Comanche Dawn (3 page)

Wounded Bear circled the carcass and smelled the blood, which made his stomach growl. “Now, listen. Our father's fathers have told us that the dog and the wolf and the coyote are ancestors of the True Humans, from the ancient times when animals spoke and walked around like two-leggeds, and so it is not a good thing to eat a dog because it is our ancestor. But this beast is so strange that I do not think it is my ancestor. It does not come from the earth, but from the Shadow Land. I hear the spirits say that it is a very good thing to eat a
shadow-dog.
”

The people laughed with relief, for they were hungry, and the beast was made of meat, whether it came from the Land of Shadows or not.

“Wounded Bear shows his wisdom again,” Shaggy Hump said. “I am forbidden to eat meat until the cord dries and falls from my new son's belly, but I will find some roots or pine nuts to eat, and sing the song my spirit-protector taught me as the Burnt Meat People of the True Humans make a feast of the shadow-dog in honor of my new son!”

He began to pace very excitedly, as if he did not know what to do next. “I must wash my testicles in the cold water now, for Broken Bones is bathing the baby. I must not look upon my wife and child for thirty suns, or the spirits will cause me to bleed to death from my nose. Listen well, all you young boys, for these are things you need to know. Black Horn, my brother, go where I am forbidden and speak to Broken Bones. Tell me what she says about my son!”

And so the flint knives peeled the hide of the shadow-dog and carved warm meat from bone. The fire drills conjured smoke and flame from wood. The Burnt Meat People feasted on the animal that in times to come would be called First Horse. They declared it the best meal ever consumed by any True Humans anywhere. All night the elders told tales and sang songs and offered up blessings of tobacco smoke to the newborn son of River Woman and Shaggy Hump. In seasons ahead of this day, the Burnt Meat People would know the child as Born-on-the-Day-of-the-Shadow-Dog, and they would smile as they spoke his name, for the day of his birth held a story that would bring much joy in the telling.

2

The first moment the
spirits gave him to remember began with a horse running toward him from a green and distant hill. It happened during the Moon of Geese Returning, when the True Humans killed deer and drank the mixture of warm milk and blood that ran from the slashed udders of the does. It was the time when the children played in the spring sunshine and ate curdled milk taken from the stomachs of slain fawns.

The horse of his first memories came over a faraway hill of green grass and gray sage, running toward him, becoming many horses of many different colors. The horses ran to him as he sat on a robe spread across the ground, and they shook the ground and made dirt fly onto his robe. One of the huge animals blasted him with warm, sweet-smelling breath and nudged him with a soft nose, knocking him onto his back. This pleased the horses, and they ran away, kicking more dirt at Born-on-the-Day-of-the-Shadow-Dog. But he only laughed in his little child's voice, for none of this frightened him. He rolled over to see his mother running toward him from the lodge.

As the horses galloped away from Born-on-the-Day-of-the-Shadow-Dog, River Woman reached his place on the ground and lifted him. The boy felt his arm fall comfortably over his mother's shoulder, his legs straddling her hip with familiarity. He grabbed her black hair and pulled hard, as he always liked to do. She only grabbed his wrist to keep him from pulling harder. Her voice was running like a swift river, and Born-on-the-Day-of-the-Shadow-Dog knew she was upset, but not with him. His mother never got upset with him, and so he pulled her hair with his free hand, because she liked it when he played like this.

Now the sound of another horse came, and the child looked to the green hill to see his father, Shaggy Hump, riding toward him. This would be the first time he remembered seeing a man riding a horse, and it made him so happy that he tried to slide down his mother's hip so he could go to his father, but his mother would not let him.

Shaggy Hump came to his wife and child at a trot on a bay horse and pulled the rawhide thong looped around the mount's jaw to make it stop.

“Your crazy horses came over the hill and almost stepped on your son!” River Woman said.

Shaggy Hump's smile changed to a scowl. “
Pookai,
woman!” Just as quickly, his expression became a smile again, for his son. He urged the horse forward by leaning in the direction he wanted to move and by squeezing with his knees. He grabbed Born-on-the-Day-of-the-Shadow-Dog by the wrist, wrenched the naked child away from his mother, and swung his son in front of him onto the blanketed withers of the horse.

