Magnificent Guns of Seneca 6 (28 page)

"Yes, I am," Toquame Keewassee said.
 
He held out his arms toward Haienwa'tha and said, "Come to me, little brother.
 
Embrace the chosen leader of your people."

Haienwa'tha stepped toward the man, lifting his arms to return the embrace when Thathanka-Ska shouted, "No!"
 
He pushed his way through the crowd, yelling his brother's name, telling him it could not be true.

"Shut your mouth," Haienwa'tha hissed.
 

"It isn't him!" Thathanka-Ska shouted.
 
"It can't be."

"Everything Thasuka-Witko said has come to pass.
 
Even your doubts," Haienwa'tha said.

"This isn't right," Thathanka-Ska said.

Toquame Keewassee wrapped the blanket around his waist and said, "Do you challenge my authority over you, little one?"

Thathanka-Ska turned to the larger man and looked him over.
 
The long braid that swung down over his finely muscled chest and his thickly muscled arms.
 
He was at least a foot taller than Thathanka-Ska and nearly twice as wide.
 

"I do," the boy whispered.

"No!" Haienwa'tha shouted.
 
He grabbed his little brother and yanked him back, "Grab your things and go."

"Too late!" Toquame Keewassee said.
 

"He is just a boy!" Haienwa'tha said.
 

"Will you defy me as well?"

Haienwa'tha looked at the man, then turned his head to the ground and said, "No, my Chief."

"Good," Keewassee said.
 
He pushed past Haienwa'tha and glared at Thathanka-Ska.
 
"Pick your weapon.
 
Rifles?
 
Tomahawks?"

Thathanka-Ska made fists with his hands and said, "Unlike you, I am not so eager to shed Beothuk blood.
 
Fight me as you are and I will make you renounce your claim to my tribe."

The men around him whooped with laughter in surprise and even Toquame Keewassee smiled as he threw off his blanket and said, "You speak brave words, boy.
 
Come.
 
Show me what you are made of."

Thathanka-Ska ran at the man swinging, howling with all the rage that had been bottled up inside of him for days.
 
He swung wildly and connected with Keewassee's jaw, trying to cave in all of his teeth with one blow.
 
The older warrior's head jerked sideways but he quickly recovered and shoved Thathanka-Ska backwards.
 
"You little son of a whore," he whispered, touching the side of his mouth and seeing blood on his fingers.
 

Thathanka-Ska ran back at him, trying to hit him again, but Keewassee was ready and kicked the boy in the gut with his heel.
 
When Thathanka-Ska lurched forward to gasp for air, the Pwatsak warrior slapped him across the face so hard he staggered sideways and fell straight down.
 
Toquame Keewassee straddled Thathanka-Ska and grabbed a handful of the boy's hair to pull his face up from the ground and delivered a punishing strike to the center of his nose.
 
Blood splashed Thathanka-Ska's cheeks.
 
He punched him viciously again and again until the boy stopped moving except to lay on the ground and twitch.
 

Lakhpia-Sha looked at Haienwa'tha, silently pleading with him to intervene.
 

"He made his decision," Haienwa'tha whispered.
 
He could not look away and with every blow struck against the boy's face, he flinched like it was happening to him.
 

When it was finished, several men wrapped the boy in a blanket and carried him over to the fire.
 
Haienwa'tha shouted for the men to put him down.
 
Tears filled his eyes as he looked down at Thathanka-Ska's beaten, swollen face and mouth.
 
He grabbed Lakhpia-Sha's arm violently, "Is he?"

The apprentice undid the blanket and put his hand against the boy's chest.
 
"He lives, but I am not sure for how long."

"Do something.
 
Do something for him.
 
Please," Haienwa'tha sputtered.
 
He picked up his brother and clutched him to his chest, his sobs loud enough for every man in the camp to hear.
 

Toquame Keewassee watched them from across the camp, flexing his hands.
 
They were cut and bruised from striking the boy's face and he worried some of them might be broken.
 
"Send me that boy when he's finished," he said.
 

Lakhpia-Sha tended to Thathanka-Ska, even as Keewassee's man tried to yank him away.
 
He soaked flat leaves in medicine from his pouch and pressed them to the boy's forehead and face.
 
The tall, thin apprentice came over to Toquame Keewassee and said, "What is it?"

"Mend my hands," Keewassee said.
 

The boy inspected the injuries and dug into his bag for a small vial.
 
He tapped out several drops from inside of it across Keewassee's knuckles and wrapped them with small strips of cloth.
 
"Try not to move them, and they will be fine," he said.

Keewassee waved him away, "Go now."

"Chief Keewassee, may I ask you a favor?" Lakhpia-Sha said.
 
