Sweet Savage Surrender (48 page)

Hot-blooded Indian girls!
  He was so smug, so sure of himself. The loathsome
snake! How
she
hated this arrogant man. She wanted to scratch his eyes out, to spit in his face.  What would make him think that she would ever
have anything to do with him?

He tried to kiss her
again, but s
he moved her head from side to side
, closing her mouth tightly to escape his probing tongue.
Finally he managed to plant a slobbery k
iss upon the side of her mouth.

“Come on. Come on. Fight me. I like that. Show some fire.”

Skraven panicked. What could she do? If she screamed, nobody would hear her. This place was too far
away fr
om the main stream of activity.  She was helpless, and the feeling was demoralizing.

“Well, come now, let’s get started. We must be quick about this.”
He relaxed his hold on her momentar
ily to
unbutton
his trousers.  In that moment s
he remembered the knife. After cutting the knot
on the laundry bag
,  she had placed it inside the  canvas bag
, which lay now
by her left elbow. 
She could retrieve it if she were quick. With that thought, Skyraven positioned herself to reach the knife, then with her right hand, she carefully drew the weapon forth while he was looking down.
By the time he looked up again, she was prepared to  lash  out at him with all her fury. 

“What the…..?”
She plunged the knife into his arm several times
, then
ran from the laundry room like the
marauding
coyotes
were right at her heels.  She was blurry eyed from both the fr
ight and the tears that stung her eyes.  N
ot watching where she was going
,
she ran right into the arms of a short, stout soldier
, dark-haired soldier, the man she had seen watching her from
afar
.

“Whoa, there Skyraven…..”
  Lieutenant Sam Dunham had stayed at the sutler's store
a
little longer than he had planned
, drowning his remorse at the major’s certain fate. Just didn’t seem fair that a man like that would meet such a ghastly end. Now he was on his way back to his quarters when the young woman he recognized all too well came flying into his arms as if from out of nowhere.
Looking down he saw she was holding a knife and that she was aiming it at him.  "Whoa.  Skyraven....."  He gasped as her arm came forward.

Chapter Fifty

             
"Skyraven, don't!"  The imploring tone in his voice caused Skyraven's 
reason to return.  This man who
knew her name was no enemy.  Slowly she lowered the knife.  "That's better....!"  Lieutenant Sam Dunham held the trembling girl in his arms
, listening to her frantic babbling until she had
calmed down
, then he drew her with him to hide behind a building, sensing that she was in some kind of trouble. “There, you see, Skyraven, I won’t harm you..

Skyraven took a deep breath, fighting to compose herself.
"How do you kno
w my name?" she asked at last.

"Because I am a fr
iend of Major John Hanlens." 

She stiffened.  "He told you about me?"  She averted her eyes so that he would not see her pain.  "He betrayed me.  He  led my people to the camp groun
ds near the fort and then...."

"No, he didn't betray you.  He tried to persuade Colonel Chivington not to do what was done
,
but the old bastard didn't listen to reason.  John loves you ver
y much and loves your people."

Skyraven pulled herself out of his embrace.  "He loves my people so much that he came wi
th the soldiers to kill them."

"No
, that’s not true."

"I saw him with my own eyes.  There in the middle of the camp, fighting with one of the Indian braves."  Even now it made her heart ache to talk about it.

             
"He might have been there
,
but he did not come with the soldiers.  He came afterwards to try and save
you
.  I know.  He told me what he was going to do."  Quickly Sam revealed the story of John's confinement to the fort
.
  "He rode out with the intention of saving you and doing what he could to save your people.  And as punishment he was
taken prisoner by his chief."

"Prisoner?"  Skyraven wasn't certain what to believe, her eyes and what she
had seen or this man's story.

"He got away when a band of Indians attacked his captors.  Even then he didn't think of his own well-being but returned to your camp in search of you.  There he found your Indian friend and her baby and took them  with him up to the Smokey Hills to join the survivors of that....that killing spree.
”

"He took Desert Flower back
?
Then she  and Big Bear are safe
?” It must be true or how would this man know about her Indian friend. She had been so certain John Hanlen had deceived her. Now to find that he had placed himself in such danger for her was a balm to her soul.

