Chapter 24

When he got to the lodge he picked up a piece of rope and tied it to Sara's neck. She was stunned. He pulled her dress off and let it fall to the ground. He turned to the women; Moon Flower and Little Mule both had big grins on their faces, but Kelly was confused. He wasn't concerned; he knew that the women would straighten her out. He turned to Sara and said, "Well by the time that I finish with you, you might not feel that she was so lucky. If you want to change your mind, now is the time because there will be no going back after this."

He looked to see Sara smile and shake her head. He had seen that smile before and wondered why females like these kept finding him. He said to the women that he would be back in a few days. When the lodge flaps closed behind them he sat out to the south. He needed to check out things in the valley, and this looked like a good time to break her in, without causing any distress to Kelly.

They walked for almost an hour before they reached Running Deer's blacksmith shop. When they got there he asked Running Deer how things had been going since he had left, almost five months before. Running Deer had a strange expression on his face, and said that things were going well, but that they had a little trouble at his house. Fighting Hawk was surprised that they had been working there, and asked what it was. Running Deer explained that he wasn't sure what they had found, but wanted Fighting Hawk to take a look and see if he knew what was going on. Fighting Hawk was interested in Running Deer's lack of explanation. They left for the house, with Running Deer walking beside him and leading his horse.

He made no comment of the girl tied to the rope, and even managed to pretend that she wasn't even there. They discussed how the situation came about as they walked. Running Deer was slow to begin as he thought about what was bothering him. "I started getting an uneasy feeling that one day trouble might come to the valley. You had said that White men would kill us all for the gold, if they knew about it. So I decided that we couldn't have you trapped in that house with only one way out. So I had my men start cutting you a tunnel that you could use to escape if you were trapped there. It's not like a lodge that you can cut the back and slip out. So the men worked and we found something strange. I didn't know what it was. Well, I knew what it was, but I didn't know if it was dangerous or even why it was there. We found a cave with a spring in it. The water is good and it moves quickly, but there is more there."

Fighting Hawk was intrigued. He couldn't imagine what else they might have found, but he couldn't get Running Deer to explain any further. He found himself walking faster in anticipation, but Sara couldn't keep up, and he had to slow down. He felt curiosity burning in him; something that he hadn't felt for long time and he relished the flavor of the experience.

When they got to the house Fighting Hawk tied Sara to the hitching post in front of the house and motioned to Running Deer to lead the way. He still felt like he would love to run all the way, but Running Deer kept a slow and steady pace. He felt like a new colt in spring time, and he loved every second of it.

He still took the time to notice that Black Otter had fastened a door to the opening of the tunnel. It was thick oak and it was even shaped with jagged edges along the top that fit into the stone tunnel. It was impressive. Running Deer took off the large wooden post that secured the door, and said, "Since I didn't know if it was dangerous I had the tunnel sealed and kept everybody out." Fighting Hawk nodded his understanding but still anxiously peered inside. He felt the blast of hot air hit him in the face and was instantly weary.

Running Deer led the way down the tunnel. The floor was dirt and smooth, the side walls were rough, but there weren't any really sharp edges. He noticed the lack of support and asked Running Deer about it. He just pointed up and said, "Not needed here; all solid rock, very safe." Fighting Hawk didn't feel safe, but he trusted Running Deer.

It had gotten hotter with every step and now Fighting Hawk had sweat dripping from every inch of his body. Ahead he saw the narrow opening and he could almost see the heat waves coming out of the wall. Running Deer pointed with the torch and said, "When we broke through the steam and heat hit so hard that Sitting Bear was knocked from his feet; it probably saved him from any worse burns than he got. He had to stay in cool water for two days before the burns eased. But two weeks later he said that he was fine and even wanted to go back in the tunnels again."

Fighting Hawk slipped through the opening and the heat took away his breath. When Running Deer stepped through with the torch, it flicked and wavered, but it showed the inside of the cave. It was almost round, but one side was larger than the other. In the center there was a pool of water about ten feet across. Fighting Hawk asked, "How deep is it." Running Deer glanced at the water and said, "About three feet, but the water is so hot that it would cook your flesh." Fighting Hawk circled the pool and suddenly felt the heat rise even hotter. He turned to look at the wall behind him. He turned and asked Running Deer if he had noticed the heat at that wall. Running Deer came to look. He didn't have to raise his hand to feel the heat coming off of the wall. He shook his head.

