Savage Spirit (29 page)

"You join in the vengeance of an Apache who has been banished from his tribe and is worthless?" Cloud Eagle said, his words slow and measured as he looked from soldier to soldier.

"His vengeance is not our concern," a soldier said as he stepped forth, his shoulder-length blond hair fluttering in the breeze. "But what he has told us is."

"And what does he say that you listen to and believe?" Cloud Eagle said, squaring his shoulders. He winced beneath his breath when Ten Bears gave a hard yank on the rope, causing it   to eat more deeply into the flesh of his arms. He held himself too rigid to be forced to the ground again.

"He tells me that you and your warriors have led many raids along the California Road," the soldier said, his hands resting on his holstered pistols on each of his hips. He had not drawn them. He was being backed up with the soldiers under his command.

"And I say that he lies," Cloud Eagle responded quickly, fighting to keep his dignity as Ten Bears kept maliciously yanking on the rope. "Did not Cloud Eagle send many freed white women to Fort Thomas after finding them incarcerated at Sandy Whiskers' outpost? Sandy Whiskers is the guilty one. He raided the California Road often. He even stole and incarcerated Indian women at his outpost."

"Yes, the women told us of Sandy Whiskers' abductions and program of impregnating them,
and
that you released them," the soldier said. "But the true reason, the
only
reason you set them free, was to recapture the white woman whom you had initially abducted, yourself, from the California Road. Do you deny that you stole a white woman from the California Road a short while ago? How many more have you abducted? Have you killed?"

Cloud Eagle's eyes lit with fire. He gave Ten Bears an angry stare, then looked at the soldier again. "Cloud Eagle has abducted no one from the California Road, nor has he ambushed or killed anyone," he said in a slow, measured way. "The woman you speak of is at my stronghold willingly. When she was abducted by Sandy Whiskers' outlaw band, yes, I went to rescue   her. While doing so, I discovered the outrage at Sandy Whiskers' outpost. It should be
he
you are questioning. Not Cloud Eagle.''

He grew tense when a white man out of uniform stepped out of the shadows.

"Alicia wouldn't go with Injuns willingly," Milton Powers said, half staggering as he reached for a bottle of whiskey that he had shoved into his back pocket earlier. He unscrewed the lid, bent the bottle to his lips, took a deep swallow, then placed the lid back on the bottle and stepped closer to Cloud Eagle. "Admit it. You stopped her for the mail sack, then when you saw that she was a woman, you took her as well."

Milton laughed loosely and staggered closer to Cloud Eagle. "This Apache here tells us that you sent his sister away and you took your white captive into your lodge with you to be your wife." He laughed fitfully again, then leered down into Cloud Eagle's face. "There ain't no man on this earth except a stupid Injun who'd want that woman for a wife. Are you blind, or what? She's more man than female."

Cloud Eagle was ready to jump to Alicia's defense, then held his words guarded inside himself, knowing that he had to be careful of what he said where Alicia was concerned. If he shouted to the world that she was more woman than any he had known before, then the white pony soldiers and this man stinking with whiskey would know that they had been together sexually. If they thought that he had raped her, then his life would end almost as quickly as the words spewed from his mouth. And if he were dead, Alicia would have no one to protect her from these foul men.

He pressed his lips together tightly, refusing   to incriminate himself any further with words that might be misconstrued. He would wait until he reached the fort. General Powell had always listened to reason when Cloud Eagle had spoken. General Powell always saw truth when it was laid out before him.

Milton Powers took another step closer to Cloud Eagle. He leaned into his face. "You and your warriors' marauding days are over, Apache," he said darkly. "And as for AliciaI'm goin' right now with some soldiers to take her from your stronghold. I have my own plans for that feisty lady."

Cloud Eagle's gut twisted at the thought of his woman being taken from his lodge forcefully, for he knew that was how it would be if this drunken white man had anything to do with it. His brain soaked with firewater, he would not listen to Alicia when she spoke of her feelings for the Apache and said that she wished to stay. He might even see her as a traitor and treat her as such. This thought sent spasms of anguish and fear for Alicia through him, yet he could not go to her defense.