Looking down on her, the boy could see the part in the middle of his mother's hair painted bright red—a thing he had never noticed before because he did not remember sitting so high above her. He laughed and pulled the mane of the horse.

“Look how my son holds on!” Shaggy Hump cried.

“He learned by pulling my hair,” River Woman said.

“As I did!” The warrior laughed and was pleased that his wife laughed with him. “You are a great teacher of riders, River Woman.”

Shaggy Hump made the horse cut and run, and his son riding in front of him squealed with joy. Born-on-the-Day-of-the-Shadow-Dog held the mane tightly and mimicked his father's use of the rawhide reins.

“Hear your father speak, my son. I was the first
Noomah
warrior of the Burnt Meat People ever to see a horse.”

“
Noomah,
” said Born-on-the-Day-of-the-Shadow-Dog, mimicking his father's speech. He knew this word somehow and understood its meaning. The Real People. The True Humans. Those like me.

“It happened on the day you were born,” his father continued. “I killed First Horse so that the people of your camp could have a feast in your honor. Your grandfather named the horse shadow-dog that day, but since then, the spirits have given us many other names to call the horse.
Esikuma, puku, toohooya.
Elk-dog, seven-dogs, big-dog.
Ekakuma, tosa naboo, ohtookuma.
Bay, paint, sorrel…”

As he listened to his father's voice, Born-on-the-Day-of-the-Shadow-Dog kicked at the withers of the horse he rode with his father. He pulled the long mane to his face, felt it tickle his lips, and smelled the good musky aroma of the beast.

“The horse comes from the south. I know this, my son. On my first ride over the hunting grounds of the plains, I came upon our enemies, the
Yutas.
I made a truce with the
Yutas
so that we might travel together to trade with the Raccoon-Eyed People far out on the plains. During this journey, the
Yutas
told me many strange stories about men with white skin and hairy faces far away to the south, who have many horses and much iron. The day you were born, everything began to change, for First Horse brought strong medicine. The spirits gave First Horse to the Burnt Meat People so that we would not starve that winter. This spirit-pony ran around the lodge where you were born, making a sacred circle. When First Horse died, his power and his soul leapt into your heart, my son.”

They rode over endless green grasslands dotted with sage, across a talking brook, among the smoke-breathing lodges painted with many colors and signs. And Shaggy Hump continued to lecture his son:

“After the trading and the truce, I went with my brother, Black Horn, to the hunting grounds of the
Yutas.
There we found our enemy's camp and crept among their horses at night. We took these horses for our own. And we took the scalp of the enemy warrior who guarded them and carved his dead body so that we will know him by his scars in the Shadow Land. Now our hunters ride far and find more game to kill. We do not suffer so much from hunger, and we move quickly away from our enemies when they are stronger than we are. We are now like the antelope, as we were once like the snake.”

Born-on-the-Day-of-the-Shadow-Dog leaned back and felt his skin pressing against his father's bare stomach. He listened He did not really understand, but he would hear the same stories many times over in seasons to come, and he would learn.

“Your father is a great taker and rider of horses, Shadow Dog—a great warrior-hunter who rides far to trade and find game and count battle strokes. You will also ride far, my son. You will collect scalps like the claws of great bears. You will own ponies like our enemies own lice.”

They rode and rode and rode, until Shadow Dog yawned and closed his eyes, sleeping peacefully to the good steady motion of the horse and the sound of his father's voice.

*   *   *

In seasons to come, Shaggy Hump would claim with pride that his son began training horses when his winters numbered only five. By this age, Shadow Dog had grown a good set of teeth and used them often to bite his mother. This made much fun, for his mother would yell and squirm, and he thought she liked this game, for River Woman never punished him for anything he did.

She would say, “Hear your mother! Do not bite!”

But Shadow Dog knew she did not mean it, even though she pretended to make her voice sound stern. He would say, “I bite!”

One day, Shadow Dog was taken to his aunt, Looks Away, who was the wife of Black Horn. Black Horn had captured Looks Away from the
Yutas
and had taken her as his wife, which was well, for in those days the
Yutas
knew more of horses than the True Humans, and Looks Away was able to teach Black Horn about horses.

