Chapter 10

White Swan resisted the urge to laugh as she heard Angela’s voice above the rest of the chatter. Looking over to where Fighting Dog was standing, she grinned as she saw the uncomfortable look he wore. Granted, the only other braves around were the ones who happened to speak English and most of them already knew that Fighting Dog now had an English name like they did.

Of course, Angela was the only slave who openly called him by it. Even White Swan didn’t address Black Wolf as Jake unless they were alone. However, that wasn’t really what was making Fighting Dog uncomfortable.

The fact that Angela kept talking to him in English and expected him to answer back in the same way was what put that look on his face. Angela figured it was only right, after all the other four braves; Jake, Sam, Seth and Quil were talking to the slaves at the washing river by using a mix of English and Quedeyona.

Unlike Black Wolf, Mountain Lion Guides, Hawk Soars and Laughing Antelope, Fighting Dog wasn’t as fluent as them since he had only been learning English for the last three weeks. The other four had been in the group that had gone to learn at the white man’s school for those few years. Still that didn’t stop Angela’s teasing even though she knew the story behind Fighting Dog’s new desire to learn English.

After Fighting Dog had met Angela, he had gone to his older brother and asked him if he would help him learn English so he could communicate with Angela. Black Wolf had been a little shocked at the request, but had agreed to help out. Then Black Wolf asked if Fighting Dog didn’t mind having White Swan help out too, since she occasionally stood in as the translator for Gentle Otter and the two slave girls.

It didn’t take long after that for Angela to find out exactly what Fighting Dog was doing with White Swan and Black Wolf. And when she found out he wanted to learn English, she decided there was no harm in lending a hand herself.

Normally Angela wasn’t that outspoken around the others in the village, such as Gentle Otter and Bright Wolf. But that day she just couldn’t keep quiet, especially since Fighting Dog had been teasing her about her new Quedeyona name which she’d finally received the week before.

As a take on the fact that she was a quick learner and such a sweet girl, Gentle Otter had thought to name her Smiling Fawn. However, Fighting Dog jumped into the act and said she wasn’t really an innocent little thing like his mother believed. While she was indeed a quick learner, she was also quick to respond with a comeback and could become defensive when she had to. That and he knew how fast she could talk without taking a breath sometimes. So, fawn was changed to porcupine and she was now known as Porcupine Smiles to the tribe.

So, while he teased her about the origins of her new name, she retaliated by teasing him about his halted way of speaking English.

“What did you say?” she teased.

Fighting Dog pursed his lips before commanding, “Wass close!”

Angela giggled. “Don’t you mean wash the clothes, Embry?”

He rolled his eyes and looked at his older brother. “Women! I take back what I said about a spitfire being amusing!”

White Swan couldn’t hold back her giggles at hearing what Fighting Dog said to Black Wolf. Then again, even Black Wolf and the other braves were grinning at it. However, since Angela was still learning Quedeyona, all she was able to understand was the ‘women’ part.

With a sigh, she went back to washing the clothes since she knew she couldn’t respond to whatever he’d said unless someone translated it for her. She’d been a slave for a little over two years, although most of that time had been spent with the Alastigi tribe.

When she’d been with them she had never taken the time to learn how to speak their language because they had been nothing but rude to her from the beginning. She hadn’t seen any reason why she should attempt to communicate with the tribe when the majority of them tended to sneer and talk down to any of the slaves that were there. Granted, the tribe wasn’t an abusive one, but they weren’t warm and friendly either.

That was why she had come to the Quedeyona tribe an angry young woman with a chip on her shoulder. However, once she’d realized just how different this tribe was from the Alastigi, she’d calmed down considerably. It helped that Gentle Otter and Bright Wolf were much more friendly than her previous owners had been.

With the new hospitable tribe, Angela was more eager to learn not only the language, but about the culture as well. Then there was her own personal curiosity about her owner’s youngest son, Fighting Dog. Something about him just called out to her.

She knew she couldn’t exactly ask her owners about him or even Black Wolf when he was translating for them on occasion. She’d thought about asking White Swan when she was helping her learn the language, but she didn’t want to be overheard by anyone who could get them into trouble. Still, she had been able to glean some information from White Swan and also from keeping her ears sharp when Fighting Dog or anyone who knew him was close by.

White Swan leaned in closer to Angela, her whispered words breaking into her musings, “Don’t look now, but a certain brave seems eager for more of your teasing words.”

Angela raised an eyebrow in question. “It wouldn’t happen to be a brave whose name starts with an e and ends with a y, would it?”

At White Swan’s wink, Angela gathered herself together and tried to come up with something else to tease Fighting Dog about. Looking out of the corner of her eye, she could see him intently watching her when he was supposed to be watching their surroundings like the other braves were doing.

She made a show of taking the laundry off the rock and wringing them to get any of the excess water out before placing them into the basket she had. As soon as she was done, she rose to her feet and turned to face him.

With her hands on her hips, she gave him a nod. “See Embry! I did as you ordered! I wass close!”