Fighting Hawk took out his knife and used the handle and hit it hard a couple of times. He heard the echo on the other side of the wall. He nodded his head and said, "The wall is thin and we need to see what is on the other side, before we will know of this is safe." Running Deer frowned, but said that he would have his men come back and open the wall. Fighting Hawk shook his head and said, "No, it will be too dangerous for men in here when it opens up. We will use dynamite to open the wall, and we will all wait outside the tunnel." Running Deer looked confused.

Fighting Hawk motioned to the opening and they went back out to the cool air. He knew that it wasn't really cool, but it felt that way to him. As they walked back down the tunnel Fighting Hawk explained that he had brought a box of dynamite back from Kansas City. It had been unloaded with the other things. He explained that was an explosive, and that he thought that they might need it on some of the tree stumps, or even to bring down a piece of the mountain side to help close the valley a little better. Running Deer nodded that he understood.

That night Fighting Hawk read through many of his books, but couldn't find a match for the situation. He needed to know more before he could figure out what they were dealing with. He decided to let Sara sit and stew for the night, and curled into his blankets on the bedroom floor.

The next morning Fighting Hawk welcomed the tunneling men. He saw that all of them had short hair like Running Deer. They all looked like rugged men, and he knew that they all were probably twice as strong as he was. He took the dynamite they had brought and carefully cut a stick in half. He remembered Mr. Rogers using dynamite to remove a stump when he was a boy. He had watched while Mr. Rogers carefully cut the stick, and he was trying to be just as careful now. He knew more than he did then, and it only made him sweat now. When he had the stick cut he attached a blasting cap and fuse.

Fighting Hawk explained that they would need a small hole bored into the wall. Not too deep, as they didn't want to break through, but just deep enough to put the small stick of dynamite. One of the men picked up his pick and hammer, and headed off toward the tunnel. There were two others following him before Fighting Hawk could tell them to be careful. Running Deer shook his head and said that they were always as safe as they could be in the tunnels. He explained that they were the best that he had.

It was thirty minutes later that they came back out the tunnel. Sweat poured off of all of them. They almost looked ready to collapse, and Fighting Hawk had them sit down and drink all the water that they could hold. They smiled as he produced six skins of water from the kitchen. When they were looking better, Fighting Hawk took the dynamite and started for the tunnel. One of the men stopped him. He said that it was too dangerous for him to do that job. Fighting Hawk was amused, but saw the determination on his face, and he was big enough to probably stop him.

Fighting Hawk spoke softly and sincerely, "I know what is at stake, but none of you know how to use dynamite, and I don't want any of you killed when I can do this job alone." He didn't bother to tell them that he had never used dynamite either, but he didn't feel that it was something that he needed to go into at that time. He watched the men frown and finally one said, "One of us will go with you, in case there is trouble; and you can teach us to use dynamite." It sounded reasonable, but he still didn't want to risk anybody but himself, but they wouldn't hear of anything less. He nodded his agreement and they set off down the tunnel.

The young man watched closely as Fighting Hawk worked the dynamite into the small hole. It almost wouldn't fit, but pushing and shoving kept it moving until it reached the bottom. Only about an inch was left outside the hole, and Fighting Hawk was sure that it would do the job. He stretched out the fuse and lit the end. He watched it start to burn and fizz and estimated that they had about three minutes to get back out of the tunnel. They would have plenty of time. He looked at the young man and said, "Now get out, fast!" They moved quickly through the tunnel, and were back in the house with plenty of time to spare. Fighting Hawk told everybody to stay well back from the mouth of the tunnel; they waited for the explosion.

Fighting Hawk was almost sure that the fuse had gone out, but wasn't willing to risk being wrong when the explosion hit. The blast knocked everyone off their feet. Dust and small rocks had shot out of the tunnel, and buried themselves into the wood walls. The whole mountain shook and all of them sat with their ears ringing.

Fighting Hawk was confused as well as stunned. He had watched a half a stick of dynamite barely move a tree stump, and the noise was loud, but not like this. There had to be some other explanation. Sara was suddenly beside him, holding him to her and crying. She kept asking him if he was all right, and then running her hands over his body, looking for anything that might be wrong. His ears were just starting to be able to hear again when he told her, "I'm fine. Get back outside and don't embarrass me again." He looked at her firmly and she smiled through her tears, and nodded her head. She kissed him and was gone.

