Savage Betrayal (49 page)
“You have insulted me
and
the Kyuquot people, by this action,” began the Kyuquot chief stiffly. “You will not get away with treating our great tribe like this. Or me.” He hit his own chest forcefully, then winced at the blow.
Fighting Wolf coughed to hide the snicker that sprang to his lips. “What are you going to do about it?” he asked in pretended concern.
“We’ll take action,” threatened Throws Away Wealth, waving his arms about. The little man was almost hopping up and down in his anger. He hadn’t realized how much he’d been looking forward to bullying Sarita. Now the haughty slave was out of his reach.
“There’s no need for that,” said Thunder Maker soothingly. He shot a warning look at his son-in-law. “We would be very honored if you and your men would stay here as our guests. Even now, my wives are preparing a lavish feast for you.”
Throws Away Wealth looked at Thunder Maker, then at Fighting Wolf. Lastly, he looked at his weary men. They’d been through a terrible time in their efforts to get to this worthless village. Let Thunder Maker go broke feeding them all, he thought. Besides, the Ahousats were too strong to challenge at this time. He remembered uncomfortably how his men had been soundly beaten on that summer raid….
Throws Away Wealth nodded with as much dignity as he could summon in such humiliating circumstances. “Very well,” he acknowledged icily. “We accept your kind invitation.”
He turned on his heel and shouted orders to his tired men. Glad to have an evening’s celebration and rest ahead of them, they emptied their canoes with alacrity.
Throws Away Wealth fell into step stiffly behind the taller Fighting Wolf and Thunder Maker. The three wound their way in silence up the beach to Thunder Maker’s longhouse.
It was later that night, after the lavish banquet Crab Woman prepared for the disgruntled Kyuquots, that Sarita was at last alone with her beloved Fighting Wolf. Tired and relaxed, they cuddled together after making sweet, passionate love. “I love you,” she murmured.
He turned to her half asleep, his eyes heavy-lidded. “And you’re a wonderful lover,” he answered.
She smiled. “You know, I didn’t really think you were going to go through with it.”
“What? I always finish any lovemaking I start,” he responded, giving her a playful nip on her earlobe. “Almost always,” he corrected. “There were one or two times in my longhouse—“
She laughed. “That’s not what I’m talking about. I meant the marriage. I didn’t think you were really going to marry me.”
“After all I went through?” he asked incredulously. “I fought my way through a storm for you. I fought your father for you—“
Seeing her quick look of concern, he added, “With words, my love. Only with words.”
She sighed, reassured.
“I even had to fend off an angry Kyuquot suitor for your affections,” he continued in a mock aggrieved voice.
Sarita giggled. “Still, I can hardly believe we’re together—“
“Believe it,” he cut in, moving slowly down her frame and laying his cheek gently against her stomach.
“I’m so happy,” she sighed.
“So am I,” he murmured.
“Fighting Wolf,” she said after a moment.
“Mmm?”
“I’m freeing one of my slaves.”
“Oh? Anyone I know?”
“Hmmmm-mm. Spring Fern. I’m so happy with you, I’m freeing her so she can marry the man she loves, and be happy too.”
He opened his eye. Shook his head. “You amaze me,” he said after a while.
She smiled content to take his words as a compliment. “She’s going to marry Rottenwood.”
“Rottenwood? That name sounds familiar.”
“It should,” she answered with another giggle. “He helped me escape from your village.”
Fighting Wolf was silent as he remembered his turmoil when he heard Sarita had escaped. Before he could say anything, however, Sarita said hesitantly, “Fighting Wolf?”
“Hmmmh?”
“I have something to tell you.”
He raised his head warily. “What is it?”
“That night you caught me outside your longhouse—Remember? You accused me of meeting a man?”
Fighting Wolf nodded, his face contorting grimly. “I remember,” he stated. “All too well.”
Sarita shivered at his barely suppressed anger. She hurried on, “It was Rottenwood I met that night.”
“What?” shouted Fighting Wolf jumping up. Then he remembered she’d been a virgin when he’d first taken her. “And?” he asked through tight lips.
