Sweet Savage Heart (7 page)

“Hau,”
Travis greeted the warrior genially, fearlessly. The amulet implied that the warrior was Lone Wolf, and Travis assumed he had been sent to investigate this matter for his father. As Travis eyed the striking man who possessed Wild Wind, incredible jealousy sparked within him until he reminded himself that she was living as the Indian’s sister.

Eyes the color of greased coal roamed the full length of Travis’s body and settled on his face. The Oglala warrior asked,
“Nituwe hwo? Taku ca yacin hwo?”
It meant “Who are you? What do you want?”

Travis easily responded in the Lakota tongue of his mother’s people, saying, “We have come to bargain with Chief Soaring Hawk for the release of a white captive. By the whites I am called Travis Kincade and by my Hunkpapa people I am known as White Eagle. Soaring Hawk, Chief of the Oglalas, is called a man of great
courage and cunning. Why does he send another warrior to speak and stand in his place?”

Lone Wolf stared at the man with intensely green eyes, deep golden skin, and nearly black hair. The white man’s expression and stance told Lone Wolf that he was a man of great physical and mental prowess. Black eyes lingered for a moment on the red cloth band that was secured around Travis’s forehead in the Apache style. He noticed that the man was clad in fringed buckskin shirt and pants and was wearing knee moccasins. Something was suspended on a leather thong around his neck, but it was hidden beneath his sienna-colored shirt.
“Iyeciciye sni yelo,”
the warrior remarked, telling Travis that he had not recognized him. He continued in his tongue, “Many times Mother Earth has renewed her face since I heard Hunkpapa tales of the half-white warrior with fire in his heart and head. My own eyes witnessed his skills and courage when our tribes camped together for the buffalo feast and trading season. You have been gone many winters, White Eagle. Why do you return this sun to seek words with my father?”

Travis said,
“Nawin Upizata he kci wowaglaka,”
telling the intrepid warrior that he wished to speak with Soaring Hawk.
“Tokiyaya hwo?”
the ranch foreman continued, asking where he was.

The warrior replied in Oglala in a tone of confidence, “My father lives with the Great Spirit. His life was stolen by the burning ball of a bluecoat’s firestick. I am Lone Wolf, son of Soaring Hawk, chief of the Oglalas. Many changes have come to our lands, White Eagle, since you vanished. I believed you dead these many seasons. Oglalas joined the Black War Bonnet Society. Oglalas carry the signs of death and danger. Oglalas speak and wear war medicine. Many of our Dakota brothers have made treaty with the white dogs and have given away their lands and freedoms to end the white man’s war, to
save their people. Surrender did not stop the white man’s war. The white-eyes seek defeat of all Dakota tribes and conquest of all Indian lands.”

Lone Wolf watched Travis intently. “Oglalas say, ‘What is life without freedom, sacred lands, and honor?’ But the white-eyes come swiftly and heavily as the winter snows. Many Lakotas are too old and weary to fight. Many have no warriors or weapons to battle our foes. Many have no place to run or horses to carry them. Soldiers attacked and burned many camps in the winter past; many starved and many died from the cold. The soldiers give little time to gather medicine herbs and to make weapons and to hunt game. They are sly and vicious as the badger. Many Lakotas live inside the fences that the whites called reservations!” he stated with repulsion, his eyes flickering with black fires of hatred and anger. Quickly he mastered his display of emotion.

“It is not so with the Oglalas and Hunkpapas. We fight our white and Indian enemies. Those who refuse to sign the white man’s treaties are called renegades, hostiles, savages! The white man seeks to defeat them and slay them. To stand against the bluecoats becomes a challenge to destroy us. They declare war on those who will not yield their freedoms and lands to greedy whites. Many soldiers and weapons have been sent to this land to conquer the Lakotas. We have painted death on our shields and robes, and we paint the mark of the Black War Bonnet Society on our faces when we ride to battle our white foes. The Hunkpapas join with the Oglalas to fight this white enemy, to drive him from our lands. White Eagle has not been in our lands and battles for many seasons. You dress and speak as white, the path you have chosen to walk. Gall is war chief of the Hunkpapas; he is the adopted brother of the medicine chief, Sitting Bull. Sitting Bull draws all Lakotas together with his words. Grandfather gave him the power to see beyond
this sun to those to come. When he speaks, all Lakotas listen and obey, as you once did, White Eagle.”

