Beyond The Horizon (14 page)

“There is nothing to fear,” Blade encouraged, squeezing her arm.

His words lent Shannon courage, but more than that it made her realize she was acting like a coward. Stiffening her spine, she held her head high, commanding herself not to flinch as the Indians stared at her in silent contemplation. After what seemed like hours, Yellow Dog began speaking in halting English so that Shannon would clearly understand his words.

“The council of elders has considered both Mad Wolf and Swift Blade’s petitions. They are still uncertain in their minds which man has the right to claim you, Little Firebird. Only you can tell us the truth. They wish to know if Swift Blade has taken you to his mat as he claims. You must answer honestly. The council will base their decision on your reply. But keep in mind,” he warned ominously, “that lies will only hurt you.”

Bright red crept up Shannon’s neck clear to her hairline. To confess to something so sinful, so immoral, was devastating to her. She opened her mouth but nothing came out.

“Speak freely and truthfully,” Blade urged in a low voice.

“Heed my grandson, Little Firebird,” Yellow Dog advised.

“I—yes, it is true,” Shannon admitted shamefully. “Blade and I have—he has—we’ve been …” The words were dragged from her.

Yellow Dog translated. A hush fell over the council and those who had come to watch.

“No! She lies!” Mad Wolf cried, unwilling to admit defeat.

Yellow Dog’s eyes raked Mad Wolf contemptuously before turning aside to confer with the council. Six pairs of penetrating black eyes lifted to regard Shannon in silent contemplation. She was ready to scream with frustration when Yellow Dog grunted and rose to his feet. He walked over to Blade, placed a hand on his shoulder and said, “The council has reached a decision. Little Firebird belongs to Swift Blade to do with as he pleases.”

Shannon stiffened. She wanted to cry out that no man owned her, that she belonged to herself, but she was astute enough to hold her tongue. Once they were away from this horrid place she’d give Blade the tongue-lashing he so richly deserved.

Standing tall and proud beside Shannon, Blade felt a great weight lift from his shoulders. He might have earned her hate, but he felt no guilt over what he did since it ultimately gained her freedom. With a pang of regret he realized that a girl with Shannon’s high standards could never forgive him for making love to her. Then he had compounded his sin by making love to her a second time when once would have been enough. She might have forgiven that first time, since it was to save her from Mad Wolf, but he went beyond the bounds of decency when he deliberately seduced her a second time. Truth to tell, he had wanted Shannon too fiercely to stop and consider the consequences. He had no recourse now but to accept them along with Shannon’s contempt. He knew that making love with a half-breed and enjoying it must offend and sicken her.

His face a mask of cold fury, Mad Wolf did not accept the council’s decision with good grace. His eyes blazed with hatred, for he had never liked Swift Blade, not even when they were children. Blade had always been faster, more clever and stronger. Praise and glory were heaped upon Blade, while Mad Wolf’s feats of strength and bravery went largely unheralded and unappreciated.

“You may have won this time, Swift Blade, but my day will come. You have shown yourself more white than Indian, and I shall destroy you along with the other White Eyes.”

Whirling on his heel, he leaped onto his pony, whipping him into a gallop with a blood-chilling whoop. One day soon, the people would come to appreciate him for his cunning and bravery and look to him for leadership. Yellow Dog was old, Mad Wolf consoled himself, and he was the logical choice to replace the aging chief. The people would realize this when he made a triumphant return to the village with guns and ammunition. Then all the praise and glory would be his. The people would realize he was the only man brave enough to defy the Great Father in Washington and free their land.

“What’s happening?” Shannon asked. With trepidation she watched Mad Wolf and his renegades ride off.

“Mad Wolf is angered by the council’s decision,” Blade explained. “Ignore him. He can’t hurt you as long as you are with me.”

“Where did he go?”

Blade had a damn good idea where Mad Wolf and his hotheads were going. It concerned the hidden stash of weapons in Clive Bailey’s wagon, but he couldn’t divulge that information to Shannon.

“He probably has a camp somewhere in the hills, away from the village and the council’s jurisdiction.”

