People of the Fire Read Online Free PDF Page A

.
perhaps."
                   Dancing Doe looked up, a new fright in her
eyes as she saw Two Smokes. "No! Not a man. Not here where—"
                   " Shhh !"
Sage Root soothed. "He knows Power."
                   "I want Heavy Beaver!" The fear in
her eyes deepened.
                   "I'm berdache ,"
Two Smokes appealed. "I've done this before."
                   "Trust him," Chokecherry urged.
                   Dancing Doe didn't have time to respond;
another contraction racked her. Chokecherry nodded curtly to the berdache and backed to allow him room.
                   Two Smokes settled next to the whimpering
woman, careful fingers undoing the wolf hide. He laid the hide out as a
protective mat to keep the sacred bundle from contact with the earth. As he
began to chant in the melodious tones of the Anit'ah ,
Little Dancer leaned forward, eye pressed to the peephole to see.
                   From the outside, the Wolf Bundle didn't look
like much, only a skin bag tightly bound and painted a deep red along the
pointed end. The top had been left white, traced by lines that resembled veins.
A heart! That's what it was, a heart fetish!
                   Two Smokes took sage from the pouch he
carried, dipped it in water where it hung from a tripod, and sprinkled it into
the fire. Behind him, Chokecherry and Sage Root exchanged nervous glances.
                   "Here, this needs to be made into
tea." He extended a hand containing cleaned phlox. "She must drink
some, the rest will be rubbed on her. Sage Root, wash her down there where the
baby will come."
                   Then he lifted the Wolf Bundle up to the smoke
hole, singing in the language of the Anit'ah , eyes
closed, face serene.
                   From where he sat, Little Dancer watched, and
a sudden giddiness swelled within, raising his soul to the haunting tones. The
familiar feeling of Power wrapped around him.
                   Reeling, he barely noticed when Two Smokes
touched the Bundle to Dancing Doe's perspiring forehead. The woman quieted,
breathing easier. Two Smokes then touched the Bundle to her heart, just above
the turtle effigy, then to her protruding navel and again to the swell of her
pubis above the point of the yellow stripe.
                   Dancing Doe gasped, this time in relief.
                   The tea finished, Sage Root filled a
buffalo-horn spoon, placing it to the woman's lips. Dancing Doe drank, and
grimaced.
                   Resting the Wolf Bundle on the protective
hide, Two Smokes dipped his hands in the steaming water pouch, now full of tea.
"This is the way my people have taught me. The phlox tea soothes the
flesh."
                   Hands dripping, he began to massage her heavy
belly. At Two Smokes' nod, Sage Root copied his motions, working down. Dancing
Doe bit off a cry as another contraction pressed through her.
                   "Easy now," Two Smokes cautioned,
his fingers probing the woman's shuddering body. "The pressure must be
just so. Too much and the insides can tear. Bleeding can't always be
stopped."
                   "We tried massage," Chokecherry
added. "It didn't seem to work."
                   Two Smokes nodded, eyes going to the Wolf Bundle.
"Perhaps this will." With that, he reached for the Bundle and touched
it to Dancing Doe's navel where it protruded like a knob.
                   Dancing Doe cried out, another contraction
wrenching her.
                   "There." Chokecherry nodded,
crawling to get between Dancing Doe's legs. She positioned herself. "We've
got fluid. A little bit of blood."
                  Two Smokes held the Bundle in place, eyes
closed, still singing in his lilting tone.
                   "Child's coming," Chokecherry added.