Swift Horse

“Too long,” Edward James said, wringing his hands. “When I saw Sharp Nose being brought back in such a condition and I was told what happened, all I could think about was my wife and those who left with her. What if One Eye comes upon them as they are digging their roots? Will he kill them? Or remember they are friends?”

“He is a madman, so it is impossible to know what he would do,” Swift Horse said, already in his saddle.

“I want to go, too,” Marsha said, stepping into the stirrup, and soon in her saddle.

“This is becoming too dangerous,” Swift Horse said, frowning at Marsha. “Please stay with your brother.”

“Stay?” Edward James said, his eyes wide. “I can’t stay. I’ve got to go with you.”

“Let me have your horse, Marsha,” Edward James said, already grabbing the reins. “You stay behind. Lord, Marsha, I don’t want you in danger, too.”

“You have no idea how much I’ve already experienced today, so believe me, big brother, I am going with you,” Marsha said stubbornly.

She looked over at Sharp Nose’s horse, then at her brother as she yanked her reins from him. “Take Sharp Nose’s steed,” she suggested.

Edward James gave her a frenzied look, then hurried into Sharp Nose’s saddle.

“We will follow the tracks made by One Eye and Abraham, for then we will know whether or not they encountered the women,” Swift Horse said, already riding off in a soft lope as he gazed down at the tracks. Marsha and Edward James stayed back from him, yet close together.

“Marsha, I wish you’d reconsider and go home,” Edward James said, giving her a pleading look.

“I want to help if I can,” she murmured, yet understood the true danger and knew that her brother was terribly worried about her.

“You have always been so stubborn,” he said, then looked ahead as they rode onward behind Swift Horse.

“I wonder why One Eye took Abraham?” Marsha blurted out.

“Because One Eye knows that Abraham is Swift Horse’s friend—a friend he might have believed was taking One Eye’s place in Swift Horse’s life,” Edward James said, trying to rationalize all of this in his mind, yet hardly able to think of anything or anyone but his wife.

“So it’s because of jealousy?” Marsha asked, her eyebrows forking.

“It might be because of revenge,” Edward James said thickly. “If Abraham is killed, One Eye knows it will cause pain inside Swift Horse’s heart. Now he seems only to want to inflict pain—pain on Swift Horse, for he has to know that he can no longer hide who he is from anyone, especially Swift Horse.”

“I just wish it was over,” Marsha said, her voice breaking. “I’m so afraid someone else is going to die, and it might not be One Eye.”

Edward James gave her a wavering glance, then followed Swift Horse farther and farther into the forest.

Chapter 34

My first thought was, he lied in every word. . . .

—Robert Browning

One Eye had almost reached his tethered horse with Ab

raham walking ahead of him, a knife ready if he tried to escape, when he saw something so tempting he just could not fail to take advantage of it.

On a slight slope of land, Soft Wind and a friend were on their knees, digging roots.

He looked past them, and saw other women doing the same, farther away.

But Soft Wind and her friend were isolated enough from the others for One Eye to get more vengeance against his longtime friend—who was now his enemy.

He would kill his sister!

He would kill the woman with her, as well!

It gave him a dark pleasure to see the fear in the black man’s eyes that he knew that he would soon die and no one would be there to do anything about it. When Swift Horse found his sister and then later, Abraham, it would be enough vengeance put upon him by a one-eyed man—a man who had been a friend for so long.