Uncivilized Page 14

  He shrugged. “I don’t have a wife like her.”

  The few words told Del everything he needed to know. The man hadn’t fallen in love with Ellen and only wanted her like a child wants a freshly made toy. He needed to make her seem unappealing to Pointed Nose without looking foolish in marrying her. “She wears glasses.”

  “I know.”

  “What happens when she loses them or they break?”

  Pointed Nose waved his hand as if refusing a tray of hors d'oeuvres. “I don’t care.”

  Del shrugged. “Fine, but she can’t see without them. Do you want a wife who needs a guide every minute of the day?”

  “The woman can warm my bed. I could remove her eyes with a knife and she’d still be useful.”

  A haze of fury clouded his vision at the cruel statement. Before Del could retort, a small ruckus began in front of them on the opposite side of the bonfire. Ellen stepped into the light, flanked by two other women. He scowled to keep his expression unfriendly. They’d dressed her in a doeskin dress. Her hair had been divided and braided, feathers tied on the ends. Even out of her element and in clothes foreign to her, she looked beautiful. She continued to stand until Running Cloud made a downward motion with his hand. The girls on each side of her sat and she followed.

  Pointed Nose leaned around his father and said to Del, “She makes a good Shoshone woman, with or without eyes. I’ve decided I will marry her tonight.”

  Del’s heart stopped. He ignored the statement and turned to Running Cloud. “Chief, I respect you and your son, but if you let him marry her, I will kill him.”

  Chapter 5

  Mile after mile they rode, the only things visible were trees and mountainsides as far as Ellen saw. After a quick examination, she realized the futility of finding landmarks in a dense pine forest. Hopelessness replaced the lump of fear in her. Even if she escaped, how could she ever get back? She closed her eyes and let the tears fall. Everyone had heard stories of women captured and used as slaves for the savages. She’d not be rescued until years passed and she’d had several children. Her babies would be from a grunting animal. Looking through watery eyes at the ground they covered, she considered jumping from the horse. The fall might kill her, but better to die than live as an Indian’s property.

  The land flattened and the group took advantage by speeding up. Their full gallop jarred her bones from their joins. Ellen’s glasses bounced on her nose. She pressed her cheek and ear against her captor’s back in an effort to keep them on. Wincing when her face hit his skin, she recoiled from the touch and sobbed. She’d give anything if the man she held were Del taking her home instead of a stranger stealing her. Would Sam and her father start a search party? They’d have a vast wilderness to search. The odds were against her ever seeing her family again.

  She opened her eyes when their pace slowed. Ahead of them lay a large Indian village. How peaceful it looked, with children playing, adults talking and laughing. Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at the group of warriors riding up to them. Women paused their work with grinding seeds into flour. Ellen wondered how long they would wait before expecting her to do chores. If the lurid stories circulated around the campfires were true, they enjoyed torturing and sharing women among the tribe members. She shuddered. Better they kill her as quickly as they had Lucy. Fresh tears welled up and caught in her glasses’ lenses before rolling down her face. A child touched her shoe, startling her, and Ellen recoiled in surprise.

  The brave dismounted, grabbing her from his horse. She held onto his arm for support, getting her feet under her before letting go. He yelled at her while leading his horse to the village center. Another warrior, the one who’d killed Lucy, pulled her by the upper arm. She squeaked in pain before letting him drag her a little way until she walked along with him. Every man Ellen saw had some sort of face paint and all wore colorful clothing. She wondered if their appearance meant they were on the warpath, and if so, she feared for her little brothers. Shaking, she sought out a friendly face. All she needed was one sympathetic person to help her find a way back to her family.

  Her captor stopped in front of a small hut where a woman Lucy’s age stood. Ellen wiped her eyes and cleaned her glasses while the two talked. The lady motioned to her, as far as she could tell with her blurry vision. The brave walked away and the lady held open the home’s door flap. Taking the cue from her, Ellen stepped inside. She went to the middle, unable to stand upright anywhere else, and looked around. She’d seen larger homes than this in the middle of the camp. Was this a single person’s home and did they mean her to live here?

