chapter 15

A/N: As always, a shout out to leelator for her help on this! Also, please refer to the Cast of Characters if you need help remembering who is who and the italics as always refers to them speaking in Quedeyona. Plus, I own nothing except the fictional world of the Quedeyona in which a very sexy Black Wolf inhabits.


Lastly, this chapter doesn't have much conversation, but it is a vital part of the story, Enjoy!

* One week later*

Black Wolf was jostled awake by a hard nudge to his thigh. Groaning, he rolled over onto his back, cracking an eye open to peer up at his younger brother. Fighting Dog was already dressed for war just like he usually was these days, but his face showed the strain and weariness that Black Wolf felt.

“Get up brother, it’s our turn again.”

Black Wolf simply lay there staring up at the lightening sky for a moment before he forced himself to his feet. It had been nearly a week since the fighting had started, but the southeastern tribes were proving to be formidable. No matter what strategies the war council came up with, their enemies never seemed to falter.

The Quedeyona tribe had arrived just as the sun was setting in the evening when they’d first set out for the war camp over a week ago. It had taken another two days before all of the allied tribes were completely represented at the camp. During that time, those that were already at camp kept an eye on the southeastern tribes.

This enabled the allied tribes to intercept two attempted raids by the southwestern tribes. Still, the enemies had managed three more raids before the allied tribes could prevent it. So by the time all tribes of the allies were together, they were more than ready to put an end to the raiding.

Working as quickly as they could, the war council began to plan strikes against the southeastern tribes. Their hope was to take them unawares, pushing them back into the southeast while making sure they would never return to allied territory. However, the enemy tribes managed to pull themselves back together after the initial surprise attack in order to hold their ground.

After that, both sides knew all raiding parties had ceased as they began to concentrate on defeating each other. The southeastern tribes knew that if they defeated the allied tribes, they would have free reign to take whatever they wanted from the decimated allies.

That knowledge was also what kept the allies fighting with everything they had. No one wanted the thoughts of their homes being ransacked and destroyed to become a reality. Most of all, no one wanted the pain and suffering of their families and friends to weigh down their souls if they were chosen to journey to the Great Spirit above.

For his part, Black Wolf used those horrible images to keep the fire lit beneath him, allowing him to find the strength to keep on fighting. There was no way he wanted to see anything happen to his parents or his friends. Most of all, he wanted the chance to return home to White Swan so that they could begin to have a real relationship.

It was the same for Mountain Lion Guides and Fighting Dog. Although Mountain Lion Guides wasn’t quite as obvious about it as the brothers were, they all knew he missed Owl Sees Truth as much as they missed their women. The three of them had briefly talked about their burgeoning relationships during the journey to the war camp, which meant they all caught up on where each one stood with their women.

Black Wolf and White Swan had officially become a courting couple the night before the journey. They had said their good-byes quietly while at the horse compound, simply holding each other close and whispering words of comfort and support until they had to return to their homes. Before he had left White Swan at Crow Flies home, Black Wolf had made sure Crow Flies had understood that he was now courting her and intended to make good on his word once he returned from the war.

Since it was the way of the Quedeyona for the people to say their emotional good-byes in private, Mountain Lion Guides and Owl Seeks Truth had done the same thing. He had gone to call on her after dinner to have some quiet time with her before he left. For his part, Fighting Dog had been with Porcupine Smiles at his parents home while the rest of the family had been off helping the village to prepare for the coming war.

The next morning everyone in the village was out either saddling up or standing aside to see the warriors off. White Swan had been there, standing with Crow Flies and his family to see his two sons off. From her position, she had simply locked gazes with Black Wolf while giving him a smile, but he had seen the silent plea within her eyes.

Owl Sees Truth was there with the elderly couple simply to see everyone else off since they did not have anyone going to war. However, Owl Sees Truth did the same as White Swan, smiling at Mountain Lion Guides for encouragement even while her eyes begged him to come back in one piece.

Only Porcupine Smiles had been more obvious than the other two women. Unable to hold in her tears, they fell freely as she tried to keep her sobs as quiet as possible. She was there with Gentle Otter and Bright Wolf to see both of their sons off. Gentle Otter had subtly wrapped an arm around Porcupine Smiles trying to help her remain calm.

Even though those that would remain behind were all outside to watch, it was a completely somber mood that followed the group that left the village on the journey to war. However, once the group reached the camp, things became more hectic and their focus was now on the impending war instead of those they had left behind.

As Black Wolf finished preparing to go back into battle, Fighting Dog rejoined him with Mountain Lion Guides in tow. “Ready brother?”

