Comanche Woman (11 page)

“I must see to my pony before I join Many Horses,” Long Quiet said. Without another word, he was gone.

Bay stood up unsteadily. When she turned to leave the tipi, she ran directly into Cries at Night.

“I am sorry,
Pia
,” Bay rasped. “I was not watching where I was going.”

“Help me sit,” Cries at Night said. “These old bones need a rest already.” As she collapsed on the nearby buffalo robe, she said, “Tell me about this man with whom Many Horses has shared his most prized possession. Who is he?”

“His name is Long Quiet. He rescued Many Horses from the Tonkawas, and in return Many Horses has asked that I serve him until he leaves us,” Bay explained.

Cries at Night pursed an already much-wrinkled mouth. “I do not understand this.”

“What troubles you,
Pia?
”

“I cannot believe Many Horses will allow Long Quiet to depart this village with the knowledge of your presence.”

“Why not? Long Quiet saved his life. They are brothers.”

“Did Many Horses seek out the medicine of the
puhakut
before he gave you to Long Quiet?”

“I . . . I don’t think so. I don’t know.”

Cries at Night drew in a hissing breath and muttered, “It is bad. It is very bad.”

“What is wrong?”

“How could Many Horses ignore the tabu and give you to another man? He has put the source of his
puha
in another man’s hands. Pah! There is no help for it now. We will have to wait and see what the
puhakut
will have to say about all this.”

At that same moment, She Touches First was anxious to find out the same thing. She came flying into the
puhakut
’s tipi without waiting for permission to enter, because the news she brought her brother was so exciting she was willing to face his wrath if he chose to chastise her recklessness.

“He gave her away to a stranger!”

He Decides It had dropped a whole handful of pecans when She Touches First had come bursting in. He looked up irritably and asked, “Who gave who away?” before beginning a search through the matted buffalo wool beneath him for his scattered breakfast.

“Many Horses is back and has given Shadow away.”

Those words stopped his hand where it was and brought his head up to meet his sister’s eyes, which glowed with undisguised satisfaction.

“Are you sure?”

“As certain as the gossip of the women can make me. I tell you Shadow spent the night in Many Horses’ guest tipi with another man.”

“Many Horses must be crazy! It is tabu for Shadow to be with—”

“—with anyone from the village. But, brother, all-wise
puhakut
, your tabu did not say anything about another man.”

“I did not think it necessary. Shadow is the source of Many Horses’
puha
. He would never allow another man near her. I cannot think what would make him do such a thing.”

At that moment, He Decides It heard keening wails of lament from the direction of Eagle Feather’s tipi. “So. They did not all come home.”

“Only Many Horses. Both who traveled with him were killed by Tonkawas.”

A second set of shrieks joined the cries from the other tipi as Many Horses gave his sad news to the family of He Follows the Trail.

“Many Horses will come here next,” She Touches First said. “What will you tell him of his decision to give away the woman? Will it bode ill for him or well?”

“I cannot say. I will have to hear the reasons for what he has done. Then I can make medicine to see whether the spirits approve.”

He Decides It blamed the continued irritation in his voice on his inability to locate the pecans he’d dropped. But it was moments like this that brought home to him how staggering a responsibility it was to be medicine man for the village and to have the power of life and death over those who came to him for advice. Now he must interpret the results of Many Horses’ impulsive gesture in sending Shadow to stay with a stranger.

Perhaps this was the excuse he needed to send the white woman away. He knew that would please his sister. She believed that the only thing keeping Many Horses from making her his
paraibo
, his chief wife, was Shadow’s presence in the village. She was wrong, but he could not confess to his sister the falsehoods he’d told that had led Many Horses to reject her.

What should he do?

He Decides It grunted in disgust and dug deeper in the buffalo robe. He could think better on a full stomach.

She Touches First knelt down to help her brother gather up the sweet nuts he’d dropped. “Do you think Many Horses will let Shadow leave the village?”

“How can I say what he will do?”

“You can tell him what he should do!”

“I cannot lead him where he will not go.”

“You gave that woman the power she holds over the greatest warrior in this village. You can take it away.”

“How can I do that?”

“Tell Many Horses he has broken his tabu by giving Shadow to another man and that he must give back her medicine and send her from this place as quickly as he can.”

“I must think about what I will say to Many Horses,” he said. “Leave me now.”

She Touches First dropped a handful of pecans into her brother’s hand as she rose. “This is the best chance you will ever have to rid our village of that woman. If you do not do it now, the day will come when you will regret it.”

With that warning, she left.

He Decides It threw the whole handful of nuts into his mouth, ignoring the bits of sand and buffalo wool that had been added, and chewed on the gritty mess while he pondered the situation. As
puhakut
, he knew much about the individual weaknesses of those who lived in his village. They came to him when they needed powerful medicine to allay their fears of the Great Spirit, of Father Sun, Mother Moon, and the Earth Mother. They expected him to know how to combat the evils of disease and famine. They sought from him an explanation of the births and deaths, the good hunts and bad, the successes or failures in war, that made their lives a frightening yet wonderful mystery.

