Savage Spirit (42 page)

Again they departed from her.

An elderly woman, dressed in a long, colorfully decorated buckskin gown, began to sing alone. At the height of her song, she went to the fire and plucked a burning twig from it.

Alicia's eyes were wide and she sucked in a fearful breath when the elderly woman came toward her with the fiery twig. She looked past the woman at Cloud Eagle. Again he nodded his approval.

Alicia waited stiffly, then gasped with pain when the elderly lady thrust the burning twig onto the palm of her hand. Alicia bore the pain in silence, for she knew that to cry out, or to drop the twig, would be to fail Cloud Eagle, and perhaps the test of his people who were watching with guarded anticipation of what she might do.

The fire on the small twig began fluttering. It burned only a little while longer, scorching her flesh as the flames moved down the full length of the stick.

Then it flickered and went dark.

Pure Sky blew the ashes from Alicia's hand, gently took the cane from her, then moved away, back into the circle of her people.

All heads nodded, and a murmur was heard above the crackling of the large central fire.

Then everyone shouted and praised her, saying that she had proved to be brave enough to marry their chief. Also, her life would be long. If the twig had burned only halfway, then gone out, her life would have been brief.

But since the twig had burned clear to the end,   it had proved that her life-line was long and that she would remain beside their chief into their shared old age.

Alicia smiled from one to the other, even as she wanted to blow on the flesh of her hand, which still felt as though it were aflame.

Cloud Eagle was suddenly beside her. She smiled up at him, then her smile faded when Moon Shadow came and began sprinkling
hoddentin
in the air around her and Cloud Eagle.

But to her relief, he was soon gone. She did not want him speaking over her and Cloud Eagle. And she wondered if she could ever learn to accept the Apache's holy man. She knew that she must. He was second in line of importance to the Apache, next to their chief.

Cloud Eagle turned to Alicia and took her hands. "My
Ish-kay-nay
," he said. "This day has been long in coming, but it is here now and you are my wife. Man is the planter, like seed in Mother Earth. I will plant many seeds inside you. They will sprout into children which will bless our union."

She was stunned to realize that somehow they were now married. No actual words had been said to make it so. She had to believe that the ceremony with the women had been a big part of sealing the relationship between her and the man she loved.

As had the burning twig.

"Cloud Eagle, my handsome husband, I will be wife to you and mother to our children, with a singing heart," she murmured. "I love my life with you. I would have been an empty shell had I not met you."

Cloud Eagle enfolded her within his arms. He   lowered his mouth to her lips and kissed her passionately.

Moon Shadow appeared again as if by magic and sprinkled cattail pollen in the air, signifying fertility. After Moon Shadow left, Cloud Eagle carried Alicia outside.

She glanced her brother's way as a horse was brought for him. They had already said their good-byes, for Cloud Eagle had told her that after the brief ceremony, he would take her away to a private place.

She clung around Cloud Eagle's neck with one arm and waved with the other to Charlie as he mounted the horse, his eyes never leaving her.

He gave her a wink, then rode away, flanked on each side by several warriors.

Tears splashed from Alicia's eyes as she watched Charlie ride from the village, and then she was transported to a world that included only herself and Cloud Eagle as he broke into a soft trot and carried her in the opposite direction.

Pure Sky caught up with them and handed Cloud Eagle two buffalo robes, which he slipped over his arm.

Alicia rested against them as he carried her beyond the perimeters of the stronghold.

He ran with her until they came to a canyon.

There he set Alicia to her feet, and together they climbed the canyon wall.

On a mesa high above, they spread the buffalo robes beneath piñon trees. Here, away from the noise of their people, in the sweet smell of the piñon, they found love again within each other's arms.

Meditatingly, with devotion and love, Cloud Eagle disrobed Alicia. On her knees, she reached   her hands to the waist of Cloud Eagle's breechclout and slipped it slowly over his hips.

When it was tossed aside, he knelt down before her and placed his hands at her ivory-pale breasts and cupped them within his palms. When he touched her nipples, they grew hard at once. He smoothed his thumbs over them, then leaned toward her and took one between his teeth.