"You will be met at my stronghold by many warriors," Cloud Eagle growled out. "They will determine who enters and who is turned away."

"If they are caught off guard, the only way they will react will be with surprise," Milton said, filling the air with his drunken laughter.

Milton stumbled away. He soon emerged from the shadows of the tree on horseback, leading another horse behind him.

Ten Bears forced Cloud Eagle onto the horse, then mounted his own.

Cloud Eagle eyed Ten Bears' horse, realizing   now that he had managed to circle back and steal his own horse from the Apache corral. He had been planning this disgrace to his chief and the Apache people from the moment he had been ordered from their stronghold.

Cloud Eagle was taken away by Ten Bears and several soldiers, while several others rode away with Milton in the direction of the stronghold.

Panic filled Cloud Eagle. He tried to wrestle himself free of the ropes, but this only caused the ropes at his wrist and the one around his arms to tighten and bite into his flesh even more.

He looked down and saw blood trickling from the rope burns on his arms, then looked straight ahead. His eyes were void of expression, but his heart ached to know that he was not there to protect Alicia, as he had promised her. And if his warriors were taken off guard, not even the one left to guard Alicia could stop what Ten Bears had started by his lies to the white pony soldiers.

"Ten Bears,
dee-dah tatsan
, you will soon be dead," he whispered beneath his breath.

Somehow, some day, Cloud Eagle would see that this threat was carried out.

Many Apache warriors were at the river on the outskirts of the stronghold. They were collecting stones to make
metates
for their wivesthe slightly hollowed hard stone, upon which the women soaked maize and then reduced it to paste to make bread.

The soldiers approached the Apache, then separated. Several went to the river and cornered the warriors there, while others went to the stronghold and surrounded it.

Milton Powers was at the lead. He rode into   the center of the stronghold and dismounted as the Apache men, children, and women clustered about, staring.

Having heard the commotion outside and the arrival of many horses, Alicia crept to the entrance flap and slowly drew it aside to take a look. She couldn't see around the warrior who still guarded her.

Alicia's heart skipped a beat when she heard gunfire down by the river. She edged away from the entrance flap, her knees suddenly weak. She looked over her shoulder at Cloud Eagle's store of weapons, but she did not have a chance to reach them before a gun blast just outside the tepee drew her eyes around in time to see the guard fall backward into the tepee, clutching a wound in his chest.

Numb from surprise and terror, Alicia stared down at the warrior.

Terrible screams and cries and the spattering of gunfire outside the lodge made Alicia's head begin to reel with fear.

She turned and started to run to the store of weapons again but was stopped when a familiar voice spoke through the horrifying cries of death and confusion outside the lodge.

"Alicia?"

Alicia turned with a start just as Milton Powers stepped clumsily over the dead Apache into the tepee. Her gaze fell to his rifle. It was smoking.

Then she looked bitterly at Milton Powers again, the realization just sinking in that he had a part in the massacre that was taking place in the stronghold.

"Why are you a part of such a dastardly thing   as this?" Alicia asked, her fists at her sides. "Milton, why?"

Milton's gaze moved slowly over her, then he smiled devilishly as he looked into her eyes. "So the Injun made you into a woman, eh?" he said mockingly. His eyes raked over her again. "Just look at you. You look like an Apache squaw."

He kneaded his chin. "Hmm," he said studiously. "I don't see no ropes holdin' you captive. Why, I do believe that Cloud Eagle may have been tellin' the truth after all. You're at his stronghold because you want to be, not because he dragged you here by the hair on your head."

Alicia paled and took a shaky step toward him. "Oh, Lord, Milton," she said, her voice drawn. "Where is Cloud Eagle? What have you done with him?"

"He's been arrested and is on his way even now toward Fort Thomas," he said.

"Why did you arrest Cloud Eagle?" Alicia asked. She looked past him, startled by the sudden silence outside the lodge. It was as though the whole world had come to an end and no one was left on it. "Why did you come and kill the innocent Apache people? What have they ever done to you?"

Her eyes widened. "Lord, no," she gasped, placing a hand to her throat. "This all didn't happen because of me, did it? Because you thought I was taken captive by Cloud Eagle? Please tell me that I'm not the cause, Milton. Please?"

