Outlaws Of Phantom Canyon (Savage Series) (12 page)

Now back at the Phantom outlaw's camp, Roark turned his horse out to graze in the meadow, and went to the camp's saloon where he ran into Clayton and Victor standing at the bar.

"I hear you took claim of Julianna now that Gabriel is gone," Victor commented dryly.

"Ya I did. Then she ran off on Gabriel's horse, and Spotted Elk and his warriors kidnapped her," Roark said sadly, to make it look good to the outlaws. Then he ordered a bottle of whiskey.

"Spotted Elk kidnapped Julianna?" Clayton questioned, surprised at what Roark was telling them. They had never had any problems sharing the area with the Ute Indians before.

"Yep, ask Levi. He was with me when I went looking for Julianna, and we saw Spotted Elk and his warriors leading Julianna away. They were up on the ridge out past the grass valley."

Knowing Levi, one of their own men, would not cover for Roark if he was up to something, they accepted what Roark told them and nodded.

After Roark paid for his bottle, he took it and went to a table in a dark corner to sit alone. Halfway through the bottle Angel walked into the camp's saloon. Roark thought he was seeing things. She should be headed into town by now with Gabriel's body.

Angel went to the bar to get a mug of beer, then she walked up to Roark's table and asked, "How 'bout a game of cards?"

"Sure, maybe my luck will change," Roark laughed sadly.

Once they had been playing for a while, and no one was paying attention to them, Roark asked, "What are you doing back here?"

"His body was gone. I searched all over, and could only find where an Indian had been there by a big pool of water under a rock ledge. I found faint moccasin prints and unshod pony tracks. He must have been a Ute, and carried Gabriel back to his people."

"That makes sense," Roark commented.

"So how's Julianna handling you taking ownership of her?" Angel asked worried.

"She took it so well that she ran off on Gabriel's horse, and was kidnapped by Spotted Elk, before me and Levi found her."

Gasping, Angel exclaimed, "Oh no! What can we do?"

"
Not much we can do till we are done here. Besides she will be safer there. Gabriel's people will take care of her."

"I'm sure you are right," Angel said as she stood up. "I don't feel much like playing anymore. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Okay. Good night Angel."

"Good night Roark," Angel said, as she walked out of the saloon and over to the cook's shack to see Barry. It was almost empty inside, and he was cleaning up from the previous meal, when he saw her walk in.

"Well hello there! I'm glad to see you are back," Barry said, with a big smile on his face. He had been worried about Angel. He knew she had cared deeply for Gabriel, and had also become friends with Julianna, who was now gone too.

As Angel walked up to Barry, he saw the tears in her eyes and he held out his arms to her, which she gladly accepted. "Oh Barry," she cried.

"It's okay Angel. I'm here for you."

*     *     *

In her mother's tepee, Snow Storm cared for her injured brother. Dark Thunder had been unconscious since yesterday, and that had her extremely worried. She put on more of her herbal paste, and changed out the moss she had packed in the wound, before she wrapped a piece of deer hide around it to hold it in place.

Coming into the tepee, her mother, Laughing Eyes, asked Snow Storm, "How is Dark Thunder doing?"

"He is no better. He has hot fever," Snow Storm replied.

"We must put Dark Thunder in cold stream. I will find my brothers to help us," Laughing Eyes said, as she went back out of the tepee to fetch her brothers.

Laughing Eyes was a Ute Indian. Her husband Black Eagle had been killed six years ago by Apaches, when he and Laughing Eyes's brothers were out hunting for food. They had two children, Snow Storm and Black Thunder.

Snow Storm lost her husband a couple summers ago in a battle at Ute Pass. She now lives alone with her two children. Since she has a gift for healing and visions, she was learning more from the tribe's shaman, so that one day she would take his place.

Black Thunder was a great tribal warrior, who at age twenty went to live with the white men off and on over the years to learn their ways. He had not yet chosen a woman to marry and bear his children. Now Laughing Eyes worries that he may never get to.

