Savage Abandon (18 page)

Wolf Hawk turned and smiled at Talking Bird. He hurried to him and gently embraced him, then stepped away.

“It is good to see that you came through the earthquakes so well,” Wolf Hawk said. He walked now beside his grandfather as they headed back to the old Shaman’s tepee. “Of course I knew that you would.”

They walked onward with wolf willows on both sides of them. “We were untouched, as well, at the village, yet there were many trees beyond that were felled by the energy of the quakes,” he said. “Also some of the banks of the river were disturbed. Otherwise, all is well.”

They walked in silence now as the songbirds in the trees serenaded them, and both relished this moment of peace.

When they reached Talking Bird’s tepee, he stopped and turned to Wolf Hawk. “You were good to come,” he said thickly. “But your Shaman grandfather is alright. You need not stay when you have more important things to do.”

“
Ho
, I do,” Wolf Hawk said gravely.

He looked over his shoulder, in the direction that the trappers had disappeared.

In his mind’s eye he again saw the hunting amulet that the one man wore.

Wolf Hawk would soon remove the amulet from around the trapper’s neck.

He would take it to Little Bull’s mother. She would then have a part of her son with her again.

“Those two men that you saw with me?” Wolf Hawk said, again gazing at his grandfather. “They are guilty of having set the traps that killed our two young braves. I am giving them false hope by allowing them to go on their way. But soon they will know that my kindness was only a ploy. I will soon have vengeance against them.”

Talking Bird smiled. He reached a wrinkled hand to Wolf Hawk’s bare shoulder and rested it there as he spoke. “I know who they are,” he said, nodding. “In my wisdom I knew they were in the water near our people’s homes again. I purposely caused the earthquakes to disrupt the white men’s plans, and to put terror into their hearts. I made certain that what I did with my powers did not bring harm to our people.

“Go now, my grandson,” Talking Bird then said, lowering his hand away from Wolf Hawk and dropping it slowly to his own side. “Follow through with your plan. You will find the men at the abandoned fort. That is where you can complete your vengeance. My role is over.”

Wolf Hawk embraced Talking Bird again, then
as Talking Bird proudly watched, Wolf Hawk transformed himself into the hawk, and with his huge outspreading wings, flew up and through the wolf willows.

When Wolf Hawk reached the sky in his hawk form, he soared onward, his bold, wide eyes ever watching down below, until he saw the beached boat at the riverbank close to the fort. He dove downward, his wings causing a huge shadow below him.

When he reached the ground, he landed and once again became a man. His jaw tight with determination, his heart pounding at the thought of finally making these two men pay for their misjudgments in life, he ran toward the entrance of the fort.

He stopped momentarily and smiled when he heard sudden loud wails of despair. He knew what had caused them. The trappers had just discovered that the pelts were gone.

He ran to the cabin where his warriors had discovered the hidden furs.

When he stepped inside the door, the trappers turned pale at the sight of him. They had left him on the island, yet there had been no sign of a canoe. They must be wondering how Wolf Hawk had gotten there from his village.

Surely it had not taken long for them to guess why Wolf Hawk had not needed a canoe. Both men had no doubt seen Wolf Hawk change from a huge, powerful hawk to a wolf, and then soon after, to a man.

Ho
, he could see in their wide, frightened eyes that they were wondering what other mystical powers Wolf Hawk might have. They both held rifles, but were obviously too afraid to use them.

Wolf Hawk stepped up to them. With each of his hands he grabbed the rifles from the men.

“Please don’t harm us,” both men said in unison.

“Please have mercy,” Clint begged, his voice filled with a whining that sent disgust through Wolf Hawk. To him, a man who whined like an unhappy puppy was not a man at all.

“Let us go,” Jeb cried, tears filling his eyes. “We promise never to come back. We just want to go away from this place and forget we were ever here. It’s a…crazy…place, filled with mystery and things I don’t want even to believe I saw.”

Wolf Hawk did not respond verbally to what either of them said. Instead he took one rifle at a time and removed the ammunition, tossing the firearms over his shoulder.

“You must come with me now,” Wolf Hawk then said, beckoning to them with an outstretched hand.

“Why?” Jeb gasped, unable to control the trembling of his entire body. “What do you want with us?”

“Do you truly need to ask?” Wolf Hawk said bitterly. “You must know what you are guilty of, or else why did you flee? You should never have returned, yet it was willed by my grandfather that you would.”

“Your…grandfather…?” Clint asked, his eyes widening.

“My Shaman grandfather knows all things,” Wolf Hawk said, slowly smiling. “He willed you to return to Winnebago land. When he knew you had arrived, he spoke and the river was filled with rage, the same rage I felt that day when I found my people’s two young braves dead in your claws of death.”

Wolf Hawk paused, looked slowly from one to the other, then said, “He commanded, too, that the land on each side of the river would break away. How did you ever think that you could come again as though nothing had happened and claim the pelts and take them away?”

