Savage Skies (24 page)

“My grandfather gave it to me to present to the woman I chose to marry,” Blue Thunder said.

“Then it was . . . your . . . wife's?” Shirleen asked, gazing into his dark eyes.

“My wife had already died,” Blue Thunder said softly. “My grandfather encouraged me to take another wife soon, not pine away for the one I had lost. My grandfather said that the necklace should be worn by that wife.”

“It is so beautiful,” Shirleen murmured, again looking at it and truly loving it.

“My grandfather was a wise man,” he said. “He was right to encourage me to take another wife. He has joined his wife in the heavens, but I wish he was here to see the one I have chosen to be my bride. He would have smiled at my choice.”

“Even though I am white?” Shirleen asked, searching his eyes.

“It is not always the color of one's skin that is important,” Blue Thunder said, stepping behind her and fastening the necklace in place. “It is one's heart that matters the most, and, my woman, yours is a good and caring heart. You will make the perfect wife for this Assiniboine chief.”

Touched to the very core of her being, Shirleen reached up and placed her fingers on the necklace that now hung so beautifully around her neck. Blue Thunder came around and stood before her to admire it.

He gently touched her cheek. “It is rightfully
yours,” he said thickly. “A beautiful necklace for a beautiful woman.”

“I shall proudly wear it,” Shirleen said, smiling into his eyes. “When you are called away from our home for some reason, the necklace will make me feel as though you are still with me.”

Their lips met in a long, sweet kiss.

“I love you so,” she whispered against his mouth.

And I will make thee a bed of roses,
And a thousand fragrant posies.

—Marlowe

Blue Thunder awakened with a start when a voice spoke from outside his tepee.

He looked at Shirleen and saw that she still slept, so he rose as quietly as possible from their bed of blankets and pelts.

He had worn a breechclout to bed so he was able to go directly to the entrance flap, but he stopped just before opening it. He had remembered there was someone else in his lodge now besides himself and Shirleen.

He crept over to where he had hung the privacy blanket and pulled a corner of it aside. Megan was asleep on her side, a blanket snuggled in her arms.

A love he had felt the instant he had first seen Megan swept through his heart again as he looked at her.

Her father had put her through a lot.

Blue Thunder vowed he would make all of that up to her.

Not wanting to keep his scout waiting any longer, especially since he was anxious to hear what Proud Horse had to report about the riverboat's arrival and departure, he stepped lightly to the entrance flap. There was no way he was going to allow that heartless demon leave the area. Earl Mingus must pay for his evil ways, and Blue Thunder was going to make certain he did!

He stepped quickly outside, to find that the sky had cleared and a half moon hung low in the sky where a short while ago lightning had flashed from cloud to cloud.

He could still smell rain in the air. Everything was dripping wet with it, which meant that the downpour had stopped only a short while ago.

“My chief, I bring news of the riverboat,” Proud Horse said.

“Tell me what you found out,” Blue Thunder said, placing a gentle hand on his scout's shoulder. His fringed buckskin jacket was still damp, proving that he had traveled through the rain in order to get back to his chief quickly with the news.

“The river has risen quite high,” Proud Horse said. “It is impossible for the riverboat to go as close to the fort as it usually does. Word is that it will go just so far, then stop and wait for the passengers to walk to it. That will give us more time to get to the riverboat.”

“That is good news for more than one reason,” Blue Thunder said, smiling. “It will make it much easier to grab Earl Mingus than if we had to take him captive so close to the fort.”

“But we must leave soon, because the riverboat is not far downriver from where it will stop to wait for its passengers,” Proud Horse said, his eyes eager. “If you wish, my chief, I will go now and awaken the warriors who will ride with us.”

“Do it quickly as I ready myself for travel,” Blue Thunder said. “I want to be certain we are there waiting in the darkness of the forest when Earl Mingus takes his walk to the riverboat. While others are not watching, we will grab him and take him away.”

“You will kill him?” Proud Horse asked.

