Love by Dawn (19 page)

TWENTY-FIVE

Casey came awake with a start and moaned.
Her world was upside down when she opened her burning eyes. The
ground moving up and down beneath her head confused her until she
realized she was draped over a trotting horse. She moaned again
feeling bile rise to her throat and had to swallow hard to stop
herself from purging. Her head throbbed and the bouncing of the
animal tumbled her innards. She was sure her stomach was now
located somewhere behind her spine and that was not the only
discomfort Casey was forced to suffer. She had the terrible urge to
urinate and the next bounce made her lose control of her bladder.
Immediately, the hot liquid ran down her leg, wetting the front of
her dress and she groaned. Mortified at what happened, she smelled
the acid odor and was sure her captor did also. But what did it
matter? She couldn’t smell any worse than he. She moaned and he
stopped and pulled her from the mount. He saw the soiled dress and
frowned, noticing her predicament, but she said nothing. He dragged
Casey, leading her to a stream where he ordered her to drink.

“It will be a long time before we find more
water.” He knelt and drank, then filled his deerskin pouch.

Casey did as she was told for she was indeed
thirsty. How long had she been out? With the sun shrinking from the
sky, she guessed she had been unconscious since before noon. She
licked her dry lips and splashed the cold water on her face. Even
though the weather turned cooler again, she wanted to jump into the
stream to rid the smell that clung to her legs and dress. Since it
wasn’t possible, she did the next best thing and hiked her dress
above her knees and washed her legs. She sensed the Indian’s eyes
on her and looked to see him watching and smiling but…she was
beyond caring. He had seen her naked at the stream and she had
humiliated herself by losing control of her bladder, so what could
be worse than his seeing her limbs.

She gave him an icy stare, letting her hem
drop, then marched away from him. By the horse she tried to ignore
him while he relieved himself, chuckling. That mad Indian was
simply enjoying himself at her expense. Though she burned within,
Casey began to tremble from the cold. Her buckskin dress covered
her arms, but she had left her leggings in the dwelling that
morning before she foolishly went to the lake by herself. Soon the
weather would be cold, and they were heading for the mountains. She
wondered how they would survive with just a horse blanket that she
was tempted to remove and throw over shoulders. Thinking better of
it, afraid to irk the brave, she snapped, “I’m hungry!” Apparently
the Indian thought her remark was unimportant helped her up onto
his horse, this time in a sitting position. He climbed behind her
and circled her waist.

“I’m hungry,” she repeated, her voice more
calm.

“No time to eat. We camp later, I feed
you.”

She turned and gave him a murderous leer.
“Can you at least tell me who you are?” She didn’t miss the odd
light come into his dark eyes.

“You play game with me? Have you forgotten
that I am Hawk Nose? Well, I will make you remember me again.”

Hawk Nose?
A fitting name she thought. But he wasn’t making
any sense. This whole damn predicament didn’t make any
sense!

The sun sank into the sky along with her
hopes. Would Blake be able to find her? He found her once, could he
find her again? What if he hadn’t returned to the village yet?
Catching horses took a day or two she was told when they had left
and Hawk Nose had covered their tracks by the stream. She was sure
he had been covering them since they left the village.

He kept his promise and broke for camp just
after sunset. She was tied to a tree and then he went to kill their
supper returning shortly with a prairie dog. The brave untied Casey
handed her the bloody thing, ordering her to skin and cook it.
Luckily, she knew how to skin and clean wild animals and did as she
was told without a complaint only because she was starving.

Casey never enjoyed a meal so much and
noisily licked the juices from her fingers. She looked up seeing
that damn Indian watching her. Fire light danced in his dark eyes
lustfully and she slowly withdrew her fingers from her mouth.
Quickly, she wiped her hand on her dirty dress and looked away, not
liking the feeling she was getting. Her food turned rancid in her
belly and her breath became strained. She pictured him, any minute
leaping to his feet and coming to her. Her imagination grew as the
night stood still. Even the wolf stopped its annoying howling and
it seemed all nature went to sleep, causing an eerie sensation.

