Chapter 5

Grey Cloud woke with the dawn, as she normally did. However, this morning felt different - very different. For a start she felt rested. She had slept well.

Yesterday had been a difficult day. Her man had been killed! She was surprised that she didn't feel particularly bad about that. Bent Stick had not been kind to her. He had used her as a man does, which he seemed to enjoy, but then he also enjoyed beating her at the same time, and before, and afterwards. That must have been why she slept so well - it had been a long time since she hadn't had any freshly-delivered blows to take to bed with her.

But now she belonged to a white man. His woman, a Comanche no less, had killed her man. But as a woman couldn't own a slave, or anything else for that matter, the white man had taken her over.

He was the first white man she had met, although she had heard about them. She had been told they were dirty and smelly, that they were vicious, and that they didn't understand the ways of her people. However, this one had taken a bath with her, had not hurt anyone (although he didn't exactly prevent his woman from killing Bent Stick), and had talked with her father and the other old men of the tribe in a respectful way. He had even tried to stop the violence before it started.

Still, white men were something new for her, this one particularly. He had spoken her own language to her, although it was a bit hesitant. She wasn't sure what his name was - the woman hadn't really called him anything last night - and she didn't know her name either. When they talked they used a different language so they may have spoken names she didn't understand. But they seemed close, and the woman really seemed to care for him. She seemed nice, she must be only a couple of years older than Grey Cloud was, but she had killed Bent Stick so quickly and easily, and he had been thought of as a dangerous man.

There was so much to think of, and it was all so strange. She felt nervous about what would happen, or perhaps apprehensive would describe it better, but she didn't feel threatened. She imagined she would have to go with them to wherever they lived. And she didn't fancy being a slave much. But what else had she been over the past six months if not a slave to Bent Stick?

She moved slightly, stretching her body a little. Her head was on someone's shoulder - another novelty as she normally slept alone after Bent Stick had finished with her. And this white man hadn't used her in that way - didn't he like her? He hadn't used his own woman either - that was odd.

Grey Cloud opened her eyes. There was enough early dawn light seeping into the tepee that she could see. She looked straight ahead of her, over the white man's chest which was lightly covered in short hair, and saw two big brown eyes looking back at her. The other woman was resting against the man's other shoulder. She moved too, raising her arm and her hand - was she going to slap her? But instead the woman gently put her hand on Grey Cloud's cheek and stroked it. It was quite affectionate. And she smiled at her. Grey Cloud could feel her face muscles smiling back.

The white man moved his head, and looked at her as well. She could feel his arm tighten around her shoulders as he pulled her into him. Did he want to have her now? But he was just holding her.

After a while, Jake tried to sit up and the three bodies rolled apart. Sue stood up first, and Grey Cloud looked at the naked young woman who seemed tall and slim from where she was, still lying on the floor. Then she stood up too.

Jake and Sue both looked at the new girl. She was slim, or rather she was skinny with her ribs showing through her skin, shorter than Sue and with less well developed breasts even than the slender Comanche. Her hair was a bit of a bush and she didn't stand up straight, but a little hunched over with her eyes cast down. The bruises and marks were still quite in evidence, although they should fade over the next few days.