"Man...not help. Keep...ready...fight much. You...walk ponies. Walk...behind man."
"Why?"
"Man...defend...first one...look at...enemy."
"Oh, I understand now," she said, drawing her left leg over her right and sliding down from the pony on the right side, imitating Eagle Heart. She had taken note earlier that he mounted and dismounted on the right side of the pony, not the left.
She switched to the gesture talk and signed, "You are walking in front of me so you will be the first to confront any danger."
He nodded and dismounted, handing the buckskin reins of all three ponies to her. His hand lingered over hers in the exchange before he signed, "We climb now. The sun is almost all the way up in the east, and we must be hidden by the time it rises up fully."
She nodded, but her entire body was responding sensually to his touch. It stimulated her, however, in a good and pleasant way. "Very well," she said simply as she followed him up the steep butte, glad that she had been wise enough to wear boots and that her mother had been good enough to pack them for her.
She didn't mention the feeling of desire which had swept over her only a moment ago. Nor did she tell him of the ache within her and the physical yearning to be close to him, the wanting to feel him next to her. Somehow, it seemed out of place at a time when they needed to get to safety, but after that...
She smiled.
****
THEY WERE ALREADY WELLwithin the sheltered region of the deep forest of evergreen trees when the sun began to color the sky with pinks and reds, blues and purples of a rainbow. The colors were mirrored on the dry brown grasses below her, and their beauty seemed without measure. Although she wished she might stare at the surrounding splendor of nature and admire it more, she, instead, turned her back on the eastern horizon and looked forward and up. It was still relatively dark within this forest of pine and cedar trees, and, as they wound their way up the steep cliff, the scent of the pines as well as the raw smell of the earth accompanied her steps and caused her a good feeling, as though she were at peace at last.
The horses she led gave her no trouble as they each found their footing over the sometimes grassy and pine-needle-covered ground. It seemed to her that the sound of their hooves over the solid terrain was comforting, and she found its clatter relaxing. At times, the horses snorted as though in protest of the high climb, but, for the most part, they simply followed her.
Having now entered into the darkened forest, she was feeling sleepy and wondered why they weren't stopping to make their camp beneath the boughs of these trees. But, tired though she was, she was not inclined to ask Eagle Heart about it. This man had already proven he knew more about this wild land than she might ever realize. She would be wise to simply follow him.
There was a small clearing in these woods, but he didn't lead them into it. However, there were flowers inside the glade that also grew out beyond its edges. Suddenly, he stopped and came to squat next to a grouping of these flowers. In his own tongue, he began to speak lowly and softly, and it appeared to her as if he were talking to the flowers.
This was soon done, and she watched as he reached for his knife, which was sheathed at his side. Without pause, he began to dig down deeply into the soil, turning up several of the flowers, including their roots. These he placed on the ground before him.
He was still squatting next to the plants when he once again spoke to them quietly in his own tongue. He indicated with his hand both those flowers that now lay at his feet, as well as the ones still standing and firmly attached to the ground. With this done, he sprinkled a yellow powder over the flowers he had dug up by their roots, and these he placed into one of the bags he wore around his shoulders.
Next, he brushed the ground with his hands and feet until it looked as though no one had paused there. When he looked back at her, he grinned and said in English, "These...for you."
When she smiled at him, he stepped toward her, reaching out to take her hand in his and bring it up to his lips, where he proceeded to place a kiss upon her wrist. The pleasure from a mere kiss was so unexpected, she groaned and looked away. And, when she at last looked forward and at him, he grinned at her and said in English, "Soon...you be my woman."
To which she replied, "I already am."
"Know this," he said, again in English. "Soon...also...be mine...in body."
She grinned at him. "It will be my pleasure."
"Áa," he said. Then signed, "I intend to make it so."
****
AT LAST, THEY CAMEto a place where a bluff jutted out from the butte. It was level and large in size and backed up to several pine trees which clung to the rock-solid side of the butte.
Eagle Heart pointed to the trees. "We will make our camp there," he signed. "The trees will hide our fire and the smoke from it, and their branches can be used to make a hasty shelter, one that is hard to see even by an enemy scout, if anyone should be following us. Once I have made the shelter, I must go back and cut across our tracks so anyone following us will be led in a wrong direction. Some of our passage over the earth, however, I will need to erase completely from the earth. Only in this way will we be safe for a little while."
She nodded. "Should I come with you?"
"Saa.It will be easier for me if I, alone, go to confuse our trail. If you are with me, my attention will be on your safety and not on the impressions made in our mother, the earth."
"I understand," she signed, but she felt uneasy. He was doing most of the work, while she had little to do except be at her ease and watch him. "What would you like me to do?"
"Gather some dry wood. Enough to build a fire."
"I can do this."
