Feather in the Wind (25 page)

She felt suddenly cold all over. “What do you mean?”

“I saw the way the white man looked at you. He cares for you. You would be better off with him, than here with me.”

Susannah crossed the floor, her hands curling around the bars that separated them. “Black Wind, shut up. Do you hear me? Just shut up. I won’t listen to that kind of talk. Not now. Not after all we’ve been through. We’re in this together whether you like it or not.”

With a sigh, he went to her. Reaching through the bars, he wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close. “Forgive me, Su-san-nah.”

“There’s nothing to forgive.”

“Su-san-nah, I think you should ask the lieutenant if he can get you out of here.”

She didn’t tell him that Carter had offered her that very thing.

“You need to take care of yourself,” Black Wind went on. “You need to think of the child. You should not be here, in this place.” He looked over her shoulder, anger churning within him as he took in the narrow cot with its threadbare blankets and uncovered pillow. The stench of human waste filled his nostrils. “You should not be here,” he said again. “It cannot be good for you, or the child.”

“I’m all right,” Susannah said. As all right as she could be living in a small square cell that held nothing but a pot to pee in and a lumpy mattress to sleep on. “Just tired.”

Black Wind put her away from him. “Go, rest.”

She didn’t want to leave the shelter of his arms, but she was tired, so tired. Was it part of being pregnant, she wondered, or a by-product of the hopelessness she couldn’t shake off? She wished she had listened more attentively when Vivian was expecting and anxious to discuss all the little aches and pains and discomfort that went hand in hand with being pregnant.

“I’ll try to sleep if you promise to get some rest too,” Susannah said, kissing him on the cheek. “You look tired.”

She was awakened later that night by the rattle of the key being turned in the lock. Sitting up, she wiped the sleep from her eyes, blinked against the lantern’s bright yellow light.

“Dinner time.” The guard, whose name was Denkner, set the tray on the foot of the bed. He was a short, stocky man, with a neck like a tree trunk and dark, narrow-set eyes.

“Thank you,” Susannah said. She stared at the corporal towering over her. Usually, he brought in her dinner and left. She felt suddenly uneasy as his gaze moved over her, lingering on her breasts.

She reached for the tray, but he caught her by the hand, jerked her to her feet and hauled her up against him.

“Let me go!”

“Su-san-nah!” She heard Black Wind cry her name.

“Come on, honey, just one kiss.”

“Let me go!” She struggled against him but he held her tight, her arms trapped between their bodies as he kissed her. It was a wet, disgusting kiss. Nausea roiled in her stomach as his tongue plunged into her mouth. Panic sizzled through her as she realized she was at his mercy. There was no one but Black Wind to hear her cries for help, and there was nothing he could do.

With a sob, she turned her head to the side and brought her knee up, hard. Denkner was ready for her though, and her knee only grazed his thigh.

She began to struggle more violently, her nails raking his cheek.

“No!” She screamed the word again and again as she tried to escape his grasp.

Denkner stumbled backward against the bars, dragging her body full length against his. “All I wanted was one kiss,” he growled, “but now I’ll have it all.”

“Let me go!”

“Not yet, missy.”

He was leaning forward, his gaze intent on her face. His breath reeked of tobacco. She could feel his arousal pressing against her.

This can’t be happening!
The words screamed in her mind. She shook her head in denial, praying that this was all a bad dream, that she’d wake up and he’d be gone. And then, suddenly, she was free of him.

Denkner’s arms were flailing wildly. His eyes widened, his body convulsing as his hands clawed at his throat.

Susannah reeled backward, gasping for breath, as a horrible choking sound issued from Denkner’s lips, lips that were slowly turning blue.

It took her a moment to realize what was happening, and then she stared in horror as she watched Black Wind’s hands tighten around the corporal’s throat, slowly choking the life out of him.

After what seemed like an eternity, Black Wind released his hold on the soldier and Denkner slid to the floor, limp as a rag doll.

Black Wind spared the dead man hardly a glance. “Su-san-nah, are you all right? Did he hurt you?”

She shook her head, panic rising up within her as she glanced from Black Wind to the soldier. He was dead, she thought, there was no doubt of that.

There was no hope for them now, she thought dully. Black Wind had killed one of O’Neill’s men. They would hang him now.

“Su-san-nah?”

“I’m fine.” She glanced at the cell door. It was standing open, beckoning her.

Crossing the floor, she knelt beside the soldier, going through his pockets until she found the keys for the cell doors.

Hurrying to the other cell, she slid the key in the lock, gave it a quick twist and opened the door.

She gave Black Wind a quick hug, then knelt down, trying first one key and then another on the shackles that bound his right ankle.

She swore softly when none of the keys fit. “The key must be in the office. I’ll be right back.”

She started to leave when she heard voices in the hallway. She’d never be able to get the key now.

She watched Black Wind kneel down and reach through the bars, his hand reaching for the corporal’s side arm.

“No,” she whispered. “Black Wind, don’t.”

“I will not let them hang me.” With a small cry of triumph, he unholstered the corporal’s pistol.

“Put that gun down, redskin! Now, dammit!”

Two soldiers stood in the doorway, guns drawn.

“Put it down,” the soldier said again. “Do it now, or I’ll shoot the woman.”

Black Wind’s finger slid around the trigger, caressing it. He looked at the soldiers, felt the hot angry blood stir within him. He recognized these two. In days past, they had taunted and tormented him along with the others. It would be so easy to kill them.
Hoka-hey!
It is a good day to die!

He didn’t believe the
wasichu
would kill Susannah, but it was a risk he was unwilling to take. With a sigh of resignation, he placed the pistol on the floor, then stood up slowly, his hands raised to show they were empty.

