagle, the child of Chief Sun Cloud, and the sister of future Chief Night Stalker must not shame us or help the whites destroy us. I will make certain you do not, my sister.”

Morning Star and Buckskin Girl knelt at the lake’s edge and
talked as they washed clothing. The chief’s daughter told her best friend of her capture, treatment by the white men, and her time with Joe. Yet she withheld the secret of Joe’s true identity and her mixed feelings about him.

The lovely and gentle Buckskin Girl remarked, “I was so worried when you vanished. When scouts found clues to your capture, fear shot into my heart as a flaming arrow. Night Stalker wished to track them and rescue you. If the others had not reasoned with him and changed his mind, he would have done so.”

“My brother is blind to the wrongs in his heart, Buckskin Girl. I pray the Great Spirit will clear his eyes and uncloud his mind. When Tanner wins peace for us, Night Stalker will be forced to accept the truth. It will be so exciting. She-Who-Rode-With-The-Sky-Warrior is my destiny.”

“What if it is not?” the daughter of Flaming Star asked as she kept her gaze on her chore. “What if it is another’s destiny? What if he is not Sky Warrior?” Buckskin Girl hinted at but did not reveal her suspicions or her hopes. The hopeful woman did not want Tanner harmed, but she prayed the real Sky Warrior would arrive soon. No, she corrected, would
return
soon. It was obvious that everyone— except her— had forgotten about his existence. He had been gone for sixteen years from this territory, driven away by shame and anguish, after the war chief’s bonnet was stripped from his head by evil. He had gone to the white world to seek himself. Everyone seemed to have forgotten about
Notaxe tse-amo-estse,
the Cheyenne name for Sky Warrior. His father was Cheyenne and his mother was white, but his grandmother was Oglala. Perhaps Stede Gaston was the first man in Payaba’s vision, but
Notaxe tse-amo-estse
was the second! His looks and Life Circle matched the vision words perfectly! Soon, the Great Spirit would call him home to her side and to his great destiny!

She missed the blue-eyed, sunny-haired warrior, and she loved him with all her heart. The day Sky Warrior had said,
“Na-ese,”
she had understood the Cheyenne words: “I’m leaving.” It had broken her heart, but she had believed he would return one day, especially after she learned of the sacred vision years ago. She had refused to join with another and had lived for the sun when he came back to take his place of honor as fore
told in the sacred vision. She knew that Morning Star did not think of Sky Warrior because her friend had been only three winters old when he left. But Tanner’s coming was strange. If the vision
was
about Tanner and Morning Star, Buckskin Girl worried, her dreams were over.

Morning Star shook her friend’s arm with a wet hand. “You do not hear my voice and words, Buckskin Girl. Where has your mind traveled? Why do you say such things? How can you doubt Payaba’s vision?”

Buckskin Girl’s dark gaze met her friend’s worried one. “I do not doubt it, Morning Star. But you must not dream rashly. I do not wish you to be unhappy if you lose the contest and if Tanner is not the vision helper.”

“How can such be true, my friend? I do not understand.”

The older maiden chose her words carefully. “It is possible the first man is Stede Gaston, but the second is not his son. Tanner is not the only man with sky eyes and sun hair and white blood. You hunger for him to be the man and you to be the woman, but that will not make it so.”

Morning Star looked toward camp as the ceremonial drum, the
can cega,
alerted men to a coming announcement. A verbal message rang out in the air:
“Omniciye ekta u
wo”— Come to the meeting. She knew the contest would be discussed and she was anxious to enter and win it. “You sound as doubtful of Tanner and the vision as my brother and Knife-Slayer. I wish this was not so, my friend.”

Buckskin Girl knew how Morning Star would feel tomorrow when she became her challenger, but it was something she must do. She knew that the daughter of Sun Cloud was skilled in many areas, but so was she. She must win the contest, so she would be at her love’s side when he replaced Tanner Gaston! But, until everyone was shown the truth of this mistake, it was best to withhold her secrets. If the Great Spirit had a purpose for this episode, she must not intrude. “I am sorry, my friend, but I cannot help what Grandfather places in my heart.”

“That is true,” Morning Star conceded with reluctance and understanding. She glanced at her friend from lowered eyes. She sensed that something was troubling Buckskin Girl, but a friend did not pry. A good friend stood close and patient until
the right time arrived.