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“It is late,” the sentry growled out.
“I know it is, but I must speak with Chief Thunder Horse tonight,” Reginald said, losing his patience.
“That is impossible,” the sentry said flatly. “My chief and many others of our warriors are gone. They are on the hunt. So turn around. Go back to your home.”
“I’ll talk with anyone who’ll listen, then,” Reginald begged. “I must. Please allow me to enter your village and have council with whomever is left in charge during your chief’s absence.”
“I am that man,” the sentry said, his eyes gleaming. “And it is my decision to turn you away. Go. You are not welcome here now; nor will you ever be by any of our people.”
“Please listen,” Reginald pleaded. “I beg your forgiveness for going to your sacred cave and taking what I shouldn’t have. I’ll return it all if it means that these nightmares will stop.”
“It is not meant for them to stop, ever,” the sentry said bluntly. He pointed away from the village. “I will tell you one last time: go. Do not ever come again to disturb my people.”
“You are wrong,” Reginald said, near tears. “If your chief learns that you turned me away after I promised so much, you will be severely punished.”
The sentry just laughed and turned away.
Reginald stared blankly at him, then wheeled his horse and buggy around and headed back in the direction of his home, a beaten man.
He felt so helpless. He hated to think he had been bested by a mere savage.
“What can I do?” he cried into the dark heavens.
Never in his life had he felt so helpless . . . so afraid.
And where was Jessie?
He truly believed that she could have helped him fight this terrible fear. If only he had been more decent to her when she had wanted to live with him.
Now he had not lost only his Sara, but also Jessie.
Life was becoming pointless, even though he had enough money to make him comfortable forever. But what had that wealth gained him but nightmares?
All of the wealth in the world wasn’t worth what he was living through every night.
“Damn you to hell, Thunder Horse, for cursing me with these nightmares!” he screamed, causing birds that had been roosting for the night overhead to scatter and flutter above him.
And then he heard something else that made his insides turn cold with fear. It was a strange moaning that came with sudden gusts of wind.
Was it the moans of those dead chiefs he had disturbed in the sacred cave?
He flicked his reins and urged the horse faster, glad when he saw lamplight up ahead. It was his house, where he would be safe, providing he didn’t allow himself to go to sleep.
Only then did he realize the full horror of what he had done when he had taken that damnable silver from that damnable cave! He would never really be safe anywhere.
He leaped with alarm when at his left side he saw the flash of something white. To his astonishment, he realized that it was a white wolf running alongside the gravel road that led to his house.
He gasped and drew rein when the wolf veered right and ran directly in front of the horse, causing it to stop and rear and snort and shake its head in obvious fear.
And then the wolf went on its way, a part of the night and its mysteries.
After getting his horse settled down, as well as his heart, Reginald drove the buggy to his house, his shoulders slumped, his head hanging.
“Where is it all to end?” he whispered, then began wheezing uncontrollably. He choked and gagged, then gasped in a breath of air.
When he saw Jade on the porch, seemingly watching for his return, he got a sudden soft feeling for the woman. She was the only one who had stuck with him through thick and thin.
After he left the horse and buggy in the stable, he went up the steps to the porch, gave Jade a nod of greeting.
