Savage Beloved (9 page)

She saw how his eyes went to the uneaten food, and then gazed questioningly at Candy.

As though he could read her mind, he bent to his haunches and removed the irons at her wrists.

“Eat,” he said, nodding toward the bowl of food.

Stunned that he had been thoughtful and understanding, Candy just stared into his midnight-dark eyes for a moment. Then when her stomach growled and she was reminded how hungry she was, she gave him a soft smile.

“Yes, I am terribly hungry. Thank you,” she murmured. She knew that after she was through eating, he would more than likely place the irons on her again, but for the moment she was free of them. For-getting
that he was there watching her, she ate ravenously.

While she was eating she was only scarcely aware that he had removed his knife from its sheath. But when he began slowly sharpening it on the dried-up leather of the razor strop, slowly slapping and sliding the blade up and down the strop, a sick feeling rushed through her. Why was he gazing at her golden hair?

Was he sharpening his knife so that he could scalp her?

Had he fed her her last meal before killing her?

Suddenly her appetite was gone. Gagging, she shoved the bowl away from her.

She felt icy cold when Two Eagles paused in his work, then carefully plucked a hair from his head and held it dangling in the air before him.

Candy gasped and felt faint when he suddenly swept the knife blade in a vicious swing, cutting the hair in half. Nodding, he went back to sharpening the knife on the razor strop.

Candy reached inside herself for all the courage she could muster and asked, “Why . . . are . . . you doing . . . that?”

Two Eagles ignored the question. Instead, he gazed at her as he left off sharpening his knife. He could not help noticing how slender and supple she was, her hips curving into a slim waist.

Her face was oval and delicate, with blue eyes that mesmerized him.

Her lips. Ah yes, her lips. They were perfectly
shaped and tempting; he found himself longing to taste the wonders of her lips.

And then there was the golden hair tumbling down her back.

Although Hawk Woman had the same color hair, it seemed more beautiful and lustrous on this tiny, fragile white woman.

But he reminded himself that no matter how much he admired her hair, soon it would be gone from her.

Candy sat rigidly still as she was scrutinized by this man who held her fate in his hands. She felt as though she were on display as his eyes lingered here and there on her, resting longest on her hair!

Oh, surely he did plan to scalp her!

Would she die immediately, or slowly bleed to death?

She wanted to shout at him that it was wrong to kill her. She was innocent of any wrongdoing against him or his people.

But she couldn’t.

She would not beg, not even for her life, for she would never forget the courage of the old man as he stood in the parade grounds being whipped, too dignified and proud to ask the soldiers to stop.

She would be just as dignified and proud!

She would show this young chief that she would never beg for mercy, not even at that moment when he touched her scalp with that horrid, sharp knife!

Her eyes widened in wonder when he began talking about his people, surely in an effort to distract her from what he was doing.

Candy tried hard to look attentive, while all along her heart was crying out to him to set her free!

She could ride to the next fort and seek refuge there. If Two Eagles agreed to let her go, she would promise not to tell anyone that it was he who had massacred everyone except herself at Fort Hope.

But she knew that her words would be wasted. She had to patiently wait to see what her final fate would be.

“The Wichita women are tilling the fields today around the plants that will soon be harvested,” Two Eagles said nonchalantly.

How could he be so casual about what was happening in this tepee, as though Candy were there just to be talked with, instead of his enemy and captive.

“After the final harvest of our corn, there is a great feast,” Two Eagles said as he went back to sharpening his knife. The blade occasionally caught the light of the fire, sending its glow into Candy’s eyes. “Corn is my people’s main food. It is sacred and called
aitra,
which means ‘mother.’ There is an ancient legend telling that when the plants fail to come up, the Wichita people will cease to exist.”

That made Candy’s eyes widen even more. She was surprised that these people’s lives seemed to be dictated by superstition. She listened, her curiosity making her momentarily forget her fear.

“When the first shoot of corn comes up, an old woman goes there to perform a rite of thanksgiving over the plant,” he said. “She rubs the plant with her hands in blessing, saying, ‘Oh, big bow,’ which
means corn stalk. Then she rubs a baby with her hands in a similar fashion, passing on the blessing from the plant to the child.”