“We meant no one harm; we did not mean to kill those two young braves,” Jeb whined. “It…just…happened.”

“As it just happened that one of you took the hunting amulet from Little Bull as he lay dead in a pool of his own life’s blood?” Wolf Hawk demanded, gazing intently at the amulet that now hung around Jeb’s neck.

Wolf Hawk left it there for now, but soon it would be taken back to the mother of its rightful owner.

First he wanted everyone to see the proof of who these men were. The amulet conclusively proved that these trappers were responsible for the boys’ deaths.

Clint glared at Jeb. “I told you that you shouldn’t take that amulet,” he growled out.

Jeb lowered his eyes and swallowed hard, then winced when Wolf Hawk grabbed him by the arm and yanked him from the cabin. Clint walked shakily beside him.

“Please, oh, please let us go,” Jeb cried. “We truly meant those young men no harm.”

Wolf Hawk stopped and glared at him. “I am taking you to the mother of the two braves who died in your deadly traps, so that she will see who took her sons’ lives,” he said coldly.

“Please, no,” Clint cried. “Why cain’t you listen to reason? We didn’t mean for any of that to happen. Please let us go. We promise, oh, Lord, we promise never to come to Winnebago land again. And we won’t tell anyone about you and how you treated us. We promise.”

Those words only antagonized Wolf Hawk even more. So far, he had not treated the men badly at all.

“Come,” Wolf Hawk said, shoving first one man, and then the other, out of the cabin. “Your words are wasted on me.”

He kept shoving them until they finally reached the beached boat.

“Get in,” Wolf Hawk commanded. “Now!”

Clint and Jeb fell all over each other as they scrambled to get in the boat. Wolf Hawk made them sit facing the seat he would take.

After Wolf Hawk got the boat in deeper water, he boarded it, himself. For a moment he just sat there, glaring at the men, wanting them to become as uncomfortable as possible. Then he lifted
the paddle and started back in the direction of his village.

Jeb and Clint sat there, trembling, their eyes transfixed on Wolf Hawk. Both were afraid that he might turn suddenly into a bird or a wolf.

They had enough common sense left to realize that Wolf Hawk surely wouldn’t allow them to live to tell others of the mystical happenings they had witnessed. They also knew that he was going to make them both pay for the deaths of those two young braves.

They just wondered how he would choose to take revenge. Would their deaths be slow, or mercifully fast? Either way, they were absolutely terrified.

Then it came to Jeb just how slowly the two young braves must have died. He was certain now that he and Clint would be made to die just as slowly and painfully.

“Please, oh, please reconsider,” Jeb cried out. “Let us go!”

As before, Wolf Hawk ignored his pleadings.

He just continued paddling onward, his heart set on finally achieving the vengeance demanded by the mother of the two young braves. He was more than happy to do this for Dancing Fire.

Mia heard a commotion outside of Wolf Hawk’s tepee and then a strange sort of silence.

She had waited with an anxious heart for what seemed an eternity for Wolf Hawk’s return. Now she wondered if what was happening in the village could be a sign that he had finally arrived.

Her pulse racing, she rose from where she had sat waiting for the man she loved, on thick pelts before the slow burning embers of the fire. Excitedly she hurried outside.

She stopped and gasped as she caught sight of Wolf Hawk beaching a boat with two men in it. Their faces were lined with fear as they gaped back at the staring Winnebago people who were gathering together now on the riverbank.

Mia was startled not only because Wolf Hawk was bringing two white men to the village, but also because he was paddling her family’s longboat, with her very own name painted on both sides.

A sob lodged in her throat and she placed a hand over her mouth to stifle it when she recalled
watching her father painting her name in bold white letters on the side of the boat. It had been a happy day in early spring. The sky had been filled with lovely white, fluffy clouds.

She had known that her father had already named the longboat after her, but he had taken forever to finally paint it on the boat. That was the way of her father. He had never done anything promptly, just took his time dawdling about his life, the pipe he loved so much usually clamped between his straight, white teeth.

That was why he had chosen to travel most summers on the river after having worked all winter making boats for other people. While floating idly from place to place on the scow he had no true responsibilities except to keep his family safe, happy, healthy and fed.

Yes, her father had done all of those things for his family, but Mia had lost her desire to travel on the water long before her father had decided to end their journey because of his health.

A thought came to her as she watched Wolf Hawk order the two men from the boat. Could these men be the trappers who had gotten away?

Had he somehow found them? Had they truly been foolish enough to return to the scene of the crime, thinking they could leave unmolested again with the pelts?

It surely was those two men. After all, they were aboard the longboat that had been stolen along with the scow.

They had to be the trappers who had brought
heartache into the lives of these Winnebago people and then fled on her family’s scow.

Her jaw tight, her heart pounding, anger flaring in her eyes, she stepped farther from Wolf Hawk’s tepee but did not approach the river. She didn’t want to interfere in what must be done.