“Come out of there, miss.”

Susannah glanced at Black Wind, at the two soldiers, at the gun on the floor.

“No, Su-san-nah,” Black Wind said softly. “Do as they say.”

For a moment, she considered trying to get the gun, but she knew she couldn’t kill two men, couldn’t put the life of her unborn child in danger.

Overcome by a sense of helplessness, she walked back to her own cell and sank down on the cot. Moments later, the dead soldier had been dragged away and she was locked behind bars again.

The two soldiers approached Black Wind’s cell.

The taller of the two men waved his gun in Black Wind’s direction. “Back away,” he ordered brusquely. “Reddick, cover me.”

Picking up the gun, the soldier backed out of the cell and locked the door.

“I’ll go tell the colonel what happened,” Reddick said. “You stay here and keep an eye on these two.”

Susannah was hardly aware of the other two men. She had eyes only for Black Wind. He stood with his back to the wall, tension radiating from every muscle. They would hang him now. She knew it, and so did he.

Tears stung her eyes. There was no hope left, she thought dismally, no hope at all. But for him, not for her.

* * * * *

Carter confirmed her worst fear the next morning. The colonel had declared that Black Wind would be hung the following morning. There was no hope of reprieve.

“I’m sorry,” Carter said. “Is there anything I can do?”

Susannah shook her head. There was nothing anyone could do now.

Carter glanced over at Black Wind, who was standing near the bars that divided the two cells. “Is there anything I can do for you? Anyone I can notify?”

Tate Sapa glared at the white man and then, forcing his anger and pride aside, he nodded. “My father is He Wonjetah. Can you let him know what has happened?”

“I’m not sure. I might be able to get word to him somehow, but I can’t promise you anything.”

“I understand. Will you look after Su-san-nah for me?”

“Of course.”

“She is not a spy, or a traitor.”

“I know. I’ll think of some way to get her out of this mess. Don’t worry.”

Tate Sapa nodded, then walked to the far side of his cell and turned his back on them.

“Elliott, I have a favor to ask.”

“What is it, Susannah?”

She wanted to beg him to let Black Wind go, wanted to promise him anything he asked if only he would let Black Wind go, but she knew he would never agree. He was an honorable man. Duty to his country would never permit him to turn his back on his honor and turn a condemned man loose. “I want to spend the night with Black Wind.”

Carter shook his head. “I don’t think I can manage that.”

“Please, Elliott.” Tears filled her eyes and trickled down her cheeks. “Please. I love him.”

Carter swore under his breath. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thank you.”

* * * * *

That day was the longest, and the shortest, Susannah had ever known. They had shortened the chain that bound Black Wind to the wall so that he could only take a few steps in any direction. Now, when she yearned to be in his arms, to hold him close, it was no longer possible.

She sat on the floor by the bars that separated them, hardly taking her eyes from his face, memorizing every detail, every line—the thick fall of his hair, the width of his shoulders, the length of his thigh, the rich copper color of his skin, the shape of his eyes, his mouth, his nose. Every minute that passed was like a thorn in her heart. She had heard of people who died of a broken heart and had wondered if it was possible. She knew now that it was.

They had said everything there was to say, much of it spoken in the silent communication of soul to soul. She ached in the very deepest part of her being, ached to hold him, to touch him, to cradle him in her arms, to promise him that everything would be all right.

The setting sun reminded her of how very few hours they had left. Someone brought their dinner trays, but neither of them had any appetite for food and, for once, Black Wind did not remind her that she needed to keep her strength up for the sake of the child.

The child…Tate Sapa sat with his back against the wall, his gaze on Susannah’s face. She had fallen asleep and he thought how beautiful she was, how much he loved her, how very much he would miss her, and the child he would never see.

He thought briefly of his father, of his people, praying that they would be well, that they would somehow avoid being sent to the reservation, that the young men would not waste their lives in a war they could not win.

But mostly he thought of Susannah, of that day, high on a mountaintop, when he had seen her in vision, of the nights he had held her in his arms. He did not regret loving her, only that they would not have more time together, that he would not be there to see his child take his first breath, his first step, that he would not be there to hear him speak his first word.

“
Hee-ay-hee-ee!
” he cried softly. “
Wakán Tanka
, bless my woman and my unborn child. Give me the courage of my brother, the mountain lion, that I may die with honor and not bring shame to my father, or my people.” He lifted a hand to the eagle feather tied in his hair. “Please,
Tunkaschila
, help my woman to find her way back to her home…”

He fell silent at the sound of footsteps in the hallway, and then Elliott Carter entered the room and unlocked the door to Susannah’s cell.

She came awake instantly, her alarm turning to relief when she saw who it was.

“The colonel wouldn’t let you stay the night with him,” Carter said. “But he agreed to give you an hour together.”

Susannah nodded. It wasn’t what she had hoped for, but it was better than nothing. And she would be near him the rest of the night, able to see him, to touch him, to hear his voice. There was so much to say, things she needed to know, things she wanted to tell him before it was too late.

Rising to her feet, she crossed the floor. “Thank you, Elliott. You’ve been so kind to me. I’ll never forget this.”

Carter cleared his throat, his gaze skittering away from hers. “The colonel’s moving you out of here later tonight.”

“Moving me?” She stared up at him, her eyes twin pools of disbelief and confusion. “Why?”

“He didn’t say.”

“But I want to stay here!” Even if she couldn’t spend the night in Black Wind’s cell, she wanted to be near him as long as she could. She wanted to share this last night, these last hours with Black Wind before. She wanted to be there for him in the morning, to share what few moments they might have before…she shook away the awful image of Black Wind mounted on a horse, his hands bound behind his back, a noose around his neck. She would not, could not, think of that now.