Swift Horse

“You have been my brother’s best friend for so long, and a friend of our family. I wish you well and do hope that one day a woman will come into your life who will make your heart smile as mine is smiling now,” Soft Wind murmured, hoping that her feelings of loathing at being in his arms were not visible to her brother, or One Eye. She was glad to be able to finally step away from him and return to her task of making meal from corn.

“Thank you for what you just did,” One Eye said thickly as he gazed down at Soft Wind. He slowly sat down in the rocking chair as Swift Horse returned to his. “I shall remember your embrace and soft words, always.”

Soft Wind forced a smile as she gazed up at him, then focused on her task at hand now that the terrible chore of telling One Eye was finally behind her. She had only a bit more preparation to go before she would be finished with this chore of preparing her corn and ready to begin her next.

She already had the main part of the evening meal, the meat and vegetables, cooking in the pot. After her brother and One Eye left the cabin, she would then begin preparing the bread.

Knowing that it was best to divert the talk away from his sister’s upcoming nuptials, Swift Horse gazed over at One Eye and said, “I saw it in a vision that the hunt will be good for both your clan and ours.”

Unable to quell her excitement at being so in love and soon to marry the man she adored, Soft Wind giggled and drew both her brother’s and One Eye’s attention back to her.

“I saw it in a vision that I was already Edward James’s wife,” she blurted out. “In the vision I was enjoying living at his and his sister’s home.”

Soft Wind could not help but notice a look that came into her brother’s eyes at the mention of Edward James’s sister, Marsha, and knew that he, too, had fallen in love with someone of a different skin color. But he had not yet talked openly of this to anyone but Soft Wind.

“It was also in my vision about Marsha’s tidiness,” she then said. “She is so very tidy and neat.”

Swift Horse laughed softly. “Yes, you will be able to relax in that respect while living with Edward James and his sister Marsha,” he said. “You are neat and tidy, too—so much sometimes that I am afraid to step into this cabin with my moccasins on.”

Soft Wind giggled. “Sometimes while I am at the trading post and watching people coming and going for trade, I sense that Marsha would like for them to remove their moccasins, too,” she said, her eyes dancing. “For certain she has changed the neatness of Edward James’s trading post. Everything is in its place.”

“I had noticed the difference in the trading post and had suspected that the white woman was responsible,” Swift Horse said. “There is suddenly a place for everything. I had even noticed the same color blankets lying together. . . .”

His words faded to nothing as he heard a commotion outside his lodge. He rose quickly to his feet and went to the door and opened it. His jaw tightened with anger when he saw two cows running through the village and then into the corn crop, trampling through it.

“Not again,” Swift Horse groaned to himself.

“What is it, brother?” Soft Wind said as she, then One Eye, stepped outside with Swift Horse.

She followed the path of her brother’s gaze, and saw the cows making their way through the corn crop, leaving so much destruction behind them.

“The cowkeeper’s cows,” Swift Horse said, doubling his hands into tight fists at his sides. “The cowkeeper has not heeded my warnings about allowing his cows to run loose.”

“They come into my town, too, where they also trample and destroy our crops,” One Eye said heatedly. “Come. We must kill them. Now!”

Swift Horse reached a hand out for One Eye, stopping him from going to his horse and grabbing a rifle from its gunboot. “No, not while they are in my village,” he said tightly. “I cherish the lives of all animals unless they are needed for food for my people, or for clothes.”

“What, then, will you do?” One Eye asked, his voice tight with anger.

“I will capture and take them to the cowkeeper, and again warn him,” Swift Horse said, breaking away from One Eye and Soft Wind. He ran into the corn field, and with the help of two of his warriors, soon had a rope around the necks of the cows, and stopped them.

“Tie the cows behind my horse,” Swift Horse said to the warrior.

“I will go with you,” One Eye said, already mounting his own steed.

“It was my village that was wronged today, so I will go alone to again try to rectify it,” Swift Horse said, swinging himself into his saddle made from a puma skin. He smiled at his sister. “I will be home in time to share the evening meal with you.”

Soft Wind nodded. She watched her brother ride away from the town with the cows trailing behind him, then turned her eyes to One Eye, who was riding from the village.

Soft Wind went back inside and began cleaning up the mess she had made while making meal, wondering what her brother would say to the cowkeeper. He had been given that name by the Creek because of how many of these strange animals he owned.

And he not only owned cows, but also hogs that he kept in pens, and chickens that he allowed to roam as free as he did the cows.

She smiled when she thought of the many times she had found fresh eggs that had been left behind by the man’s chickens. At least in that respect, she found something positive about the bare-headed, red-whiskered white man who came onto land that had at one time belonged solely to the Creek.

She thought again of her brother and his task at hand. She hoped that he made the cowkeeper understand the problem of allowing his animals to roam free, destroying what belonged to the Creek.

She didn’t know what else might be needed to make him understand. She knew that her brother was a man who ruled with a peaceful heart, but even he could be pushed only so far.