Black Wolf, White Swan and the other braves chuckled at Angela’s imitation of Fighting Dog’s English while he simply shook his head at her words. However, even he had a ghost of a smile on his lips.

Laughing Antelope stepped towards Angela and was about to add a jest of his own when one of the slaves noticed the bushes near her were moving. Just as she was about to shout an alarm, a man stumbled through the bushes and fell at her feet. With one look at the bloody man she screamed loudly, alerting the others.

Her scream had most of the braves reaching for their weapons even as they noticed that the man was down on the ground. Despite all the blood and grime covering the man’s body, Black Wolf recognized him right away.

“Jasper!” He shouted as he made his way to his friend’s side.

The others began to gather around as Black Wolf knelt next to Jasper and began assessing his wounds. The other braves stood around Black Wolf and Jasper, keeping keen eyes open just in case someone was lurking in the bushes waiting to ambush them.

“Who did this to you?” asked Black Wolf as he continued to assess Jasper’s wounds.

Jasper didn’t answer as his eyes rolled back into his head and he lost consciousness. Several of the women gasped as White Swan leaned over Black Wolf’s shoulder to get a better look.

“Is he dead?” asked Angela.

“No, he’s just asleep. The wounds must be taking the strength from him,” replied Black Wolf.

Mountain Lion Guides sheathed his knife before turning towards the village. He looked back at Black Wolf as he stated, “I will return with a travois to carry him to our village, Hawk Soars and Laughing Antelope can stay and provide protection while you care for Weasel Tracks.”

Black Wolf and the others nodded their acknowledgement, allowing Mountain Lion Guides to return to the village. As Black Wolf continued to look over Jasper’s wounds, Hawk Soars and Laughing Antelope repositioned themselves to better protect the group should they need it. Quickly, White Swan moved to the other side of Jasper where she knelt down in order to help Black Wolf care for their friend in any way that she could.

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“Black Wolf, Weasel Tracks is awake!” announced the boy who had been sent by the healer to fetch Black Wolf the moment Jasper had awaken.

When Mountain Lion Guides had returned with the travois, the four braves had lifted Jasper onto the device, then taken him to the building that acted as the infirmary for those who needed serious healing. There he had been tended to by one of the village’s healers who had ushered everyone else out while saying he would send word when Weasel Tracks woke up.

Black Wolf quickly rose from his seat on the ground in front of his parent’s home, where he had been carving several pieces of wood to make new shafts for arrows in an attempt to keep himself calm. Although the moment the boy had come to make the announcement, Black Wolf had discarded the wood and sheathed his knife before walking swiftly through the village towards the infirmary.

Inside, Bright Wolf was already waiting beside Jasper’s cot to hear the explanation of what had happened to him, just as he knew everyone else was waiting at their homes. As Black Wolf moved to the other side of the cot, his father gave him a nod before leaning over Jasper.

Keeping his voice low, he spoke to the injured man. “Weasel Tracks, can you hear us?”

Jasper slowly opened his eyes even though his left one was slightly swollen.

Bright Wolf gave him a smile. “Hello Weasel Tracks. You gave us a little scare for a while.”

Jasper’s eyes wandered over to Black Wolf who also smiled down at him.

“Hi there Weasel Tracks. Can you understand us?” asked Black Wolf.

They watched as Jasper licked his lips and swallowed as if he was parched. Black Wolf reached for the wooden cup of water next to the cot and helped Jasper to have a few sips. Even so, it still took a couple of tries before Jasper managed to croak out a response.

“Jake,” he spoke in English. “…Gineduli.”

Black Wolf looked up at his father for a moment before looking down at his friend and answering in English. “The Gineduli tribe?”

“Yes,” answered Jasper.

Black Wolf nodded. “They did this to you?”

“An…an’ my home…” They waited for him to continue, “Attacked…raided...”

Bright Wolf frowned as his son translated the words he didn’t know. “Why would the Gineduli raid a lone trapper’s cabin?”

Black Wolf leaned over Jasper and asked him, “Did they say why?”

“N…no. Left me for….for dead. Think they were…passing…angry they found noth…nothing.”

Black Wolf nodded as he straightened up and once more gave his father a brief translation. Bright Wolf shook his head at the senselessness of the incident. He knew most tribes tended to raid and attack full camps, not just a lone person.

After all, raids were done in order for tribes to retrieve goods needed for survival. Attacks were done when the tribe had a beef with whoever they were attacking. While most tribes tried not to kill anyone during a raid, there were obviously exceptions. But from what Jasper was saying, these braves from the Gineduli not only raided a lone person, but also attacked him brutally.

“I will ask to take a group of warriors to see what we can find at Weasel Tracks’ home,” Black Wolf said.

Bright Wolf nodded at his son’s words. “Yes, I believe we should look at that first before we jump to any conclusions.”

Leaning over Jasper once more, he spoke softly to him. “Get some rest, Weasel Tracks. We will find out why the Gineduli did this. Rest and I will fetch the healer again.”

