The Legend of Black Wolf - Sully's Journey Home

Chapter Twenty Three

        Cloud Dancing returned to his tent in a hurry. Snow Bird and Small One were working on preparing some hides to tan when he approached. She could see from the way he hurried that her husband had not had a good talk with the white man, Black Wolf. The fringe of the buckskin he wore rippled back in waves as he breezed past the other tents. The feather in his hair sailed back from his raven black hair like a flag. He had told her he wanted to make sure that Black Wolf was safe before the dog soldiers returned. Perhaps the white man was gone already, on one of his strange hikes that lasted many days. She dropped her hide and stood. Small One, her hands still wet with brains from preparing the hide in her lap, listened from the ground.  

        "The spirits hurry you." Snow Bird said, concerned.

        "Yes." Cloud Dancing answered. "I will need your help to fill a pack with some food for Black Wolf. I have convinced him that he will be safe if he does not stay." His tone was calm, but she could see in her husband's eyes that he was upset. He had been enjoying his talks with this white man they still referred to as Black Wolf. She knew that leaving was the last thing her husband wanted.

        "He will be safe. The spirits will help you tell him the way." Snow Bird said as she ducked inside to gather some food. Cloud Dancing followed. He wanted to look for one of the necklaces he had been working on. There was time to help Black Wolf get the feel for using Bright Spear's tomahawk, pray over him and Wolf, and send them on their way before dark. He finally laid a hand on the necklace he wanted and hoped that Black Wolf would not refuse it. He had made it from very fine beads, and had blessed it under the previous moon. The spirits had told him it would be powerful, so he had laid it away, hoping he would never need it. Now he realized he had not made it for himself in time of trouble, but for his new friend as protection.

        As he walked out to tell Black Kettle this latest news, Small One had vanished from the pile of hides and was all the way across camp at her own tent. She called to her medicine man, waving a hand to him. He paused, then changed course, hoping she had not suddenly taken ill.

        Her granddaughter, Soaring Winds, was just coming out with an armful of blankets when he reached them. Small One apologized for delaying him.

        "Are you well?" He asked her. She had been with the tribe since his own father had been a medicine man. Her eyes danced as she nodded, bobbing her gray braids.

        "Black Wolf leaves?" She asked. Cloud Dancing was confused. Hadn't she just heard him tell Snow Bird this very thing?

        "It will be safe if he journeys out of Hook Nose's path, yes." He told her. Soaring Winds held out the blankets to him.

        "He will need this." She said. "It will not hide him, but it is the best weaving we have done this season." As her granddaughter held up the bundle, the blanket unfurled to be a coat of red and black. Some of the elder tribe members wore these during the winter. Clearly, Small One had most likely been working on it for Owl Through The Trees. But with his passing, they had cut away the red and added black to make it longer for a taller man, such as Sully. Cloud Dancing, in a rush, thanked her very much, rolled up the coat, and hurried on to Black Kettle. It was one of the first signs the other tribe members had given him that they could come to accept a white man among them.

        When Cloud Dancing returned to Sully's lean-to, Sully had everything packed that he had chosen to take with him. The army pack leaned against a tree and Sully stood at the treeline, watching Wolf hunt a squirrel. Cloud Dancing set down the pack of food, the coat from Small One, but took the necklace over to where Sully stood.