If these were truly the two men who were responsible for Little Bull’s and Eagle Bear’s deaths, surely Wolf Hawk would take the trappers to the braves’ mother, so that she would see they had been captured and would be dealt with.

Mia stiffened when Wolf Hawk grabbed each of the men by an arm and walked them toward Mia. Why was he bringing them this way, she wondered.

She hoped the reason she was thinking was not true. Although he had said that he believed her story about the scow having been stolen, and that neither she nor her father had had anything to do with the trappers, it seemed he wanted to confirm her words.

Wolf Hawk stopped a few feet from her, shoving the trappers even closer. Was he going to ask them if they knew her?

A keen disappointment rushed through her to think that might be true. She had thought that she and Wolf Hawk trusted and loved each other.

But now? She was not all that certain.

Wolf Hawk turned to the two men. He looked from one to the other. “Do you see this young woman?” he demanded. “Ask her her name.”

Mia’s eyebrows rose at that question.

When neither man did as he was told, Wolf Hawk grabbed Clint by the throat. “Ask her,” he said between clenched teeth.

“Ma’am, what…is…your name?” Clint stammered, trying to swallow as Wolf Hawk’s fingers squeezed into his flesh.

“My name is Mia,” she said softly.

“Mia?” Jeb gasped, recalling the name on both sides of the longboat. “The longboat we stole with the scow has the name Mia painted on it. Is that you?”

“The one and only,” Mia said, her eyes flashing angrily into his. “You…men…are truly the cause of my father’s death. You began it all by stealing the scow that he loved.”

“How could that…” Clint began, but Wolf Hawk yanked him around and now walked him and Clint away from Mia.

Mia watched his people separate and make space for him to walk toward Dancing Fire, who stood stiffly just outside her lodge, listening and watching.

When Wolf Hawk finally got there, he gave both men a shove toward her. “This is the mother of the two braves your traps killed,” he said.

The men tried to back away from Dancing Fire, whose accusing eyes were filled with angry tears. Her gaze immediately fixed on the hunting amulet that still hung around Jeb’s neck. She gasped at the horror of seeing a white man, a murderer,
wearing what had been so dear to her son Little Bull.

Wolf Hawk yanked it from Jeb’s neck and handed it to Dancing Fire. He watched her fingers close around it. Then he stepped closer to her. “Dancing Fire, these are the two men who set the deadly traps,” he said thickly. “They have today fallen into a trap of their own. They returned for the pelts that were no longer at the old fort. They are the guilty ones. They will now be made to pay for their crimes.”

Wolf Hawk reached out and gently took one of Dancing Fire’s hands in his. “Dancing Fire, how would you like to see justice served on these two men?” he asked softly. “What should be done to them?”

Dancing Fire said nothing, only sobbed.

He understood why she would not commit to saying how the men should pay for their crimes. Nothing could compensate her for the loss of her sons.

Wolf Hawk grabbed each man by an arm and again walked them toward Mia.

“Mia, how would you like to see these men pay for their crimes?” he asked thickly.

Mia’s eyes wavered. She swallowed hard, then looked into Wolf Hawk’s eyes. “It is not for me to say,” she murmured. “Please do not leave it up to me. I’m just so glad that you found them. It ate away at my heart to know that those men who stole so much from me and your people were still
out there, perhaps bringing more grief to someone else.”

“I did not believe you would name a punishment, but I wanted to give you a chance,” Wolf Hawk said quietly.

He turned to the men and looked from one to the other as they cowered beneath his angry stare.

“You came to this land to steal pelts?” he said. “You want pelts? I will take you now to where there will be many, but only from one type of animal. Wolves. You hid the pelts you claimed were yours at the old fort. We will go there again.”

“Why…?” Jeb managed to say, his voice thick with fear.

“You will soon see,” Wolf Hawk said tightly. “As you will soon know your final fate.”

Wolf Hawk turned to Mia and embraced her. “I will not be long,” he said.

Mia nodded, then trembled as she watched Wolf Hawk shove both men in the direction of the river. She continued watching as he forced them into the longboat, then boarded it himself. Soon they were headed again toward the fort.

A chill rode her spine as she wondered what truly lay ahead for those two men.

Surely whatever Wolf Hawk had in mind would be merciful, for he was a man of peace, of love. Yet these men had wronged him and his people, as they had wronged Mia and her father.

Swallowing hard, Mia returned to Wolf Hawk’s tepee. The people of the village resumed their daily
activities, as though nothing had happened. Even Dancing Fire had returned to her own lodge, the amulet still clutched in one hand.

“Wolf Hawk, please, oh, please hurry back,” Mia whispered as she settled again on the pelts beside the fire. She sighed and drew a blanket around her shoulders.

She looked occasionally toward the entrance flap as the wind rustled it. Then she turned her eyes again toward the fire, and watched the dancing flames, seeing in them all sorts of ghostly images.

Even Georgina sat quietly on her perch, her eyes watching Mia.