Savage Beloved (10 page)

It was at that moment that Candy heard the baying of wolves in the distance. She shivered at the wild sound, fearful of what they might eventually do with Shadow. She was afraid they might lure her wolf away from her.

As it was, Shadow was the only part of her old life left to Candy . . . the only one that loved her.

She saw a look she did not understand in Two Eagles’s eyes as he gazed at her in silence for a moment. Then he turned and left the tepee.

Having never felt so alone in her entire life, Candy
gazed into the flames of the fire, and then looked at Shadow sleeping so snugly beside her.

If not for Shadow, she wasn’t certain she could remain sane.

Tears filled her eyes when she thought of her father. She brushed them away when she recalled the severed head in the jar, and the look of pleasure on her father’s face as he whipped the old Indian’s back.

She still loved her father and would always miss him horribly, but she had lost all respect for him.

She had herself to think about now . . . and how she could escape.

But it seemed impossible. Shackled in such a way, she wouldn’t be able to get far.

Eventually Two Eagles would remove the bonds and leave them off, though, for if he wanted her to work in the fields like a slave, he would get more out of her if she wasn’t shackled. That thought gave her some hope.

Again the wolves howled in the distance.

She looked quickly at Shadow when she moved in her sleep, one ear lifting as though hearing the call of the wild again.

“Please don’t ever leave me,” Candy whispered.

I fear thy kisses, gentle maiden,

Thou needest not fear mine;
My spirit is too deeply
Ever laden to burthen thine.
—Percy Bysshe Shelley

Two Eagles went to his private lodge and sat down before his fire.

He drew his knees up to his chest and circled them with his arms, his eyes watching the slowly lapping flames as they curled around the logs.

But he wasn’t truly seeing the fire.

He was full of conflicting feelings about the white woman.

His thoughts were too often filled with how sweet she was; she was so soft-spoken, and looked so very helpless wearing the irons and chains against her tender, white flesh.

He felt that he was wrong to make her wear them, yet none of her people had shown mercy when his
uncle was wearing them while imprisoned at Fort Hope, or later, while he was forced to walk from the fort to his home.

Of course Candy had told Two Eagles that she had felt deep sympathy for Short Robe. She had even said that she had fed him and bathed his raw ankles when no one was around to see her do it.

“But would not anyone tell the same lie in order to win over a man who was holding them hostage?” he argued aloud.

He ran his long, lean fingers through his hair, pulling it farther back from his sculpted face.

No! He refused to let himself think about Candy any longer.

He had his duties as chief to occupy his mind. His warriors were waiting for his arrival even now at the council house, where important business was to be discussed.

And then tonight was storytelling time for his people’s children around the large outdoor fire. He just might allow Candy to sit outside and listen to the stories in order to show her how wrong it was for her people to mistreat the red man.

Knowing that he had made his warriors wait too long already while he got his mind in order, he rose to join them in the council house. But first he wanted to see how his uncle was faring.

He hoped that by now his uncle was awake, for there were questions he would like Short Robe to answer . . . questions about the woman whose lovely hair he had just cut, and whose beautiful eyes haunted him every time he thought of them.

He did not see how she could be guilty of anything
wakan
, bad, and he felt guilty for making her pay for something she had had no control over.

He stepped softly into his uncle’s tepee and found Hawk Woman sitting devotedly there on the far side of the fire, beside Short Robe.

There were many things about this woman that Two Eagles loathed, but her kindness toward Short Robe was something that he could not help being thankful for, and admiring.

Sometimes that kindness helped erase the other spiteful things she did from his mind.

“How is my uncle faring?” Two Eagles asked as he knelt beside Hawk Woman. He had eyes only for his uncle. He did not so much as glance at the woman who always tried to attract his attention with her eyes, which were as lovely as Candy’s, yet did not hold such kindness in them.

Too often Two Eagles saw something sinister in the depths of Hawk Woman’s eyes, something untrustworthy.

