But, Strikes Fast had not come ill-prepared. He possessed his own power. And, taking a parfleche bag from around his shoulder, Strikes Fast extracted a few small brown twigs, some bits of buckskin, a few bones and stones.
Uttered the magician, Red Sky, "You are looking for a fight with me and your only defense is an assortment of sticks?"
Strikes Fast grinned. They certainly looked to be no more than sticks and small bones which had been glued in place. But, these were more than what they appeared to be. As simple as they looked, Strikes Fast knew these small sticks and bones could cause fear to flourish within even the most stouthearted man.
Glancing up at the evil magician, Strikes Fast grinned, then waved his hand over the assembled sticks, silently asking the sticks to become a small warrior. At once it was done, and, though the tiny figure of the man was perhaps not larger than a man's middle finger, the small fighter looked unflinchingly at his enemy and held his small lance up into position, preparing to jab it into the spider.
The little man, however, didn't appear to put fear into the spider. The monster continued to move forward toward the tiny man.
Looking down at the tiny warrior, Strikes Fast beheld his man's minuscule weapons—a bow and some arrows, as well as the sharp spear. They might be slight, yet he knew them to be effective. The diminutive figure, now obviously alive, paced steadily toward the spider, the small man's lance aimed directly at its heart.
Red Sky laughed evilly. "This is all you have to countermyspider? A spider who has defied men bigger than you? My spider cannot die, you see. Your man there, being no more than sticks and pieces of bone, will have no effect upon my creature of magic." And so saying, Red Sky waved his hand over the spider, saying to the monster, "Kill the small man. Then kill his owner."
But, Strikes Fast also waved his hand over the small man, saying nothing at all with words, but with his mind he spoke to the man and said, "Drive the spider away. Kill him so that the evil of the creature is gone from this earth."
And, fearlessly, the small man, armed with a lance as well as the bow and arrows, advanced toward his opponent. The little man did not hesitate nor back away, even when the spider, who was bigger than he, showed his fangs, the poison dripping from them onto the ground.
Red Sky laughed…at first. But, when the tiny man showed no fear and kept advancing toward the spider with his spear trained upon the creature, Red Sky frowned.
Again Red Sky waved his hand over the spider, causing the creature's fangs to click ominously. The magician chuckled.
But, still the small man advanced using his spear to lunge forward, and then, with a quick movement, he thrust the spear into the creature, the spider emitting a cry and jumping back.
Still holding the spear in front of him, the small man continued to advance, and he jabbed his lance again toward the spider, narrowly missing the creature.
Only then did Strikes Fast admit to Red Sky, "There be poison on my man's spear. Should he strike another blow upon your monster, it will die. Be prepared."
The war waged on, and the spider continued to retreat, injured and in a hurry to get away. The small man continued to advance, lunging his spear at the spider, and though he did not connect his lance with the spider again, each jab narrowly missed the unsightly monster.
Then, obviously seeking to get away from his opponent, the spider jumped up onto one of the lodge poles and quickly climbed upward toward the top of the pole. But, Strikes Fast's little man did not back away; he continued to advance toward the creature, the little man appearing to be uninfluenced by gravity.
"No! What are you doing? Spider come back!" cried Red Sky.
But, the spider didn't listen to its owner.
"Call your man off!" cried Red Sky. "Do you hear? Call him off!"
"I will call my man back to me only if you will give me your promise to allow the girl to go with me. And, you must not fight me in any way."
The spider had now reached the top of the highest tepee pole. And, Red Sky, looking upward at it, cried out, "You may have her. You have my word on it. Take her! Now! Hurry and go! Take anything else of mine you wish to have, but call your man back!"
Without saying a word, Strikes Fast silently spoke to his magical man, and, opening his parfleche bag, allowed the man to jump back into it. With the flick of his hand, the man became again no more than sticks and bone.
Arising, Strikes Fast stepped around the fire toward Sharon and, taking her by the hand, paced toward the entrance flap. Bending, he let himself and Sharon out of Red Sky's lodge, he, of course, being the first to exit the lodge, as was tradition. He still grasped Sharon's hand within his own.
Only then did he really look at the two ponies tied beside Red Sky's lodge. Earlier he had given them little attention, but now his gaze took in their obvious worth.
They were both black-and-white-spotted horses, and they looked to be strong. Perhaps they were Red Sky's best buffalo runners, the kind of horse valued more to the Indian heart than the white man's gold.
Cutting them both from their bindings, Strikes Fast gave the reins of one of them to Sharon and kept one for himself. And then, calmly, as though they had all the time in the world, he and Sharon walked out into the calm of a warm afternoon.
