Savage Spirit (39 page)

"The celebration can continue without me and a few of my select warriors who will ride with me to track down Sandy Whiskers," Cloud Eagle said, already walking away from the crowd toward his lodge.

Alicia hurried alongside him, her eyes filled with concern. "Please don't do this," she pleaded. "There are more important things on this earth than revenge. Cloud Eagle, I had something to tell"

She immediately stopped her flow of words. This was not the time to tell him about the child. She wanted a quiet setting, a romantic mood. She wanted the moment to be perfect for them, not fraught with worries about Sandy Whiskers.

Cloud Eagle's steps faltered. He turned and clasped his fingers to her shoulders. "You will ride with me and see the Englishman's end as I have it planned," he said. "We will return then and truly have cause to celebrate."

Again Alicia slipped a hand to her stomach. Should she ride while she was pregnant? Could there be danger in it for the child? A miscarriage now would devastate her.

Yet she did want to share as much as possible with Cloud Eagle. And even though she dreaded   the way Cloud Eagle might kill Sandy Whiskers, she nodded.

"Yes," she said. "If you insist on going, take me with you."

Cloud Eagle smiled and brushed a kiss across her lips, then shouted out orders to his warriors to ready their horses and weapons and to bring a saddled horse for his woman!

The campfires were behind them now, but the sound of the drums and rattles echoed and followed the Apaches on horseback as they followed the path of the moon across the land.

Alicia rode proudly at Cloud Eagle's side, her fringed buckskin skirt hiked above her knees. "Do you truly think you are going to find Sandy Whiskers?" she asked, breaking the silence that had fallen between her and Cloud Eagle since they left the village.

"The blue-coated soldiers' search took them in the opposite direction from the path I feel Sandy Whiskers will be traveling," Cloud Eagle said, gazing over at her. "They think he will hide in the mountains. I think he is headed for Mexico, where he can take refuge. There he could also begin his practice of slave trading again. A man like him would not take long to find those who would follow his command. I imagine that Mexico could soon become a target of Sandy Whiskers' raids, instead of the Arizona Territory."

"I hope we can find him and stop him," Alicia said, brushing her hair from her eyes with the back of her hand as the wind continually whipped it around her face. "He well deserves being shot." She choked back a sob when she envisioned the way she had found her brother and the others at   the Englishman's outpost. If given the chance, she would get her own vengeance tonight!

"I do not intend to allow Sandy Whiskers to be killed by bullets," Cloud Eagle said, his voice cold.

Alicia cast him a questioning glance. "Then how, Cloud Eagle?" she asked. "If you find him, what
do
you plan to do?"

Cloud Eagle laughed into the wind. "He will die a slow death, and as he dies, he will beg for mercy," he said, his eyes narrowing at the thought of what he had planned for Sandy Whiskers.

Shivers of dread ran down Alicia's spine. She stared at Cloud Eagle, wondering about this man whose mind seemed intent on torture. He was usually so gentle, so caring. It did not seem like him at all to be considering killing someone in an inhumane way.

Yet she reminded herself that Sandy Whiskers was scarcely human. It did seem only right that he would die slowly and mercilessly.

Gripping the reins in her hands, Alicia asked no more questions. Her gaze was intense as she looked into the shadows of the night. The moon was now behind the clouds. Everything in the distance seemed dangerous and threatening.

Fear crept into Alicia's heart and she rested a hand on the holstered pistol at her waist. She was reminded of another night when she was on horseback. The ambush had happened so suddenly. It could come as quickly tonight.

The only difference tonight was that she was not alone. The thundering of horses' hooves behind and beside her gave her a sense of well-being, of camaraderie. Nothing could penetrate or overtake the shield of warriors who rode with her.   Breathing more easily, Alicia rode onward.

When Cloud Eagle raised a hand in a silent command for everyone to stop, she drew a tight rein. Her horse shimmied to a quick halt beside Cloud Eagle's. Alicia questioned him with her eyes.

"There is a lone rider a short distance ahead of us," Cloud Eagle said as his warriors circled around him, listening. "We will overtake and surround the rider and stop him. If it is Sandy Whiskers, you know what the next move is to be."

Alicia wanted to cry out and demand that he tell her what he had planned for the Englishman. It was obvious that everyone else knew.

