Lakota Flower by Janelle Taylor Read Free Book Online Page B

feed people and to use for escape after destructive attacks on their camps.”
    Caroline queried, “May I ask you a personal question?”
    “Yes, but I might not answer it.”
    She hoped she was not offending him when she asked, “Are you an adopted son to the chief? Are you white or part white, and is that why you speak such excellent English?” And look a little mix-blooded?
    Cloud Chaser did not think it was smart to tell her about his parents and his birth. “I am the blood son of Rising Bear. I was born and lived in this land until I was ten, when I was attacked and wounded by our enemy the Crow. I was found by a white couple traveling in a wagon to Oregon. While unconscious, I was taken there with them and was reared by them. I didn’t know how to return home and was told my band had been slain. When I became a man and learned the truth, I returned to my family and people. I am Oglala by birth.”
    Caroline didn’t doubt him, but sensed there was far moreto his story. “Is that why you hate whites, for stealing you and deceiving you?”
    “No, for they were good but misguided people who yearned for a son and believed their God had sent me to them.” That was all he would tell her; he felt it was not smart to expose too much about himself to her.
    “We did not start this war,” he went on. “We did not travel to your lands to steal them. When white trappers and traders first came to this territory, they were greeted in friendship. More and more came. Greed was born in them and sprouted swiftly. They made themselves our enemies. But enough talk of such dark things.”
    Caroline realized he wanted to change the subject, so she asked, “How old is your son? What’s his name?”
    “He is two months old and is called Casmu, which means Sand. My wife is Macha, which means Dawn.” He smiled at his beloved as she looked around when he spoke her name. “I am Yutokeca Mahpiya, Cloud Chaser. If you wish to learn our language, I will teach you. I warn you now, Caroline, it would be foolish and dangerous to dupe us, disobey, or escape.”
    “I understand, and I’ll do as I’m told. What do you want me to do? Where will I—” She halted as her captor ducked his head and entered the tepee, carrying her fabric satchel in one hand, and glancing at her with a strange look.
    War Eagle spoke with his half brother in Lakota. “I come to bring her possessions. They were on Swift Otter’s horse. Does she obey you?”
    A confident Cloud Chaser nodded as he said, “I believe she is a good woman and will give me no trouble. Does that please you?”
    “Yes, for I would not want trouble to come from my action.”
    Cloud Chaser saw how War Eagle looked at the captive. He also saw Caroline gaze at the younger warrior, then blush and lower her eyes. “Trouble will come,” he told War Eagle,“but it will not be caused by your brave deed. It was generous of you to allow her to bring her possessions with her.”
    “I allowed her to bring only what could be carried with us. The rest of the hunters will return on the next sun. When the third sun rises, Father says we will strike camp and leave for the sacred hills. There, we will prepare for war with our enemy.”
    “I wish peace could come this season, my brother, but it will not be so with the white war chief riding to our lands to challenge us.”
    “That is true,” War Eagle agreed. “What words did she speak to you?”
    Cloud Chaser told him, then added, “She knows nothing of use to us in the coming conflict.”
    “Do you think she would reveal such words if she knew them?”
    Cloud Chaser pondered this, then nodded. He wanted to question War Eagle’s thoughts and feelings about the girl, but decided it was unwise; he needed to do all he could to draw War Eagle’s perilous attention from her. “Did Father order out more scouts to watch for signs of trouble and for the camp’s protection?”
    “Yes, and I ride to obey him.” War Eagle smiled at Macha when she