Comanche Woman Read Online Free PDF Page A

slit the Comanche’s throat. Acting on reflex, Long Quiet put his arm in the way of the upraised knife and took the slicing jab himself.
    The Comanche whirled and made short work of the Tonkawa with Long Quiet’s knife. Then he stood for a moment with his head bowed as he thought of what he owed his blood brother. “You have given my life to me yet again.”
    Long Quiet turned his back on the frustrated Comanche, seeking some of the remaining linsey-woolsey in his
tuna-waws
with which to wrap his arm. As he worked the Comanche joined him, taking the material from Long Quiet’s hands and binding the wound for him.
    “I do not understand your willingness to risk your life to save mine,
haints
,” the Comanche said gruffly. “I made you my brother and then did not act as a brother should. Now I find myself unable to think what I can give you that is a fitting reward.”
    “I have already said no reward is necessary, but you can tell me what you know of Shadow.”
    The Comanche’s guttural voice shook with emotion when he spoke. “I do not know how you have learned of Shadow, but I will take you to her, if it is still your wish, when we have escaped these Tonkawa dogs.”
    “Then she exists?”
    “Of course.”
    “What do you know of her?”
    “I am Many Horses. Shadow belongs to me.”

 
    Chapter 3
     
    T HREE C OMANCHE WOMEN SAT IN A SEMICIRCLE AT THE edge of a colorfully decorated tipi preparing the ingredients for pemmican. Red Wing shelled pecans. Singing Woman beat dried plums into a pulp. She Touches First, sister to the
puhakut
, the village medicine man, pounded the main ingredient, dried buffalo meat, which she then dropped into a pot on the fire to be softened. As they worked, they talked.
    A short distance away, far enough that her shadow would not fall upon any of the others, a fourth woman sat by herself. She combined tallow and marrow fat with the pecans, plums, and buffalo meat prepared by the other women and stuffed the resulting pemmican into large buffalo intestine casings. Later the casings would be sealed with melted tallow to make the container of pemmican airtight, so it could be eaten months, or even years, later. As she worked, she listened.
    “Many Horses has been gone for two moons. He should have returned by now,” She Touches First said.
    Red Wing frowned. She had good reason to be concerned because her son, and the son of Singing Woman as well, had accompanied Many Horses on his raid. “Yes, two moons is a long time,” Red Wing agreed. “I must admit I will not sleep well until my son, Eagle Feather, gives these old eyes a chance to see his face again. Do you think some ill has befallen them? Perhaps someone broke the tabu and spoke of Shadow’s presence here.”
    “Surely not,” Singing Woman chided. “None would dare to risk the
tabebekut
. No one could survive such a curse. And Many Horses has such powerful medicine since . . . since that one came to live among us.” She paused in her work, and the lines of worry in her face deepened for a moment before she once again lifted her stone to pulp the plums. “They will surely be successful on their raid. I am eager to see what my son, He Follows the Trail, brings home for me.”
    She Touches First looked from Red Wing to Singing Woman. “Perhaps Shadow has decided to take away her medicine and leave Many Horses without his
puha
. If some ill has befallen them, then surely she is to blame.”
    Red Wing and Singing Woman shifted their glances toward the woman who sat a short distance away, but they did not look fully upon her. Such a thing was tabu. Had not the medicine man, He Decides It, told of the danger to anyone beyond Many Horses’ family who dared to speak to her or cross her path? If they were also careful not to look upon her, was that not a way to be certain her medicine could not touch them?
    “Why would Shadow deny her medicine to Many Horses?” Singing Woman asked. “He provides her shelter and food and keeps