Authors: Mercedes Keyes
Little did he know how soon indeed the renegade would be
coming through those gates. He shouted the order for them to be
opened, noticing no one was on the watch walk. Men on the ground
had to run forward and open them for him. Just as he was trying to understand why there were no men guarding on the walk as there
should have been, the gate swung wide.
Blocking their exit, paralyzing them into terror, they faced a
multitude of war painted Indians numbering well into hundreds. The
fifty soldiers and their leader felt their hearts jolt painfully; the
very air was snatched from their lungs as they came face to face with the infamous Chief Red Crow.
"Close the gate! Close the gate!!" Dobbs screamed
in fright as his horse reared and whinnied with him trying to jerk it
around to retreat from the front line. As if in slow motion, the men
around him watched arrows fly straight and accurate at them through
the air, hitting their targets dead center. A
war cry sounded with the warriors swarming in on them like
locusts. It was too late to close the gate, within seconds, the fort was fully
infiltrated.
Arrows and spears, flew to penetrate one body after another;
hatchets came down to hack into the flesh of any
soldier; clubs swung and landed to crush the skull of any who were so
unfortunate as to be run down by the warriors set on destruction. A yelping screaming
melee was instantly upon the camp.
With the battle raging in frenzy, the first one to fall was Sgt.
Dobbs, dragged by his frightened horse with his foot caught in the
stirrup, as his body bounced and rolled about with eight arrows
protruding from his back, breaking off with each roll. The siege
spread quickly from one area of the fort to the other. Soldiers caught unprepared ran for their lives seeking weapons to defend themselves.
Shots rang out here and there from those who were already
armed; some Indians fell, including He Who Trembles, dying in the
chaos. A few found their horses shot from beneath them, forcing
them to engage in the battle on foot. They rose welding their hatchets
and clubs fiercely.
Chief Red Crow rode hard through the camp resounding with screams,
shouts and cries of death. He had one aim in mind and that was to
find his Gold Raven. It was foolishness on the part of the
commander to build a fort so close to a wooded area where trees and brush had easily concealed them. They were able to surround the camp
without alert. Not caring why such good fortune was at hand for
them; unaware that the guards, who, instead of alerting the camp had
deserted, fearing for their lives after spotting them.
With Greeneye at
his side, Red Crow circled around to the entrance gate in time to find
it opening, as if to invite them within.
He and the braves around him rode their horses upon board
walks of row buildings. Others on foot ran kicking in doors of every
building they came to looking for Hope. Greeneye rode behind him
covering his back as he swung his club striking and crushing any who
dare cross their path. Greeneye felt a stinging in his arm and spun on
his mount in a fluid motion, pulling an arrow from its quiver and
firing it off with a greater speed than any needing to reload their
firearms, his victim caught the arrow in one eye.
"Search that way Greeneye, I will head in this direction, hurry -
we must find her!" Red Crow shouted over the frenzied sounds of warfare. Greeneye took off in the direction Red Crow indicated. He found himself near an isolated large holding structure and rode his
horse around behind it to the back, not far from the camps stables.
Swinging his club, he mowed down one militiaman after another. As the last near him fell, he looked up and then reared back on his horse
making it sidle skittishly as his eyes fell upon the five standing whipping posts. Three were empty, one held up the dead hanging body of a brave, and the one in the center of them held up a sight
that was like a powerful blow to his stomach.
Instantly his eyes welled up with tears as he sat a moment stunned in disbelief, staring at something that would send his long time friend
into untold madness. He swallowed down the lump in his throat and rode up to the whipping post; slowly dismounting, unaware that the
noise and cries were growing less and less.
As he came to stand not far from the tortured, battered figure
that held his shocked gaze, Red Crow came barreling around the
building looking for him and another place to search for his wife,
then he saw his friend standing as if in a trance with his back to him.
Having heard his arrival, Greeneye slowly turned to look up at
Red Crow.
Seeing the tears sliding down Greeneye's cheeks he was gripped
instantly. Greeneye stepped aside unblocking his view.
Red Crow's brows drew in as if confused and perplexed, unsure
and un-accepting of what his eyes saw. His mouth went desert dry as
sweat broke out all over his body at once. His heart was slamming in
his chest, disturbing his breathing as if his lungs would collapse on
him. Sucking in great gulps of air, he couldn't catch his breath.
He was trying to identify the strange looking creature hanging
oddly, drawing up in slow spasms as if trying to stand, to only slump
again; a back grotesquely striped, raw and bleeding.
A low humming began sounding in his head, as he looked away
praying that when he looked back
that
figure would no longer be
there. The humming increased as the figure remained. He
dismounted, walked up to her and stared at her head and back.
"Red Crow...we...we have to...we have to..." Greeneye tried,
but had to stop to swallow,
feeling nausea building. He turned away.
Red Crow’s eyes filled with horror and disbelief searching her over trying to recognize her, walking to the
front to look into her face. His hand shook as he lifted her face by the
chin. The movement caused her head to fall back heavily as she
groaned. Hope tried to move it forward, but couldn't, her head felt as
if it weighed a ton.
Red Crow's hands grabbed the center post as he began hitting his
own forehead against it. His body began rumbling, quaking. He slid to
the ground in the mud and blood of her, of his draining dead child as she convulsed and
drew up from painful spasms before him. Searing pain ripped through
her uterus as she purged more of their child from her body, wringing her
womb so painfully she moaned wanting to die.
"Hel …
ple...please …
no … no more,
no- Re- Red
Crow … p
lease... fin … me … hel…" She had no idea he was there but prayed that he
come. That he find her. She groaned again as the sound of a roar
blasted her ears, an animal cry, a wail so frightening and loud, it went through her.
