Savage Beloved (26 page)

Searching inside herself for a measure of strength, she turned, and then began running.

O breathe a word or two of fire.

Smile as if those words should burn me.
—John Keats

She knew she wouldn’t get far, but she couldn’t just stand there making it easy for whoever had come upon her in the forest. She could already hear the pounding of feet behind her on the hard earth and knew that the man was gaining on her.

Her insides froze when she felt strong arms grabbing her around her waist. In the next moment she was shoved painfully to the ground.

She was yanked around so that she now lay on her back with a full view of the one accosting her.

She didn’t recognize the man, but the moment he spoke, the voice gave him away. It was the man who had come and demanded corn and other vegetables after the locust attack.

She started to scream, but he was quicker. He clasped one hand over her mouth, while his other held her wrists together above her head, his knees straddling her.

She felt sickened by the leer on his face because she knew that this man intended to rape her.

“I got a glimpse of you just before you hurried into the tepee when I came for food at the savages’ village,” he said, laughing throatily, his piercing green eyes seeming to bore holes through her.

He wore a thick red beard, and his hair was stringy and greasy as it fell down past his thin shoulders.

He had a bulbous nose, with wide nostrils that flared each time he breathed.

His teeth were uneven and yellow. His lips were a strange purplish color. “When I glimpsed the golden hair, I thought I’d finally found the lady that escaped me sometime ago,” he said.

He gazed at her hair, then looked into her eyes again. “Yep, she had the same golden hair, but she wore hers long.” He laughed once more. “What happened to yours? Did the savages try to scalp you?”

His words seemed to swirl around inside Candy’s head as her fear built. He seemed wicked through and through.

And what had he said about a woman who had escaped him? Could that be Hawk Woman, who would be Sara Thaxton to him?

But if this man was Albert Cohen, where were his wives, for Hawk Woman had said he had many?

Of course, she thought quickly to herself, he
wouldn’t have brought his wives with him when he came for food with the children, realizing their presence would bring undue attention to him. It just wasn’t natural to have so many wives, and he surely kept his polygamous marriages to himself whenever possible.

“Got you wondering about me, don’t I?” the man said, laughing boisterously. “Well, let me tell you something, pretty lady. You ain’t who I thought you were, but you’ll do just fine anyhow. You’ll be a sweet, lovely lady to add to my family of wives and children. You’re even prettier than the one who got away. And tiny. I like ’em tiny. They make the prettiest kids.”

Sickened by his bragging about his vile deeds, Candy felt she might vomit.

She swallowed hard to keep the bile down. But it was difficult.

She knew that if Two Eagles didn’t find her soon, she could be many miles away and out of reach by the time he came after her.

“Yep, I’m taking you to join my other wives,” he said, letting go of her wrists so that he could get a handkerchief from his rear pants pocket.

He laughed when Candy began clawing at his face, her fingers unable to make contact with his flesh because of the thick beard.

Soon he had gagged her with the red handkerchief, its stiffness making Candy realize that he had used this thing to blow his nose.

He yanked her up from the ground and thrust his face into hers. “If you try anything like that again,
trying to claw my face with those long fingernails of yours, you’ll regret it,” he growled out. “Now just accept your new lot in life. You are going to join my other wives. You are going to bear me many children.”

He gripped her by an arm and began half dragging her away from where her basket and digging knife lay beneath the tree. The plucked roses looked up like small smiling faces as they lay amid the bright green of the herbs.

“Why were you with the savages, dressed like a squaw?” he asked, knowing that she couldn’t answer him with the handkerchief tied around her mouth. “You must’ve cooperated with them, or else why would you be allowed to leave the village and go alone into the forest?”

He snickered into her face. “You’ve bedded up with one of ’em, ain’t you?” he said. Then his eyes widened. “It must’ve been the chief, for it was the chief’s tepee that you hurried into to hide from me.”

Candy glared at him. He looked proud as punch over his discovery.

She felt sick to her stomach to know that if Two Eagles didn’t return home soon, she might be sharing a bed tonight with this filthy man.

