Free Sioux Slave by Georgina Gentry

lower than a horse.”
    Kimi touched the spirit object that hung between her full breasts under the doeskin shift, then reached for the quill work she was doing on a pair of fine moccasins. She was completing them out of habit. They had been meant as a gift for Mato. She felt ashamed and guilty that she had not even given her husband very much thought since his death. Her thoughts and emotions had been concerned only with the white man.
    She sneaked a look at him. He seemed to be drifting off to sleep. As young and strong as he was, that leg should heal enough for him to get around in a few days. Then he’d be a real threat if she didn’t watch out.
    In more than one way. Kimi tried not to look at the curve of his mouth, tried not to remember the taste of his lips when he had grabbed her in his escape attempt. She ought to turn the captive over to others to guard. But One Eye or any of the other families might mistreat him, and after all, with that wound, if he didn’t get good care, he could still get gangrene and die. A dead hostage wasn’t of much value or much assurance to the camp against attack.
    He was asleep now, and she stared at him, thinking another girl might think him handsome. No doubt he was used to having any woman he wanted, playing with them as a bobcat might toy with its prey before devouring it. This Hinzi had obviously decided to try his charm on her, to get her to help him escape. Out of vengeance, she might play along, let him think he was charming her, but she was not the stupid little fool he seemed to think Indian girls were.
    She went about her chores and let him sleep. Outside, when others asked about him, she shrugged and said she supposed he would live, as if it didn’t much matter whether he did or not.
    Only her mother seemed tight–lipped and hostile. “I wish we had killed that soldier! Kimi, you should turn this prisoner over to the Shirt Wearers or the chiefs to look after. There might be talk with you spending so much time caring for him”
    Kimi bristled. “Who would dare say such a thing? Our family reputation is without stain and I have only just buried a respected husband. I think only of the good of our people.”
    Wagnuka looked ashamed. “You are right. It’s only that I fear . . .”
    Kimi waited for her mother to finish, but the old woman only bit her lip.
    â€œWhat is it you fear?” Kimi prompted.
    â€œNothing. I have said too much already. I fear to lose you, daughter.”
    â€œIs that it?” With her left hand, she patted her mother’s arm reassuringly. “You think I would be swayed by some soldier’s lying tongue? I have heard what happens to the Indian girls they seduce and keep around the forts for their pleasure.”
    â€œNo,” she shook her gray braids, “It’s not just the soldiers. If the whites decide to take you away–”
    â€œMother, I will never leave you.” Kimi put her arm around the bowed, thin shoulders. “Now stop worrying about this one wounded soldier. He’s too weak to be of any real danger. Maybe later if the braves decide not to offer him for ransom, we might trade him to another tribe. Ever since the attack at Sand Creek a few moons ago, the Cheyenne have been eager to kill white soldiers.”
    â€œYour father joined them in a revenge raid only a little more than one moon later,” Wagnuka remembered. “They nearly destroyed the town the whites call Julesburg. He spoke well of one big half-breed Dog Soldier, Iron Knife. Yes, our brothers, the Cheyenne, would deal harshly with any wasicu right now.”
    Kimi shrugged carelessly. “Perhaps should we run across the Dog Soldiers in our summer hunts, we will trade them the soldier for their revenge. It matters little to me.”
    Her mother nodded and shuffled off, apparently satisfied that her suspicions were unjustified; that it didn’t matter one way or another to her