Chapter VII
By Joanna Phillips
Chapter VII
By Joanna Phillips
"Kid, we've been looking for days. You don't understand! We aren't going to find them!" Teaspoon said gently as he crouched beside Kid, who was staring intently into the campfire, "I been married to a Sioux woman, I know how they live! They hole up somewhere that can never be found!"
"The army could find them!" Kid said viciously, and Teaspoon turned quickly to see if Buck had heard that. Kid was out of his head with grief, and Teaspoon had little doubt he'd bring about a massacre of innocent women and children to end it. The others had all slowly come to terms with the fact that they could not find them, and even if they did they were no match for a whole Sioux camp. Except Kid. He was still adamant that they keep looking.
"They didn't just vanish," Kid spat out, "Not even the renowned Wild Bill Hickok can do that!"
The others heard him that time. Cody stood up angrily.
"Damn it, Kid! He's missing too! Don't you even care if he comes back at all? Have you forgotten that he's one of us too, that he'd die to save your life? What's between the two of you? You think he is after Lou? Hell, Kid, you think anyone who speaks to Lou is after her! Maybe that's why you drove her crazy!" Cody's temper had finally reached the boiling point after many days of fruitless search, and he snapped.
Kid rose to his feet too, stopping only inches in front of Cody. Teaspoon sighed, but did not come between them, hoping they both had the sense not to turn on each other.
"Take it back!" Kid demanded.
Buck, who was angry with Kid too, stood up also, "He can't take it back Kid. It's been said. Let it go!"
Kid turned on Buck next, "And don't you go offering advice I didn't ask for!" He pointed a finger at Buck, who angrily swatted it away.
Noah stood up, holding out his hands as if he was approaching a wild horse. "Now Kid, we know how hard this is for you, but we're all tired of your attitude! We lost them too! You aren't the only one hurting here!"
"You all don't have a clue! You've given up on them!" Kid cried out.
"You've given up on us!" Cody hurled at him, "You act like you're the one who is dead, Kid!"
"They aren't dead!" Kid roared and lunged for Cody.
Buck and Ike quickly pulled him off. Kid fought their hold until he was exhausted and slumped in their arms. Ike pulled away to sign something.
His hands flew, and Buck could barely keep up with him.
"He asks if you plan on fighting the whole world, or just us?"
Kid jerked away and wiped at his eyes, which were moist.
He thought about it a minute and looked at them with more lucid eyes than they'd seen from him in a week, "I'll fight whoever I have to, just as long as I can bring her back."
He turned his back on them and grabbed his saddle.
"Where do you think you're going son?" Teaspoon wondered.
"Where ever I have to. The ends of the Earth if that's what it takes!" Kid shot back.
"I can't let you go Kid. It's time to quit. If Jimmy and Lou are alive, and I'm sure they are," He added quickly, "Then they'll have to get home their own way. You can't save them, son."
Kid acted as if Teaspoon hadn't spoken, and went about saddling up his horse.
"Kid, I ain't kidding with you. If you ride out of here, you're fired."
"I quit," Kid said simply and finished tugging on his saddle.
The other boys looked at Teaspoon in their best you're-gonna-let-him-get-away-with-that-look but Teaspoon didn't make a move to stop Kid as he swung up in the saddle and rode away from them.
"Kid! Don't do this!" Noah called out.
"Wait!" Cody cried too.
He never looked back.
Once he was out of sight, the boys turned on Teaspoon with incredulous eyes.
"He'll get himself killed!" Ike signed.
"Well, Ike, that's a risk he's more than willing to take. I couldn't tie him down!"
"Why not?" Cody mumbled softly.
"The way I see it, you boys have a decision to make. You know as well as I do how dangerous it is to keep going, and you know very well we ain't gonna be able to find out anything about Lou or Jimmy. You know the smart thing to do is turn around and ride home, and leave it in God's hands."
The riders all met eyes uncomfortably, then looked at the ground. They shifted nervously for a minute before Cody spoke.
"Well, it ain't like we've ever been big on doing the smart thing," He pointed out.
"Yeah, and riding around eating dust out here isn't any different that riding around eating dust delivering the mail," Noah reasoned.
"We've come this far," Buck agreed, "You never know, we might just find them!"
"Or maybe they'll find us!" Ike signed optimistically.
Teaspoon sighed, "All right. Let's go catch up to Kid."
"I ain't so sure that's Kid," Buck commented.
Jimmy walked beside Curly and Raven Wing, laughing with them. They all looked like drowned rats. The rain still poured.
"I think Lou got the best end of the deal!" Curly pointed out, wiping his long hair from his face.
"I think I'll shove her out in the rain for a while, just so she won't feel left out!" Jimmy commented, and glanced up toward their tee pee.
However he stopped abruptly, and Curly and Raven Wing stopped also.