“We will get far enough away from the fort, then do what we must to the man who has made my woman suffer in the worst ways possible. I have learned that he is also the one responsible for my beautiful wife's death,” Blue Thunder ground out. “His death will not come soon enough for me, but first . . . he must be made to suffer before he takes his last breath of life.”

He looked over his shoulder at his tepee, where his woman and her child still innocently slept, then turned back and spoke quietly to Proud Horse. “Tell my warriors that we must leave with as much silence as possible,” he urged. “I do not wish to disturb my woman before we leave. I would rather she sleep as long
as she can before finding me gone. The killing of this evil man must also be done in silence. Tell the warriors to arm themselves with powerful bows and arrows, but also take their rifles in case they are needed.”

He kneaded his chin as he again gazed over his shoulder at the closed flap. “On second thought, I think I will awaken Shirleen,” he said, slowly nodding. “But I will not tell her the true reason we are riding from the village. I would rather she not be aware of what we are doing. It would fill her heart with dread. If she does not know where we are going, she will be free to have a wonderful day with her daughter.”

“What will you tell her?” Proud Horse asked, resting a hand on his sheathed knife at his right side.

“I am not one who lies easily, but today I must use a lie to keep trouble and fear from my woman,” Blue Thunder replied. “I will tell her we are going on a hunt for buffalo that have been sighted nearby.”

He smiled ruefully. “In a sense that will not be a lie, for we will be on a hunt, but not for buffalo. Instead we will be hunting a man with a cruel, dark heart,” he said tightly. “You go. Awaken the warriors. Tell them to ready themselves. I will join you all as soon as I talk to my woman and arm myself for travel.”

“It is the same as done,” Proud Horse said, stepping away from Blue Thunder.

“Ask them to tell their wives the same thing I
am telling Shirleen, so that their wives will not know anything different from what my woman will be told,” Blue Thunder instructed.

“They will be told,” Proud Horse said, nodding.

Blue Thunder watched for a moment as Proud Horse went first to one tepee and then another.

He was proud to have such dutiful warriors, for each, after being told the plan, went back inside his tepee to arm himself and to explain their mission to his wife.

Blue Thunder went back inside his tepee. He found Shirleen just rising from their bed.

He stood there for a moment just looking at her.

Before she had gone to bed, she had taken one of her cotton gowns from the clothes that had been brought to her. It had white lace sewn onto its bodice. Her long red hair was hanging across her shoulders, and there was a look of peace in her eyes as she caught him standing there, watching her. He was overwhelmed with such an intense love for her, he was momentarily rendered speechless.

Shirleen saw the reverent way he was looking at her. She saw such longing in his eyes, it melted her heart. She went to him and twined her arms around his neck as she pressed herself against him.

“I love you,” she murmured. “Thank you again, my handsome chief, for all that you have done for me.”

She sweetly kissed him as he brought his
muscled arms around her, his body straining hungrily against hers as he returned the kiss.

He had never felt such a strong, urgent need for a woman, but he had other things that demanded his attention today.

Making love with his woman must come later!

He gently slid away from her.

He framed her face between his hands as he gazed adoringly at her. “My woman, I was awakened by Proud Horse,” he said, ready to tell the necessary lie. “He has brought news of a buffalo sighting. The rising rivers, creeks, and streams have pushed them closer to our village. Although there are many other things that are important to do, we cannot turn our backs on easy meat and hides. I am certain you understand why I must leave you so early this morning.”

“Yes, I understand,” she said softly. She was keenly aware of how many buffalo had been killed by white men to keep the Indians from having the pelts and meat for their families.

Shirleen had seen such a kill on her way to Wyoming, and was stunned that the slaughtered buffalo had been left upon the ground to rot. She had been horrified by the cruelty and wastefulness of the act.

“I see a future where there will be no buffalo left for the red man,” Blue Thunder said thickly, as though he had read Shirleen's mind. “The white men are seeing to that by killing them off and not even taking their pelts
or meat. They are purposely causing the buffalo to dwindle down to almost nothing because they do not want the red man to be able to hunt the animal. They believe that if the buffalo disappear, so will the red man.”

