Savage Flames

—Robert Graves

As soon as the canoes touched the shore of Mystic Island, Wolf Dancer gathered Lavinia in his arms and ran through the thick vegetation.

He couldn’t believe that the gods had crossed his path with hers in such a way. He had thought about her so often, and so badly wanted her to be his.

He knew her snakebite could be lethal, but he would not believe that he had just received her into his arms only to lose her to death’s grip. He had lost his precious bride to the jaws of an alligator after they’d spent only one night together as man and wife. He would not even consider losing this woman.

As soon as he reached the outskirts of the vil lage, Wolf Dancer took Lavinia to Shining Soul’s hut.

He hurried inside with his precious unconscious burden still snugly held against his powerful chest, his muscled arms holding her securely.

Joshua and Twila ran into the lodge behind Wolf Dancer, but stopped just inside the door when they saw Shining Soul rise to his feet.

“She is suffering from a snakebite,” Wolf Dancer explained. He gently placed Lavinia on a thick pallet of furs near the softly burning fire in the center of the room.

“What is her name?” Shining Soul asked as he reached for his bag of medicines, stopping only long enough to put on his magic owl hat. He would need all the magic he could conjure up this time, for the woman looked as though she might already be too near death to save.

“Lavinia,” Wolf Dancer said. “Her name is Lavinia Price. She is the mistress of the huge, pillared white plantation house that I told you about. The woman and her husband moved into it not so long ago.”

“If she has a husband, why did you not take her to him?” Shining Soul asked, casting Wolf Dancer a half glance as he positioned himself beside Lavinia. “Would not her husband have wanted to care for her?”

“Her husband no longer lives,” Wolf Dancer said thickly. “But were he still alive, I would still have brought her to you for your special medicines. I do not believe a white man’s medicine would be able to save her from such a bite as this. I have faith in you, only you, Shining Soul.”

“I will do as my magic allows me to do,” Shining Soul said, already preparing powdered sumac leavesand the root of the pallaganghy together in one of his wooden vials.

He poured some warm water into the mixture and stirred, then gently began applying the concoction to Lavinia’s open wound.

Not planning to leave the side of the woman anytime soon, Wolf Dancer sat down and folded his legs before him. He wanted to be there should she awaken, to make certain she was not afraid of her surroundings.

His eyes never left Lavinia as he watched for movement beneath her lids that might be a sign she was awakening. It was important for her to awaken soon, or she might not wake again, ever.

He worried when she continued to sleep soundly, and he noticed how pale she had become since the snakebite.

Although she was a white woman with golden hair and pale skin, when he had first seen her he had observed that she had been slightly tanned by the sun. Obviously she often worked outside beneath the sun in her garden of flowers.

He had noticed those brown dots across the bridge of her nose that he knew whites called “freckles.” He found them fascinating and thought they seemed to make Lavinia look more innocent and beautiful.

Joshua and Twila stood just inside the door. Joshua gently clasped Twila’s small hand.

“Pappy, why does that strange-looking Indian wear an owl on his head?” Twila whispered only loudly enough for her father to hear. “And look at hisstrange rob

e. It looks like something made by magic with drawings of things you only see in the sky.”

“As for the owl, I sees it as a magic owl,” Joshua whispered back as he leaned down closer to Twila’s ear.

He did not want to disturb the magic of the shaman, magic that had worked very well on Joshua himself.

“I was told by Wolf Dancer, when I asked him about the owl hat, that the owl is the Seminole symbol for a doctor,” Joshua explained. “Just watch him, Twila. You will see a man of infinite wisdom and patience. I have never felt a touch as gentle as Shining Soul’s. If anyone can save our Lavinia, he’s de one.”

“You do think Lavinia is going to live?” Twila asked, still seeing how quietly her mistress lay.

Twila’s eyes widened when she saw what the old shaman was applying to the wound. It looked like the chalk that she and Dorey had used when they played school.

Dorey. Tears sprang to Twila’s eyes to think she’d never see her best friend in the world again! She hated the thought of those two boys mistreating Dorey!

“Daughter, we bes’ leave now,” Joshua said, his eyes wide as he watched Shining Soul.

The shaman was cleaning the roots of reeds and mashing them into a pulp. He then placed the pulp on Lavinia’s wound to draw out foreign substances from it.