He looked around the room and saw the stunned looks looking back at him. It was the young man that had gone in with him that finally spoke, "I think that I see why you didn't want us to do it ourselves." There were nods of agreement from all around the room. Fighting Hawk wasn't smiling when he said, "It shouldn't have been like that. We shouldn't have heard much more than a loud thud. Something went wrong." Everybody looked at each other and it was Fighting Hawk that said, "Well, let's go see what happened. We won't find out anything here."

They cautiously crept down the tunnel. Fighting Hawk noticed that the heat was considerably less than what it had been and the others agreed. When they reached the cave entrance, they noticed that the narrow opening had been expanded to twice what it had been. It was easy to walk through now. They all saw the side of the room where the wall had been was almost completely gone, exposing a large cavern. Off to the side was a large steam vent that released the heat of the Earth itself. Fighting Hawk watched as the steam rose and saw where the explosion had cracked the ceiling, allowing the steam to escape. He pointed it out to Running Deer and the men. They all looked as the steam rose and disappeared into the ceiling.

Fighting Hawk pointed to the torch and the wavering fire showed that air was gently moving through the tunnel; joining with the steam to escape up through the mountain. He saw the thick white goo that covered most of the walls, and when he got some on his hand and sniffed it. He smelled sulfur. Holding out his hand the said, "That is why the explosion was so large. It is sulfur, just like the end of a match. The whole room must have exploded when the dynamite went off." He saw Running Deer shudder as he understood the size of what had just happened. Fighting Hawk felt himself grow a little weak with the thought of what might have happened if the cavern had been bigger.

Fighting Hawk told Running Deer, "If you collect the sulfur and grind it into powder, you can pack it into tubes and it will explode just about like dynamite. And from the looks of how much you have in here, you will be able to blast your way through the whole mountain." Running Deer looked around and grinned, before he said, "We don't want to go through the whole mountain, but we would like to be able to blast through some big rock." The men laughed at his words, but nodded their heads in agreement.

Fighting Hawk nodded back toward the entrance to the cavern, "Can you put a door or something there. With the vent for the steam, the heat will drop quickly. I would like to have a door there to keep people out, and the steam in." Running Deer looked for a minute then said that it would be easy. He would talk to Black Otter and they would have something in place before night. Fighting Hawk doubted it would be so easy, but decided to wait and see what happened. Running Deer told the men to start collecting the sulfur and he would send skin bags to fill. They watched the men start to work, and Fighting Hawk suggested that they cover their faces and not breathe the stuff in, if it could be helped. Running Deer and Fighting Hawk made their way back down the tunnel and into the house.

They found Black Otter and a number of the other men waiting for them. Fighting Hawk found that the force of the explosion was felt all over the valley. He thought for a minute before he suggested that they send a rider to the village and let them know that everything was all right, in case anything was felt that far away. Black Otter turned to a boy and told him to ride to the village and report to Gray Eagle. The boy nodded his head and ran from the room. Running Deer explained what had happened and then he and Black Otter started discussing the wall that Fighting Hawk wanted. They disappeared for a time and when they came back Black Otter started giving instructions to his men. They scurried off on all manner of errands as the men continued to make their plans. Fighting Hawk left them with their heads together and went to retrieve Sara.

As he approached the front door of the house he heard a conversation in progress and decided to see what it was all about. He heard Sara speaking courteously, but firmly to one of Black Otter's men, "I said that I'm Fighting Hawk's woman. Why do you think that I am tied to his post; and you wouldn't want me anyway? I would cut your throat while you slept. I will only serve Fighting Hawk, because he has broken me and I respect him. I don't respect any other man, and you would have to kill me, or bring me back. You can talk to him if you want, but remember this; sooner or later I will get the chance to kill you, and I will do it!" Even Fighting Hawk heard the menace in her words. He suspected that many warriors had already heard her words, and he thought that any warrior would be stupid to bring a rattle snake into his lodge. If any warrior asked about Sara, they would either have a death wish, or be just plain stupid.

Fighting Hawk stepped out on the porch. The warrior turned to see who had come out and studied Fighting Hawk for a minute, before picking up his tools and moving on with his business. Sara smiled sweetly at Fighting Hawk, and stood waiting patiently for him to talk to her. "A little bit rough on him, weren't you?" Sara's smile slipped a little, but she didn't lose it completely, "Not really. I was nice the first time, but he just wouldn't go away. So I told him the truth, no need for him just hanging around when I don't want him to. Besides, I told him the truth. I would rather die than to be with anybody else."