They walked onward now in silence. Candy was yanked forward time and again when she tried to hesitate.

And then she saw a wagon up ahead and a team of two horses. No one else was there.

“It won’t be long now,” the man said as he pushed Candy toward the wagon, then lifted her and threw
her into it as though she were no more than a sack of potatoes.

He climbed in after her and tied both her wrists and ankles.

“There, that ought to hold you,” he said, then shoved her down flat onto the floor of the wagon. “But I’ve got to keep you hidden.” He yanked up a couple of blankets and covered her with both of them. “That oughta do it.”

Candy shivered with fear even though she was hot beneath the blankets. Her captor sat down, snapped the reins against the horses’ backs, and took off.

She realized that he had not gone far before he stopped, yet it was far enough that no one from the village would easily find her.

She felt as though her life had come to an end, for there was no way that Two Eagles would know where she was, unless the wagon had left good tracks along the ground.

Yet Two Eagles would not know where to begin looking for her. He had no idea she was going to go into the forest today.

She stiffened and listened when she heard many voices, mainly of women. They were asking the man what was beneath the blankets.

Candy hoped they would feel sorry for her when they saw that she had been abducted and would find a way to free her.

But that didn’t seem logical, for if that was possible, wouldn’t they have fled this evil man, themselves, at their first opportunity?

She flinched when he suddenly threw the blanket aside, revealing Candy to his many wives and children. They stood all around the wagon, their eyes widening when they saw her lying there, gagged and tied.

He jumped into the wagon and forced Candy to her feet. He removed the gag from her mouth, and then the ropes at her ankles and wrists.

“This is my new wife,” he announced, chuckling. “And she’ll be giving you children a brother or sister.”

Again Candy felt as though she might vomit.

Instead she stood stiffly as everyone looked her over carefully. Her breath was stolen away when he lifted her into his arms and half threw her over the side of the wagon, where she fell clumsily to the ground at the feet of the other wives.

She didn’t look up at them, just waited for what would happen next.

“Get up!” the man shouted. “We’ve a piece to travel today to get you far from those Injuns. I haven’t found my Sara, but you’ll do instead.”

Yes, Candy thought, this was the very man Hawk Woman had fled from. The banished Mormon.

Candy moved slowly to her feet, and as she did, she noticed one woman standing back from the others, a scarf over her head and partially over her face.

When the man went to the woman and yanked her roughly toward one of the wagons, cursing her as he ordered her onto it, the woman’s scarf fell from her face.

Candy almost fainted when she saw who it was.

Her very own mother!

Candy saw a soft pleading in Agnes Creighton’s eyes, and she understood. Her mother didn’t want Candy to let the man know they were related.

She wasn’t sure why, but she did as her mother wanted.

Candy watched angrily as he slapped her mother. “You’ll learn to be more obedient,” he growled. “Get on that wagon!”

Candy watched as the other women, except for one, who by her superior attitude seemed to be this man’s partner, climbed frantically on board. The children scampered to get on the other wagon.

“Now it’s your turn,” the man said, placing a rough hand at Candy’s wrist and shoving her. “Get in that wagon with the women, damn you.”

Candy hurried aboard and sat down beside her mother.

As the man took the reins of the wagon filled with the women, his female partner took the reins of the wagon full of children.

Candy dared to slide a hand over to her mother’s and gripped it reassuringly.

The man looked over his shoulder at Candy. “By the way, my name’s Albert,” he said, winking at her. “Albert Cohen. What’s yours?”

Candy was certain about who she was with now and truly dreaded the days that stretched out before her.

“Your name?” Albert insisted, frowning at Candy. She remembered proudly the Indian name that Two Eagles had given to her. She smiled smugly at
Albert. “Painted Wings,” she said, seeing his look of disgust and not noticing how her mother had gasped at hearing it.

Candy laughed to herself, realizing that her decision to use her Indian name was the best thing she could have done under the circumstances.

She hated causing her mother to look at her in dismay, but she loved Albert’s reaction to the knowledge that she saw herself as more Indian now than white.

