If Two Eagles arrived home before she did, she would just have to face what he might do when he discovered where she had gone.
This time, if he asked, she would tell him the truth about Spotted Bear and her association with him.
Knowing that she had the freedom now to come and go as she pleased, Candy rushed from the tepee, the rifle in her right hand.
She stopped and looked slowly around her. Thus far no one had noticed her. The women were busy with chores, as were the men. And the children were engrossed in play and noticed nothing except their friends.
Candy glanced over at Hawk Woman’s tepee. She had been hiding inside it ever since she’d heard about the new family of white settlers that had moved into the area. She had truly become alarmed when she learned that the children of the family were brazen enough to steal wood from an Indian village. The children the Mormon family had been that brazen, forced to behave so by a father who stopped at nothing to get what he wanted.
With all these things swirling inside Candy’s mind, she hoped she would not regret leaving the safe confines of the village.
“Let’s go,” she said, giving Shadow a quick pat. “You lead. I’ll follow.”
She hurried to the corral and saddled the horse that was now hers.
Soon she was riding from the village, ignoring the eyes of the sentries on her.
Letting Shadow lead the way, Candy was soon certain that he was taking her to Spotted Bear’s home.
“I hope I’m doing the right thing,” Candy whispered to herself. She sucked in a nervous breath as she sank her moccasined heels into the flanks of her horse.
She would worry about the possibilities of what might happen to her later. She owed Spotted Bear. He had saved her from harm when he found her lost and scared. She must do what she could to help him if he was in trouble.
She nudged her steed with her knees, urging the mare to a faster pace. She did not think any m
ore about herself and what might happen as a result of her actions today.
She could only envision Spotted Bear and how pitiful he’d looked after being scalped and left for dead.
And now?
Was he ill?
Or had he been injured?
She would soon know, for she was seeing many things that looked familiar to her now. She was close to where Spotted Bear made his home.
Finally she was there.
As she rode up to the tepee nestled deep in a thicket of cottonwood trees, she saw the pack of wolves lying outside his entrance flap.
They all jumped up and gazed at her, then went and snuggled close to Shadow, whom they were obviously welcoming in a loving way.
Candy felt absolutely safe among the wolves, even the white wolf, as she hurried inside the tepee and found him lying almost dutifully at Spotted Bear’s side. Spotted Bear lay on a thick cushion of pelts beside his fire pit, but the wood had burned all the way down to gray ashes.
“Lord,” she whispered to herself when she saw how flushed Spotted Bear’s face was, and how relieved he was to see her.
She could tell that the man was burning up with fever.
She immediately knew that he needed medicine, yet how could she get it for him?
“How . . . did . . . you know that I am ill?” Spotted Bear asked, reaching a trembling hand toward Candy.
She took it, flinching when she felt the heat of his flesh against hers. “Shadow came for me,” she said. “She sensed how ill you were and . . . came . . . for my help.”
“Leave,” Spotted Bear said thickly, his brown eyes pleading with her. “Do . . . not . . . involve yourself . . . in my life. It . . . would . . . not be good for you. You already . . . know . . . that. I explained it to you.”
“But I can’t leave without helping you first,” Candy said, holding his hand.