Read Online Sundancer (Cheyenne Series) by Shirl Henke - Free Book Online Page A

Society, the man whom old Leather Shirt had dispatched to capture her. He was considered to be quite a catch among the young women of the band. But Roxanna thought there was a sullen cruelty about him, especially when he looked at her, as if she were an insect he longed to grind beneath his moccasins.
           “He found buffalo—a day's ride! We are breaking camp to go after them. There will be a great hunt and feasting!” Lark Song said breathlessly in Cheyenne, then translated haltingly for Roxanna’ s benefit.
           The women quickly finished their task and returned to the camp, which was humming with excitement. Roxanna knew the buffalo herds were growing scarcer and more difficult to find due to white encroachment. She had read about the huge beasts moving by the tens of thousands in great undulating waves across the open plains. It would be exciting to see an actual hunt.
           All around her the women of the village were busy dismantling lodges. They used the long poles and sewn-together skins from them for travois on which all the parfleches containing cooking and eating utensils and sleeping gear were packed. Young girls watched over the small children, keeping them out of harm's way, while their mothers and elder sisters broke camp. Everyone seemed to work together, as efficiently as a well-oiled machine. Young boys were dispatched by the leaders of the warrior societies to round up the horses, while the older men gathered up all the sacred medicine pipes and other religious paraphernalia. The warriors armed themselves, ready to guard the band's journey to better hunting grounds.
           Cain watched Alexa pitch in, helping Sees Much's granddaughters roll up the heavy buffalo hides covering their lodge. She fit in amazingly well, eager to help and uncomplaining as Willow Tree issued orders for more strenuous tasks. Alexa continually surprised him, first with her startling beauty, then her fierce temper, now her toughness. She was a survivor, no doubt about it, spoiled St. Louis belle or no.
           “Will you join in the hunt, Not Cheyenne, or have you grown soft as a woman living among our enemies?” Weasel Bear taunted. His eyes followed Cain's and he added slyly, “Your white blood calls to the pale one, but she will not have a mixed-blood even if he is a cut hair.”
           Cain's scar seemed to writhe as the muscles of his jaw clenched. He had hated Weasel Bear since they were small boys. The Dog Soldier had joined Cain's Cheyenne brother in tormenting a young half-blood. “The woman is nothing more to me than I to her. I will be paid very well to return her to her family. Do not think to interfere. I have already spilled Cheyenne blood. I would not shrink from doing it again.” He saw the blaze of fury in Weasel Bear's eyes and smiled chillingly.
           “You will not hunt, then.” Weasel Bear spit on the ground in contempt.
           “Oh, I will hunt. Sees Much and Leather Shirt are old and have need of the meat.” Cain watched Weasel Bear's face darken with rage at the rebuke. As the nearest kinsman who was a fit young warrior, Weasel Bear had the responsibility to provide for the two old men.
           “I will see they do not go hungry, unlike you who cannot wait to return to the white eyes.” He turned his back on Cain and stormed away.
           “You have made a dangerous enemy,” Leather Shirt said, coming up to stand beside Cain.
           “There is nothing new in that,” Cain replied, weary of confrontation. “He is only one among many.”
           “Is your father, His Eyes Are Cold, among those many? You belonged to him, and he deserted you.”
           Cain looked into the old man's fierce black eyes, so like his own. They were unreadable...like his own. “I do not belong to anyone,” Cain said flatly.
           “Will you spill more Cheyenne blood, as you have boasted?”
           “I do