AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Big Knife held her by the shoulders now. "I know it was hard, as you liked the old man, but he was old and stubborn and would not listen."
"We didn't have to kill him."
"We did have to. How many would listen to our talk of war with him there? No, it was necessary. You did well my love. Now he can do no harm to my plans. Now perhaps we can persuade the rest of our people to join us in the war against the blue coats."
"Once Nakota returns, he will be Chief, and I doubt many will go with you then." Naomie's voice lowered now as though she was almost afraid of Big Knife's reaction to her words.
"Nakota is a weakling" Big Knife paced about the cave now. "He is like his father and wants peace." Big Knife paced the mouth of the cave, glancing out at the falling snow. "I know this has been hard for you Naomie. But it will get harder still. Now that you are here, you'll have to stay."
Naomie was quiet for a moment. Then she burst out.
"Aren't you even glad to see me?" she asked in a softer voice.
"Of course I am glad to see you, but you probably brought some of them with you. I realize you didn't think, and we'll handle it my love, but they set you up. Until you came no one knew where we were." He fretted vocally. "We need time to plan our first attack and make it known to the blue coats that we will no longer live like slaves to them. You must get used to me being the Chief now, and that I have duties to my men and to kill the blue coats. There will be times I cannot make love for I must be ever on guard, Naomie. You must harden yourself if you are to stay with me. First, we will rob them of their gun supply, then we will attack them with their own guns. We will show them the power we have over them soon. Then all the Arapaho will join us. They will hold their heads up high and be proud again."
She ignored what he had said and pouted. "I think when I killed Walking Bear, I proved how loyal I am to you."
"Yes, you did." He came back to her and lifted her chin to stare into her face. "But this is just the beginning,"
"Black Wolf is at the camp now."
"Why did he return."
"How should I know?" Naomie answered flippantly.
Big Knife shook his head and stared at her again. "He came to feed you gossip so you would come up here. That is why. You have put us all at risk. Naomie, you mustn't listen to anyone but me. There is a shipment of guns coming and we will steal them so we can fight them more easily. You must keep quiet of anything you know, as they might try to capture you and get you to talk."
"I will be silent. But, how do you know this about the guns?"
"We have a scout from the fort spying for us. He got news to us yesterday."
Naomie sounded restless with the talk of war.
"How could I know anyone would follow me, I heard you were wounded and sought another woman. What was I to think?"
She came up to him close, "I have done everything you told me to do. I killed Walking Bear and I get no thank you for it. You should have let me stay here, then this would not have happened. I carry your child. I should be with you always."
He stared down at her and reached to pull her to him. He kissed her passionately and she calmed down. "You are right. I am sorry. But if they have found us, we will need to move, and quickly. There are many caves here, we'll find another." He said when she turned away from him again. He went to tell his men to pack up.
He came back and kissed her once more. "I am glad you are here, but now you must stay. There is no choice. It is too dangerous for you to be in the camp any longer. By now they probably suspect you of killing Walking Bear."
"Yes, Sasha does I know, and I agree!" she said inviting another kiss. "I no longer belong in that camp. The women, they look at me as if I were a snake. They all suspect me of Walking Bear's death now."
"They are going to move again," Black Wolf muttered to Bear Paw.
"Yes."
"I will follow, you stay here until Nakota shows up then you follow my trail as I will leave markings for you." Black Wolf told him.
Bear Paw nodded.
"We must hide until they leave."
They went behind a clump of bushes and waited.
***
When Lacoma found Nakota he told them that they had followed Naomie to a cave and he would lead them, Nakota informed his men that they had found Big Knife.
