Comanche Dawn (28 page)

“Now we will see if these Horse People possess courage made more of wind or water. Speaks Twice, you know them better than the elders. What does your heart tell you of the Horse People's courage?”

Speaks Twice watched the
Inday
draw slowly away, even their women and children jeering now. Even the old ones were taunting the
Noomah
by waving sticks and throwing dirt in the air.

“Their courage is plenty windy,” Speaks Twice said. “Yet, the young leader, Horseback, knows the strength of water. His warriors amount to nothing more than a small stream, and he knows this. Their arrows do not even carry war points, only hunting points. If Horseback's warriors attack, they will ride like whirlwinds from the four points of the sky. They will make much noise, and raise much sand, but they can cause little harm against so large a band of
Inday.
”

The last of the
Inday
people passed south of the place where Horseback's arrow had fallen. Horseback rode under the gathering of
Tiwa
onlookers on the roof, looked down on the body of the murdered slave woman, then shouted up to Speaks Twice:

“Now I have kept my word. Our enemies have gone beyond the place where my arrow falls. The
Na-vohnuh
no longer hide under your truce, like a chicken under its mother's wing. I have prayed to the spirits all through the night. I have lighted my pipe and sent my prayers up to the Shadow Land on sacred clouds of smoke. The spirits have told me what must be done.

“We are going to attack the
Inday
now. The spirits have told me that my warriors must take only one scalp as vengeance for the wound of our brother, Bear Heart, and the violation of our sacred camp last night in the dark by our most ancient of enemies. We go now to take our scalp.”

He turned his horse toward the
Inday,
and his searchers followed him.

“How will they ever get a scalp from such a large party of
Inday?
” said one of the elders.

“Their courage is all wind,” said another. “The Wolf People are ready for them. The Wolf People outnumber them. The Wolf People have iron arrow points and guns. The Horse People have no advantage.”

Speaks Twice said, “You have not yet seen them ride,” but he spoke under his breath, for he did not wish to offend his elders.

The
Noomah
rode within range of the
Inday.
An
Inday
warrior drew a bow. Another raised a gun to his shoulder. But the
Noomah
warriors scattered, seemingly into chaos. Horseback rode east, into the sun, followed by Whip. Shaggy Hump and Echo rode west, but soon curled back toward the pueblo and fell into the tracks of Horseback and Whip. They thundered around the front of the
Inday
band, causing panic among the warriors who had all gathered behind their women and children in a defensive stance.

A warrior aimed an arrow at Horseback, but Shaggy Hump veered in toward the bowman with a war cry. He drew the attention of the
Inday
bowman, then veered away again, and Horseback continued to circle the enemy band. He galloped his horse among a group of frightened boys and struck three with his bow.

Whip peeled away from the circle and rode back toward the pueblo, only to fall into the circle again behind Shaggy Hump and Echo. The riding continued, the Horse People traveling like antelopes, like hawks. Horseback completed the circle, then stopped to notch an arrow and let a shrill war cry rattle up his throat.

His warriors joined him for a moment, then all four were riding again, circling, darting in toward the
Inday,
who scrambled to cover all sides of their band at once. The
Inday
warriors with horses had dismounted and turned their ponies into the middle of the band where some old men were holding them.

Horseback found a lone warrior on one side of the enemy band and rode straight toward him, somehow urging even more speed from his mount. Other
Inday
warriors began to move to this lone man's aid until the other three Horse People warriors angled in, shooting arrows from their ponies.

The
Inday
defense froze for a mere moment—all the time Horseback needed to overtake the warrior he had singled out. He rode his pony directly toward the warrior. The
Inday
waited with his bow strung, expecting Horseback to leap from the animal and fight. Instead, Horseback made his pony run over the enemy warrior. The
Inday
stabbed the horse in the shoulder with his arrow, but not deeply.

The pony wheeled with incredible quickness, and Horseback used his
pogamoggan
on the warrior, knocking him onto his rear. As the
Inday
warrior tried to get up, Horseback grabbed him by the hair that grew out of one side of his head, then gathered a shock of his mount's mane with the same hand and began to pull the warrior farther away from his kinsmen.

