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Blushing, Kaylene cast her eyes downward.
He placed a gentle finger to her chin and lifted her face up to meet the passion in his. “My woman, is that not true?” he asked huskily.
She smiled shyly and nodded. Then he swung away from her.
She followed him into the living room, where Midnight was still stretched out asleep beside the fire.
“Tell me, Fire Thunder, more about this Solomon’s seal,” she said as she watched him lift a rifle from his store of weapons at the far side of the room.
He slipped a gun belt around his waist, a pistol heavy in one of the holsters. “Only clan leaders, the chief, can harvest Solomon’s seal, the magical plant of my people,” he said. He swung around and went and stood over her. “Although you do not see it, I carry some even now in a pouch in my breeches’ pocket. All warriors carry a bit of the magical plant. It is a guarantee against most dangers, including witches.”
He nodded toward the door. “See that small pouch scarcely visible above the door?” he said. “In it is some Solomon’s seal. It prevents witches from entering.”
“How intriguing,” Kaylene said, eyes wide.
“Come,” he said, reaching a hand out for her. “I will tell you more about it while we are searching for some in the forest at the far side of the mountain. Little Sparrow will be staying with Gentle Doe and her family while we are gone.”
“I do believe that I am able to ride a horse today,” she murmured. “I am scarcely aware anymore that my shoulder was injured.”
She went to him and took his hand, then stopped and stared down at Midnight. “I’d best place my panther on a leash and secure him to a leg of the bed,” she said, drawing her hand out of Fire Thunder’s. “If he should awaken and find me gone, he might decide to come after me.”
“Wake him and take him with us,” Fire Thunder said, glancing over at Midnight.
“It’s enough that you have me to burden your search for the magical plant,” Kaylene said, laughing softly. “You don’t also need my panther, who might tire from the search, or decide to go romping after a rabbit, or whatever else it might decide to do.”
“Yes, I imagine you are right,” Fire Thunder said. He stood beside the door as Kaylene gently awakened Midnight, then led him into the bedroom.
Smiling, radiantly happy to be leaving for a special outing with Fire Thunder, Kaylene came back to him and took his hand. “Finally I am ready,” she said, smiling up at him.
Fire Thunder opened the door, just to find Little Sparrow running toward him, crying, her one hand covering one of her ears.
Fire Thunder lay his rifle aside and reached his arms out for his sister. “Little Sister, what it is?” he asked, as Little Sparrow flung herself into his arms.
Little Sparrow told her brother in quick sign language that a spider had crawled into her ear while she had been playing. Her body became racked with harsh sobs. She clutched at her ear again.
“Lord, no,” Kaylene gasped, kneeling beside Fire Thunder to place a comforting hand on Little Sparrow’s arm. “How did it happen, sweetie? How could a spider get in your ear?”
Little Sparrow gave Kaylene a tearful glance, then gazed up at Fire Thunder again and told him more details. She had been playing in the trees and she walked into a web. A spider in the web crawled into her ear before she was able to stop it.
She looked wild-eyed at Fire Thunder, her finger movements telling him that she knew the Kickapoo belief about never killing spiders. She had been taught that when Wisaka finished making the Indian world, he asked a spider to spin a strong web, with which he tied the world to the north so that it would not fall. Because of this, spiders were sacred. That was why she did not attempt to kill it before it crawled into her ear.
She tugged and scratched at her ear, begging with sign language for Fire Thunder to remove the spider. She was afraid that it was going to bite her.
Horrified by Little Sparrow’s predicament, Kaylene recalled a way the spider might be removed. “Fire Thunder, one time during my performance at the carnival, a lady bug crawled into a small child’s ear,” she said. “I watc
hed Mother remove it. I know what she did. I can do the same now for Little Sparrow.”
“Do what you can,” Fire Thunder said. He lifted Little Sparrow into his arms and carried her into the cabin.
Kaylene picked up his rifle and took it inside.
Then she hurried to the stove and heated some water in a teakettle. After it had just reached the tepid stage, she took the water and a small wooden basin to Fire Thunder.
Kaylene knelt down beside the bed where Little Sparrow lay. She told the child that what she was going to do wouldn’t hurt and when she was finished, Little Sparrow would be rid of the spider, and would, hopefully, be unharmed by it.
She glanced up at Fire Thunder. “Please hold the basin beneath Little Sparrow’s ear,” she said softly. “As I pour the water slowly in her ear, the spider should be washed out into the basin.”
He nodded and held the basin out beside the bed as Kaylene turned the child so that she would be lying on her side, over the basin.
