And then Sage finally reached Leonida. He pulled the reins up tight, then lifted Runner down. Sage slid easily from his saddle and went to Leonida, hugging her and Thunder Hawk in one quick embrace.
Runner came up to Sage and cleared his throat, to get his attention. “Father, did you get to see Adam and talk with him?” Runner asked quickly. “Did he by chance pen me a letter?”
“Adam is no longer living at Fort Defiance,” Sage said, his smile fading at the mention of Fort Defiance and his memory of what he had found upon arriving there. There had been some amount of treachery in having him come to Fort Defiance for his people. At least he had been allowed the freedom to return to his stronghold. What saddened him was that once again more than half of those waiting for him at Fort Defiance had refused to return with him.
To have done this once had been, in time, forgivable. But twice? Those who did not return with him had torn pieces of his heart a second time, and this he would never forget—or forgive.
“Adam is gone?” Runner said a second time, finally getting his father’s attention. “Where to, Father?”
“His father was assigned to another fort far away,” Sage said, turning to nod at those who had dismounted and were walking past him toward their loved ones, who awaited them in twos and threes a few feet away.
“I’ll never get to see him again,” Adam said, lowering his eyes to the ground.
Seeing Sage cast worried glances all around him, as though he had dreaded this return home instead of looking forward to it, Leonida placed a hand on Runner’s shoulder and drew him to her side, leaving Sage to do his duty to his people.
Leonida’s eyes followed Sage as he went to the large crowd who were intensely hugging and talking to those who had returned, while some others stood by with tears streaming from their eyes.
Slipping Thunder Hawk from her arms, Leonida bent down and gathered both of her sons close around her as Sage raised his hands, and a muted hush fell among his people.
Everyone turned their eyes on him. His warriors led their horses on around, and held their reins tightly as they stood alongside the others. Leonida saw within the warriors’ eyes the same expression that Sage held in his.
“Disappointment met my return to Fort Defiance,” Sage said, his voice drawn. “The total freedom I thought was our people’s was not there. There were restrictions made on this thing the white pony soldier leaders called ‘freedom.’ The great white leader has decided to make the Navaho once again self-sufficient on land that was once ours, but only if we agreed to live within a reservation, with strict boundaries on all four sides, within which the Navaho are to stay.”
Leonida scarcely breathed, realizing now that Sage’s people had returned from their imprisonment in New Mexico only to enter into another, no different except that it was on land familiar to them.
Their way of life would never be the same, it seemed.
Sage continued speaking after a brief pause while the young braves took the sheep and goats on past them to the stronghold.
“As you will notice, we now have sheep and goats,” Sage said moodily. “These were gifts from Kit Carson. In papers that are called a ‘will,’ he remembered Sage and his people. He willed these animals to us so that we could once again become a vital people in all ways.”
He paused again, then continued. “As you will also notice, few of our people returned to live among us at the stronghold,” he said thickly. “They had choices to make. Those who did not return to the stronghold chose once again a life separate from ours. They could not resist what the white men offered them if they agreed to stay confined to a reservation. Nor may you be able to resist going to live on the reservation once you hear what their offerings were to bribe our people into bending to the will of the white man again. They have issued those families who choose reservation life over ours at least fifteen thousand sheep and goats, and five hundred head of beef cattle, and many hundreds of pounds of maize.”
Many gasps rose from the crowd of Navaho, causing Sage’s heart to skip a beat and his eyes to narrow. “Listen further, my people,” he shouted, raising a fist in the air. “The Navaho who live on the reservation must relinquish any right to occupy lands outside this reservation. And even though the Navaho retain hunting rights on unoccupied lands outside the boundaries of the reservation, that is an empty offering, for most of that land not occupied by white people now is desert and worthless.”
Sage gazed over at Leonida, then went to her. She rose next to him, and his arm moved protectively around her waist, while Thunder Hawk moved to Leonida’s side, clinging, and Runner moved to Sage’s side, standing straight and tall in his shadow.
“The white man treaty makers knew clearly the nature of the land allotted the Navaho,” Sage said, his voice drained of feeling. “And hear me well, my beloved people. All unauthorized people are to be excluded from the assigned reservation land and from the offerings of the white people. We are unauthorized people. We must be content now to stay in our canyon and live from this land that we have claimed as ours. The gifts from Kit Carson will soon multiply. We need not the white man’s treaty, or his so-called freedom. We have our own freedoms. Our own treaties amongst ourselves! We are one, united, as one heartbeat! Let us never hunger for more than that.”
Then he paused again, his gaze shifting from Navaho to Navaho. “But if there be one among you who wishes to join those on the reservation, you are free to go,” he said guardedly. “Go now, or never.”
There was no response.
No one even seemed to bat an eye, much less step forward to tell Sage that they wished to leave the stronghold and his devoted command.
Sage fought back the tears that were stinging his eyes, proud that he had finally achieved a loyal following. It touched his heart so much that he wanted to move among his people and give them all a generous hug.
But he knew that he must refrain from showing his gratitude outwardly. He feared that it would diminish his nobility somehow. As time went on, he would show his gratitude in ways that would be more worthwhile.
“Then so be it,” he said, lifting his chin proudly. “Now let us move on to our stronghold. We have cause to celebrate. We are a people united. We are the blessed ones.”
Leonida clung to Sage’s side as they walked among his people toward the cluster of hogans a short distance away, where the smoke from the cook fires curled peacefully skyward.
Chapter 36
So shall we not part at the end of the day,
Who have loved and lingered a little while,