Gold Raven (69 page)

"Oh no."
Summer groaned as her stomach tightened with fear, her
heart starting to beat wildly in her chest. Seeing her angry husband
charging in her direction brought home the fact that she had wasted
her entire morning. Many of her chores had not been done, as his
other wives reached the same conclusion. They jumped when Gabriel
Horne yelled out.

"What are you women doing here instead of where you belong —
the three of you?! Out of that stream now!" He commanded.

Summer began trembling, she wanted to cry; her body already hurt from the last beating and now she would have to endure another so soon. She was always the one he grabbed first to beat, and the other
two would get a slap or a shove because his energy would be spent on
her first.

Hope stood staring at them, shocked and offended that he would
talk to them that way right out in front of everyone. Her heart pounded with anger to see all of the women's heads bowed in
embarrassment and shame as they each rose from the water. Only a moment earlier, most of them had been agreeing with her. Hope
shook her head at them as she too climbed from the water now that
the others would be leaving. So caught up in them, she failed to take a
good look at her own husbands face. She stopped before him with a
sigh, her eyes on the others as she spoke.

"Oh Red Crow that awful man, the way he speaks-..."

"Get - to our dwelling - now!" He barked harshly, talking
through clenched teeth. Hope's head shot up as her eyes bucked wide
agape at him.

"What is going on? Don't use that tone with me." She corrected
him softly, still stunned by his manner.

"In exchange for allowing you to come to the stream, you were to
return to our dwelling, prepare my midday meal... as you waited for
my arrival."

Suddenly all grew quiet with full attention on their chief, wishing
to see how he would handle his spirited wife. All the women watched
as well, for it seemed to them, she just might have to prove her
bravely spoken declaration.

"Allow me? What is going on here?" She asked feeling her insides
stir.

"Did I not tell you - to return immediately after some time here?
How dare you
defy
my word!"

"How – dare - I? How dare I?" Hope repeated in disbelief,
incredulous that this could be happening to her, and of all places, in front of
everyone. "It was not upon a dare, that I defied you... I simply did
not feel ready to return. My decision was not in defiance, but in my pleasure." She informed him, feeling her inherited irrational impulses
surging, adrenaline flooding her heart making it pump hard in her
chest, changing her breathing.

Red Crow distinctly heard a throat clearing behind him. He could
just see the look on the men's faces as they watched, knowing what
they were thinking. That he had no control of his wife.

"You deliberately disobeyed my command!"

"I am not a child; do not accuse me of disobedience! I did what
felt right to me at the time. If you thought I might do otherwise, my
advise to you, is be prepared for a change, I have a right to change my
mind... so the power is not yours to demand, or command. I am your
wife... Chief Red Crow, not your slave, my father freed me, and I am
no man's possession, least of all... not yours!" Having her say, she turned to walk away when Red Crow grabbed her arm and roughly
spun her back to him.

"You have gone
too
far this time! I will demand and you
will —
obey me! Now to our dwelling - go!" He ground out, trying to
control his anger as he shoved her in that direction making her stumble.
Rage shot through Hope like an explosion.

"You goddamn red skin!!!" She did not care how many
Indians were present to hear. "Don't you ever shove me! If you
wanted a sniveling coward for a wife, you should have married
someone else! No man is going to handle me that way, touch me
again-..."

Hope heard the slap to her face before the fire of the strike. The power
of it rendered her temporarily numb even as it brought tears to her
eyes. Dazed, she shook herself unable to believe that he had actually
struck her. Slowly her hand went to her cheek in amazement.
With her heart pounding, she knew she said too much,
gone too far. As usual, her temper crowded out her thinking. With the
other women watching, her pride burst to life, it was too late to back down now.

In that important second, Red Crow had forgotten about the
woman he had truly married, but she hadn't forgotten his quick reflex
and so gave a mock attempt at slapping him knowing he would catch the first hand, as the second landed with loud accuracy to his cheek.
Holding her wrist tightly in his hand, they stood angrily glaring at
each other. Hope's chest rose and fell with every deep breath she
took, while Red Crow felt his stomach tighten in knots.

'Oh God, why did I confront her here?

Tears came to her eyes from her anger and humiliation, but the war was on. “Hit me again.” She dared him.

He knew how strong her pride was. He knew she did not care if
he could beat her or not, he knew that she would fight no matter
what. If he dared take this any further before the others, he would
end up having to seriously hurt her, otherwise, there would be no end.

No matter what they thought of him, or
how they looked at him, he was not about to hurt her for anyone. He
was already sorry for slapping her, for allowing Gabriel Horne's
words to cloud his thinking.

Summer stood as stunned as the other women; they could not
believe it, she had actually talked back to her husband. That she had actually slapped him back when he had struck her. By the looks of it, he did not seem
too eager to slap her again. Gabriel Horne shook his head, he had
seen enough and decided, so had his wives. He looked down at Summer as she
stood gawking and decided she especially should not witness the
shame of it. "Back to our dwelling, you have seen enough!" He
barked at her followed by a shove.

She bit back crying out as she walked away and suddenly she stopped. When they reached their dwelling, he was going to beat her,
of that, she had no doubt.
‘No,
I cannot go on living this way.'
Scared to death, she turned back to him, his back was to her, figuring she was already on her way as he was about to send the other two off
after her.

"No, no more." She said timidly, but loud enough for him to
hear. She figured, if Hope could stand up and prove her words, then
she would be the first to put them to the test. Gabriel Horne turned
to look at her as if she had lost her mind. She swallowed her fear as if
it were a giant pill and said, "I will not go back. I have grown tired of
your treatment, if it does not change, I – I will divorce you."

