Seed of Evil (8 page)

“I will not put up with much more,” Flute Girl declared.

“Why have they done this?” Spotted Fawn wondered.

Raven On The Ground didn’t have an answer. She went over what had happened in the hope it would make sense. Toad had taken her into the small room. He was trying to tell her something when the door opened and in came Geist. Geist had been mad, and walked up to Toad and hit him. Incredibly, Toad hadn’t done anything. An Apsaalooke warrior would have pulled a knife and killed Geist; no man of their tribe ever let himself be struck with impunity.

Geist and Toad had argued. The whole time, Petrie pointed a rifle at Toad. The insult to Toad was monumental. He was their leader, their chief, yet they treated him as if he were an enemy.

Geist had Dryfus ask her in sign what she and Toad had been doing. She answered honestly that she thought Toad had brought her in to talk until he hugged and kissed her. Dryfus asked what they talked about. She answered that she hardly understood a word Toad said.

For some reason, Geist became amused. He pointed at her and clapped Toad on the shoulder, and called him a “horny bastard.” Whatever that was.

Toad acted sheepish, like a child caught taking food when he shouldn’t.

Petrie had lowered his rifle and looked at her, smirking.

Then Geist had Dryfus bring her to the lodge she shared with the other women. She did not want to be inside and had tried to go back out, but Dryfus closed the door and was still out there, refusing to let any of them leave.

“I will stab him and we will take our horses and go,” Lavender proposed. She alone among them wore a knife on her hip.

“That is too drastic,” Raven On The Ground said. She clung to the belief that there must be some sense to it all.

Just then the door opened and in strode Geist, followed by Petrie and Dryfus. Geist smiled and had Dryfus sign that if there was anything they needed, they had only to ask.

Raven On The Ground decided to get right to the heart of the matter.
Question
, she signed.
You chief?

Geist and Dryfus talked, and Dryfus signed that Geist was.

Raven On The Ground asked why no one had told them.

Dryfus answered that the whites thought the women knew. He also signed that Geist was sorry about how Toad had acted toward her.

Flute Girl raised her hands and her fingers flowed. She told the whites that the women were tired of doing nothing. That if the whites wanted them to work, they should have them start. Otherwise, the women were leaving.

Geist bid them all sit in a half circle on the floor. Then he sank down with Dryfus on his left and gave a long speech, which Dryfus translated in sign.

Geist was happy the four of them had come. He
was especially pleased at how lovely they were. Crow women, in his estimation, were some of the most beautiful he had ever seen. He went on for so long about their faces and their hair and how they wore their dresses that Spotted Fawn turned to Raven On The Ground and grinned and whispered, “Maybe he is in love with one of us.”

Through Dryfus, Geist explained that he was a businessman, like Toad, but not in the same business. The trading post was not his main interest. His real business, Dryfus signed, was women.

“Women?” Lavender repeated out loud. “What can he mean by that?”

Geist launched into a long speech about how he had heard a lot about the Crows before he came west to the mountains. How he had been informed they were a handsome people, and how he had first listened with great interest to an old trapper who related a custom of theirs. Was it true, he had Dryfus ask, that visitors who spent the night at a Crow village were allowed to have a woman?

Raven On The Ground answered with her fingers,
Yes
.

Did the visitors have to pay for the women?

Raven On The Ground signed that they did not.

Geist told them that the whites did not have such a custom. That so far as he knew, neither did any other tribe. Only the Crows. He thought it wonderful, and had Dryfus sign as how he had been doing the same thing for a long time.

By the looks on their faces, Raven On The Ground could see that her friends were as puzzled as she was.
Question. You have many wives?

Not any
, Geist replied. The women he gave to other men were not his, but women who wanted
to give themselves on their own, as the Crows did. And here came the best part, he excitedly had Dryfus relay—the women were paid for being with a man. Some of the money was then theirs to keep and spend as they chose.

Flute Girl signed the thought that was uppermost in Raven On The Ground’s mind—what did any of this have to do with them?

Geist smiled broadly and had Dryfus sign that he had invited them to the trading post not to sew and cook, as he had told Chases Rabbits, but to sleep with men and be paid for it.

Raven On The Ground began to suspect the white man wasn’t in his right mind.
We would never do that
, she indignantly signed on behalf of all four of them.

Why not?
Geist had Dryfus sign. They had already admitted that Crow women slept with other men, so why not be rewarded for it with trade goods or money?