Knowing it was a show of bad manners to interrupt a warrior when he was talking, Travis remained silent and attentive as Lone Wolf spoke. “Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, and Lone Wolf of the Oglalas defeat more of the whites than all other tribes together. The soldiers fear us and wish us dead. We cannot drive them from the lands they have taken from our brothers, for they are many and they carry magic weapons. But we will fight to hold our lands until no Oglala or Hunkpapa warrior is alive. Our Cheyenne brothers fight beside us. No white-eyes is safe in our lands. Your white blood has chosen the white man’s world. Go, and do not return while you side with our enemies.”

Realizing that Lone Wolf was unaware of the dark secret that had driven him from these lands years ago, Travis relaxed slightly. “I do not side or fight with the white soldiers, Lone Wolf. I left our lands to find peace and acceptance in another place many suns’ ride from our sacred Black Hills, a place where I am not forced to take my father’s or my mother’s side in a cruel war. I did not choose to be born with warring bloods. I rode from these lands to seek a place where the fires within my heart and head could cool. Seven winters past I found my place of honor and happiness with the white man who travels with me. I live on his ranch on the lands that once belonged to the Kiowas and Comanches. We come to claim his granddaughter and take her home with us. She was taken captive by your tribe many winters past. She is white, so she is not safe in your lands. Your tongue has spoken the many reasons why she must be sent home to her family. Hear my words of truth, Lone Wolf, and release her to us, for she is loved by you and your people and you wish no harm to come to her.”

The warrior’s stoic expression did not change. Travis
continued, “Your people need supplies for survival and defense, Lone Wolf; the man called Nathan Crandall will give you much money for her return to buy those supplies: food, blankets, knives, guns,” he offered temptingly. “We come in peace. Let us sit and make trade.” When Lone Wolf did not react, Travis reasoned, “What is the value of one white captive in exchange for needed supplies and weapons? You are chief. How will you help your people survive without food and weappons?”

“How much of the white-eyes money do you offer for one white captive? What is the girl’s value to White Eagle and his friend?”

“Her value is as large as the heaven, Lone Wolf, but we do not have enough money to fill it. His reward to the Oglalas for rescuing his granddaughter and caring for her will buy many supplies.”

The warrior did not glance at Nathan during this talk. “How can Lone Wolf buy supplies from white-eyes? Trading posts are guarded. Do you speak false, White Eagle? Do you set a trap for the Lakotas?”

Anger flared briefly in Travis’s leafy green eyes, but he quickly suppressed it. “I am half Lakota, Lone Wolf. I do not wish to see my mother’s people massacred. The whites are wrong to take Indian lands and lives. Many whites and bluecoats are bad; they seek to kill any Indian, even women and children and the old ones. The whites are countless, Lone Wolf, and I see great suffering and death for many Lakotas. The bluecoat war chiefs and soldiers battled another white enemy with numbers and weapons greater than those the Lakotas possess, and they won a painful victory. They are powerful warriors, Lone Wolf. They carry hatred for the Indian and hunger for his lands in their hearts and minds. As a stormy river, they cannot be halted or controlled. If you cannot make honorable peace, you must have weapons for your
battles and hunts so your people can live. The old ones must not suffer in their last days or die on land far from the sacred hills. The women must not mourn the deaths of sons and husbands who are defenseless against the soldiers’ fire sticks and longknives or be left to the charity of others who have little themselves. And what of the children? Must they suffer or grow under the shadow of white fear or be denied their lands and heritage? Must they be raised as slaves of the white-eyes?”

Travis fused his gaze to Lone Wolf’s so the warrior could read his honesty and sincerity, praying that Lone Wolf did not know of his dishonor long ago. “I will help you get the supplies to make this war even. This very sun, many supply wagons are unloading at the Chambers Trading Post, two days’ ride from your camp. We saw this with our metal eyes but did not ride close, for we wished no whites to learn of our journey to the Oglala camp. Nate and I will ride there with the money. The white traders are greedy. If they ask why we buy the supplies, we will tell them for friends to defend their lives and lands. Since we are white, they will not suspect that we buy them for your people. You must use them to fight soldiers, Lone Wolf, not innocent whites who have been tricked into coming here. Defeat the soldiers and make it impossible for settlers to exist on your lands, and they will return to theirs or push further west. Prove you are a man of honor and mercy by driving whites from your lands alive.”

