Hiram could scarcely breathe, his fear was so intense. He stared in horrified fascination at the panther as it continued to rest on a limb, its green eyes watching Hiram.
Hiram started to draw his pistol, but stopped, feeling faint at what he now saw.
The panther was no longer there. It had changed right before Hiram’s eyes into a man. And not just any man, but a powerful Indian warrior. He, not the panther, leapt from the tree and started walking toward Hiram.
Hiram gasped aloud. He had actually seen thetransformation of the animal into the powerful Seminole chief.
And then, once again, before his very eyes, the chief turned back into the panther, stalking now as it continued toward Hiram.
When it let out a loud screech, filling the air with the threat of the panther’s cry, Hiram cried out in stark fear. He grabbed at his chest when sudden pain shot through his heart.
As he crumpled down onto his knees, the panther turned back once again into a man, who now stood directly in front of Hiram, so close that Hiram could reach out and touch him. Hiram cried out with pain as he collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath. His already weakened heart could not withstand the shock of what he had witnessed.
Wolf Dancer stood tall over the dead body.
He stared at Hiram for a brief moment, then smiled up at the sun and thanked the Sun God for helping to mete out justice.
He gazed at Hiram again, feeling nothing but loathing for him and the evil he had done. Then he turned and ran toward the river.
He boarded his canoe and headed for home.
He had slipped away from his village in the morning fog as Lavinia and his people slept peacefully.
Lavinia had no idea that the man she would soon marry was even more mysteriously magical than their people’s shaman.
Wolf Dancer recalled the one time he had mentioned the panther to her. He had changed the subject so quickly, he didn’t think she suspected thetruth. He knew she had seen the panther several times, then seen him in its place, but he sensed that she did not know whether to believe her eyes.
As he continued drawing his paddle through the water, Wolf Dancer thought more about what his woman might think if she knew his secret. Should he ever share it with the woman he loved?
He shrugged and decided there and then that he would not tell her or anyone else.
With Hiram’s death, the secret remained Wolf Dancer’s and his shaman’s.
He heard the cry of a black panther in the distance and was tempted to answer its call, but knew he had best leave it be.
He needed no panther searching him out in the night to mate. That made him smile, for there was only one mate for Wolf Dancer, and that was beautiful, sweet Lavinia!
Chapter Thirty-two
As happy a man as any in the world,
For the whole world seems to smile upon me.
—Samuel Pepys
Still somewhat unnerved by all that had happened the night before, Lavinia had not slept well.
She had realized that Wolf Dancer had had his own trouble sleeping when she had awakened during the night and found him gone. She had been tempted to go outside and sit with him under the stars, for that was where she thought he had gone. But she had decided not to.
She felt that he had much to sort out in his mind.
He had brought a woman, her daughter, and her two special friends into his life and village, and now he had many former slaves who had come to the village as well.
When Lavinia had awakened this morning as the sun crept through her window, she had discovered that Wolf Dancer was still gone.
But this time she thought he must be instructing his warriors about how many new huts should be built for the freed slaves and their families.
Also today the harvest would be finalized.