Savage Beloved (21 page)

“So it was then that she fled?” Candy asked.

“She didn’t want to travel with him, but she decided that she had no choice until someone else came along that she could ask for help,” Two Eagles said. “But she soon realized that she was there to stay, that he was not going to let her leave, and after one night of forced sex with the man, she managed to flee into the night. She was alone for many days before he found her again. And then she was with him for six winters before she found a way to flee again, this time successfully.”

“And so that is why she is here now,” Candy murmured.

“I felt compassion for the woman at what she had been forced to endure and offered to protect her from Albert Cohen if she wanted to live among my people,” Two Eagles said. “She agreed, and as a part
of the plan to protect her, she left behind forever the name she was born with. She became Hawk Woman. I gave her that name because the day I found her, several hawks had been circling overhead as though protecting her.”

“And so you took over the chore of protecting her,” Candy said. “Like you vowed to protect me.”

“It is not the same at all,” Two Eagles said. “Soon after she became a part of my people’s lives, it became known to me that she was in love with me, but I felt nothing but pity for her and could never return her love. She has tried everything within her power to make me love her, but the longer she is among my people, the more embittered a woman she proves herself to be. I can never return her attention, or love. But I had vowed to keep her safe . . . and I never go back on promises.”

“And so that is how she remains at your village, still protected, even though I have seen that she is not liked by those who know the true person she is,” Candy said. She was glad that he had shared this story with her, for she felt better now about her situation. Candy now knew that Two Eagles would never abandon his love for her to pursue the other woman with the long, golden hair.

She also knew that she must continue to be wary of the woman, but she would not share Hawk Woman’s antics just yet with Two Eagles. Candy felt that she could take care of herself.

“Do you think the man is looking for her even now?” Candy asked.

“She believes he is not the sort to easily give up a
woman he considers his wife,” Two Eagles said stiffly. “A woman he feels he might have impregnated again, for he would not want to risk losing a son, if a son was born of their union.”

“Impregnated
again?
” Candy gasped.

“
Ho.
Hawk Woman had a daughter by the man,” Two Eagles said. “She named her, but never was she able to mother her. To make Hawk Woman pay for escaping the first time, the man took the child from her the moment she was born. She never had a chance to mother her baby. When she fled, it was to flee not only the man, but also the hurt of not being allowed to have her child.”

“How horrible,” Candy gasped. “Now I see why she is such a bitter, cold woman. I can’t help but pity her.”

“Do not waste pity on her,” Two Eagles said flatly. “Except for the kindness she showed my uncle Short Robe, she otherwise has no warmth inside her. And I feel it has nothing to do with having lost her child. People like her are usually born that way, not shaped by tragedy.”

“And so you do believe the man is looking for her?” Candy asked, reaching a hand to her cropped-off hair. If this man happened along and saw her from a distance, might he not think he had found his lost wife?

“We do not risk that possibility,” Two Eagles said. “That is why she seems to be getting special treatment. It is only because she might still be in danger, for I feel that if he found her, he would kill her. And
although she is a cold and unlikable woman, she deserves to live as much as you and I.”

He looked over his shoulder into the distance, then gazed into Candy’s eyes again. “And one day that man might find her,” he said, frowning. “More and more white people are occupying land close to my people’s village,” he said tightly.

“Father was talking about that. He said that although he wanted to leave Fort Hope, he felt that some soldiers should stay to protect the settlers who are coming in so quickly,” Candy said.

“Those people who are making homes in this area are brazen,” Two eagles said bitterly. “I have not yet told you this, but tomorrow I will leave the village for a while to have council with another Wichita band. They have requested my help. They are having problems with a white family that recently moved into the area. The children of this white family have been caught stealing wood from outside the lodges of this band. I am meeting with their chief to offer advice.”

“Could this family possibly be . . . that of the man who is searching for Hawk Woman?” Candy asked, suddenly feeling threatened, herself, by Albert Cohen.