Gabriel Horne's eyes widened as he showed his teeth. "Get to our
dwelling while you can still see your way there!" He looked so evil and
mean that she thought she must be crazy. He was no small
man, if she did not turn now, he would probably kill her. But Hope's
words yelled in anger came back to her.
"If you wanted a sniveling coward
for a wife, you should have married someone else!"-
that, she decided is why he beat her
first, that was why he treated her as he did, she was a coward.

Not any
more.

"No. Your intent is to beat me. If I obey, you will beat me - for
once, you will beat me for good reason. If this beating should kill me,
then today... this hell that I live with you, will end. So beat me, but
no more... will I bow my head in shame."

She saw it coming and braced herself for it; the hard slap to her
face took her off of her feet and laid her down. She saw stars because her cheek was already bruised; the pain made her want to back down.
"To our dwelling - now!" He roared.

She started crying, her head was pounding, her jaw was throbbing,
but she would not back down, even if he beat her through the
ground, he would not win.

She went to stand up, and felt the ground
sway beneath her but she would face him again. When she turned and
looked up at him, she could not see him, for the blurring of her
vision.

"No." She bravely said again. Again he drew back his hand to slap
her, and she closed her eyes to be ready for the next blow when, “
Don't slap her again." Leighteo, his first wife commanded.

Gabriel Horne's arm froze as he turned from Summer to stare
at
Leighteo
. "What is this? You wish it? Fine, I'll slap you." And did but she did not fall to
the ground, because she wasn't a small woman, instead she drew back
her fist and punched him straight in the mouth. He could not believe
it as blood spilled over from his split lip. He went to grab her when
Dana leaped onto his back and yanked his head back by the hair. Leighteo reached up and popped him in the mouth again, she knew it
would hurt because he was bleeding there, and she wanted it to hurt. As he tried to Spin to throw Dana off, Summer, from the ground, leaned up and kicked him behind his knee
and he buckled under the weight of his third wife, then, to
everyone’s shock, all three were on him, screeching and beating on him with their fists.

Blue Elk decided to help him out and went to try and pull them
off, but his wife said, "Leave them be, it is none of your affair. He
deserves what he is getting." He ignored her words, heading towards
them, and yelled over his shoulder. "You shut up and go home before
you get what you deserve!" As he grabbed for one of the women, he
felt the sudden weight of his own wife on his back, pulling his hair,
biting and scratching.

Effie's brother never liked his brother-in-law and did not
appreciate his sister being thrown to the ground and so when Blue Elk
went to hit her, he was socked in the jaw by her brother instead. In a blink of
an eye, someone had a reason to hit someone else and the fighting
melee was on.

Red Crow and Hope stood in complete shock to see a mass of
swinging arms and legs, screeches, screams, wailing, smacking, biting,
and grunts galore. Husbands, wives, brothers, sisters and friends;
retaliating, defending and setting matters straight.

Red Crow turned with wide eyes and looked down at his wife.
'How could this happen?'
He thought. Never had he seen or heard of
anything like this happening within a village. Before Hope realized
what was happening, she found herself being lifted to her husband's
shoulder. Immediately she began kicking and screaming for him to
put her down.

Handli
ng her as if she were a deer he had killed in a hunt, he slung
her across his back behind his head to wrap her around his neck.
Grabbing her flailing arms, and clamping her wrists with one hand, he
locked her knees in place with the other, folding her in place he
began his march with her screaming to their dwelling as he yelped
here and there from her bites, but he was determined not to set her down until they were within the privacy of them own home.

Once there, he folded forward and dropped her to the ground,
dragging her within their tepee. Hope struggled to her knees moving
quickly to get to her feet, spinning she ran at him swinging as she
went. He caught her wrist and pulled her into his body, clamping his arms
around her to keep her from swinging, praying all the while that he could calm her down. He had to twist his lower half and wrap a leg
around hers to keep his manhood safe. The struggle ended up
knocking them both to the ground onto their bed mats.

"Enough! Hope!!! Do you hear me! Stop it! Enough
!"

Both were huffing and puffing, sweating profusely as he refused
to turn her loose. "No! Let me go! You ass! I will divorce you! I
want... you – you - you... this is all your fault! Talking to me that
way... embarrassing me! You hit me! I didn't mean to... to disobey
you... I can't believe you... you did that to me!" Hope was crying, her
tears rushing down her cheeks. Fighting him was the last thing
she wanted, everything happened so quickly and he forced her to
defend herself or else be completely humiliated.

Red Crow held on tight, looking down at her tear streaked, red
face. Her hair was wet and matted to her forehead from sweating; he
knew that he looked similar. He could also see the welt on her cheek
from his hard slap. He could almost make out his entire handprint
there.

Tears rushed to his eyes then, never had he felt sorrier than
he did right then.

With her hair a mess, her face and eyes scrunched
from crying while he held on until he knew she was done... right
then, as they were, after all - his love grew. Yes, even with most of his friends and their wives out in the field killing each other, because
of her...he still loved her more now than ever. No matter what she
did, he knew it did not give him license to hit her. He knew her, had
known her fiery temper even when she had been a small child. Yet despite it, he
wanted her, and now - it was up to him to learn how to treat her and
deal with the woman she was. With a sigh he closed his eyes and
leaned his hot sweaty forehead against hers.