White Dusk by Susan Edwards

Author:Susan Edwards
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Carina Press
Published: 2011-08-28T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Small Bird rode for what seemed like hours. The storm continued to unleash its power, as if in retaliation for the battle taking place somewhere behind her. As she had so many times she’d lost count, she glanced over her shoulder. Where was Swift Foot? Was he all right? She also thought about her brother. And her father. And the others.

Shortly after leaving camp, they’d headed away from the river, which flowed deeper and faster from the rain. The land rose, then fell into shallow gullies that were starting to fill with water, then rose again up and out of them to become more flatland. Finally, when Small Bird feared she’d fall asleep on her horse, the group stopped at the ridge of a deep, dark ravine. The rain had stopped, but the moon had not returned. They made their way carefully.

The two warriors riding on either side of her dismounted and rolled away three huge boulders. To Small Bird’s surprise, a hidden path led down into a chasm. One of the warriors remounted and urged his horse first down the trail.

Small Bird urged her mount forward to watch his progress as he skillfully made his way down the side of the ravine. At the bottom he rode off. They waited in silence. A few minutes later he returned and signaled.

The warrior beside her nodded. “It is safe. Go, wife of my chief.”

The rain had slicked the earth. The path looked treacherous. Small Bird took a deep breath. Huge boulders on either side of the trail made the cleared area just wide enough for her animal. As the rest of the ravine was rocky, this one path seemed out of place; she realized that Swift Foot’s warriors had cut it.

“Go now,” the warrior behind her said.

Small Bird nodded and gently coaxed her mare to descend. The horse slipped halfway on the slick ground but quickly regained its footing. It faltered once more before they reached level ground. At last safe, Small Bird let out a huge sigh of relief and glanced around. The moon had come out of the clouds once more.

Tall cottonwoods grew along yet another river. Although narrower than the stream they’d camped along that morning, this one looked deeper. She moved onward, following the warrior ahead of her. Drenched and sick with worry, Small Bird tried to keep her attention on the rock-strewn ground. She hated not knowing what was happening with Swift Foot and the rest of the men.

Behind her, women, children and the elderly or maimed continued to descend into the hidden valley. Their horses’ hooves churned up the narrow path, turning it into a sticky quagmire, and the long journey had shortened tempers of both beast and human. Children fretted and bickered, mothers snapped, dogs whined and horses tossed their heads in protest. The two warriors in charge sent fierce looks to everyone to reinforce the need for silence. The enemy could be near.

A collective gasp behind Small Bird made her stop and look back.

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