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Stunned, and suddenly feeling betrayed by his long-time friend Gray Feather, White Fire could not find the words to express his depth of disappointment in the chief.
And to think that Flame was surely filled with fear, and that what Gray Feather, an Indian, had done, might turn her against Indians made White Fire feel a desperation he had never felt before.
Ignoring Red Buffalo, White Fire grabbed his rifle and brushed past him in hurried steps.
Almost as quick as lightning, he had his horse saddled and was riding into the forest in the direction of Chief Gray Feather’s village.
His thoughts were scrambled as he tried to sort out what had happened, and why. Anger filled him in hot splashes that Gray Feather would think that White Fire could be forced in such a way to marry his daughter. It was hard to understand how the chief would think that they could stay friends after threatening him.
“And Flame . . .” he whispered as he yanked, then slapped the reins as he steered his horse one way and then another around the trees. He was glad when he reached the meadow that would lead him to the Chippewa village.
He rode beside a stream which watered Chief Gray Feather’s people and horses.
He sank his heels into the flanks of his horse. He ignored Red Buffalo when he caught up and rode alongside him.
“I saw that this that my chief has done tonight is wrong,” Red Buffalo said, drawing White Fire’s eyes to him. “But I have tried to understand his logic.”
“There is no logic in what he has done!” White Fire said. Yet he was glad to see that he was not alone in his upset over Chief Gray Feather’s actions.
“His daughter is the world to him,” Red Buffalo said. “You are important to him. That year you lived with our people, as one with them? That was when my chief singled you out for a future with his people. Not only as a possible husband for his daughter, but someone who could lead when his body and mind are too weak to lead. In his eyes, you became the son his wives never bore him. He is too old now to have sons by wives. He does not even have a wife. When his last wife died, he laid to rest all feelings of a man inside his mind and heart that would usually belong to a woman.”
“I truly am touched over and over again to have someone as great and powerful as Chief Gray Feather think so highly of me, but surely he can see that I cannot be coerced into marrying his daughter and into being his son!” White Fire said, his hold on the reins loosening as his anger waned. He knew Gray Feather well enough to realize that he would never harm F
lame.
It was surprising that Gray Feather had tried this tactic tonight—taking a captive—when it was well known to everyone that it was not his practice to do so. He had not even kept Sioux captives after his attack on the Sioux camp while rescuing his daughter from them.
It made White Fire know how much the chief wanted him to marry his daughter, if he would go to such lengths to convince him that he should. It was hard to understand, yet he did recall the chief’s dreams about him. There had been more than one dream that told Gray Feather to choose White Fire over others to marry his daughter and to rule at the chief’s side as though he was his son. White Fire now understood just how much faith the chief put in his dreams!
His jaw tightened. He had to prove to Chief Gray Feather once and for all that he should depend on reality more than dreams to bring a son into his life. He must look elsewhere to fulfill what was lacking in his, and his daughter’s, lives.
The reddish-yellow reflection of the outdoor communal fire in the Chippewa village showed in the heavens a short distance away. White Fire glanced up, then sank his heels into the flanks of his horse and rode onward in a hard gallop. He could only hope that Flame would understand that he would not allow anything to happen to her, and that he would be there soon to see that she was released from captivity. And he hoped that she knew him well enough to realize that he would not be blackmailed into marrying another woman—that his heart was hers, alone, forever.
“Be gentle with my uncle the chief,” Red Buffalo said as he sidled his horse closer to White Fire’s. “You can settle your differences without harsh words or warring.”
“I am certain you believe that or you would not allow me to enter the village without aiming your gun at my back,” White Fire said, his voice drawn.
“I know you well,” Red Buffalo said, a slow smile twitching on his lips. “Have we not hunted together? Have we not sat beneath the stars and wished on them? Are we not the same as brothers?”
“Yes, we are close, you and I, and that is why I was surprised to see your frown when I opened my door tonight and found you there,” White Fire said.
“It was because I felt pulled between two loyalties,” Red Buffalo said. “Yours and my uncle’s.”
Hearing that made White Fire draw his reins tightly and stop his horse. He took the time to reach a hand of friendship to Red Buffalo. “Friends always,” he said.
When Red Buffalo circled his hand around his, and their fingers tightly intertwined, White Fire smiled broadly at him.
“Friends always,” Red Buffalo said, then eased his hand to his side. “Let us go now. Soon your woman will be released. Soon you will ride from my village without malice in your heart toward my chief or my people.”
They rode on into the village, where wigwams made of birch bark sat in a wide circle, the large outdoor fire burning in the middle of the circle. Only a few Chippewa sat outside by the fire. Most were inside their lodges, as well as their dogs.
But White Fire could feel many eyes on him as flaps were lifted at the doors and people watched him dismount and walk, square shouldered, toward their chief’s much larger lodge at the far end of the circle.
Just as he reached the chief’s wigwam, White Fire stopped suddenly when Chief Gray Feather stepped outside. A possessive hand was clasped to Flame’s right arm as he forced her outside with him.
“White Fire, help me,” Flame said, her eyes on his.
Her soft plea, the fear in her eyes, ate away at White Fire’s heart, for never had she shown this vulnerable side to him, that things could alarm and frighten her.
