Lakota Winds (Zebra Historical Romance) (45 page)

Wind Dancer turned to his wife beside him, his gaze inquisitive.

Her own gaze wide with amazement, she nodded. "It is true, mihigna;
our shaman spoke such words to me after an owl messenger came to
him in a dream during a full moon. Our Wise One said he was told
to make and give me a white garment and moccasins from the sacred
buffalo. He said I would wear them two times during the coming season
and both would be big medicine and I would help save our people from
our enemies. He said they were left unbeaded so the enemy could not
read our tribal markings and doubt my words. Sees-Through-Mist said
the Great Spirit had been working in my life since birth and had trained
me for such challenges. He said I would take another mate and together
we would ride away and do great deeds. He said he saw me standing in our camp wearing the white garment during my joining ceremony
and he saw me again standing on a high hill with Cetan upon my
shoulder. Not many suns passed before you came and we were joined.
He did not know where the hill was located or what I would do there,
but that was revealed to Nahemana in his vision."

"The dream and vision are powerful medicine and must be obeyed,"
Rising Bear remarked in awe.

Both shamen nodded, as did most of those standing around them.
While they talked, another rider-a stranger-galloped into camp with
one of their scouts. Markings on his garments and weapons indicated
he was an Oglala Lakota. The two men dismounted and joined the
intrigued group.

Rising Bear asked who he was, "Nituwe hwo?"

"Waun He Topa, Mahpia Luta kola. "

Chief Rising Bear of the Red Shields greeted Four Horns, friend of
Red Cloud, an Oglala Teton chief of great fame, influence, and power,
"Hau, He Topa. Why does Mahpia Luta send you to us?"

"The Great White Chief far away has asked the ateyapi Broken Hand
and his friend Mitchell to parlay for peace between the White-eyes and
Indians and between warring tribes of all Indians."

Rising Bear knew the one called Broken Hand was Thomas Fitzpatrick, the Indian Agent for the High Plains for the last five circles of
the seasons, a white man who had been a fur trader and a guide for
Whites long ago. He also knew the other man was named David
Mitchell; he was called the Superintendent. It had been explained to
him that Broken Hand was like a combined Shirt Wearer who resolved
troubles between Whites and Indians and between tribes and a Pipe
Owner who spoke for peace. Mitchell was compared to a Big Belly who
gave Broken Hand his orders to be carried out. He listened as Four
Horns continued his revelations.

"The Great White Chief says he will give all Indians cows and steers
and many other goods to replace our losses from the white man's passings
across our hunting grounds and for the game and grass they take while
doing so and the animals the hunters take to feed the Bluecoats and others if we allow the snow-covered travois to cross our lands without
attacking them. Treaty talk will begin at Fort Laramie in seventeen suns
from the one above us." He pointed skyward. "Many Dakotas and
Cheyenne now pitch camps near the Bluecoats lodges. The wasicun
leaders send word to all tribes, ally and enemy, through the traders and
trappers at fur posts in all territories. Red Cloud sent me to you, for
he has great respect for Rising Bear and Tall Elk and their people. Our
shaman told him your people and the White Shields do many things
to help all Dakotas battle the wasicun and Apsaalooke, though word of
your deeds has not been sent to us. He waits to learn of such bold and
brave coups when you gather with us at Fort Laramie."

Rising Bear was amazed such a vision had been given to the Teton
shaman. He knew that Fort Laramie to their southwest was called a
"way station," land-marker, and fur trading post by the Whites. Two
summers past, the Bluecoats had taken over the fort and made it even
larger and more powerful, for many braves attacked the wagontrains
which encroached on their lands, a path which had become known to
Whites as the Oregon Trail. As more Whites came to stay or passed
through and more Indians camped around the post, hatreds and hostilities had increased. He had been told that the emigrants were heading
for "free land" offered by the Great White Chief in places called Oregon
and California and some men sought the yellow rock in the latter
location.