She twined her fingers through his thick black hair and drew his mouth closer. She closed her eyes and threw her head back in ecstasy, already feeling the pulsing of the blood through her body. She was coming alive again with a kind of slow fire that licked its way through her veins. The heat flowed through her body.

Cloud Eagle slipped his hands downward and clasped them gently to her waist, then guided her down onto the buffalo robe. He knelt over her and kissed her with his quavering lips, then moved to her side and began kissing his way down her body, where her belly was just showing signs of her pregnancy, the ribs above it brushed with the softness of light and shade.

As his lips and tongue ventured lower, he paused where the hair at the juncture of her thighs made a sudden cloud of shadow.

When Cloud Eagle separated the hair, and delved into the rose-red slippery heat of her body with his tongue, the feelings of ecstasy came to her at once, startling her anew.

Sighing, she tossed her head from side to side, sweat pearling her brow. She escaped into a world of passion, burning and throbbing. She fought going over the edge into total rapture and was glad when he positioned himself over her and filled her where the curling heat was spreading,   threatening to burst into flame.

She reached for him and placed her hands at his cheeks and drew his lips to hers. As he magnificently filled her and pushed into her, filling her deeper, she kissed him. She threw her legs around him and drew him even more deeply into her, her throbbing center feeling as though it might explode from the searing sensations flooding her senses.

Cloud Eagle placed his hands at her buttocks and lifted her against him. Over and over again, he thrust into her. His mouth seared into hers. He crushed her breasts against his chest, wanting to feel all of her tonight as they found paradise again within each other's arms. His breath caught against her lips when he felt the magical web of bliss enwrap them together, as though they were one breath, one heartbeat, one soul.

He plunged more vigorously into her. He slipped his mouth to the hollow of her throat and spoke her name as he felt his body burst into flame and he spread his seed deeply within her.

Alicia clung to him. She joined him and traveled the same road of ecstasy with him. She rained kisses across his face as she came down from her cloud of pleasure. She stroked his back.

Cloud Eagle held her as he rolled to his side beside her. He drew her close, his passion rising again against her thigh. He moved to his back and lifted her above him. Their eyes locked in a silent understanding. They smiled, a smile that reached clear to the stars that had begun to appear overhead, gleaming and twinkling like   diamonds against the black sky.

Alicia placed her hands against his thighs and closed her eyes as he shoved his renewed hardness deeply within her.

She rode him, again and again.  

It was the month of June. During this month, the mescal bloomed. A large plant with thick, fleshy leaves that spiked murderously outward and massive red flower stalks, it was easy to spot. The mescal was a staple of the Apache diet. The large crowns yielded food that lasted many months.

On the mountain slopes not far from Cloud Eagle's stronghold, the bulbs of the mescal had been gathered and placed upon heated stones in a ditch four feet deep and twelve inches long. Then they were covered with grass, followed by a thick layer of soil.

The mescal had cooked for several hours in this efficient pressure cooker.

A good number of Cloud Eagle's people, and even those of Thunder Roars' stronghold, had gathered to enjoy the mescal.   It was a joyous time for Alicia as she sat on a blanket and watched Dreaming Wolf, her two-year-old son, playing with Thunder Roars' children.

Her gaze shifted proudly to Snow Flower, her precious eight-month-old daughter. She was swinging in a
tshoch
that had been hung between two live oaks and playing with a canopy of beads and protective charms that were strung high above her.

Alicia's hand slipped to her abdomen, where another child was growing. She smiled to herself when she thought of how fertile she had proved to be. Cloud Eagle never ceased praising her for her ability to become with child so easily. He told her over and over again how he enjoyed the laughter of many children in a tepee.

She was surprised at herself over how much she adored having children. While she was growing up, that was the last thing on her mind.

Her priorities had changed when she met Cloud Eagle. Being a woman, and behaving like one, became of prime importance, for she had never desired anything in her life as she desired Cloud Eagle. And now their children had made their lives, their marriage, complete.

