Savage Spirit (34 page)

She looked slowly around her and guilt spread through her for thinking only of herself when   there were so many who had lost so much. She watched the men and women working together to assemble new tepees.

She felt that perhaps she needed some respite from her brother's nagging. She went and offered her help and soon lost herself and her worries in the task of fitting buckskin on the poles of one tepee, and then another.

She kept casting her eyes into the distance, wondering if Cloud Eagle had reached Lost Wind yet.  

The sun was making its descent in the sky, casting spirals of pink onto the mountain peaks. The air was cooler as night approached.

But as Cloud Eagle had not felt the heat of the day, he also did not feel the sting of the wind as it blew through the canyon through which he was traveling.

When his horse whinnied, he patted him fondly on his powerful neck.

"It won't be long now," Cloud Eagle reassured his stocky roan.

His eyes narrowed and his spine stiffened as he watched a thin trail of smoke as it reached into the heavens.

"Her campfire is near," he whispered.

Cloud Eagle had mixed feelings about coming face to face with Lost Wind again. Although she was beautiful to look at, he felt nothing except irritation when he was with her.   "She will be most surprised to see me," Cloud Eagle said, patting his horse again. "I wish it could be a more pleasant meeting than I expect. There is no doubt in my mind that she detests me."

He rode onward and became quiet, his eyes never leaving the spiral of smoke that reached heavenward. He knew that he had time to turn around and return to his stronghold without Lost Wind. Deep in his heart, this was what he wanted to do most of all.

Yet he could not allow Lost Wind to remain alone when her solitude was of his own doing. He had cast her from the fold of the Coyotero Apache. It was up to him to give her the opportunity to return.

"Perhaps she will refuse," he said, wishing it would be so. "Then my heart will be free never to worry about her welfare again because it will have been her choice to live away from her people."

He grabbed his reins with both hands again. He nudged his roan with his moccasined heels and made a turn which gave him now a full view of the campfire a short distance away.

He drew a tight rein and stopped his roan. As he slipped out of his saddle, another thought came to Cloud Eagle which made him almost retreat and forget that Lost wind ever existed. He recalled the taunts she had thrown at him. She had said that he might be the one who was responsible for her being unable to conceive. If she carried these suspicions back to his people, they could humiliate him.

Cloud Eagle was torn with what to do. It would be easy to get back on his horse and ride away and leave Lost Wind's spiteful tongue behind him.   And he was almost ready to place his foot in a stirrup when something at the campsite caught his attention. He stopped and stared, his jaw agape, when he discovered that Lost Wind was not alone.

There was a man placing wood on the outdoor fire.

Lost Wind was now beside the man.

Cloud Eagle's eyes widened when he saw Lost Wind and the man embrace and kiss!

''How could this be?"

He studied the man more closely as Lost Wind and the stranger drew apart. When the man turned and offered Cloud Eagle a look at his profile, he gasped.

"Running Free?" he whispered harshly. "Running Free and Lost Wind are together as lovers?"

From this distance, he was able to see something else that shocked him.

Running Free was lifting Lost Wind's skirt. Lost Wind held the skirt up at her waist as Running Free placed his hands on the small round ball of her stomach.

Cloud Eagle felt dizzy from the discovery that Lost Wind was with child! And it was apparent that she was more than a few weeks pregnant. Her loose garments had hid the presence of the child from his eyes while she had been at the stronghold.

"It must be mine!" Cloud Eagle said, his heart pounding at the thought.

He smiled and wanted to shout to the heavens that Lost Wind's pregnancy was all the proof he needed to know that he was virile enough to father a child. For so long now, he had felt guilty for blaming his wives when silently he   had worried that he might be the one who was responsible for their not becoming heavy with child.

And now he could see that he was wrong. It made him proud to know that his
Ish-kay-nay
would one day be carrying his offspring.

He lifted happy eyes to the heavens and uttered a soft prayer of thanks. Filled with such relief, he wanted to shout to the sky, the trees, the rocks that he was a virile warrior who would have many sons to follow after him.

