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Golden Fox slipped off Splash.
Her grandfather took the lead rope from her hand. “I will take care of the mustangs. The elder who wishes to speak to you waits inside your lodge. Do not make him wait longer.”
She grabbed her carry-all, sleeping robe, and bow, then hurried to her lodge. After dusting snow from her feet, she ducked beneath the flap.
The center fire burned brightly, and a young man of about twelve winters knelt and handed a bowl of food to an elder.
As the elder accepted the food, his face turned toward Golden Fox. “Welcome, Granddaughter. I find your lodge is well-kept, and there is dry wood and humpback droppings to warm these old bones.” The white of blindness filmed over deep-set eyes that had once been dark. His wrinkled skin was creased with the many paths he had followed in his life, some of them cut off by scars.
“I am honored, Elder, that you find rest and warmth in my lodge.” She dropped her belongings on her sleeping robe off to the side, and made her way to the fire. Seated across from the elder, she warmed her hands. “Was your journey a long one, Elder?”
His toothless mouth opened and sucked in tubers. He chewed and swallowed before answering. “No journey is long, Child, when you know where you are going, and you find beauty as you walk.”
She dipped food into a bowl, hoping nervousness did not sound in her voice. “Wise advice, Elder. I am called Golden Fox. I would be honored if you and your boy would share my lodge for however many sunrises you choose.”
A wide smile crinkled the skin around his eyes. “I am Has No Mustang, and this boy is my grandson, Boy Who Walks. My grandson will stay with Sun Rising and your grandfather, Eagle Thunder. You, Golden Fox, and I have much work to do. I have come to meet minds with you.”
Food slid down the wrong way, and she choked and coughed. Finally, a drink of water washed it into her stomach. “Has No Mustang, what does this mean, to meet minds?”
“Eat, young one. There will be time to speak after our bellies are full.”
When she had scrubbed and put away the eating bowls, Golden Fox prepared a medicinal drink for the elder. “This is a hot drink that my mother taught me to make. It eases the aches of an Elder’s bones. If you find it soothing, I will send some of the dried plants with you.”
Has No Mustang sipped the drink. “It tastes very good. Perhaps, your mother would share with Boy Who Walks how to prepare this.”
“Sky Bird, my mother, is always happy to share knowledge of medicine plants.”
Though white covered his eyes, Golden Fox had the uneasy feeling that the elder could see right into her heart.
He set aside his drink and folded his hands on crossed legs. “To meet minds is a Sacred Happening between one who is very old and has much knowledge, and one who the Spirits have called to follow a special path. In this way, I share with your mind the knowledge I have gained from many cycles of seasons, so you might be given what you need to follow the path the Spirits have laid out for you. Six moonrises ago, Blue Night Sky came to me in my dreams, and told me the time had come for me to pass on my gifts to you.
“Prepare two sleeping robes side-by-side. Go out and find clean snow. With the snow, wash your hands, your face, and your feet. When you return, bring a woman who has more cycles of seasons than you. She will sing while my grandson pats the drum. We will prepare, and then you and I will join hands and journey to the Spirit Land.”
When she entered the lodge with Deer Woman, the Elder held a shiny shell. The inside of the shell glistened with many different blues and purples, as Sacred Sage and Sweet Grass smoldered inside. In his hand, he held an Eagle wing fan made of seven feathers. Leather strips wove in and out of each feather to keep it in place.
Golden Fox stopped in front of the Elder.
First, he fanned the Sacred Smoke over his own body, and even the bottoms of his feet, and then he fanned it over her. After handing the bowl and feather fan to Boy Who Walks, he motioned for Golden Fox to lie down. Once she settled on one of the robes, he stretched out beside her, and linked his fingers with hers.
In a low voice, Deer Woman sang in rhythm to the drum.
***
As Father Sun rose above the canyon rim, the rough stone wall burst into a bloody radiance. A gold-red fox peeked out from behind large stones.
Golden Fox held very still, wondering if the fox would come closer or dart back inside.
Barely audible, she whispered her morning song.
Little by little, the fox edged closer, until she sat in front of Golden Fox.
Arms resting on her crossed leg, with her palms held upward, her song drifted to its end.
The fox leaned forward, stretching her neck as long as possible, and sniffed her hands. Then, the fox slowly drew back and cocked her head. “Sister-Fox, I welcome you to my hunting grounds.”
Golden Fox blinked and had to clear her throat of surprise before she could speak. “Fox, you speak to me!”
A grin lifted the corners of Fox’s gaped mouth. The tip of her tongue curled just behind her white teeth. “You must learn to hide in plain sight, Sister. The cold season will soon end, and the season of baby animals will come. When the grasses begin to grow green, climbing between the tan stalks of cold season, you must save your people. To be able to hide, to sneak like Fox and count your enemies—this is the gift I give to you.”
“I am honored, Fox....”