  “Wash.”

  Ellen jumped when the woman spoke. “Wash?”

  When the native nodded and pointed at the fire pit, she saw a pot of water. Looking back at her, the lady pantomimed scrubbing.

  She had no intention of getting undressed and bathing. “No.”

  The woman frowned, shook her head, and left. Ellen wrapped her arms around herself, now cold. Even if she did as ordered, she had no clean clothes to wear. She walked around, still shivering while examining the walls of the home. The door opening startled her. Ellen took a deep breath, trying to ease her nerves.

  The woman came in, this time with a folded bundle. She held it out with a scowl, saying, “Wash and dress.”

  Ellen took the item, surprised when her fingers touched the clothes. Made of the softest buckskin she’d ever felt, she caressed the dress. Beads sewn into patterns broke up the smoothness. They glittered when she tilted the fabric into the light. She nodded at the Native woman. “Yes, wash and dress. Thank you.”

  She backed out, leaving Ellen alone. In her distress, she’d not noticed a low cushion on the ground. It looked big enough to be a nice seat and a clean place to put the costume. She loosened her dress, not wanting to wash naked without a locking door. Finding a washrag next to the water basin, she hoped this was what the woman wanted. The warm water and scrubbing eased her sore muscles. Every part of her ached now the crisis had abated. She heard a holler outside her room and recognized the voice. She peered from a sliver of opening in the door. Her female keeper stood there, and Ellen asked, “Yes?”

  She lifted another pot of water. “Wash?”

  Had she been that filthy? She took the offered earthen pot. “Yes, thank you.” The woman disappeared again. Once she was clean, her dress seemed unbearably dirty and stiff. She looked back at the door flap, thinking she could be out of one dress and into another in an instant. Just for now and just until she could wash her real clothes, Ellen changed out, listening for anything awry while she did so.

  She gasped as the buckskin dress unfurled down her body, the fringe tickling her knees. The fabric both hugged Ellen and let her breathe. She ran her hands down the dress, surprised at the softness of it until noticing how the prior berry picking still stained her fingernails. She began shivering.

  Her helper peeked in and grinned. “Yes?” She walked inside, smiling at Ellen, and barked an order. One of the men opened the door. The woman gave him one of the dirty wash waters, and he handed it to someone outside. She gave him the second and scooped up Ellen’s dress.

  Before the woman could give the brave her clothes, Ellen stepped between the two people. “No, give that back! It’s mine!”

  The woman put a hand on Ellen’s arm and shook her head. She patted over her own heart while saying, “Wash, yes?” She nodded as if to get a nod from her too.

  She watched the native mime sleep, wake, and bring. Understanding, Ellen nodded back. “Yes, thank you.”

  The lady motioned toward the cushion. Ellen went and sat, watching as the woman gave one of the men her dress. She so hoped she’d interpreted the sign language correctly. Pa would be furious if she lost her good clothes to a savage. The absurdity of everything made her laugh. If she never saw Pa again, how would he know what she’d done?

  The woman had knelt beside her while she’d had been lost in her own thoughts. She held out a hand to her, showin
g Ellen a couple of leather shoestrings with feathers at the end. Then she lifted one of her braids, showing her the end and nodding.

  Ellen patted her hair. “This?”

  “Yes, please.”

  She didn’t want to anger the woman, no matter how kind she’d seemed. Ellen sat on the cushion over far enough to share. The native woman pulled the pins from Ellen’s hair before brushing and braiding the locks. The process relaxed her enough to unclench her fists. When Ellen felt the second braid tied off, she opened her eyes. When she went in front of her and smiled, Ellen asked, “Yes?”

  With hands on her hips and a big grin, she replied, “Yes.” She went for the door, pausing to give Ellen a let’s go gesture.

  The first few stars twinkled in the twilight as she stepped outside for the first time since her arrival. Shouts began in toward the center of the village. She wanted to run in the opposite direction, but two men with their arms crossed stood beside her. The girl made the let’s go movement again, and Ellen fell in step behind her.