But she did not want to show disrespect to Cloud Eagle by insisting that he tell her. If he had wanted her to know beforehand, he would have confided in her.

This made her believe that what he planned might be worse than anything she could imagine, and for a brief moment, she wished that she was back among the Apache, where roast duck was being eaten and where there was much laughter and lightheartedness.

But it was too late for regrets. She held her chin high and rode beside Cloud Eagle as the Apache divided into two columns and made a wide circle in the sand so that both sides could close in on the rider at the same time.

Breathless, her heart pounding, Alicia rode hard with Cloud Eagle.

Then she felt her knees weaken with fear when suddenly before her was the rider, the other half of the Apache riders closing in on his other side.   The moon came out from behind the clouds, casting its light brilliantly across the landand upon the lone rider. Alicia was not at all surprised when she realized that the rider
was
Sandy Whiskers. He looked helpless as he was quickly surrounded by Apache warriors.

Sandy Whiskers held his hands away from his weapons and looked guardedly around him, studying one Apache face and then another.

When his gaze locked on Cloud Eagle, only glancing briefly over Alicia, he snarled like an animal.

"You may have fooled the bluecoats, but never the Apache," Cloud Eagle said. "You had to know that in time we would find you."

Cloud Eagle waited to dismount after his warriors had disarmed the Englishman.

Only then did he slip out of his saddle and go to Sandy Whiskers. He reached a hand to the Englishman's belt, unbuckled it, and gave a hard yank which pulled Sandy Whiskers from his horse.

Sandy Whiskers groaned with pain when he fell on the ground, one leg twisted awkwardly beneath him.

Cloud Eagle gave the Englishman a swift kick, which straightened him out on the sand, on his back.

Sandy Whiskers' eyes were two slits of hate as he glared up at Cloud Eagle, then slowly at the other Apaches who came to stand around him.

Cloud Eagle began handing out orders to his warriors. "Place stakes in the sand in the appropriate places!" he shouted. "You who have brought the bag of rattlesnakes, bring it forth.   You who were assigned to bring rope, it is time now to use it!"

Alicia's heart seemed scarcely to beat as she watched what seemed a ritual.

Rattlesnakes?

Rope?

Stakes?

It came to her like a flash of lightning what Cloud Eagle had planned for Sandy Whiskers.

She took a step away from the sudden flurry of activity as Sandy Whiskers' horse was taken away and the stakes were hammered into the ground.

With a dry throat she watched Sandy Whiskers squirm in an effort to get away from the Apache as two warriors took him by the arms and dragged him over to the stakes.

"You can't do this!" Sandy Whiskers cried, paling. "Good Lord, Cloud Eagle, only savages treat people like this. You have always preached against being called a savage. Don't behave like one now!"

Sweat poured from Sandy Whiskers' face as first one wrist was secured to a stake, then another. He turned pleading eyes Alicia's way. "Stop him!" he begged. "If you don't, you are no better than a savage yourself! What they have planned for me ain't Christian! Stop them, Alicia. Oh, God, stop them."

Alicia bit her lower lip nervously as Sandy Whiskers' legs were spread wide apart and his ankles were tied to stakes.

A bitterness rose in her throat when Cloud Eagle took his knife from its sheath and rapidly slit the Englishman's shirt and breeches in front, down the middle.

As the clothes were spread open, leaving Sandy   Whiskers' body fully exposed, Alicia clutched her hands together behind her and started to look away, but her gaze locked on a bag that one of Cloud Eagle's warriors had set down on the sand beside Sandy Whiskers.

Alicia stifled a gasp behind her hand when she heard the sound of rattles inside the bag. Rattlers. There had to be several rattlesnakes waiting to be released from the bag. She held her breath when the bag was untied and placed close to Sandy Whiskers' face.

Everything happened quickly then.

Cloud Eagle helped Alicia into her saddle.

He swung himself into his own.

The warriors mounted their horses in a flash.

When the first rattlesnake crawled from the bag, and then a second, Cloud Eagle gave the command for everyone to ride away.

They stopped a short distance away when the first throaty scream from Sandy Whiskers proved that the rattlers had begun to work on him.

