Savage Beloved (25 page)

Shadow snuggled closer.

“Yes, you know, don’t you?” Candy said softly.

Having enough strength left to rearrange her blankets, Candy stretched out on the bed with Shadow next to her, snuggled as close as she could get.

“What must I do about that terrible woman, Shadow?” Candy whispered, her eyes slowly closing.

Candy just wasn’t certain yet whether she would tell Two Eagles about Hawk Woman’s latest act of hate. She would decide by the time he returned.

But for now, sleep was all that mattered to her.

As her eyes drifted closed, she was glad that Shadow was there to keep her safe while she slept. Hawk Woman wouldn’t dare try anything while Shadow was near.

Ah! Who shall lift that wand of magic power,
And the lost clue regain?
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Candy was awakened from a sound sleep by the distant howling of wolves. She leaned quickly up on an elbow, already aware that Shadow was no longer cuddling against her, as she had been when Candy had fallen asleep.

Instead she found Two Eagles sitting beside her bed, gazing lovingly at her. “You are home,” Candy murmured, starting to sit up, then stopping when she saw what he held in his hand. It looked like the bullhorn plant she had thrown outside.

Sitting up slowly, she looked at Two Eagles again as he held the plant out toward her.

“Why would I find this outside the entranceway?” he asked, glancing at the red welts on her arms. Even
with the creamy white medicine covering them, he could see how inflamed the bites were.

Then he searched her eyes with his.

Feeling uneasy, Candy was at a loss for words. She wasn’t yet ready to tell him what Hawk Woman had done. She realized she wanted to solve this problem with Hawk Woman herself. She needed to be the one to finally put her in her place!

He tossed the plant into the lodge fire, then reached behind him and brought a bag out for Candy to see. “Crying Wolf stopped me after I arrived home and told me of your problem with the ants,” he said. “He said he was not sure how you got bitten by them, but thought I might want to bring more of his special medicine for you to use before we retire for the night.”

“He is so kind,” Candy murmured, hoping that Two Eagles would not insist on knowing how she happened to have been bitten, or pursue the question of how the plant had wound up beside his lodge entranceway.

She felt careless now for having left it there. She should have burned all traces of the plant.

“Let me put the cream on now,” Two Eagles said. He opened a vial and dipped his fingers into the white liquid; when it dried, it looked like chalk on the skin.

Candy held one arm out and then the other as he gently applied the medicine to her bites. Then she lifted her skirt so that he could medicate those on her legs.

“You now know the dangers of being anywhere
near those ants, or the plant in which they live,” Two Eagles said, looking quickly into her eyes. “But something tells me I did not need to tell you that. I feel that someone else is responsible for this. Why do you not share the name with me? Or need I ask? It was Hawk Woman, was it not? She placed the plant in the tepee. You did not see it until it was too late and the ants were attacking you.”

Candy swallowed hard, lowered her eyes, then gazed into his again as he finished treating the last bite on her legs.

“I have no real proof who did it,” she said.

“No proof is needed,” Two Eagles responded. “You and I both know without proof, for I have seen Hawk Woman’s behavior toward you. Her jealousy is making her behavior even uglier.”

“Did you ever see her behave any better?” Candy blurted out, then wished she had held her tongue. She did not want to become vindictive like Hawk Woman.

She would not lower herself by such behavior. From now on, she would watch her words more carefully when she spoke of Hawk Woman to Two Eagles.

“I will warn her against her continued spiteful behavior toward you,” Two Eagles said, replacing the vial in the bag, to return it tomorrow to Crying Wolf.

Candy reached a quick hand to his arm. “No, please don’t,” she murmured. “It has become a ‘woman thing.’ Let we women work it out between us.”

“I could stop it now with only a few words,” Two Eagles said, reaching out and gently touching her on
the cheek. He was glad the ants had not ventured to her face.

“No, please,” Candy said. “Now that I know how much she resents me, I can be more careful.”