Black Wolf nodded as he slung his quiver of arrows over his bare shoulders before picking up his long bow, draping it over his shoulders as well. He’d already strapped on a knife at his left hip and right thigh as well as a tomahawk on his right hip.

Since his hair was still fairly short, he had no need to tie it up the way many of the other warriors from his tribe did. However, he did don splashes of black paint on his cheeks and forehead, mostly for the purpose of keeping the sun out of his eyes when he aimed his arrows. Since he already had tattoos covering most of his torso, he didn’t need any paint there. Like most of the other warriors from his tribe, he wore only a breechclout and moccasins so that nothing would get in the way of fighting despite the slight chill in the air that signaled the coming winter.

His horse had red paint running down along his neck as well as black handprints along his flanks. Plus, his mane had been separated into sections and wrapped with strips of leather just as his tail had been. This was to keep the strands of hair from out of harm’s way.

Fighting Dog was outfitted the same as Black Wolf, but his horse carried an extra set of knives and a quiver of spears hung from both flanks of the horse too. While Fighting Dog was best with spears, Black Wolf was best with the bow which meant his horse had two more quivers of arrows slung on either side of the saddle.

Fighting Dog also had paint on his face, but it was in the form of alternating black and white stripes all the way across his face. His hair was pulled back from his face with the exception of one thin braid on either side of his face. Like his face, his bare torso was painted with thick alternating black and white stripes here and there, even his bare legs and some stripes on them. However, his horse didn’t have much in the way of paint nor was its hair held up in any way.

Mountain Lion Guides’ horse was equipped with extra knives and tomahawks, just as he had a tomahawk hanging from each hip along with his own bow and arrows on his back. He was known among the Quedeyona as the brave who had the furthest, most accurate throwing arm in the tribe. No one had been able to beat him in any contests they had, plus he had beaten all previous champions by the time he was nine.

Although he knew how to use a bow and arrow just like all braves did, he preferred the tomahawk. Among the Quedeyona, every brave was taught how to use a knife and a bow and arrow, but they were allowed to hone the skill they were best at. Hence Mountain Lion Guides with the tomahawks, Fighting Dog with spears, and Black Wolf with a long bow and arrows.

It was also common for the Quedeyona warriors going into battle to wear paint as well as having their horses do the same. Like the others, Mountain Lion Guides had his face painted too. Half of his face was red while the other half was black. His bare torso remained unmarked as did the rest of his skin that the breechclout didn’t cover. His horse also had paint in the shape of the claw marks of a mountain lion on its flanks. Its tail was also bound with a strip of dark leather while the mane remained free.

Once all of the warriors were on their horses, the one chosen to lead the group had them on their way to relieve the current group that was holding the southeastern tribes at bay. Although Mountain Lion Guides was one of the better leaders of his age in the Quedeyona village, he had deferred to others with more war experience for the time being. However, that didn’t stop him from taking second position so that he could learn from the others.

Fighting Dog had no desire to be a leader of war, but he knew his strengths lay elsewhere both as a warrior and as a provider for his village. It was already a given that Black Wolf was going to follow in his father’s footsteps as the tribe’s chief and top negotiator while Fighting Dog had the best skills with the spear that would help to provide food to the village.

He wasn’t the best whaler in the village, but he was one of the better ones as was Laughing Antelope. They both could also use their spears to hunt seals and other sea life that was essential to the village’s way of life.

Fighting Dog not only was one of the best with the spear, but he was also the son of the tribe’s chief which meant those two things would almost guarantee him a seat on the council one day. It was a position he would gladly take up in order to always be there for his older brother, the future chief.

If the three of them survived and lived to be elders, they each hoped to accomplish all the things they knew they were capable of. However, at the moment their focus was on defeating the southeastern enemies so that they would return to their tribes with their tails between their legs and leave the allied tribes alone.

As the group approached the war grounds, they could hear the sounds of fighting before they could actually see it. It wasn’t until they rode up the hill, that they were able to see the on-going battle. Bodies from both sides already littered the blood-soaked ground beneath the feet of those who still fought. Thankfully, the Quedeyona was one of the few tribes who had not suffered a great loss of warriors yet.

Some fighters had lost their horses and were now on foot, barely managing to stay upright due to fatigue or the slippery, muddy and blood-coated field beneath their feet. As the new leader let out a war cry, he led his group down the hill into the fray where they tried their best to relieve those who had been there since the night before.

There was another group standing by who waited for the relieved warriors to make it behind the fresh wave of fighters. Once they did, some of that group rode down to pick up those on foot in order to return them to camp. Those who had managed to keep their horses under them simply urged their tired mounts back to camp where all of them would be tended to before being allowed to rest a bit.

