Sioux Slave (18 page)

This had been the longest, most terrifying night of Kimi's life, she thought as she rode in front of Lucky on his horse, her hands tied behind her.

How foolish she had been to go down near the creek alone where he could grab her. He had tied and gagged her, then carried her to his camp. Quickly he and his partners had loaded up and left the sleeping Sioux village. She had struggled for hours to slip from the rawhide thongs that bound her, but they held firm.

If only she could have gotten her mouth free to scream, but Lucky had double-checked the rag that gagged her. All she could do was utter soft moans, none loud enough for the sleeping Indians to hear as the three traders rode quietly out of camp and off into the darkness.

All night they had ridden at a gallop, fearing pursuit. They stopped only now and then for a moment to cool the lathered horses then remounted and rode on. Now Lucky held her close against him on the horse and laughed against her hair. “So little Injun gal, you think now you wish you'd stayed in your man's tipi, even while he made love to the Pawnee gal, eh? Your jealousy has gotten you into a whole heap a trouble.”

Kimi flinched, remembering. It would probably be morning before the tribe realized she was missing. Would Hinzi come? Too late, she remembered her fury, slapping his face. He might not bother to look for her. He might think she had gone with the traders willingly.

Buck looked behind him. “Damn it, Lucky, this time you went too far. Didn't you see that white Injun's face? He'll cut your gizzard open for this, and maybe ours, too.”

“Aw, quit worryin'. Brown Sugar's keepin' him occupied. Nobody will know she's missing for hours.”

“Shucks,” Tech said, “we been riding for hours. How long do you figure we'll have to ride before we're safe from them redskins?”

“Goddamn it! We don't dare relax yet,” Buck warned.

Lucky kissed up and down the back of her neck. She struggled to pull away, but he only laughed and pulled her up against his lean body. “Don't fight me, sweet stuff. You're helpless and dependent on my good will. I expect you to be very, very good to me when you get the chance.”

The other two laughed.

Tech said, “And to your old partners, too, Lucky, don't forget that.”

“She'll be very good to all of us–or else.” Lucky promised and ran his hands over Kimi's breasts. Even through the doeskin she felt the heat of them.

Kimi pulled away from his stroking hands and sat up stiff and straight in the saddle, letting him know she had no intention of cooperating.

He laughed again and nuzzled the back of her neck. “Sweet stuff, by the time we get finished, you'll be like that Pawnee: eager to please us so we won't beat you. Maybe sometimes we'll even give you a little whiskey.”

Too late Kimi felt pity for the Pawnee girl and what she must have survived the last few months in the ownership of this ruthless trio.

Buck said, “She's gonna be a little gold mine, ain't she? We'll make a pile of money off her from soldiers: They like half-breed gals.”

“Shucks, we gonna let Injuns use her, too?” Tech looked over at her. The lust in his hard eyes made her shudder.

“If they got some good furs and ponies to trade,” Lucky said and ran his hand over her body again.

Her doeskin shift had worked its way up so that he now had his dirty hand on her thigh. She tried to concentrate on her anger, what she would like to do to this trio if she had a knife or a gun and could work her hands free. It kept her from thinking about the inevitable time when the traders felt that they were far enough from the Lakotas to make camp.

He stroked her bare thigh. “Yes, sweet stuff,” he whispered against her hair, “when we finally make camp,
you
are going to entertain us. We'll see if you are as talented with your ripe body as Brown Sugar was.”

She protested against the gag, letting him know she would fight him when he tried to take her.

He only snickered. “Oh, but you will, Injun. The three of us are bigger than you are, so we will take your sweetness as a bee takes honey whenever and however often we want. Even if you tell the soldiers at some of the forts, none of them will pay any attention to the protests of a half-breed gal. They will be too eager to sample your charms themselves. All white men think of Indian girls as sluts to be used for their pleasure.”

Was that true? Kimi thought of Hinzi, asleep even now back at the Lakota camp with the voluptuous enemy girl in his arms. Had he enjoyed that girl as he had enjoyed Kimi? More importantly, had that Pawnee pleasured him more than Kimi had? He might not even be interested in getting Kimi back this morning. Well, her mother and some of the others would start a search.