Laughing Eyes found her two brothers and the shaman, and brought them back to her tepee to help her and Snow Storm carry Black Thunder to the small stream. They used a woven blanket to carry Black Thunder, and to lower him into the cold running water. Laughing Eyes held her son's head above water, while Snow Storm and the shaman chanted and sung to their creator Senawahv to heal Black Thunder. When Black Thunder visibly started shaking from the cold, they lifted him gently out of the water, and carried him back to Laughing Eyes's tepee. 

While Snow Storm was mixing an herbal drink for Dark Thunder, her mother sat with him and was singing. She kept putting a fresh cold rag on his forehead. His eyes were still closed but he started to thrash around a little, and was trying to speak but was too weak from the fever.

"It's okay my son. You are safe now. You are with your people." Laughing Eyes tried to calm his feverish dreams.

Snow Storm brought the herbal broth over and lifted his head to drink. "Drink my brother. This medicine will take away the evil spirits that are trying to take you from us."

He drank from the tin cup she held to his lips, and then he mumbled. "Ju . . Ju."

Chapter 10

Spotted Elk and his warriors returned to their Ute Indian camp at sunset with Julianna. Riding into camp, the warrior's wives and children had come out to meet them. The Ute Chief, known as Nighthawk, stood in front of his tepee as Spotted Elk led Julianna and her bay horse towards him. "Hello father."

Chief Nighthawk acknowledged his son, "Spotted Elk." Pointing at Julianna he asked, "Who is this you bring to our camp?"

"She is called Julie. She from the Phantom outlaw camp. Her man killed. She not want to stay there. She agree to come care for my son," Spotted Elk explained.

In their own native tongue, Chief Nighthawk asked, "Did she also agree to be your wife?"

Answering back in their own language, Spotted Elk replied, "I have not yet asked her. I must mourn my wife first before I take another wife. By then I hope Julie will be happy here, and agree to be my wife. I do not want to force her to marry me."

Nodding approval, Chief Nighthawk agreed, "Get her settled and come back to have council. We have much to talk about."

Spotted Elk led Julianna on to his own tepee, where he jumped off his horse and helped Julianna down from Gabriel's big stallion. Where she then asked, "That was your father?"

"Yes, his name is Nighthawk. He is our tribe's Chief."

"Is that why you are the head warrior? Because you are the son of the chief?" Julianna asked curiously.

"No. To be head warrior you must earn it. Dark Thunder was head warrior until he left out tribe to live among the white people," Spotted Elk explained.

Leading Julianna into his tepee, he cont
inued, "This you new home. Rest. I will send someone with food. You eat. Tomorrow you care for my son."

"Okay. Thank you Spotted Elk for rescuing me from those awful outlaws," Julianna said tiredly, with a yawn she tried to muffle with her hand.

Julianna's gratitude was unexpected, which made Spotted Elk feel awkward. So he quickly left without saying anything more to Julianna.

She was tired, but hunger ruled Julianna as her stomach started to rumble at the mentioning of food. She had not eaten since dinner yesterday. News of Gabriel's death had left her unable to eat anything till now. She couldn't believe that it was only just yesterday that Gabe was killed. It felt like a week ago, with all she had been through in the past twenty four hours.

An old Indian woman brought Julianna a bowl of deer stew. She was so hungry, she hardly tasted it as she swallowed it down. With her belly full, she curled up on the buffalo robes, and quickly was sound asleep.

*     *     *

Spotted Elk entered his father's tepee to find his warriors already there waiting to have council. He sat down and waited for the Chief to begin. His father was packing his peace pipe with fresh kinnikinnick, a tobacco made of leaves and bark. Then he called out to Senawahv, their creator, to bless for his warriors safe return. Once the Chief took a puff from the peace pipe, he passed it on to the warrior to his right, which was Spotted Elk.

Spotted Elk repeated the ritual, and passed it to his right to one of his warrior brothers, and so on until the pipe was handed back to its owner, Chief Nighthawk.

"While out collecting herbs and roots for his medicines, Walking Bear was standing at a big pool of water in Beaver Creek, when Dark Thunder fell from the sky into the water," Chief Nighthawk said to his warriors, who sat listening in amazement.

The Chief continued, "Walking Bear then heard the boom of a rifle, and then a much louder boom that shook the ground like thunder.

