Proud Wolf's Woman by Karen Kay Page A

without once turning to face Julia, he motioned her forward, making several gestures toward her, as though she were half-blind, as well as dumb.
    She knew other Indians understood this form of communication with hand gestures: she had even seen her friend Kristina communicate with the Indians in this way. But Julia had neither tried to learn it, nor had she ever desired to do so.
    “I don’t understand,” she said, and stared at Neeheeowee as though he were more alien to her than even this land on which they stood.
    He looked over to her then, scoffing at her as he shook his head, clearly disenchanted with her; he grunted but didn’t utter a word. Instead, he drew a rawhide lasso over the pony’s head, making an effective bridle out of it. He then bent, picking up one of the buffalo robes which lay at his feet and, straightening, he threw it over the pony’s back.
    “Ne-naestse!”
    He motioned to Julia to come forward and pick up the other robe, but when she pretended not to understand, he bent back down, lifted up the other robe, and advanced toward her.
    Julia drew in her breath as he approached her. But it wasn’t out of fear. No, not that.
    Something else. Something much more disturbing.
    His breechcloth fell open with his stride, the motion enticing Julia with a view of the bulge that lay between the cloth.
    She gasped, unexpected excitement racing through her.
    This was not supposed to be. These things she was not supposed to feel. She was married…no she was not…not any longer. But she had only recently been widowed.
    How could she even contemplate looking at this man, at this Indian, at his…? How could she even…?
    She glanced to Neeheeowee, and this time her heartbeat raced until it seemed to challenge the wind.
    She stood dumbstruck as Neeheeowee again motioned to her, telling her with his gestures that he wished her to walk around to the front of the animal. Yet this time, Julia came to her senses and did his bidding without even a whimper of protest. She didn’t dwell on the fact that she walked ahead, while Neeheeowee sat astride the pony; she didn’t even care. All she knew at this moment was that with Neeheeowee behind her, temptation no longer beckoned to her, luring her with images of just what lay beneath that simple loincloth.
    Besides, it was a beautiful day. She wore a new elk-skin dress that grazed against her body as she moved, its softness feeling more like the finest silk than leather. Upon her feet, extending upward to her calves, she wore colorfully beaded moccasins, and around her neck she had fastened a bone-and-shell necklace.
    These were all things given to her by the two Cheyenne women; they were all new and recently made. Giving in to the sensual pleasures, she gloried in the feel of new clothing and jewelry.
    Without warning, life suddenly took on a promising new feeling. It was a welcome sensation for Julia.
    And though her anger at Neeheeowee hadn’t receded, she realized she could enjoy, at least for a short time, the beauty of the prairie and the safe feeling of being pampered. After all, no rope clung to her neck, and no noose bound her to the horse.
    Julia held her head high, her spirits lifting up over the prairie, and she knew, if only for a moment, true freedom.
    If nothing had truly changed for her, even if that freedom were to be taken away from her tomorrow, it did not detract from what she felt now. Let her worries take care of themselves. After all, there would be time enough to confront Neeheeowee. Why should she worry about it now, when right before her lay the vast expanses and beauty of the prairie?
    She cast her gaze upward before shaking out her long mane of hair. And as she preceded her captor out of the pony herd, her feet seemed to find their own way out onto the prairie, as though she had walked this path a thousand times.
    Truly, it was a good feeling.
    And Julia, despite her resolve, silently thanked her captor.
     
    “Eaaa!” Neeheeowee used the