"Aa-a-a-a-a-a-a-ah!! Aa-a-a-a-a-a-ahhh!!!
Oooh Go-o-o-od!! Nooo – nooo – no-o-o-o-o-o!!!" Red Crow
slid and slipped in the mud and blood as he shook the post going
mad.
Greeneye ran to him, "Red Crow! Red Crow, listen to me!
! We must take her from this place! Red Crow listen to me
!"
The humming and buzzing in Red Crow's head made him shake it
as he crashed it into the post again, blood running from the gash he
had caused in his head.
"Red Crow, she may die! She may die!!!"
"Take – her, G
reeneye
… p
lease - take her!"
"Come then, I will cut her free and we will all go now!" More braves had gathered and had cut down Blackfeather's body.
"Nooo! Nooo!!!"
"Red Crow please!" Greeneye begged, he was afraid as his friend
began swinging and reaching out for things that were not there.
Without a word given, the braves had a cot there ready to cut Hope down and lay her on. Greeneye could not see to her and Red C
row, who had finally forced himself, to his feet, standing with a look that was far from that of a man, more an animal.
"Red Crow
–
Red
Crow!" Greeneye tried to get him to look at him, unable to deal with both he needed to see to Hope first. Greeneye attempted to calm his shaken nerves as the braves helped him lower Hope carefully on her stomach to the cot. They tied her arms and legs to it, and stole one of the wagons from the fort to lay her in. Climbing into
it, Gray Wolf and another brave took off with it heading straight for
the village, with many of the braves following, willing to kill anyone
on the way who dared to be in sight as they fled.
"Red Crow, let us go now." Greeneye pleaded.
With half of his body covered in mud and blood, Red Crow looked down
at one of her braids and picked it up holding it in his hands. He
looked from it, to Greeneye. His eyes filled with tears, as a stream of blood ran down between his brows, over his nose from his own inflicted injury.
"Go!" He commanded his friend, the only word he would give.
Swallowing, Greeneye backed up to his horse. He and more of
the braves left but many stayed behind with Red Crow.
By dusk, there was nothing of the fort left; nothing but a black
ashen spot. Covered in blood, Red Crow and many of his warriors mounted up and left. For the first time ever, there were no survivors. In addition, a first was the bounty of scalps, hands, and hearts.
Several of the women with Cobenche and Josey worked quietly
over Hope, cleaning her up, tending her face and back, as the last of
her spasms eased away. Many gathered around Josey's home offering
everything they had in aid to their Gold Raven. By nightfall, the house
had gone quiet as Josey gathered the bucket of water, rags, and
Hope's ruined dress heading for the kitchen and back door. She
wiped at the bloodstained dress distractedly, as she exited. Pouring
out the red tinged water, it splashed onto her ankles and feet. She
stepped back out of the puddle, using the rags to wipe the water off,
smearing blood on her legs.
Shaking, she dropped the cloth to wipe at the blood on her legs
but it transferred to her hands then her dress.
"Mother?" Butterfly called from the door where she stood
observing.
"I can't get it off - me."
"I'll get you a clean cloth mother." Butterfly ran and quickly
returned, when she got back, she screamed her mother's name and
ran to her, Josie was on the ground sobbing out of control. "Mother, don't cry... please don't cry."
She couldn't stop herself; she rose and grabbed her daughter into
her arms, sobbing as she held on tight. "Why-y-y-y? Why-y-y God
?!! What is wrong with us!?" She begged to know, rocking her
daughter back and forth as she sobbed. "Why did they have to do that
to her... why." Josey held her daughter and knew that it was time for
them to go. She could no longer be of aid to her dead husband's people, the world that was moving in on them, was out to destroy
them, and succeeding. She had to save her own daughter's life, before
she ended up like Hope, or worse, dead. She thought about Lena, and
cried even more.
However, with Hope as she was, leaving right away was out of the
question. The first few days were spent helping her fight fever and infection. Nightmares came with the fevers deep in the night as she heard the crack of a whip and the fire that burned her flesh. Several times, she bolted or jerked a certain way while resting, which reopened the slice over her ribs, or the one beneath her shoulder blade.
If it wasn’t the nightmares and pain plaguing her, the emotional
anguish and subtle cramps that reminded her she was no longer
carrying her child did her in. At times, the aftermath she suffered was
as great as the initial torture, there were moments, when coherent for just a moment, she considered dying, suicide.
Weeks following the incident went by with Cobenche, Silkie
Whisper, Rain-dance and others always on hand to help out. With all those that came in and out, Red Crow was one hardly seen. Silkie
Whisper had been the one who saw to his injuries where he had
slashed himself to suffer as his wife had suffered, he felt, because of
him. The vicious revenge against those whom had beaten her was not
enough to help him deal with his guilt. He seemed to
all to have withdrawn into a shell that he allowed no one into. Feeling
that in all things, he had failed. He had failed his father, his people,
and more so he had failed to protect the one woman who would
always be his world. Who would always be the sole reason for being
what he was capable of being, but now, he felt there was nothing left for him but the consequences of his failure.
His child was dead.
Several times deep in the night and occasionally during the day, he
tried to see Hope, tried to render aid in her healing.
As a
consequence, every time he saw what they did to her, it tore him apart
all over again. Twice he broke down in the room falling to pieces so
much so that Josey had to get Dark Shadow to bring him out of the house. He held onto him to keep him from bringing more harm to
himself. Seeing Hope and hearing the words of his friend would not
leave him.