The Legend of Black Wolf - Sully's Journey Home

Chapter Fourteen

        After resting a few hours, Sully had packed up his scattered belongings from the army pack, shoving his black coat inside it as best he could. He followed Cloud Dancing through the woods to the Cheyenne camp. In old mended clothes, Snow Bird's secondhand moccasins, and wild hair, Sully felt that the army pack and his staff would only make him look more strange to these people, if possible. He wasn't sure how any of the Indians would take him. He stayed close to Cloud Dancing and didn't plan on speaking much. He remembered the braves that had found Cloud Dancing that first day and how they'd drawn their weapons on him. Sully didn't expect any of them to be as friendly as the medicine man had been.

        Cloud Dancing re-entered his tribe's camp just before dusk while everyone was making preparations for the evening meal. Many stopped at the sight of Sully. Some men pushed the women back inside the tents for safety. A few women called out to their children in their native language and gathered them close to the tent as the strange white man passed. Cloud Dancing led the way and said nothing to any of them. Sully kept up just a few paces behind, his limping hardly as bad now.  

        One of the braves that Sully remembered from that first encounter suddenly approached Cloud Dancing. His hair was tightly braided, his necklaces looked like bone, and the leather pants he wore were tanned almost black. The two began arguing back and forth, and the young brave wrestled with his medicine man a bit before shoving him out of the way. Sully watched the confrontation, feeling the situation was about to become dangerous. The brave clearly was not happy to see Sully and was taking it out on Cloud Dancing. Before Sully could think, the brave screamed and charged him. Tossing aside his staff and army pack, Sully crouched out of instinct and, using the brave's strength and speed against him, he tossed him over his shoulder and onto the ground. Years in the mining camps had taught him how to defend himself without resorting to a gun or a knife.

        Cloud Dancing shouted while a circle quickly started to form around the two men, separating the medicine man from his charge. The brave jumped up with hate in his eyes and spoke something that Sully did not understand. The men in the circle whooped and urged the brave on, waving their fists. Drawing a tomahawk out of his belt, he charged Sully again, determined to cleave his skull and finish the curse of the Black Wolf on his tribe. In Bright Spears heart, it was his duty to protect his people from the white man, no matter how much the old medicine man pleaded with everyone to do the opposite. Cloud Dancing must have come under the white man's spell. He, Bright Spear, would finally add this pitiful man's death to his list of accomplishments as a great warrior so that when Hook Nose, head of the dog soldiers, came back, he would see that he needed Bright Spear among his fighters.

        Sully focused on the arm of the brave, knowing he had to disarm him or be severely wounded by the tomahawk. As the brave charged again, Sully barely caught his arm as it came down, sidestepped him, and flung him to the ground again. Keeping hold of the arm, he put his knee at the brave's elbow and pushed it as far as he dared. The brave yelped, dropped the tomahawk, and Sully kept the pressure up to explain to his challenger without words that he wanted the altercation to be over.

        At this, someone shouted and, before the group of Indians descended upon Sully, everything stopped. Chief Black Kettle stood before them all, looking grim. Sully instantly unhanded the brave, but picked up the tomahawk to keep it out of his reach. Cloud Dancing was instantly at his side, now that the other Indians obeyed their chief's yell for the fighting to stop. The medicine man took the tomahawk away from Sully and stood closely to him, speaking harshly towards the brave while the Chief looked on. Many sided with the young warrior and began yelling back at Cloud Dancing. Chief Black Kettle shouted again, and all was silent.

        He gave a few hand gestures while Sully caught his breath. He had half expected them to attack him, and his adrenaline had been up ever since stepping into camp. Now that the fight was over, however, he felt shaky and wanted to sit and compose himself. What little strength he had seemed to gain from the dream about his wife and daughter had vanished.