"Black Thunder had been shot and was unconscious. Walking Bear pulled him out of the pool of water, loaded him onto his horse, and brought him back home to our village. His mother and sister are caring for him now. He has been bad with fever, and has not yet woke up," Chief Nighthawk finished.

"We must go after the man who shot our brother!" Spotted Elk exclaimed.

"Yes, but we do not know who did this to our brother," another warrior replied.

Chief Nighthawk interrupted, "We will keep our ears and eyes to the ground and listen. It will tell us what we need to know. Right now we will pray to Senawahv for Dark Thunder to live. Spotted Elk, tomorrow you take your warriors back to where Black Thunder fell from the sky, and track his killer."

*     *     *

"Get up." Spotted Elk nudged Julianna with his moccasin foot. As Jul
ianna woke and looked up at him he continued, "I leave camp now for some days. Soon Yellow Flower will come with my son. She show you how to make food to feed him."

"Where are you going?"

"My brother Dark Thunder been shot. His mother care for him now. I must find man who shot him," Spotted Elk explained to Julianna.

"Don't worry about your son. I will take good care of him," Julianna said concerned for spotted Elk, and then added, "Spotted Elk, please be careful."

Touched by Julianna's kindness, Spotted Elk did not know what else to say as he left the tepee to join his warriors. She was a strong woman . . . and he liked her a lot.

Julianna couldn't handle losing anyone else right now. Spotted Elk had been so kind to her. She knew he could have just kidnapped her, and took and traded her to one of the young warriors who'd want her for a wife. But he didn't. He asked her to help him in trade for helping her. To Julianna that seemed fair enough. It wasn't like she could go back to her old world now. Having been Gabe's lover, she was a ruined woman. No decent man would want to marry her, and she would only bring shame to her father.

Julianna spent the next couple days caring for Spotted Elk's son. While the boy was napping, she would take short walks around the Indian camp, and watch the ways of the Indian women.

Most of the women only stared back at her, but there was one that Julianna could tell did not like her at all. She had no idea why, as they had never met or talked to each other. Julianna hoped she could become friends with all the women here in camp.

*     *     *

Dark Thunder had not yet regain consciousness, but his fever was starting to go down. Snow Storm and Laughing Eyes saw this as a good sign, as they bathed him in cold water and doctored his head wound. The bullet had grazed the side of his head causing a concussion. There was no way to know if there was any permanent damage until he wakes up.

With Dark Thunder sleeping peaceful for the first time, now that his fever was down, both laughing Eyes and Snow Storm felt it was safe to leave him alone, and went to the stream to bathe.

While they were gone Dark Thunder woke up. It took him a while to open his eyes, as the pounding in his head was quite painful. Once he opened his eyes, it took him a while to figure out he was in his mother's tepee. It had been over a year since his last visit to his Ute family. How did he get here he wondered?

Sitting up caused a pounding head rush he wasn't expecting. When that subsided, he slowly stood up and walked out of the tepee, pausing at the door flap as his eyes got accustomed to the bright sunlight.

He was stumbling towards Chief Nighthawk's tepee, when Julianna spotted him from across the Ute Indian camp. The Indian woman who did not like her, ran up to Dark Thunder, and gave him a hug and a big kiss. Was it
Gabe?
  No, it couldn't be. Gabe was dead.

At this point Julianna fainted from the shock, just as Spotted Elk walked up behind her. He caught her just before she hit the hard ground, and he picked her up and carried her back inside his tepee.

As he laid her down on the buffalo robes she came to, "Gabe."

"Lie down. You fainted. Stay in here and rest. I will have Yellow Flower care for my son tonight," Spotted Elk said, as he tried to sooth her.

Nodding her head Julianna said, "Yes, you are right." She figured all the stress of the last few days had finally got to her. What other explanation was there? It couldn't of been Gabriel she saw. He was dead. "I'm glad you are back Spotted Elk."

Smiling
he said, "Me too Crying Moon."

"Why did you call me Crying Moon?" Julianna asked.

"Yellow Flower heard you crying at night when the moon was high above. She decided to name you Crying Moon," he explained.

"Oh . . . I don't know what to say."

"Don't say anything. It is beautiful name for you." Spotted Elk smiled. "The fact that you deeply mourn the loss of your man shows how big a heart you have."

