Savage Skies (11 page)

“She will be found,” Blue Thunder said with a certainty that made Shirleen truly believe that soon she would be holding her daughter in her arms.

And if that were so, she would never let Megan out of her sight again.

Tomorrow couldn't come fast enough now for Shirleen!

Under the arch of life, I saw
Beauty enthroned, and
Tho her gaze struck awe,
I drew it in as simply as my breath.

—Rossetti

The morning sky was cloudy and Shirleen could feel moisture settling on her face as fog crept over the village while she brought her horse from the corral and readied it for travel.

When it was saddled, she looked from tepee to tepee, hoping to see one or more warriors leave their homes, prepared to accompany her and Blue Thunder on the search for her daughter.

But she was still the only one who had come outside. Clearly, she was the most anxious to begin the search for Megan.

Sighing, she clung to her horse's reins and shifted her feet nervously on the ground as she waited for the warriors to say good-bye to their wives and children. Even Blue Thunder must be spending some last moments with his daughter.

As for her, she had hardly slept, she was so eager to begin the search.

She had lain in her bed of blankets and pelts the entire night, clutching Megan's dress, as she impateitly awaited dawn's arrival.

When the soft light of morning finally filtered through the smoke that wafted up from what was left of her fire, she hadn't been able to get up fast enough to dress for the day's journey.

After untangling her hair with a brush she'd found among the clothes in the travel bag Speckled Fawn had brought to her, Shirleen had quickly pulled on her clothes.

Wanting to keep her fire burning while she was gone, because both the days and evenings were cool now, she had placed several logs on what remained of her lodge fire. There was plenty of wood in the stack of logs that had been brought for her daily use.

Her thoughts were interrupted as first one and then another warrior came from their tepees and took horses from their personal corrals.

Her heart thumped wildly in her chest, for the moment had finally arrived when she would be riding alongside the handsome chief and his warriors.

As she mounted her horse, her leather skirt hiked up past her knees, revealing the leather boots that were also among the things Speckled Fawn had brought for her to choose from.

It seemed strange how fate had returned to her these physical reminders of her normal life.

The fog had finally lifted, and the wind was cool against her face as Shirleen saw Blue Thunder walking toward her. He was leading a beautiful white horse.

She felt a strange tingling rush through her veins when Blue Thunder stopped beside her and mounted his horse, then turned a soft smile her way.

“Are you ready?” he asked as his warriors banded together in one tight group, awaiting his orders to ride. “Are you truly strong enough to travel?”

It was at this very moment, after having mounted her own horse, that Shirleen realized she was in no shape to ride. The lump on her head throbbed, and she suddenly felt dizziness rush through her. But she couldn't think of herself.

Her daughter's life lay in the balance! Shirleen had to be strong enough to accompany these warriors to search for Megan.

“Yes, I am well enough to travel,” Shirleen murmured, trying hard not to show that she was dizzy. She held her reins tightly as she smiled over at Blue Thunder. “Please. Let's go now. I hardly slept a wink last night, I was so eager for this moment to arrive.”

“A . . . wink?” Blue Thunder said, arching an eyebrow. “What is this . . . wink?”

His curiosity about the unknown term made Shirleen's feelings for him deepen even more.

“It is a way to say that I had trouble sleeping,” she said, smiling softly at him.

“You had problems because you did not feel well?” Blue Thunder asked, truly concerned about her welfare.

He noticed that she was weaving slightly as she sat in the saddle. He was quite certain that she was dizzy, even though she would not admit it.

And he understood why.

She wanted to be part of the search for her daughter.

The child meant the world to her, just as Little Bee did to Blue Thunder!

“No, that wasn't the reason,” Shirleen said, telling the necessary white lie. “It was because of my anxiousness to go and search for my Megan. Each day I am away from her is one day too many.”

“We shall do what we can to find her,” Blue Thunder promised. “I understand the hurt in your heart. It would be the same way I would feel if my daughter were no longer safely with me.”

“Thank you for your understanding,” Shirleen murmured. She looked toward his aunt's tepee and saw the woman holding Little Bee in her arms. Both were gazing at Blue Thunder, awaiting the moment when he would ride away.

Seeing Little Bee made Shirleen's heart ache even more for her own daughter. She hoped that today that heartbreak would end.

Oh, if only God would make it so!

Her gaze shifted when she saw Speckled Fawn step out of her tepee.

Speckled Fawn waved at Shirleen, and it seemed to Shirleen that she was whispering “Good luck” to her.

Shirleen was now beginning to believe that the woman truly did want to be her friend. Needing one badly, she smiled and waved back at Speckled Fawn. Silently she mouthed “Thank you.”

She looked straight ahead again and held the reins tightly, her knees locked against the sides of her horse in the hope that it would keep her steady when dizziness claimed her again. Slowly they made their way out of the village.

As they rode on and on, each pounding of her horse's hooves made Shirleen feel less able to keep up the pace. But determination was her company today.

It kept her going, no matter how dizzy she was at times.

Finally they reached their destination, the site of her former home, where her friends had died, and where their cabins and barns had been burned to the ground.

They didn't go all the way to the scene of the massacre, but close enough for Shirleen to see the dead lying upon the ground.

She felt a bitter bile rise into her throat and had to fight off the urge to vomit as she turned her eyes quickly away from the gruesome scene.

She wanted to ask Blue Thunder to please see to her friends' burials, but there was hardly
anything left . . . to . . . bury. The roaming, hungry wild animals had had their way with the bodies.

Shirleen knew that she would have trouble even identifying anyone. Only their clothes gave a clue to each person's identity, but otherwise, there was no way to know who was who.

Feeling suddenly so beaten at the thought that her daughter might be somewhere in the same sort of shape, Shirleen hung her head and cried.

