Letters To Callie by Dawn Miller

Author:Dawn Miller
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 2001-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

Fourteen

Jack felt like the whole world had turned Indian as he reined in Big Black and watched the massive war party that he followed leave the bluffs and spill out onto the plain. No book, no words he’d ever read could do the scene justice; line after line of Blackfoot warriors with horses that bore war paint on their shoulders and haunches moving across the wide swatch of land, black hair gleaming in the sun, painted faces and fringed finery stitched with scalp locks, teeth, or claws, their plumed lances waving in the wind. Some had shields and most had guns, but it wasn’t the weapons, he thought, it was the power of the scene, of viewing so many together — and knowing few whites had — that made him feel as if he could only be dreaming it all.

But it wasn’t a dream. He was riding with them and the very thought made him feel big and small at the same time. Out of the corner of his eye, Jack caught a lone rider pull away from the group and come riding toward him. He nudged Big Black into a trot to meet him. Even from a distance, he knew the rider was Lone Elk. The haughty grin was hard to miss in spite of the broad slashes of paint on the warrior’s face.

“Haiya!” Lone Elk called in greeting. “My young men, they worry you will not keep up.” Just as the translator finished, his grin widened. “I told them you are not as puny as you look.”

So, it was starting already, Jack thought grimly. Medicine Weasel had warned him the warriors would not go easy on him. He had no doubt this was only the beginning, but he smiled anyway. As he knew, there was always more than one way to play poker.

“Tell him the puny one will keep up,” Jack told the translator with unconcealed sarcasm. “Tell him the Above Ones take pity on me today.”

As he finished, Jack saw a flicker of surprise, then respect enter the warrior’s eyes beneath the shadow of his buffalo headdress.

“It is good they do,” Lone Elk said, ending with a dismissive motion to show he was through. But Jack didn’t miss the eagerness in the Blackfoot’s eyes for what was to come, and as the warrior headed back to his men, Jack felt his own blood run swift with the promise of it as well. You’ve thrown down the challenge, now let’s just see if I don’t meet it, Jack thought with a fierce kind of resolve.

Jack briefly touched the necklace Medicine Weasel gave him then spurred Big Black on to catch up with Lone Elk and the rest of the party. Medicine Weasel had told him it gave the wearer strong medicine, that no brave took the war trail without good medicine for fear he would lose his courage. He had no thoughts of losing his courage, but he rubbed the brass horse in between his fingers once more just the same.

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