Gold Raven (70 page)

She was softly sniffing
and crying, his arms loosened a bit, they throbbed from carrying her and then having to hold her. He was sapped of energy... he rolled to
his back, freeing her thinking,
'Right now, she could freely beat the hell out of me, I don't
care.'

Of course she did not as they both lay quiet, completely
exhausted.

"I'm sorry I hit you." He finally said, opening his eyes to look
over at her. "There is no excuse for me allowing myself to be led to
that type of behavior. I love you, with all of my heart, god knows I
do."

Her lip trembled as regret took root in her as well.

"Why can you not stay out of trouble? Every time I turn my back,
you're into something." He questioned, perplexed, not really expecting an answer, but she tried to give him one.

"Things seem to just happen. I don't know why. I don't mean
it..." She stopped shrugging.

He stroked her sweat soaked forehead, "Whatever am I to do
with you, hm?" He leaned up on his elbow as she lay on her back
looking up at him. Shaking his head, he confessed. "It is not normal for a man to love a woman as I do you. You will be the end of me.
Knowing this, I accept. I prayed for you, you see. Every new summer, I reminded the gods about you. I will do anything
to keep you at my side, anything. I may need to step down as chief."

"Nooo, I'm sorry. I will behave. You don't have to do that."

"It's something I need to consider. I don't think I can be leader to
my people while being husband to you. If I must give up one or the
other, it will have to be the other. You, I need as I do the air I
breathe."

Hope bit into her bottom lip. In all the time that had passed, she now
knew that she loved her husband. She felt it when he
touched her, when they made love. When he was out of her sight, her eyes searched
for him. When his eyes fell upon her, her heart would
accelerate making her feel giddy in his presence. He said he loved her,
never hesitating to.

For some reason, she felt strange saying those
words to him. She felt it, but could not say it. Even with the
knowledge that he longed to hear them. Closing her eyes, because she
felt ashamed for so many reasons, she reached up and pulled him
down to her. Hugging him tightly so he could feel that she loved him,
that she was sorry for all the problems she was causing him. He was
the first to pull away.

"I must go and do something about the fight going on out there. I
would much rather stay in here with you but, I dare not." He smiled
sadly.

"I'm so sorry. I had no idea things would get so out of hand."

"I know. I better go,
I will return as soon as I can." He said,
standing. He stopped at the flap to look back at her. How could such an adorable creature get into so much he wondered? So innocent and fragile one minute and such a holy terror the next; shaking his head,
he left his dwelling. As the chief, he must go and face his people.

After that battle of the sexes, many changes took place within the
village. Especially for Gabriel Horne, who had been evicted from his dwelling and divorced by all three of his wives. As for Cobenche, he
loved his village, and he loved his chiefs wife... she brought him
great laughter and many tales to tell.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The last blast of the seventeen gun
salute sounded off, filling the
air of the fort as the bugler blew, playing a mournful hymn to the
fallen victims of the Indian attack at Fort LeCroix. Ceremonies very
similar had been going on for the last week as the survivors and the dead were brought in from the destroyed encampment. Families near
and far came to claim their dead, or see to their wounded and
homeless. Some were being buried right there at Fort Springs, as
others were taken away to be buried within family plots.

One in particular was being buried. Pvt William Hanson Jr., son
of commanding officer, Sergeant Major William Hanson Sen. It was
his son's twenty-one gun salute that was now drawing to a close, as
staff sergeant Kevin Dobbs stood to his left; to his right, his only
remaining family, two daughters.

His insides quivered, being wrung to weakness from the horrible
nausea of his grief. William had been his only son, and to please him,
he had chosen to join the Union Army, trying to follow his father's
example at the age of eighteen. Now, he lay within his coffin ready to
be laid to rest. William Senior stood feeling as though everything
within him had been ripped out. Because of his son's devotion to
him, William Jr. had wanted no one to say that his father treated him
with special favor; which was the reason he had signed up to do his military
service at Fort LeCroix.

A tear rolled down the cheek of the major's face as he thought of
his wife, who had given her life to bless him with a son. Loving him
with heart and soul, she had ignored the doctor's advice and
conceived once again praying that this child would be a son for him.

Smiling and pleased to hear that it was a boy, she closed her eyes
never to open them again.

'Gone... all because of that damn renegade Indian!'
He thought angrily.
Almost every fort in the South was on alert for him, to be on guard to his
deadly attacks. Although known as Red Crow...many fit him best
with the title Red Devil. He was fierce and cruel in his vendettas
against any white fort or military establishment. It was known that his primary targets were the Militia and without mercy. Few survived. The tales woven about his savageness had grown to exaggerated
proportions.

It was reported that he even attacked settlements, killing innocent women and
children — yet this was not proven, the only sure evidence of his
attacks had always been aimed toward official governed
encampments. Those especially similar to the one his father had
fought alongside in vain. Legend had it, one moment silence and
peace and then next he would appear like a ghost in their midst to
destroy and mutilate. Leaving, deliberately or not, just enough to tell of
his terrifying rampage.

Major Hanson walked to his office, entering slowly as his
sobbing daughters made their way, escorted, back to their living
quarters. Dragging himself behind his desk, lost in a daze, he sat back hard
in his chair, filled with hopeless despair. His face buried in the crook
of his arm as he fought to control his inner urge to go mad.
'My son is
dead! Dead!'

