Wild Desire

Hooves clicked over rocks as Thunder Hawk guided the horses carefully between the rocks. It was now dark. The way was hazardous in the murky black of night.

Finally the floor of the canyon lifted and widened. Thunder Hawk came to his private corral on the grassy floor of the canyon. Happy over his latest catch, he led the gelding in with the others, then secured the pole corral and stood and proudly watched his small herd for a while.

Thunder Hawk silently counted the number of horses that were now his. He smiled when he discovered that he had enough to win the hand of Sky Dancer, the lovely maiden of his heart who lived in a neighboring Navaho camp. She was beautiful and petite, and knew well the art of weaving. She would make an excellent wife.

His smile widened and his eyes took on a slow gleam. Marrying Sky Dancer would be convenient to him in many ways. One major convenience was that once he was married, surely schooling would no longer be forced on him. His parents would see that he was a man who was ready to take on the chores of caring for a wife.

“They will have no choice but to accept my new status in life,” Thunder Hawk whispered to himself as he swung up into the saddle and began riding back in the direction of his village. “What will be done, will be done.”

He and Sky Dancer would be married before anyone of his village knew or could stop them. Surely no one would try and make him and Sky Dancer take their vows away from each other once they were spoken.

His shoulders squared, feeling important with his ownership of many horses and his plans to take a wife, Thunder Hawk scarcely realized that there was someone else riding in the path of the light of the half moon. His thoughts dwelled on Sky Dancer.

Soon. He would have her soon.

Suddenly Thunder Hawk was aware of the approaching horseman. He swallowed hard, always fearing being caught while on his nocturnal outings. Although tonight’s catch was safely in his secret corral, he could not shake off the feeling of fear that came with running across a stranger in the night. His hand went instinctively to his sheathed knife, then his hand relaxed and his eyes widened when he recognized the horseman.

“Big brother?” he whispered, then rode on ahead and made a wheeling stop beside Runner’s stallion.

“Thunder Hawk, what are you doing so far from home?” Runner asked, raising an eyebrow. “Do you know that you give both Mother and Father cause to worry when you disappear for so long?”

Thunder Hawk had always prepared himself for such a surprise confrontation. He lifted his chin and squared his shoulders with confidence. “Thunder Hawk rides alone at night, the only time I feel the true freedom that my ancestors once knew,” he said solemnly. “Do you not feel it, also, my brother? The feel of the wind? The quiet of the night? And the touch of something invisible all around you in the night? It is these things that bring me out on my horse, alone. And you? Why are you here? What has taken you away from your hogan?”

“There was a council held at Damon Stout’s ranch,” Runner said stiffly. “I was in attendance.”

“You were at Damon’s ranch tonight?” Thunder Hawk said, his eyes widening. Then an icy fear crept over him. Should this have been last night, his very own brother might have caught him sneaking around Damon’s corral, weakening the poles.

“Why were you at Damon’s, Runner?” he said. “What would you have to say to Damon Stout? He is not a friend to sit and smoke with.”

“Hardly,” Runner said, chuckling low. He reached over and gave his brother a pat on his shoulder. “And if not for one thing that happened at the Stout ranch, I would have seen this, for the most part, as a waste of your brother’s time.”

“What could happen there that was good?” Thunder Hawk scoffed. “Anything to do with that man has to be deceitful.”

Runner’s smile faded, not wanting to think on any possible deceits that might be attached to Stephanie. He wanted her to be separate from any dealings with Adam and Damon. Yet he knew why she was in Arizona Territory, and that, in itself, was a deceit to the Navaho.

Not wanting to think about it anymore this evening, much less talk about it, Runner again gave his brother a pat on the shoulder. “Enough talk tonight,” he said. “You need to have some rest. You have to think about having a clear mind when you attend school.”

“School,” Thunder Hawk said in a hiss. “I hate school.”

“If you would allow yourself, you could find your studies interesting,” Runner said. He sank his heels into the flanks of his horse, urging it into a gentle lope. He looked over at Thunder Hawk, riding alongside him.

“Little brother, do you not enjoy learning about geography, and how it is in other countries?” he said. “I found it fascinating. Imagine being on a huge ship in a wide body of water headed for the place called England. Do you not think that it would be interesting to see how they treat their Indians? To see if they steal their land and kill their buffalo? In my studies, the teacher did not reveal these things to me.”

“You are a dreamer,” Thunder Hawk scolded. “Mother placed too many ‘dream catchers’ on your bed when you were a child.”

Runner gave Thunder Hawk a frustrated, annoyed look, then galloped hard away from him.

Dreams. What did his younger brother know about dreams? He did not even know yet how to accept the reality of life!

As the moon spilled in through the open window beside her bed in the private car, Stephanie tossed and turned, pulling the satin sheet one way, and then the other. First she would lie in one position, and then another.

His kiss. His arms. How on earth was she expected to go to sleep while remembering being with Runner so vividly?

Shaking her hair back from her shoulders, Stephanie sat up in her bed and sighed. “I just can’t go to sleep,” she groaned.

Stepping lightly from the bed onto a plushly thick carpet, she slid her feet into slippers and slipped into a silk robe. Tying it at the waist, she moved sleepily toward her darkroom. She would busy her hands by putting her photographic equipment into various satchels. She would tire herself out so much that she would have to go to sleep. It was important to get her needed rest. She and Adam would be on their horses for many hours tomorrow. She wanted to get as many photographs of the scenery as possible before someone attempted to stop her.