He paused, smiled at Candy, then said, “Everyone is happy at the sight of the first plant.”

Candy was unable to sit still any longer. What he was telling her was interesting enough, but the constant sharpening of the knife finally unnerved and unraveled her.

“Go ahead!” she cried. “Scalp me! Get it over with! I can’t stand it any longer. Oh, please, just . . . do it . . .”

Two Eagles stopped and stared in disbelief at Candy. He was stunned that she actually thought he was going to scalp her.

But as he thought about it, he understood her fear.

There he was, sharpening his blade and occasionally looking at her beautiful hair. He could not help admiring the golden tresses. Surely it would feel like corn silk to the touch. He wanted so badly to run his fingers through it.

And he would.

Soon.

He would lay the locks he cut from her head in his hands. . . .

Suddenly Candy’s attention was drawn to a commotion outside.

When someone shouted that a wolf had entered the village, Candy and Two Eagles exchanged quick glances.

Laying the knife and razor strop aside, far enough away that Candy could not get to them, Two Eagles held the entrance flap aside. Outside, everyone was
moving aside as a wolf with singed fur and burned paws came limping toward the tepee. The creature did not act wild at all, but meek; it ducked its head and kept its tail tucked between its hind legs, only occasionally glancing up at Two Eagles.

Two Eagles knelt and reached his hand out to the injured wolf. It seemed to be coming to him, but then suddenly leapt past him and rushed into the lodge.

Candy gasped. “Shadow! Oh, Shadow, you are alive!” she cried. “Oh, Shadow, you found me.”

Two Eagles stepped back inside the lodge and watched the reunion of the wolf and the woman, stunned at the sight.

He went and knelt beside them.

“This is my wolf,” Candy murmured as she gently inspected Shadow’s singed fur and sore paws. “Oh, Two Eagles, she escaped both the arrows and the fire! She is alive!”

“You call the wolf by the name Shadow?” Two Eagles said softly, touched by the love between the woman and the animal.

He saw that the animal was of the red wolf family. They were generally brown and buff-colored, whereas most wolves in this area, except for the lone white wolf he occasionally saw, were gray.

“Yes, Shadow,” Candy said, feeling happy that one part of her former life had survived the terrible massacre. “A few years ago my father found a pup abandoned and afraid. He brought her home to me.”

She paused, then said, “I thought she was so beautiful with the reddish tint of her fur behind the ears,
on her muzzle, and on the back of her legs. She was like no wolf I had ever seen.”

She gave Shadow a hug, then continued, “I nursed the sweet thing to health, fed her, and named her. I called her Shadow because the wolf became my shadow, following me everywhere I went. Only recently have we been separated when she occasionally started heeding the call of the wild, going to join her own kind for several days at a time. But she always came back to me.”

Candy wiped tears from her eyes. “Just . . . as . . . she found me today,” she murmured.

Suddenly she recalled what Two Eagles had been doing just prior to Shadow’s arrival. She looked at the knife, and then glanced into the young chief’s midnight-black eyes.

Which masters Time indeed, and is
Eternal, separate from fears.
—Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Witnessing Candy’s love for the wolf, and the wolf’s love for her, Two Eagles was almost convinced of her goodness. He had always seen wolves as mystical, wise animals.

Yet he could not allow anything to get in the way of the vengeance he could achieve by holding her captive.

For now, however, he would not interrupt the reunion of animal and woman.

He slid his
nezik
, his knife, back inside its sheath and knelt down beside Candy.

Candy clung to Shadow, then looked up at Two Eagles. She glanced at the knife he had sheathed.

“My wolf’s paws need medicine,” she said softly. “Can . . . will . . . you do something for her?”

She hoped that Two Eagles could be distracted from what he had been about to do. She hoped that the longer she lived, the more he would doubt his decision to take her life in such a terrible way.

Never wanting to see an animal in pain, Two Eagles nodded, then left the lodge.

“I think he’s going to help you,” Candy murmured, gently hugging Shadow. “I’m so sorry, Shadow, for what happened to you. But . . . but . . . there was nothing I could do for you. I wasn’t even sure where you were.”

