Lakota Dawn by Janelle Taylor Read Free Book Online Page A

Spirit and my father can send me away. I am Yutokeca Mahipya; I am Red Shield Oglala; this is where I belong. The only family I possess lives here, and it is where I yearn to remain. Tell me what must be done to prove myself, Wise One, and I will do it.”
    “That is a deed or task for the Great Mystery to decide and reveal. I go now,” Nahemana said, rising slowly and with difficulty.
    “Tanyan yahi yelo. Ake u wo.” Chase told him once more he was glad he had come and to “come again.”
    Nahemana nodded and left, many thoughts filling his head.
    Chase well remembered the old man and days long past.Whenever Nahemana had been left in charge of his grandchildren and told them stories or given them instructions, it was always Wind Dancer and War Eagle sitting on either side of him on a buffalo hide and Hanmani nestled in his lap. As if an outsider, he was left to take a place on the ground before them, separate and alone. Although they had not been related to him by blood and mostly seemed to ignore his presence, Nahemana and Little Turtle were the only grandparents he had ever known. He remembered Little Turtle giving Wind Dancer and War Eagle hair-stuffed leather ponies and Hanmani a grassstuffed doll and miniature tepee one day. He had stood nearby empty-handed and heartbroken. It had been his half-brothers who had let him play with their toys, who had let him shadow them, who had included him in games and mock hunts. It had been Wind Dancer, not his father or other male relatives as was the custom, who had taught him to make his first bow and arrows and had taught him how to use them and how to fight and track and hunt. It had been Wind Dancer who had kept Two Feathers from mistreating him and excluding him from boyhood activities.
    So why, Chase wondered, did his older brother now reject and mistrust him? Perhaps the only reason was because Wind Dancer was trapped between him and his family and people and his duty to them. If he could win over the future chief and such a high-ranking warrior, surely half his battle to return home would be won. He also needed to win over the shaman and his daughter, for they held much sway over his father. But how could he convince those three people of his sincerity?
    At dusk, Hanmani arrived with a wooden bowl of stewed meat and wild vegetables, seasoned with local herbs. She also handed him three half-inch cuttings of wakapapi wasna —pemmican—from last summer’s stores, for it would last for several years if made and wrapped properly.
    Chase smiled at the reserved female with tea-colored eyes and hair, who was now sixteen by his figuring. “Pilamaya, tanksi.” He thanked her and called her his younger sister.
    “Am I truly your sister? Are you Cloud Chaser or a false talker?”
    Chase smiled again with hopes of relaxing and even charming her. Too, he was both amused and impressed by her boldness and courage. “Yes, I am Cloud Chaser, your brother. You were only four circles of the seasons when I was taken away, so you must not remember me. You have become a pretty young woman while I was gone. I am sure our father is proud of you.”
    “He is pleased with me, for I obey and respect him and love him.”
    Chase noticed a gleam of pleasure in her eyes at his compliments and how she seemed to struggle to continue to appear aloof. “As I do, Hanmani; and I will prove myself worthy of my rank as his son when I am given a chance. Will you sit and talk with me while I eat? There is much I long to learn about my family. I was told Wind Dancer has a wife and son. Is there a young brave who steals your heart and eye?”
    Hanmani was filled with curiosity about the man, but had been told not to linger near him. She made an excuse which she suspected sounded like a lie, but was partly true. “The sun sleeps soon and I have more chores to do, so I must go now. I will return with more food when the sun appears in the sky again.” She noted his disappointed expression, one which