 

 

They rode all night long, stopping now and then to rest the horses. Kimi was so tired from sitting on the horse that she kept nodding off, only to be jerked awake by Lucky's dirty hands fondling her. If only she could sleep. She knew that when they finally stopped to take a long rest, the three traders had plans for her. In her mind, she saw herself spread-eagled on a blanket under a scrubby tree, maybe two of them holding her down while another raped her. Then they would change places until all had been satisfied several times. After that, they would sleep and leave her tied up and smeared with their sweat and seed until they were ready to ride again.

They didn't stop at dawn, but kept riding, pausing now and then to rest the horses which were becoming noticeably weary. They rested only a few minutes at a time, eating in the saddle. While Tech and Lucky looked at her with increasingly lustful glances, Buck said, “Hold off. We don't have time to really enjoy her now; wait 'til sundown. By then we will be at our favorite camping spot.”

She had never been so thirsty in her whole life. No, that wasn't true. A memory came to her, bobbed in and out of her mind like a leaf on a stream. She had been thirsty then, too. Maybe it was only a hazy dream of a lifetime ago. Her tongue had seemed swollen so that she couldn't swallow. How old was she then? Kimi tried to grab hold of the allusive memory, but all she could remember was crying softly for water and a big man, a white man, patiently explaining that there was none. Water. They had to walk to water. Kimi was too small to walk. The man seemed so weak he could hardly stand up, yet he carried her. Hinzi? No, the image from the long ago memory had eyes as green as new grass. She tried to remember more but everything was lost in a blur of time and forgetfulness.
Kimimila, my love ... Oh
,
Kimimila
... Now why was the memory of a butterfly important? The handsome man muttered it over and over as he carried her, fell, got up, and stumbled on and on....

The images that came and faded like mirages in her mind had to do with another life. Kimi groped through mental shadows and cobwebs to put it all together. Thirsty, so thirsty ...

She was miserable, not knowing if she was asleep or half delirious as the troubled images came and went. Maybe she had only dreamed it all.

Kimi started, realizing she had dozed off from sheer exhaustion. All three of the dirty men were leering at her. Buck took the gag out of her mouth and offered her the canteen. Her mouth was so dry, she seemed to have no feeling in her tongue. Her hands were still tied behind her back, and he didn't untie her. He held the canteen to her mouth. The water sloshed down her face, dripped into the neck of her shift.

Lucky wiped his mouth. “I reckon I'll take a drink off what's drippin' down her neck.”

“No, you won't,” Buck frowned. “Later, when we got more time.”

Tech scratched his crotch slowly. “Shucks, for that one, I could make time.”

“Later,” Buck promised, “and she'll be very cooperative, won't you, sweet?”

“No, you son of a tick-bitten coyote!” Kimi snarled.

He reached to grab her bound hands, lifted them high behind her until it stressed her shoulders and caused her to flinch in pain. “Now you better learn to behave yourself, gal, so we won't hurt you. Right, Sioux slut?”

She was determined, but the pain was more than she could bear. “Yes, anything,” she gasped.

“See? Obedience is rewarded.” He let go of her wrists and she sighed with relief that the pain had stopped. “There will come a time, gal, when you will do anything we want-
anything,
because you know what will happen if you don't. Here, eat.” He spread some meat on a rock before her.

She looked up at him, waiting for him to untie her hands, but he only laughed and shook his head. “No, you will do the best you can or starve. Pride and dignity are not for a half-breed bitch who is to be used for men's enjoyment.”

She had never hated anyone as much as she hated the bearded, dirty man at this moment. Kimi hesitated, knowing he was expecting her to spit and curse so he could slap her around, deny her any food. It was tempting, so tempting. Now she knew how Hinzi had felt when she had chained and treated him the same way. He was so proud, and she had shamed and humiliated him, She felt her face burn with guilt. However, Kimi forced herself to contain her temper, knowing that if she did not eat she would gradually lose strength and be too weak to escape if she finally did get the chance. She must eat.

