“Who would do this?” she whispered, aware now just how badly she had been bitten. The bites had turned into red welts on her flesh, burning as if someone had touched her skin with a hot poker.
Then it came to her who had to be responsible. There was only one person who hated her enough to want to cause her such discomfort.
Hawk Woman.
Surely while Candy was away from the tepee bidding Two Eagles good-bye, the spiteful woman had placed the bullhorn plant, with its ants, in Candy’s bed.
Trying not to focus on the terrible bites, Candy angrily tossed the bullhorn plant outside and then picked up the blanket where many of the ants were still crawling and went to Hawk Woman’s lodge.
Candy didn’t announce herself but instead went inside and dropped the blanket at Hawk Woman’s feet. Some of the ants rushed from the safety of the blanket onto Hawk Woman.
As they crawled up her bare legs, Hawk Woman swatted at them, crying out when they bit her.
“Yes, the bites sting, don’t they?” Candy said bitterly. She placed her fists on her hips. “Will you stop at nothing to make my stay here at the village uncomfortable? Don’t you know that nothing you do can discourage me from staying? I will never leave Two Eagles. And why can’t you realize that Two Eagles doesn’t love you? He’s going to marry me. Do you hear? Me!”
Hawk Woman brushed the blanket and ants aside and stood quickly. She leaned her face into Candy’s. “Never,” she hissed. “Do . . . you . . . hear me? Two Eagles is never going to marry you.” She smiled wickedly. “I’ll make certain of that. Someday, some way, you will see who the true winner is.”
“You are a demented woman,” Candy said as Hawk Woman’s warning sent ice through her veins.
She slowly backed away from Hawk Woman, then made a quick turn and left.
She stopped, trembling now from the burning sting of the bites as well as from the fear that came with her enemy’s threats.
Yes, Hawk Woman was an enemy, and something had to be done about her once and for all!
But for now, all Candy could think about was how badly the welts hurt her.
She rushed to Crying Wolf’s lodge and spoke his name outside. She was relieved when he drew aside the entrance flap right away.
“Come inside,” he said in his kind, soft voice. “Sit by the fire. Tell me, how did you get those bites?”
Candy stepped past him, then sat down on a thick cushion of pelts beside his lodge fire. She held her arms out for him to examine.
“Ant bites,” he said, then questioned her with his old, pale brown eyes. “How did you get them? These are from ants that live in bullhorn plants. Did you accidentally rub up against one?”
Candy didn’t want to whine, to complain about Hawk Woman to the shaman.
“Yes, that’s what I did,” Candy murmured, not actually telling a lie, for she had rubbed against the bullhorn that had been “planted” in her bed!
“You now know how painful these ants are, so you must be more careful around them,” Crying Wolf said kindly. “Many of my people, especially children, have come to me with such bites. I know how to medicate them. By nightfall much of the swelling and sting will be gone.”
“Thank you,” Candy said.
She sat there quietly as he ministered to her while her mind kept seeing the spiteful look in Hawk Woman’s eyes. She tried not to shudder when she recalled her evil laughter. She had never met anyone like Hawk Woman before, which gave her enemy an advantage over her.
But she would not let such a woman get the best of her.
“There you go,” Crying Wolf said, drawing Candy’s attention back to him. “You should already be feeling better.”
Candy was aware that the white cream he had spread over her bites had taken a lot of the sting from them already. She smiled as he put his medicinal vials back inside his huge bag.
“Thank you so much,” she said. “You seem to know how to work miracles.”
“That is why I am my people’s shaman,” Crying Wolf said, smiling broadly. “It pleases me to know that I have been able to help you.”
Candy rose to her feet. “I feel strangely sleepy,” she said, yawning.
“In the ointment that I placed on your burns is an herb that makes one relax,” Crying Wolf said, standing and taking her gently by the arm. “Do you need assistance to your lodge?”