Fox gave a sharp bark and Golden Fox fell silent. “This gift will do you no good, if your mind is still full of chatter like squirrels that argue over last season’s nuts. You must sacrifice that which you want most, so your mind will be quiet. Now is not the season for your happiness, but the season for the lives of your people.”
“What do you mean, Fox? What is this sacrifice I must give?”
“What brings confusion to your heart? What makes your Spirit too restless to sleep? This cannot be if you will learn the ways of Fox and the ways of fighting. Our hearts cannot be torn, if we are to be fierce. Our minds cannot stumble, if we are to sneak among our enemies.” Fox stood up and stretched, mouth yawning widely. “Listen, Sister-Fox, and listen well. We are blessed only when we bless others.”
Black clouds boiled across the clear turquoise sky, and darkness descended. Sister Wind whipped through the canyon, tossing ice pellets from her hands.
Golden Fox stood. Sister Wind slapped her, and she stumbled. Panicked, she whipped her head back and forth. “Where am I?”
No one answered.
“Frost?”
Far away, a wolf howled, the sorrow ripping through Golden Fox’s chest—pain so great that she fell to her knees. With a hand clutched to her breast, she moaned.
***
Cruel laughter echoed through the air, and she tentatively opened her eyes.
A woman of the People’s lay curled in a muddy pool of water, next to boards that the whites walked upon. The hollow thunk of the hairy-faces footwear made the woman groan, and she gripped the sides of her head. A white man walked up to the woman and kicked her side. “Get out of the way, savage!”
The vision changed.
A small girl-child cringed in the corner of a dark space inside a wooden lodge. A white man slung the child, and she slammed into a wall. Blood gushed from her face as she slid to the wooden floor. Not one tear filled the child’s eyes, though her heart pounded inside her thin chest.
The white man snatched up the child, kicked open the wooden door, and threw her to the ground outside his lodge. The door slammed closed, and the child crawled to the still body of her mother, curled against her chest, and slept. Neither woke to greet Father Sun.
Tears flooded Golden Fox’s eyes and streamed down her face as her hands shook in anger.
And the vision changed.
A boy of the Peoples sat on a wooden bench in a wood lodge, with other children who had brown skin. He leaned over and whispered to the boy next to him. A hairy-face man stormed to the boy’s bench and slammed the back of his big hand across the boy’s mouth. “I tolja, don’ go speakin’ Injun ’round here!”
And again, the vision changed.
A white man held a newborn child and smiled down at his brown-skinned woman. Two more children came running in the wooden lodge and begged to hold the new baby. The father laughed and showed the oldest child how to hold the newborn. He leaned over his woman and brushed the raven hair from her face. “Today, I make food for us all. Today, you enjoy all of our children. My sweet Indian woman.”
***
Golden Fox’s eyes opened, only to quickly squint nearly shut as Father Sun poked bright fingers into them. She rolled to her side and groaned. Her ribs hurt and her lips felt swollen. Her tongue flicked out and she tasted dried blood.
“Shhh. Lie down, Golden Fox. Be at peace.” Deer Woman’s soft voice comforted her as strong hands helped her back onto the sleeping robe. “Sky Bird, close the flap so Father Sun is not so hard on her eyes.”
She cracked open her eyes as soon as she heard the entrance flap close. “Thir... thirsty.” She licked her cracked lips.
Deer Woman put an arm around her back and helped her sit.
Sky Bird hurried over with a water bladder and held it up to her mouth. After a few swallows, Sky Bird took the water away. “Not too much, or it will not stay in your stomach.” Her mother piled sleeping robes behind her. “There. Lean against them and rest, while I fix broth for you.”
“I feel so weak. My side hurts and my lips feel swollen.”
Deer Woman dabbed at her mouth with a soft scrap of deer hide. “Your mouth is swollen. It looks as if someone hit you hard and split your lip. On your side, there are blue and green marks as if you fought.”
She barked an abrupt laugh. “No fight. Just... got beat up.” Peering around, she asked, “Where is... Has No Mustang?”
A bowl of broth in hand, Sky Bird squatted beside her. “After two sunrises, he left to go on his final walk alone. His grandson carried the plants for the medicine drink for the Elders.”
“Two sunrises? I have slept for two sunrises?”
Deer Woman reached out and gently brushed the young woman’s hair out of her face. “Not two sunrises, Golden Fox. You have fought in your sleep for four sunrises. Dances In Storms has been here, singing for you to return, for three sunrises. It is only a short span ago that she went to her lodge to eat and to rest. We worried for you.”
“I need to speak with Dances In Storms when she is awake. There is much we need to talk about.” She gingerly touched the rim of the bowl to her lower lip, and sipped. The lip split open, and she tasted her own blood with the broth.
***
Father Sun rose twice more before Dances In Storms entered Golden Fox’s lodge. It was the first day that her mother and Deer Woman had gone to their own lodge.
The Holy Woman eased into a cross-legged, sitting position next to the fire pit. “I am told you wish to speak.”
