Savage Illusions

"Double Run­ner, se­cu­re Two Rid­ges on yo­ur hor­se," he sa­id, his vo­ice so­lemn. He ga­zed at one of his ot­her war­ri­ors. "Wolf Ta­il, go and find his hor­se. Ta­ke it and the Cree's with you to the vil­la­ge." Not wa­iting for Two Rid­ges to be se­cu­red on the hor­se, his every he­ar­t­be­at co­un­ting the mi­nu­tes un­til he saw Jole­na aga­in, Spot­ted Eag­le swung his hor­se aro­und and be­gan thun­de­ring thro­ugh the fo­rest. He was glad when he re­ac­hed the open spa­

ces of a me­adow, gi­ving him mo­re fre­edom to send his hor­se in­to a hard gal­lop.

As the sun was rep­la­ced in the sky by a ro­und glo­be of mo­on, Spot­ted Eag­le ca­ught the ref­lec­ti­on of a fi­re in the black vel­vet sky just up ahe­ad and knew that he wo­uld so­on be in his vil­la­ge. His pul­se ra­ced and his eyes grew an­xi­o­us as he sent his hor­se in­to an even har­der gal­lop, bre­at­h­less now as he en­te­red the outer frin­ges of the vil­la­ge.

He eased his mo­unt in­to a soft trot and mo­ved past the out­do­or com­mu­nal fi­re that bla­zed all night in the cen­ter of his vil­la­ge to help dis­co­ura­ge the wild ani­mals from co­ming ne­ar the Blac­k­fo­ot pe­op­le as they slept.

When Jole­na's fat­her's te­pee ca­me in­to sight, Spot­ted Eag­le's he­art se­emed to skip a be­at, for stan­ding just out­si­de the te­pee, stud­ying the he­avens, was his wo­man!

Inhaling a qu­ave­ring bre­ath, he sta­red at this wo­man who only a short ti­me ago he had tho­ught was lost to him fo­re­ver! He­re she was, as tho­ugh an of­fe­ring to him, or an an­s­wer to his pra­yers to the fi­res of the sun!

And ne­ver had she lo­oked lo­ve­li­er!

Beneath the splash of the mo­on­light, she sto­od li­ke a cop­per prin­cess at­ti­red in the clot­hing of the Blac­k­fo­ot. Her long, dark ha­ir was han­ging free and flut­te­ring aro­und her sho­ul­ders in the gen­t­le bre­eze. Her ex­p­res­si­on was fil­led with sad­ness as she ga­zed up­ward, and as Spot­ted Eag­le drew his mo­unt to a halt and dis­mo­un­ted, he co­uld see te­ars stre­aming down her che­eks.

Jolena was so ca­ught up in her fe­elings that she had not he­ard the hor­se's ap­pro­ach, nor did she he­ar Spot­ted Eag­le now as he drop­ped his re­ins and left the hor­se be­hind as he wal­ked to­ward her.

Feeling as tho­ugh he we­re be­ing swal­lo­wed who­le by his thun­de­ro­us he­ar­t­be­ats, Spot­ted Eag­le to­ok one mo­re step, then stop­ped and trem­b­led when she tur­ned sud­den eyes to him and dis­co­ve­red him stan­ding the­re.

Jolena's he­art se­emed to le­ap in­to her thro­at. She be­ca­me dizzy from the sur­p­ri­se of fin­ding Spot­ted Eag­le the­re. She was so stun­ned, she co­uld not spe­ak, nor co­uld she mo­ve! She had just be­en pra­ying that he wo­uld be all right and that he wo­uld co­me to her.

And the­re he was, as big as li­fe it­self, stan­ding so clo­se, his eyes brim­ming with his own te­ars of hap­pi­ness!

"Jolena?" Spot­ted Eag­le sa­id softly.

"Spotted Eag­le?" Jole­na sa­id softly.

Then both bro­ke in­to a run and flung them­sel­ves in­to each ot­her's arms.

Jolena sob­bed as she clung to Spot­ted Eag­le.

Spotted Eag­le clung to her as tho­ugh, if he let her go, he wo­uld dis­co­ver that this had all be­en a fig­ment of his ima­gi­na­ti­ona sa­va­ge il­lu­si­on! "You are re­al­ly he­re," Jole­na cri­ed, ga­zing up at him. "Oh, dar­ling. You did not die?"

"I did not die, nor did you," Spot­ted Eag­le sa­id, la­ug­hing softly as his hands now mo­ved gently over her fa­ce, his fo­re­fin­ger stop­ping at her lips, tra­cing them. "My wo­man, I tho­ught you di­ed with the ot­hers."

"I was thrown from the wa­gon be­fo­re it went over the cliff," Jole­na sa­id, pla­cing a hand to one of his che­eks, tes­ting to see if he we­re re­al. "And you?"

"It all hap­pe­ned so qu­ickly that I was for­ced to watch, in­s­te­ad of to act," Spot­ted Eag­le sa­id, aga­in dra­wing her in­to his em­b­ra­ce, hug­ging her to him. "I tho­ught you we­re with the ot­hers. I… I went down to the fo­ot of the cliff and lo­oked for you. I co­uld not find you. And the­re was no way to tell if you we­re the­re or not. Most of the bo­di­es we­re uni­den­ti­fi­ab­le."

A shud­der so­ared thro­ugh Jole­na at the tho­ught of what he was des­c­ri­bing. "My brot­her?" she whis­pe­red, da­ring to se­ek the truth, not su­re if she co­uld fa­ce it if she fo­und out that Kirk was truly de­ad.

"Could you tell if Kirk…" she be­gan.

"No," Spot­ted Eag­le sa­id, pla­cing a fin­ger to her lips, stop­ping her next words. "I do not know the fa­te of yo­ur brot­her."

He held her away from him and ga­zed in­to her eyes. "Did you walk all the way he­re from the si­te of the wrec­ka­ge?" he as­ked. "I do not see how you did. That is a long way to tra­vel by fo­ot." Jole­na was not su­re how to tell him abo­ut Two Rid­ges and what he had tri­ed to do. Two Rid­ges was sup­po­sed to be Spot­ted Eag­le's best fri­end. She did not want to be the one to tell Spot­ted Eag­le of a best fri­end's de­ce­it!

Before she de­ci­ded what to say, or how, the war­ri­ors brin­ging Two Rid­ges' body back to his pe­op­le ca­me ri­ding in­to the vil­la­ge.

The ar­ri­val of many hor­ses in­to the vil­la­ge bro­ught the pe­op­le out­si­de. Chi­ef Gray Be­ar ca­me from his te­pee ahe­ad of the ot­hers. The­re was a happy, joyo­us re­uni­on of fat­her and son as Spot­ted Eag­le and his fat­her em­b­ra­ced.

And then Jole­na saw Two Rid­ges. The mo­on was so bright that she qu­ickly re­cog­ni­zed him. She pla­ced her hands over her mo­uth to stif­le a scre­am when she dis­co­ve­red Two Rid­ges' blo­ody back as he lay ac­ross the hor­se on his sto­mach.

Jolena then ga­zed qu­ickly up at Spot­ted Eag­le, qu­es­ti­oning him si­lently with her eyes.

"A Cree's ar­row that was me­ant for Spot­ted Eag­le kil­led Two Rid­ges in­s­te­ad," Spot­ted Eag­le sa­id sul­lenly.

Jolena was ren­de­red even mo­re spe­ec­h­less, now re­cal­ling her dre­am in which Spot­ted Eag­le had di­ed from an ar­row's wo­und.