Comanche Dawn (27 page)

“When the sun rises, you will take the Horse People from this village. Take them to the Metal Men, as they wish. Take them by the trail that leads south of the Breasts of Mother Earth. Take them straight, so they do not become suspicious, but do not hurry along. While you are leading the Horse People, a fast rider will take another trail to the Metal Men, to warn them of these new Horse People from the north. I do not wish the Metal Men to think these Horse People are our allies.

“The dreams I have had are fearful dreams. They show a nation of people coming down the plains, killing buffalo, killing any enemy who stands before them. In my dreams, these people ride horses. All of them ride. Even the old women, even the young mothers with cradle boards. In one dream I saw nothing but horses. Horses, and horses, and horses. And the horses shot arrows from their eyes, and the arrows pierced the walls of our lodge.

“This dream was a warning. We must not let these Horse People become our enemies, yet we must make the Metal Men understand that the Horse People are not our allies. We will be like the tree that grows upon the banks of the river. We must grow far enough away from the river that the rising waters do not tear us away downstream. Yet we must not take root too far out on the plains, where the droughts and the prairie fires will consume us.

“Speaks Twice, as you guide the Horse People to the villages of the Metal Men, Coyote Man will ride on another trail to summon the Metal Men warriors and Black Robes. I will tell Coyote Man what to say. I will pray tonight, so the spirits will tell me what Coyote Man should say to the Metal Men. I will tell Coyote Man to speak to the Raccoon-Eyed Flower Man who lives among the Metal Men. He will help us deal with these new Horse People. The Raccoon-Eyed Rower Man knows much about all the nations of the world.

“This is what shall be done. You will guide the Horse People. Coyote Man will ride to warn the Metal Men.”

Speaks Twice looked briefly into the eyes of his chief to show that he had understood. As he rose to leave, he thought of how wise his chief was to have chosen Coyote Man for the ride to the Metal Men. Coyote Man was
Inday
by blood, but had married a
Tiwa
woman and was now a
Tiwa
warrior. With the
Inday,
he had learned much about riding horses, and he would go quickly to the Metal Men while Speaks Twice led the
Noomah
at a slower pace.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he left the kiva, feeling as though his chief and the
Tiwa
spirits had taken much worry from his heart. Now he knew what part he must accomplish, and he no longer felt as if all the worry over the Horse People was his own. They numbered only five, after all. It was true that they rode like no people Speaks Twice had ever seen, that each seemed to take on the strength and pride and fearlessness of the horse he straddled. But they numbered only five searchers from a poor country surrounded by enemies. How fearsome could a nation of such people be?

It was dark when he left the kiva. He reached the roof of the first level of the pueblo and stopped to watch the stars glisten like sparks of sunlight on rippling waters. He had much work to do and a long journey ahead of him, but the strength of the kiva had followed him out into the open air, and he knew he could do his duty.

Speaks Twice decided to look down on the camp of the Horse People before he went to his own lodge to sleep. Walking to the north wall, he focused on the flames of the
Noomah
campfire. His heart leapt suddenly like a live animal in his chest, for several
Inday
braves were standing on one side of the fire, while Horseback and his warriors stood on the other. Horseback was trying to calm his men, especially the eldest one, his father, Shaggy Hump. Speaks Twice could just make out Horseback's words:

“My father, I gave my word to the
Tiwas.
We will not fight at this place. Wait until tomorrow, and we will meet our enemy out on the plains, in the light of day, with our horses under us.”

The
Inday
warriors, still confused and unaware of why Shaggy Hump wanted to fight, made questioning gestures.

Shaggy Hump placed his hand on his chest, and drew himself up with pride, making himself look taller, broader. “
Noomah!
” He said, with all the anger and hatred of his ancestors burning within him.

Instantly, when the word was spoken, Speaks Twice saw the six
Inday
warriors reach for their knives. He saw Horseback reach into the fire for a flaming cottonwood branch.