"Lord have mercy," Alicia whispered, a shudder engulfing her at the thought of the rattlesnakes inflicting their bites all over Sandy Whiskers' face and chest.

"
Haiiieee
," Cloud Eagle cried and raised a fist into the air. "The deed is done. Now let us return home to join the celebration!"

Alicia rode off beside Cloud Eagle. She took only one quick glance over her shoulder when one last blood-curdling cry pierced the shadows of night.

Then she looked straight ahead, understanding Cloud Eagle's decision to kill Sandy Whiskers in such a way. No other punishment would be severe enough for him.   And this punishment was final.

The poison had surely traveled throughout Sandy Whiskers' veins by now, stilling his evil heart forever.

Glad that it was over, Alicia inhaled a quavering breath. The settlers arriving in the Arizona Territory could now find some measure of peace on the California Road.

With a lifted chin and a soft smile, she rode suddenly on ahead of Cloud Eagle.

When he caught up with her, he grabbed her reins and stopped her horse as he drew his to a shuddering halt. He gave Alicia a wondering stare.

''Why did you break away from Cloud Eagle and his warriors to ride alone?" he asked. "Is it because you are displeased over the way I chose to kill the Englishman?"

"No, darling, that is not the cause," Alicia said, smiling over at him. "It is only because I am anxious to return home, to
our
home, in your stronghold. There is so much to look forward to."

"The marriage between us?" Cloud Eagle said, returning her smile. "There will be three sunrises and then we will become as one. Does that suit you?"

A sensual tremor swept Alicia at the thought of finally being married to this handsome, noble Apache. "Yes, and I am already anxious for these next two days to pass." Her eyes danced into his. "Besides the marriage, there is more I want to share with you."

Cloud Eagle's eyes shifted and rested on her abdomen.

She gasped softly, wondering if he already knew that she was with child.   His knowing smile as he looked into her eyes made her realize that, yes, he was astute enough to know that her body had changed. The fact that he had not questioned her about it puzzled her. Was he not glad to know that she was carrying his child? Before, it had always seemed so important to him!

He edged his horse closer to hers. "You are beautiful with child," he said thickly.

"You have known all along?" Alicia gasped.

"A man who does not know his woman's body well is no man at all," he said. Reaching a hand to her abdomen he stroked it lovingly. "This child is the world to me."

"If you knew, why didn't you say something?" Alicia said softly.

"The knowing was all that was necessary to make this Apache chief's heart swell with joy," Cloud Eagle explained.

"I was waiting for the right moment to share my secret with you, and you knew all along," Alicia said, laughing softly. "My handsome Apache chief, I should have known I could keep no secrets from you for long."

He reached over and twined his fingers through her hair and drew her lips to his mouth. He kissed her passionately, then drew away and whispered into her ear. "You please me so in every way," he said huskily.  

A roaring fire burned in the center of the council ring. Alicia at his side, Cloud Eagle faced General Powell, who sat in the council with several of his soldiers.

Thunder Roars had been invited to participate in the peace council. He sat close by, flanked on each side by a beautiful wife who held a newborn child on her lap. Turtle Crawls sat among the circle with his wives and children. Lost Wind sat just behind him with Red Crow's widows and children.

Those who sat at their drums at the far edge of the stronghold and those who held rattles awaited the moment when Cloud Eagle would send word to them that the celebration could begin.

Food lay piled high on platters beyond the council ring.

Ears of corn roasted slowly in the hot coals of   the lodge fires, sending delicious aromas through the air.

Young braves stood over the food, shooing flies and hungry, sniffing dogs away.

Dressed in his breechclout, with eagle feathers in his hair, Cloud Eagle had already greeted General Powell and had offered him and his soldiers seats on pallets of buckskin. He then had taken his seat at the center of the council.

The sun was gliding slowly up from behind the mountains, sending an orange splash across the turquoise sky. Fog lay like a heavy shroud over the river, and the air was crisp and cold. The promise of a cold winter was revealed in the black, thick coats of the caterpillars.

A young brave brought Cloud Eagle his large calumet pipe, feathers hanging colorfully from the bowl. After lighting the pipe, Cloud Eagle passed it over to General Powell. He waited as General Powell took the first smoke from the pipe, then handed it back to Cloud Eagle.