To Dream Anew Read Free Page B

the mutilation.”
    “Take me to them. Hurry!”
    They turned and ran back the same direction the private had come from. What am I to do with a squaw? What is she doing here still? Her people have long since moved out . Or had they? Maybe it was a trap. What if, like Custer, we find ourselves suddenly attacked by thousands of Sioux? What do I do then? The questions ricocheted through Zane’s mind and his heart sounded a furious beat in his ears as he approached the circle of blue-coated men.
    “Put a bullet in her and be done with it,” one man said.
    “No, torture her. Torture her like she done to our men.”
    “What’s going on here?” Zane asked in his most authoritative voice.
    The men parted at the sound, and Zane stopped in his tracks to see the young woman, tiny babe in arms. She stared at him in wild-eyed fear. Her long hair was sticking out in disarray around her face and shoulders. She was filthy, caked in dust and blood. She’d been wounded, hit in the head and cut on the arms. The baby began to cry.
    “She’s a Sioux, Lieutenant,” the man at his left finally answered. “We found her hiding in the thicket. Her and her brat.”
    “She’s probably waiting to kill us in our sleep,” another man called out.
    Zane walked forward, watching as the woman cringed and pressed herself back against a tree trunk. “She’s hurt. Get the doctor.”
    “Beggin’ the lieutenant’s pardon, but the doc is busy with wounded soldiers. He can’t hardly be stoppin’ to take care of some enemy squaw.”
    Zane eyed the man hard. The anger he felt inside threatened to boil over and play itself out in a fist to the man’s smug-looking face. Zane turned and looked at the men around him. “So we are to be no better than them? Is that it? We’ve resorted to openly killing unarmed women and children?”
    “You saw what they did,” a grizzled sergeant reminded. “Them Sioux women picked the bones of our dead. They made it so some of the men wouldn’t even be known to their mothers. They killed wounded men if they found them still alive.”
    “Did anyone catch this woman in such acts?” Zane questioned.
    “No, but she’s got blood on her hands!”
    “She’s got blood on her face as well. You’ll notice she has a head wound.” Zane turned to the sergeant in particular and pressed the question again. “Did you see her mutilate any bodies?”
    “No, sir,” the man answered in a clipped tone. “Didn’t see her try to help any of them either.”
    “From the looks of it,” Zane said, getting a better view of the baby as the woman shifted it in her arms, “I’d say she was probably giving birth during the battle. Looks to me that maybe one of our soldiers tried to kill her—maybe even while she was laboring. Takes a brave man to attack a woman giving birth.” Zane felt torn. He knew these men were angry because of their fallen comrades. He understood their rage, but it grieved him to see that they’d become nothing better than savages themselves.
    “Now, I want you,” he said, turning to the sergeant, “to go get the doctor. Bring him to my tent.” Zane didn’t wait for a response but instead turned to one of the other men. “Take her to my tent; it’s just up the ridge. Put her in there and get some hot water so the doctor can treat her wounds.”
    The man nodded but looked none too happy, while the sergeant trudged up the path in no apparent hurry. Zane drew a deep breath and turned back to the woman. He stepped closer, relieved to see that she made no attempt to retreat further.
    “Ma’am, this soldier is going to escort you to my tent. A doctor will come and see to you and the babe. Do you understand?”
    She stared at him for a moment, then nodded. The soldier approached and looked back to Zane. He appeared hesitant as to what he should do.
    “Go with him, ma’am.”
    For several seconds no one moved, then finally the woman stepped out. She held the baby tightly and let her gaze dart from