To begin with, Raven On The Ground explained, the white men needed to understand a few things. Once, her people had been as numerous as the blades of grass on the prairie, many thousands of them, a strong and prosperous tribe able to hold their own against any enemy. But war and disease took a heavy toll so that now there were only about two thousand Apsaalooke, only eight hundred of which were men. Because of the disparity, most warriors had two or three wives. When a stranger visited their village, it was considered nothing at all for a wife to spend the night with him. But unmarried maidens were never offered, and Raven On The Ground, Spotted Fawn, Lavender, and Flute Girl were maidens.

Geist scowled.
So you wouldn’t sleep with men for money?

To think we would is an insult
, Raven On The Ground responded.

“We were lured here falsely,” Flute Girl said in anger. “This white man tricked Chases Rabbits.”

“We should leave this moment,” Spotted Fawn said.

Raven On The Ground agreed. She informed the whites that they were departing.

No
, Dryfus signed at Geist’s command.
You are not
.

We are free to do as we please
, Raven On The Ground told them. She was angry now, too.

Geist stood.
No, you are not
, he had Dryfus sign. He nodded at Petrie, who pointed his rifle at them.

“This can’t be happening,” Spotted Fawn said.

I need women, and you’re it whether you want to be or not
, Geist made it clear through Dryfus.

Our people will learn what you have done
, Raven On The Ground warned.
Our warriors will wipe you out
.

They won’t ever know
, was Geist’s reply.

You cannot make us do what we do not want to do
, Raven On The Ground insisted.

Watch me
, Geist rebutted. He went to the door.
We will talk more of this later
, Dryfus signed.

The three whites went out. The instant the door closed, Flute Girl grabbed hold of the latch and lifted and pushed, but the door wouldn’t open. It was locked or barred.

“We’re trapped,” Lavender said.

“What do we do now?” Spotted Fawn asked anxiously.

Raven On The Ground had no idea.

Toad was measuring a bolt of cloth when Geist stormed into the mercantile, Petrie in his wake. Geist was so mad that he slammed the door. The half
dozen Indian customers turned and regarded him quizzically.

Geist didn’t seem to care. He and Petrie came to the counter and Geist glared at Toad. “You lied to me, you son of a bitch.”

“About?”

“Don’t play innocent,” Geist snapped. “When I caught you and that squaw in the storage room, you claimed it was her idea as much as yours.”

“It was,” Toad said.

“Like hell. She just told me that she and her friends are as pure as the driven snow, which means you’re a goddamned liar.” Geist reached across and grabbed Toad’s shirt and balled his other fist.

“I wouldn’t, if I were you,” Toad said.

“Give me one good reason.”

Toad swept an arm at the Indians. “You want to stay on their good side, don’t you? They see you beating on me, they’ll wonder why. Word will get around.”

“So?” Petrie said.

Geist relaxed his fist and let go. “No, Levi’s right. If the redskins think we don’t get along, they won’t trust us as fully as we need them to.”

“Let me take him into the storeroom and give him a bloody mouth,” Petrie said. “That’ll teach him not to lie to us again.”

“Time enough for that later.” To Toad, Geist growled, “I warned you there would be consequences if you didn’t behave. You should have listened.”

Toad wisely kept silent. It wouldn’t take much to trigger Geist’s temper.

“But first, I’ve got the squaws to deal with. I was hoping it would be easy, but they’ve made it hard. Now I’ll have to force them.”

“To be whores?” Toad was horrified.

“You make it sound like I’m out to slit their throats.”

“Ours will be slit if their people find out. The Crows won’t stand for having their women abused.”

“Abused?” Geist snorted. “All I want is for them to spread their legs and get paid for it.”

“It’s wrong,” Toad said flatly.

“It’s what I do, and neither you nor a bunch of stinking redskins will stop me.”

“You can’t fight an entire tribe.”

“No,” Petrie said, to Toad’s surprise. “We can’t.”

Geist turned to him. “You too? Damn it, there has to be a way. I’ll figure it out.”

“We can’t keep those girls locked in forever,” Petrie said.

“Why not?”

Toad spread his hands on the counter. “I don’t believe what I’m hearing.”

“Shut the hell up.” Geist pressed a hand to his forehead. “I need time to think. I didn’t count on the Crows being so damn finicky about being paid to have sex. The jackasses would rather give it away free.” He moved toward the back hall and Petrie went with him. “Levi, not one word to anyone about this, or I’ll have you snuffed like a candle.”