With a deep sigh, she knelt and began to eat the meat off the rocks. Her dress had pushed up high on her thighs and she wore nothing underneath, affording them a look at her thighs and the soft curves of her hips. As she leaned over to eat, she knew they also got a good view of her breasts in the low-cut front of her shift. It couldn't be helped. Her medicine object dangled out of the neck of her shift as she bent over the food. She would have to contain her anger, pretend to be docile, and watch for her chance.

She ate the food while the men smoked and watched her, laughing at her clumsy attempts to eat with her hands tied behind her.

“Shucks,” Tech breathed, “she's just in the position I like best–just like a mare, waitin' to be mounted–”

“Not yet,” Buck took a deep drag on his cigar. “Just keep thinkin' about how good it will be this evening when we finally camp. Then we've got all night long to share her around.”

All night long. Kimi tried not to shudder visibly at the images that brought to mind.

Lucky noticed the spirit object dangling from its rawhide thong. “What's this?”

He bent and took it in his hand, grinned. “Still warm from resting against your tits, sweet stuff, where I intend to sleep tonight. What is this?”

“It's my medicine charm. I've had it always.”

Lucky's face furrowed as he turned it over in his hand. “Wonder if it's gold? Lucky ain't my name for nothin'–”

“Gold? Naw!” Tech snorted and spat. “No Injun tart would have real gold around her neck; it must be just a cheap brass geegaw from some trader's store.”

“Yes, that's what it is,” Kimi hastened to say. She had never thought of it as possibly valuable. If it were, the men would take it away from her. She wasn't sure herself how she had come by the medicine object. Maybe old Otter had found it on a raid.

“See, slut?” Buck combed his tangled beard with his dirty fingers, “We do you a favor, let you keep this piece of junk for now.” He grabbed the thong that held the object and dragged her to her feet. The leather cut into her neck as he lifted her. “You don't seem near as full of fight as you was before, gal. Maybe you're already learnin' what is expected.” He reached for the gag again.

“Please,” Kimi blurted, “please don't gag me. I promise I won't scream.”

Lucky grinned. “Wouldn't do you no good no how, sweet stuff. We're miles now from anyone who would help you.”

The men chuckled knowingly. Abruptly, Lucky reached out, dragged her to him, and kissed her brutally. He shoved his tongue deep in her throat, bending her almost backward. She knew better than fight or bite him. She let him ravage her mouth for a long moment before he pulled back, breathing heavily, aroused desire in his hard eyes. “You taste good, all right. Bet you can be taught to do much more excitin' things with that hot little mouth.”

What he hinted at sickened her, but she managed to keep her face immobile.

“Shucks, I wanna kiss her, too,” Tech whined.

“Naw, no time for that now,” Buck shook his head as he took her away from Lucky, lifting her up to his horse and mounting up behind her. “It's my turn to handle her a little. Anything else has to wait 'til tonight,” he promised, putting his hand on her bare thigh. Kimi felt the heat of his dirty fingers on her skin and forced herself not to struggle. She must save her strength and cunning to try to escape later.

“ 'Tain't fair,” Tech said, “I ain't had no turn at holdin' her. You two are gettin' all the fun.”

“Remember I'm the one who brought both these sweet things in and shared them with my friends,” Lucky said, “so I should get to hold this one.”

Tech sided with him. “Yeah, that's true, Buck.”

“God damn, you act like kids with a toy,” Buck grumbled. “All right, Lucky.”

Lucky smiled as he reached for her. There was no use fighting him, she thought wearily. He held her tightly against him, his eager hand roaming her frame. He twisted her head around to kiss her. He smelled of stale whiskey. Kimi lost her temper and bit him, tasting his blood, hot and warm as he cursed and struck her. “Damned squaw! Can't be trusted no how!”

Half conscious, she slumped against him and felt his hot hands stroking her body as they rode on. Kimi's head hurt and her wrists were raw from being tied. She thought of the punishment her body would take when they finally camped tonight. She would either have to submit or be beaten half to death.