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“No, but you haven’t said you would help him, either,” Flame said, sighing. “Which is it, Chief? Are you going to help me get him free? Or not?”
“Are you rested enough now so that you can ride with me to my village to get my warriors?” Chief Gray Feather said, placing a gentle hand on Flame’s shoulder. “Are you strong and brave enough to join the fight to set White Fire free?”
“I am both of those things,” Flame said, boldly lifting her chin. Then her eyes wavered again. “But I don’t think your warriors will want me riding with them. While at your village, I was made to feel very unwelcome. I was told that I was, in part, responsible for your daughter’s death. I was told never to enter your village again.”
“Whoever told you that spoke out of turn,” Gray Feather said, rising to his feet. He held out a hand for Flame. “Mah-bee-szhon, come.”
“But, Chief Gray Feather, I was told not to enter your village again,” Flame said, holding the child as she moved slowly to her feet.
“I, alone, am my people’s voice,” Gray Feather said, folding his arms across his bare chest. “Only I say who can and cannot come and go from my village. I tell you now, white woman with flame of hair, you are always welcome at my village, for you are White Fire’s choice, and he is like a son to me. When you become his wife, you will become a daughter to this old chief.”
“Yet you give up your granddaughter so easily?” Flame asked, stroking her fingers through the child’s long, black hair.
“She is not being given up,” Gray Feather said, placing a gentle hand to the child’s cheek. “Will she not be still my granddaughter when she lives with you and White Fire?”
“Yes, she will always be your granddaughter,” Flame said, cuddling Dancing Star closer. “And I will love her as though she were my very own child.”
Then Flame’s eyes widened. “What are we to do with her while we go to the village for your warriors?” she blurted out.
Gray Feather took Dancing Star from Flame. He held her and spoke into her face. “Granddaughter, you must stay here in this cabin while your grandfather and Flame leave for a while,” he said thickly. “You can reach the bolt lock at the door. After we leave, lock it. Let no one but us or White Fire back inside the cabin. Do you understand?”
Eyes wide and devoid of fear, Dancing Star nodded.
“After you lock the door, sit in this chair close to the fire and we will return as soon as we can,” Gray Feather said, placing Dancing Star in an oak rocking chair. He glanced over at a large bowl of fruit on the kitchen table. “Leave the chair only long enough to lock the door and to get fruit when your belly tells you that you are hungry. There is a pitcher of water on the table. That will quench your thirst.”
Seeing the fruit made Flame remember her own hunger. She hurried to the table and picked up two apples. She thrust one in each of her skirt pockets. Then she went and kneeled on one knee before Dancing Star. “We will be bringing White Fire home to you soon,” she murmured. “He will be so glad to see you here, waiting for him.”
Dancing Star smiled, then clutched the wooden horse in her hand. “My friend and I will wait,” she said softly.
Flame leaned closer and gave Dancing Star a deep hug. Then she rose quickly, turned, and ran to the door with Gray Feather.
Seeing how soon darkness would be falling over the cabin like a shroud, Flame took the time to light one kerosene lamp. Then she ran outside and mounted her horse and waited for Gray Feather.
“Dancing Star, come now to the door,” Gray Feather said, beckoning with a hand toward the child. “Lift the bolt. Slide it in place after I close the door. You will be safe until we return.”
Dancing Star placed Michael’s wooden horse on the chair, then slid from it, and went a
nd stood looking trustingly up at her grandfather. When she was left alone and the door was closed, she slid the bolt lock in place.
She ran to the window and stood on tiptoe. The sky darkening, Dancing Star squinted her eyes as she watched Flame and Gray Feather ride into the dark shadows of the forest.
After they were fully out of sight, Dancing Star went and stood on tiptoe and grabbed a banana from the bowl of fruit. Then she ran back to the rocker and climbed on it.
After the small wooden horse was on her lap, and the banana was peeled, Dancing Star began slowly rocking back and forth as she nibbled at the banana and stared into the hypnotic flames of the fire.
Slowly her eyelids became heavier and heavier.
Soon she was fast asleep again, the banana peel on the floor beside the rocker, Michael’s horse snuggled against her.
Chapter 34
Cry! Speak once more—thou lovest!
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning
White Fire dozed off and on again, his head bobbing as he would awaken for a short while. Then he would drift off asleep again. When he was awake, he found it hard to concentrate. Without having eaten for so long, and still not having been given even water, he felt dehydrated and weak, so weak that he could no longer successfully fight to stay awake.
Voices now awakened him. Slowly he opened his eyes.