Toad shook his head, and sighed. He walked to the front window and saw Dryfus standing guard at the women’s quarters. He swore and returned to the counter. “Geist isn’t the only one who has to think,” he said to himself, bowing his head. Almost under his breath he summed up the state of affairs with “This is bad. This is very bad.”

Zach and Chases Rabbits were making good time. They pushed the dun and the pinto hard, but not so hard as to wear the horses out. At the dun’s side loped the wolf. Whenever they stopped to rest their mounts, the wolf was at Zach’s side.

Chases Rabbits was wary. Whenever the wolf came near him, he’d tense. That evening, after they made camp and had a small fire going, the wolf lay at Zach’s side, staring inscrutably across the flames at Chases Rabbits.

“Me think maybe your wolf not like me.”

“His name is Blaze. He won’t harm you.”

“How you know?”

“He listens well.” Zach ran a hand along Blaze’s throat. “He’s not much different than a dog.”

“Bear is bear and bird is bird,” Chases Rabbits said. “Dog is dog and wolf is wolf.”

“You’re a worrywart.”

Chases Rabbits remembered that warts were bumps people got on their skin. “Me not have any warts.”

“You still worry too much.”

“How you know this wolf you have as boy?” Chases Rabbits asked. “Him gone many winters.”

“It has to be. No wild wolf would let me do this.” Zach put his head to the wolf’s and rubbed his hair back and forth. “See how tame he is?”

“Wolf never tame. Only pretend.”

“Have you ever had one as a pet?”

“Me know animals,” Chases Rabbits stubbornly persisted. “Not trust rattlesnake in blankets not to bite. Not trust bears any time. Not trust wolf not to be wolf.”

Zach sighed. “There’s no convincing you, is there?”

“Not about wolf…” Chases Rabbits would have said more, but Zach looked past him and jumped to his feet.

“Another fire.” Zach moved to where he could see it better. “About half a mile off, I’d say.”

“Must be Ute war party,” Chases Rabbits guessed.

“You’ve seen them?”

“They try catch me but me too smart.”

“A Ute war party this close to King Valley.” Zach placed his hands on his pistols. “Something has to be done.”

“Utes not know you live there,” Chases Rabbits said. “Valley hard to find.”

“I want to keep it that way.”

Chases Rabbits didn’t like the sound of that. “What you do?”

“I’ll keep an eye on them and make sure they don’t go anywhere near the pass.”

“What about Toad?”

“He’ll have to wait. Whatever is going on, the women should be fine. The whites won’t dare harm a hair on their heads.”

Chases Rabbits hoped his friend was right.

The maidens were mad.

They had a long talk. It was unanimous. They would leave and have nothing more to do with the whites at the trading post. But there was only the one way in or out, and it was blocked.

“I have wondered why the other lodge has a front door and a back door and many windows but this lodge has none,” Flute Girl said. “Now we know.”

“You think they planned all along to keep us here against our will?” Spotted Fawn asked.

“We are their prisoners, aren’t we?”

“Not for long,” Raven On The Ground said. She had been thinking hard. “We must escape and get to our village. We will tell Long Hair what the whites have done and he will send warriors to punish them.”

“It will not go well for Chases Rabbits,” Lavender said.

“He was deceived as we were,” Raven On The Ground said.

“He speaks the white tongue. He should have suspected the whites lied.”

“We did not suspect.”

“You are fond of him. If you were not, you would be as upset as we are that he got us into this.”

Raven On The Ground looked at the others.

“I understand that he was tricked,” Flute Girl said. “But I agree with Lavender. This is partly his fault.”

Spotted Fawn said, “I should not hold it against him, but I do.”

Raven On The Ground withdrew into herself. She cared about Chases Rabbits, cared about him a great deal. He was awkward and unsure of himself at times, but some men matured faster than others. As one of the few Apsaalooke who knew the white language, he stood to rise in prominence, and as much as she liked him, she liked even more the thought of being the wife of a prominent warrior. She became aware that Flute Girl was speaking to her.

“…to escape? If we break down the door they will hear us.”

“We have lamps,” Raven On The Ground said. “We will light one and throw it against the door. It will set the door on fire and burn a hole big enough for us to get away.”

