Page 6

"No! Father, do not seek out First Rider to come to me. I beg thee, do not go to him!" cried Liliann, sitting forward in her chair.

"But, me own daughter, he is returned to his people for these past few months. And, does thou not remember how the man, young though he be at the time, healed me own affliction? If there be any man who could make thee well again, 'twould be he, right enough."

"Aye, I understand, but please, Father, no. Do not be askin' him to come here."

"And, why not, child?"

"Please, I…me own self does not wish him to see me as I now be lookin' with this thing stickin' out my eye and with these bumps and bruises upon my body."

Without warning, Liliann's father jumped up from his chair, and, looking as though he might burst, he declared, "And, if that scoundrel should be a showin' his face again at this fort, he be havin' to answer to me, right enough!

" The words were shouted. But then, with a quick look at her, her father added more softly, "How could it be that I be not seein' through his lyin' ways? "

"He put his lies on me, too, Father. After all, I be the one who fell in love with his drunkin' self…explainin' away what I saw in his character and hopin' he be tellin' me true about how marriage would be changin' his no account ways. So do not be puttin' this all onto your own shoulders."

Taking a few steps across the room, Liliann's father came to stand behind her and, placing a hand on her shoulder, asked, "How could thou be a knowin'? Why even now, thou be only a wheen bit older than a child."

"I be old enough," Liliann replied with a deep, regretful sigh as she leaned back against the chair.

She had hoped so fervently that Ernest Stuart—her newly-wedded husband—had been telling her truthfully about what she could expect to be their future.

She had believed him when he had proclaimed himself to be in love with her.

She had trusted him, too, when he had declared how different he was from all the other grubstakers in residence at Fort Benton; she had even dreamed of a future time when her new husband, having mined enough gold to buy land for a ranch, would have loved her, and—

Liliann pulled her thoughts up short. Her hope for a future ranch life was not to be, and it would be best to think of it no more.

She said, "I be rememberin' it now, and no mistake, how once, when we were still livin' in the Pikuni camp, my almost-sister's husband, Stands Strong, had described the white man's whisky as a curse.

He spoke true, Father. I did not know then how the drink could make me own newly-wedded husband the devil's own. "

"And, may the devil bless him!" cursed her father as he stepped back toward his chair and sat down. Then, with a softness coming into his eyes, he added more gently, "What else be wrong, me own daughter? I can see there be somethin' b'sides thy wounds afflicting thee."

Liliann drew in a shaky breath and let the air out slowly through her lips before replying, "Forgive me, Father, but, once, I thought me own self to be in love with First Rider, and, though I be long over me own girlish crush, I do not wish him to see me own gruesome face as it now be appearin', with this stick lodged into one eye and the other eye bein' black. "

Her father's sigh was heavy and deep with concern when he said, "Forgive me.

Me own self should have told thee what I was plannin' b'fore now.

But, I will tell it to thee now. I already sent fer the man.

When I saw his almost-brother, Red Fox, in the tradin' room the day before this, I sent a message with the lad, no mistake, askin' First Rider to come here.

And, I am afeard that, with the Pikuni village camped only a little way up the Marias, he might already be on his way here. "

Liliann looked away from her father and tried to close her one uninjured eye in a deep lament.

She couldn't, however, close both of her eyes.

And so, she contented herself with merely saying, "Then, me own heart be low, Father.

It be low, indeed. But, Father of me, please, would thou bring me a comb and a mirror? "

"Now, that be somethin' I can do, me own daughter. Indeed, that be somethin' I can do."

And, so saying, her father rose up to step into the next room where Liliann kept a mirror, brush and a comb. Returning to the room, her father presented the items to her along with a light blanket to place across her lap.

Exhaling softly, she gazed at her image in the mirror, stunned at the vision staring back at her.

In addition to her left eye, which was showing a deep and ever-darkening black shadow around it, her right eye was in worse shape, having been injured by a skinny, but sharp, piece of wood.

Like a weapon, it had been sticking up from the floor and had gone flying into her eye when Ernest, in a rage, had thrown her face-first onto the floor.

And, there the thing remained, even now sticking out of the right side of her right eye. It made her look hideous. The knife-sharp piece of wood had also cut into her right cheek, and the place where it was stuck looked red and on fire.

There were also bruises upon her body, no mistake, but these she could hide with clothing.

And so, with deep regret, she realized this was to be the first glimpse of her that First Rider would see after these four, long years. She groaned, feeling she was on the edge of tears, but she dared not cry. After all, she did not wish her appearance to become even more gruesome.

Indeed not. After all, she did not seek to have First Rider's pity; therefore, she would use brush and comb, and perhaps even a bit of rouge, to try to make herself appear presentable. Somehow she would do it.

****

First Rider; his almost-cousin, Ipoyi ííyak , or Stands Strong; and his almost-brother, Máóhkataatoyi , Red Fox, rode out from the Pikuni camp that very night, although the time was late.

Ihkitsíkammiksi, the Seven Persons constellation, visible during the darkest part of the night, was almost, but not quite pointing down toward the prairie.

The three of them had counselled together and had decided to wait until this time of night to leave.

There were many reasons for the slight delay, the first being that it was easier to avoid war parties during this time in the early morning, since most enemy warriors would have already ceased their nightly trekking and would now be turning their attention to finding a secluded spot where they could pitch their day camp.

The other reason for their delay was because of the state of affairs at Fort Benton.

Having been away from the Pikuni tribe for so long, First Rider had been shocked to discover that what had once been a friendly trading center for the Blackfeet had become the unlikely possession of men of questionable character—the gold-seekers, the gamblers and the drunks.

"These men have taken over the fort, and the change is not good," Stands Strong had said during the council they'd held before they left for the fort.

"In the hundreds you say they number?" First Rider had asked, using the Blackfoot language.

"They come here because of their lust for the evil golden rock, which has been found in our country farther south and west," Stands Strong had answered.

"But, so many of them? Where do they come from?"

"They have arrived here from the East," said Stands Strong.

"Their numbers are so large, they have changed our land in many ways.

It has been hard to understand them because they often act in the ways of a crazy man, killing game without the need of its skin or its meat, and speaking to us without sense. "

"Is it mostly men, then, who are invading our country?" asked First Rider.

" áa , yes," Stands Strong replied. "But, there are a few women who have come here with the men. However, they are a breed of woman we have never encountered before."

"What do you mean, a new 'breed'?" asked First Rider.

"What our almost-cousin says is true," Red Fox said, joining in the discussion. "These white women who come with the new invaders of our land are different from a Pikuni woman or any other Indian woman we have ever known. It is said these white women do not marry as do our own women."

"Truly?" asked First Rider.

"So it was told to me by Little Feather who makes his home within the fort.

Because he has now become like the gold-seekers in many ways, he has knowledge of these women and has told us stories of bringing a few of these women home to his sleeping robes.

He tells of proposing to make each one of these women his own.

But, all of these women have refused him.

Instead, Little Feather told the story, unbelievable as it may seem, of how he discovered these women were enjoying the pleasure of many men, and doing this for payment of the white man's gold. "

" Saa !No!"

"My tongue is not twisted about this," replied Red Fox.

Silence between the three men ensued, perhaps because of First Rider's astonishment.

But, in due time, Stands Strong spoke again, saying, "The fireboat-that-walks-on-water comes more frequently now than it did in the past. And, each time these fireboats come, there are more and more of the seekers of the evil gold rock who venture into our country. "

First Rider could barely comprehend all of what was said. How had this country, this fort, changed so drastically? Still speaking in the Blackfoot tongue, he asked, "Do these evil, golden-rock people stay long at the fort?"