This was the way of things since the war had started and it would continue to be that way so long as the war went on.

Within moments of entering the fight, Black Wolf was surrounded by enemies just like the others in the group were. All of them were already focused on the enemy around them while fighting to the best of their abilities.

Black Wolf already had his bow out with an arrow notched from the moment the leader had issued the war cry earlier. Before they had even reached the fighting Black Wolf and several other braves had let fly many an arrow, downing their enemies while creating a hole to charge into.

Black Wolf continued to use his long bow every chance he got, having been trained on his horse how to sweep through, unseating his enemy with arrows and even with the bow itself. When he ran out of arrows, he began to use his bow as his primary weapon, using it to snag a body part then yanking it to the ground or slamming the end of it into a sensitive area.

However, he still could occasionally lean down to snatch an arrow from the ground or from any of the dead around him. When he couldn’t use his weapon of choice, he improvised with the knives he had, as well as the tomahawk or anything else nearby that proved to be a good weapon.

At one point, he’d gotten close enough to his enemy to deflect the knife with the tip of his long bow before leaning in to punch the man in his jaw. As the man tried to right himself, Black Wolf used his own knife to cut the saddle then tipped the man off his horse using the end of his bow to hook his foot and flip him off.

The man went tumbling to the ground as Black Wolf spotted an arrow nearby. He snatched it up, turned in his seat and let it fly. It found a home in the man’s chest as Black Wolf turned back around in his seat to engage the next enemy he encountered.

Fighting Dog was still seated on his horse as well, using his spears to fight off those that surrounded him. With a spear in hand, he would twirl it over his head or around him effectively making them give him a wide berth. He would use the spear the way one would use a sword, defecting blows from knives and limbs alike before getting a good grip on it and thrusting it as deep as he could into an enemy’s flesh.

Sometimes he could do so without ever having to let the spear go. At that point, he’d yank it back out and move on to the next man. Sometimes he was in pursuit of an enemy that made him have to take aim and let the spear fly. Just like his older brother, Fighting Dog had learned to use spears while on the back of his horse. That meant he could aim then launch a spear so that it found a home where he wanted it to without interference from the horse’s movements.

Unlike Black Wolf and Fighting Dog, Mountain Lion Guides was on his feet. However, his horse had been trained to remain close by. Mountain Lion Guides preferred to fight on his feet rather than on the back of the horse. This gave him a much freer range of movement to be able to use his tomahawks. He could swing the weapons in any direction while not having to worry about slicing his horse in the process.

No matter which way Mountain Lion Guides swung, he was often guaranteed to have his tomahawk connect with the enemy. It could come from above, below, the side, or even from an angle. There was no way for the enemy to know which way he was going to be sliced from until it happened.

Anyone watching Mountain Lion Guides as he fought would think he looked like he was nothing but smooth, flowing air. The moment his tomahawks began to move, there was no stopping the intricate dance Mountain Lion Guides was in until the enemies disappeared or someone managed to take Mountain Lion Guides down.

As the fighting continued around them, all they could do was focus on trying to make the war turn in their favor. Later, when they could breathe again, they would pray that it would finally come to an end long before the winter months arrived.

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In the Quedeyona village, life went on as if the majority of the warriors and some of the elders were not participating in a war miles away. There were still clothes to wash, food to cook and other chores to complete. The young and old still needed to be cared for too. Plus, there was the additional need to prepare for the coming winter.

Even though it was now the Moon of the Falling Leaves, time was of an essence to the village, especially when many of the hunters were at war and winter was just around the corner. The few warriors that did remain behind did their best to provide what they could to not only their own families, but to the families that did not have anyone to provide for them.

Crow Flies was still a capable hunter, so he went out with his bow and arrows as often as he could with a few other skilled hunters. Others like Bright Wolf were not as spry, so they remained in the village and did what they could there.

However, there were also some young braves there, like Laughing Antelope and Hawk Soars. Laughing Antelope was Black Wolf’s age, but he had never been a true warrior, instead his skills with the spear lay in hunting seals and other small sea life off the coast. Sometimes, he even helped with whaling when his spears were in need. As for Hawk Soars, he was a superb tracker, so that skill allowed him to hunt in the surrounding wilderness for whatever game he could find. Once he did that, he could use his own bow and arrows to bring down his prey.

Amidst all the preparations for winter and other work that had to be done, there was still laughter and light chatter throughout the village despite the noticeable difference in the amount of people left behind. While most of the villagers were able to go about their day without making it obvious that they were worried about those at war, there were still some that were not able to do that. No one said anything out loud because it was as if to do so would bring misfortune down on the village or those that had gone away. But in the privacy of their homes, they were allowed to worry or grieve as they saw fit.

