Sweet Savage Heart (11 page)

Within the hour, Wild Wind was tossing restlessly and mumbling words that Travis could not grasp. She began to whimper and moan, and her head and body thrashed upon the sleeping mat. Travis eased over to awaken her from her nightmare. From the few words that came out clearly, he assumed she was dreaming about the Kiowas, whom he had recalled to her mind. He gently shook her and called her name.

In the horrifying dream, she saw her flaming-haired image fleeing the night-haired white man as she screamed for rescue. The evil man captured her by long curls of fire and jerked her to her knees. Large blue eyes and a muffled voice pleaded with him to let her go free, to stop hurting her. He sent forth chilling laughter and started pounding her with his fists. She could hear him shouting, “You little bitch! If you try to leave me again, I’ll beat you and your sniveling brat senseless. I got you out of a nasty mess, so you owe me plenty, slut. You don’t want me to tell your pa the truth about his whoring daughter before I put a bullet in his head, do you? I’m warning you, harlot, the next time you go against me in any way, they’re both dead, and you too.”

“Please, let us go home. I can’t do this anymore.”

“We got us a deal—silence for money. If you can’t get it from your loving pa, earn it on your back, just like you earned your trouble. I’m broke, so shuck those clothes and git your pretty ass to work. You ain’t gonna cost me my next stake by refusing to let Fargo poke you good. He’s your best customer. You don’t want me telling nobody the truth about you and that brat, so git in there and—” Suddenly the door crashed aside and White Eagle’s towering body filled the opening. He called her name, but the brown-eyed enemy held her shoulder tightly and warned, “I’ll never let you go; you’re my gold mine.”

Travis was shocked when she called his Indian name and begged for help. He seized her in his arms and shook her roughly as he told her to awaken:
“Kiktayo, Watogla Tate!”
She fought him and confused him with her Oglala words: “He will slay us if we disobey. He torments us and hurts us. Help us, White Eagle. Make the pain and blood go away. Kill him! Kill him…” She began sobbing against his chest.

His arms held her tightly and his voice spoke comforting words. “Do not cry or be afraid, Wild Wind. I will protect you from all evil. Come with me and trust me. No one will hurt you again,” he promised in her tongue as he stroked her hair and placed kisses over her face. At last he had met a rare creature, a woman with real feelings, a woman like him, a woman who needed and wanted the same things he did.

Wild Wind reached out to his touch and comforting voice. She clung to his shirt and nestled her face against his. Her lips instinctively and hungrily sought and found his. As they sank to her mat, her arms encircled his body and she greedily feasted at his mouth. Her senses went spinning when his lips tried to kiss each spot on her face and neck. A curious warmth and trembling attacked her passion-inflamed senses. Suddenly he pulled away from
her, and she felt lost and scared. Her whirling wits cleared as she watched him sit up and try to slow his rapid breathing. He wiped moisture from his face and turned his back to her.

After a minute, Travis said, “I was not fully awake when I tried to free you from your bad dreams, Wild Wind. I must not touch the dau… sister of my friend, Lone Wolf, in this way. Go back to sleep. I will be here to guard you from all evil.”

Before he could return to his mat, she caught his arm to stay him and asked,
“Taku eniciyapi wasicun he? Waniyetu nitona he? Nicinca tonapi he? Tohan kin yagli kta watohanl he?”

Travis half turned and gazed at her, wary of the power of those bewitching eyes and sultry lips. He answered her first three questions in order. “The whites call me Travis Kincade. I’m twenty-seven winters old. I have no children, for I have taken no mate.” Not because Nathan had not tried to get him to marry and have children, but because he had not found any woman worthy of those roles. He replied to her last question with a question, “Do you wish me to return here one day?”

“Slolwaye sni,”
she replied honestly, pulling her gaze from his.

“Why do you not know your thoughts and feelings?” He lifted her flushed face, locking his probing gaze to her wary one. They stared into each other’s eyes for a lengthy time and desire flamed between them. He tenderly caressed her cheek and stroked her mussed hair. “Do not fear me, Wild Wind; I bring you no harm. Why do you quiver?”

