He left her. She heard him then with Willow and Sloan, back by the brook. She glanced toward the roan and her blanket roll where she carried her own change of clothes.
Not about to undress too close to the men, Skylar led the roan about a hundred yards down water from them. She paused there, looking around. The barest vestiges of natural lightremained, softly glowing upon the landscape. It had to be one of the prettiest places she had ever seen. Here, where she stood, an outcropping of rocks rose high to her left, with the brook bubbling just to the side of it. Wildflowers grew around the rocks and trees in profusion, their colors a soft palette in the twilight. The night was cool but beautiful, the air incredibly fresh. She could immediately understand why this place was so important to the Sioux people. It did seem like a holy land, shrouded in natural beauty.
The roan suddenly hedged back on her, much as the mule had done, neighing, snorting restlessly.
“Not you, too!” she warned the horse. “So far, you’ve been an angel. No acting up on me now.”
She glanced around, a feeling of unease settling over her. She felt as if she were being watched. No wonder the poor horse had been so skittish. “It’s nothing, nothing at all.” She lowered her voice. “Just another trick being played upon me, probably.”
She sensed movement behind her, as if the rocks were coming alive. She spun around, still cold and shivering, feeling the dampness of her clothing more fully now with such a keen sense of discomfort stealing into her as well.
She wasn’t alone.
Four braves had slipped down in silence and now stood on the ground, creating a semicircle around her. Despite the coolness of the night, they were dressed in moccasins, leggings, breechclouts, and paint. Their chests were bare, other than the designs sketched upon them in shades of yellow, black, blue, and red.
More of Hawk’s friends! she thought, her anger simmering hotly. He didn’t dislike her…hah! He didn’t believe a word she had said about never hurting his father, and even if he had sent for Sabrina, he was still furious over discovering himselfmarried. He meant to torment her until the end of her days. First the stupid mule and the icy water. Now this.
Well, she wasn’t going to fall for any of it anymore.
One of them, the brave in the middle with several feathers plaited into his long hair, raised a knife to her, then his free hand, indicating that she should come to him.
“Oh, no. I don’t think so!”
He frowned angrily, brandishing the knife again.
“You can stop it right now. You’re not frightening me in the least. I’ve done this once already.”
The men looked at one another, then all four painted faces stared back at her.
She walked up to the one closest to her on the right, a fellow with one feather stuck into his head of waist-length ink-black hair. He, too, lifted a knife to her threateningly. She struck out with her palm, hitting his arm with such force that she sent his knife clattering down to the rocks. “I said I’ve had enough of this! I’ve had this game played on me once before. I’m not afraid, and I’m not doing it again! You should all be ashamed of yourselves. Just what do you think you’re doing?”
They had been quiet, almost uncannily so. Now the fellow toward the center with the most feathers started laughing at the brave whose knife she had knocked away. The other two joined in, coming behind him in a taunting circle.
“Fellows,” Skylar said. “This is enough. You were great. You looked wonderful. But I’ve had it. Now…”
She broke off with a startled scream. The single-feathered warrior she had struck was now coming toward her, plucking up his knife and walking with menace. “You take it any farther, and I’ll press charges, whether you’re a friend of Hawk’s or not!” she warned. “I won’t be responsible for what I do to you. You could wind up hurt yourself.”
Her threats didn’t seem to carry much weight. The warrior kept coming toward her. “Stop it—I mean it, now!” An arm snaked out for her, dark fingers encircling her wrist and wrenching her forward. She let out a loud shriek, slamming her free fist against the brave’s face while kicking him in the shin. The others continued laughing as the brave wrenched her forward, then dragged her back toward the center of their group.
“Let me go, I mean it!” she cried out.
Then she heard her name called. The sound of pounding hooves against the earth.
Hawk, bareback on Tor, burst into the clearing. He cried out words she didn’t understand. He leaped down from Tor, pulling his own knife from a sheath at his calf as he faced the party of four, speaking again in an Indian language.
“I’ve told them to stop it,” Skylar said. “I’ve told them that enough is enough, that the joke isn’t funny?—”
“It isn’t a joke,” Hawk said.
“But they’re your friends?—”
“Not even my acquaintances.”
“But—”
“They’re not Sioux, Skylar. They’re Crow!”
“Crow?” she repeated.