“That is one reason why I am getting involved,” Two Eagles said flatly. “I am going to see whether or not this man has one wife, or . . . many. If he has many, and he does not travel with others of his faith, I will know it is he.”

“Good Lord,” Candy said, paling. “I don’t think I want to go with you this time. Is that alright?”

“I would not want you to go,” Two Eagles said, twining an arm around her waist and drawing her closer to him.

He was aware again of the nearby wood thrush and its lovely song. “Do you hear the birdsong?” he asked, searching overhead for the creature.

“Yes, I know this bird,” Candy murmured. “It has been called a Shakespeare among birds.”

“Shakespeare?” Two Eagles said, lifting an eyebrow. “What is a Shakespeare?”

“It is the name of a man who wrote many beautiful poems and plays,” Candy said, looking quickly overhead when she heard the stirring of leaves. The bird began singing even more loudly on a closer limb, but Candy couldn’t see it. She didn’t really need to. The wood thrush’s true beauty was in his enchanting voice.

Suddenly she and Two Eagles realized there were two wood thrushes. They seemed to fire off notes at each other, each defending his portion of the forest.

Their weapons were their voices, their melodies their ammunition, each seeking to wound the other’s pride, but their sweet fluting pierced only the evening’s silence.

And then she saw one of the birds. He was pouring out his song from the middle of a low limb that was draped with leaves. He had a brown back and a speckled breast.

“Do you see him?” Candy asked as she found Two Eagles looking in the same direction.

“
Ho
, he is a part of the ancient magic which lives in these woods,” Two Eagles said softly.

“That is so beautiful,” Candy murmured. “And just listen. He sings more enchantingly than any other bird I know. Lyrical, liquid, and loud, his voice has beauty and depth to match nature’s own loveliness.”

They both went quiet as they continued to listen. Each song of the bird consisted of several phrases, variations on his basic “ee-o-lay” theme; the notes sounded like a flute, but richer, not airy.

The sun had shifted lower in the sky. An orange haze now filtered through the trees from where the wood thrush still sang. To gaze on this pleasant light, to be bathed in it, to see the trees reaching high into the air, their leaves hanging motionless, and to hear the ageless song of the bird rising above it all, put Candy in a state of almost hypnotic serenity.

“Soon the moon will replace the sun in the sky,” Two Eagles said, drawing Candy from her reverie. “The moon is the special guardian of Wichita women, for the moon is a woman and possesses all the powers that women desire. It was the moon who taught the first woman on earth and gave her power. She instructs women as to the time of the monthly sickness, informs them when they are pregnant, and when the child is to be born. She has told them that after birth the child must be offered to her by passing the hands over the child’s body and raising it aloft to the moon. At that time the moon is asked to bestow her blessings upon the child, that he or she may grow into power rapidly, for she, herself, has the power to increase rapidly in size.”

Two Eagles took Candy’s hand. “She also leads
lovers into each other’s arms,” he said huskily. “But I need no guidance from the moon at this time.”

He pressed his lips to Candy’s, and with his arms lowered her gently to the ground.

“I will never need anything but you,” he whispered against her lips, his hands already up inside the skirt of her dress, his fingers teasing where Candy was already trembling and warm with want of him.

They made leisurely love as the sun swept lower in the sky and the wood thrush flew away, leaving silence in its wake, except for Candy’s and Two Eagles’s soft moans of gratification.

I cry your mercy-pity-love-aye, love!

Merciful love that tantalizes not.
One-thoughted, never-wandering, guileless love,
Unmasked, and being seen without a blot.
—John Keats

It was mid-morning. The sun cast its golden glow down the smoke hole into the flames of the fire as Candy sat there, feeling alone, even vulnerable, while Two Eagles was away at the neighboring village.

She was recalling why Hawk Woman was being sheltered in Two Eagles’s village. He was protecting her from a white man who had wronged her. If this white man had heard that Hawk Woman was in this village, wouldn’t he have made his home close by in order to eventually reclaim her?

And would not a man like him force his children to steal wood?