"And beautiful daughters," he whispered, envisioning daughters in the image of their motherhis
Ish-kay-nay
.

"Out of all the recent sadness comes some sunshine," he whispered. "And I shall bask in it!"

Then his thoughts turned grim and his eyes became dark pools of resentment. He glared at Lost Wind. As Running Free bent before her on one knee and placed his ear to her stomach, she giggled and ran her fingers through his thick black hair.

"She is carefree now," Cloud Eagle whispered harshly. "But wait until I appear before them with anger flashing in my eyes. She has deceived me in the worst way by not telling me about the child!"

Then another thought came to him that made his insides tighten. She was with Running Free. It was obvious that they cared for one another. What if she had been with Running Free before she had left the village? What if they had had secret liaisons and she was carrying
his
child?

This caused him to move quickly into action. He grabbed the rifle from its gunboot, secured his horse in the mesquite, then carefully and   stealthily moved toward the campsite. He kept himself hidden in the shadows as he drew closer. He hid behind a boulder, then inched himself along against the high wall of rock.

When he was close enough to hear what they were saying, he hugged his back against the rock and listened, his breathing shallow.

"It is good that you came along when I was feeling so alone," Lost Wind said, dropping her skirt. She twined her arms around Running Free's neck and pulled him close. "Am I beautiful, Running Free? Even growing larger with Cloud Eagle's child, do you find me beautiful?"

"Running Free has always viewed you from afar and has watched and hungered for you," he said thickly. He placed his hands at her waist and yanked her closer. "Had I known that you also watched me from afar and desired me, not even the fact that you were my chief's wife would have stopped me from pursuing you."

"But you saw Cloud Eagle sleeping each night outside our lodge," Lost Wind whined. "Did you not know then that Cloud Eagle no longer desired me as his wife?"

"It had to be something more than that which caused him to look away from you," Running Free said. "Who could not want to take you between the blankets? And now that I have seen your ways of giving back to a man while making love to him, I am even more puzzled as to why Cloud Eagle turned away from you."

"There are reasons I wish not to discuss," Lost Wind said, lowering her eyes. She slowly looked up at him again. "But because he turned his back on me, I did not share the news that I was with child when I knew that I was."   "And why did you not tell him the blessed news?" Running Free asked. "Would not that have gotten him back with you between your blankets? Any man would want children with you. The children will be handsome warriors and beautiful women."

"Lost Wind is stubborn at times," she confessed. "And I know that I might have saved my marriage if I had told him, except that when the white woman came into our lives and he showed her special attention that he no longer gave me, I decided then not to tell him."

"He would have cast her to the wind had he known about his child," Running Free insisted.

"He cared too much for her, and I would never share my husband with a white woman," Lost Wind hissed. "So let him have white children." She shrugged. "I no longer care about anything that he does. Not now that I have you with me."

She looked past him into the far distance. "I wish my brother would return to me," she said solemnly. "I worry about him."

"Where did Ten Bears go?" Running Free asked. He took her hand and led her down onto a blanket beside the outdoor fire. "You have yet to confide in me as to why he left you alone."

"I am not sure I should tell you," Lost Wind said, giving him a guarded look. Then she shrugged. "I don't know why I shouldn't. Cloud Eagle banished you from our village as well as me. You must hate him as much as I and my brother do."

"No, I do not hate him," Running Free said, lowering her to the ground. He moved over her, straddling her. His hand sneaked up the skirt of her dress. "I do not think about him at all since he sent me away."   "You should never have stolen Red Crow's knife," Lost Wind said, gasping then when he began stroking her at the juncture of her thighs.

"If you condemn me for stealing, why do you give to me now that which I am after?" Running Free said huskily.

"Because I want you as badly," Lost Wind said. She spread her legs farther and gave him easier access to her throbbing center.

"Tell me where your brother has gone," Running Free said, brushing soft, teasing kisses across her lips.

"To kill Cloud Eagle, I am sure," Lost Wind said nonchalantly.

Running Free drew quickly away from her. He bolted to his feet and stood over her, his eyes accusing. "You condone what your brother is planning?" he asked, his fists on his hips.