Jasper nodded as much as he could as his eyes began to close once more. The two men waited until he seemed to be sleeping before taking their leave. Walking into the outer room, Bright Wolf turned to his son.

“Go call the council together so that we can tell them what happened and request that you go to Weasel Tracks’ home. I am going to talk to the healer.”

Black Wolf nodded before leaving the building in search of the council members. He hoped that they would be allowed to go before the light left and the evidence disappeared.

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Three Quedeyona warriors sat astride their horses wearing a mixture of looks on their faces while three more continued to walk among the debris before them. Staring at the smoldering remains of what had once been the cabin of the Whitlock trappers, they all knew this was nothing to take lightly.

Upon arriving, they discovered the cabin still in flames so they had quickly worked to put the fire out. In the end they could only make sure that the fire didn’t spread out into the surrounding forest. They had waited a bit before venturing close to the cooling remains to see what they could discover.

Black Wolf had been the one to say that it did not look as if anything had really been taken. Granted he didn’t know everything that Jasper kept in the cabin, but he had visited enough to know some things. In fact, he and White Swan had been to Jasper’s cabin not even two days before the attack. And from what he could tell, even among the charred ruins, it really did look like the raid had been just a random act of violence.

The only thing they could do now was to return to their village to see to sending someone to talk to the Gineduli in the hopes that a plausible explanation could be had. Black Wolf seriously doubted there would be a good explanation for the destruction of his friend’s home, but he knew that was the protocol.

Fighting Dog moved his horse closer to Black Wolf’s knowing his older brother was smoldering just as silently as the ruins of the home. “Black Wolf, we have done all that we can here. Let us return home and see to helping Weasel Tracks heal. Then we can see to helping him rebuild his home as good as we can.”

Black Wolf’s hands tightened on the reins while he gave a curt nod as an answer.

“Weasel Tracks fought well to defend his home,” said Mountain Lion Guides as he walked to where Black Wolf, Fighting Dog and another warrior, Panther Stalks, sat on their horses.

Hawk Soars joined Mountain Lion Guides in his assessment. “There are signs of struggle in front of the house and leading away from it. There are also many empty shells where windows would be.”

The two skilled trackers didn’t say anything Black Wolf didn’t already know. Those that knew Jasper knew both he and his father were great at trapping and hunting. Jasper was always handy with guns so there was never a question of him not being able to defend himself.

However, they all knew the group of braves that had attacked the lone cabin had been too numerous for Jasper to fight off alone. In fact, Vanishing Fox was still in the surrounding forest trying to see if more signs of the attackers could be found.

Still, Black Wolf knew Mountain Lion Guides, Hawk Soars and Fighting Dog were just trying to help him keep his temper reined. They knew how he felt about Jasper because he was also a good friend of theirs. They had all grown up with the familiar sight of Jasper and his father visiting the village from time to time.

However, as much as they deemed Jasper a friend of theirs, no one was closer to Jasper these days, than Black Wolf was. That alone was the reason why they all treaded lightly around Black Wolf, yet still made sure to do a thorough search to find out exactly what had happened during the attack.

Vanishing Fox finally wandered back into the clearing wearing a scowl on his face. He approached the group with his report. “It is as we said. A group of twenty horses came through here. I found no footprints, so all were on horses.”

Mountain Lion Guides nodded. “There are four dead bodies which means at the most, sixteen escaped back to where they came from.”


“Were there any footprints around the cabin?” asked Fighting Dog.

Hawk Soars shook his head. “Only around some of the bodies we found and the ones near the front door, which we know belong to Weasel Tracks. It only tells us that some of the attackers were alive for a few moments longer after being knocked off of their horses.”

Mountain Lion Guides looked to Vanishing Fox. “Anything else to report?”


“No,” answered the warrior. “I believe we have found all that we can find here.”

With a sigh, Mountain Lion Guides met Black Wolf’s stern gaze. “I agree with Vanishing Fox. There is no more we can do here. Let us take our information back to the council so we can convince them to let someone visit the Gineduli to get the reason for this attack.”

When Black Wolf didn’t say anything right away, Fighting Dog eased his horse closer to his brother’s. In a low voice, he spoke to him. “Brother, I have faith in our father. He will not let this transgression go unanswered. I know I’m not the only one who believes that.”

His gaze then traveled over the other warriors around them, all of which were nodding in agreement with his words.

After a few moments, Black Wolf finally nodded with a resigned sigh. “Fine. We found all that we could find here. Let us return home with the information we have gathered.”

Once all of the warriors were mounted on their horses, as a group they turned towards the village where Black Wolf hoped they could convince the council to send someone to the Gineduli tribe for some answers. And if the answers were not good, he hoped the council would then give them permission to retaliate against that tribe. After all, the Whitlock trappers and all of their belongings were supposed to be under the protection of the Quedeyona tribe and Black Wolf refused to let that go unanswered.