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The Indian who still knelt over Kirk nodded, and with his free hand doubled over his heart, pounded his chest over and over again with it. "Cree," the Indian snarled. "Cree!"
"Kirk," Kirk murmured, flashing his eyes from Indian to Indian, scarcely breathing. "I am called Kirk." This seemed not to matter at all to the Indians. They ignored him as the one Indian grabbed his wrist and jerked him to his feet. Kirk looked wildly from Indian to Indian as his captor handed out orders to the others.
Soon Kirk's hands were tied behind him and a rope was placed around his neck. When the Indians mounted their horses again and began riding along in a slow lope, back in the direction whence they had just come, they laughed and mocked Kirk as they watched him stumble along behind the last horse of the group. Kirk gurgled strangely when the Indian who had command of his rope gave a strong tug, causing the rope to tighten around his neck.
Again the Indians laughed.
After so many tugs and near blackouts, Kirk fell senseless to the ground. He was only vaguely aware of someone poking at his side with a moccasined toe. He was only half aware of being lifted onto the back of a horse. He drifted in and out of consciousness as the Cree rode on into the night until the sky began lightening along the horizon.
Unable to stay awake any longer, Kirk drifted off into a restless sleep. When he awakened, he found him?
?self tied to a stake in the center of a village, the object of much scrutiny as women and children edged in closer to him, touching him and ripping his clothes from him. After he was completely naked, his private parts became the object of attention.
Sticks probed at him. Hands fondled.
Fingers pinched and hurt him.
Humiliated, Kirk closed his eyes and allowed his thoughts to wander elsewhere, to a more pleasant time, when he and Jolena were children and played hide and seek in the garden at the back of their Saint Louis mansion. He had known then that she was much different than he, but never had he allowed her to become acquainted with other Indians, for most were looked upon as savage.
Today, he was discovering just how savage some of the Indians could be.
She would never belong to this way of life, he thought.
Never!
Should she be alive, and he able to speak his mind, he would not allow it!
He screamed throatily and begged for mercy when someone placed the sharp tip of a knife at his throat…
Chapter Twenty-Five
Jolena awakened with a start and gazed up at the smoke hole. She cringed when she discovered that it was morning and dreaded what was expected of her. It was her duty as the sister of Two Ridges to prepare him for burial!
Shuddering at the thought of not only having to look down at his corpse, but also having to touch him, Jolena knew that, of all of the Blackfoot customs that she knew she must learn, surely this would be the hardest for her to bear… or accept.
She closed her eyes and snuggled against Spotted Eagle's back, finding solace with him for just a short while longer. Through the night her dreams had been most unpleasant! In one of her dreams, as she had been preparing Two Ridges' body for burial, his eyes had suddenly opened. His hands had gripped her shoulders tightly and had made her trade places with him on his bed of thick, handsome bear pelts. In her dream, Two Ridges was preparing her for burial! Her throat had been as though frozen, and she was unable to cry out as Two Ridges stripped her of her clothing and had then began spreading black paint all over her body. The touch of the paint had burned her, as though it were acid.
She had awakened in a cold sweat, fearing any dream that was not pleasant. Too often her dreams had been an omen of something that had truly happened. She had dreamed of Spotted Eagle's death by a deadly arrow, and it would have come to pass had not Two Ridges been suddenly there in the path of the arrow!
She tremored at the thought of what this most recent dream might mean…
"Jolena?"
A tiny woman's voice speaking her name outside the lodge caused Jolena's thoughts to return to the present, and to remember that her time had come to join others on this day of Two Ridges' burial. Late last night, before she had fallen into her restless sleep, Spotted Eagle had told her that she would not be totally alone in preparing Two Ridges' for his burial. Moon Flower would assist her.
Spotted Eagle had also told Jolena that Moon Flower had professed her love for Two Ridges more than once to their village. It was presumed by everyone that they would soon be married. Even Spotted Eagle had for a while believed that it might come to pass, until he had witnessed his friend taking woman after woman to his blankets.
"Spotted Eagle," Jolena whispered, slightly shaking him. "Please wake up. It's time for me to go with Moon Flower."
Spotted Eagle yawned and stretched his arms above his head, then turned and faced Jolena. He placed his hands to her shoulders and brought her lips to his and kissed her. But when he found no willing response, he eased his hands from her and looked into her eyes.
"Spotted Eagle, how can I be expected to behave as though I think that Moon Flower is helping me prepare Two Ridges for burial because she was his woman when both you and I know different?" Jolena whispered. She cast the closed entrance flap another brief glance when Moon Flower persisted calling Jolena's name outside the dwelling. "Surely Moon Flower heard the rumors of Two Ridges' professed prowess."
"Moon Flower hears what she wants to hear and believes what she wants to believe," Spotted Eagle said softly. "Today she believes she belongs next to you while preparing Two Ridges' body for burial. Allow it. It will make the chore easier for you, will it not?"
"I will feel I am taking part in Two Ridges' betrayal of Moon Flower if I do this," Jolena said.
When Moon Flower said her name again, this time sounding desperate, Jolena knew that she had no choice but to go ahead and do as Spotted Eagle suggested. She gave him a lingering, loving stare, then left their bed of blankets and furs and dressed.