On this day, Looks Away was tending Shadow Dog because River Woman had gone to stay in the lodge for unclean women. Shadow Dog was chasing puppies and making dust rise and blow into a paunch in which Looks Away was cooking stew. Twice, Looks Away told him to play with his puppies in some other place. The third time, she seized his wrist to make him listen, and when she did, he bit the back of her hand.

At first, it was like the game he played with his mother, for Looks Away gasped and flinched, which was fun. But then she seized his arm again, with much strength, and sank her own teeth deep enough into Shadow Dog's flesh to make him howl. She pressed her hand hard over his mouth to silence him, and said, “You will not bite!”

Like Shaggy Hump, Black Horn had horses—as many as he could keep. One of Shaggy Hump's mares had borne a foal, and Looks Away was keeping the mare staked close to the camp to prevent wolves and lions from eating the foal, who stayed close to his mother. She went to lead the mare to water that day, with the mark of Shadow Dog's teeth still in her flesh, and the mark of hers still plain in his. Shadow Dog came with her, because he loved the little foal.

As Looks Away was leading the mare, Shadow Dog played with the foal, grabbing its mane or tail, and trying to climb on its back. Looks Away was watching them play when she saw Shadow Dog kick the foal in the stomach as he tried to scramble onto its back.

Suddenly, the foal craned its thin neck and bit Shadow Dog on the back of the thigh. This made the boy flinch and yell, but he held to the foal, grabbing it now by the ear. Almost as soon as his feet were on the ground, Shadow Dog clenched the ear between his teeth and drew blood from the foal.

Grabbing the soft lower lip of the frightened foal and holding still to the ear, Shadow Dog gained control of the little animal, though it was larger than he was. He made the foal stand still, then said, “You will not bite!”

It was said that this foal never again tried to bite another True Human, even when it was grown and painted and wearing war feathers in its tail.

3

He saw his first
enemy in the summer of his ninth year. It was during the Moon of Antlers, when all the great warriors of the deer and elk and moose tribes used their spirit powers to grow weapons from their skulls. His uncle, Black Horn, had killed a buck and given the antlers to him. These Born-on-the-Day-of-the-Shadow-Dog had lashed to the lodge poles his horse was dragging, and he held onto them as the Burnt Meat People moved north.

He was proud to be riding the horse his father had given him, while other children ran among the dogs that pulled shorter lodge poles. Because his father, Shaggy Hump, owned horses, his family could move longer lodge poles and fold more buffalo hides upon them. Most of the families of the Burnt Meat People lived in small, four-pole tipis, but the lodge of Shaggy Hump's family was the largest in the band, made of eight poles and ten skins. This caused Shadow to ride his pony with pride.

Long ago, the people of his band had shortened his name to Shadow Dog, and now just to Shadow. He knew the name would not stick his whole life, for he would one day receive a warrior's name from the spirits. But for now, Shadow liked his name. A shadow was dark and mysterious and could vanish among other shadows. It moved silently and crawled over the ground like death.

The horse he rode was the smallest Shaggy Hump had taken from the
Yutas,
and so it was easier for Shadow to climb upon. It was a stocky brown horse, with white hairs of age around its muzzle and the even temper of an old work dog. There were two things about this horse that fascinated Shadow and made him wonder beyond comprehension.

One thing was the fact that his horse, though male, had no testicles. The Burnt Meat People had once camped with the Corn People, another band of True Humans, who owned a slave with no testicles. This slave had been captured from the Northern Raiders as a boy, and the Corn People had cut the captured boy's testicles off, for the warriors of the Northern Raiders had raped many women and girls among the bands of the True Humans. All this made Shadow wonder who had cut the testicles off his horse, and why this horse had been punished by no longer being allowed to mate with mares.

The other thing that filled his heart with a yearning to understand was the scar burned onto the shoulder of his horse. From where he now rode, he could touch the scar whenever he liked and try to think of what had caused it. He knew this kind of scar was made by hot coals, for his grandfather, Wounded Bear, who now rode beside him, had scars like this upon his feet and hands.