chapter 20

A/N: WARNING: There is a character death in this part. Although I am sad that I had to do this, it had to be done in order for what needs to happen in a Native American tribe. There is also a bit of a time jump within this chapter, so I hope it doesn't confuse anyone. I tried to make things as clear as possible.


Also, I want to give a shout out to leelator once more for all of the information she has given me to flesh out this story even more. Your help has been a godsend chica! Thanks so much!



Black Wolf was sitting on the ground before his home whittling away at a piece of wood despite the onset of the cold winter winds coming down from the north. Fighting Dog sat next to him with a bearskin draped over his shoulders, just like the one Black Wolf had on to ward off the flurries that came during the Moon of the Falling Snow.

Black Wolf had a small fire going to ward some of the cold off while the two of them continued to make new arrows to fill their quivers. Even with the chill in the air and the lateness of the day, there was already a small pile of finished arrows on the ground between them.

The two of them had been at it for a while already while they chatted amicably among themselves as they worked. Eventually the conversation had turned to Mountain Lion Guides’ and Owl Sees Truth’s new life that they had been enjoying together for the past two weeks, plus the trading of Mouse Daydreams to Owl Sees Truth’s family as a bride price. Then it moved on to Fighting Dog’s feelings for Porcupine Smiles and Black Wolf’s for White Swan.

Fighting Dog was currently telling his older brother that he was thinking of going in the same direction that Mountain Lion Guides had gone with Owl Sees Truth, but he had not discussed it with Porcupine Smiles yet. He also said that he didn’t want to wait as long as Mountain Lion Guides and Owl Sees Truth had to make the hand-fasting. It had taken them nearly two and a half weeks before they went through with the ceremony. Still, the two weeks after that ceremony had revealed that the new couple was completely happy now.

“Why did they take so long again?” asked Black Wolf in English since he knew Fighting Dog now preferred to speak that as much as possible to keep up with Porcupine Smiles.

“Mountain Lion Guides told me Owl Sees Truth wanted to have Mouse Daydreams move to her new home first. She wanted Mouse Daydreams to have time to know her new si…”

“…situation,” Black Wolf supplied.

“Yes. Si-chu-a-ton. And she wanted to move into the home of Mountain Lion Guides before the ceremony too.” Fighting Dog gave him a puzzled look as he finished. “Mountain Lion Guides said she wanted to enjoy her honey and moon.”

Black Wolf grinned. “Honeymoon.”

Fighting Dog arched an eyebrow. “What does that mean?”

“I’m not entirely sure, but the way White Swan explained it is that after the whites get married… the hand fasting part, then they have a dinner with their family and friends before they leave for a few suns or more. It’s the part when they leave that is called the honeymoon.”

“Yes, but where do they leave?”

Black Wolf shrugged. “The couple picks somewhere to go be alone for the time they decide on. White Swan says it is during that time that no one bothers the couple so that they can get used to being with each other.”

Fighting Dog looked at him for a few moments as he absorbed what Black Wolf had described. After a while he finally nodded. “I think I understand.”

Black Wolf chuckled. “I suppose we could ask White Swan to explain it some more. Maybe she can do so in Quedeyona so that we could understand better?”

Fighting Dog grinned. “I think we should ask.”

Black Wolf nodded his agreement just as they heard Jasper’s voice calling to them. “Howdy Black Wolf! Fighting Dog!”

The two of them turned to see Jasper walking up to them with a huge sack on his back. They rose to their feet with grins on their faces to match his. Black Wolf was the first to approach his friend. Greeting him in the traditional way by clasping his forearm.

“Hello Weasel Tracks, it is good to see you again.”

Jasper nodded as he greeted Fighting Dog too. “Same here. I hear another one o’ ya got hitched.”

They both looked baffled at his remark which made him laugh before he clarified with, “Hand-fasted.”

Black Wolf laughed as Fighting Dog answered. “Mountain Lion Guides did. To Owl Sees Truth, but I thought you called it mar-age?”

Jasper shrugged. “Tha correct term is marriage, but hitched is tha term some o’ those who don’ live in tha big towns call it.”

“I see,” replied Fighting Dog as he shook his head at Black Wolf. “Just when I think I am getting used to speaking, there is yet another change.”

Black Wolf simply grinned at Fighting Dog’s confusion over the constantly changing English language. What had Fighting Dog stumped the most was that there always seemed to be more than one word to describe an object where their language was much simpler than that.