He turned away from her and snapped the reins against the horses’ backs, then looked at Candy again. “I’m going to work the Injun outta you,” he snarled. “In many ways!”

Candy no longer felt as smug.

Suddenly she was terribly, terribly afraid, both for herself . . . and her mother.

Shadow of annoyance

Never came near thee;

Thou lovest—but ne’er knew
Love’s sad satiety.
—Percy Bysshe Shelley

Hawk Woman was stunned at what she had just witnessed. She had followed Candy into the forest and stood behind a tree, awaiting the moment she could slam her knife into Candy’s back, when she had seen Albert Cohen step out of hiding.

What had happened then was still unbelievable to Hawk Woman.

Albert Cohen, the very man she had escaped from, had abducted Candy.

Had he just happened along and seen Candy alone and vulnerable, another woman he could add to his collection of wives?

Or had he glimpsed Candy when he had come to the village with his children to demand food? Had
he known where the sentries were posted today and eluded them long enough to take Candy away?

Either way, Candy had played right into his hands by going into the forest alone to gather greens and herbs.

If he had waited another moment, it would have been Hawk Woman who surprised Candy. Hawk Woman had just yanked her knife from its sheath when Albert came into view.

A slow smile fluttered across Hawk Woman’s lips and a look of victory entered her eyes. She was finally free of Candy, and she hadn’t had to lift a finger to do it.

Even now she heard the wagon lumbering away, in it the woman who was planning to be “first lady” of the Eagle band of the Wichita.

Now if she could just play her cards right, that first lady would be none other than Hawk Woman.

She was going to try to portray herself as someone more gentle and caring than she had in the past. She now saw that gentleness was what attracted Two Eagles to a woman, not strength.

Yes, she would finally achieve her main goal in life. She would be the wife of a powerful Wichita chief—Two Eagles!

Sliding her knife back in its sheath, she gazed at the overturned basket of herbs, greens, and flowers. She laughed throatily when she interpreted these as the last remains of Candy, for no one, not even Two Eagles, would ever know who had taken her, or how to find her. Hawk Woman knew Albert Cohen well enough to know that he would leave the area quickly.

Feeling gay and lighthearted now that again she again had a chance to be the chief’s wife, Hawk Woman almost skipped back in the direction of the village.

Yes, she knew she should report what she had witnessed, but hadn’t she planned to kill Candy today, herself? This was even better. Albert Cohen had done the dirty deed for her.

She would not have the guilt of murder on her mind for the rest of her life. The burden of keeping quiet about Candy’s abduction was not as heavy as the one she’d been prepared to shoulder.

Smiling broadly, she continued on her way back to the village. Suddenly, however, she found herself in the company of Shadow. The wolf fell into step beside her and gazed into Hawk Woman’s eyes in a steady stare.

A coldness crept into Hawk Woman’s veins as Shadow’s eyes would not leave hers. It was as though the wolf sensed that Hawk Woman was guilty of not helping Candy in her time of trouble.

Hawk Woman wondered why the wolf had appeared now; she could not help thinking that it had to do with Candy’s disappearance.

Hawk Woman gazed back into Shadow’s eyes, wondering if the wolf could be that intuitive.

Unnerved, Hawk Woman tried to shoo Shadow away, but nothing would make the wolf budge.

Shadow stayed beside Hawk Woman as she broke into a run, panting, until she finally reached the village.

“Go away,” Hawk Woman said, flapping her
hands at Shadow. But the wolf held her ground, her eyes still looking hard into Hawk Woman’s.

Then Hawk Woman’s blood seemed to turn cold as she heard the sound of horses arriving at the far end of the village.

She stiffened when she saw Two Eagles returning home, his many warriors already disbanding and going to their lodges, where their wives stepped out to greet them.

But Two Eagles had farther to go to his tepee.

Hawk Woman realized that she was standing right in front of his lodge.

She tried to hurry away from it, but Shadow blocked her path and stood there, gazing almost unblinkingly into her eyes.