Savage Beloved (22 page)

“Let’s go,” she said, giving Shadow a quick pat. “You lead. I’ll follow.”

She hurried to the corral and saddled the horse that was now hers.

Soon she was riding from the village, ignoring the eyes of the sentries on her.

Letting Shadow lead the way, Candy was soon certain that he was taking her to Spotted Bear’s home.

“I hope I’m doing the right thing,” Candy whispered to herself. She sucked in a nervous breath as she sank her moccasined heels into the flanks of her horse.

She would worry about the possibilities of what might happen to her later. She owed Spotted Bear. He had saved her from harm when he found her lost and scared. She must do what she could to help him if he was in trouble.

She nudged her steed with her knees, urging the mare to a faster pace. She did not think any more about herself and what might happen as a result of her actions today.

She could only envision Spotted Bear and how pitiful he’d looked after being scalped and left for dead.

And now?

Was he ill?

Or had he been injured?

She would soon know, for she was seeing many things that looked familiar to her now. She was close to where Spotted Bear made his home.

Finally she was there.

As she rode up to the tepee nestled deep in a thicket of cottonwood trees, she saw the pack of wolves lying outside his entrance flap.

They all jumped up and gazed at her, then went and snuggled close to Shadow, whom they were obviously welcoming in a loving way.

Candy felt absolutely safe among the wolves, even the white wolf, as she hurried inside the tepee and found him lying almost dutifully at Spotted Bear’s side. Spotted Bear lay on a thick cushion of pelts beside his fire pit, but the wood had burned all the way down to gray ashes.

“Lord,” she whispered to herself when she saw how flushed Spotted Bear’s face was, and how relieved he was to see her.

She could tell that the man was burning up with fever.

She immediately knew that he needed medicine, yet how could she get it for him?

“How . . . did . . . you know that I am ill?” Spotted Bear asked, reaching a trembling hand toward Candy.

She took it, flinching when she felt the heat of his flesh against hers. “Shadow came for me,” she said. “She sensed how ill you were and . . . came . . . for my help.”

“Leave,” Spotted Bear said thickly, his brown eyes pleading with her. “Do . . . not . . . involve yourself . . . in my life. It . . . would . . . not be good for you. You already . . . know . . . that. I explained it to you.”

“But I can’t leave without helping you first,” Candy said, holding his hand.

“Leave,” he insisted, trying to raise himself up on an elbow but collapsing back down to the pelts, too weak to do anything but lie there. “Return to the village . . . to Two Eagles. If he or any of my people ever learn of your . . . acquaintance . . . with me, you will be turned away . . . shunned.”

“I can’t think about that now,” Candy said softly. “I can’t . . . I won’t . . . leave you without doing what I can for you.”

She leaned down closer to him and looked him square in the eye. “Let’s chance it, Spotted Bear,” she blurted out. “Return home with me. I see no other way, because I know nothing about what to do for a fever such as you have. Please return to your village with me. Two Eagles is not the sort to be cruel, especially not to someone of his own band . . . someone he thought was dead.”

“I . . . am . . . so ill . . .” Spotted Bear said, his voice breaking. “I believe I
will
die without proper care,
but I . . . can’t . . . ask this of you. Your life could be ruined because of me.”

“I am willing to chance it if you are,” Candy said, but inside she was terrified at the thought of losing Two Eagles. Without him, her life would be meaningless.

“You . . . would . . . do this for me?” Spotted Bear asked, tears filling his eyes.

“Yes, and I
am
going to do it,” Candy said deter-minedly. “I must take you for help.”

She looked toward the entrance flap when she heard her horse whinnying, then gazed into Spotted Bear’s feverish eyes again.

“But how can I get you to the village?” she wondered. “You are too ill to travel on the horse.”

“I . . . will . . . instruct you how . . . to . . . make a travois,” Spotted Bear said.

He grabbed her hand. “Are you certain you want to risk everything for this . . . weak . . . sick man?” he asked, desperation in his voice.

“I don’t believe I will be risking anything,” Candy murmured, yet deep inside herself she knew there was a chance that she was.

If Two Eagles didn’t understand, she could lose him.