There was a knock at his door, but he was so bound up in grief that he gave no heed to the intruder. It mattered not who was there, his
entire being for that time was taken up with the painful squeezing of
his heart. His mind playing a horrific nightmare of what his son might
have gone through before being killed in the attack.

Sgt. Dobbs entered the office uninvited out of concern for his
commanding officer, although hidden in his concern was an ulterior
motive. He quietly closed the door behind him and walked softly to
the major's desk where he continued to lay with his face hidden in his
arms.

"Hm, major...sir. Echm, the last of the victims been laid to rest sir. I
just come, see if your orders for sending out troops on patrol to
scout out Indians ... that umm, that Red Crow, if that
commission still stands?"

A few moments passed after Dobbs inquiry. He stood holding his
breath not sure what to do, wondering if he should ask again or just
wait. He started to turn, thinking he should leave, when Hanson's
head rose with bleary eyes. He was seeing though Dobbs and absently
stated.

"He was just eighteen... just eighteen. His entire life before him.
He... he went there, to show me... he was a man.

He did it to make
me proud of him, to be a good soldier. Why? Why'd he have to kill
my boy? That fort is so far from here. So far from the usual area he's
been known to attack. I thought, if nowhere else, my boy... would be safe there... surely he would, but... he's dead. Why there? Why'd he
go and kill my Will? Why?" He asked as tears ran down his checks.

Dobbs withheld comment as he stood waiting. Hanson focused
on him and suddenly in that moment he sat up and back. Straightened his shoulders and centered himself in his chair.

"I want as many troops as we can spare out on a regular basis.
Send a group out, when they come in, another goes out in their place!
I want them circulating the area non-stop. I want the entire territory mapped
out, and every square mile covered. I want every red skin spotted
brought in. Someone knows where this Red Devil's village is tucked
away, and if we have to fry the hides from every red skin we round up
to find him, so be it." He quieted, momentarily thinking.

"No." He said suddenly.

"No, sir?" Dobbs was confused.

"No. I don't want him. I want something of his. I don't want him
dead. I want him alive, so he can feel what I'm feeling right now. The
dead they, don't suffer, do they? I want him alive, and I want him free.
There is something out there sergeant. Some thing, or some one.
That's what I want, that something or someone whose loss will
destroy him."

He looked up at Dobbs.

"Find that something. That someone... and when you do... bring
it here to me. Bring it to me."

Dobbs smiled, knowing this was his best opportunity to gain the
necessary closeness he needed to move up in the ranks again. To gain
more control, Dobbs liked being in control, to be looked up to. He
had to stroke the major just right, and that stroke, would be that
someone he had just requested.

"Major, consider it as good as done. I won't let you down sir.
That Red Devil's day has finally come when he will answer for all of
his errors. I will see to it."

October 1828

Hope sat back on her heels by the pond clearing the water from
her eyes after splashing her face and rinsing out her mouth. She
placed her hands down by her folded legs, closing her eyes to gain control of the swimming dizziness in her head.

'God... I feel awful.
'
She thought. In the last few months, she felt
herself grow more tired and weak as the weeks rolled by. Short of breath sometimes, queasy in the mornings until it had grown into full
fledged nausea that sent her to her knees as she was there at the
stream. Just a few weeks before, if she did not move too fast in the
mornings, and lingered in bed a while, it had passed. However lately,
nothing worked. She took a walk in hopes that it would help but only
ended up spewing at the base of a tree, followed by crawling to the
stream, too weak to stand.

"My god, what is wrong with me?" She whimpered. She was so glad
that Red Crow was up before sunrise and out of their dwelling so he
did not have to see her this way. The sudden ailment frightened her enough; she did not wish to worry him as well. He and his men were
seeking to complete the home they were building before the fall set in
and the weather made its drastic change to cold. For the time being,
the weather was perfect for what they sought to accomplish and it
kept him so occupied that he had not noticed her weight loss, or
sluggish behavior. She figured he was so relieved that she was staying
out of trouble that he dare not mess with a good thing.

With a deep breath, Hope pushed herself up to stand; the ground beneath her swayed as she pressed her hand to her midriff. Once all
righted itself, she started on her way again to her mother-in-laws. It
was time to tell someone how she felt and how frightened she was. Josey
was the first person that came to mind.

Josey was at first frightened also and
asked Hope for the symptoms; after Hope described her symptoms she burst
into joyful laughter.

"Oh my darling, sweet precious Hope, don't you know what's happening? You're going to have a baby. You're with child, oh I'm so
happy... that's why you're so ill."

In stunned silence, Hope stared. Setting her fears aside, she
confided that she thought she must have come down with some
mysterious ailment that might possibly send her to her death.
"Are you sure? I mean, really sure? How could having a baby make you feel so awful? I think I'm dying of something.”

“
Oh Red Dawn, what will I do? I think you're wrong." She broke down in
tears as Josey tried to keep from laughing further as she patted her
hand and pulled her into her arms.

"Wipe those tears away sweetie, come on... tell me, when was
your last menses?"

Hope leaned away from her, wiping her eyes thinking.

"Umm, that first week here with you, remember?"

"So you haven't since then?" Josey asked.