“Because there is something about you that troubles me. You are a man of many secrets and dangers, a stranger. I do not know why you came to our camp, but I do not think my people will trust you. There is too much hostility between the Indians and whites.”

“If they do not trust me, the Oglalas might not survive this war with the white man. The whites are many and powerful, Wild Wind. I fear they are one enemy the Lakotas cannot defeat, and that pains me. If my blood were all Lakota, I would ride into battle with my people. But a warrior cannot fight the white man while he fights the half-breed disease. I am accepted in the white lands, for they do not know I am half Indian, but I am scorned in Indian lands, for they can see I am half white and it stirs their blood to hatred and cruelty. I wish it were not so. I wish I could share both lands and peoples, for I have missed my Lakota people since I rode far away. Neither side will allow it. Once long ago I was forced to travel a path from my mother’s lands. I had to learn many new things and make many changes. It was hard, but a man of honor endures his suffering silently and bravely.”

As he continued, his left forefinger absently pushed silky strands of golden-red hair from her face, and his eyes gazed more and more deeply into hers. Her magnetism was a tangible force and caused his voice to become husky. “When Grandfather changes our paths in life, we must not refuse to travel them or many will suffer for our selfishness and blindness. When I return to my wooden tepee in the white man’s territory, I will never return to the land of the Dakotas, but I will pray to Grandfather to save His children and sacred lands from total destruction, and I will do the only thing I can to help them.”

“White Eagle, tell me why you came to our camp,” she urged and found herself wishing he would repy, “For you.” She wanted to snuggle into his arms, to feel his touch and to touch him, to share kisses.

“Lone Wolf has my word of honor to hold silent. Go to sleep, Wild Wind. The new sun could bring many dangers for all in this camp. I will allow no harm to come
to you and I will awaken you if the bad dreams return. I must leave when the sun rises in the heaven.” Travis knew his last statement was not a lie. He would depart to buy the weapons or he would leave with her; and if not with her, then to return later to abduct her. He had promised Nathan he could get her back, and, after meeting her, he was more determined than ever.

Lone Wolf moved away from his tepee as silently as a shadow. He had been listening to and watching Travis and his sister since their walk. Lone Wolf turned and walked toward his tepee, intentionally making enough sound to be heard by the sharp ears of the half-white warrior lying inside his dwelling. He quietly lifted the flap and tossed a small rock on Travis’s chest to obtain his attention. When Travis glanced in Lone Wolf’s direction, the chief used sign language to command him to silence and to follow him outside for a private talk.

Travis obeyed without alerting Wild Wind to his departure and absence. The two men walked to the nearby river and sat on blankets. Travis tried to conceal his impatience, but he knew he must let the chief speak first.

“The council voted to give White Eagle a chance to prove his words and honor, if we agree to make trade. White Eagle and his friend Nathan will ride to the white man’s trading post to buy weapons and supplies. My warriors will ride behind you to protect you and the trade goods. When the weapons and supplies rest in Oglala hands, Lone Wolf will tell his sister that White Eagle has made trade for her. Lone Wolf will command his sister to go with White Eagle. You must leave quickly after I speak words of farewell to her. If she battles my words, White Eagle must tie her hands and take her by force. She is a wild creature, and Lone Wolf has not tamed her
with words or punishments.”

When Travis grinned in amusement, Lone Wolf warned, “Do not smile quickly, White Eagle. Soon you will feel the sting of her words and endure the troubles of her defiance. She is clever and daring; do not take your eyes or ears from her. If you earn her hatred and anger, do not turn your back to her; she is as skilled as my warriors. I pray Wild Wind will allow White Eagle to be gentle with her. When you return from the trading post, her grandfather must camp where he sleeps this moon. The council refuses to let him enter our camp and interfere with Wild Wind’s farewell ceremony. He is old, and blind to our ways. He will not understand how White Eagle will be forced to treat his granddaughter. If he weakens and interferes, the matter will be hard for all concerned.”

“It is agreed, Lone Wolf,” Travis declared, accepting the exchange terms.

“There is more to hear before you answer, White Eagle.”

His smile faded as he eyed Lone Wolf’s expression. “Speak it.”

