Silken Savage (22 page)

Across the way, Tanya saw two cavalrymen racing side by side, each with an infant held at arms length. Her heart exploded in her chest as she saw the men fling the babies to the ground, laughing as their tiny skulls shattered like ripe melons.

Her startled gaze caught at the familiar figure of Forest Fern, now heavy with child. She watched in terror as a horseman dashed by, neatly slicing open Forest Fern’s bulging stomach with his sword. She fell writhing to the ground, her unborn babe spilling from her stomach. Tanya gagged and turned away.

The gruesome spectacle was only one of many so horrible that Tanya’s mind could not tabulate them all. Wave after wave of soldiers poured into the village, Cheyenne bodies were lying everywhere, unbelievably mutilated, some with no heads, others with stomachs ripped open, many with crushed bodies and skulls.

The noise beat at Tanya’s ears, as the sights sickened and outraged her. Screams of wounded and dying friends; incessant gunfire; yelling, laughing soldiers; horses; bridles; the clank of swords and bayonets. The attack had come so suddenly. Most Cheyenne had been sleeping; none were prepared.

Some of the warriors, such as Panther and Winter Bear, were away at neighboring camps. More had not made it back from the latest hunt. As Tanya watched, unable to tear her eyes from the holocaust, she saw a handful of warriors making an escape of horseback. They would bring back help; if there was anyone left to rescue. Tanya did not blame the warriors for not staying to fight. By now they were vastly outnumbered, their fellow braves lying slaughtered throughout the camp. They would never willingly desert their people, but their only hope now came in recruiting help.

Hope flared as Tanya recognized Shy Deer and her infant escaping with the warriors. Perhaps there was still a chance she and her sons could do the same. She turned to call for Melissa and found the girl right behind her, gazing dumbfounded at the massacre taking place outside.

“God, Tanya!” Melissa whispered in awe. “I’ve never seen anything so horrid!”

Tears slipped silently down Tanya’s cheeks. “And they call us savages!” she hissed, wanting desperately to vomit.

“Come, get the boys, and let’s see if we can escape this madness. If Shy Deer got away, maybe we can too.”

The words were no sooner out of her mouth than she heard shooting and shouts near Black Kettle’s tipi. Watching, she saw Black Kettle and Woman-To-Be-Hereafter running toward the river, chased by several soldiers on horseback. They almost made it. Just as they stepped into the freezing water, Tanya saw their bodies jerk almost simultaneously, and they fell face-first into the water. Riders trampled their bodies, and after several minutes, Tanya knew they were dead. Turning her head, she saw George Bent standing at gunpoint, gazing stunned at the bloody body of Blue Horse at his feet.

“We’ll never make it out of here,” Melissa predicted.

“I’m going to try,” Tanya told her, fighting a wave of nausea.

“Look!” Melissa cried excitedly. Tanya followed where the girl pointed. At a place near the edge of the melee, Nancy and Suellen stood, flanked by several soldiers. Suellen shook her head, and then Nancy pointed directly to Tanya’s tipi.

“Oh, damn!” It was the first English word Melissa had heard Tanya utter in nearly two years.

Melissa was torn between loyalty toward Tanya and a desperate desire for freedom. “What are we going to do?” she asked.

“You do whatever you have to, Missy. This is your chance for rescue. I am going to see that no harm comes to my children… or die trying.” Tanya gathered her baby to her breast and Hunter tightly against her side. Solemnly she drew her knife and held it ready before her.

Tense seconds ticked by before the lodge flap was jerked aside. Two blood-splattered soldiers burst into the tipi, their swords drawn. Looking about they saw only the two white women and the children and lowered their weapons.

“You girls can come out now. Your friends told us we’d find two more white captives in here. You’re lucky she said something before we set fire to the tent.”

Tanya didn’t move a muscle. She just stood glaring at the men.

One man stepped toward her, his blood-stained hand held out. Kit, who had been silently guarding Tanya, rose to her feet, snarling, her tail lashing.

“Holy shit!” the man cursed as he jumped back. “I thought it was a damned rug! Call that cat off, lady.”

Tanya spoke tersely in Cheyenne and Melissa interpreted, “She said, come any closer and she’ll tell the cat to kill you.”

The soldiers gaped at Tanya in amazement. “Now wait a minute here. We’re here to help you. Don’t you understand?”

