Sundancer (Cheyenne Series) (45 page)

      
Sees Much announced that their journey was over.

Chapter Twenty

      
“What are they doing in there?” Roxanna asked Willow Tree. Sees Much and Cain had been closeted together in what her Cheyenne companion referred to as the “lonely lodge” since dawn that morning. The sun now blazed high in the sky as the women finished the myriad tasks associated with setting up a new camp.

      
“They prepare, sweat, pray to Everywhere Spirit,” Willow Tree replied. “Must be alone. No others go in, out.”

      
Roxanna could see the smoke from the lodge's fire pit rising. In spite of the warm autumn day, the sides and door flap of the lodge were securely closed, isolating the two men. Wryly she thought Cain might indeed be sweating, but she much doubted that he was doing any of the praying. As his instructor in making a Medicine Lodge, Sees Much would prepare him to enter the vision world.

      
Earlier the leaders of the band's various warrior societies, Elk, Fox, Dog and Bowstring, had ridden from the camp. As they passed by, the people had cheered them on, the women making high trills while small children clapped their hands gleefully. Some of the men beat their fists against their breasts in a sign of respect. Roxanna had been told that they were going to cut down the poles for the Medicine Lodge, a large edifice which would be constructed that morning.

      
Sees Much had selected White Owl Woman to be the bearer of a sacred buffalo skull which would be used in the ceremony. She was the mother of Weasel Bear, a fact which had struck Roxanna as strange. Roxanna thought that White Owl Woman must surely resent Cain, since it was enmity toward him which had caused her son's banishment. Yet last night when Sees Much had conferred the honor on her, she had seemed highly pleased, calling Cain “cousin” in the formal manner of address used to denote one who is being honored among the People.

      
Apparently she had been shamed by her son's dishonorable behavior as had many others. The defection of the young hotheads following Weasel Bear had brought bad medicine to the band. This ceremony would renew and unify their whole society, so they were grateful to the one who pledged to it.

      
The felling of a tall straight cottonwood for the center pole of the Medicine Lodge took only a short while. Several other lesser trees were also cut for the supporting beams of the large edifice, then all were dragged on ropes back to the village to the sounds of great revelry among the assembled people, who now ceased their chores for the day in favor of celebrating the erection of the lodge. The leaders of the societies, under Leather Shirt's direction, set the tall center pole in the central clearing, around which the other teepees had been situated in their usual orderly manner, all facing east.

      
Roxanna and Willow Tree sat in the shade of their lodge, watching as the skeleton of the Medicine Lodge took shape. “It's much larger than any of the others.”

      
“So warriors can sing, dance,” Willow Tree said, gesturing to the inside of the lodge.

      
Apparently some favored few would be witnesses, even participate with Cain and Sees Much. She had already been told that, as pledger, Cain would fast for the four-day duration of the ceremony, taking no food or water. Considering how warm the autumn weather had turned, this concerned her, but her friends assured her that many warriors had undergone this discipline before her husband with no lasting ill effects. Still, they spoke of the “great pain” which the Lone Bull would offer for the People and she felt uneasy. Her eyes continuously returned to the “lonely lodge” where Cain had spent what surely must have already been a long and arduous day.

      
When the skins had been stretched over the sides of the large oblong lodge, various of the participants brought into it sacred artifacts entrusted to their possession. Leather Shirt and Sees Much, who had left Cain alone in the “lonely lodge,” directed the placement of the trophies. All of this was done to the beat of drums and low solemn chanting. At length, White Owl Woman, decked out in an elaborately quilled doeskin tunic and leggings, walked to the site of the “lonely lodge,” followed by Sees Much, who opened the flap of the lodge. She stepped inside.

      
A moment later she emerged, holding aloft the most honored trophy of the ceremony, the skull of a large buffalo bull. It gleamed whitely in the blazing sun as she carried it across the clearing to the Medicine Lodge. Because she was not a member of the tribe, Roxanna could not enter the lodge, but Sees Much's granddaughters explained to her that White Owl Woman was placing the skull in the rear of the Medicine Lodge, facing out the open doorway to the east.