“Time is wasting. You need to get help as soon as possible,” Candy said firmly. “Now tell me how to make that travois.”

She carefully followed the instructions he gave her, and soon the travois was ready for traveling.

She attached it to her horse by two long poles on
each side, which would be dragged behind her steed, with Spotted Bear secured safely on it.

“Can you make it out to the travois?” Candy asked, not sure if his legs would hold him up. “You are so weak.”

“If I . . . have . . . to crawl, I will,” Spotted Bear said, tumbling sideways from his bed of pelts. He paused and gazed up at Candy. “Your whole life could change . . . because . . . of me. This is the time for you to change your mind.”

“I’m taking you home,” Candy said, her voice breaking. “So come on. I’ll help you to your feet. I’ll get you outside to that travois, one way or another.”

She felt his weight tugging against her as she grabbed him by the waist until he finally made it to his feet.

She had to half drag him because it was impossible for someone as tiny as she to hold him up.

But finally she had him secured on the travois and wrapped snugly in a blanket. Then she mounted her mare and headed back in the direction of Two Eagles’s village. The wolves, among them Shadow and White Wolf, ran alongside the travois.

Candy and her entourage traveled steadily until she knew that the village was just up ahead. Then the wolves, except for Shadow, suddenly scampered away and were soon hidden in the trees at Candy’s far right side.

Candy understood their need to hide when they had sensed the nearness of other humans. Now she, too, saw riders in the distance. They were riding ahead of her, going in the same direction she was
traveling. It was Two Eagles and his warriors making their way back home after many hours of council at the other Wichita village.

They were moving in a much more leisurely fashion than Candy, who was riding as fast as she possibly could with the travois being dragged behind her. It was apparent that Two Eagles wasn’t aware yet of her presence behind him.

She drew rein and stopped. Her heart pounded inside her chest, for she was suddenly afraid of the consequences of what she had chosen to do.

If she lost Two Eagles’s respect and love, oh, what would she do?

She gazed over her shoulder at Spotted Bear. She saw that his face was beet red with fever and he seemed unconscious.

She knew that he was worse!

She looked ahead at Two Eagles again.

Neither he nor his warriors knew yet that she was there, behind them.

She saw Shadow gazing up at her as though questioning her reason for stopping.

“Yes, Shadow, I know what I must do, and I will,” Candy said, her voice filled with sudden determination. She pointed at Two Eagles. “Go! Go, Shadow! Go and get Two Eagles! Now! Hurry!”

Shadow paused, then took off at a hard run.

Candy fought off fear as she saw Two Eagles suddenly stop and wheel his horse around. Everything inside Candy went cold when she saw Two Eagles look at Shadow, then past the wolf, at her.

Suddenly Two Eagles slapped his reins against his
horse’s rump and rode hard toward Candy. Shadow ran alongside him.

A part of Candy was, oh, so afraid of Two Eagles’s reaction to what she had done, while another part of her trusted his love for her and believed that he would understand her decision to risk everything to help save this ailing, lonely man.

All was gloom, and silent all,

Save now and then the still foot-fall
Of one returning homewards late,
Past the echoing minster-gate.
—John Keats

The other warriors stayed their ground as Two Eagles rode up to Candy and drew rein beside her.

He gazed questioningly into her eyes, and then looked down at the ailing man on the travois. He gasped and quickly dismounted, then knelt beside the travois.

“Spotted Bear?” he said, in his voice a deep caring.

He was stunned not only that Spotted Bear was with Candy, but also that he was alive.

He could see where the wound from being scalped had healed, but he could hardly believe his eyes.

Two Eagles’s voice brought Spotted Bear out of his
semi-coma; his cousin’s voice had reached into his consciousness.

He held a shaky hand toward Two Eagles. “Cousin,” he said, his voice dry with fever.

Then he looked up at Candy, who still sat on her horse, tense with fear of how Two Eagles was going to react.

He then gazed at Two Eagles again. “Cousin, please do not turn the woman away for . . . having helped . . . me, a Ghost,” he pleaded.

Two Eagles gazed up at Candy as she slowly dismounted.