"I would like to pray for my friend, in case he crosses over.
 
I understand you have great anger toward him, and did what was necessary, but still.
 
It is proper for my prayers to accompany him on his journey and will go toward healing his brother's pain."

Toquame Keewassee looked disgusted and said, "Do whatever you want."

He watched the apprentice head off into the desert and then called Comee over.
 
"I want you to keep an eye on them."
 

Lakhpia-Sha turned to look back at the others and make sure he was far enough away.
 
He began to chant, starting with a low, guttural moan that sounded like singing.
 
He chanted as he walked and looked for somewhere out of their sight.
 
Somewhere to be alone.
 
Somewhere to dance.
 

***

Thunder rolled in long and slow over the mountains, a growling, rumbling sound that stirred Thathanka-Ska out of the darkness.
 
He came to under his bundled blanket with leaves and liniments plastered to his face.
 
His mouth was filled with a medicine-taste and he sat up quietly and spit it out.
 
The rest of the men, including his brother, were gathered around Toquame Keewassee, looking out at the gathering storm clouds.
 

Thathanka-Ska slid out of the blankets, careful not to make any noise.
 
His face hurt.
 
He could feel where it was swollen around his nose and mouth.
 
It hurt his cheeks to squeeze his eyes shut, but nothing was broken and he could breathe.
 
If he could breathe, he could run.
 

He crept back from his blanket and ducked behind a small, bare desert bush and waited to see if anyone noticed.
 
Lightning speared the sky and as all of the men turned away to look at it Thathanka-Ska seized the moment.
 
He sprinted across the hard soil toward a patch of tall grass in the distance, turning back constantly to make sure that he was both moving away from the men and staying out of their line of sight.
 
He stopped only long enough to catch his breath and find his next place he could run to.
 

Raindrops as thick as coins struck the dirt around him like tiny meteors.
 
He held up his hand to cover his face as he looked into the desert.
 
The hills where the Hopituh Shi-nu-mu hid were nearly a mile away, but there were smaller rock formations nearby.
 
Thathanka-Ska could make it to them if he was careful.
 
If the storm kept up.
 

He scurried towards the first of the rocks and whipped himself around the corner, only to leap back in terror at the Beothuk waiting there for him.
 
Lakhpia-Sha grabbed him and covered his mouth to muffle his cry.
 
"Quiet!" he hissed.
 
Thunder cracked overhead and both boys winced, checking the sky to see how close the lighting was from their position.
 
"This isn't right at all.
 
I must have made a mistake."

"You did this?" Thathanka-Ska whispered.
 
"How?"

"I just tried to summon rain, but this happened instead."
 

"This…this is perfect.
 
Come on."

"Where are we going?
 
We have to wait for Haienwa'tha."

Thathanka-Ska spat the taste of medicine out of his mouth and said, "He isn't coming.
 
If he wants to be with Keewassee so badly, I say let him.
 
We can make it to the ruins and hide with the Hopituh Shi-nu-mu."
 

"But that means we'll be cast out of the tribe!" Lakhpia-Sha said.
 
"We can never go home."

"He isn't Chief yet," Thathanka-Ska said as he grabbed the older boy's arm and pulled him away from the rock.

***

All of his men scattered, trying to find shelter inside the makeshift sweat lodge or ducking under rocky overhangs from the cliffs behind it.
 
All except him.
 
He looked up at the sky, raising his face to the storm to let the rain pelt him.
 
"I do not fear your forces, Great Spirit," he whispered.
 
"For, I am one of them."

He heard Comee calling his name and watched him come racing across the flatland from the direction of the farthest hills.
 
"I found them!
 
There are old dwellings carved into the cliffs ahead and they are hiding in there."
 

Keewassee smiled thinly and said, "I knew he would lead us to them.
 
Tell the men to get ready."

"In the storm?" Comee said.

Keewassee shoved him away and said, "Yes, in the storm!"
 
He watched the men begin to crawl out of their hiding places and grab their rifles.
 
He pointed at the covered wagon and said, "Take them instead."
 

Haienwa'tha came racing toward him, "Where is my brother?
 
Have you found him?"

Toquame Keewassee nodded grimly and said, "Yes.
 
As well as the hiding place of our enemies.
 
The little traitor ran straight to them."
  

Haienwa'tha swallowed and said, "Really?
 
Where were they?"

"So you continue to insist that you do not already know," Keewassee said with a quick grin.
 
"Regardless, he has done us a service, and I will offer him one last chance to return to us.
 
Do not fear, little brother.
 
I will not spill the noble blood of Thasuka-Witko unless I am forced to."