"What is it?" Raven Wing wondered, her smile still in place.
But seeing the look on Jimmy's face from the light of a close-by, struggling fire, her smile disappeared and all three of them looked to Curly's tee pee to see the same thing.
Lou burst out of it first, then, seconds later another figure emerged, engulfed in flames. Lou ran straight toward them, the other figure threw himself on the wet ground and thrashed about wildly.
Jimmy could hear her sobbing long before she saw them, and he ran toward her.
"Lou I'm here!" He called to her and opened his arms. She didn't slow down until seconds before she folded herself inside of his arms, and they both rocked unsteadily.
"Help him! Oh God!" She sobbed at Curly, but there was no need.
He was already running toward the figure rolling on the ground.
"Our home!" Raven Wing cried next, and Lou and Jimmy both swung around to see that the flap of the tee pee had caught on fire when they exited.
There was no time for explanations, though Jimmy was crazy with worry, as all three of them charged up the hill after Curly. Jimmy grabbed the rug that Lou had worked so hard on weaving, thankful that she'd forgotten to go put it inside before the storm, and moved to the tee pee. The flames were licking high up the structure, and he beat at them. Searing pain went through his lower arm as a flame jumped out at him, but he didn't stop his efforts.
Raven Wing found herself useless without anything to beat the fire out, and stood by helplessly as Jimmy tried to save the tee pee and as Curly crouched beside Dark Wolf.
She spotted Lou standing in the rain shivering a few feet away and quickly walked to her, wrapping her arms around the younger girl's shoulders.
"I'm so sorry!" She cried out, "This is all my fault!"
"Quiet now," Raven Wing soothed her, "All will be well. Look, Jimmy's almost got it out! There, now it is all over!"
"But Dark Wolf is hurt so badly!" She whispered.
Raven Wing glanced over to where Curly was slowly rolling Dark Wolf onto his stomach. She was repulsed to see a large part of his shoulder blade charred badly. His hair had also caught on fire and now hung unevenly. Smoke still rose from his breeches on one leg, and Raven Wing imagined them burned to his skin.
"Dark Wolf brought this on himself, I'm certain!" Raven Wing assured her, but didn't push her for details. Better to wait and let her only have to tell the story once.
Soon, other members of the tribe were running over, having heard the commotion. The medicine man ordered two young braves to carry Dark Wolf away. After a short, tense conversation with Curly, the group disbanded, but several curious glances were thrown toward Lou, who stood miserably, head bowed in the rain.
Jimmy hurried to her once he was sure there wouldn't be any more trouble.
Raven Wing moved aside and let him take her into his arms. He held her so tightly that Raven Wing wondered if she could breathe. She didn't seem to mind though, and pushed her face into Jimmy's shirt.
"I ran away, I thought she would be inside…" Lou began, her voice muffled against his chest.
"Shhh! Let's get you inside and warm, then you can tell us what happened!" Raven Wing said softly.
Jimmy reached down to pick up the frightened girl, holding her close as he carried her toward the tee pee. Once inside he retreated and left Raven Wing to help her into dry clothes.
Lou was as obedient as a child as Raven Wing helped her out of the soaking dress and into one of Jimmy's large shirts. She then wrapped the blanket around Lou tightly and had her sit down.
"You'll be a good mother, Raven Wing," Lou commented as Raven Wing patted her head affectionately.
Lou tried to pull the blanket around her more tightly, anything to stop her trembling. She suspected it had little to do with the cold.
Jimmy and Curly stepped in the closed space, each having to duck to get their considerable heights through the door.
Jimmy came to crouch in front of her, placing a hand on her cheek, "Are you all right? That's the first thing I want to know."
"I'm o-okay," She stuttered.
"What happened!" Raven Wing asked for all of them. They'd gone too long and seen too much to not be desperate for an explanation. It wasn't every day that a flaming man ran from one's tee pee, Curly thought wryly.
"I heard something outside, and I thought it was Raven Wing. So I went outside when no one said anything. Dark Wolf was there. He chased me. I thought I would be safe with Raven Wing, and I thought she'd been in the tee pee…"
"And you went inside and were trapped," Curly said, understanding.
Lou nodded, and tears began flowing out of her eyes. Jimmy wrapped his arm around her.
"And I tried to get away from him, but there was no way out," Lou said in a small voice.
A horrible, terrifying thought hit Jimmy, "He didn't….I mean, he didn't," He couldn't muster the ugly word, then he finally spit it out, "uh…violate you, did he?"
The fury on his face was terrible to behold, and Lou quickly told him, "No, he didn't hurt me! But he got his knife and was holding it over me, and I kicked it away, but he got it back. The only thing I could think of to do was to get him away from me! So I pushed him, and caught him off guard. He rolled into the fire. He tried to grab me, but I got away. He got up and followed me out of the tee pee!"
