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“Father, who was with our chief?” she asked, busying herself preparing breakfast.
“She is his captive,” Black Hair said, yanking his buckskin shirt off.
“A . . . captive . . . ?” Running Fawn gasped. “Why, Father? Why did he bring a captive to our village?”
Black Hair took the time, before his morning bath, to explain everything to her.
Afterward, a gleam rose in Running Fawn’s dark eyes at the thought of her chief being interested in the white woman for more than her being a captive. Running Fawn saw an opportunity that might work to her advantage.
“Father, can I offer my services at Fire Thunder’s lodge?” she asked, thinking that if she could get close to this white woman, she might be able to get closer to Fire Thunder and win his favor, so that Fire Thunder would speak favorably of her to her father.
In the end, her father might grow to trust her more so she could be more free with her adventures.
If her chief spoke favorably of her, yes, surely her father would not punish her, which might alienate himself from Fire Thunder.
“What favors do you speak of?” Black Hair asked, giving his daughter an inquisitive, untrusting stare.
“I noticed that the white woman wears only night clothes and she has no shoes,” Running Fawn said as she placed a skillet over the flames. “I could offer her one of my dresses and a pair of my moccasins. I could offer her my friendship. Would not all those things please our chief?”
“And why would you be so kind to a stranger?” Black Hair asked, removing the headband from around his brow.
“For our chief, that is all,” Running Fawn said, shrugging idly.
“Perhaps it would be good for you to have something besides household duties for a father to busy your hands with,” Black Hair said, nodding. “Yes. Offer your services to our chief. I am sure he will welcome it.”
“Thank you, Father,” Running Fawn said, smiling mischievously as he left the lodge.
Kaylene was stunned that Fire Thunder would take her into his lodge and leave her there so quickly, to go with the search party to look for Good Bear.
He had left Little Sparrow there to look after her, but only because he knew that Kaylene was in no shape to travel.
He knew that she could not even attempt to escape, much less get far if she did. She was weak from the loss of blood. Too weak to even get up from the pallet of blankets by the great stone fireplace that he had set her upon before he left.
As she lay there, Kaylene looked around her to familiarize herself with the house before Fire Thunder returned. The roaring fire in the hearth seemed to be the center of the cabin, but she could see that there were doors to two other rooms as well. In this center room, the floor was of hard-packed earth, and the single window was covered with animal skin for privacy.
There were a number of comforts in the kitchen area—a cast iron stove with a reservoir where water could be heated, painted chairs around a table, and low benches with colorfully dyed cattail mats, where guests could sit and relax. She saw several wire baskets containing eggs, vegetables and herbs for cooking, and there was plenty of wood stacked near the fire.
Kaylen
e stiffened and looked toward the door when the young woman, whom she had seen earlier in the shadows of the other lodges, came into the cabin. She carried a basin of water and clothes slung over one of her arms, with moccasins held between her fingers of her right hand.
Running Fawn knelt down beside Kaylene. “I have come to bathe you and to give you clothes and moccasins to wear,” she said.
This close, Running Fawn saw just how beautiful the white woman was. Her eyes were as green as grass. Her hair matched the color of Running Fawn’s, as though she might herself be part Indian.
“Go away,” Kaylene said, trying to scoot back from Running Fawn. “I don’t want a bath. I don’t want your clothes. I don’t want to be here.”
Then Kaylene reached suddenly and grabbed Running Fawn by an arm. “Help me to escape,” she blurted out. “I am not strong enough to do it alone. Please get me a horse. Help me mount it.”
Running Fawn set the moccasins and the water basin down on the floor, then gently eased Kaylene’s hand from her arm. “You are here because my chief wants you here,” she murmured. She lifted the skirt and blouse from her arm and lay them beside Kaylene. “I would never go against my chief’s wishes.”
She reached a hand to Kaylene’s hair. “So beautiful,” she said, then flinched when Kaylene slapped her hand away.
Running Fawn then stared at the bandage. “How did you become injured?” she asked, her eyes innocently wide, as though she truly did not know. Her father had explained everything to her, even how Fire Thunder’s knife had mistakenly sank into this woman’s shoulder.
“That’s none of your business,” Kaylene said, turning on her side away from Running Fawn. “Go away. I don’t want to talk to you. I don’t want anything from you if you can’t help me escape.”
“I want to be your friend,” Running Fawn said, her voice low and sympathetic. “Allow it, please? It will benefit you to have a friend in our village.”