Heat rose to her neck as a repulsive image
filled her thoughts of Hawk Nose taking her there on the cold hard
ground. It was useless to try and swallow the lump in her throat,
it refused to budge. Nervously, her eyes searched the ground for
the knife she had used to clean the rabbit. She knew she had left
it by her side. Slowly, her hand patted around the dirt, but all
she could feel were twigs and tiny rocks.

“Looking for this?” he intoned.

Casey’s head snapped up. His expression
guarded, she saw a hint of anger in his dark eyes and the Indian
stood laughing. He wiped the bloody knife on his soiled breeches
before returning the weapon to its sheath. He sneered wickedly, sat
again and grunted.

“So my Moon Glow still fights me.” He shook
his head. “But you will forget Blue Thunder soon. When we get far
into the mountains, far from village, you will learn to love me
again. You loved this Apache once,” he pounded his chest, “you will
love me again.”

His dark eyes twinkled with evil making Casey
shudder at his strange words. He didn’t make any sense until the
light went on in her head; he had confused her with her friend,
Moon Glow. Now she was sure he was crazy. That didn’t make her feel
any better; there was no reasoning with a crazy person. She didn’t
know whether to try to convince him she wasn’t Moon Glow or keep
quiet.

If Hawk Nose discovered his mistake, he might
kill her. It was better to hold her tongue, just to stay alive to
give Blake a fighting chance to find her. If he didn’t come, she
would fight this red bastard to the death before letting him rape
her. All she could do was pray and remain calm. Of course she knew
that that was easier said than done.

“Go to sleep, Moon Glow, we have a long
journey ahead. Soon snow will fall making it dangerous to travel
the rocky slopes.” He picked up the horse blanket and called her to
him. “We sleep together. Keep watch on you better when you are in
my arms,” he grinned.

Casey gave him a very
unladylike snort of sarcastic disbelief.
If he thought she’d accept his suggestion, he was in for a
rude awakening.
Opening her mouth to tell
him as much, she saw him touch his long knife and her mouth snapped
shut, swallowing the angry retort on the tip of her tongue. What
good would it do? Not a damn thing! Especially as se was unarmed
and he had two weapons he could attack her with, and the knife
would be the least painful than rape.

Slowly she walked towards him seeing his
teeth flash when he smiled. He seemed to have lost some of his hard
evil features, but Casey suspected that the fire was just playing
tricks on her mind. Nearing the brave his face became stern again
and this time she saw his true self. His eyes were so dark that
they drew her to him hypnotically with dangerous magnetism. Or was
it just her fear? Trembling, she stood before him not missing the
Indian’s chest heave with desire. The muscles twitched in his
square jaw and his hawk-like nose flared. She sucked in a long
breath, deathly afraid of him, but somehow her instincts told her
he wouldn’t try and take her tonight. She remembered him saying
that he would love her when they reached the mountains.

She had time. She had to try and relax. She
had to pray that he would keep his promise.

They slept, spooned together but she lay
awake in terror for a long time until she heard his heavy
breathing. Then she closed her eyes and forced herself to find some
sleep.

The further they traveled, the colder the
weather became. Casey watched worriedly as lose dirt and stones
dislodged by the horse’s hooves fell down the slope. The air was
getting thinner and colder the higher they climbed. The taste of
fear was bitter in her throat and by the third day her teeth
chattered under the only blanket they shared. At night she had no
choice but to lay close to the Indian’s body to share the warmth.
By then they both smelled so bad Casey no longer knew whose odor
was worse. One night they found a small cave and the crazed Indian
killed a rattler that lived inside and they ate it for supper. It
made no difference to her what she dined on because the only meal
he provided was at night and by then she was famished. That night
he brought his pinto into the cave to keep warm. She would’ve
rather slept next to the pony and made her thoughts known. He then
made his thoughts known in his native tongue and she was certain
his words weren’t sweet.