Candy looked over her shoulder at Shadow’s
empty bed. Her wolf had sneaked away in the middle of the night, crawling beneath the tied entrance flap. She was still gone. Every time Shadow left her now, Candy wondered if she would ever see her again.

She looked at the entrance flap as the wind caused it to flutter. For a moment she hoped it was Shadow returning.

But her hopes waned as the wind fluttered it again.

She pushed her half-eaten platter of food aside. With so much on her mind, her appetite was gone. Although she knew that Two Eagles was a strong leader who knew this land well, she could not help worrying about him every time he left the safety of his village.

And now she had to accept that he would be gone longer than anticipated. Only moments ago a warrior had come and told her that Two Eagles would be delayed long into the night, and not to worry. Things had not yet been settled at council, and Two Eagles would not leave until it was done. He gave his heart and whatever else he could to help those who sought his assistance.

Suddenly the entrance flap fluttered again. Thinking it was the wind once more, Candy paid no heed to it.

But when she heard Shadow panting, she knew that it wasn’t the wind, but her pet finally coming home.

Candy opened the entrance flap to let her in and reached her arms out for Shadow. “Where have you
been?” she said. “And for so long. You had me worried, Shadow.”

Shadow didn’t seem interested in Candy’s cuddling at the moment. She was obviously agitated about something as she pawed at Candy’s arm, whined, then ran back to the entrance flap. She paused there, looking back at Candy with what seemed to be a pleading expression.

Candy now realized that her wolf wanted her to follow her.

Two Eagles came suddenly to Candy’s mind. Might he be in some sort of trouble? Would Shadow know to come for Candy if he was?

Or could it be Spotted Bear? It would make more sense that Shadow would be concerned about him, for he was alone, with no one to help him if he was in trouble.

Yes, it must have something to do with Spotted Bear, a man alone in the world. But even if Spotted Bear was in trouble, what could Candy do about it?

Candy rose and went to Shadow. She knelt down before her and reached a hand out, but Shadow avoided her touch. Instead she paced nervously back and forth before the entrance flap.

“You are certainly agitated about something,” Candy murmured, again seeing the pleading in her wolf’s eyes. “Shadow, what should I do?”

When Shadow ran from the tepee, then came in again, her eyes peering intently into Candy’s, Candy knew that she had no choice. She knew what she must do. She had to follow Shadow. She had to go and see if something had happened to Spotted Bear.

“I have no choice,” she said, walking quickly to the back of the tepee. She would follow Shadow and see what was wrong. But she would not leave the village without weapons this time. If Albert Cohen was anywhere near the area, she had to protect herself.

She sheathed one of Two Eagles’s knives at her waist and grabbed a rifle. She checked the firearm to see if it was ready for firing, smiling when she saw that it was.

She went to the entrance flap where Shadow waited for her, a part of her warning her of the dangers she might be placing herself in, while another part thought of Spotted Bear and the trouble he might be in.

In a way, it was fortunate that Two Eagles was gone. Candy would have time to go and see about Spotted Bear without anyone knowing, especially if she went this time on a horse. She might even get back home before Two Eagles returned.

If Two Eagles arrived home before she did, she would just have to face what he might do when he discovered where she had gone.

This time, if he asked, she would tell him the truth about Spotted Bear and her association with him.

Knowing that she had the freedom now to come and go as she pleased, Candy rushed from the tepee, the rifle in her right hand.

She stopped and looked slowly around her. Thus far no one had noticed her. The women were busy with chores, as were the men. And the children were
engrossed in play and noticed nothing except their friends.

Candy glanced over at Hawk Woman’s tepee. She had been hiding inside it ever since she’d heard about the new family of white settlers that had moved into the area. She had truly become alarmed when she learned that the children of the family were brazen enough to steal wood from an Indian village. The children the Mormon family had been that brazen, forced to behave so by a father who stopped at nothing to get what he wanted.

With all these things swirling inside Candy’s mind, she hoped she would not regret leaving the safe confines of the village.