She smiled back at Spotted Elk. "I guess you're right."

*     *     *

"Stormy!" Black Thunder said with a big smile, after his sister hugged and kissed him. He had always called his sister, Snow Storm . . 'Stormy'.

"Brother, it is good to see you awake! But come, you must rest. You was shot in the head, and was unconscious for many days," Stormy explained to him as she led him back to their mother's tepee. "Walking Bear found you. He said you fell from the sky."

"I must of been shot off the mountain ridge I last remember riding on. But I don't understand how I could of survived the long fall onto the rocks below?" Dark Thunder wondered aloud.

"Walking Bear said you fall in deep pool of water," Stormy answered his question.

Nodding, Dark Thunder thought about that day. He had let his guard down because no posse was following them, but apparently someone had been! He had been anxious to get back to the outlaw camp to Julianna.
Jules!
She would be all alone thinking he was dead. Was Roark there to protect her? Was Angel helping him keep her safe? Did they all think he was dead?

Just as Stormy led him back into their mother's tepee, Dark Thun
der started to get light headed from all the memories coming back to him at once. "Brother, you need to lie down and rest. You are not well yet." Stormy proceeded to help him lay back down on the bed of buffalo robes.

"I just need to rest for a little bit," Dark Thunder said, with the intentions of getting back up in a little while, and riding back to the Phantom outlaw camp to Julianna. But that didn't happen, as he slept all the way through the night.

*     *     *

"Rest while I go get us something to eat," Spotted Elk told Juliann
a as he ducked out of his tepee with his son in his arms, to go see his grandmother Yellow Flower.

While waiting for Spotted Elk's return, Julianna curled up on the buffalo robes and thought about Gabriel. Oh how she missed him! She had grown accustom to snuggling up to him in his arms when they slept, the long walks and rides they would take out of the outlaw camp where they would talk for hours about everything, and their lovemaking . . . where they could escape the current life they were living in, to a world that was all their own. Julianna drifted off to sleep dreaming about Gabriel, and how much she loved him . . .

When she woke up, Spotted Elk was bringing food into the tepee and set it down in front of her. "From now on you must go get the food for us. Men, especially warriors, do not do women's work," Spotted Elk explained.

"I had heard that the men's job was only to hunt and to protect the village. While the women must do everything else, including wait on the men.  Is that true?" Julianna asked.

"Yes, it is our way. You will get use to it."

Maybe, Julianna thought, but so far she wasn't liking the idea of it. So as to not dwell
on it, she changed the subject. "Did you find the man who shot your warrior brother, Dark Thunder?"

Spotted Elk nodded his head.
"Yes. We found him with his leg pinned under a boulder. While he begged us to help him, he told us what he did to Black Thunder."

"Did you kill him?" Julianna asked, as she couldn't believe she was hoping he did. Was living with outlaws and now Indians really turning her into a savage?

"No, I scalped him and left him to die. He was not worthy of my blade."

At the thought of that, Julianna became nauseous and ran out of the tepee to expel her stomach contents.

As she returned to the tepee, Spotted Elk laughed at her. "You have lot to learn to become strong Indian woman. Now come sit, we eat."

Julianna ate some of the maze bread to settle her stomach, before she started in on the stew. Some form of stew was made often in Indian villages, to stretch out the low meat supply between all the Indians.

When they had finished their meal, Spotted Elk asked something that had been on his mind for days now, "Where did you get that big stallion you was riding?"

"It was Gabe's. He's had that horse since the day he had kidnapped me. The outlaws brought the horse back to the Phantom hideout, after he was shot off of him."

"Tomorrow when the sun first rises, you go to Yellow Flower to get my son, and care for him. I go now. You rest."

Spotted Elk needed time to think. He was almost sure that the horse she had rode in on, was Dark Thunder's big bay stallion. But she said it had belonged to her man called 'Gabe'.

Had his warrior brother Dark Thunder, traded this Gabe his big stallion for something? Or could it be that this Gabe was his warrior brother?  Spotted Elk could not remember the white man's name that Dark Thunder was given by his father. Julianna had said Gabe was killed. Did she see his body? Or was it assumed he was killed, and then left for dead?