He still wasn’t as good as Mountain Lion Guides and Black Wolf were, but then they did have a few years of schooling to back them up. It also helped Black Wolf to have White Swan who was fluent in both Quedeyona and English, making it easier for her to translate for him if the need arose. While Mountain Lion Guides had Owl Sees Truth, she had not learned Quedeyona until she recently joined the tribe. Still, he was very much ahead of Fighting Dog.

Black Wolf clapped his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “So, what brings you here, Weasel Tracks?”

Jasper patted the sack on his back before answering. “Got some goods I thought tha village might be interested in tradin’ for. I have my sled o’ things already parked beside tha council building, but I thought I’d look for your father so I ken have a word with him.”

“Something wrong?” asked Fighting Dog.

“Well I was recently tradin’ with another tribe when I noticed somethin’ strange ‘bout some o’ their behaviors. I figured when I got here, I’d run it by your father before I started gettin’ alarmed.”

Black Wolf nodded before turning to Fighting Dog. “Why don’t you take him to father while I put these things away? I’ll join you at the council building soon.”

Fighting Dog gave Black Wolf a quick nod before motioning for Jasper to follow him. Once they had set out, Black Wolf moved to put away the arrows, the wood and bank the fire.

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White Swan leaned back against Black Wolf’s leather-covered chest as the two of them sat beneath a tree not too far from the frozen vegetable garden. Reclining on a couple of bearskins with warm furs draped over their shoulders, this was the first day the two of them had been able to have some time to themselves since Mountain Lion Guides and Owl Sees Truth had been hand-fasted. There had been other days in which White Swan had been with Black Wolf, but there had always been someone else around.

Usually it was because all of the couples liked to spend time as a group since they were also all friends with each other. Then the times White Swan spent with Black Wolf at his place, her brother always seemed to be there too. White Swan had tried to hint to Black Wolf to send White Coyote on an errand or two so they could be alone, but White Coyote always seemed to find a way to put off the errand or returned too quickly.

White Swan knew her brother wasn’t thrilled about her being close to Black Wolf. He had hinted a time or two that he didn’t think it was a good thing for either of them to befriend any of the heathens, plus White Swan had gotten the impression that her brother thought the savages were beneath him. She hadn’t wanted to start any arguments with him since she had barely been reunited with him after all of these years, so she always steered their conversations to much safer topics.

Still, she was glad that she finally had the chance to just enjoy Black Wolf’s company and no one else’s at that moment. She smiled when Black Wolf curved an arm around her so that he could slide his hand into hers. Curling her fingers around his as their hands rested on her thigh, she leaned back to look up at him.

“This is nice,” she said.

He returned her smile. “Yes, it is. Finally some time to ourselves.”

She chuckled at that, happy that Black Wolf was on the same page as she was. “How much longer do you think your father and the others will be gone?”

She felt the slight rising and falling of his chest against her back, which indicated that Black Wolf had sighed. “I thought they would have returned by now.”

“Maybe the talks took longer than was planned?”

“Maybe,” replied Black Wolf.

They fell into silence as they each thought back to the day Jasper had come to the village with his news. Once Black Wolf had joined Fighting Dog, Jasper and Bright Wolf at the council building Jasper had told them what he had witnessed at the Danasga village.

By the time he had finished his story, Bright Wolf had agreed that Jasper should tell the entire council about it. He had sent Black Wolf and Fighting Dog to gather up the council members while he and Jasper remained in the building. By the time the sun had set, the council had heard Jasper’s story, then quickly made their decision.

According to Jasper, the Danasga tribe he had gone to trade with had not only been mistreating their slaves, but also their own women. Jasper had painted a very bleak picture of how any female in that village was treated as if they were creatures with no thoughts or choices.

Their own women were treated as if they were nothing more than property, abused just like the slaves were. Every female and slave had been poorly clothed, poorly cared for and allowed only scraps for meals. If one of them even so much as thought of standing up for themselves, they were whipped then chained inside a tent meant for the troublemakers.

Both Fighting Dog and Black Wolf had grimaced as Jasper told the story, knowing full well their own women would have been in that tent for as long as they survived that harsh treatment. Porcupine Smiles and White Swan were not women willing to be submissive, which was the reason why the brothers were so attracted to them.