Wickedly happy, she inhaled a deep breath, enjoying the sweet fragrance of early summer. The red fruit of the strawberry cactus dimpled the desert floor, and the deep pink flowers of the devil's head were brilliant and eye-catching. Yellow flowers bloomed in the mesquite.

Alicia's garden had been planted. Wielding a pointed stick, she had loosened the warming earth and punched shallow holes into which she had dropped corn, bean, and squash seeds.   Corn sprouts were already shooting through the rich earth.

She was pleased with all of her labors of love. She wanted no other life than this. The Apache were a gentle people, faithful in their friendships.

Often she thought of her brother. She enjoyed the wires that he sent to her. He had praised her for taking the time from her busy family life to make sure he received letters from her. Of course, when he received the letters, the news was somewhat old.

She smiled into the wind, thinking that he should be receiving the news just about now of the new child that she was carrying within her womb. She could envision in her mind's eye the twinkling in his eyes as he thought of being an uncle three times when he had teased her as a child that she would never give him that opportunity.

But tomboys could change into beautiful women, he would then tease.

''Charlie," she whispered. "My sweet brother Charlie with the flaming red beard and dancing dark eyes."

"Did you say something?" Cloud Eagle asked, as he came and sat down beside her.

"I was thinking of my brother, that's all," Alicia said, turning her eyes to Cloud Eagle. She placed a gentle hand to his cheek. "Are you through talking with Thunder Roars? I thought you'd never come back to enjoy this beautiful day with me and Snow Flower." She looked past her shoulder at Dreaming Wolf, who romped and played with Thunder Roars' children. "He's all boy, darling. Our son is going to be a great leader one day."   Her gaze shifted and her smile faded when she caught sight of Lost Wind's daughter, Pale Susan, who stood timidly away from the other children, her head down. It made Alicia's heart ache to see the child behave so bashfully.

Yet she could not find it in herself to go to the child and urge her to play with the other children. This daughter of Lost Wind's was also Cloud Eagle's child. Both she and Cloud Eagle had agreed to leave the child to the guidance of Lost Wind and Thunder Roars. It was best for the child's sake not to be pulled between two sets of parents. In her heart, Thunder Roars was her father.

Thunder Roars went and knelt down before Pale Susan. He lifted her into his arms and carried her over to Lost Wind. Alicia watched as they played with Pale Susan together, soon making her laugh.

The look on Lost Wind's face as she gazed up at Thunder Roars was one of absolute adoration. And it was the same as he gazed down at her. It was apparent that he had tamed her spiteful tongue. Even when Lost Wind looked toward Alicia, the bitter jealousy was no longer there in her expression. Lost Wind seemed at peace with herself and her past.

When Dreaming Wolf came laughing to Cloud Eagle and bounced against him, knocking his father to the blanket, Alicia's attention was drawn to them. Tears sprang to her eyes as she watched father and son pretend they were wrestling. Cloud Eagle's throaty laughter as he grabbed Dreaming Wolf by the waist and playfully threw him into the air, then caught him, made Alicia's heart swell with pride.   Cloud Eagle sat down and placed Dreaming Wolf on his knee. "My son, remember well my teachings," he said. "Your arms and your legs are your friends. Run and fight if necessary so that your soul will not became a slave to them."

"I want to be just like you, Father," Dreaming Wolf said, his words spoken eloquently for a two-year-old.

"I was taught by my father that the whole ambition of a growing boy is to be a brave warrior," Cloud Eagle said. "The highest admiration among our people is reserved for the very ablest warriors and chieftains."

"I will hunt with bow and arrow one day, Father?"

"Yes, you will hunt with the
pesh-e-gar
. It is straight and carries true. Your father is proud to say that he can send an arrow more truly than most warriors."

His gaze took in his son's features, so unlike his mother's. He was Apache in every way, from the color of his skin to his proud black eyes to his thick black hair.

His gaze moved to his daughter, and he smiled. She was her mother through and through, even to her shock of red hair. And her eyes. They would steal many a man's heart when she came of age!

Dreaming Wolf jumped from his father's knee when several boys came for him. His little legs took him quickly away again, into the center of their games.