Magnificent Guns of Seneca 6 (21 page)

Haiewa'tha laughed as the two of them fought and splashed and dunked each other's heads.
 
"Careful, he's almost bigger than you are now," he called out to Lakhpia-Sha.

"Help me!" the thin boy shouted right before he went under again.

"No.
 
You need a good bath anyway."

"Enough, enough," Lakhpia-Sha said miserably, swatting Thathanka-Ska's hands off of him.
 
"If I drink anymore of this swill, there won't be any to bathe in."
 
He coughed and spat, trying to clear the taste of brine and mud from his mouth, when he saw the other two boys suddenly stiffen and raise their arms.
 
"What are you doing?" he said.
 
He turned around to look at the edge of the bank and saw a dozen arrowheads aimed directly at them.

Warriors crouched in the thick weeds, draped in dust-colored blankets the color of withered parchment, invisible on the landscape except for the bows sticking forth from them.
 
All of them, bent low to aim their weapons at the three boys in the water.
 
All of them women.
 

Haienwa'tha looked from one face to the next, searching for the eldest one.
 
"I am Haienwa'tha, son of Thasuka-Witko.
 
If this is your stream, we apologize for making use of it without your blessing.
 
I did not know there was anyone here."

One of the women in the rear called out, "What of the other two?
 
What did they think?"

Haienwa'tha could not see who was speaking, so he lifted his head and said, "They thought they could trust my word, as their care is my responsibility.
 
This one is my younger brother, and this one is learning the ways of medicine."

A middle-aged woman came forward through the crowd of women, clutching her blanket around her neck.
 
She looked down at them with fierce eyes as black and sharp as the stone arrowheads and said, "What are you doing this far away from your homelands, son of Thasuka-Witko?"

"Searching for the Hopituh Shi-nu-mu.
 
In my father's dying vision, he told us that we would find our next Chief among them.
 
He sent us to find him."

"Then the great warrior Thasuka-Witko has sent you on a fool's errand," the woman said.
 
"All of our men are dead."

***

The women walked the boys back to their camp, not allowing them to ride their destriers or possess their weapons.
 
Haienwa'tha counted at least twenty women and half as many children.
 
Some were only infants and suckled on their mothers as the boys walked past.
 
There were no teepees.
 
No sweat lodges.
 
The women not armed with bows were sitting on sand-colored blankets cross-legged, watching them intently.
 

He passed a slender young woman with long black hair that curled at her shoulders and eyes like shaped like almonds.
 
She looked at him and smiled, then looked away
.
 
I hope none of them were watching us when we got out of the water,
he suddenly thought.
 

They called the oldest woman Hehewuti, and no sooner were the boys seated at the fire than she said, "Tell us why you seek us."

"Are we your prisoners or your guests, grandmother?" Haienwa'tha said.
   

She looked at him cautiously.
 
"Both, for now," she said.

"That is fine.
 
Treat me as the prisoner and these other two as guests then.
 
I will tell you anything you want after you feed them and bring them something to drink."

Hehewuti snorted with laughter and clapped her hands.
 
"Who is the elder of your woman's council?"

"Agaidika," Haienwa'tha said.
 

The old woman closed her eyes and nodded, "I know of her.
 
I see you are used to dealing with her."

"No, grandmother.
 
But I have grown up watching my father seek her guidance on many occasions."

"You have learned well," she said.
 

Two bowls of food were placed on the ground, in front of Lakhpia-Sha and Thathanka-Ska.
 
Thathanka-Ska looked at his brother and said, "Where is yours?"

Haienwa'tha shook his head at him and whispered, "Just eat."

"Why aren't you feeding my brother?" Thathanka-Ska said sharply.
 
"In our tribe, we greet newcomers as family."

Haienwa'tha swung around to cover his brother's mouth just as Lakhpia-Sha pulled him away and hissed at him to be silent.
 
Hehewuti looked at the two other boys and said, "You are the youngest son of Thasuka-Witko, yes?"

Thathanka-Ska looked at his brother, who nodded.
 
"Yes…grandmother."

"And you are learning the medicine?"

Lakhpia-Sha sat up and said, "That is correct.
 
Mahpiya has been teaching me his ways for over a year now."
 

"Why are you here, then?" she said.

Lakhpia-Sha looked at the two boys beside him and shrugged, "Because.
 
They were going."