“Are you saying the majority of your people don’t adhere to Mad Wolf’s warlike ideals? That your people are peaceful?”

“Some are,” Blade said slowly, “while others think Mad Wolf is right to raid and kill. It is the same with the whites. There are bad ones as well as good.”

“What is your belief?” Shannon asked, startling him.

Blade chose his words carefully. “I love and respect my mother’s people. I will never forget that I am half Sioux nor lose pride in my Indian heritage. But I’ve lived too long among the whites to doubt their ultimate victory over the Indians. The day when the Indians roamed freely over the plains is swiftly coming to the end. I fought in the war between the states because I believed in man’s freedom, and I will do all in my power to prevent further bloodshed.”

Shannon blanched, her eyes wide with shock. “I should have known! Not only are you a savage, but a damn Yankee! I thought you had stolen that blue coat you’re so fond of wearing.”

“I served in the Union Army, proudly. But I should have never told you. I must insist you tell no one what I have just divulged. Lives depend on your silence. If you are wise, you will forget what you have goaded me into admitting.”

“You expect me to forget that you fought with an army that killed my brother and caused my father to take his own life? Never!”

Blade cursed his stupidity for telling Shannon things she had no business knowing. But she confused him so that at times he didn’t even know his own name. “I’m sorry about your family, Little Firebird. But you owe me your silence. I could have let Mad Wolf have you instead of coming after you. I could have continued on with the wagon train and forgotten you even existed.”

Shannon couldn’t argue with his reasoning. She owed Blade a large debt. She had no intention of thanking him for taking her innocence, but she could keep his secret—though why it should matter remained a mystery.

“Does keeping your secret have anything to do with your searching those wagons?” Shannon asked suddenly.

“Dammit, Shannon, you’re too inquisitive for your own good. We can’t talk here.” Grasping her arm he dragged her toward his mother’s tipi, pushing her rudely inside. He stood facing her, glaring, hands on hips, his face implacable.

“You don’t have to be so rough,” Shannon said reproachfully. She rubbed the place where his fingers left marks on her soft flesh.

“I’ve warned you before to forget that you saw me inside those wagons. It doesn’t concern you. No one was hurt by my snooping and it may save lives. Furthermore, once you head north into Idaho with the wagon train, it will make little difference whether I fought for the North or South.”

“But …”

“You want to leave here, don’t you?” Blade asked with quiet menace. “I can still give you to Mad Wolf if it pleases me. You are mine to do with as I please.”

“Nobody owns me!” Shannon charged hotly. Unfortunately her words bounced off him like pebbles.

“I’ll have your promise, Shannon. And in return you have my word that what I did will bring no harm to you or your friends.”

“Never did trust the word of a Yankee,” Shannon muttered crossly.

“Shannon—” It sounded as if her name was forced through gritted teeth and Shannon knew when to relent.

“Oh, very well, I promise. But if I learn you’re involved in dirty dealings, I’ll report you to the army.”

“Fair enough.” Though Blade was somewhat reluctant to trust her, he had no alternative.

“Can we leave now?”

“I planned to stay a day or two and visit with Singing Rain and Yellow Dog. I’ve had little opportunity to talk with them.”

“Please, Blade, I don’t feel comfortable here. What if Mad Wolf returns? Or the council changes their minds?”

“You’re safe now, Little Firebird. No one will harm you.”

“Don’t call me that!” It reminded Shannon too much of last night when Blade murmured the name repeatedly as he made love to her.

Shannon wanted to forget that embarrassing episode forever. She needed no reminders of the shameful ways Blade made her body respond to his touch. Amazingly, it hadn’t seemed all that shameful at the time Blade was working his magic on her, or bringing her body to exquisite pleasure. It was degrading, thrilling, humiliating. Wonderful.

Blade sighed. He was in no mood for arguments. In his mind it was settled. He saw no harm in remaining a day or two longer in the village. “Singing Rain will see to your needs while you’re here.”