Then she reached for his hand and held it lovingly on her lap. “And how did you find things at Proud Wind’s village?” she asked softly. “Did they come through the locust attack as well as we?”

“No, they were not as fortunate,” Two Eagles said, sliding his hand free. He turned toward the fire and gazed into its dancing flames. “They had not yet harvested their crops. Most were destroyed.”

“How horrible,” Candy gasped. “What are they going to do?”

“There is always the hunt,” Two Eagles said, turning toward her again. “I plan to go on a hunt with my friend Proud Wind and help bring home much meat for his people. The women will prepare it so that it will last them the whole winter.”

“But they need more than meat for their survival,” Candy maintained.

“
Ho
, and they will have what they need,” Two Eagles said, turning toward the fire again and lifting a log into its flames. “Our harvest this year was one of the best we have ever had.” He turned slow eyes to her again. “We will give them half of what we have put into storage.”

Candy’s eyes widened. “But you already gave the white man so much,” she said softly. “Can your people truly chance losing any more? What if it is a much worse winter than usual? What would you do then?”

“I will estimate what we can risk giving away and what we must keep in case we do have a bad winter. Again meat will help fill my people’s stomachs, for my warriors are good hunters. I am not all that concerned about sharing food with my friend and his people,” Two Eagles said, confidence in his voice.

“When will you take food to Proud Wind and his people?” Candy asked, hating for him to leave again so soon.

She was uneasy that Hawk Woman had gotten the best of her today. What else might the woman decide to do to Candy?

Yes, she was afraid. But she wouldn’t let Hawk Woman know it, or Two Eagles.

She didn’t want him to feel that he must be with her every moment in order to keep her safe. She wanted to prove that she was not the meek and helpless woman her appearance made her seem. She might be petite, but she was strong enough to take care of herself.

“Many of my warriors are already on their way to Proud Wind’s village with food,” Two Eagles said.

“So you can stay with me tonight?” Candy said, glad she would not have to spend an entire night without him so soon after what Hawk Woman had done.

“For tonight,
ho
, I am here to stay,” Two Eagles replied. He wanted to make love with her, yet knew that as long as the welts were so painful on her skin, he would not touch her in that way.

He eyed the blankets, and then Candy. “I have already
bathed,” he said softly. “I am ready to sleep if you are.”

“Yes, that sounds good to me,” Candy murmured, then gazed at the closed entrance flap. “I just wish Shadow hadn’t left again.”

“How long has she been gone this time?” Two Eagles asked.

“I’m not certain,” Candy said, sighing as she stretched out on the blankets with Two Eagles soon beside her. “She was here when I fell asleep. And now she is gone.”

“I heard the wolves howling in the distance as I arrived back at the village,” Two Eagles said. “They were probably calling to Shadow even then.”

“I heard them, too, upon awakening,” Candy said. “Shadow couldn’t have been gone for very long. Surely she will come back soon.”

She wanted to snuggle up to Two Eagles, but the sores on her arms and legs were too uncomfortable for her to lie beside him.

Slowly her eyes closed and she felt the peacefulness that came when sound sleep was near.

“I will be leaving early tomorrow,” Two Eagles said, drawing Candy’s eyes open again.

“Where will you go?” she asked.

“On the hunt with Proud Wind,” Two Eagles said. He noticed the worried look in her eyes. “It is best that we hunt now in order for his people to prepare the meat before the sharp winds of winter come.”

“Of course I know I can’t go with you, so I won’t ask,” Candy murmured. She winced when she turned and a blanket brushed against her bites.
“Anyway, I’m not feeling well enough to go very far on a horse.”

“I’m certain you can find something to occupy yourself with while I am gone,” Two Eagles said. He leaned close to her and brushed a soft kiss across her lips. “But make certain Hawk Woman is nowhere near you.”

“Once we are married—” Candy began, but he interrupted her.

“Once we are married, Hawk Woman will finally know that she has to look elsewhere for a husband,” Two Eagles said firmly. “And it will have to be someone outside my village. There is not one man among my unmarried warriors who would want her in his bed.”