  The hollering and shrieking by the festive people worried her as she examined the village’s edges. They walked to the middle and the noise grew with each step she took.

  At the center, her captor pushed her forward and nudged her in the ribs. She winced from the pain and looked up to see Del seated among several men. Nearly crying from relief, she wanted to run to him and beg him to take her back home. The expression on his face froze her in place. She’d never seen such a scornful stare at her from anyone, not even her father. Ellen blinked, unable to believe this man could be Del. Maybe he had a twin because the Del she knew could never scowl at her in such a way.

  She glanced at the man sitting to his left. The older gentleman motioned down with his hand flat and she sat, relieved when he nodded his approval. She recognized him as the chief at the trading village from the other day. His son sat next to him on the opposite side from Del. She merely glanced at Pointed Nose, thinking he’d been too encouraged by her attention already. Ellen looked from Del to the chief and back again while clenching her hands to stop their trembling.

  They talked amongst themselves, their words unintelligible. She looked at the ground and worried with a bit of skin on her chapped lips. The men spoke too fast for her to even try to understand. They certainly said no endearments. Ellen snuck a peek at the man she’d believed was a kind and friendly Del. Red and black paint covered his face, and he wore a crown of long feathers. Their ends were also stained red. He wore a few strands of multicolored beads, and the straps for a quiver holding a bow and arrows crossed his chest. Gazing at the ground below him, she saw a beaded moccasin peek out from his knee where he sat cross-legged. This savage version of Del scared her. Especially whenever he looked at her as if she were the enemy. Her lip bled a little, comforting her with the iron as she chewed.

  She played with one of her shoe’s laces and tried not to stare at him. He looked every bit the savage brute but a shade paler than the men flanking him. Del sat tall and relaxed, a strange mix of formal and comfortable. Whenever it seemed their gazes might meet, Ellen stared into the fire. She could almost feel the guards behind her as if they physically touched her. Glancing back, she saw they sat a few feet from her. She took a deep breath in, grateful for the space. She faced the front once more and strived to shut out all the chattering around her.

  Ellen shivered despite the warmth and looked up at Del. He’d had the same hard expression, but different this time. His eyes softened and the emotion she saw gave her goose bumps. She broke their gaze, staring unseeing at the sky. He did care for her and had betrayed himself with a single glance. She realized he had come here alone for what she hoped was a rescue.

  Before she could turn over this thought in her mind, women brought food to them on what looked like boards. Her stomach growled at the smells. She sat quiet, head bowed while watching Del for any hidden signals to run. Dinner for the men then the women seemed to last for hours. She ate, noticing how tender the meat was. Her family might like the food, assuming she ever saw Pa and the boys again. Her hand shook and she put the bite back down, tears filling her eyes over Lucy’s death. Above all the ruckus and her musings, she heard Del’s voice. Ellen swallowed hard and looked up at him.

  He had stood and was now giving a speech. She closed her eyes, both enjoying hearing him talk, yet afraid of the unknown. Without the visual distractions, she heard the last words of his speech and glanced up at him. He’d said “ma coeur.” She’d heard it as plain as anything. Still giving her a slight sneer, he shrugged, said something to the chief. The man, dressed in clothes that would blind the sun, laughed and stood also. He gestured to the braves sitting guard behind her. They scrambled to their feet and scooped up Ellen. Her legs were numb from the hard ground, but she ignored the tingly dead feeling to make herself stand up straight. The leader of the group clapped his hands while barking out a command.

  A woman, young and lovely, brought a tray of three bowls to Del. He nodded his approval. After looking for and gaining permission from the chief, he and she walked around opposite sides of the fire to Ellen. Once they both faced her, he frowned. Within full sight of the entire village, he shouted something in gibberish and they all cheered. He grinned at their ruckus and turned to the young woman. She blushed, holding up the tray for him.

  Ellen couldn’t stop tears from forming. He dipped a finger in the red liquid and drew a line across her forehead. She didn’t know if he stained or painted her skin. “Please, Del! What is happening? I want to go home.”