Echo had thrown the
Inday
band into turmoil by riding into the midst of it, stampeding the
Inday
horses, beating the old men holding them with the shaft of his lance. Whip and Shaggy Hump were still circling, darting near to shoot arrows, keeping the
Inday
resistance scattered.

From the roof of the pueblo, Speaks Twice saw Echo drive the captured ponies from the
Inday
band, joining Horseback, followed soon by Whip and Shaggy Hump. A woman in the
Inday
band began wailing, and Speaks Twice presumed this woman to be the wife of the warrior Horseback was dragging away.

Speaks Twice watched in awe as Horseback's war pony dragged the warrior away, his legs and arms writhing under the blows of Horseback's club. Echo galloped by at full speed and, in view of the
Inday
band, ran his lance through the warrior's stomach, leaving the weapon halfway through the enemy. The wailing reached a hideous crescendo as Horseback dragged the victim still farther away.

Speaks Twice felt his whole body seize with tension as he watched. It was Whip who rode by the dying warrior next, slashing with a knife even as Horseback continued to belabor the head and face of the
Inday
warrior with his club. The warrior's legs dragged now, but his arms still groped, trying to ward off the merciless blows.

Now Horseback stopped, let his war club dangle from his wrist. He drew his flint knife and made a slash across the forehead of the
Inday
warrior, releasing a curtain of blood. A musket fired from the
Inday
band, but the invisible ball hummed harmlessly past the
Noomahs
and kicked dust into the air beyond. Horseback's mount lurched forward between his heels and jerked the scalp away from the writhing warrior's skull. The horseman hacked with his knife as the scalp peeled away, freeing the places that clung. When enough scalp had come free, Horseback made a final swipe with his jagged blade, and the
Inday
warrior fell facedown.

Speaks Twice watched in mute horror as the scalped man attempted to stand, in spite of the blood in his eyes and the lance shaft piercing his body. Shaggy Hump shot an arrow into the dying
Inday,
pinning him to the ground. He shot another arrow, and another, until the shafts rose from the warrior's body like porcupine quills.

The wind whipped stinging sand over the roof of the pueblo again, and Speaks Twice smelled a foul dust in his nostrils, felt it in his lungs. He glanced at the elders, their mouths open as they stared over the field of battle. The wailing streamed from the
Inday
band, mingling with the scalp yells of the
Noomah.
The scalp was on the end of Shaggy Hump's lance now, flying high. Whip was making his pony ride over and over the body of the dead
Inday
warrior.

“My fathers,” Speaks Twice said, his voice shaking. “I must go now. I must ride with the Horse People. I must take them to the Metal Men.”

Silence gripped the elders. Finally, Whirlwind turned to Speaks Twice. “Take the sacred road. The spirits will protect you. Be wise, Speaks Twice. Do not anger these Horse People against us.”

28

Four sleeps from Tachichichi,
two great mountains rose up from the plains, like sacred lodges large enough for the dwelling of the thunderbirds. The
Tiwas
called these peaks the Breasts of Mother Earth.

Looking upon the two snowy summits from the beautiful rolling grasslands under the hooves of his pony, Horseback became suddenly consumed with joy. He would rather die today than live fifty winters in the harsh hills of home having never seen these new places. The things he felt here made him believe that Sound-the-Sun-Makes was speaking to him, telling him to gather many horses and weapons, and lead his people to these rich lands of buffalo and grass and rivers and mountains and endless places to ride.

The Breasts of Mother Earth were unmistakable and gave Horseback much confidence that his trail to the villages of the white people was the right one. He remembered every river, every mountain range, and every pass from the map the
Tiwas
had made for him back at the buffalo hunting camp, and he knew he was only two or three sleeps from the Metal Men if the searchers continued to travel well. He also knew that he was about to cross into the country of the
Yutas,
and that he could easily encounter large warrior bands of these enemies of the True Humans.

Horseback felt glad that Speaks Twice had come with his party of searchers. The
Tiwa
were not at war with the
Yutas,
and Speaks Twice could help prevent a fight Also, Speaks Twice would make the Meted Men know that he and his searchers had come in peace.