White Swan continued to go on with her days the way she always had. Doing the chores Dragonfly Takes Flight had given her without a fuss. It kept her busy so that she wouldn’t dwell so much on how heavy her heart felt with Black Wolf’s absence. It was only at night, when she finally laid her head down that tears would sometimes come.

Even then, she tried to be strong. Praying that Black Wolf was all right and that he would return to the village whole. She knew she could be petty and dwell on the fact that it wasn’t fair for him to be taken right when they had finally gone forward with their relationship, but she wasn’t going to stoop to that.

Instead, she continued to keep hope alive inside of her, waiting as patiently as she could with each day that went by. It also helped that there wasn’t really anyone there to make things hard for her. Especially since Badger Snaps was at war with his older brother, making it impossible for him to mess with White Swan. Even Brown Skunk and her cronies were too busy helping their families prepare for the coming winter to have much time to bother White Swan.

Surprisingly, Porcupine Smiles had seemed to keep herself together despite the little display of emotion she’d showed when the warriors had left for war. Like White Swan and most of the other women there, she too had thrown herself into her chores and continued to learn all about the Quedeyona and their language so that when Fighting Dog returned, she could understand him better.

Of course, it helped that she truly enjoyed spending time with her owners, Gentle Otter and Bright Wolf. Both of them already knew that their youngest son took a liking to Porcupine Smiles and had found that they liked her too. Once the girl had realized no one was out to belittle her or mistreat her, she had calmed down considerably.

Now she was a bright and funny woman whom Gentle Otter loved to have accompany her for walks to the vegetable garden in the evening. Porcupine Smiles was much easier to chat with than their other shy slave, Whispering Deer. Needless to say, it was during those walks that Porcupine Smiles learned the most about Fighting Dog and his family as well as the ways of the Quedeyona.

Like White Swan and Porcupine Smiles, Owl Sees Truth also kept herself busy with the chores her family gave her to do, so long as it wasn’t too much for her still healing body. Even when she was working alongside other slaves of the village, none of them really talked about the war that was taking place so far away. However, they did talk and gossip about things that were more upbeat.

By this time, Owl Sees Truth had finally talked to Mouse Daydreams about her relationship with Mountain Lion Guides so that keeping it a secret was no longer an issue for her. This left Owl Sees Truth free to talk about him to White Swan and Porcupine Smiles since they often talked about Black Wolf and Fighting Dog too.

She was finally able to tell them the story of how they had become a couple. She told them that she had actually been attracted to Mountain Lion Guides from the moment she’d laid eyes on him, but hadn’t said anything since she was new to the village.

She had also still been a little wary of everyone in the village at the beginning. In fact, it wasn’t until she had been with her new family for a few days that made her see that the Quedeyona were nothing like the Gineduli, allowing her to finally relax and open up to others in the village. Then she’d learned that Mountain Lion Guides lived close by her family which enabled the two of them to chat as often as they could.

It hadn’t taken long for both of them to realize that their feelings for each other were mutual and Owl Sees Truth, never being one for wasting time, jumped into it feet first. Mountain Lion Guides was the same way she was. In fact, she had been thrilled to find that he seemed to think of things the same way she did, thus making it easier for them to communicate with each other.

Since Owl Sees Truth had talked to Mouse Daydreams and felt comfortable within the village, both she and the girls were now able to be more open about their feelings for their warriors and life in the village. Only Mouse Daydreams remained the outcast among all of them. None of the slaves ever left Mouse Daydreams out of any of their conversations, plus those that were closest to her always included her in everything they did as if nothing was amiss.

Yet it was Mouse Daydreams herself who was keeping her distance from all of them, even from her sister. Since Mountain Lion Guides was away, she had been moved into his parents home for the time being. However, she was still responsible for the upkeep of Mountain Lion Guides’ home even though no one was there. Mountain Lion Guides had simply felt that Mouse Daydreams would be better off surrounded by others than being left all alone in his home.

Owl Sees Truth was grateful for Mountain Lion Guides’ forethought, but Mouse Daydreams couldn’t care one way or the other. Unlike the rest of the women, Mouse Daydreams wasn’t overly concerned about the warriors being away or not. She went about her day doing what she was told to do, but she couldn’t be as happy and chatty as the rest of her friends seemed to be when they got together to talk about their lives and loves.

While the rest of her friends laughed and giggled about their lives in the village, Mouse Daydreams quietly wondered if she would ever see a real home again. And late at night, when the others lay down to worry and pray that their loved ones returned home, Mouse Daydreams hoped and dreamed of having a home like the one she’d lived in back in England, far away from the savages that had tried to make her feel as filthy as they were.