Blue Thunder saw her despair.

He could even feel it inside his own heart.

He sidled his horse closer to hers. “I am sorry for what you see here today, and for what you are experiencing inside your heart,” he said, reaching over and gently touching her arm. “I believed the menfolk would have returned to bury these bodies. Otherwise I would not have brought you this close to where the massacre happened.”

“We had to come here in order for you to track my daughter,” Shirleen sobbed. “So please do not concern yourself over me. There is only one person now who must have our attention. Megan.”

“I have prayed to Wakonda, who created all things, that your daughter will be put in our path today,” Blue Thunder said. He eased his hand away from her. “If not today, tomorrow. I am as determined as you to see that you and your daughter are reunited.”

He looked slowly in all directions. “That is
how it was meant to be,” he said. “Daughters and mothers should never be separated from one another.”

He gazed into her eyes again. “Unless it is death that causes such a separation, as it was for my daughter and her mother,” he said. “My Little Bee lost her mother due to the same insanity that has separated you from your Megan. The same sort of men, those who wish only to murder and steal, are responsible for your loss and mine.”

“I pray to God that I will be reunited with my daughter,” Shirleen said, her voice catching.

“We will begin the search now,” Blue Thunder said, reaching over and touching her cheek, letting his thumb caress her flesh.

Shirleen almost melted into her saddle at the feelings of rapture caused by Blue Thunder's flesh touching her own. She was thrilled by the way he was caressing her so lovingly.

She understood now that his willingness to search for her daughter was as much for Shirleen's sake as for Megan's.

She knew that Blue Thunder felt something special for her.

She felt foolish now for those moments when she had had doubts about him, especially when she had actually run from him and vomited when her imagination had run so out of control!

“I don't think I will ever be able to repay you for your kindness toward me,” Shirleen murmured as he took his hand away and took up his reins with both hands.

“No payment is needed,” Blue Thunder said. He looked at his warriors, who were waiting for his instructions, and who had been a witness to his feelings for Shirleen.

He knew that they had seen him gently touching and stroking the white woman's face, and how softly he had spoken to her.

So be it, for there was no denying to anyone how he felt about Shirleen. Fortunately, now that she had let her guard down and was allowing herself to see things as they really were, she was beginning to care for him, too.

“My warriors, spread out in all directions and begin to search in this area, close to where Shirleen's cabin once stood,” Blue Thunder instructed, looking from one man to the other. “There are many footprints, but all you will look for are small ones. The child is the same age as my Little Bee, so you should be able to judge the size of the tracks. Also, search everywhere a small child might hide. Look behind every bush, tree, boulder, and even search for a cave. If she was not captured, but instead wandered off, she might have gone anywhere; she may have hidden to wait until her mother came for her.”

That possibility brought more sobs from the depths of Shirleen's throat, for she knew that her daughter could be at this very moment wondering where her mother was.

Today's emphasis was to be on searching this area. If her daughter wasn't found, then
the hunt for the renegades' hideout would continue tomorrow.

Shirleen rode alongside Blue Thunder, searching the woods as he looked closely everywhere that he thought a child might try to hide.

She remembered how, as a child, she had played hide and seek with friends in Boston. She knew the art of hiding well, because of those innocent games. She tried to imagine where her daughter might have gone to hide.

But even after hours of searching, no signs of Megan were found.

As the sun crept lower in the sky, Blue Thunder looked over at Shirleen and saw how bone-tired she was. Though the night would soon spread its dark cloak over the land, he decided it was best that they not take the long ride back to the village just yet.

She needed to rest, and then later, if she seemed strong enough, they would make the journey back to his home.

But if not, they would sleep beneath the stars.

He reached over and gently took her reins, stopping her steed as he brought his own to a halt. “It is time to return home, but I do not think it is in your best interest to accompany the others,” he said. “You need to rest, and then we will resume our journey once I see you are able.”

Shirleen was unutterably sad that they had
not found Megan, and her body was one big ache. Feeling exhausted from riding so long, she nodded. “Yes, I think what you have decided is best,” she murmured. “I truly don't think I could go much farther.”

“Then we will stay here and let my warriors go,” Blue Thunder said.

He rode away from her and went to explain their next course of action to his warriors.

Some gave him a strange sort of questioning look, while others nodded and accepted that whatever their chief decided was right for all concerned.

Blue Thunder watched them ride away, then returned to Shirleen, who was already out of her saddle and leaning against a tree, her eyes half closed.

Blue Thunder dismounted and went to her. “I will tether our steeds,” he said. “I see a place that will be good for us to make camp and rest.”

The realization that he had said they would make camp, which surely meant he was readying a campsite for a full night instead of only a little while, made Shirleen's heart skip a beat.

She looked at him, studying his expression as he secured the horses, and hoped that her trust in him was warranted. She had never been alone with an Indian before, except for those moments when Blue Thunder had sat with her in her tepee.

But this was different.

They were completely alone.

And she knew that he had feelings for her. There was no hiding his feelings now. They were evident in the way he looked at her; the gentleness with which he treated her. Both attested to the fact that he had fallen in love with her. And she now knew she felt the same for him.

She just could not believe that a man such as he would force himself on any woman.

Being so tired, and knowing she had no other choice but to do as he asked tonight, she went willingly with him to make camp beside a meandering stream.

She was glad that the moon was out tonight in all its glory. The countryside was lit up almost as bright as day.

She sat down on blankets that Blue Thunder had spread out for her, then watched him prepare a fire.

When the flames were sending off soft light all around them and the smoke was spiraling into the sky, Blue Thunder came and knelt down before Shirleen.

“I will be away for a short time,” he said softly.