"Why would we want to make peace with the wasicun and our
enemies when they encroach on our lands and attack us?" Rising Bear
reasoned. "Long ago, the numbers of traders, trappers, settlers, and
travelers were few; now, more stay or cross our lands than number
whole tribes. The settlers come while the grass is green; their animals
graze upon it and their wagons cut deeply into the face of Mother Earth
and they kill or chase away the buffalo and other game. We traded with
those at Fort Pierre and Fort Laramie long ago, but we halted such
foolishness. They cheated us, offered us whiskey to dull our wits, gave
us terrible sicknesses, take our women as `squaws', and cause many
braves to become weak and to seek all goods from them and to do their tasks. Many live around the posts and forts and become lazy; they forget
the old ways or do not practice them. We must not become dependent
on the wasicun for survival even in hard times, for it will give them
great power over us."

After most of the men concurred, Four Horns replied, "Red Cloud
also says more Whites and Bluecoats will come each season with their
powerful weapons and hunters to feed them. Our buffalo herds grow
smaller and roam farther away with each increase. The White chief
offers us much meat and many goods if we allow settlers to cross our
lands in safety; such things will be needed if we are to remain strong
to fight them one season, as war between us is sure to come as the
White-eyes's greed grows larger than the grasslands and swifter than its
spring blanket."

"To listen and sign their paper is only a trick?" Rising Bear asked.

"That is true, for the white man will not hold to his treaty with us
in the dark moons to come. We will take their gifts and make our signs
on their paper, but we will not trust them to keep their word and we
will remain ready to battle them when tricked and challenged."

"What of our worst enemies, the Crow, Arapaho, and Pawnee?"
Rising Bear asked.

"The Pawnee, Comanche, and Kiowa will not come to talk, vote,
and sign," Four Horns began his explanation. "The Arapaho, Shoshone,
Gros Ventre, Assiniboin, and many tribes and bands of the Cheyenne
and Dakota say they will do so if the words of the Great White Chief
and Broken Hand are wise and fair and many goods are given in
exchange for a truce. The Crow meet to talk and vote among themselves
to decide if they will go. If they do not and join forces with the Pawnee
against other tribes and Whites, trouble will come fast. It is good the
Arapaho do not think the same way as their ally the Pawnee. Broken
Hand also wishes to split ally from foe and halt our many wars by
marking our lands into separate territories; any who invade the other's
will be punished."

"Even if we do not agree and sign, Father, we must go to Fort
Laramie to listen and observe."

Rising Bear looked at his oldest son and took a deep breath. "What
do you say, my people? Do we send a party to Fort Laramie to trick
our enemies?" The chief glanced around as he saw all heads nod in
agreement. "It is settled, He Topa; we will ride to the parlay to listen
and talk."

Four Horns said he must leave to rejoin Red Cloud's band which
was en route to the Big Council, and he would tell his chief that the
Red Shields and the White Shields would meet with them at Fort
Laramie.

After the Teton warrior was gone, Wind Dancer said they must carry
out the plan of the vision and dream and scare the Crow into going to
the parlay, as it would halt the battles between them for a while. A
reprieve would give their people time to journey to the Black Hills, set
up their winter camps, and finish their late hot season tasks there. As
they did so, the five original visionquest companions could travel to
where the Crow held their powwow and make sure they were forced
into heading for Fort Laramie.

As Chumani rode to their destination, she noticed the changing
landscape. There were numerous huge and odd rock formations, boulders of assorted size, scattered buttes, higher and more frequent hills,
many trees-cedar, spruce, pine, and hardwoods-scrubs, and rougher
terrain. The grass offered many colors during that season: green, yellow,
brown, and red. Porcupines, deer, antelope, coyote, vultures, and other
creatures and birds were abundant in the area. They knew another
section of vast grassland loomed beyond the rocks and forest. But their
goal rested between those two contradictory landscapes.

As they approached the enormous Crow village where many tribes
were gathered to talk and trade, Chumani was aware her blood flow
had not begun when she had expected. Perhaps, she reasoned, it was
delayed by the Great Spirit and Mother Nature so she could complete
her work, or perhaps she was with child. She would tell no one of that
latter possibility. If she related it to Zitkala, her best friend might worry and tell others out of concern for her, so for the first time, she kept a
secret from the other woman. If she revealed it to her husband, Wind
Dancer would probably refuse to allow her to perform her perilous task;
and she and Cetan were the only ones who could carry it out.

Soon, they reached the area which War Eagle and his companions
had reported as the Crow encampment. Using the fieldglass and a high
boulder, they selected their action site, a furtive approach route to it,
and finalized their daring plan.