“We—we met that night to plan our escape. That’s all.” Sarita waited, holding her breath. The sincerity in her golden eyes was obvious in the lamplight.
“I believe you,” Fighting Wolf answered at last. “I was furious,” he acknowledged. “I was so angry that night that I went paddling for a long time. When I finally calmed down, it was morning.” He shook his head ruefully. “Even then I must have loved you and not realized it.”
Then he gave a low growl and attacked her playfully. “Well, there’ll be no more ‘Rottenwood’s’ to help you escape from me, ever again,” he said, a possessive hug reinforcing his words. “You’re mine, now. And you’ll stay mine.”
“Yes, Fighting Wolf,” she said meekly, a sparkle in her eye. “And you’re mine.”
The complete satisfaction in her voice was evident to them both, and they laughed joyously.
“She’s beautiful,” breathed Fighting Wolf, leaning over his wife to look at the baby cuddled in her arms. “She’s got your eyes.”
“My eyes,” agreed Sarita, “and your nose.”
“Poor thing,” murmured her husband. He rubbed the firm bridge of his straight nose.
They both chuckled. The little girl was the delight of her parents. Indeed, Sarita at times thought her husband was, perhaps, overly proud of their daughter. There was the day she found him showing her off to a bored Scarred Mouth. At Sarita’s pointed suggestion that Scarred Mouth had raised nine of his own children and probably had better things to do than admire babies, the old man had gladly escaped. He left behind a disgruntled Fighting Wolf. “But I was just about to tell him how alert and clever she is.”
“I’m sure he can see that for himself,” soothed Sarita indulgently. She was warmed by the memory.
Seeing her serene face, Fighting Wolf asked, “Did you want to show our baby to your father? She’s old enough to make the trip safely now. We could paddle to Hesquiat in the next few days.”
Sarita looked thoughtful. “That would give me a chance to see how Precious Copper is doing. She should be past time of her morning sickness.” She smiled. “Feast Giver was saying he wants a boy.”
“Let him think he wants a boy. In this longhouse we want girls, don’t we?” crooned the war chief to his tiny daughter. She smiled and curled her small fingers around his large one. “She’s strong, too,” he observed approvingly.
At that moment, a slim young woman bustled into the living area. “Spring Fern! I mean Sea Palm Woman.” Sarita was embarrassed at the slip she’d made. “I thought you’d left for Hesquiat already.”
Sea Palm Woman answered, “We’re leaving now. Man out of the Shadows wishes to return to your father’s longhouse. I just stopped to say good-bye one last time.”
“Thank you for all your help after the baby was born. I was so glad you could come to see me,” Sarita’s glowing face expressed her deep contentment with both husband and child. “We’ll see you soon,” continued the new mother. “We’re heading to Hesquiat for a visit within the next few days.”
Sea Palm Woman smiled, “Well, I’d best be going. Man Out of the Shadows hates to wait.” She patted her flat torso. “He’ll have to wait for this one, though.”
“Sea Palm Woman! Are you--?
“Pregnant? Yes, Abalone Woman confirmed it. Man Out of the Shadows is jubilant. He’s happy his son will not be born into slavery. Thanks to you, Sarita,” the woman said with tears in her eyes. “Thank you for freeing me, so I could marry Rottenwood—I mean Man Out of the Shadows.” The two women hugged.
“There now. Hurry along,” admonished Sarita, tears of happiness in her eyes, too. “You don’t want to keep you husband waiting.”
At Sea Palm Woman’s departure, Fighting Wolf turned to his wife and said, “And you don’t want to keep your husband waiting, either. Come to bed.”
Warning him happily that it was the middle of the day, Sarita took his outstretched hand and hurried to the tiny alcove. Soon they were very busy making more beautiful babies.
Thank you for reading this book. I sincerely hope you enjoyed it. You can find more of my books listed on my website at
www.theresascott.com
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~Theresa
Canoes in the Mist: Savage Betrayal – Book 1
Canoes in the Mist: Savage Revenge – Book 2
The two stories in this series are set against the backdrop of societal and economic changes wrought by the sea otter fur trade and its impact on the Indian tribes of what is now the west coast of British Columbia.