“I am to trust you with such a deed and plan?” Lone Wolf asked.

“As I trusted you with my life this sun. Send a band of your best warriors to guard us with the money and to guard the supplies after we purchase them. When we bring them to your camp, you will give the white captive to her grandfather. Do we make trade?” the green-eyed man asked. Travis knew about the 1830 Indian Removal
Act, the 1851 Indian Appropriation Act, the numerous worthless treaties, and the many brutal massacres of Indian camps, so he knew why Lone Wolf was reluctant to trust him or any white man, even if he did have a past reputation and identity as a renowned warrior.

The Sioux chief was intrigued. “Tell me of the white captive you risked your life and honor to seek. How do you know we have her?”

Without his awareness, Lone Wolf’s expression responded to the shocking words of Travis Kincade as he related the tale of the Kiowa capture of Rana Michaels eleven years ago and revealed the details of the enlightening visit and the paintings of artist Thomas Mallory. “She lives with the Oglala people as the adopted daughter of Soaring Hawk. She is called Wild Wind,” he explained. Motioning to Nathan, Travis said, “Her grandfather has come to bargain for her release. She is of his blood and belongs with him.”

Lone Wolf said with a sneer, “You wish Lone Wolf to sell his own sister? What trick is this? The fires in White Eagle’s head and heart now burn with the black fires of evil and betrayal. My sister belongs with her people. She is to join with Rides-Like-Thunder of the Cheyenne. Why do you seek to help the bluecoats buy her? What do they want with Wild Wind? I should slay you where you stand.”

Travis was relieved when Lone Wolf did not mention his traitorous father, for he felt only shame and disgust for Jeremy Kincade’s betrayal of his mother, Pretty Bird Woman, and her people. Travis had been ensnared and dishonored by his father’s treachery, for he had ridden innocently with him that black day that had ended so tragically for his mother and many Hunkpapas. For a long time he had carried the bitterness, cynicism, and stigma of his father’s actions. If a man could not trust, respect, and love his own father, how could he inspire
such feelings in other men? he had wondered. But Nathan had taught him how to deal with those destructive emotions. Returning to these lands placed his life in peril, for the Hunkpapas would influence the Oglalas not to trust the son of Jeremy Kincade and would probably seek to slay him. Years ago he had tried in vain to clear his name and had barely escaped with his life. That burden still rode with him; yet there was no way to wash the black stain from his face, for all of the guilty ones no longer existed.

Travis replied in a measured tone that concealed his anger, “No, Lone Wolf, she is not your sister. Nathan wishes to have returned to him what is his, what Soaring Hawk took from the Kiowas and the Kiowas took from my friend, Nathan Crandall, who saved my life and has been as a father to me for seven winters. There is no deceit in our hearts and words. His heart filled with joy when he looked upon her painted face. I have seen the face of his daughter, Marissa; it is as Wild Wind’s reflection on the surface of the water. I speak true; she is his granddaughter. He begged me to come to speak with my Lakota brothers for him. We come in peace, Lone Wolf. We have no quarrel with my Oglala brothers. We do not seek to trick or endanger Wild Wind or your people. She is the child of Nathan’s daughter who was slain by the Kiowas. His heart burns only with love and hunger for her.”

When the warrior remained quiet, Travis continued, “The bluecoats do not know of our visit to the Oglalas. He has come prepared to reward the Oglalas for their kind treatment and acceptance of his granddaughter and for her rescue from the Kiowas. If you love Wild Wind as we have been told, you will desire only her happiness and safety. We have seen and heard of the increased hostilities between the white man and all Indians, and you have spoken of them. Wild Wind is white. She is not
safe here.” Travis then recounted the many perils that could befall Rana from the whites and the Indians. “You are chief and your people are at war. Who will protect your sister if you are slain? Would she be safe here or in the Cheyenne camp? No. Let her return to her home and family, Lone Wolf. We will protect her and love her.”

“How can you know my sister is the female you seek?”

Travis explained about the scar on Rana’s ankle and the birthmark on her left arm. He pointed out the girls’ matching histories, ages, and looks. “You know she is Rana Michaels,” Travis stated firmly. “Just as you knew she must leave your people and lands one day,” he added to test a suspicion of his. “That day has come.”