Savage Beloved

No. There was no point in terrifying herself. She was thankful when the wolves went quiet.

Now realizing just how foolish it was to be so far from the village alone, Candy started to turn around, but realized that there was no clear path back to the village.

She had lost her way!

With fear like a cold poker in her belly, she stared up at the lowering sun.

Soon it would be dark.

Surely Two Eagles would return to his tepee and discover her missing. Yet he was so busy with duties to his dead uncle, he might not return to his lodge until long after dark.

A chill rode her spine at the thought of spending time alone in the dark. At any moment she could become food for some wild animal.

Frantically she looked around her. She had to find something she recognized, some landmark that could help lead her back the way she’d come. Yet nothing looked familiar to her.

Nothing!

Near tears, Candy fell to her knees beside a stream.

She splashed water on her face, then flinched when she heard the snapping of a twig behind her.

Frozen with fear, she turned her head slowly. She almost fainted when she saw an Indian that she knew wasn’t one of Two Eagles’s warriors.

He was like something from a nightmare, grotesque in appearance. His bare head was badly scarred, and she could see that a part of his scalp was gone.

His only weapon was a sheathed knife and he wasn’t threatening her with it, only resting his hand on it as he silently studied her.

Candy slowly stood up. She tried to hide her fear as she held her chin bravely high.

She jumped with alarm when he finally spoke to her, but felt slightly reassured when he used English as good as Two Eagles and his people spoke.

“My name is Spotted Bear,” he said slowly, as if it had been a long time since he had spoken. “I am Wichita, a warrior banished by my tribe.”

Hearing that he was Wichita, not Sioux, who were the fiercest Indians in the area, gave Candy some hope.

Surely if this man was Wichita, he knew Two Eagles.

Yet could it have been Two Eagles who had banished him from the tribe?

If so, why?

Had he done something deplorable which caused his banishment?

But no matter why he was no longer able to be with his people, she knew that she must try to get on his good side.

“My name is Candy,” she murmured, purposely not telling him her last name. The name Creighton was anathema to those who knew her father and of his evil doings against redskins.

She saw the same puzzled reaction that always came from those who heard her name for the first time.

“Are you one of the Eagle band?” she blurted out. “Do you by chance know Two Eagles?”

The look in his eyes told Candy that he did recognize the name, and he soon confirmed it.

“Two Eagles was from my band, but we have not seen one another for some time,” he said. “I am not welcome among my people any longer, for I am known now to all red men as a Ghost, one who is no longer seen as a living man.”

“What?” Candy gasped, surprised that he would tell her something so personal. She was relieved that he was being kind, not threatening, to her.

“Why are you called a Ghost?” she quickly added. “Did you do something wrong that caused your people to banish you? Is that why you are called a Ghost?”