      
When she emerged, everything was in readiness for the pledger. All eyes in the crowd turned expectantly to the lonely lodge. Old Leather Shirt and the other leaders waited outside the Medicine Lodge, in utmost respect. While the chants continued, the flap of the “lonely lodge” was once more opened by Sees Much. He stood aside and held the buffalo hide up in honor of the pledger.

      
Roxanna worked her way through the crowd of tall men, eager for her first sight of Cain since the ceremony had begun. When he stepped out into the light, she gasped in shock. She would never have dreamed her husband, who had aspired all of his life to be white, could look so utterly Indian. His long bronzed body was practically naked, with only a loincloth around his narrow hips. He was painted with vermilion slashes and geometric designs across his face, chest, arms and legs. His hair, although much shorter than that of the other men, had been without the attention of a barber for enough time that it hung nearly to his shoulders. Long beaded earrings and feathered leather leg and arm bracelets completed his savage adornments.

      
Watching him as he walked through the crowd toward the lodge, she bit her lip, frightened suddenly by what she had asked him to do.
How he must hate this.
Cain looked neither to the left nor right, staring stonily ahead as he passed by the others. But when he approached her, he slowed his stride imperceptibly and his eyes met hers in a burning exchange.

      
See what you have made me
.

      
Then he was gone, vanished inside the big lodge with the other celebrants. Roxanna stood, numb with remorse, as the people rushed by her, closing in around the lodge to hear what was going on inside. “What have I done?” she whispered to herself.

      
She stood for a moment, staring at the lodge, then became aware of someone's eyes on her. She turned to meet the piercing blue glare of Andrew Powell. His hands were bound and two young Dog Soldiers held his arms. His cold eyes narrowed on her as the guards brought him closer to the lodge. Leather Shirt obviously planned to have him watch his son perform the Sun Dance.

      
“You've married a savage. Now is a bit late to regret it.” His voice held a note of pity mixed with condescension.

      
“You're the only one here with regrets, Mr. Powell. Your son is renouncing your hold over him by participating in this sacred ceremony.”

      
His patrician nostrils flared as his face went rigid with shock, then anger. “Sacred ceremony,” he spat. “Nothing but gory barbaric superstition. I would say I found it difficult to comprehend how a gently raised young woman could stomach the Sun Dance, but it would seem you've become one of them as well.” He eyed her buckskin tunic and moccasins scornfully. “Hardly surprising, if half of what Mrs. Darby says about your checkered career is true. You're a fraud well suited for a man like Cain.”

      
“I take that as a compliment, although I know you didn't intend it that way,” she replied, covering her shock about Isobel. Revealing her true identity was no longer of significance, considering what was transpiring here in the Medicine Lodge. “You have two fine sons, yet you appreciate neither one.”

      
A flash of anger blazed on his face, then dissipated into a strange weariness. “I had only one son. I never acknowledged Cain.”

      
“And now he no longer acknowledges you. You resent that, don't you?” Roxanna could see that her barb struck by the reddening of his face, but before he could reply, one of the Dog Soldiers said something in Cheyenne and they dragged Powell away, forcing him to sit near the door of the lodge. He would be able to hear everything. Leather Shirt's revenge would be sweet. Deeply troubled, Roxanna rejoined the other women.

      
The dancing, drumming and chanting continued through the rest of the day, along with the shrill cries from whistles made of eagle bone which many of the dancers blew repeatedly. At full dark the dancers and singers began to file out, leaving Cain and his instructor Sees Much inside. After a bit, Sees Much too emerged. Roxanna had spent her lonely vigil sitting in front of their lodge. As the old shaman approached, Willow Tree offered him a bowl of stew. All day various of the women in the band had been cooking special feast foods for the celebrants—all but the fasting pledger.

