Savage Heat by Cassie Edwards

Author:Cassie Edwards [Edwards, Cassie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-01-21T22:00:29+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Three

Best and brightest, come away

Which like thee to those in sorrow

Comes to bid a sweet good-morrow.

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Attired in buckskin, White Shadow sat tall and straight on a thick layer of soft pelts spread over the ground. "Are you comfortable enough?" he asked as he leaned closer to Zoe.

Her toe throbbing, Zoe squirmed on the pelts she was sharing with White Shadow. She gave him a nervous smile. "As comfortable as I can be under the circumstances," she said.

Her aching toe was not Zoe's only problem. She was apprehensive about being among the Kiowa. White Shadow's people were sitting on the ground on all sides of her outside a large domed house made of bark and buckskin. He had already explained to her that the large lodge was the village council house, and that it was where the rabbit ceremony was to be performed tonight.

Large torches made of bundles of grass were stuck in the ground all around the council house. They burned brightly, shedding their light inside the lodge, where the buckskin sides were rolled halfway up from the ground so that the people could see the activity inside.

Earlier Zoe had watched several young boys file into the council house, followed by someone a few years older. Black Beak. White Shadow had told Zoe that his cousin was going to be a figure of authority tonight during the ceremony.

"Black Beak plays the role of the bull tonight during the Rabbit Dance," White Shadow said as the children inside the lodge began to sing and dance. "As you see, Zoe, Black Beak carries a whip and a knife. He has the power tonight to strike a child or cut his hair if any do not cooperate with the rules of the dance."

"That seems a bit harsh," Zoe said, hoping Black Beak wouldn't take advantage of his powers tonight.

"Rarely does a child have to be punished, for they enjoy the ceremony too much," White Shadow said, his head slightly nodding as he kept time with the children's singing. "Every child belongs to the Kasowe or Rabbit Society. As soon as the child is old enough to take part in the dancing, he joins this group. This society provides an opportunity for Kiowa youngsters to become acquainted from an early age and to form bonds of friendship that often endure throughout their lives."

He smiled. "My friendship with my best friend Lightning Flash began during my very first Rabbit Society meeting," he said proudly.

"What are the children doing now?" Zoe asked, her eyebrows lifting when she saw Black Beak take one of the children from the group. "Why is Black Beak urging that child to place his hands up by the sides of his head?"

"Look carefully." White Shadow said, leaning closer to Zoe. "Do you not see rabbit ears when you look at the other children and the way they hold their hands up by the sides of their heads? That is what Black Beak is teaching the young brave. And watch the other children closely.

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