Shadow placed a paw on Candy’s arm as though she knew what Candy had said, whined softly, then turned her head and let out a low growl when an elderly Indian man came into the tepee with a large buckskin bag at his side. Two Eagles was right behind him.

“I have brought my people’s shaman,” Two Eagles said. “His name is Crying Wolf. He will treat your wolf’s paws.”

Hearing the shaman’s name, Candy wondered if he had some sort of affinity for wolves. If so, Candy hoped that this old man with the long, flowing, gray hair would treat her wolf gently and give her the best care he could.

“Thank you,” Candy murmured to Two Eagles. She didn’t take her eyes off the shaman as he took a vial from his bag.

She quietly watched Crying Wolf as he placed a
creamy substance on Shadow’s paws, then wrapped soft doeskin around them.

Crying Wolf gazed into Candy’s eyes. “Your wolf will be well soon,” he said in the same perfect English that the other Wichita people had used.

Shadow crawled onto Candy’s lap, snuggled against her, and was soon fast asleep.

“Thank you,” Candy murmured. “I so appreciate your kindness.”

Crying Wolf gave her a smile and a nod, then lifted his bag in his arms and left without another word.

Candy’s heart now thumped wildly inside her chest. She was alone again with Two Eagles. Anxiously, she waited to see what his next move would be.

When he pulled his knife from its sheath again and knelt in front of her, her hopes plummeted.

“I am going to cut your hair,” Two Eagles said, lifting the knife toward it.

“Do you mean that . . . you . . . are going to scalp me?” Candy gulped out, her hopes of living past the next few moments waning.

She could not help recalling how Hawk Woman’s eyes had gleamed when she had said Candy’s hair would look good on Two Eagles’s scalp pole.

A look of surprise entered Two Eagles’s eyes. “I am not going to scalp you,” he said. “I just want to cut your hair so that when you work in the fields with the Wichita women, you won’t be so noticeable.”

“You . . . aren’t . . . going to scalp me?” Candy said, sighing heavily. “When I saw you sharpening your knife, I thought it was because . . .”

“Do not say it again, for you were wrong,” Two Eagles commanded. He gazed at her hair, then reached out and touched it. “I do not like having to remove any of it. It is so soft, like a butterfly’s wings. But to ensure that you are not noticed by those who might come near my village, I must cut it.”

Relieved, Candy sighed heavily, then smiled. She would gladly part with a portion of her hair if it meant that she wouldn’t be scalped, even though she had always been proud of her long hair.

Knowing now that he wasn’t going to scalp her made Candy begin to hope that Two Eagles did not intend to harm her. Perhaps in time he would even release her.

“I understand,” she murmured. Then, with Shadow still sleeping on her lap, Candy closed her eyes as Two Eagles used his knife to cut her hair, one lock at a time.

When he was done, she opened her eyes and saw her hair laid out smoothly on the mat beside her.

She questioned Two Eagles with her eyes.

“It is yours to do with as you please,” he said. He then lifted the dress that he had brought into the tepee and handed it to her, along with the moccasins. “These are yours to wear. Change into them. You will join the women in the fields soon.”

She glanced down at the irons and chains, then up into his eyes. “Will I be forced to wear these while I help the women?” she asked guardedly, afraid to hear the answer.

“Yes,” he said flatly. “You are no less my enemy now than moments ago. I will step outside so that
you can change your clothes; then I’ll return and place the chains and irons back on you.”

Knowing that no matter what she said, she would still be chained, Candy watched Two Eagles step outside.

She gently laid Shadow aside.

Then she changed into the wonderfully soft dress and moccasins.

She reached up and touched the blunt ends of her hair.

“I wonder what I look like,” she whispered to herself, then flinched when Two Eagles came back into the lodge and placed the irons and chains back on her.

“I must leave now,” he said, standing over her. “I must go into council with my warriors. It is the time of the waxing of the moon, when people feel and think less narrowly. They are more giving.” He gazed at Shadow, then into Candy’s eyes. “This is also the time the wolf and coyote are more successful in hunting.”