She had proclaimed her love for him more than once, but he did not trust her words. He saw her as someone looking for an opportunity to better her life. If she was married to the chief of this band of Wichita, she would have many privileges the other women did not have.

He knew that she would abuse the trust placed in her as the wife of a powerful chief, and he would never give her this opportunity.

“Short Robe has awakened only in short spells,” Hawk Woman murmured, placing a gentle hand on
Short Robe’s brow. “He wakens, then drifts off again quickly into another deep sleep. He hasn’t said anything to me yet, only stares at me as though he is seeing someone else.”

That made Two Eagles’s eyebrows lift, for he could not help thinking of the other white woman and how similar her appearance was to Hawk Woman’s. They had the same golden hair and blue eyes.

But their personalities seemed very different. Although Hawk Woman was kind when it came to his uncle, she had a strange temperament that Two Eagles would never be able to understand. The woman named Candy seemed as sweet as her name suggested.

He could not forget how she had shown her loving side with her pet wolf. And always while in his presence she showed herself to be anything but calculating and conniving, as Hawk Woman too often showed herself.

Ho,
there was also a caring side to Hawk Woman, but he just could not feel anything warm or special for her.

“Thank you, Hawk Woman, for sitting with my uncle,” Two Eagles said softly. “I will leave now and be in council with my warriors. If there is any change in Short Robe, do not hesitate to interrupt the council.”

“But you have always told me it is forbidden to interrupt your council,” Hawk Woman said, her eyes widening.

“Nothing is ordinary now, so do not hesitate to let
me know if my uncle worsens, or improves,” Two Eagles said, rising. “If he wakens and is aware of things around him, come for me immediately.”

“
Ho
, I will do that, my chief,” Hawk Woman said.

She started to reach out and touch his arm, but jerked her hand quickly back when she saw him flinch and lean far enough away to avoid her touch.

She watched Two Eagles until he was gone from the tepee, then leaned low over Short Robe. “Please wake up,” she whispered. “You are the only one who can convince Two Eagles that I am worthy of his love. I have treated you kindly only to have you as my ally. Have all of my efforts been for naught?”

She doubled her hands into tight fists on her lap. “You’d better not die,” she said fiercely. “Do you hear me? You’d better not die.”

I love to rise in a summer morn,
When the birds sing on every tree;
O’ what sweet company!
—William Blake

Two Eagles had sat in council the whole afternoon, discussing things of importance to his Wichita people, yet not mentioning their prisoner once, for he did not feel it was anyone’s affair except his own that he had brought the white woman among them as a captive.

Of course they all understood the reason for her capture, but no one spoke of being in favor of his action, or against it.

It was up to him whether he would eventually release Candy back to her world, or make her stay among the Wichita forever.

Perhaps in time she might even be happy there,
for her world had been torn asunder because of the Sioux’s attack on the fort.

He glanced at the smoke hole and saw that the sky was growing dark. He could hear the excited chatter of children outside; they were ready for a full evening of storytelling. Two Eagles quickly drew the council to a close.

In hurried steps, he went to the tepee where Candy was held hostage.

He saw that she had been fed; the empty bowl was sitting beside her.

He even saw a bone that had been stripped of meat beside Shadow, the wolf was peacefully sleeping now with a full stomach.

Candy watched wide-eyed as Two Eagles knelt beside her and first removed the painful irons from her wrists, and then from her ankles.

“Why are you doing that?” she finally asked, rubbing her raw wrists as he laid the chains and irons aside.

“There will be many stories told tonight beside the outdoor fire, and I think it would be good if you were there to hear them,” Two Eagles said, wincing when he saw some blood ooze from an abrasion on one wrist. He looked away from it and instead into her eyes. “Come. I will take you there.”

Candy was stunned that he had removed the horrible, painful irons, yet so glad. She was also surprised that he would allow her to sit amid his people to hear their stories.

