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“What will you tell her?” Proud Horse asked, resting a hand on his sheathed knife at his right side.
“I am not one who lies easily, but today I must use a lie to keep trouble and fear from my woman,” Blue Thunder replied. “I will tell her we are going on a hunt for buffalo that have been sighted nearby.”
He smiled ruefully. “In a sense that will not be a lie, for we will be on a hunt, but not for buffalo. Instead we will be hunting a man with a cruel, dark heart,” he said tightly. “You go. Awaken the warriors. Tell them to ready themselves. I will join you all as soon as I talk to my woman and arm myself for travel.”
“It is the same as done,” Proud Horse said, stepping away from Blue Thunder.
“Ask them to tell their wives the same thing I am telling Shirleen, so that their wives will not know anything different from what my woman will be told,” Blue Thunder instructed.
“They will be told,” Proud Horse said, nodding.
Blue Thunder watched for a moment as Proud Horse went first to one tepee and then another.
He was proud to have such dutiful warriors, for each, after being told the plan, went back inside his tepee to arm himself and to explain their mission to his wife.
Blue Thunder went back inside his tepee. He found Shirleen just rising from their bed.
He stood there for a moment just looking at her.
Before she had gone to bed, she had taken one of her cotton gowns from the clothes that had been brought to her. It had white lace sewn onto its bodice. Her long red hair was hanging across her shoulders, and there was a look of peace in her eyes as she caught him standing there, watching her. He was overwhelmed with such an intense love for her, he was momentarily rendered speechless.
Shirleen saw the reverent way he was looking at her. She saw such longing in his eyes, it melted her heart. She went to him and twined her arms around his neck as she pressed herself against him.
“I love you,” she murmured. “Thank you again, my handsome chief, for all that you have done for me.”
She sweetly kissed him as he brought his muscled arms around her, his body straining hungrily against hers as he returned the kiss.
He had never felt such a strong, urgent need for a woman, but he had other things that demanded his attention today.
Making love with his woman must come later!
He gently slid away from her.
He framed her face between his hands as he gazed adoringly at her. “My woman, I was awakened by Proud Horse,” he said, ready to tell the necessary lie. “He has brought news of a buffalo sighting. The rising rivers, creeks, and streams have pushed them closer to our village. Although there are many other things that are important to do, we cannot turn our backs on easy meat and hides. I am certain you understand why I must leave you so early this morning.”
“Yes, I understand,” she said softly. She was keenly aware of how many buffalo had been killed by white men to keep the Indians from having the pelts and meat for their families.
Shirleen had seen such a kill on her way to Wyoming, and was stunned that the slaughtered buffalo had been left upon the ground to rot. She had been horrified by the cruelty and wastefulness of the act.
“I see a future where there will be no buffalo left for the red man,” Blue Thunder said thickly, as though he had read Shirleen’s mind. “The white men are seeing to that by killing them off and not even taking their pelts or meat. They are purposely causing the buffalo to dwindle down to almost nothing because they do not want the red man to be able to hunt the animal. They believe that if the buffalo disappear, so will the red man.”
He brushed a soft kiss across her lips, then smiled at her. “When I return, I will bring home a prime catch just for you,” he said, thinking that he was not actually lying. He would be bringing a prime catch for her, but it had nothing to do with buffalo. He would not actually be bringing Earl Mingus to her, but instead the news that the man’s evil had been stopped forever; that she could live a peaceful life from then on.
His smile faded. “Tomorrow, if the ground is dry enough, there will be burial rites for my uncle,” he said. “We will say a final good-bye to a man who has meant so much to me and my people.”
“I will be at your side as you bury him,” Shirleen murmured. “That is, if you will allow me to attend a function that no white person has attended before.”
“You are a part of my life now, and a part of my people’s. It would be only right that you are with me as my uncle is laid to rest,” Blue Thunder said. Then he moved past her and changed quickly into a buckskin shirt and leggings, sheathing a knife at his waist, positioning his quiver of arrows on his back, then taking up his bow and sliding it over his left shoulder. Then he picked up his rifle and was ready to go.
He could hear voices outside his lodge and horses’ hooves, and knew that his warriors were waiting for him.
“I must go now,” he said as he again brushed Shirleen’s lips with kisses. “I shall return with a smile on my face over what I will catch today for you and Megan.”
“I will be eagerly waiting, but not for the buffalo. For you, my love,” Shirleen said, flinging herself into his arms and fiercely hugging him. “I will miss you.”
“As I shall miss you,” he said. He gave her another soft kiss, then turned and left the tepee.
He didn’t go right to his horse, but instead to his aunt’s lodge.