"What does it matter, anyhow?" Milton said, slowly lifting the rifle to aim it at her. "You've nothing to say about it. When I look at you I see just another Apache. Come on, Alicia. Step   outside. You are going to join the survivors to be incarcerated at the fort."

"What?" she gasped.

"Do as you are told, white Apache," Milton said, motioning with his rifle for her to leave the tepee. "I'm glad now that I decided to come lookin' for you. It took some time to think on it, though. Without you, life has been more peaceful for me. And I like bein' in charge of the mail station."

He spat at her feet. "Yep, glad I came for you," he said, his eyes squinting into hers. "Now I'll be rid of you for sure. I'll see to it that you stand beside your Apache chief lover when the hangman's noose is slipped over your head."

"Good Lord, Milton," Alicia said weakly. "What did
I
ever do to you to deserve such treatment?"

"Got in my way, that's for sure," he growled out. He placed his finger on the trigger. "Now don't give me any excuse to shoot you dead right now, do you hear?"

Alicia trembled as she stepped over the bodies of the warriors who had been faithful to Cloud Eagle's command. She went outside and tears streamed from her eyes when she saw the death and devastation that lay sprawled on the ground on all sides of her. The soldiers had not been at all merciful.

A soldier came and looked at her with a puzzled look on his face. "Milton, is this the white woman who was taken captive by the Apache?" he asked, scratching his brow.

"Yeah, but she's no Injun captive now," Milton said smugly. "Arrest her. She should be a prisoner of the United States Army."

"Why, Milton?"

Milton laughed and shoved Alicia toward a   horse. "'Cause she turned into an Apache," he snarled. "That's why."

The soldier asked no more questions. He took Alicia by an elbow and led her to a horse. He tied her hands together behind her before lifting her into the saddle.

Alicia glared down at him. "You are making one helluva mistake, soldier," she said, then turned her eyes straight ahead, her fears for Cloud Eagle mounting. If he gave the soldiers any excuse to kill him, it would happen so quickly!

She saw movement at her far side in the brush and saw the flash of copper skin in the sunlight, as well as weapons in the warrior's hands.

Farther still, hidden behind boulders, she caught a hint of horseflesh. Knowing that some of the warriors had escaped sent a measure of relief through her.

She sighed heavily and looked straight ahead again. She smiled, yet only slightly, for she was not sure if just a handful of warriors could do the work of many. She closed her eyes and said a soft prayer.  

Standing before the commandant at Fort Thomas, chains heavy on his ankles, Cloud Eagle stood stoically and with dignity before General Powell's desk, as the general stared up at him while he nervously drummed his fingers on the top of his desk.

"Cloud Eagle, you have been accused of many things," General Powell said, easing back into his chair. He placed his fingertips together. "I'll give you this one chance to speak in your own defense. If what you say does not satisfy me, I shall see that you hang before sunup tomorrow. As for the other warriors who accompanied you on these raids, they will soon be brought here to join you in the cells. Later your women and children will be rounded up and shipped off to a reservation."

The mention of his people made Cloud Eagle's heart turn cold to know that he was not the only   target of hate today. His whole stronghold was surely even now lying in shambles, death spread across his hallowed land.

And Alicia? he despaired. What of Alicia?

His gut twisted at the thought of what may have happened to her. The drunken white man who had accompanied the soldiers today had seemed adamant about Alicia, even anxious perhaps to see to her downfall.

And Ten Bears was the cause. It did not seem that someone of Cloud Eagle's stronghold could be this evil, this calculating.

But Ten Bears would one day regret having chosen the wrong path on which to travel and the wrong people to whom to give his loyalty.

Lost Wind came like a thunderclap to Cloud Eagle's mind. How could he blame her for what her brother did? He was torn as to what he would do about her once Ten Bears was dealt with.

And now was not the time to allow Lost Wind to enter his mind. There was much more at stake here than the safety of a spiteful, jealous woman!

"Have you nothing to say, Cloud Eagle?" General Powell said, leaning forward. "Your silence will condemn you. Is that the way you want it to be?"