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When they reached the cage, and John saw it, he let out a loud bellow like a cow being attacked by wolves. Shivers raced up and down Kaylene’s flesh.
She took a quick step behind Fire Thunder when John turned horror-stricken eyes up at Fire Thunder.
She slowly peeked from around Fire Thunder, scarcely breathing when John began to beg not to be placed in the cage.
“I’ll do anything!” he cried. He grabbed Fire Thunder by the arms. His fingers turned white in his ironlike grip. “Please don’t place me in that cage. I’ll do anything! Anything!”
His eyes cold and narrowed, Fire Thunder reached up and grabbed hold of John’s wrists and yanked his fingers away from his arms. He doubled a fist and hit him in the jaw.
John fell to the ground. Rubbing his jaw and groaning, he looked sheepishly up at the Kickapoo who had come to watch his humiliation.
Little Sparrow ran to Kaylene and took her hand.
Kaylene stepped from behind Fire Thunder and gave Little Sparrow a forced, reassuring smile.
Then she once again stared at John as Fire Thunder grabbed him from the ground, to wobble on his feet. Blood poured from the corner of his mouth. His jaw was already swelling from the blow—a purplish-black hue of color spreading across his face beneath his thin stubble of beard.
“Unclothe yourself,” Fire Thunder said, towering over John as the man cowered before him.
“What?” John gasped, his eyes staring up at Fire Thunder. “You are going to force me to strip?”
John glanced over at Kaylene, his eyes wavering. Then he looked up at Fire Thunder again. “I c-can’t d-do that,” he stammered.
“Then I will do it for you,” Fire Thunder said darkly. He looked over his shoulder and searched the crowd for Black Hair.
When he didn’t find him there, he realized that his friend and the others were still on their hunting expedition. He nodded toward another warrior. ?
?Three Toes, come and hold the man while I unclothe him,” he flatly ordered.
A good-sized warrior, dressed in only a loincloth, came away from the others. Limping on a foot that was scarred and had two toes missing, he went to John and grabbed him by the arms and held him while Fire Thunder first removed John’s breeches.
John cried out and paled when Fire Thunder tossed the breeches aside and reached for the man’s underpants. “I beg you not to do this!” he screeched. “You can’t strip me naked! I won’t let you!”
John struggled with the hefty man, only to exhaust himself as Fire Thunder patiently waited for him to stand still again.
Then he nodded to Three Toes.
The warrior nodded back and quickly shed John of his shirt.
Fire Thunder smiled as he took hold of John’s cotton undershorts and ripped them from him, leaving him standing naked, all but for his shoes.
Kaylene swallowed hard. Her face flooded with color as John tried to hide his private parts behind his outstretched hands, his head hung shamefully.
She gasped and her fingers tightened around Little Swallow’s hand when Fire Thunder shoved John into the cage and locked the door behind him.
“You Goddamn savage heathen!” John cried, sitting all scrunched up in the small space. He gripped the bars with trembling fingers. “I’ll get you for this, savage. I’ll find a way to escape and then I’ll cut your throat! I’ll cut your heart out! Savage! You demon savage!”
Fire Thunder grabbed a rifle from one of his warriors. Void of expression, he raised the butt of the rifle and hit John over the head, quickly silencing him as he fell, unconscious, to the floor of the cage.
Kaylene was stunned by everything. She stared down at John and tried to find a trace of remorse for this man she had always called “Father.” But now, truly knowing the man and the worst of the deceits that he was capable of, she felt nothing but a sick loathing for him.
Kaylene stared at John for a moment longer, then turned to Fire Thunder. “What now?” she murmured. “What are you going to d-do . . . with—”
She stammered, not knowing what to call this man in the cage. She would no longer call him her father. He wasn’t. To her now, he was nothing but a name.
“What am I going to do with this evil man?” Fire Thunder said, realizing that her awkwardness came from not knowing how to address this man now that she knew he was not her father.
“Yes, what is going to happen to him now?” Kaylene asked softly.
