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“But tomorrow is Good Bear’s burial,” Fire Thunder said softly.
“Good Bear’s burial will come first; this woman’s healing ritual will come second,” Bull Shield said.
He stepped to the back of his lodge to gather several tiny buckskin bags. Then he returned and peered into Fire Thunder’s eyes. “The curing ceremony is the only way she will ever be totally healed,” he said warningly.
Fire Thunder stood out of the way as Bull Shield placed his ointments and powders on Kaylene’s wound. Then the shaman knelt over her and shook his rattles, made from gourds, as he chanted.
Fire Thunder was glad to have been able to give Bull Shield something in his life that made it worthwhile. He had appointed Bull Shield the village shaman, not out of pity, but out of admiration for a man who had been born partially blind.
Bull Shield had lived alone since his parents’ deaths. No women had looked on him with favor, for no woman would marry a man who was unable to hunt.
Bull Shield had told Fire Thunder that being the village shaman had brought him much more recognition and admiration and worth than any woman ever could. He was happy. Bull Shield was at peace with himself, and Fire Thunder was proud to know the old man.
Kaylene stirred. She heard the drone of a voice and the shaking of a rattle close by. It lured her slowly awake, feeling blessed that the pain in her shoulder was all but gone again.
When she was finally fully awake, she saw an elderly man leaning over her. His eyes were sunken, his hair gray and long over his shoulders as he chanted and shook his rattle. She gasped with alarm.
Then a gentle hand took one of her hands. The familiar voice of the man she could not help but love spoke to her. Quickly, Kaylene turned toward Fire Thunder. Alarm in her eyes, she started to speak.
But the words would not come to her when she saw how lovingly Fire Thunder was gazing at her. His fingers twined through hers in a way a man would hold a woman’s hand only if he loved her.
Fire Thunder leaned closer to Kaylene. “Do not be afraid,” he whispered, not wanting to disturb Bull Shield’s trancelike chant. “This man, whose name is Bull Shield, is our village shaman. He is what a white man’s doctor is to the white man. Only his skills surpass any white man’s doctor I have ever become acquainted with. When I saw that your wound had worsened, I brought you to Bull Shield. You drifted off to sleep before we arrived.”
Kaylene gazed from Fire Thunder back to Bull Shield, then looked down at her shoulder. Then she turned to Fire Thunder again. “I do feel better,” she whispered back. “The pain is all but gone in my arm. The bleeding has stopped.”
Bull Shield stopped chanting and lay his rattle aside.
He placed a gentle hand on Kaylene’s brow, drawing her attention to him. “Your shoulder will soon be well and your strength will return, but first you must participate in the Buffalo Dance ceremony tomorrow,” he said, his voice low and deep.
“Buffalo Dance ceremony?” Kaylene gasped, paling. She gave Fire Thunder a pleading, questioning look.
“It is a curing ceremony,” Fire Thunder said.
“No,” Kaylene said, trying to get up. Her weakness caused her to drop back to the pallet of furs. She looked wild-eyed up at Fire Thunder. “I don’t want to be a part of any curing ceremony. Please don’t force me to.”
“It will be something that will intrigue, not frighten you once you see what it is all about,” Fire Thunder said, gently lifting her into his arms. He rose to his full height. “Now I will take you to my lodge. You will get your rest. Soon all of this will be behind you. Then you can start life with renewed vigor.”
Kaylene clung around his neck with one arm, and questioned him with her eyes again. Then she lay her cheek against his chest. She gave the shaman a sideways glance as he placed a hand on her injured shoulder, just above the bandage.
“Tomorrow we will meet again,” he said, gently patting her.
She knew that she should thank the elderly man, but instead, she snuggled closer to Fire Thunder and clung harder to him. She feared tomorrow and what sort of hocus-pocus would be used on her.
Even though whatever the shaman had done today had made her feel much better, she did not want to be made a spectacle of, with ceremonies that included more chanting and more shaking of rattles over her.
Then another thought came to her: Fire Thunder’s people! Would they accept a ceremony that would be held in her honor?
I
t was apparent that they saw her as an enemy. She would never forget the way they looked at her so loathingly when she had been in the cage.
Fire Thunder carried Kaylene from the lodge and through the village until he reached his own. When he took that first step inside he stopped, startled at what he saw.
Panic filled him when he saw Little Sparrow sitting with Kaylene’s black panther beside the fire. Little Sparrow was hugging it, and the cat was allowing it.
If Fire Thunder was not imagining things, he thought he might even be hearing the panther purring as Little Sparrow stroked her tiny fingers through his sleek black fur.
Sensing something was wrong by the way Fire Thunder had stiffened, Kaylene drew away from his chest and gazed around her.
