The Elk-dog men hastily reassembled in the meadow, to assess the situation. There were three dead, one wounded. Long Elk had recaptured his horse and looked none the worse for his narrow escape.
Several enemy dead lay scattered across the prairie where the action had been heaviest. The bowmen had been the deciding factor, and they had received not one injury. Unfortunately, this element of surprise was now lost. The enemy would be aware of the hidden warriors and their deadly capability.
A rider loped back to the woods, where the women reported no attack at all. Apparently all the Head Splitters, in their comparatively disorganized state, had elected to take part in the grand charge that was to have been the last.
Now, the situation was changed. The enemy was aware that a determined People would not lie down and be killed without a final defense. The Head Splitters would be more cautious about their charge, and would probably attack from the stream and through the woods as well. It had been obvious that there was not much plan in the attack that the People had just turned back. The next strike would be different.
Heads Off wished badly to go to the side of Tall One, but it could not be. He must lead his Elk-dog men in the meadow. Without his leadership he was afraid their youth and inexperience would make them easy prey to the overwhelming force of the enemy.
“Aiee, they come again!” Standing Bird pointed.
Heads Off barely had time to swing his horsemen into position before the charge came. They were fewer in number, less than half the strength of the previous charge.
He was puzzled at this turn of events. There had been no time for the planning of the multiple attack he had expected.
The yelling horsemen came closer, and the People began to recognize individuals. Now Heads Off understood. These were the young braggarts who had shouted threats and obscenities at the barrier each day. Furious with the failure of the initial charge, they had mounted their own, probably in defiance of their chiefs’ wishes.
The barrage of arrows and spears slowed the enemy charge, almost breaking the thrust of the attack before the countercharge by the Elk-dogs struck. It was only a moment before the Head Splitters were in full flight, again leaving bodies behind on the field.
Heads Off was elated that they had been able to turn the second attack, but was soon sobered. The People had lost two more warriors, and this attack, stopped with relative ease, was not that of the main enemy force. The attack in strength was yet to come.
Time passed slowly for the waiting defenders, and it was near the top of Sun Boy’s path when a group of three Head Splitters rode slowly out from their camp toward the defenders.
In the center, flanked by two others, was the young chief Heads Off had noticed before. The three rode at a walk to a place a few hundred paces away and stopped. The leader signed that he wished to talk.
“It is a trick, Heads Off,” Long Elk warned.
The chief nodded. “Probably. But we must talk. Come.” He
beckoned to Standing Bird, then turned to the others. “Watch with care!”
He waved to the bowmen and signed to them also to be alert, then rode slowly forward. His two young warriors were at his side, alert for any sign of treachery. The two little groups stopped a few paces from each other, suspicious and ready for trouble, but trying to appear relaxed and confident. Heads Off supposed there would be an offer to accept surrender. He had already rejected this in his mind. The possibility of treachery was too likely if the People were to give up their weapons.
“Greetings, my chief,” the Head Splitter signed. He was smiling and appeared friendly. “We ask to come and take away our dead.”
It was a legitimate request, and took the emissaries of the People by surprise. Heads Off nodded, at the same time thinking rapidly.
“Of course. We will not attack while you take them.”
Something was wrong. The request was valid, but seemed inappropriate somehow. How he wished Coyote were at his side. His father-in-law would see through the intricacies of this negotiation.
The enemy chief glanced at the sun. Ah, thought Heads Off, he is thinking about the time. Whatever his scheme, it depends on Sun Boy. This reasoning gave added confidence, and he decided to prolong the encounter a bit. Perhaps he could learn more.
“It is a good day to fight,” Heads Off offered pleasantly.
“It is a good day to die!” the other retorted.
“Yes,” agreed Heads Off. “Your young men have learned that.”
Anger flared on the face of the other. The jibe had struck home, a reference to the lack of organization and control among
the Head Splitters. Quickly, the enemy chief regained his composure.
“It is your people who will learn this day,” he threatened, yet in a mild and friendly manner. Again, he glanced anxiously at the sun. “Then we may come for our dead?” he questioned, apparently eager to end the interview.
Heads Off nodded, and lifted Lolita’s rein to signal the end of the conversation. Boldly and deliberately, he turned his back to the other, attempting to show confidence. He knew Long Elk and Standing Bird would be alert to defend and warn against any overt moves.
A flash of motion caught at the corner of his vision. A man on foot was slipping behind the shoulder of the rocky hill on his left. Now alert to this area, he saw another, bending to hide in the scrubby brush.
Now he saw the reason for the parley.
Normally, the enemy would not have requested to remove bodies until after the battle. To do so now was to use time, to create a distraction, so that warriors could maneuver into position. During the removal of the dead, when the attention of the People was occupied by that activity, enemy warriors on foot would be slipping into position in the woods, behind the hill, and along the stream. When the next attack came, it would be from all quarters at once, not just the frontal charge.
At least, he thought, we can be aware of it. We will not be caught by surprise. The two young horsemen were sent to warn the bowmen, while he himself rode to the woods to warn the defenders there. It gave him another last opportunity to speak to Tall One. He stepped down for a moment for a quick embrace, but realized he must return to the meadow. The girl gave him a quick kiss.
“Remember, the signs are good!”
He smiled and nodded, thinking to himself that of the signs he had seen, none appeared good. He turned Lolita back toward the meadow.
A party of the enemy was lifting their fallen warriors and placing them on the backs of horses they had brought for the purpose. They were singing, he supposed their song of mourning, and his own warriors watched from a distance, fascinated.
“You have told them what we think is to come?” he asked Long Elk.
The other nodded. “We will be ready, Heads Off.”
Bowmen were deploying in the scrubby growth of willows along the stream. The Elk-dog men would do without their support at the next charge. The enemy had now correctly determined the weakness of the People. They had simply not enough warriors, even with women and children helping, to defend in so many places at once.
The last of the dead were retrieved, and the funeral party made its way back toward the enemy camp. Now the Head Splitters began to mount, milling around in the characteristic activity that was a preface to their charge. A few began their yipping falsetto war cry, as more horsemen joined the milling throng. If anything, despite the losses by the enemy in the two charges earlier, there seemed to be more horsemen than ever.
A phrase of the death song flitted through the mind of Heads Off for a moment.
“ … today is a good day to die.”
He gripped his lance and resolved that the People would give the enemy a day to remember.
As if to echo the phrase of the death song, a new group of horsemen now appeared silhouetted on the hilltop against the
western sky. They were in position for a flanking attack when the defenders rode out to meet the charge.
He wondered wryly what White Buffalo might say now, about his signs.