When she stood on the ground a few feet from the travois, he saw the fear in her eyes. Two Eagles did not like seeing it, for he knew she was afraid of his reaction to what she had done.

“How did this happen?” he asked thickly. “How is it that you are with my cousin who I thought was dead?”

“Your cousin?” Candy said, her eyes widening. “Spotted Bear is your cousin? And . . . and . . . you thought he was dead?”

“His mother and my father were sister and brother, though both are now in the Hereafter,” Two Eagles said. “And,
ho
, I thought my cousin was dead. I knew he had been scalped. I went for his body to give him burial rites, but I could not find it. I thought that the enemy had taken it and desecrated it still further.”

“He was afraid to come home because he saw himself as a Ghost, one of the living dead,” Candy
murmured, so glad to know that Two Eagles had not heartlessly turned his back on Spotted Bear.

“You have not yet explained why you are with him,” Two Eagles said solemnly.

“The other day, when I went looking for Shadow, I got lost,” she said. “Spotted Bear came to my rescue. He explained everything to me about his appearance and why he had not returned home because he was a Ghost. He also told me that if you knew of my association with him, I might be sent away, considered taboo to all Indians. That is why I didn’t tell you. Please forgive me, for had I known that you would want your cousin home with you, even though he had been scalped, I would have gladly told you.”

She hung her head, then raised it again and gazed into Two Eagles’s eyes. “Shadow came for me today and led me to Spotted Bear’s tepee, where he lay ill and terribly feverish,” she said. “I had a kindness to repay to him. That is why I went to see if something was wrong. Thank goodness I did.”

“You said you had a kindness to repay,” Two Eagles said tightly. “At . . . any . . . cost?”

“I hated thinking that I might lose you over this, but I couldn’t leave Spotted Bear alone again, possibly dying,” Candy said, once again fearing that Two Eagles would not forgive her.

Why else would he look so stern?

Suddenly Two Eagles rose to his feet and went to Candy.

He swept her into his arms. “It is good that you showed my cousin such kindness,” he said. “I
would expect no less from you. You are a woman of good heart.”

“Then . . . you . . . aren’t going to turn me away?” Candy asked, searching his eyes. “I am not taboo to you?”

“You could never be taboo,” Two Eagles said, then stepped away from her and knelt beside Spotted Bear. “Nor could you, cousin. I truly thought you were dead. Had I known you were alive, I never would have stopped searching for you until I found you. I would have taken you home and seen to your healing myself.”

Out of the corner of his eye he saw that some of his warriors had shied away, moving back from Spotted Bear. Obviously they feared him because he had lived through a scalping.

Two Eagles ignored his men’s ignorance and would speak to them later about it.

Right now all that was important was to get his cousin home so that he could be medicated.

“But . . . I . . . am a Ghost,” Spotted Bear said, his voice fading with each word. He glanced over at the warriors. “They . . . see . . . me in that way. They . . . fear . . . me.”

“Not for long,” Two Eagles reassured him. “I shall speak to them. I will make them understand that it is wrong to fear those who have lived through a scalping. In my village, no one who has survived such a thing will ever be feared or called a Ghost.”

“Thank you, cousin,” Spotted Bear managed to say before falling again into an unconscious state.

“We must hurry,” Two Eagles said, going to his horse and removing a blanket from his travel bag.

He went back to Spotted Bear and wrapped him in the blanket even though he already had many on him.

It seemed that no matter how many blankets were on him, Spotted Bear still shivered from his fever.

This gesture of Two Eagles was to make a point to his warriors. He wanted them to understand that they should, without reservation, share their blankets with this fallen man, a man who had hunted with them, who had enjoyed evenings around the large fire with them.

Just because he no longer had hair, he was not any less a Wichita warrior!

Two Eagles hurried to his warriors and explained to them how this had come about, and what Two Eagles was going to do. “Above all else, my warriors, you must look at this man, my blood cousin, with love and respect,” he said firmly. “He has lived through what none of you, I hope, will have to do, and he is no less a warrior for it.” He looked slowly from man to man. “Do you understand what I expect of you?”

They grunted and nodded in unison.