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Perhaps Two Ridges'.
Spotted Eagle frowned when he thought of how Two Ridges loved women all women. It would be hard for his virile friend to choose among those many to whom he had shown special attention.
"He is yet young," Spotted Eagle whispered to himself. "And best that he has not yet made a choice. I made mine, and I have now lost her!"
Then he frowned, wondering how he could ever again have a pleasant thought about Two Ridges, who had deserted Spotted Eagle! It would be hard for Spotted Eagle ever to understand why!
His head bent, his shoulders slouched, Spotted Eagle rode onward, now unthinking, for to think was to hurt. No matter how hard he tried, he could not stop thinking about Jolena for long.
Everything led back to her.
The rustling of dried and rotted leaves beneath the umbrella of trees at Spotted Eagle's right drew his head up with alarm. His hand went automatically to the rifleboot at the side of his horse. His fingers did not even have a chance to make contact with the rifle before he saw his archenemy, the Cree warrior Long Nose, notching an arrow onto his bow and taking a steady aim at Spotted Eagle.
Another sound alerted Spotted Eagle to yet another presence in the forest. Gasping, Spotted Eagle watched Two Ridges ride toward him, in his hand an upraised knife. Two Ridges glared at Spotted Eagle, his jaw clenched tight with hatred. It dawned on Spotted Eagle that his best friend was attacking him!
Stunned by Two Ridges' behavior, he forgot all about Long Nose. Two Ridges was closer. His knife would find Spotted Eagle's heart before the Cree's arrow did.
Spotted Eagle glanced from the Cree to Two Ridges as Two Ridges came closer. Then Spotted Eagle gasped and cried out when unknowingly Two Ridges blocked Long Nose's way, spoiling the renegade Cree's shot.
Just as Two Ridges rode up next to Spotted Eagle, his arm poised for the death blow, Spotted Eagle heard the sharp twang of a bow as Long Nose let loose his arrow. Spotted Eagle's body lurched, responding as though the arrow were piercing his own body as he watched it enter Two Ridges' back.
The knife fell from Two Ridges' hand as Two Ridges swayed, then toppled off his horse onto the ground, scarcely breathing.
Stunned, Spotted Eagle stared down at Two Ridges, unable to move. His thoughts centered only on his former friend, who lay dying, and on Two Ridges' obvious intention to kill him. Spotted Eagle forgot to worry about the Cree who had shot one Blackfoot while planning to kill the other!
Two Ridges' life's blood poured from his wound, staining the leaves on which he lay a scarlet red.
A lone gun blast filled the air, drawing Spotted Eagle out of his stunned reverie to remember the Cree and the Cree's reason for being thereto kill Spotted Eagle, his enemy!
Spotted Eagle watched Long Nose crumple to the ground, wildly clutching at a bloody wound on his bare chest, then gaped openly at several Blackfoot warriors from his village as they came riding up, one of their rifles smoking from the shot that had killed the renegade Cree.
"Spotted Eagle!" Double Runner said, quickly dismounting, while the others went to Two Ridges' aid, kneeling down around him. "We have been searching for you. We feared you were dead."
Double Runner glanced down at Two Ridges, then up at Spotted Eagle again. "The Cree shot arrow off at Two Ridges before we could stop him," he said. "We did not arrive soon enough."
Knowing that his warriors had not arrived soon enough to see that Two Ridges had planned to kill him, Spotted Eagle found it hard to respond to Double Runner.
Instead, his head swimming with so many questions, especially about Two Ridges, and seeing that Two Ridges would not last much longer, Spotted Eagle quickly dis?
?mounted and fell to his knees beside Two Ridges. He looked at his warriors, one by one. "Leave me to speak alone with Two Ridges," he said thickly.
The warriors nodded and went back to their horses, walking them away from Spotted Eagle and Two Ridges.
Spotted Eagle's first thoughts were to make Two Ridges more comfortable. He studied the arrow, then steadied his hands and placed them to it and snapped it in two. It was lance-shaped instead of barbed, so he managed to draw it out completely instead of having to leave a portion of it imbedded in Two Ridges' back.
When Two Ridges emitted a guttural groan of pain, Spotted Eagle frowned down at him, still wondering what could have caused his friend to become his enemy!
"Your knife did not have a mind of its own," Spotted Eagle said, tossing the broken arrow aside. He lifted Two Ridges' head from the ground so that their eyes could meet and hold. "You were in full command. Why did you choose to use it on your best friend?"
"Before I die, forgive me," Two Ridges said, reaching to clutch desperately onto Spotted Eagle's arm. His voice was so weak that only Spotted Eagle was able to hear him. "Because of a woman I did this! Only because of a woman would I go against my best friend! Never have I found a woman who was special enough to risk a friendship over. Not until… Jolena." "Jolena?" Spotted Eagle gasped. "You did this because of Jolena? You… fell in love with my woman?"
"As you did, I could not help but fall under her spell," Two Ridges said, choking as blood began seeping from the corners of his mouth. "I was cursed, it seems, the moment I chose to win her love, no matter what I had to do, even if it meant losing a friend."
"You loved her enough to want to see Spotted Eagle dead?" Spotted Eagle said, his heart aching to know these truths, yet now regretting having kept a certain truth from Two Ridges! If Spotted Eagle had not selfishly kept the secret of Jolena's parentage from Two Ridges, her very own brother, then none of this would have happened!
But never would Spotted Eagle have guessed that Two Ridges was capable of such a fiendish act as this, no matter what truths that had been kept from him. Spotted Eagle had always thought that Two Ridges was a man of strict honor, capable only of undoubted truthfulness and unbounded generosity. The love for a woman had changed him overnight, it seemed!
"Forgive… me…" Two Ridges begged, his eyes slowly closing.