“But the whites will see the flames and the smoke and be waiting to stop us,” Lavender said.

“Then we will throw it against the back wall,” Raven On The Ground proposed. “They will not notice the flames until it is too late.”

“But the smoke,” Flute Girl said. “We won’t be able to breathe.”

“We will if we lie on the wood under our feet. The smoke will rise and we will be able to breathe. As soon as enough of the wall has burned, we will run off into the hills.”

“Without our horses?” Spotted Fawn said.

“We will come back for them with our warriors. I want to see the whites punished for their insult.”

“It is too dangerous,” Flute Girl said. “The fire might spread too fast and we will be burned.”

“I would rather be dead than let a man I do not know or like take me,” Raven On The Ground said.

“As would I,” Lavender concurred.

“We are agreed, then?” Raven On The Ground said. “We might as well do it right away. By now the sun has gone down and we can lose ourselves in the dark.”

“If you say so,” Spotted Fawn said dubiously.

Raven On The Ground rose and went into the cramped space the whites insisted she sleep in and brought out the lamp. The whites had shown them how to light it. They used little sticks called lucifers that came in a small box. She didn’t like them. They
made a loud noise when they were struck and gave off an unpleasant odor.

Raven On The Ground squatted at the back wall. She raised the glass, swiped the lucifer, and held her breath at the stink. Quickly, she held the lucifer to the wick until it caught. She let go of the lucifer and took a few steps back.

“I hope this works,” Flute Girl said.

Raising the lamp over her head, Raven On The Ground hurled it at the wall. It hit with a loud crash and there was a sizzle of spreading flames as the bowl broke and the liquid in the bowl splashed across the wall. Whale oil, the whites called it. Shattered pieces of glass fell to the floor.

Raven On The Ground retreated. The flames spread rapidly. Already thick coils of smoke writhed toward her.

“This was a mistake,” Spotted Fawn said.

“Stay calm.”

“I do not want to be burned alive.”

“We won’t be,” Raven On The Ground assured her. “Just do as I do.” She tried to sound confident, but she was having doubts. The flames leaped and grew at an alarming rate, licking at the ceiling and the floor. The wood, mostly pine, caught remarkably fast.

Coughing from the smoke, Raven On The Ground backed up farther. The others clustered close to her, their worry apparent.

“If I die today, tell my mother and father I loved them,” Spotted Fawn said.

The ceiling was on fire. The writhing coils had become a cloud, and the crackling and hissing of the flames was ominous.

“What if the back wall doesn’t burn through before the fire reaches us?” Flute Girl brought up.

Raven On The Ground refused to consider the possibility. “It will.” She realized an oversight on her part. “Quick. We need blankets.” She ran into her living space and yanked the top blanket off the frame. Wrapping it around her shoulders, she came back out and was instantly engulfed in smoke.

The crackling was a roar.

“Raven On The Ground? Where are you?” Spotted Fawn called out.

A groping hand found Raven On The Ground’s arm. “I am here!” she shouted so all of them could come to the sound of her voice. “Be ready.” The smoke was so thick that she could hardly see the flames. The heat was unbearable. She backed farther away and bumped into someone.

“I told you this was a mistake,” Spotted Fawn said.

All of them were coughing. Raven On The Ground covered her mouth and nose with the blanket. She peered into the smoke, trying to tell if the back wall had burned enough for them to get through.

Suddenly there was a rush of air and harsh bellows. She recognized the voice of Dryfus. She turned. The air had moved the smoke enough so that she could see the open front door and Dryfus standing in the doorway, astounded. His yells were bound to bring the others.

Geist would be furious. She glanced at the back wall again and shouted to her friends, “Out the front instead. Lavender, it will be up to you.”

“I understand.”

Bundled in their blankets, they dashed out. Dryfus stepped aside and made threatening gestures, as if he would strike them.

Raven On The Ground breathed the precious, clear air deeply and shouted, “Do it!”

Lavender swept her knife out from under her blanket and stabbed Dryfus. He clutched at himself and staggered. His rifle clattered to the ground and he dropped to his knees.

Raven On The Ground snatched up the rifle. Lavender raised her knife to stab Dryfus again, but a yell from the trading post gave her pause.

Gratt and Berber were coming.

“Run!” Raven On The Ground cast off her blanket and bolted around the corner. She took for granted that the others would follow. “Hurry!” she cried, and flew into the night.

Behind them the flames roared.