“Stop!” Speaks Twice yelled in his own
Tiwa
tongue, quickly realizing that neither
Inday
nor
Noomah
would understand him. The Horse People camp had gone suddenly wild, made fantastic by Horseback swinging the burning tree limb between the
Inday
and
Noomah
warriors, trying desperately to keep them apart.

Speaks Twice ran for the nearest ladder leading to the ground. “My brothers!” he shouted, hoping some
Tiwa
warriors would hear. “Bring weapons!” He landed on the fifth step of the ladder, then crouched, grabbed one pole, and swung to the ground, as he had done in play since he was a small boy.

He found himself hurtling toward the fight at the Horse People camp. Coming around the corner of the pueblo, he saw that one of the
Inday
warriors had flanked Horseback's frantic offensive with the flaming branch, and was locked in hand-to-hand battle with the Horse People warrior called Bear Heart. As Speaks Twice rushed crazily in between the two parties, joining Horseback in keeping them separated, he heard other
Tiwa
warriors shouting as they scrambled down the ladders.

Just as he thought he might avoid serious trouble, he heard a gasp of pain behind him and turned to see Bear Heart holding his hand over a bloody spot on his stomach. But even as he held his wound, Bear Heart swung a war club across the face of the
Inday,
dashing his enemy's head aside like a shinny ball in the game the women played with sticks.

Both warriors stumbled back and fell away from each other. The kinsmen of each fallen man came quickly to protect him, and this only, Speaks Twice later would realize, prevented the fight from becoming bloodier still.

More
Tiwa
braves had joined Speaks Twice now, and the
Inday
were forced to drag their fallen man back to the south side of the pueblo. A guard of
Tiwa
protectors was stationed around the
Noomah,
preventing the
Inday
from attacking the smaller
Noomah
force before dawn.

The elders in the kiva were informed, and it was decided that Battle Scar and his band would be forever banished from Tachichichi for violating the truce. Horseback, because he attempted to forestall the fighting, would retain his rights to camp and trade at Tachichichi, but would be warned about controlling the hatreds of his men.

Alienating Battle Scar, a strong
Inday
war chief, was a dangerous move, yet could not be avoided. The truce was all that protected Tachichichi from more powerful and warlike nations. A sufficient number of warriors resided in Tachichichi to resist a possible attack by Battle Scar's band. The elders could only hope that Battle Scar would not recruit more warriors from other
Inday
bands and return to seek revenge.

When Speaks Twice went to the
Noomah
camp to tell what the elders had decided, Horseback listened patiently, then thought for some time before he responded:

“If we leave for the villages of the Metal Men tomorrow, will the people of your village take care of Bear Heart?” Here Horseback raised his voice loud enough for Bear Heart to hear inside the large hide lodge. “He is lying on his robe like someone's elder sister, too weak from his little wound to ride with us.”

Whip laughed.

“Yes,” Speaks Twice answered. “The healers will care for him.”

“Then we will leave this place when Father Sun looks upon us with a new face.”

Speaks Twice rose from his place near the fire.

“But, first,” Horseback continued. “There will be battle with the
Inday.
”

“We should attack now,” Echo growled.

“No,” Horseback snapped in reply. “The spirits forbid it. One or more of us may die when we attack the
Inday,
for they number greater than we do. Our elders have taught us that warriors killed in the darkness of night do not reach the Shadow Land. You may not know this, Speaks Twice, for you are not a True Human, but it is the truth. I will not attack in darkness and leave the spirits of my slain brothers lost forever.

“I have given my word that no
Noomah
warriors who follow me will break the truce of Tachichichi. But, you must remember what I said at the buffalo camp, Speaks Twice. Beyond the place where my arrow falls, our enemies must beg the mercy of our spirit-protectors.”

Speaks Twice said nothing in reply. He turned and made his way through the
Tiwa
guard. He would go once again before the council assembled in the kiva. He would inform the elders that they would watch a fight in the morning.