Her eyes spilled more tears and she put her face in her hands, "I didn't mean to burn him! It was so horrible! He was engulfed in flames! I wouldn't do that on purpose!"
"I would!" Curly growled, "He knew this was wrong! He knew you were not his! He defies Running Horse and all tribal custom!"
Lou moved closer to Jimmy in the face of Curly's anger, but Jimmy wasn't much calmer.
"Curly, I've had enough! If he ever comes near her again, I'm killing him! You won't be able to stop me and to Hell with the consequences. I mean it!" Jimmy's voice was climbing, "You said he wouldn't hurt her!"
"I was wrong!" Curly shouted back, "He has never gone against the word of Running Horse before!"
Raven Wing was the only one to notice how pale Lou had grown, "Stop it! There is time enough for this. You are upsetting both of us!" Jimmy and Curly looked at her in surprise.
"Now, Dark Wolf is badly hurt and will not bother Lou for a while. There is no need in talking about him now! We are all tired and it is time to rest!"
Curly and Jimmy both smiled slightly in admiration of the beautiful woman. She looked at them with angry eyes though, and placed her hands on her hips.
As if they were children she scolded them, "You should both be ashamed!"
Lou murmured again, "You will make a good mother, Raven Wing."
"Will your tee pee be all right? You could stay here," Lou suddenly said, not wanting to go to sleep for fear of nightmares of burning flesh.
"Jimmy saved it," Raven Wing smiled and they left as quietly as they always came.
"Get some sleep Lou, it will be much better in the morning," Jimmy said, after hugging her tightly. He leaned to kiss her forehead in an almost brotherly fashion.
"I don't think I can sleep," She said softly, admitting to him how shaken she still was. She leaned her forehead against Jimmy's. "I hated him, but I didn't want him hurt that badly."
"He deserves much, much worse," Jimmy growled, and smiled into Lou's doubtful eyes.
He saw the question in them, but knew she was too proud to ever ask it aloud.
"You want me to sleep by you?" He asked gently, "Keep the nightmares away?"
Lou looked horrified at his words, and Jimmy thought he'd read her eyes wrong. But he knew her well, and she finally caved in and whispered, "Would you?"
"Hmmm, would I lay beside a beautiful young woman tonight? Such a tough decision!" He said, and she blushed prettily.
He brought his bedroll to her side and eased down in it. Then, he reached an arm around her and pulled her close. She snuggled against him tightly, and Jimmy could feel her trembling, still.
"You're safe now, you know," He whispered, brushing her hair back, "Nothing is going though me to get you! I promise!"
He stroked her hair and was lost in deep thought as she fell asleep in his arms. He'd never have the chance to be with her like this again when they left the Sioux camp, he thought mildly. Kid would have realized how foolish he was to let her go, and Lou would know that they were meant to be together. Hell, he even knew they were meant to be together.
That was what made falling in love with her so dangerous.
So he remembered every minute of the too short night. Remembered the sound of her cries when she dreamed and how they subsided when he pulled her to him, remembered the beauty of her face with her auburn hair falling low on her forehead, remembered the scent of her, the feel of her, and the way it all made him feel, like he'd do anything to protect her.
He wished never to go home. *
Lou awoke shivering with cold and realized it was because the warm weight of Jimmy was gone from her side. It was so bizarre for her to contemplate that Jimmy had held her all night, had whispered soothing words to her when she cried out. She reached out to touch his empty bedroll, her mind and heart confused.
He was such a wonderful man.
She got up slowly and pulled on her deerskin dress. She wandered slowly outside, guessing at where he could be.
The storm had given way to a beautiful, early fall morning, and the brisk air caused a violent shiver to run through Lou. She glanced up at Curly and Raven Wing's teepee and could see the large charred marks all up the front side of it. The grass in front of the teepee was black now too, after Dark Wolf's desperate attempts to relieve his pain.
Lou then looked to the creek and saw Jimmy sitting by the water, his back to her.
She slowly walked down to him
"Mind if I join you?" She wondered.
He jumped and spun around, caught off guard. He'd been deep in thought, Lou realized. He moved over on the log he sat on, and Lou eased herself down by him slowly.
They sat in silence for a moment, before Lou cleared her throat and said softly, "Jimmy, thank you…"
"It was a terrible sacrifice, you know," Jimmy teased her, "Feel better this morning?"
Lou shrugged, "I guess…I just…" Her voice trailed off when she saw that Jimmy was holding his arm tenderly against his ribs, trying to hide something from her.
"What's wrong with your arm, Jimmy?" She demanded.
Jimmy still kept it away from her, "It ain't nothing, Lou."
Lou wasn't satisfied with that though, and slowly moved to kneel in front of him. She gently took his hand and pulled his arm out. He tried not to flinch.
