the door flap behind her. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that something extraordinary had passed between her and the stranger.
Jesse Yellow Thunder stared after the girl, wondering who she was, wondering if she had felt what he had felt when their eyes met. She hadn’t been in the village the last time he had come home, he’d bet his last dollar on that. Her hair alone made her stand out. In a village where most everyone had straight inky-black hair, that rich, deep, curly red stood out like a candle flame on a cloudy night.
Hardly aware of what he was doing, he touched the scar on his face. He didn’t care how pretty the girl was, he was through with white women.
With a shake of his head, he turned his attention back to what his cousin Grey Wolf was saying.
When the first rush of excitement at his return had died down, Jesse took Grey Wolf aside. “There’s a white woman in camp,” he said, trying to keep the interest from his voice. “Who is she?”
Grey Wolf gave him an enigmatic look. “Two Dogs captured her in a raid. She belongs to his mother.”
Jesse nodded. He had figured it was something like that, and then cursed himself for asking. It didn’t matter who the redhead was. He had no need for a woman, any woman, other than the quick physical release that any whore could provide, and yet he couldn’t shake the feeling that they were destined to meet.
Amused by such a fanciful thought, he put the white woman from his mind as he followed Grey Wolf to his lodge. The Sun Dance was tomorrow and he had preparations to make.
* * * * *
Kaylynn stood on the edge of the crowd, her curiosity stronger than her revulsion as she watched the shaman move among those who were going to participate in the Sun Dance ceremony. She had been intrigued by much of what she had seen during her stay with the Cheyenne, repulsed by some, but this was by far the most gruesome thing she had witnessed. A dozen young warriors stood together, their expressions solemn, as the medicine man moved among them.
She was about to turn away when she saw the shaman approach the stranger she had seen the day before. She had asked Mo’e’ha who he was, and learned that his name was Yellow Thunder and he was cousin to Grey Wolf.
Taking a fold of loose skin located between the stranger’s left breast and collarbone between his thumb and forefinger, the shaman lifted it as high as possible and then ran a narrow-bladed knife through the fold of skin. With the knife still in place, the shaman inserted a skewer of bone, and then withdrew the blade. A rawhide thong was fastened to the skewer, and the loose end was attached to one of the ropes dangling from the Sun Dance pole. A similar incision was made in the stranger’s right breast.
The shaman moved on. He inserted skewers into the backs of three of the dancers, and then, instead of attaching the ends of the thongs to the Sun Dance pole, the rawhide was attached to a buffalo skull, which the men would drag around the dance arena.
The sound of drumming filled the air and the participants began to move. Those who were attached to the Sun Dance pole began to dance back and forth, their faces turned up to the sky as they tugged against the thongs that bound them to the pole. The other men danced in a wide circle, dragging the heavy skulls behind them. From time to time, the dancers blew on eagle-bone whistles that hung from cords around their necks.
Fascinated and repulsed, Kaylynn’s gaze rested briefly on each man before settling on the tall stranger. She didn’t know anything about him except that he was Grey Wolf’s cousin, but he looked as fierce and untamed as all the other dancers, maybe more so with that hideous scar on his cheek.
Face turned up to the sun, he moved with catlike grace, his feet hardly seeming to touch the ground as he danced back and forth. She stared at the blood and perspiration trickling down his chest, at the rapt expression on his face, and knew if she