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“Eagle Wolf?” Nicole asked. She saw a strange look on his face as he entered. It was the sort of look he got when he was concerned about something.
She glanced quickly over at Dancing Snow Feather. The other woman leaped quickly to her feet and came to stand beside Nicole, her eyes searching Eagle Wolf’s.
“No, do not tell me that you have brought bad news about my husband…your brother…” Dancing Snow Feather said, her hands suddenly on her belly, as though to protect her child from whatever she might hear.
“No, it is not about my brother, but someone else,” Eagle Wolf said. He reached a hand out for Dancing Snow Feather and gently laid it on her shoulder. “I am sorry if I worried you. My brother is right outside my lodge on his horse. He is waiting there with the other warriors, for we will be leaving again.”
“You will?” Nicole asked. “Why are you leaving again after just returning home?” Nicole was more puzzled by the minute at her husband’s strange behavior. “Did you not get enough rabbits? If not, why did you return home? And why is that strange look in your eyes?”
“We found a man,” Eagle Wolf said thickly. “He has been dead for some time, yet his face is still recognizable. Nicole, I would like for you to come with me and identify him.”
“What?” Nicole gasped, feeling her face drain of color. “Why would you want me…?”
“I believe it is the man whose name is Sam Partain, the one responsible for killing everyone in Tyler City,” Eagle Wolf said.
“Why would you think that?” Nicole asked, searching his eyes.
“You have spoken of this man several times. You have described him to me in case he might come on our mountain,” Eagle Wolf said tightly. “This man has the golden color of hair that you described and it is long.”
Nicole shuddered at the thought of Sam Partain lying in the snow, frozen and dead.
“He is alone,” Eagle Wolf said. “He seems to have been attacked by some animal, perhaps a wolf.”
“A wolf?” Nicole repeated, recalling the wolf that she had seen so many times now. “Do you think it was…our…wolf?” she blurted out. “It always seems so gentle.”
“Both you and I have thought that it seemed to be looking for something,” Eagle Wolf said thickly. “Or someone. Ho, I believe this is the work of that wolf. I believe it finally found vengeance against the one who left it for dead.”
“I wonder where she is now,” Nicole murmured. She and Eagle Wolf had recently realized that the wolf was a female. They had noticed that its teats seemed larger, of late. It might indicate that she had pups hidden somewhere, and in the snow, that was not good.
“She is smart and she will be all right,” Eagle Wolf said softly. “So will her pups if she has given birth to some.”
He reached for her hands. “It is not as cold out now as earlier,” he said, searching her eyes. “Are you up to going with me to see the face of this man? If he is Sam Partain, you will never have to worry about him again.”
“But he was alone?” Nicole murmured. “Are you certain of that?”
“There is only one body out there. If others were with him, I believe seeing him attacked by a wolf gave them cause to retreat as quickly as they could from the mountain. They will not return again,” Eagle Wolf said.
Nicole removed her apron. She went to where her warmest coat lay with the blankets that were rolled up along the back of the tepee. She snuggled into the coat, which had been sewn with fur on the inside to keep her warmer.
Then she went and gave Dancing Snow Feather a soft hug. “Can you finish the bread by yourself now that I must leave?” she asked softly.
“Go,” Dancing Snow Feather murmured. “Go and see the face. If it is the man Eagle Wolf thinks it is, you will be able to rest better at night from now on.”
She drew Nicole closer and whispered into her ear, “Perhaps now you can concentrate on a baby?”
Nicole returned the hug, then stepped away from Dancing Snow Feather with a smile and a nod. Outside, the sun had just come out from behind the clouds, the snowstorm having moved on down the mountain.
“Let’s go,” she said, just as a young brave brought her mare to her.
She rode off among the warriors, with Eagle Wolf close beside her.
When they reached the spot where several warriors guarded the dead man, Nicole did not hesitate to dismount and go to take a look at his face.
“Yes, it is Sam Partain,” she said, feeling a new sense of peace soar through her. She knew that now she would now be able to focus on what was important to her, for the man she hated and dreaded with every fiber of her being was dead and could hurt no one else again.
“And now who loses at this last game of chance, a gamble that you undertook so recklessly?” Nicole said, kicking snow onto his frozen face.
From somewhere in the distance, Nicole heard the sound of yip-yipping, which she now knew was the way wolves communicated with one another. She smiled, for she knew that this time, the wolves were singing a happy song, a song of victory.
