Gold Raven (77 page)

He knew that it would still have to be brought before the tribe's elders,
but as far as Red Crow was concerned, Greeneye was now the
primary chief of their people. Red Crow was stepping down, for
good.

He left there and went straight to his mother's, knowing that
there
is where he would find his wife safe and sound. Angry with him still
perhaps, but he would make all up to her now. He decided that they
would all leave the village and head off in search of her father. He
knew that Greeneye was the better man for seeing to their people.
He decided
his
first priority was to his wife. He knew that his mother
would leave with them as well, because she stayed among his people only because of him. Now that he was stepping down as chief, no one
would be happier than she would be to move on. Greeneye could
then move his family into her dwelling.

Now the problem that stood before him was, where was Hope?

"But that is where she told me she was going." Butterfly
explained.

"When? When did she tell you this!?" He asked urgently, as Josey
came to the door of her daughter's room, to see Red Crow sitting at
the side of her bed. She was back against the headboard ringing her
hands nervously, about to
cry.
Tying her robe she asked. "Now what
is going on?"

"Where's Hope?" He looked at his mother from his sister's bed, holding her hand in a gesture of apology for upsetting her.

"What do you mean, where's Hope? In my bed isn't she?"

"She's not there. I came looking for her to talk to her and to you. I've made up my mind of what I will do, but, she's not there."

Butterfly looked over at her mother then explaining, "Late in the night, I woke and decided to go check on her. The bed was empty. So
I searched for her, afraid she may be sick because of the baby, and I
fou-..."

"What? Wait! What did you say?" Red Crow stopped her, stunned
as his heart started pumping crazily in his chest. Butterfly's eyes got
huge as she slapped her hand over her mouth. Josey sighed. "She
said... the baby - son. Hope is going to have a baby; she's carrying
your first child."

Red Crow turned sideways in the bed, dropping his head into his
hands, groaning from the stress and discovery of it all. A lump
formed in his throat,
‘I
should have known. Why didn't I realize it myself?
Her breasts are now fuller, and her menses. I don't remember her having it the
entire time of our marriage. God, she's going to have my baby, and she hates me
and I don't know where she is.'

He sat up, looking from his mother to his sister. Reaching over,
he gave her another squeeze. "If I upset you, I am sorry. You're still my favorite person in the entire world, don't forget that, okay?"

She nodded teary eyed as her brother leaned over and hugged her
tightly. "Now tell me everything." She went on to do so. At the
conclusion, Red Crow stood taking a deep breath as he turned to his mother.

"When I find my wife, I'm taking her to Webster Fields. If her father is not there, then I'm willing to travel as far as New York to
find him for her. I guess what I'm saying is, start packing ... it's
time for us to move on."

Josey walked up to her son and pulled him into her arms. "Thank
you. I too feel that it is time. Now go find her, we will start getting
things ready. I will invite the women in the village to come and take
what they wish-..."

"No, just pack what are your personal things and Butterfly's to
take. The pictures on the wall; leave the rest for Greeneye and his
wife, Silkie Whisper. He is now chief; they will dwell here once
we leave."

"Okay."

Once he left his mothers home, Red Crow's gut wrenched until
he was almost sick. At first he went back to his dwelling. No Hope; t
hen to the stream, and to Cobenche's; no Hope. He then went to
Greeneye, relating all to him, followed by a village search for her. No
Hope. As the morning progressed, Red Crow was on the verge of
hysteria, because he knew without a doubt, that she had left the
confines of the hidden valley; confirming that fact was the discovery
of Wenobeg at the caves entrance, contentedly munching grass.
Inside, all tracks led to the exit and marks of her scuttling out of the
hole.

Greeneye, Red Crow and three other braves left the hidden valley
in search of her, spreading the word for the other braves to be
prepared. If Red Crow sent Gray Wolf back, it meant that they were
to catch up and join them.

Their tracking led Red Crow to what he most dreaded. He stood with the blanket his wife used as a shawl gripped tightly in his fist.

Gray Wolf rode like the wind to gather the other braves. Greeneye
mounted his horse looking down at his friend as he slowly swiveled
about to look at him. As their eyes met, Greeneye knew that
now... the red devil they named him, was manifest in him.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The building of Fort Springs had taken place at the edge of a large
wooded area, which conveniently supplied them with the necessary
wood to construct the fort to the size they desired. Hope sat within the
major's office there, trembling with her hands tied behind her back as three men interrogated her concerning her connections to Red Crow
and where he might be. Major Hanson sat holding the chain and
medallion in his hand, looking at it, and then back to the woman
before them. Corp. Bankes was to the right of her. Sgt. Dobbs to the
left and kept staring at her with narrowed eyes, as his mind raced. He
was willing to swear on a stack of bibles that he had seen her
somewhere before, he just could not decide where that was.

"Why do you wish to make this difficult on yourself? We intend
to find this Red Crow. It is only a matter of time. I ask you once
again, what is your relationship to him, and where is he," Hanson bit out, his patience at its end.