But no matter why he was doing any of this, she welcomed the reprieve from being a hostage, if only
for a little while. She knew that when the stories were over, Two Eagles would make her wear the dreadful things again.

Candy rose to her feet and trembled inside when Two Eagles very gently took her by an elbow and helped her outside. The touch of his hand on her flesh seemed something born of magic, for although he was her captor, and she should hate him with every fiber of her being, there was nothing inside her that could hate him.

Although he had attacked the fort, she could not really blame him. He had been pushed to the end of his patience after seeing what had been done to his uncle.

She would never forget the kind words that Short Robe had had for his nephew, about how he had always been a man of peace.

Outside, the large fire painted its glow across the dark heavens. The children sat in a large cluster at one side of the fire, where an elderly man of about Short Robe’s age sat before them. The parents of the children sat back a little from them. All were attentive as the storyteller began his first tale.

The scene brought Candy a strange feeling of peace. For a moment, she could forget the ugliness of the world and her own plight.

She sat down beside Two Eagles on a blanket spread out on the ground. She felt many eyes on her and realized some of the people were not pleased to see her sitting beside their chief as though she belonged there.

And then she felt another pair of eyes on her.

She looked slowly over to where Hawk Woman was standing back from the others, at the entrance of a tepee. The other woman was gazing contemptuously at Candy, sending icy shivers of warning up and down her spine.

Candy sensed that Hawk Woman saw Candy as nothing but an interference. She realized that she must be aware of Hawk Woman’s every movement, for she did not trust her one iota. Candy would only feel safe at night because Shadow would be protectively at her side.

Nothing would get past her wolf.

Just as she thought of Shadow, she saw her wolf leave the tepee and come limping toward her. When she reached Candy, the wolf lay down beside her opposite Two Eagles.

When Shadow scooted closer and rested her head on Candy’s lap, Candy stroked her fur.

When Candy gave Two Eagles a glance, she found him gazing kindly at the wolf, and . . . then . . . he looked into Candy’s eyes, revealing feelings far different from what a captor should feel for his captive.

Candy’s pulse raced, for she now knew that he did not hate her, or want to harm her. He was being drawn into caring for her as she was for him, yet it was an impossible attraction . . . one that could lead nowhere.

Candy looked quickly away from him and forced herself to think of something else.

She listened to the Indian lore being told by an old man who called himself Blazing Sun. She found it
hard to concentrate, yet the more she listened, the more intriguing she found the stories.

She was fascinated by these people who were so different from her. She found it hard to understand how whites could hate them so much . . . and call all Indians savages.

Living among soldiers, she had seen many white men who could truly be labeled savage; they needlessly killed innocent people just because their skin was red.

She had heard tales about the cavalry riding into an Indian village and slaughtering not only the warriors, but also the women and children.

Her father had tried to keep these stories from reaching Candy’s ears, but being so inquisitive about life in general, she had heard more than she sometimes wanted to hear.

She had had nightmares those nights.

Tonight, after hearing such wondrous tales of the Wichita, she did not expect to have nightmares.

Yet there was one person who might cause them: Hawk Woman.

Candy looked toward the tepee where she had seen Hawk Woman and was relieved to see that she was no longer there.

“It is time to return to your lodge,” Two Eagles said, interrupting Candy’s thoughts and making her realize that the tales were over and the people were returning to their homes.

She watched some children lagging behind, their heads together, probably going over the tales told tonight. She could tell they had enjoyed them.

Dreading being chained up again, she rose slowly to her feet.

When Two Eagles placed his hand at Candy’s elbow, walking her away from the central fire, she hoped that his kindness would outweigh his need for revenge.

She gazed heavenward and silently prayed for Short Robe’s recovery. He was the only person who could tell Two Eagles just how wrong he was in mistreating her so.

Shadow came limping up to her and then went on ahead into the tepee as though she knew it was now her home, if only temporarily.