“The council says that when you return to our camp White Eagle must join to Wild Wind before you leave with her. She will not be told of her grandfather and our exchange until you are many suns’ ride from our camp and lands. She will follow her mate, but she might refuse to return to the land of the whites with strangers. Her mind and heart are troubled and she will think we trick her with claims of family. She thinks I wish to be rid of her and she will doubt our words.” When Travis started to argue this astounding term, Lone Wolf held up his hand and cautioned, “Do not speak until I finish. You will join Wild Wind under Oglala law. Oglala laws do not matter to the white man. Rana Michaels and Travis Kincade are white; they will live in white lands, under
white laws. Once you leave our lands, the marriage will not be binding. It is a trick for my sister’s obedience and to prevent trouble with the other warriors who have asked to make trade for her. No warrior can offer more than White Eagle’s supplies and weapons. The exchange will not be questioned or criticized. The council demands that she leave joined to you. If you refuse to make trade and to join to her, she will be guarded until she is bound to Rides-Like-Thunder and sleeps on his Cheyenne marriage mat. Once her body is mated to his, she will never leave him. Join her and leave in honor, or she is lost to you.”

A false marriage… Travis raged silently, cursing his bad luck. He knew as well as Lone Wolf that he was trapped, and traps and deceptions riled him. “What if she refuses when I ask her to join to me?”

Lone Wolf chuckled. “Do not play word games with me, White Eagle,” he teased mirthfully. “There is no asking in Indian lands, only trading and telling. If she is defiant, she will be bound during the joining ceremony. When you are far away, you can say you pretended to join to her to get her away peacefully to return her to her grandfather. You must tell her the Oglala joining ceremony is not binding in the white man’s world. Such words should make her happy, for she has refused to join to any man. But I warn you now, if you sleep upon the marriage mat with my sister, you must promise to join to her under the white man’s laws. You must not dishonor Wild Wind or bring pain to her heart. How can she be sad or angry? She will have freedom and her people will be saved by her trade goods. Is it agreed?”

“What if Nathan doesn’t agree to these terms? It seems cruel and dishonorable to trick her this way.”

“I know Wild Wind, my Hunkpapa brother. If you buy her with trade goods and try to take her away with the truth, my sister will battle you fiercely. She has been
raised as Oglala, to hate and mistrust whites. She will fear your claims and she will try to flee them. It is dangerous and foolish to chase an escaped rabbit when the white wolves are running free and hungry. Take her away quickly and safely. Let her ride with White Eagle and her grandfather for many suns so that she might learn to trust and share friendship. When you speak words of truth many moons away, they will touch her ears softly and gently. Do not challenge her to accept strangers and hard words at the same time. Such words will come more easily from trusted friends. Do you know a better way to win my sister’s freedom? Does my Hunkpapa brother lack the skills to entice my sister into leaving peacefully with him?”

Travis frowned at the grinning warrior. Lordy, he had never suspected he would be forced to marry the rebellious vixen to buy her freedom! He remembered what had happened when a white woman and her father had tried to force him to marry her. And he recalled the time when an Indian maiden’s dreams of having him had provoked the Hunkpapas’ rejection and had nearly gotten him killed… He forced thoughts of those treacherous days from his mind, for this situation was different; this marriage would not be real or a matter of his survival. Lone Wolf was right about his needing to get out of this territory as quickly and as safely as possible, but not for the reasons he had mentioned.

Travis considered the matter carefully and gave Lone Wolf the only decision he could make. The men talked for awhile, then headed for Lone Wolf’s tepee. Travis realized that when dawn appeared and he rode out of camp, it would be too late to change his mind about this matter. He would explain the council’s terms to Nathan, and his friend would have to understand the situation.

Lone Wolf strode along the path in front of Travis Kincade and, as the Oglala chief reflected on what had
passed between his sister and the half-white warrior earlier, a mischievous smile slowly crossed his lips.

In his office on the Circle
C
Ranch near Fort Worth, lawyer and landowner Harrison Caldwell was speaking with his burly foreman, Silas Stern. “I don’t know how you found those new men, Silas, but I like them,” he remarked, then laughed wickedly, for Harrison recognized men with cold, evil hearts like his own. “You said they’re real handy with those guns and rifles and aren’t afraid to follow orders? Any orders?”