He brushed a soft kiss across her lips, then smiled at her. “When I return, I will bring home a prime catch just for you,” he said, thinking that he was not actually lying. He would be bringing a prime catch for her, but it had nothing to do with buffalo. He would not actually be bringing Earl Mingus to her, but instead the news that the man's evil had been stopped forever; that she could live a peaceful life from then on.

His smile faded. “Tomorrow, if the ground is dry enough, there will be burial rites for my uncle,” he said. “We will say a final good-bye to a man who has meant so much to me and my people.”

“I will be at your side as you bury him,” Shirleen murmured. “That is, if you will allow me to attend a function that no white person has attended before.”

“You are a part of my life now, and a part of my people's. It would be only right that you are with me as my uncle is laid to rest,” Blue Thunder said. Then he moved past her and changed quickly into a buckskin shirt and leggings, sheathing a knife at his waist, positioning his quiver of arrows on his back, then taking up his bow and sliding it over his left shoulder. Then he picked up his rifle and was ready to go.

He could hear voices outside his lodge and horses' hooves, and knew that his warriors were waiting for him.

“I must go now,” he said as he again brushed Shirleen's lips with kisses. “I shall return with a smile on my face over what I will catch today for you and Megan.”

“I will be eagerly waiting, but not for the buffalo. For you, my love,” Shirleen said, flinging herself into his arms and fiercely hugging him. “I will miss you.”

“As I shall miss you,” he said. He gave her another soft kiss, then turned and left the tepee.

He didn't go right to his horse, but instead to his aunt's lodge.

He stepped inside and found her busy cooking over her lodge fire. He went and knelt beside her, then told her the truth of where he was going, and why, but asked her not to tell Shirleen.

Instead, he asked Bright Sun to go and keep his woman company this day.

After his aunt agreed, he gave her a hug, then kissed his daughter and hurried outside to his saddled horse. Moments later he was riding away from the village with his warriors.

Shirleen had stepped from the tepee and watched his departure, but had also seen him go to his aunt's lodge before he left.

She had wondered why he had taken time to speak with his Aunt Bright Sun, then thought surely it was to promise her food from the hunt. Shirleen knew that his aunt was his responsibility,
especially since Bright Sun now kept his daughter in her lodge, being the mother Little Bee no longer had.

Shirleen went to sit beside the fire, eager for Megan to awaken. But her child must have been extremely tired, for she still slept as deeply as she had the moment her little head had hit the comfortable pelts and blankets.

Shirleen glanced at the closed entrance flap. She realized how silent the village had become since the warriors' departure. It was as though the whole world had gone quiet until the warriors returned.

Then she heard a familiar and welcome voice. Aunt Bright Sun was outside the tepee asking for permission to enter.

Shirleen rose and hurried to the entrance flap.

She held it aside, smiling from ear to ear. She was happy not only for the food that Bright Sun had brought to her on a wooden platter, but also because Little Bee was with her. As usual she was clinging to her special doll, made exactly like the one the child had so sweetly given to her for Megan.

“Come inside,” Shirleen said, stepping aside. The tantalizing smell of the food made her stomach growl.

“I have brought food and Little Bee,” Bright Sun said as she set the tray beside the fire.

Shirleen smiled at Little Bee as the girl stood beside Bright Sun, staring at Shirleen.

“Has your child not awakened yet?” Bright
Sun asked, looking questioningly at the blanket that hung from the lodge poles. “Is she asleep behind the blanket?”

Suddenly a little head peeked around a corner of the blanket; then Megan rushed to her mother.

She wore a cute nightgown, with designs embroidered on it, which Shirleen had put on her while she slept.

Shirleen wove her fingers through Megan's thick, blond hair, straightening it as best she could. She would brush it later.

“Sweetie, we have company,” Shirleen said, smiling. “The child's name is Little Bee and the woman is Aunt Bright Sun.”