"Yes."

"And John
Hanlen?"  She held her breath.

"He c
ame back to the fort when he learned from Desert Flower that you had been taken by the soldiers.  Now he is a prisoner again
,
and the same chief who killed your peopl
e has condemned him to death."

"No!"  Skyraven put her hand t
o her throat.  It could not be. To have learned that her soldier had escaped death only to be killed now was too great a shock.

"Yes.  He was given a trial but the deck was stacked against him.  A verdict of guilty was given out."  The anger that Sam felt glowed in his eyes.  "His execution is planned
  in two sunrises."

"Execution?"

"
He’ll go before a firing squad. They’re going to shoot him.”
             

"No,
it can not be."  But n
ow Skyraven realized why she hadn't seen him around the fort.  John Hanlen was in the soldier's cage.  "
Since he is there because he sought to save me, I must in turn save his life.”

Sam shook his head.  "No, there is no way.  God knows I've tried.  I've even written to his father but...." 

He peered around the corner.  "Sedgwick!  Another one of the vultures.  He did what he could to put a bullet in the Major's heart."   Skyraven paled as he spoke the name.   "Say, is that who you are running away from?"  She didn't even have to answer
. From the look of horror on her face, he knew at once.
  "Shhhhh, he's
coming this way."

Sam blocked her slim form from view with his girth just
in case Sedgwick looked over, but he didn't, only
muttered beneath his breath as he held a
blood-soaked
towel tightly around his left arm.  In that moment Sam knew what must h
ave happened.

"You did that?"

"Yes.  He...he tried to...to...and all I could
think of was the...the knife."

"Whew!  Skyraven, pretty little girl, you are in a heap of trouble.  Nearly as much so as John.  With Sedgwick feeling as he does about Indians h
e'll have your ears."

"Oh no!"  Skyraven put her hands over her ears.  She took him literally, having witnessed some of the soldiers taking such bodily parts
with scalps as a prize of war.

"Well, at least he'll be screaming for your punishment," Sam said gently, seeing the stark terror written in her eyes.  "How are we going to get you out of this trouble
you've gotten yourself in to?"

"I do not care about me. On
ly about John."

Sam sighed.  "Strange, what love can do.  He always says the same damned thing
about you.
."  He cautiously looked around the side of the building, then pulled his head quickly back.  "He's going on up the road
,
but he keeps looking back.  We will have to remain here until it is safe for us to go on
. 
I don't know where I can take you
then
.
He’s going to have every nook and cranny guarded. My
quarters are in the officer's section, but ...."  It would have to do, at least unti
l they could make other plans.

A timber wolf somewhere across the river gave a deep throated mournful howl. Skyraven looked at Sam with despair in he eyes, fearful that the wolf's woeful voice was crying her doom.  It was a bad omen. 
             

"I must get free from here
. And….and I must take John Hanlen with me
."

He shook his head. “You
are
talking about miracles. There is just no way.” And yet looking into her face he found himself believing anything was possible. Somehow, the way Skyraven held her head, the way she walked, even the tone of her voice inspired him with confidence. “I’ll help you in any  way I possibly can,”
Sam
assured
her.

"I have an idea.  An old Indian trick..."  Skyraven
whispered her plan in his ear.

"What?
”
  It seemed farfetched and yet....  "OK, but we must work fast before all hell breaks loose around here and Sedgwick calls out the guard."  He was eager to relieve the tension of the moment and get started on the plan.  "You stay here.  I'll go down to the stables and get two horses ready so that you can ride the hell away from here.  And I'll find o
ut exactly what is happening."

Skyraven watched as the dark-haired man walked away, sensing that he could be relied on.
He was John Hanlen’s friend in the same manner as Desert Flower was hers.
  Perhaps it was tim
e she learned to trust again…but would the plan
work?  If it didn't
,
then there would be two people awaiting their deaths. When Sam returned she knew she must move quickly, but cautiously.  If she were captured after her attack upon a cavalry officer all would be lost. 