He knew Many Horses believed his extraordinary success in battle and in the hunt over the past three years was due to his possession of Shadow and to his observance of the personal tabu He Decides It had imposed on Many Horses, which would not allow the war chief of the
Quohadi
to take from his captive that which he had wanted most. Only He Decides It knew exactly how high the price had been for Many Horses’ powerful medicine.

Well, the
puhakut
mused as he ran his tongue around his teeth to collect the last residue of pecans, he hadn’t exactly said it would be tabu for any other man to touch Shadow as a woman. But Many Horses must surely be wondering whether his
puha
had been weakened now that he’d given her to another man. It was up to him to settle the matter.

“
Hu!
May I come in?”

He Decides It made sure he was seated imposingly across from the tipi opening before he signaled to Many Horses, “
Hihites!
You are welcome here.”

The haggard look on Many Horses’ face confirmed that he wasn’t sure what disaster he might have caused by his actions. He Decides It gestured Many Horses to a seat of honor at his right side. The
puhakut
sat silently, waiting for Many Horses to speak of the matter that had brought him here. He would not be forced by impatience into revealing what he knew.

He heard an uncharacteristic sigh before the war chief of the
Quohadi
finally said, “I am getting old.”

The prospect of living to useless old age was horrifying for any Comanche to contemplate, let alone admit out loud, and it appalled He Decides It to hear such a thing from the mouth of a man in the prime of his life. He waited again for Many Horses to speak, exercising the patience for which he was well known.

“I must be getting old to have done such a foolish thing,” Many Horses continued at last.

If he expected that comment to goad He Decides It into speaking, he was mistaken.

Many Horses smiled wryly before he spoke into the silence. “You were ever able to wait out the most cautious prey. I see I must speak plainly or be left to listen to my own voice. I have given Shadow to another man, to serve him for the time he stays here in the village.”

He Decides It caught his grimace before it could curl his lips. This news complicated matters. How could he tell Many Horses he couldn’t have back a woman he had merely
loaned?

“Who is this man you have so honored?”

“He is called Long Quiet.”

“Why have you chosen to share Shadow’s medicine with this man?” the
puhakut
asked.

“He saved me from the Tonkawa dogs. He gave my life back when it was forfeit—not once, but twice.”

“Would not a herd of ponies have been a better reward?”

“Pah! He would not take them. Nor anything else I offered.”

“He asked, then, for the woman?”

Many Horses hesitated before he replied, “No.”

He Decides It frowned and shook his head. “Then I do not understand why you have acted as you have.”

“I saw he desired her. I did not want such a great debt to remain unpaid, so I offered her. He did not refuse.”

He Decides It grunted. Perhaps the savior of Many Horses had solved his problem for him as well. “For how many suns will Long Quiet stay among us?”

Many Horses flushed. “He has not said.”

He Decides It rubbed at the wrinkles on the bridge of his nose. Perhaps now was the time to tell Many Horses that Shadow’s medicine could no longer help him because she’d been possessed by another man. Perhaps now he should suggest that when Long Quiet left, it would be best if he took Shadow along. But first, he must see what Many Horses believed to be the consequences of what he had done.

“Did you consider how giving the woman to another man will affect your
puha?
”

“I thought about it.”

“And you did not think you should speak with the
puhakut
on this matter before you acted?”

Many Horses turned a stony countenance on the medicine man. “There was a debt to be paid. I paid it.”

He Decides It felt the flush rising on his cheeks even as the choking fury of rage strangled his voice. Did the war chief of the
Quohadi
consider himself above needing the
puhakut
’s counsel? His rage increased when he considered the fact that Many Horses had not only flouted the
puhakut
’s power by not consulting him but had admitted his disdain of that power to the
puhakut
’s face. If He Decides It ignored this affront, it would be tantamount to admitting his medicine was not as strong as that of Many Horses.

Many Horses realized his mistake too late. He watched the
puhakut
’s darkening expression with a sinking heart.

“You would have been wise to think before you stepped upon another’s feet,” He Decides It said. “I will have to make medicine to see the results of your deed. For now, it would be wise if you walk carefully. There is no foretelling what effect the woman will have upon your
puha
now that she is in the possession of another man.”

As a warrior, Many Horses couldn’t help appreciating the awfulness of the purgatory in which the
puhakut
had left him. It was a fitting revenge for the insult he had unwittingly offered. As a Comanche brave whose whole life had been directed by powerful spirits that spoke only through the medicine man, Many Horses feared the consequences of the
puhakut
’s anger. As the proud war chief of the
Quohadi
and a once-close friend of He Decides It, he resented the
puhakut
’s veiled threats.

Many Horses’ stomach churned, and he huffed out a breath of air in the hope of relieving his discomfort. Had he been less frustrated by the events that had put him in Long Quiet’s debt, and the subsequent sense of possessiveness that had taken him unawares, he would not have acted so impulsively. Now he would be forced to pay the price of his foolishness. He only hoped it would be a price the Great Spirit deemed he could pay with less than his life.

“We are to seek out the buffalo in a few days,” Many Horses said. “Will it be safe for me to follow the hunt?”

“I cannot say until I have made medicine. Then we will see.”