Something in the somber way the Holy Woman sat pricked at Golden Fox’s heart. “I have been inside this lodge for too many sunrises. Would you walk in the canyon with me?”
They walked behind the camp and along an old streambed, to where a cleft in the wall led to an open meadow—the back way out of the canyon where Sister Wolf Band lived. No outsider was shown this way, and the brush concealed it, much like brush often concealed Fox’s den.
Spears of red rock shoved up from the ground here and there. The canyon that surrounded the meadow twisted and turned, branching off into other canyons.
Golden Fox kicked a loose stone with the toe of her footwear. Not looking at the Holy Woman, she cleared her throat twice before she could get any words out. “Have you always lived here?” As soon as she said it, she wanted to slap a hand across her mouth for such silly words.
Dances In Storms showed no laughter at her question, though. “Yes, my father’s father found this place. Come, let me show you something.”
For a long span, Golden Fox followed as the other woman led her into a narrow canyon with caves dotting the walls. Scrambling on hands and feet, they arrived in what appeared to be a shallow cave.
As soon as Golden Fox entered behind her, Dances In Storms motioned her to stay close. Stooped over, they followed a bend in the cave. In the dim light, the Holy Woman pointed to a place high up on the cave wall.
At first, Golden Fox was not certain what she looked at. “It is a humpback with two tails,” she finally exclaimed.
“Look closer. Only one is a tail, and the other hangs between two very long, curved teeth. A strange animal. In stories of Shining Light, it is said that when he was a boy, he found caves with paintings of strange animals.” She pointed again. This time it was an animal with very long, shaggy hair all over its body, and its two tails were much smaller. “I can only think this one must have been a young one.”
Golden Fox eased around the cave walls, staring, stopping to examine the paintings of antelopes and bears bigger than any she had ever heard about. Mountain Lion, who did not look exactly like Mountain Lion, snarled from one cave wall. “Did the people not paint the animals as they are? The teeth of Mountain Lion are too large. Perhaps, a child did this painting.”
“I asked my mother, who knows many of the old, old stories. She said that long, long ago, even before Shining Light walked on our Mother, such animals as these existed. No one knows why they are gone now.”
“Are these the caves Shining Light found?”
“Yes, I am sure from the stories this is so.” Dances In Storms pulled flint from her pouch. Small pieces of dry wood lay stacked against a far wall. She gathered it and lit a fire, and firelight reached soft gold fingers through the dimness of the cave.
Golden Fox glanced up and gasped. She pointed. “What is that long bowl with the large hides stretched across the top? I see what looks like people along the edges.”
“Stories call it a boat. It is much like our Peoples’ canoes, only much larger. It carried the men from across the salty waters. Have you not heard these stories?”
Golden Fox shook her head, then grinned. “Just because I have not heard them, does not mean our people did not tell them.”
A loud laugh burst from Dances In Storms. “Ahh, I see.”
Human figures chased various animals across the cave walls, spears and bows raised. Some paintings showed great herds of humpbacks and antelopes. Many flowers she had never seen bloomed across the walls. Mixed in with it all were handprints—small ones, not-so-small ones, and very large ones.
Dances In Storms walked over and pointed to one red handprint. “I made that one when I first found these caves. I had only seen eleven winters.”
“Who came with you into the canyons?”
She shook her head, her eyes alight with amusement. “Children were allowed to walk where they pleased, after they had seen a certain number of cycles of seasons. When I was a child, the hairy-faces—what we now call the whites—no longer cared about these canyons. Not like when Shining Light’s People lived here, and the hairy-faces believed the yellow stone—what they call gold—grew in the canyon walls. They were wrong.”
After walking in front of the walls several times, Golden Fox sat across from the Holy Woman. “There is much I must speak to you, Dances In Storms.”
“Speak what is on your heart.” The Holy Woman sat on the ground and prepared to listen.
“I do not know if we are to share a man or not. It no longer matters.” Dances In Storms opened her mouth as if to speak, but Golden Fox held up a hand. “The cold season will soon end, and when the season of new grass comes, I must be ready to help save our People. I cannot let the noise of my feelings scramble my mind. Before that time comes, I must be clear to learn all I need to know. My love for our People must be first in my heart, before my love for any one man. These past sunrises have taught me that no one person can do this. We all will do this, together.”
She drew in a deep breath, and her heart broke as she blew it out. “You have given much of your life to our Peoples, and you came to find us when our band became broken. If White Elk will join with you, you have my blessing, Holy Woman. If the Spirits say this is the season for you to bear a child, I am happy for you.”
She swallowed the lump in her throat. “This season, for me, is one during which I must learn the ways of Fox, and I must learn the ways of fighting. How can I ask others to follow me, perhaps to their death, if I am untaught? And, until our Peoples are brought away from the wooden fort and the poisoned water, I must set aside the desires and confusion of my heart. After this is done, I feel in here—” She clapped a hand on her chest. “—I feel in here that I will know if you and I are to share a man, or if it is my path to follow the ways of a warrior woman.”
