Never Surrender by Deanna Jewel Read Free Book Online

situation, the
next half hour passed quietly as Kate tried to occupy her mind with the
breath-taking beauty of the mountains. From their position in the valley,
foothill bluebells and pink wild onion flowers interspersed with scarlet globe
mallow, knee-high grass, and sagebrush. The sweet smell of sagebrush assailed
her senses and she loved it. She gazed at the jagged, snow-covered mountains,
wishing she were running free through the pines--away from Taima and his
companion.
    Now Taima dragged her up a slight incline.
    From the top of the hill, a short distance down the
other side, she saw five open-faced lean-to dwellings that had been built near
a stream running along the lower basin. Tree limbs as thick as her arm formed
the lean-to’s top and sides, thatched with several pine boughs also on the top
and sides. Why didn’t these people use teepees?
    Ten men sat about the various fires constructing bows
and arrows while women carried wood or knelt before hides staked to the ground,
viciously scraping the animal skins. Kate shuddered. How primitive. What year
could it possibly be?
    Several small children played with dogs beyond the
lean-tos, their long, black hair secured with headbands. Four horses stood
beneath a copse of trees tethered to a rope. Did they not own more horses than
this, to service all these people?
    As Kate walked down the hill beside Taima, two
warriors came forward to relieve him and Ahanu of the deer, but Taima’s grasp
on her wrist remained tight as he talked with two more warriors.
    Conspicuous, hate-filled glances were directed at her,
but Kate held her head high, refusing to be intimidated by these savages.
Boldly, she held the men’s gazes. The women had stopped their scraping long
enough to glare at her, and then returned to their work as though it were an everyday
occurrence to drag a white woman into their camp.
    One beautiful, young woman ran toward Ahanu, and he
embraced her. Two feathers painted blue and white hung from the leather
headband holding back her long, blue-black hair. Kate admired the blue and
white beads decorating the fringe of her supple doeskin dress. After the woman
inspected Ahanu, seemingly for wounds, she turned her attention on Kate, and
then glanced back to Ahanu. Her lips curled in a sneer as her eyes narrowed.
The woman glanced from Taima, to Kate, and then whispered to Ahanu.
    He chuckled at whatever she’d said.
    The conversation halted between Taima and the men
who’d joined him. His bright blue eyes traveled from the woman, to Kate and the
cold expression froze her heart.
    Taima yanked her arm and flung her in the woman’s
direction. “U tsaya’a!”
    Kate stumbled as she was flung toward Ahanu and his
woman. Taima spoke a command, and Ahanu motioned for Kate to follow her. Before
stepping away, Kate glanced back at Taima in time to see him look away. She
glared at his back. If only he could understand English!
    When the woman tugged on her arm, Kate turned to
follow her toward one of the three-sided lean-tos where she indicated for her
to sit near the fire in front of the lean-to, which she did, thankful for the
reprieve away from that savage. A delicious smelling stew of some sort simmered
over the coals in a shallow metal pot. Remembering her history and judging from
the abundance of their supplies, Kate assumed these people obviously traded
well with the white man and other Indian tribes.
    Kate watched Taima and Ahanu as they approached, then
glanced at the thatched dwelling. Through the open front of the lean-to, she
saw a massive, fur-covered buffalo hide lay neatly folded to one side.
    The woman approached her and held out a stone plate
filled with food. As Kate reached for the offered food, the woman stared at the
cuts grazing Kate’s hands. The young woman’s gaze also traveled over her torn
sweatshirt, dirty jeans, and her boots as Kate realized how differently she
must look.
    The woman examined her palms before meeting her gaze.
    “I fell and