Page 84 of The Last Warrior

“She is the wife of my friend, my kola, Two Bears.”

“Two Bears? But I thought you were Two Bears. Are you not also known by this name?”

“So I am, when I am with the Wild West Show. But I am known there as Two Bears only because I took his place with the show. It was Two Bears who was under contract there, not I.”

“Indeed?”

“My friend was too ill to make the journey with the show over the water. He asked me to go in his place and pretend to be he. It is the only reason I have been allowed to remain with the show. People think I am Two Bears and that I am married. Those who are from my tribe, the Hunkpapa Lakota, and who know the truth, keep their silence.”

“Indeed,” she repeated, though she was certain her look at him was one of caution. “Then what you are saying is that Rabbit Leggings is married to Two Bears, but this person is not you?”

“Hau. Hau.”

“And you expect me to believe this?”

“I do.”

She exhaled slowly and cleared her brow. “I do not understand what magic it is you hold over me, but I am inclined to believe you. Come, sit here beside me. I have had a bad dream, and I think I should tell you it, since you were a part of it.”

He did as she asked, and, having seated himself beside her, he offered her more pemmican. “I will listen to this dream, for dreams can be wakan, holy.”

“Truly?”

He nodded. “It is rare, however, for a woman to have a dream which is wakan, though it does happen occasionally.”

“Then it is only for the men of your tribe to experience this?”

“Hau, hau. This is so, but perhaps it is only so because a woman rarely seeks to dream, whereas a man must.”

“He must?”

“Hau. Since men go to war and their lives are often at stake, a man will seek to have an advantage over his enemies. He will sacrifice and attend to ritual in order to experience a sacred dream, for these tell him how to have power over his enemies. Most often an animal or some other form of life will take pity on the one who has sacrificed so much and will offer the power of his species to the man.”

“Then a god, himself, rarely speaks to one who is having a dream?”

“Again, it is rare, but it does happen. Have you had a spirit dream?”

“I…I cannot tell, though I seriously question it. Without doubt I have had many a bad dream in my time, and I am certain this is all there is to it. Still, it involved you, and I was afraid, and⁠—”

“Eat first,” he interrupted her. “If it is a spirit dream you have had, let us honor it in the right way and speak of it in a council. To do otherwise could cause the dream to lose its power, or to recoil upon you.”

“But it is not for myself that I worry.”

“I understand, but let us say no more about it until we have eaten.”

She swallowed the pemmican he offered. “Where have you been?”

“I have been backtracking to see if we are being followed.”

“And are we?”

“We are.”

“Pray, this is bad news. I would have thought they would have given up after a few days.”

“Perhaps most men might. But I think it is the Long-haired Show Man himself who follows us, and he is a scout of some merit. Perhaps he, too, favored your grandmother.”

“I would like to think so, but it is a well-known fact that Mr. Cody has a fancy for opera singers as a rule. Perhaps he objects to losing two at the same time.”