Another soldier entered the tipi. “What’s going on in here, soldier?” he demanded to know. “You were told to collect any prisoners from the tents.”

“This one won’t leave.” The first soldier pointed to Tanya.

The officer turned toward Tanya for the first time. Shock registered on his handsome fair features. “My God! Tanya!” He started toward her, and again Kit snarled. He stopped, unsure of what to do as Tanya stared holes through him.

“You know this woman, lieutenant?” The lieutenant nodded.

“Then maybe you can get her to call off that cat. This other girl says she’ll sic him on anyone who comes near.”

The lieutenant’s gaze shifted to Melissa. “Who are you?”

Melissa bristled at his sharp tone. “I think a better question is, who are you and how do you know Tanya?”

“I’m Lt. Jeffrey Young. I’m Tanya’s fiance.”

“I’m Melissa Anderson. I’m her friend.”

Tanya spoke for the first time since Jeffrey had entered the tipi. “Tell them to leave, they defile my home,” she instructed in Cheyenne.

“She wants you to leave.”

Jeffrey was stunned. “What have they done to her?” he whispered, his gaze swivelling from Tanya to Melissa and back. “Doesn’t she recognize me? Tell her to speak English.”

Tanya snarled out a guttural reply, and Melissa shifted uncomfortably.

“What did she say?” Jeffrey demanded.

Melissa turned red. “I believe its English equivalent would be ‘go to hell.’ ”

“This is ridiculous.” Jeffrey combed his fingers through his blond hair, confused. “Doesn’t she realize we’re here to rescue her?”

Melissa had started to shake in reaction to the morning’s events, but she formed an answer of her own. “Perhaps she doesn’t want to be rescued. Maybe she is sickened by your tactics, just as I am. We watched you ride through the village, murdering defenseless women, ripping people apart with your bayonets, smashing babies like toy dolls, splattering guts and brains and blood everywhere!” Her voice rose as her hysteria mounted. “You didn’t even know we would be here when you attacked the village. It’s pure luck your bullets didn’t kill us as they crashed through the tipi. If Tanya hadn’t instructed me to stay down and protect the children, I could be dead right now.” Melissa choked on her tears and was unable to say more.

It was as if this was the first Jeffrey had been aware of the children. He stared as if they were lepers. “Tell her to give them to Hanes and Billhart. They’ll take care of them.”

Tanya’s eyes shot golden flames as she raised her knife to her chest.

“She’ll kill herself before she lets you harm her sons,” Melissa warned.

His face white, Jeffrey looked as if he’d been shot in the stomach. “What did you say?” he choked out.

“She’ll kill herself and her sons before she’ll give them up to you,” she repeated. “And I’ll help her. We’ve seen what fine care you give to children!”

“What a bloody mess!” one of the soldier’s muttered. “Just shoot the damned cat, grab the brats, and let’s get going!” The man drew his pistol.

Jeffrey stared at Tanya. Finally he spoke. “Melissa, explain to her if you can that she must come with us. The corporal will shoot the cat if he has to. There is no need for her to harm herself. If she wants to bring the children,” he could not bring himself to admit aloud they were her sons, “she can. No one will take them from her.”

To Tanya he said, “There are too many of us for you to fight, Tanya. Can you understand me? I don’t know what you’ve been through to make you this way, but it must have been terrible for you. No one will hurt you. You’re safe now. We’ll get you back to your family in Pueblo, and things will be better, I promise. They are waiting for you, Tanya. None of us gave up hoping we would find you.” His words were soft and hurt, meant to reach her through her shock.

Tanya sighed tiredly. He was right about one thing. There were too many of them for her to fight, and above all else, Panther must find all alive and healthy when he came for them. That Panther would come for them, she had no doubt. “Tell him I will come, but first I must pack a few things for the journey.” Tanya refused to speak English.

Melissa related the message, and everyone visibly relaxed.

“We’ll wait outside. You have five minutes.” The men left.

Tanya packed a leather bag with clothes for herself and the boys. She strapped Mark-of-the-Archer into his cradleboard and bundled him and Hunter into thick furs against the cold. For herself she took the necklace and armbands Black Kettle and Woman-To-Be-Hereafter had given her at her adoption, and the cougar-claw necklaces, both hers and Panthers. She knew the tipi would be fired and everything she wanted must be taken now. Her wristbands she always wore, but she packed the headbands Panther and Shy Deer had made her and her panther-fur purse. In addition, she packed a change of clothes for Panther, and his favorite headbands, thinking he would want them when he rescued her. His weapons and cougar coat he already had with him. Her own hooded wrap she took down from its peg.

