Comanche Woman Read Online Free PDF Page B

She would die first. She could hear the excitement in their guttural voices.
    Rape!
    Oh no! Please God, no! She couldn’t bear the shame, the horror of it all. Their voices were closer now, angry. And frightened? Of what? She forced herself upright, forced herself to open her eyes and confront her fears. The Comanches were pointing at her. She followed an accusing finger and stared with amazement at the wolf lying beside her. She turned and found another wolf stretched out on the other side and smiled at the sight of Ruffian and Rascal, two of Cricket’s pet wolves. They’d been with her when she’d been captured by Tall Bear and must have followed her. She gave each wolf a hug of welcome.
    When the Comanches tried to come near her, the wolves bared their fangs and lunged, backing up to stand beside her again as soon as it was clear the Comanches would keep their distance. She saw a Comanche raise his bow and arrow to kill the beasts, but he was stopped by the war chief, Many Horses. They argued among themselves, but Many Horses would not let them harm her or the wolves. At last Ruffian and Rascal, hungry for food, left her side.
    She’d been approached warily by the Comanches, but when they’d found they weren’t harmed by her touch, she’d been bound again and set on a pony. They hadn’t stopped again until they’d reached their village. What had happened when she reached the village . . . she couldn’t remember it without trembling. It had been awful.
    But afterward she’d been left alone. All alone.
    At first, being left alone had been a blessing. She’d feared the strange faces and strange customs, the strange foods and strange language. It had amazed her how quickly she’d adapted to all that strangeness. In fact, in a matter of weeks Bay was ready to make an overture of friendship to the Comanches who’d taken her from her home.
    But no one would speak to her. No one would cross her path. And none of her efforts to change that situation made any difference. Many Horses’ mother-in-law, Cries at Night, had spoken to her, but only in Comanche, and only to teach her the tasks a Comanche woman must know to do her share of the work.
    In the beginning, she’d thought it was the language that created the huge barrier between her and the people around her. But after she’d learned a little Comanche, it became apparent something else kept the villagers away from her.
    That was when she’d learned of the tabu.
    Quite simply, because of the incident with the wolves on the trail and what had happened when she’d first been brought to the village, the
puhakut
, the village medicine man, had attributed some mystical power to her. He’d told the villagers she possessed medicine that could give strength to Many Horses—or cause him catastrophic harm. No one must interfere with her medicine, lest Many Horses be vulnerable in battle. The
puhakut
had declared it tabu for anyone in the village except Many Horses and his family to speak to her or even cross her path.
    As if that hadn’t been enough, Many Horses had added his fearsome curse, the
tabebekut
, as the penalty for anyone who brought the threat of harm to her, and that included speaking of her existence to those outside the village.
    Bay’s protestations, when she could finally speak the Comanche tongue, that the
puhakut
must be mistaken, had fallen on deaf ears. Her mystical power had remained unquestioned, and she’d remained alone. Many Horses obviously held her in some special esteem, but that role rarely included conversation that was more than one-sided. He would speak to her, but he didn’t expect, or necessarily desire, a response. There had been no one to talk to, no one with whom to share the ache she felt at being so isolated in the midst of so many.
    So Bay had begun to listen. She didn’t eavesdrop by choice, nor had she ever gotten over the feeling it was wrong. And sometimes, like now, when she was faced with jealousy and resentment and