27

Dawn sliced across the
vast eastern plains like a flint knife, thrusting the rough edges of orange and yellow and white up through the dark valley of the River of Arrowheads. Long, wiggling shadows retreated into the large band of
Inday
slavers and the small party of
Noomah
searchers, as each made ready to leave Tachichichi.

Father Sun stood just one fist above the eastern horizon when the
Inday
began to move south. Speaks Twice watched from the roof of the second level of the pueblo, which commanded a fine view of what was soon to be the field of battle. Whirlpool called the
Tiwa
guard into the pueblo, and the force of warriors who had kept
Inday
and
Noomah
apart all night ascended ladders to watch the coming fight from the safety of the sun-baked mud walls. They also carried the wounded
Noomah
warrior, Bear Heart, up the ladder to safety.

Before leaving Tachichichi, Battle Scar approached the wall under Speaks Twice, Whirlpool, and the elders. He led a skinny woman by the arm, her face cast down. He began to speak, using
Inday
words and hand signs.

“What does Battle Scar say?” Whirlpool asked of Speaks Twice. “My old eyes are poor. I cannot see the signs.”

“He says this,” the translator answered, now speaking for Battle Scar. “‘I bring a gift to the people of Tachichichi. This woman was captured as a girl by the Wolf People from a
Tiwa
hunting expedition on the plains. She was a slave among the Wolf People. Now I have captured her from the Wolf People in a raid one moon ago. I return her to the people of her own blood.'”

“This is well,” Whirlpool said. “Battle Scar wishes to make amends for the attack last night.”

Then suddenly, with the quickness of a snake striking, Battle Scar grabbed the woman by the hair with one hand as the other drew and slashed with his knife, cutting the throat of the poor returned captive before she could react. She fell dead in a pool of her own blood.

The men on the roof of the pueblo gasped and leaned over the walls as Battle Scar shouted up at them.

“What does he shout now?” Whirlpool said, his anger and disgust making him tremble.

“Battle Scar says, ‘Now she is back.'”

Battle Scar stalked away to join his band, and the
Inday
procession began to draw slowly away from Tachichichi.

“Shall we attack them?” Speaks Twice asked his chief.

“No,” Whirlpool said. “The slave woman may not have been
Tiwa.
Battle Scar taunts us with this killing because we have forbidden him to return here. Let us hope the Horse People punish him.”

A clatter of hooves rose from the crooked passageway between two of the pueblo structures, and Speaks Twice saw Horseback emerge on the south side of the village. His three remaining followers came out of the narrow passage behind him. Their faces had been blackened with war paint. Horseback reached into his quiver for an arrow.

“Watch,” Speaks Twice said. “They shoot arrows from the backs of their ponies.”

The war chief grunted. “Last night, they did not look very fierce, standing on the ground in their little camp. But now they look terrible on their ponies, with their faces painted black.”

Horseback drew his bow and angled his arrow high. It flew, arched long through the air, passed over the entire
Inday
band, and pierced the ground in front of the lead
Inday
warriors.

Battle Scar rode to Horseback's arrow, dismounted, and pulled the arrow from the ground. Breaking it over his knee, he threw the two pieces aside, and began to jeer at the
Noomah
warriors waiting back at the pueblo. The other
Inday
warriors joined in the taunting, their voices like those of a pack of coyotes. They formed a rear guard behind their women and children, daring the
Noomah
braves to fight.

“Now we will see how much courage these Horse People have brought with them from the north,” said one of the elders.

Whirlpool narrowed his eyes against a gust carrying particles of stinging sand over the edge of the pueblo roof. “Courage is a thing that changes like a thunderstorm, for it is made of two parts. As the storm is made of wind and water, courage is made of pride and wisdom. The wind is like pride. It howls and lashes with anger. It can tear the limbs from a great tree, yet it cannot last for long.

“Water is like wisdom. Water draws its strength into a valley, and roars with fury. A small stream will go around a hill. A large river will wash it away.