Louisa lowered the shawl from her head and wearily sank into a chair. “Thank you. I’m sorry to bother you so late.”
“Nonsense,” Winona said. “You’re family. Come to us any time you feel the need.”
“What she said,” Nate said.
“Would you like tea or coffee?” Winona asked.
“Tea would be nice.”
Winona turned toward the counter and glanced at Nate. “You can close the door now, husband, unless you would like the coyotes to join us.”
Nate shut it and threw the bolt. He tucked the pistol into his pants and moved to a chair. Since Lou wasn’t crying or acting upset, he figured the emergency wasn’t life-threatening, which was a relief. “What’s wrong?”
“Zach didn’t come home tonight.”
“Did he go off hunting?” Nate would go on overnight hunts sometimes, but he hated to be away from Winona. He hadn’t liked it any better when he was younger and gone for days at a time working his trap line. Shakespeare McNair always teased him about it, saying he was too sentimental.
“No,” Lou was saying. “He just went for a ride. I took it for granted that he’d be home for supper since he didn’t say he wouldn’t. He’s usually so considerate.”
“He gets that from his father,” Winona said.
Nate was flattered. “I didn’t think you noticed all the nice things I do.”
“How could I not when you always remind me?”
“I guess it’s silly of me to worry,” Louisa said. “But with the baby on the way, and all…”
“It’s perfectly understandable,” Winona said.
“And then there’s that stupid wolf.”
Both Nate and Winona said at the same time, “What?”
“He hasn’t brought the wolf over to show you? He thinks it’s the one he had as a pet years ago, Blaze.”
“I’ll be darned,” Nate said.
“Everywhere he goes, everything he does, that wolf is at his side. He’d even bring it into the bedroom at night, but I put my foot down.”
“Good for you,” Winona said. “Men must be reminded how to behave.”
“Hmmmmph,” Nate said.
“What does that mean?” Winona said.
“Just hmmmmph.”
Lou went on. “The wolf was with him when he rode off, and they never returned.”
“You don’t think this wolf would harm him?” Winona asked.
“It’s a wolf.”
“Wolves don’t attack people that often,” Nate said. He could recall only a few instances. In one, it had been the icy dead of winter and the wolves were starving. In another, a trapper had tried to catch a pair of wolf cubs and the mother had defended her young.
“All it would take is a bite to the neck,” Lou said. “And Zach is always hugging the thing and treating it like a lost friend.”
“If it’s Blaze, it is,” Nate said.
Winona finished filling the teapot with water from a bucket and moved to the stone fireplace. “Blaze and Stalking Coyote were fond of one another.” She often used Zach’s Shoshone name. “I doubt Blaze would harm him.”
“Even so,” Lou said, “I can’t help but worry. Zach would have told me if he aimed to stay out the whole night.”
Nate shrugged. “Maybe his horse went lame. Maybe he shot a big buck and couldn’t finish butchering it before dark. Maybe the wolf ran off and he’s looking for it.”
“I suppose it could be any of those things,” Lou said. “And if the wolf did run off, I hope he doesn’t find it. I don’t want a wolf in our cabin after the baby is born.”
“I never heard of a wolf eating a baby.”
Lou stared at him.
“Well, I haven’t.”
Winona was rekindling the fire. “If Stalking Coyote isn’t back by an hour after sunrise, we’ll go search for him.”
“I will search for him,” Nate said.
“Why just you?”
Louisa said, “I want to go, too.”
“That’s why,” Nate addressed his wife. “In her condition she shouldn’t do a lot of riding.”
“I am right here,” Lou said. “A few hours in the saddle won’t bother me.”
“No, my husband is right,” Winona said. “Zach might show up while we are gone. You should stay in case he does and I should stay in case you need me.”
“I’m perfectly fine, I tell you.”
“Zach isn’t the only hardhead,” Nate said.
“I just hope he’s all right,” Lou said. “There are so many things that can happen to a person in the wilderness.”
“Yes,” Nate had to admit. “There are.”
The women thought they would be pursued, so they kept running, even when they were well out of sight of the trading post. Raven On The Ground in the lead, they went up the first hill and down the other side. They paused to look back and listen, each of them a shadowy shape in the darkness.
“Are they after us?” Lavender asked.
“Not yet,” Flute Girl said.
“But they will be,” Raven On The Ground declared, and ran on, her dress swishing against her legs.
“I wish we had our horses,” Lavender puffed.
So did Raven On The Ground. On horses they were safer from the beasts that prowled at night, the bears and mountain lions and others. The shriek of a big cat lent substance to her fear. Still, she ran.
When Raven On The Ground finally stopped, she had an ache in her side. Bending over, she gulped for breath. They had put three hills between them and the trading post, but it was nowhere near enough.
Lavender dropped to her knees. “I can’t run another step. I’m sorry.”
“We must,” Flute Girl said. She was breathing hard, her body stooped over. “I think the whites are waiting for daylight, and then they will give chase.” Looking around, she asked, “Where is Spotted Fawn?”
Only then did Raven On The Ground realize that she had not seen the youngest of them since they left the burning lodge. “She has to be here,” she said, and called Spotted Fawn’s name.
There was no answer.
“We left her?” Lavender said in shock.
“Everything was happening so fast,” Flute Girl said.
“That is no excuse.”
Raven On The Ground blamed herself for not noticing when Spotted Fawn let go of her. “The two of you keep going. I will find her.”
“Be sensible,” Flute Girl said. “If you go back, they will catch you.”
“I’ll be careful.”
“It will be better if we get away and get word to Long Hair,” Flute Girl said. “Let our warriors deal with the whites and bring Spotted Fawn back.”
Raven On The Ground started back, but Lavender grabbed her wrist.
“Please don’t.”
“She is my friend.”
“She is a friend to all of us,” Flute Girl said.
“Please,” Lavender pleaded.
With great reluctance, Raven On The Ground gave in. To keep from thinking about Spotted Fawn, she said, “We have rested long enough.”
On through the night they jogged while around them the wilds were alive with the roars and snarls of predators and the bleats and cries of prey.
Gnawing apprehension ate at Raven On The Ground. Not for herself, but for Spotted Fawn. There was no predicting what the whites would do to her in their anger. They had to know that if they harmed her, Crow warriors would swoop down on the trading post in overwhelming force. That would be the end of the whites. They would get what they deserved.
Geist and his bunch were not like Grizzly Killer, Raven On the Ground reflected. They were vile men with no regard for anyone else. They were worse than the beasts that filled the night around her with so much noise. The beasts were only being true to their natures.
It occurred to Raven On The Ground that Geist and those with him were being true to theirs—and she was more worried than ever.