"The horses are ready
,” Sam informed Skyraven when he returned. “
I have them tied in a se
pa
rate part of the stables so they can't run away with the other horses."  He shrugged.  "I don't want to put my own head in a noose, but I brought back this bottle I found.  If you were to hit the prison guard over the head I happen to know that the keys to John's cell are attached to his belt."  He grinned.  "It's the smallest key.
And….and tell John I’ll make certain the gates are opened. Who could blame me if I made a mistake and thought there
was
a loaded wagon just bustin’ to get in?"

Skyraven peeked out from behind the wall, viewing the terrain as an Indian warrior
.
Many times she had witnessed the warriors methods of stampeding the horses to cause confusion.  She must do the same now
, cause enough
commotion to divert the soldiers' attention away from
her.
  The cage in which John Hanlen was held was just a stone's throw from the open corral and rea
sonably close to the stables.
She must have courage
, the attribute
that counted the
most among warriors. She must be brave just as
she had been when bringing down the Ute warrior
when she had freed the man
who
turned out to be John Hanlen, her love, from his
Indian captors. 
And t
he Utes were much more fiercesom
e
adversaries than the white-faced soldiers.

"I'll stand guard an
d
let you know when anyone is in sight." 
He took off his yellow neckerchief and waved it in the
air to show  what he would do
at
any sign of danger.

Crouching down on the ground, Skyraven
cursed her white woman’s dress as she crept slowly and silently toward the
corral  Seeing that it was indeed the Indian ponies inside
,
she took it as a sign from the Great Spirit and that gave her added courage. 
With shrieks and whoops, she undid the gate, speaking to the animals in the language they had come to understand.
The horses raised on their hind legs, pawed the ground, whinnied broke through the fence and proce
eded across the parade ground.

"The god
damned horses are loose.  Who the hell...?" she heard several soldiers say, as she moved quickly across the street, taking
refuge behind a stone wall.
Hefting the bottle in her hand
,
she moved as quietly as she had been taught to do since childhood.  Coming upon the unwary guard
,
she cracked him hard across the head, then bent to fumble for the key.  The small one, John's friend had told her.  Her fingers were so clumsy as they trembled in anxiety that it took her much longer than she might have liked to find the right key.  "This one."  She remembered having watched
Gwe
n
E
lla lock her in at night
,
and thus knew what to do with the strangely shaped piece of metal.  Inserting it in the lock she gave a whoop of joy as the door gave way.  She pushed it open.  "Hurry, John Hanlen
,." she commanded.

John looked up at her in disbelief.  "Skyrav
en?  What are you doing here?"

"I have come to set you free."  That was all she needed to say.  Taking her hand
,
he followed her towards the stables but one
phase of her plan was thwarted:
  Soldiers stood guarding the s
table.  "We can not go that way,
"
she said, leading John off
in another direction
,
only to see that the w
ay was also blocked by guards.

"Oh, Skyraven, I never meant for you to put yourself in danger."  John thought quickly.  "I'll lead the soldiers away.  You run.  Find Sam Dunham.  He'l
l take care of you he'll....."

"No."  Skyraven wouldn't leave him.  There had to be some way.  What would Lone Wolf do in such a situation?
She wondered. If only
she could ride as skillfully as the warriors
…
"Do you remember when you were at my camp the trick Blue
Fox showed you with the horses,
"
she asked John.
  It was a maneuver the warriors often pulled in the heat of battle when the soldiers were firing at them. 

John remembered all too
well.
” Hanging
from the side of the horse as it gallop
s. Yes, I remember.  But...."  

"We must do the s
ame."  Pursing her lips,
she made a sound that was so high pitched that it was nearly undetectable to the human ear.  The sound brought six horses galloping their direction. "You must do this, John Hanlen.  It is the only way we can be free."  That the gate had suddenly been opened made her command all the more important.  Sam Dunham had done his part just as he promised, yet she could not count on the gate being open for long.  "Come.  Hurry."