So, as usual they slept spooned together but
in the morning when she rose to get ready for the day’s journey,
she turned to see horror etched on the brave’s face. He was looking
down at his crotch and gasping. Immediately Cassandra saw the
blotches of red on his buckskin pants and she understood what had
happened and groaned. He looked at her with such distaste that she
believed he would beat her for something she had no control over.
Fear strangled any thoughts of embarrassment.

With no warning at all, the brave tore off
his pants leaving him naked waist down before her unbelieving eyes.
He waved them under her nose and yelled, “Go wash. It is unholy for
woman in her monthly time to touch man.” He continued to wave the
garment. If the situation wasn’t so serious, she would’ve laughed.
Imagine an Indian who fears nothing and walks around in such filth
should be so upset over a little blood.

Flabbergasted, she could only stare at the
soiled pants. The garment was flung into her face and she jumped
back letting the pants fall onto the ground. Casey’s senses were
awakened by the feel of his soiled pants on her face. Disgusted by
his action and the smell of her own blood and his grim on her skin,
she wiped her hands across her mouth, and snapped, “And where would
you like me to wash them?”

She had to ask.

“Outside!” he bellowed.

She shook her head and asked in a silly
squeal, “But where?”

Outside!” Hawk Nose bellowed his face masked
in rage.

Casey turned frowning, and then shrugged.
“Fine,” she mumbled to herself, trying to hide the smirk on her
face. His features were livid and his temples pulsated so that she
thought he’d have a stroke. If she could only be so lucky! When she
reached the mouth of the cave, she saw that it had snowed lightly
that night. She understood what he wanted her to do.

The blanket was left on the floor of the cave
where it fell and she was sorry she hadn’t taken it with her.
Though the sun shone brightly it was very cold outside. Kneeling on
icy snow for many minutes, scrubbing the stain from the crotch made
her knees numb. Goose bumps rose on her arms and legs and her hands
became red with numbness before she had all the stains removed. She
refused to wash the whole garment and returned to the warmth of the
cave with little circulation left in her limbs. That bastard was
sitting by the small fire with his lower body covered with the
blanket. She was glad she didn’t stain it for she did not cherish
the idea of seeing him walk around in his undressed state. She
handed him his pants but he refused to take them.

“I cannot touch pants until you finished with
curse. You must remain away from me until you are done. We must
stay here until then. When you overflow you wash pants again before
I put them on.”

“What?!” Casey shrieked with dramatic scorn.
“You made me go out into the cold to wash your stupid pants, almost
getting frost bitten and you don’t want to wear them!” She flung
them at him and he jumped back as if a rattler had leaped at his
heels. The damn idiot let them lay where they had fallen and picked
up the blanket that had also fallen from his body. He grunted and
ordered her to sit in the corner. Casey contented herself with a
contemptuous snort.

“You know the ways of the Indian, Moon Glow.
Why are you acting so strange?” Hawk Nose spat out in his native
tongue and eyed her curiously. The cave did funny things to the
color of her eyes; they did not look the same, but were darker. He
shook his head; his mind had been doing tricks to him lately. But
her hair was still like the glow of the moon and she was still very
beautiful.

The next day he rose at sunrise. It had been
many days since he captured Moon Glow and he missed the warmth of
her body. He longed for the day he could make her his. He wanted
the moment to be special, not with the anticipation of someone
close behind. They were being followed, he was certain. He had
spent many moons dreaming of her underneath his body, lusting for
him as much as he did for her. He would build them a tepee first
and roast a wild turkey. His plans for their first time together
had been embedded in his mind for a long time. Although, there were
times he came close to breaking his promise to wait; the smell of
her so close nearly drove him crazy. He knew it best to remain
resigned; Moon Glow needed time to forget Blue Thunder.

He was patient and determined. If it weren’t
for his love for the beautiful Moon Glow, he would have died back
in that cave, when he captured her the first time. She had gone
into labor and he fought off wolves being brutally ripped apart by
the wild dogs only to be left to die from fever and infection, but
he was not about to walk the path to the happy hunting ground. It
was this sheer perseverance and will power to one day capture her
heart that kept his spirit alive. Now she was here with him and he
would make her his, no matter what or who stood in his way.