      
Sees Much accepted the stew gratefully and sat down beside Roxanna. “Have you eaten, daughter?” he asked.

      
She shook her head. “I could not.”

      
He gently touched her pale hand with his gnarled dark one. “It will be well. You must not fear for him. Already he shows good heart. Hear the drum?”

      
“Yes. Is someone still dancing inside the lodge?”

      
His smile beamed proudly. “That is the Lone Bull.”

      
“I—I don't understand. I thought…”

      
“You feared he was angry with you. Perhaps he is...but it will not last once he sees the truth in his vision. I

have made him understand what it means for the People—that the sacrifice of the Medicine Lodge must be made with a strong heart. That is why he will dance through the night, alone. It is most pleasing to the Powers.”

      
“And for the people who see his heart,” she supplied.

      
“Just so.”

      
Roxanna lay on her pallet that night feeling weary, yet a bit hopeful. Perhaps Cain might be drawn to reconciliation with his family and the other members of the band through this ritual.
I am with you in my heart, my love. Be strong. Be well.

* * * *

      
“They crossed here, Colonel. Three, maybe four days ahead of us,” the scout said, kneeling on the muddy bank of the Little Laramie.

      
There was something about the Pawnee that made Riccard Dillon distinctly uneasy. He had brought a paper signed by Major Frank North reassigning him and three of his men. North's Pawnee Battalion was famous for helping the cavalry to pacify the Cheyenne and Sioux. The men certainly seemed to be good trackers, but they just didn't have the look of Pawnee about them. Too tall, not dish-faced enough.

      
Hell, maybe I'm just getting spooked because we lost old Leather Shirt and MacKenzie 's granddaughter.
He had been incredulous when the wire arrived from MacKenzie saying Alexa Cain had been taken prisoner by Leather Shirt. Cain had not indicated that his wife was in any danger when he'd run across the half-breed the week before. Very peculiar, that. He wondered what Cain was up to.

      
Having the Pawnee scouts was a lucky break. They'd found Leather Shirt's camp in just two days. Worse luck that the hostiles had moved on, but given the way they lived, not surprising. Dillon figured they'd catch up easily in a few days.

      
That was before they ran into the massive herds of buffalo which obliterated all traces of the Indians. They had wasted days searching through the churned-up earth for some sign of Leather Shirt's band. At last they had struck pay dirt. Dillon wondered what Cain was doing now. Was the breed also on his wife's trail? The colonel only prayed that she could survive with the savages until he could rescue her. Of course sometimes it was better for a white woman not to make it out alive....

      
‘‘All right, Flint Arrow, tell your scouts to move ahead,” Dillon commanded.

      
“Flint Arrow,” the “Pawnee,” smiled slyly as he signaled to Weasel Bear to mount up. Johnny Lame Pony could almost smell that whiskey.

* * * *

      
At dawn Roxanna awakened when the other women arose, chattering as they dressed for the second day of the ceremony. The three hurried outside just as the first purple and orange streaks of sunrise were climbing over the western mountains. The men who had been designated to participate inside the lodge sang their morning songs to the sun. Then they filed into the Medicine Lodge and the full-scale dancing and drumming resumed, along with the piercing cry of the eagle whistles. The women continued to prepare feast foods—rich stews, roasted meats, luscious fall fruits gathered fresh that morning.

      
“May I help with the cooking?” Roxanna was too nervous to continue watching from the outside with nothing to do but fret and wonder how her husband fared.

      
White Owl Woman, in charge of the food, nodded. “The Lone Bull does well. Our cousin has a good heart for the People. You do too, I think. You may grind that corn for porridge,” she replied in Cheyenne, pointing to a mortar and pestle and a pile of dried red ears.

      
Willow Tree translated for Roxanna, who was relieved to have some useful task to perform. She felt gladdened by the praise from White Owl Woman and haltingly thanked the woman in her own language.