Somewhat mollified, Shannon gave grudging consent. She liked Blade’s gentle mother and no longer feared Yellow Dog, but being in an Indian village made her nervous. She had heard too many tales of atrocities to simply ignore them. But an even greater threat to her peace of mind was Blade. He had but to touch her and she knew the promise of both heaven and hell.

“I like your woman, my son,” Singing Rain said shyly. “She is strong. Little Firebird will give you fine sons and daughters. I hope I live to see them.”

Mother, son, and grandfather sat in Yellow Dog’s tipi. The men shared a pipe while Singing Rain merely sat admiring her tall, handsome son. She had begun to decline after her husband’s death, but Blade’s return brought her renewed vigor. She no longer felt at the end of her life.

“You have many years left, Mother,” Blade predicted. “The message sent to me by Pierre Labeau not only told of my father’s death, but hinted that you were in ill health.”

“That all changed the day you returned to our village, my son.” Her dark eyes lavished him with love and pride.

She had aged in the past ten years, Blade saw, yet had lost none of her gentleness. It was one of the qualities his father admired so much in her. Blade thought the fine lines around her mouth and eyes detracted nothing from her beauty.

“Why must you leave so soon?” Singing Rain lamented sadly. “I would like to see you and Little Firebird joined according to our customs. We will hold a ceremony followed by a feast and dancing. There has been too much sadness lately. A celebration will bring our people much joy.”

“I’m sorry, Mother, there is no time. I must rejoin the wagon train and fulfill my obligation to lead them to Fort Laramie. Besides, if and when I marry Shannon Branigan it will be in a white man’s ceremony,” he hedged, unwilling to divulge that he and Shannon would soon part and in all likelihood never see one another again. “But I promise to visit often. Fort Laramie is not so far that I can’t find time to spend with you and Grandfather.”

“You will stay at Fort Laramie?”

“Yes, I have a job to do.”

“And afterwards? Will you come back to your people?”

“Perhaps,” Blade temporized.

Truthfully, he had no idea what course his life would take once he found the gun smugglers and turned them over to the army.

Shannon waited as long as she could for Singing Rain to return to the tipi that night, but exhaustion finally claimed her. It was very late when she awoke abruptly to the sound of rustling clothes.

“Singing Rain?”

The deep male voice that answered jolted her instantly awake. “No, Little Firebird, Singing Rain sleeps tonight in Grandfather’s lodge.”

“Get out of here!” Shannon hissed, pulling the buffalo robe up to her chin.

Blade sighed wearily. He could hardly blame Shannon for wanting him gone. He had certainly acted more like the savage she thought him than an officer and a gentleman. “Relax, Shannon, you’re safe from me tonight. I only want to sleep.”

“Sleep elsewhere.”

“Don’t you think it would look odd for me to sleep elsewhere after declaring before the entire village that you are my woman?” Calmly he unrolled another bedroll he found nearby and lay down close to Shannon.

Shannon froze. Blade hadn’t even touched her, yet her flesh tingled and burned all over. What was wrong with her? How could a half-breed savage affect her that way? What would she do if he reached out to her? The question was moot, for the steady cadence of his breathing told her Blade was already asleep.

They spent one more day and night in Yellow’s Dog’s village. Most of that time Shannon stayed close to Singing Rain while Blade renewed old acquaintences with his friend Jumping Buffalo and other young braves.

Blade had a reason for courting the young men’s friendship. He felt they were the ones who could tell him what Mad Wolf was up to. Thus far he had learned precious little except that Mad Wolf and his renegades were responsible for many raids on settlers, wagon trains, and railroads. According to Jumping Buffalo, Mad Wolf bragged that when he returned to the village, it would be in triumph. The people would hail him as a hero instead of treating him like an outcast.

The next day Shannon and Blade rode away from the village. The skies were overcast and thunder rolled ominously in the distance, but Shannon had few regrets about leaving. Though she had become fond of Singing Rain, Shannon lived in fear that Mad Wolf would return for her despite the council’s decision. Mad Wolf didn’t strike her as one who would let a few old men stop him from getting what he wanted.