Night Wind's Woman by Shirl Henke

Author:Shirl Henke [Henke, Shirl]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, General, Historical, Fiction
ISBN: 9780843945072
Google: 6BOCPwAACAAJ
Amazon: 0843945079
Publisher: Leisure Books
Published: 1991-01-02T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

The weather had warmed a bit, hinting of spring. Santiago and two other youths, Swallow Hawk and Yellow Deer, decided on a great adventure.

“I thought the caves were forbidden. My sister told me a fearful tale about them,”

Santiago said, remembering Orlena’s story about falling through the ground.

“We do not go south, but north. I know a place where grass is plentiful. Great sheep with the round horns abound. They are easy to kill. Their meat is sweet and juicy,” Yellow Deer said. Being sixteen to the other two youths’ mere thirteen, he carried the day.

In the afternoon, Night Wind noticed that Santiago was missing, as were the fleet bay pony he had given the boy, and his bow and arrows. Half fearful the youth had tried to escape once more, he sought out White Crane, who often oversaw the boy’s activities.

“Those young rascals took off on a hunt of their own, I would bet. Swallow Hawk and Yellow Deer are gone, too. Best you follow them lest harm befall. She Who Dreams had a vision of a bear last night. I do not like it.”

A few questions of the women washing clothing by the stream gave him their direction. Quickly he picked up a trail. After a few hours, Night Wind’s annoyance turned to genuine concern. The foolish boys had headed toward a cave infested stretch of mountains, not the below ground caverns to the south where the earth gave way, but dangerous enough if they were tempted into one of the openings in the hillsides.

Just then his worst fears were realized. Warpaint began to shy and prance nervously. Only two things affected the seasoned horse soa puma or a bear.

Pumas were creatures of the night and seldom attacked men unless they were starving. Spring meant the end of a winter of sleep for the bears in their lairs.

Such hungry giants were deadly.

Santiago and his companions had just found out how true that was. A large black bear was peacefully fishing in a stream when the boys crashed through the woods, stumbling on him completely unawares. Although Swallow Hawk managed to hold his seat on his pony, Yellow Deer’s bolted out of control and Santiago was dumped to earth a scant few yards from the frightened and foul-tempered beast.

Landing on his back with the wind knocked from him, he struggled to sit up and reach for an arrow, only to find his bow was still attached to the galloping bay’s blanket strap. His arrows were spilled across the ground. Quickly he pulled a small knife from his belt, woefully underarmed for the confrontation. Swallow Hawk let fly two arrows, wounding and further enraging the animal without even slowing his shambling approach to the crouching boy.

Santiago knew with a sweep of his eye that there was no refuge in the stream or the brushy woods on its bank. Bears were surprisingly fleet for such clumsy-looking beasts, and they even climbed trees! He stood and readied himself for the deadly claws as the animal reared up on its hind legs and swatted.

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