Fighting Hawk looked at her for a minute and it suddenly occurred to him. "Why do you want to be with me? There are a world of men out there, and as young as you are, you have the time to find the perfect man, why pick me?" He watched as she looked at him. He had seen that look before, and knew it was reserved for slow children that you had to explain the simplest things to. He braced himself for the voice that he knew would follow that look. "Can't you see? I love you, and not like some little girl either. I know what you think of me, but I am not just a little girl. I am a woman, and I know what I want."

Fighting Hawk shook his head, "Even if you are a woman, and not just a little girl, you still didn't answer the question; why me?" He looked at her and waited for her answer. She wasn't so quick to answer this time, and she didn't use that irritating voice when she said, "I grew up watching momma doing things to men. I didn't understand why they would want to do those things. Later when Paul wanted to try them I wanted to see what it was all about, so we did them. Not everything, but we tried a few things. I liked some of the things, and some I didn't. But I did understand why momma did those things. At first I thought that she liked all of them, but then I realized that she really didn't like any of it. When I asked momma why she did them, she told me that there are things in this life that you do because you want to, and things that you do because you have to. I still didn't understand that it was just what she had to do to make money. Paul explained the things that I didn't understand, but I got it. Once we were on the way here I saw her doing those same things, but I could tell that she wanted to do it. I was confused about it, but that night when momma was showing me how to suck a man the right way and all I could think of was, I couldn't do it like she told me to. You stopped her and then you showed me something that nobody had ever shown me. We never saw any man do that with momma, and I felt like my insides were all tied in knots. But boy, when those knots let go I knew then that there was a lot more to this than I thought. I wanted to experience everything right then, but momma wouldn't let me. So I spied on you every time you were together, and did everything I could to get you to do those things to me. But, you wouldn't even look at me."

She had a sad looking face and Fighting Hawk felt sorry for the way that she had felt, but he hadn't known. She shook herself and continued, "Then when we got here I thought that I would find another man that would do those things to me. That was before you took us to the village. Then I saw you with Moon Flower and Little Mule, and I really hated you then. You left momma tied to a post, with no clothes on, and made these women scream with pleasure knowing she could hear you. But it wasn't until Little Mule started to teach us Cheyenne that I made the mistake of saying that you were a mean and cruel beast that she almost tore my head off, and momma helped her! Then momma explained to me that you had told her about your wives, and I couldn't believe that she would still want to be with you. She also told me why you put her on the post, and I couldn't believe that she would do something like that. Once I realized that they all loved you, and that you didn't make them do those things I started asking Little Mule questions. She told me about the things that you did to her, and I was shocked. She explained that it was all part of being a captive, and she said that she really did ask for it. But then she told me about the wonderful things that you did, things that you didn't have to do, and that none of the other women got. She said that she didn't know what to think about you then, but when you sold her to another warrior she found out that all of the other men were just pigs. She said that was when she knew that she loved you, and she said that if she couldn't belong to you she would rather be dead. When I looked at momma I saw her nodding her head that she agreed."

She took a minute to wind down a little and get a breath of air. Fighting Hawk held up a hand to signal that he wanted her to stop for a minute. He went back inside and returned with a skin of water and took the rope from the hitching post and led her toward a small clearing beside the house, out of the way of the returning workmen.

When they had settled down, and she had drunk the cool water she continued her story, "I didn't say anything for a long time. That was when Moon Flower and Little Mule did something that I thought was wrong. I asked momma about it and she got this far off look on her face and she told me not to be so quick to judge. I knew then that she had done those things too. But I still didn't know what to think. When I asked Little Mule about it she said that you had taught them how to do it, and that it was how they endured your long trips away from them. Since I knew what you had done to me, I thought that you must have taught them too. When I told Little Mule she laughed and said that women had always known about that, but most men wouldn't understand women acting like that. She said that you were very different from other men. That night she took me to her blankets and I was very afraid, but she was very gentle with me. The things that we did made my head swim, and I wanted to be all hers, but she laughed again when I told her. I was crying, but she made me sit down and listen to her. She explained that I had only felt a little bit of what love felt like, and that until I was willing to give myself completely to someone, then it would always be like that. I didn't understand again. She took me to see the Stars and to see Bright Dove. They told me how much they loved you; but that they loved you even more when you allowed them to be free and to pick a husband. I didn't understand, especially the Stars that had each other, why did they need a husband?"