Now, riding close to Horseback as he looked at the Breasts of Mother Earth, Speaks Twice made signs warning of
Yutas.
For these past four suns on the trail, Speaks Twice had spent much time teaching Horseback many hand signs. This slowed the pace of the searchers, but Horseback thought it important to be able to communicate on these strange plains should he lose his interpreter for any reason.

Speaks Twice gave a warning in the language of hand signs: “The plains around the Breasts of Mother Earth are favored hunting grounds of the
Yutas.
” Horseback acknowledged the warning, yet brushed it aside as if it meant nothing.

“My father,” he said, as Shaggy Hump rode up to his side. “We have ridden long in the sight of Father Sun. Now we must move like spirit-deer in the shadow of tall trees.”

His own talk sounded good to him, for he had thought through each word on the long day's ride.

As Father Sun buried his warm face between the Breasts of Mother Earth, Horseback's party came over a roll in the grassy plains and beheld a line of dark green timber tumbling down from the slopes. Knowing they might easily have been sighted by lookouts in the mountains, they made their horses trot, hoping to gain the cover of the trees undetected.

With the timber still as far away as a turkey could travel in one flight, a motion of some kind caught Horseback's eye where the timber began at the base of the southernmost mountain. He jerked back on his reins to halt his party as a line of mounted
Yuta
warriors, eleven strong, streamed from the trees and galloped toward a point halfway between Horseback's party, and the timber.

“Our enemies!” he said, feeling Echo, Whip, Shaggy Hump, and Speaks Twice stop even with him on each hand. He watched the tails of the
Yuta
horses stream like black smoke whipped in the wind, hurrying to cut him off from the cover of timber. “They ride well,” he said.

Shaggy Hump looked at him, a puzzled expression on his face. “My son, you should watch the ground before you as you ride with the sun at your back. Even your shadow rides better than our enemies.”

This filled Horseback with confidence as he watched the
Yutas
rein their ponies to a stop on the plains between his searchers and the line of trees. He felt spirits in his stomach and in his heart. He began to hear the voice of Sound-the-Sun-Makes, and felt upon his face and bare chest the fire of Father Sun, sinking low now between the Breasts of Mother Earth.

“I will make talk with them,” Speaks Twice offered.

But suddenly Horseback's voice burst loose in a wild spirit-song, and his mount flinched, leaping toward the party of
Yutas.
Leaving his bow unstrung in his quiver, Horseback rode on with his shield on one arm and his lance cradled in the other. He noticed that the ground here sounded different under a charge—better than the ground of his home country.

As he watched over the lunging head of his pony, he saw the
Yutas
slip from their mounts and thought how foolish these enemies were—like the
Inday
—to remove themselves from the power of their four-leggeds. He charged directly at the
Yutas
until he moved within the range of their arrows, then swerved to his left, beginning the circle he would ride around them. Hurtling in a curve cut through the waving grass, he skirted the shadow of the southern breast of the earth, and felt his mount taking on his great joy of moving like an antelope over new ground.

The defiant song of his spirit-protectors screamed up his throat again, lending the pony an even greater speed, when an arrow flew like a shooting star from the gathering of
Yutas.
Though Horseback knew in an instant that this arrow would fall well behind him, he flung himself to the side of his pony away from the enemy and slipped his arm into the loop slung under the neck and woven into the mane.

As the arrow passed behind him, he clung to the hot neck of the mare, his leg slung over her back, his lance lying across her withers. He had moved onto the western curve of the sacred circle. He felt the sun upon his shoulders, and heard the voice of Sound-the-Sun-Makes behind him: a great crackling and rumbling of fire, a roaring of wind and medicine-smoke, a thundering of storm and avalanche and all that was powerful. It was at this moment that Horseback chanced to look under the neck of the mare and saw her shadow. He saw nothing of himself in the image that lunged and changed fantastically across the grass and the ground. His spirit had leapt into the heart of the beast that carried him, and he was, himself, horse, as well as Horseback.