After everything was prepared, Chumani-dressed to appear as Bishee
Chia Biakalishte, their name for Pte Skawin, White Buffalo Maidenlay on a high brownish gray rock overlooking the Crow village, atop a
blanket to avoid soiling the unbeaded white garment. Scattered or
clustered atop the low formation and around its wide base were many
trees and bushes. Cetan had been dusted with finely ground powder
from white and yellow soil and soft rocks to make him appear as a
ghostly spirit. Upon her word, the hawk swooped down over the camp
and dropped several large cottonwood leaves bound with long blades
of grass into the center fire. As soon as the flames ate through the leaves
containing stolen gunpowder, a loud and smoky explosion ensued,
startling the people there and telling Chumani to leap to her feet. She
heard many shrieks and shouts. She saw many women grab children
and flee into tepees, and saw warriors retrieve their weapons and look
about for the cause of the commotion.

Red Feather, concealed from their sight to her rear by a downward
slope on the high setting, tossed black powder into a small fire he had
built there, but did so from a safe distance and closed his eyes against
damage, skills he had learned from numerous games of toss-the-hoop.
That second loud noise and puff of smoke drew the Crow's attention
to her. They watched the odd-colored hawk fly to her and perch upon
her shoulder; a thick leather strip to prevent his sharp talons from
piercing her delicate skin was concealed beneath her snow-white garment.

Chumani saw many armed Crow head in her direction from a distance
of about ten tall tree lengths away. She shouted in their language, `Ikye!"
to seize their attention. She held up her right hand and yelled for them
to halt. That was the signal for Wind Dancer, concealed in thick bushes
and by a grass-covered hide below her lofty location, to strike a match
from the metal box to set fire to the semicircle of gunpowder he had
spread around the gray base of the rock. From the center of that black
trail, he sent sparkling and hissing snakes darting in both directions
until the two reached their destinations where a large pile of gunpowder
exploded.

The warriors jerked their bodies at those sounds and were halted by
their chiefs and shamen. All eyes gazed at her in either awe or suspicion.

Ahkuxpatchiahche, Apsaalooke!" she yelled to the astonished Crow.
"Do not approach or attack me or I will destroy you as I destroyed the
Dakota brave who tried to do so when I took the Sacred Pipe and Seven
Sacred Ceremonies to his people as their Creator commanded. This
sun, I have been sent by Akbaatatdia to bring you a message."

Red Feather, who had crawled upward on his belly and hidden behind
a dense cluster of fragrant spruce, called upon his talent with a game
he often used with children to amuse them. In the Crow tongue and
throwing his disguised voice outward, he made it appear as if his words
were coming from Cetan who clacked his beak and fluttered his large
wings at Chumani's command. Red Feather said in a loud and strange
voice, "I was sent by Dakaake Suua to command you to listen to her
words and obey them. If you do not, I will return to Dakaake Suua
and tell the Thunderbird Spirit not to send any rain in coming seasons
to grow your sacred tobacco plants and to grow the grass your horses
need. Do not come near her, for she is big medicine and is protected
by the Creator."

Chumani observed the Crow's amazement and fear as the hawk spoke,
jerked his feathered head about, his round eyes watching them intently.
Without moving her lips, as Red Feather had taught her, she whispered
for Cetan to cease his clacking and movements, and he settled himself
again.

The most powerful chief who was in charge of the powwow, took
two steps forward and shouted, "What message do you bring from the
Creator? Speak Old Man Coyote's words. We will listen and obey."

Chumani had practiced this event many times, but she spoke slowly
and carefully so she would not make a mistake and use a Lakota word
or sign. "Go to the Big Council at Fort Laramie and make truce with
the Whites, Dakotas, and other enemy tribes" she instructed. "Leave
these lands forever or more evil will visit you, just as it was sent to
Sroka's tribe when it invaded Lakota lands to attack its people when it
should have been hunting and preparing for winter in their own territory.
It is foolish and lazy to raid others for what should be earned with your
own hands, wits, and skills. Go to the parlay and sign the white man's
paper for truce. Then return to your lands where the stones are yellow
and the ground boils and spews forth water and to the land where
powder marks the banks of its large river; there, the Creator and his
forces will protect you and provide for you, my people."