Later, White Swan had proved Black Wolf’s thoughts were right when he met her outside the council building after Jasper’s recounting of the story. Word had gotten around the village that there was a council meeting which prompted most villagers to gather in front of the building to find out what it was about.

Once the council had heard the story, everyone else had left the building to allow the council to discuss what they should do. That is when Black Wolf had met White Swan outside, telling her what Jasper had said. Her reaction had been swift just like he had known it would be.

If it had been up to her, she would have gathered up as many warriors as she was allowed, then gone to put a stop to that atrocity. But she knew that the council had to decide not only what action to take, but if they should even get involved with another tribe’s business since it really had no effect on them.

Thankfully, the council was just as appalled as White Swan was since it didn’t take that long for them to call everyone back in to tell them what they had decided. They would be sending Bright Wolf and three other elders, as well as eight warriors to the Danasga tribe.

The four elders would then try to negotiate with the tribe in favor of better treatment of the women, while the eight warriors were there for the elders protection as well as hopefully making a statement to the Danasga about the seriousness of the issue. Once the plans were discussed and made, everyone was allowed to return to their homes for the night to prepare for their departure.

The very next morning, the small party of twelve had set out with Jasper’s directions to try and change things for the good among the Danasga tribe.

That had been nine suns ago.

According to Jasper, the Danasga tribe was only two suns ride from them. That meant it would have taken two suns to get there, one sun of talks, maybe two suns for helping the changes take place and other negotiations, then two suns for riding back.

But now on the ninth sun, there was no sign of them. There had not even been a messenger sent to the Quedeyona village to let them know the group would be taking longer than planned. And since the sun was now beginning to set, Black Wolf was beginning to get worried. He didn’t even have to outwardly show it for White Swan to know that. It was a given since she knew him so well now.

White Swan lifted their joined hands, teasing Black Wolf’s fingers with her own in an attempt to keep his mind off of things. For a few moments, Black Wolf watched as she moved the fingers of her free hand over their joined ones. He smiled as she lightly trailed her fingers from hers to his in no particular pattern, leaving tingling sensations in both of their hands.

Leaning over her, he pressed his lips against her temple as he gave her hand a light squeeze. She tilted her head back and to the side, giving him the perfect angle to cover her lips with his for a kiss.

As the kiss deepened, Black Wolf let go of her hand to wrap both arms around her waist. She lifted her now free hand, sliding it over his shoulder, then around to the back of his neck. His tongue slid into her mouth as her fingers began to tease the nape of his neck.

He tilted her back a little more as he savored the taste of her, using his shoulder and arm to hold her in the perfect position. Her fingers curled deeper into his hair as a small moan rose from her throat when his tongue began teasing hers.

Black Wolf was about to shift her in his lap so that she would be facing him when a cry sounded from the village. Immediately they broke from their kiss, turning to stare silently in the direction of the village. Moments later, they could hear several voices shouting that the group Bright Wolf was with had finally returned.

Without another word, White Swan scrambled out of Black Wolf’s lap, standing to brush the flurries off of her dress and knee-high moccasins. Black Wolf stood up and did the same to his clothes before taking her hand to lead her to the village at a run.

By the time they had reached the front of the village, they were besieged with different noises. Black Wolf slowed to a walk as he began to take in the chaos before him. Sounds of weeping and shouting reached their ears as White Swan peered around Black Wolf’s shoulder to see what had made him slow down.

The villagers were beginning to swarm around the returning party, or what was left of them. Black Wolf and White Swan could clearly see that only four of the warriors remained on their horses. Two more of the warriors were being escorted towards the healer’s building, while the last two warriors were laid out on travois, surrounded by some of the villagers.

It was clear from where the couple stood that it was too late to take those last two warriors to the healer’s building. Especially since the majority of the women surrounding them were in various stages of weeping, while the men wore forlorn looks on their faces.

The moment White Swan realized that they were dead, a chill traveled down her spine as she began sweeping her gaze around the rest of the crowd, looking for the four elders that had gone with the warriors. She immediately caught sight of one of them standing and talking with several council members in front of the council building. Quickly, she continued looking around for the last three.

Suddenly Black Wolf uttered a soft curse, which made her look up at him to see the look of horror on his face. She followed his gaze until she could see what had put that look there. Not too far from where she had spotted the one elder talking with the council, she saw Fighting Dog leaning over a travois while a tearful Porcupine Smiles stood nearby holding a weeping Gentle Otter in her arms.

