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Brave Wolf looked from side to side at the expressions on the faces of his men. He saw hate and resentment in their eyes.
And he understood why they carried these emotions in their hearts. Even though Night Horse was his brother, Brave Wolf now felt nothing but loathing for him.
He gazed straight ahead past stunted pines and oaks. He wondered, even if Night Horse was found, could he truly go to him as a brother with news of their mother?
Or would he be more apt to kill Night Horse for betraying their people?
Each mile they traveled, bringing him closer and closer to Night Horse, the dread of actually finding him grew within Brave Wolf’s heart.
For he did expect to find his brother up high in the mountains, where a cave was hidden behind a waterfall, a place they had found while exploring one day, oh, so long ago.
They had claimed it as their own private place, a place they called their own. They had vowed to one another never to tell anyone else about it.
But now things were different.
Brave Wolf felt no allegiance now to a brother who had gone against everything Brave Wolf had always stood for.
He had thought that Night Horse held the same convictions . . . the same honor.
But he had been proven wrong.
Now it was time for Brave Wolf to decide how his brother would pay for his crimes against his people.
“Brave Wolf, how much farther must we go before we give up and return to our people?” Two Tails asked as he brought his horse close. “You do intend to travel only a while longer, do you not? You do not truly plan to find him, do you?”
Brave Wolf gave his warrior a slow gaze. “Do you truly believe that I am planning to go back on my word to my mother?” he said thickly. “Do you believe that I am playing a game by pretending to search, when all along I do not really intend to find Night Horse?”
“No, I have never known you to play games, especially with a mother’s emotions, yet this quest is wrong, my chief, oh, so wrong,” Two Tails said dryly. “I had hoped you would have reconsidered by now. You do know that none of us want to see that traitor’s face again, do you not?”
“Nor do I,” Brave Wolf said. “But I do plan to find him and take him back to our village.”
“And then what?” Two Tails asked, his gaze intent as he stared into his chief’s midnight-dark eyes.
“And then fate will have its way,” Brave Wolf said. “That is all I can say now. Let us continue onward. I have a good idea where he is. We shall see if he is there; if he is not, we shall return home. Mother will believe me when I tell her that I went where I thought Night Horse would be.”
“We will go only there, nowhere else?” Two Tails asked softly.
“Nowhere else but home,” Brave Wolf said. He reached out a hand to his warrior’s shoulder. “My friend, I understand your feelings. They match my own.”
“Where does the trail take us?” Two Tails asked as Brave Wolf lowered his hand away from him. “How much farther?”
“It is not far,” Brave Wolf said, swallowing hard. “It is not far.”
He gazed ahead, where out there in the darkness his brother was hiding from life itself.
Each mile that took Brave Wolf closer to that beautiful place where he and his brother had played as children, his heart ached more.
The ache was for the camaraderie that would never be again with a brother he had adored.
The ache was for a mother whose shame for her son had to be tearing at her very being!
The latter made Brave Wolf feel a contempt for Night Horse that was like a sour bitterness in his mouth.
Chapter Five
The life of a man is a circle,
From childhood to childhood