The events of Book 1,
Savage Betrayal
, occur just before the sea otter fur trade begins, while Book 2,
Savage Revenge
, takes place twenty years later, during the heyday of the sea otter fur trade.
Savage Betrayal
transpires about 1770, just as the west coast was being discovered by European and American sailors and before the west coast tribes began hunting sea otter furs for trade to China. At this time, the potlatch tradition provided the main trading mechanism among the tribes.
Twenty years later, in
Savage Revenge
, the sea otter furs hunted by the west coast tribes have come to command a high price in China so that Chinese nobles could wear robes trimmed with the thick, warm fur. The luxuriant furs brought the west coast tribes into a world-wide trading network.
European and American sailors served as the middlemen in the sea otter fur trade. In their great sailing ships, they carried the furs across the Pacific Ocean, from the west coast to China, where the traders reaped huge profits. On the return voyage, they brought spices and other exotic goods from the Orient and Hawaii to the North American markets, and sometimes European markets.
With the new trade routes came a new form of wealth to the west coast; the tribes were now connected to a different form of commerce. The middlemen traded blankets, dishes, iron, weapons, and other forms of wealth to the tribes, who in turn used those trade goods within their already established potlatch system.
However, the vast economic changes came to challenge every aspect of tribal life and what the Indians had believed about themselves.
Canoes in the Mist: Savage Revenge
is the story of Fighting Wolf’s and Sarita’s beautiful daughter, Haina.
A fiery Indian beauty, Haina would accept no man as her master, note even the virile warrior who had made her his captive. For years their families had been fierce enemies, and now Chance had found a way to exact revenge. He would hold the lovely Haina for ransom, humble her proud spirit, and take his fill of her supple young body. But Haina refused to submit to his hot kisses and burning caresses. Only exquisite tenderness and everlasting love would bring her to the point of surrender…
* * * *
If you were surprised to learn that you enjoy fur trade stories, I have another surprise for you: I’ve written more fur trade stories!
Soft Gold: Captive Legacy – Book 1
Soft Gold: The Treasure - A Christmas Novella.
The
Soft Gold
series I wrote takes place in the early 1800s, to the south and east of the west coast tribes, in the area now known as Washington and Oregon. There, along the Columbia River and in the mountains, other Indian tribes trapped beaver and traded the beaver pelts to the two big fur trade companies which dominated the fur trade: the Northwest Company and the Hudson’s Bay Company. These inland fur trading networks formed the beginning of corporate ventures in North America.
The hard physical work of trapping the beavers was done mostly by Indian, Scottish, and French trappers and their wives. Once they traded the beaver furs for other goods at the forts and trading posts, the furs were transported from the far western reaches of North America to the companies’ headquarters in the eastern U.S. From there, the pelts were shipped across the Atlantic Ocean to the English and European markets where the pelts were made into fashionable top hats and clothing.
Soft Gold: Captive Legacy
Heading west to the Oregon Territory and an arranged marriage, Dorie Primfield never dreamed that a virile stranger would kidnap her and claim her as his wife. Part Indian, part white, Dorie’s abductor was everything she’d ever desired in a man, yet she wasn’t about to submit to his white-hot passion without a fight…. Until she found herself torn between escaping into the wilderness or turning a captive legacy into endless love.
Soft Gold: The Treasure
Christmas, 1825. Washington Territory. In this Christmas novella, a childless Indian couple receives the greatest gift of all: a baby.
Captive Legacy (Soft Gold: Fur Traders series)
The Treasure (Soft Gold: Fur Traders series)
Eagle Dancer
Savage Betrayal (Savage series)
Savage Revenge (Savage series)
Love Rehab (Addicted to Love series)
Careless Love (Addicted to Love series)
Yesterday's Dawn (Hunters of the Ice Age series)
Dark Renegade (Hunters of the Ice Age series)
Broken Promise (Hunters of the Ice Age series)
Love's Ambush (Hunters of the Ice Age series)