A gasp of disbelief left White Swan’s lips a moment before Black Wolf let go of her hand to run towards the small group. White Swan was only a few steps behind him, but by the time she had reached the small group, Black Wolf was on his knees next to the travois, looking down at his father as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

Fighting Dog reached out to give Black Wolf’s shoulder a squeeze as tears began to well up in his eyes. Black Wolf reached out to place a hand on his father’s arm, continuing to stare down at him as if willing him to wake up from his sleep.

“Father,” came the soft, broken word. It was the only indication that Black Wolf was feeling any kind of remorse over seeing his father lying in death on the travois.

That word was enough for tears to flow from White Swan’s eyes as she too wrapped comforting arms around Gentle Otter, who was now depending on both young women to hold her up in her grief. White Swan glanced over to Porcupine Smiles to see that she was watching Fighting Dog, even as she held Gentle Otter. Porcupine Smiles turned to meet her friend’s watery gaze for a moment before returning to watch Fighting Dog, even as White Swan turned to watch Black Wolf.

Suddenly it seemed as if the noise around them had receded as they stood there next to the travois locked in their private grief, the only loud sound was that of Gentle Otter’s weeping. Fighting Dog stood behind Black Wolf, eyes full of tears that would never fall. Black Wolf knelt next to his father’s torn and bloody body with a myriad of emotions playing over his face, yet no tears fell from his eyes.

Then the sounds began to intrude once more as the shouts became clear.

“We should attack them for their rudeness!”


“They must be killed!”


“We cannot just rush off to kill them…”


“How dare they think they could do this!”


“We must not allow them to get away with this!”


“We cannot stoop to their level.”


“This means war!”


“We will discuss this..”

“What is there to discuss? They killed our people!”

In the next instant, Black Wolf schooled his expression into one that gave away none of his feelings, then squeezed his father’s arm before slowly rising to his feet. Turning towards the large group of protesters that had begun to surround some of the council elders, he began to calmly make his way to them.

As soon as he had managed to get close enough to the elders so that they could hear him, he spoke in a loud, clear voice. “I invoke the right to call the council to an emergency meeting right now.”

Slowly, the elders turned to look at him as others within the group began to take up his degree. Fighting Dog had followed his older brother and now stood next to him along with Mountain Lion Guides, repeating the words as the others were doing.

Within moments, the council began making their way towards the council building with several others in tow. Black Wolf turned to look in the direction of White Swan and the others as he spoke to Fighting Dog and Mountain Lion Guides.

“Mountain Lion Guides, escort our women in taking my mother home. Fighting Dog, could you enlist the help of some others to carry my father’s body to the healer’s building so that he may be prepared for the passing ceremony?”

Both men nodded before leaving to do what Black Wolf had asked. For his part, Black Wolf met White Swan’s eyes, silently telling her that he would talk to her later before he turned to follow the others towards the council building.

********************************************************

“We were taken to a tent so that we could talk with the elders who were the leaders of the village,” continued one of the two elders who’d gone to negotiate with the Danasga.

It was he, along with a second elder and the two warriors who had managed to return on horseback that were now recounting the entire episode to the council and to those who had been allowed into the council building. Black Wolf stood near the rest of the council members, listening to the account when Fighting Dog and Mountain Lion Guides eventually joined the rest of the crowd after completing their duties.

The elder was saying, “When we were all seated, Bright Wolf began to talk to them, asking them to change the way they treated their women and slaves. He worded it in such a way that there was no blame placed on the Danasga, nor would they feel that we were condemning them for their behavior.”

The second elder then continued. “Bright Wolf did not even get the chance to finish his talk when a few of the elders stood up and called for their warriors to seize us all and take us to the holding tent. There were only two of our warriors in the tent with us and they tried to protect us, but we were outnumbered.”

One of the warriors took it from there. “I was outside with the other five warriors when we heard the commotion from inside the tent. Before any of us had the chance to find out what was going on in there, we were set upon.”


“It was almost as if they had been waiting for us to do something wrong. They were more than prepared to attack us. We were ambushed then chased out of the village, but not before the damage had been done,” finished the second warrior.

The first elder spoke up again. “Since the two warriors with us tried to protect us, they were immediately disarmed and we were caught in the crossfire. Bright Wolf and Eagle Feather tried to stop the fighting, but were killed for their efforts.”