I regret little,

I would chance still less.
—Robert Browning

Restless with Two Eagles off on the hunt, Candy had decided to do something constructive with her time. She could not bear to sit in the tepee and wait for Two Eagles to come back home. She was walking in the woods to gather herbs to season their supper. She wanted to prove to him that she had learned which herbs were edible.

She knew now that although the Wichita’s basic foods were meat, corn, squash, and beans, there were many other plants, such as edible roots and greens, available near the village in the forest, along the riverbanks, and in the open fields.

She already knew that searching for food was a constant project, particularly among the women.

Her welts no longer burned, and she was not so afraid of Albert Cohen right now. The true threat to her well-being was back at the village.

Hawk Woman.

She was now constantly on Candy’s mind, for Candy knew that she had to be alert at all times in case that spiteful woman tried something else to harm her.

She sighed, for she felt safer away from the village while Two Eagles was gone than in it. She was finding this walk through the trees wonderfully relaxing.

“I will certainly surprise Two Eagles when he comes home tonight and finds a pot of greens cooking over the fire,” she whispered, proud that she now knew how to make a tasty meal.

But she had so much more to learn, and she would. After she was married, she wanted her chieftain husband to be fed well enough so he could perform his duties to his people.

She smiled almost wickedly when she thought about how he must have his strength for other things which included only his wife!

The sun was just barely making its way through the thickness of the trees overhead, looking like golden threads as it slanted downward. Candy walked on, occasionally looking over her shoulder to make certain she would not get lost, as she had that other time she had left the village alone.

She did not have Shadow to keep her company, for the wolf was still gone.

Candy wished there were a way to encourage her
pet to stay with her, but in the forest was a pure white wolf that had chosen Shadow as its mate. Now there was a bond between them that no one could break.

She wondered where the wolves were staying now that Spotted Bear was no longer living in his tepee. Surely they missed his company. When she had visited him this morning to see how he was doing, he’d told her that he missed the wolves.

But he was happy to be home among his people and would never leave again, not now that they, for the most part, accepted him among them.

She was glad that he had recovered from the illness that had caused his terrible fever. She would never forget the heat of his flesh against her hand that night.

His fever was gone now, and each day he was stronger.

She smiled as she thought about the food she would prepare over the fire for Two Eagles. She would take some to Spotted Bear as well. His people had worked together to erect a tepee for him. The women were kind to him, taking him food both morning and night, as well as water from the river.

Some warriors had taken Spotted Bear their buckskin clothes, so that he would not have to return to his home in the woods for his own.

That gesture of kindness proved just how glad the warriors were that one of their men had returned home, even though he had been scalped and left for dead.

He was no longer seen as a Ghost. He was Spotted Bear again.

Suddenly hearing Two Eagles’s warnings about leaving the village alone, Candy stopped when she found a thick bunch of delicious-looking greens.

She set her basket down and fell to her knees to begin gathering handfuls of the greens. When she felt she had enough of those, she began plucking herbs and placing them in the basket with the greens.

The aroma of flowers wafted to her, drawing her eyes to some wild roses climbing up the trunk of a huge oak tree. They were pink, tiny, and beautiful. She would have flowers awaiting her beloved’s return, as well as a good pot of food.

After gathering enough herbs, she went to the rose vine. It seemed a miracle that this part of the forest had been spared the terrible scourge of the locusts. It must have been the thick foliage on the trees that had saved the roses from the ravages of the insects.

She did see a dead locust here and there, and even an occasional one alive on a low tree limb, its round, beady eyes seeming to look through Candy.

She ignored the insects and was now contentedly plucking stems of roses, wincing when she pricked her fingers now and then with the thorns.

A movement nearby, the sound of a snapping twig, made Candy stop what she was doing. Had she grown too confident, maybe even careless?

Her heart thumping inside her chest, she slowly turned toward the sound.

Her heart seemed to fall to her feet when she saw the shadow of someone hiding behind a tree not far from where she stood frozen on the forest floor.