  He raised his eyebrows and shrugged as if he didn’t understand. Then, Del dipped another finger in the white liquid. He drew a line from below her nose to her chin, going over her lips. Turning to the Indian woman, he winked. Ellen closed her eyes as tears fell down her cheeks. She couldn’t breathe from the terror and yet he flirted right in front of her. If not for the well-armed men surrounding him, she’d love to mash all the paints in his face and see how he liked it. When he touched her cheek, she startled. He drew a line down and another on the opposite side. Wetting his finger again with yellow, he traced above the prior line on her forehead. She shook her head in a tiny motion to deny herself any more tears.

  Del surveyed his handiwork before nodding to the woman. She stepped back so he stood alone in front of Ellen. He grinned at a point beyond her and she turned to see her guards still in place. He cleared his throat for her attention. She faced the front again, looking at the straps covering his chest and the colorful necklace he wore. She’d not noticed it before now, a little distracted by his stern face. The glass beads were pretty in a masculine way, she thought, and wanted to laugh at her own frivolity. He shouted out something, startling Ellen. He’d said ma coeur yet again and she looked into his eyes. His expression softened as he took the strands of beads from around his neck. Del turned to the chief and said something that made the older man laugh. At the chief’s wave, he stared into her eyes as well, and placed the beads around her neck.

  No sooner than the beads settled, a great cheer went around the fire. He took her hand and turned to speak to everyone. Ellen didn’t understand a word but blushed when the adults laughed as Del led her around and past the large fire. Gripping her hand so hard her fingers hurt, he pushed her into a wigwam.

  A small fire pit with embers glowing lit up the room. If not for the different decorations, she’d think he’d returned her to the first hut. A bed was already laid out beside the fire circle. The night air had stiffened her sore muscles and the furs covering the ground appealed to her with their promised warmth. She glanced at the door, hearing a rustle.

  Del slid in and secured the entrance. He looked at her and shook his head. “I am so sorry for this, for everything. Are you hurt?”

  His kindness undid her. She crumpled, crying. Sobbing too hard to talk, she managed to squeak out, “They killed Lucy in front of me. I couldn’t do anything for her.”

  He wrapped his arms around her. “I know, dearest.”

&nbs
p; She melted into him, her face pressed against his neck. “If it’d been me?” His hug almost squeezed the air from her. Ellen stared up into his eyes. “Would you be here if they’d killed me instead?”

  His chin jutted, his eyes watering. Del shook his head slightly and cleared his throat before saying, “I don’t know. I’d be mad from grief.”

  Ellen relaxed into him, fresh tears falling. “I’m so glad you’re here. I wasn’t sure if anyone would follow me in time.”

  He pressed his lips against her forehead, each word a kiss. “What did you imagine? I could continue on without knowing your fate?”

  “I had hoped you cared for me enough.”

  “More than care, my love, and I suspected they’d bring you here, thankfully.”

  “Thankfully.” His lips continued to press against her skin. Ellen closed her eyes, drinking in the smell of him. She’d been certain on the ride here she’d be in her kidnapper’s bed tonight. Instead, the one man she wanted most in the world held her. She swallowed. “What do we do now?”

  “We stay tonight and maybe tomorrow as well.”

  His answer didn’t please her. With Lucy gone, Skeeter and Buster needed her. Sure, Pa could take care of them by himself. He was their father and a grown man, after all. Still, she loved and needed to protect her little family from these savages. She put her hands on Del’s face, staring into his eyes. “When can we get back to camp?”

  “As soon as possible, or rather as soon as manners allow.”

  He wore such a guilty expression, she had to ask, “Are we expected to be here all night together?”

  “Yes, all night and we’re not to be disturbed for any reason.” He smiled, his eyes holding a mischievous glint.

  The people living here might let him do whatever he pleased with her? Surely not! “Not for any reason?”

  “Not even if you beg and plead for help. If you do so, our neighbors will laugh and discount your screams as, um….”