“By the time everyone came out of the tent, Bright Wolf, Eagle Feather, Panther Stalks and Running Buffalo’s cold bodies were being dragged out. These last two elders were still struggling against their captors as we tried to make our way to them,” added one of the warriors.

“But we were overpowered and forced out of the village. It was during that struggle that two more of the warriors were wounded, leaving only four to protect us and recover our fallen brethren,” said the first elder.

“We were able to recover all of the horses and those who had fallen. It took us a day to make the travois for the four fallen before we were able to make the journey back home,” explained the first warrior. “Plus it was slow traveling since we had two injured men, but even with the snow-covered ground, the Great Spirit allowed us to finally return to our home.”

Silence followed the end of their story for several long minutes before an uproar filled the room. It was quite evident from the angry voices that the Danasga needed to be taught a lesson. Drums sounded from behind the elders, signaling for the room to quiet down.

As soon as they were, Black Wolf stepped forward and waited for the elders to acknowledge him. When they did, he spoke in an even voice.

“Although I agree that we cannot just rush off and attack the Danasga no matter how much our hearts want revenge. We cannot forget the original reason why we sent the negotiation party in the first place. So, I must ask you all to think about how the Danasga reacted to the negotiation party’s simple words of concern about their behavior towards their women and slaves. If they were this violent to simple, peaceful words from outsiders then how do we think they really treat those that live with them? I cannot in good conscious stand here and allow this kind of brutality go unanswered. I cannot just stand here while those innocent women and slaves could be in serious danger of losing their lives.”

Mountain Lion Guides stepped forward to back up Black Wolf’s words. “I second that. We must think about those that remain with the Danasga. If they are being treated as badly as Weasel Tracks told us, then we must do something about it. The council agreed to send a negotiation party to see if things could be solved peacefully. Clearly it was the wrong thing to do. Now, we must take the next step.”

One of the council members stood up with a nod of his head. “I agree that we must take that next step. Clearly we cannot just have peaceful talks with them. As far as I can see, we must now attempt to free the women and slaves from that horrible existence using a more forceful option.”

As more people came forward to raise their voices in favor, the drums sounded once more when the head elder stood up with his hands in the air. Once silence descended again, he spoke to the room.

“We have heard all of your concerns and will now discuss our next move. Rest assured that we will not allow those women and slaves to remain in such undesirable conditions for that long. The council will now discuss what we will do, then reconvene with all of you when we have made a decision.”

**********************************************

Brown Skunk scowled as she narrowed her eyes in the direction of the healer’s building. Black Wolf and his family had entered a few moments ago along with the pale-faces that kept company with them. Now that Bright Wolf was dead, she knew Black Wolf would be named the new chief of the tribe, yet he still had not been hand-fasted to a woman.

And if Brown Skunk had anything to say about it, that woman would be her.

There would be no way that she would allow that pale-face slave to take what was rightfully hers. Brown Skunk had hoped there would be some time for the brother of White Swan to earn enough bounty to free himself, then take that little po’tik with him, some place far away where Black Wolf would never see her again.

Unfortunately, Bright Wolf had to go and get himself killed before that could happen, which meant Black Wolf would now be chief. Not only that, but the council would insist that he quickly hand-fast himself to a woman so that they could produce a son to continue the line of chiefs in the tribe. Since depending on the brother was no longer a good option, Brown Skunk had to come up with another way to get the pale-faced po’tik away from Black Wolf so that she could become the new chief’s woman.

She could use her feminine wiles on her father to make him go to the council where he could demand that they force Black Wolf to become hand-fasted to his daughter, but that didn’t ensure that the pale-faced slave would be gone. No, Brown Skunk knew that in order to have Black Wolf all to herself, she needed to find a way to rid the village of the slave known as White Swan, once and for all.

Just as that last thought went through her head, she spied White Swan leaving the healer’s building alone. Brown Skunk watched her walk away until she suddenly noticed that she was not the only one watching the slave’s retreat.

Standing in the shade of the council building, slightly hidden from view, was Badger Snaps. And the look on his face as he watched White Swan walk away gave Brown Skunk all the information she needed to devise another plan to make sure that Black Wolf would never give White Swan the chance to become his woman. Yes, once the deed was done, Black Wolf would never look at White Swan again.

A/N: The made-up Quedeyona word "po'tik" translates into English as the word one woman calls another woman whom she thinks is stealing her man. Hint: it rhymes with witch. :-P