Tanya’s heart was breaking and her eyes glistened with tears as she looked about her at the tipi that had been her home for two and a half years. There were the hides she’d worked on this past summer, and the furs and the pouches of food. There was the cradle Panther had labored over so lovingly, and the pallet where they had shared so many passionate nights. She had learned to love Panther here in this tipi. It was here Panther had made her a woman, here she had conceived her sons, here she had given birth to Hunter. With one long, last look, she turned her back and followed Melissa outside.

Heads swiveled and stayed to watch as Tanya walked through the village, with Mark in his cradleboard on her back, Hunter on her hip, and Kit at her side. Head held high, she followed Jeffrey through the destruction, stubbornly hiding her revulsion at the sights she passed. Her anger she didn’t bother to hide, though it too, showed only in her flashing eyes and flared nostrils.

Jeffrey found a place for her and Missy away from the others, and posted a guard over them.

“Is he supposed to protect us or prevent us from sneaking away?” Tanya asked snidely, with a sidelong glance at the guard.

Melissa shook her head wearily. “I don’t know, Tanya. Both, perhaps.”

The soldiers were looting the tipis before burning them. The Indians’ simplified way of life lent little of monetary value other than some items of jewelry, but each soldier wanted at least one memento of their victory. Some were satisfied to find handsomely decorated clothing to take home. Tanya wanted to scream out in protest as she saw one sergeant proudly displaying Shy Deer’s wedding dress.

Her dismay and anger found new, more warranted fuel soon enough. To her horror, and Missy’s, she watched in shock as the crazed, blood-lusting men cut the breasts from the bodies of dead Cheyenne women and the privates from the men. Laughing and waving them about, they told how they would have purses and tobacco pouches made of them.

Melissa turned away and vomited, crying out hysterically, “Oh God, make it stop! Make it stop!”

Tanya envied Melissa the release of emotions. She too, wished she could rant and rave with anger and grief, but at the moment it seemed her body was frozen of all ability to move and feel. Each time she blinked, she thought her body would shatter into sharp, bleeding bits. The muscles of her face were taut as bowstrings and her jaw was clenched so tight her teeth ached.

Part of Tanya’s mind seemed to be functioning apart from her body. She saw and understood all that was going on around her. It was as if her mind were painting sharp, detailed portraits of each heinous act her eye beheld. Even as she was revolted by all of it, a safety valve in her brain kept a constant message ticking in her head. “This is a dream! None of this is real! It can’t be! I’ll go crazy if I know it’s real.” Even the sudden appearance of Jeffrey seemed unreal. While once she had prayed for him to rescue her, now all she wanted was for him to go away and take all the other men with him. Any tender feelings she had held for him dissolved in the wake of this monstrous massacre. Vaguely she wondered how many of her friends he had killed. He had come, with others, to murder and pillage and turn her world into a nightmare. She hated him at this moment, and knew she would never forget his participation in this murderous act and never forgive him for parting her from Panther.

Every minute seemed to last a lifetime. Finished with the looting now, the men started throwing everything else they could find into a huge pile in the center of the demolished village. Tipis, furs, hides, food, cooking utensils, clothes, even some bodies were thrown together. Tanya watched silently as the cradle Panther had made was thrown carelessly into the heap.

When there was nothing left to add, the men set fire to it. The flames shot high into the sky, and black smoke darkened the morning sky.

“It’s not even midday yet,” Tanya muttered inanely. “The world has gone completely crazy in the space of a few hours.”

“Yes,” Melissa agreed incredulously, “and we’re the only ones who know it.”

As cold, wet, and snowy as it was outdoors, the heat of the huge bonfire made it seem like summer. The stench emitted from it was overpowering. Dark clouds of smoke billowed endlessly upward.

It was soon after the fire had been lit that Tanya became aware of a new tension in the air. Several of the men were gesturing excitedly toward the top of the bluff that rose to one side of the encampment. Curious, Tanya rose and walked to where she could see. The guard followed closely, and Tanya clutched her children protectively to her. Kit and Melissa closed rank.