"It is the way of the shaman to walk alone, not to follow his leader around like a dog."

"I am not their leader," Haienwa'tha said quickly.
 

"Then your tribe is doomed, for the men of this land have been slaughtered protecting their daughters and wives from the Nukpana."

"What is the Nukpana?" Haienwa'tha said.
 

"A corrupter of our people.
 
He steals the women and sells them to the wasichu.
 
He comes from the north and his face is the devil's."

"The devil?" Thathanka-Ska whispered.
  

"Your words weigh heavily on my heart," Hehewuti said.
 
"We had discussed going west, to find a tribe worthy of our people.
 
Thasuka-Witko's name was discussed.
 
It is fortunate now that we did not go."

"He only passed a few days ago," Haienwa'tha said.
 
"We left right away.
 
You could not have known."

The old woman gritted her teeth, "I meant it is fortunate that we did not travel all that way to join with a Chief who was so easily deceived by his last vision.
 
Only the ones hated by their ancestors are visited by the trickster gods.
 
Thasuka-Witko must have done something to anger them to be treated with such dishonor."
 

There was no response to offer, and the boys were sent away from the circle with a wave of the old woman's hand.
 
They were led to an empty patch of dry grass and told to camp there.
 
The usual warnings were issued.
 
Do not move from this spot or attempt to come near any of the girls of the tribe or terrible things would happen to them with rusty metal instruments.
 

"You will have no trouble from us," Haienwa'tha said.
 
He unpacked his blanket from his destrier and unfurled it on the ground.
 
He bunched up the tall grass under his blanket until it formed a suitable makeshift pillow.
 

"That old bat is wrong," Thathanka-Ska said bitterly.
 
"Everyone loved him."

"Keep your voice down," Lakhpia-Sha said.
 
"Anyway, it's not like she doesn't have a reason to question it."

Haienwa'tha folded his hands under his head and said, "Something is wrong.
 
Either the old woman is not telling us the truth, or we are overlooking something."
 
He paused for a moment before letting out a deep, troubled sigh.
 
"Or Thasuka-Witko was not the man we thought he was."
 
 

"I don't believe it," Thathanka-Ska said.
 
"And if you say that again, I'm going to fight you.
 
I don't care how much bigger than me you are."

Something moved in the shadows, near their destriers.
 
There was a low whisper, nearly lost among the insect's songs of the mesa.
 

"What is that?" Lakhpia-Sha whispered.

Haienwa'tha motioned for him to be quiet as he rolled over and squinted to see into the darkness.
 
Whatever it was, it had stopped moving.
 

"I heard it too," Thathanka-Ska said.
 
"Over there."

A woman turned away from the circle to look back at them, and Haienwa'tha waved to her and announced, "I have to pee."
 

He walked over to where his destrier stood and looked everywhere for signs of movement.
 
As he walked deeper into the shadows, he recalled the snarl of the werja.
 
The feeling of its sharp fur tearing his skin while Lakhpia-Sha screamed for help.
 
Haienwa'tha swallowed and put his hand up to pat his destrier on the side.
 
"What was that noise, girl?
 
Did you see anything?"

"Over here," came a soft whisper.
 
A young woman held her hand up in the shadows and waved him closer.
 
"Hurry.
 
Quickly!"

He came around the side of his mount to where the girl was ducking low in the weeds.
 
It was the same one he'd seen when he entered the camp.
 
She handed him a small bowl and said, "Eat.
 
I stole this for you."

Haienwa'tha looked down at the bowl of stew and said, "Thank you.
 
Why did you do that?"

"I have to go," she said.
 
"Hurry and get back before they become suspicious."

The girl turned to leave and he said, "What is your name?"

She stopped and looked back at him, smiling slightly.
 
"Kachina.
 
Leave the bowl in the grass here and I will fetch it later."

He tried to say something else, but she was gone.
 
Haienwa'tha held the bowl up to his lips and downed the stew quickly, savoring the rich texture of its thick gravy.
 
He licked his fingers and set the bowl down in the grass away from their destriers and made his way back toward their makeshift campsite.

"What was it?
 
Did you see anything?" Lakhpia-Sha said.

"No.
 
It was nothing.
 
Now go to sleep."
 
He rolled over on his side and closed his eyes, his insides warm and full from the stew and his mind spinning from the dimly-lit smile of the girl who'd brought it.