Hope swallowed.
"I - I am no longer with Red Crow, that - that is why I was
alone, where your men found me. I don't know where he is. He -
he no longer wanted me. I - I was trying to find my way back to my
home." Hope tried to be calm and give a sensible answer to them
without giving her husband's location away.

"I see, and where is this home, you were trying to make it back to." Hanson pressed.

"Webster Fields,
my home is
-...
"

"That’s it!! I knew I'd seen you somewhere
before! Not you, but her! I'll be damned major. Not only have we
ourselves an Indian squaw of Red Crow, but we got ourselves a
goddamn mulatto slave! A Negro slave holding up justice! This here is none other than a bastard get of my old boss and his
bed wench. I'd lay my life on it. She ain't no white woman at all. Her mama is a Negro slave by the name of Ceś alena, they all called her Lena." Sgt. Dobbs proclaimed with pure evil lighting his eyes as he
stared down at Hope, seeing Lena in his minds eye.

"And you know
what?" He ground out to Hope. "I - hated - your – mama, uppity nigger whore!
Thought she was somethin' special, she ought'ah died that day you was born, that slave trader beat'ah bad enough."

Hope stared up at Dobbs first with fear, then resentment. He
knew her. He knew her father and her mother. Her emotions were in
turmoil; her fear was battering her from within. In all of her life,
never had she been referred to as a slave. Nor had she faced the life of a slave, or come up against the kind of hatred and prejudice that
she sat in the midst of at that moment.

"That true, your mama a Negro slave?!" Major Hanson questioned
sharply, shock and disgust written in every line of his face. Hope
stared up at him, wondering at the new look in his eyes. "I ask you, is
it true? Your mama a Negro slave?!" He demanded again.

Hope straightened her spine and thrust out her chin in open
defiance and pride, angry that he obviously thought that an indignity.

"My mother
is
Ceś alena Huebana. Who at one time had been a
slave at Webster Fields, she is now free. My father
is
Maynard
Ramsey Webster, owner of Webster Fields. I am a product of them. I am Golden Hope Webster - O'Brien. Wife of - Chief - Red - Crow-
..." Tears were rolling because she knew that she might die now but
she did not care in the face of their disdain — at that moment, she
hated them, and wanted them to know it. "..
.-he -
is a proud chief of
his people! And we will all - go to hell in this place - before I will tell
you where he can be found!"

Hanson got to his feet and sneered down at her in obvious
disgust. "You - lower than pig slop nigger. Because of that Indian
heathen, I
have
been to hell! And because of him, now you will too!"

He turned to Dobbs and said. "You know what to do with her." He walked to the door. A sardonic smile crossed Dobbs’ features as he nodded in understanding. Hanson stopped on the threshold, gave her
one last look, then turned and left his office.

Dobbs walked over to
the desk, took up Hanson's pose and position sitting there, as he
shook his head looking down at her, addressing Bankes, he said.

"You know what? Her mama was just like that. She didn't know
her place in life e'tha. An' ain' nothin’ that riles me more, than a
nigger that don’ know they place. Her daddy and the other bastard was
here not too long back."

Hope's eyes got wide as she looked at him following that piece of
information.

"Yep, he sure was. Why, if he only knew we'd be draggin' you in,
he might'ah stayed a bit longer. No matter though. I got'cha now. I
wanted so bad, to teach your mama - my my my was she up-pi-ty
for sure, when all along she wasn’t nothing’ but the master's
whore."

"He loved my mother!" Hope argued.

Both men laughed. "She was a nigger! How you spose'ta love a common
nigger? The treatment of a nigger is this, you own'em! Beat'em!
Work'em! Fuck'em! Feed'em! It is - a simple formula. Your daddy was
a fool! Your mama was trash! But she ain't teach you nothin’! Lease
she had sense to whore for the right man. You - ain't got the sense of
ten of her. Ain't nothin' lower than a whore - to a nasty, heathen,
savage red skin. That 'bout makes you the bottom of the barrel."

"While I'm down here, at the bottom, I find your face most
uncomfortable as I sit - please shift it from the split of my ass!"

Hope braced herself because she saw it coming, the look in
his eyes, a few seconds before his fist slammed into her face. The punch so hard it rocked her chair, snapped her head back and split
open her skin over her cheekbone. She saw lights before her eyes as everything around her swam while she sat semi-conscious.

She hadn't expected such a hard blow as her hearing was
interrupted by a strange ringing. Vaguely, she felt her hair being
grasped in a tight grip as her head was yanked back. Spit sprayed her
face as he blared and raged right up close, assaulting her with his sour
breath.

"How dare you speak to me that way nigger!! When I’m done with you, you’ll beg my forgiveness
! Right before I run my blade through your black
soul!"

Dazed, Hope felt herself being dragged from the office. She
barely blinked at the sun that shone on her aching swollen face.
Sickness was boiling within her once again, adding to the dizziness. She wanted to fold up and grab her stomach, but could not. Someone
was stretching her arms wide and over her head.