"Do you not also want Cloud Eagle dead?" Lost Wind asked, looking innocently up at him. She reached a hand out to him. "Come. Make love to me. Why worry about Cloud Eagle? He cared not for you or he would have not sent you away."

"Stealing from the dead is cause enough to be banished," Running Free said, taking her hand. He started to kneel over her again but stopped when he suddenly sensed a presence. He started to rise, then stopped when a gunshot rang out.

Cloud Eagle stepped out into the open, his rifle smoking. Slowly he aimed his firearm at Running Free's heart. He glared down at Lost Wind. "Get up," he said flatly. "Both of you get up and face me."

Wild-eyed, Lost Wind scrambled to her feet beside Running Free. She scooted close to Running Free and grasped one of his hands.   "And so I see you found your way to Lost Wind," Cloud Eagle said, his eyes accusing Running Free as he glared at him.

He turned slow eyes to Lost Wind. "And I see that you did not hesitate to accept him into your camp."

"I was alone," Lost Wind said, her voice trembling. "I was afraid. My brother . . ."

"I know why he left you stranded here alone," Cloud Eagle said stiffly. "And he is now dead. I thought it best to come for you and take you back to live among our people. Now I see that I needn't take the trouble of coming to you with this offer. You have someone who can care for you now. I would say that was good riddance, except that I now know about the child you are carrying, and that it is mine."

"My brother?" Lost Wind said, taking a shaky step toward Cloud Eagle. It did not seem yet to register in her mind what Cloud Eagle had said about the child, and that he knew. "He is dead? My brother is dead?"

"And rightfully so," Cloud Eagle said, nodding. "To go against your own kind is sinfulalmost as sinful as keeping the knowledge of being with child from the child's father."

Still Lost Wind seemed focused on only one subject. In her grief over her brother's death, she began pulling her hair. She scraped the flesh of her arms with her sharp fingernails, drawing blood. She wailed and moaned.

Cloud Eagle understood her need to mourn, yet he had needs of his own. He went to her and shook her until she stopped crying and damaging herself with her fingernails.

"The child," he said, looking squarely into her   eyes. "You will return with me to my stronghold until the child is born. Then you will leave again. I pity you no more."

Running Free stepped up to Cloud Eagle's side. "She is now my woman," he said, his chin lifted. "She stays with
me
."

Cloud Eagle turned glaring eyes to Running Free. "She is not your woman until the womb is empty again and ready for
your
seed," he said, his jaw clenched. "You may wait here for her if you wish. When my child is in my arms, only then will Lost Wind be free to come to you." He smiled at Running Free. "If you will want her then."

Finally realizing what was happening, Lost Wind turned and began running away.

Cloud Eagle went after her. He grabbed her by a wrist and stopped her. He swung her around so that again their eyes were locked in an angry stare. "You are no longer my wife," he hissed. "But the child is mine. So you shall return with me until the child is born."

"No," Lost Wind cried. "Never will I give up my child."

"You do not hear clearly enough," Cloud Eagle persisted. "You lost claim to the child the moment you decided not to share the news of my offspring with me, the child's father. The child will be raised by my wife."

Lost Wind pleaded with Running Free with her wide, tear-pooled eyes. "Tell him that you won't allow this," she cried. "Running Free, if you love me, you will stop him."

Running Free made not a movement or a sound.

He then turned and walked away, past the campfire, past the wickiup.   Cloud Eagle held onto Lost Wind to keep her from going after Running Free when Running Free left the campsite and became lost to sight.

"He loved you so much?" Cloud Eagle tormented, laughing in Lost Wind's face.

Lost Wind turned her eyes away. "I shall never have this child for a white woman to raise," she murmured. "I will take it from myself somehow."

"I thought you might threaten to do that," Cloud Eagle said. He gave her a slight shake, causing her to look up at him again. "You will be watched every minute of the day and night. Someone will always be with you. At night, when you sleep, you will be watched. During the day, when you take your bath in the river, you will be watched. You will regret ever having deceived Cloud Eagle."