He heard her gasp and whisper, "Oh, Jimmy! Why didn't you say anything sooner!"
"It isn't as bad as it looks…" Jimmy began, but then flinched again as Lou leaned close to the nasty burn on the inside of his forearm.
"Stay here!" She ordered him, and ran back to the tee pee. She returned with a strip of his bedroll and another piece of cloth.
Jimmy watched her as she tenderly took care of his burn, and felt that it might have been worth it just to have her care for him.
She finished cleaning it and covering it and then sat back beside him. He surprised her by reaching out to gently cradle her cheek for a minute. Then he let his hand drop quickly, as if he hadn't really meant to touch her.
"Do you think there will be any consequences for what I did to Dark Wolf?"
"I don't think so. He certainly was the one who did something wrong."
"But he's one of them," Lou pointed out.
"I ain't so sure he will be for long," Jimmy replied.
They sat in comfortable silence for a minute, each lost to his or her own thoughts. Then they heard someone behind them and turned around at the same time.
Running Horse stood on the rise, looking down at them in his proud manner. Curly appeared beside him. Raven Wing came quickly down the hill to stand before them. The look on her face told them it was not good news.
"My father wishes to speak to you," Raven Wing said solemnly.
"Is Dark Wolf dead?" Jimmy wondered tensely.
"No, he will be fine, except for ugly marks on him," Raven Wing said, "And he deserves them! But Dark Wolf has bent the ear of one of the members of the tribal council, and my father must clear up some things."
"I thought your father was the Chief," Jimmy said.
"He is!" Raven Wing said defiantly, then sighed, "But he is an honorable man, and one of the tribe's other leaders has requested he clear something up."
"Let's just go, Jimmy," Lou suggested, and grabbed his hand.
Jimmy squeezed it reassuringly, and they followed Running Horse, Curly, and Raven Wing into the charred tee pee. Everyone sat down. Lou glanced uneasily at the fire in the middle of the small space, and in her mind's eye replayed the horrible scene with Dark Wolf.
Running Horse did not waste any time, and got right to the point.
"You do not wear the yellow band of a white man and his wife," He accused them through Curly.
Jimmy glanced at Lou uneasily, then met the chief's eyes. He could not lie to him, and suspected it wouldn't have worked anyway, "We are not man and wife. But she's still my woman!"
Running Horse shook his silver head after Curly translated. He stood up and spoke to Curly quickly. Raven Wing protested angrily to whatever he said, but Running Horse ignored her and exited the tee pee.
"What is it?" Lou asked softly, a bad feeling rising in her.
Curly sighed while Raven Wing turned her back on them in frustration.
"He said that she is not your woman if you are not married, and therefore Dark Wolf has a right to claim her."
"What!" Jimmy exploded, "Well, what if I don't let him?"
"Then you must fight him," Curly said.
"All right," Jimmy agreed.
"You don't understand!" Raven Wing said softly, turning to look at Jimmy with her onyx eyes, "Dark Wolf is the most skilled fighter in the village. You will not win. And the fight is a fight to the death, he will kill you!"
Lou inhaled sharply, but Jimmy wasn't to be scared off that easily, "Don't be so sure! I can fight! And I'm not just going to sit back and let him take Lou!"
"You cannot fight like a Sioux fights. Braves train from the time they are children. You have never seen a fight such as this!" Curly said quietly.
"There has to be some other way!" Lou cried out, "Don't I have a say in this?"
"No," Raven Wing said shortly.
"Well, then, it is settled. I will fight him," Jimmy said.
Curly suddenly looked at his wife, "There may be another way!"
Raven Wing understood, and nodded quickly.
"What is it?" Lou asked hopefully.
"You must be married in the Sioux custom," Curly said.
Lou and Jimmy didn't look at each other but the news was enough to send them reeling. Lou felt as if her whole world closed off and all her options were gone. She'd worked so hard for those choices, only to have them stripped from her to prevent a life of servitude to a Sioux brave?
Not a month ago she'd told the man she loved she wasn't ready for marriage, and now she was going to be pushed into being wed to a man she still wasn't sure how she felt about? Somehow she just couldn't appreciate the irony of it all.
But Jimmy, as good as he was with his guns, wasn't good in hand to hand combat. Kid had beaten him too many times to deny that. Dark Wolf would fight with ten times that skill.
Jimmy couldn't comprehend the magnitude of what was about to happen. While he had strong feelings for Lou, he knew that it was foolish for his heart to race so at the possibility of her becoming his wife.
He looked at her and she met his eyes. He said nothing. It was her call.
Finally she spoke, her voice controlled tightly, her eyes unreadable.
"The answer is very simple. We will have to be married."
To be continued…On to CHAPTER VIII
Copyright 1998-This work is not to be reproduced without the permission of the author