The Five Dollar Mail Book 3: The Road Home

6: Talking Fire

Cover painting by Angela Taratuta. Chapter artwork of Runs Laughing made of found images by me. All graphics by me.

Book 1: The Green, Book 2: Lynch's Boys, Book 3: The Road Home, and the Riders & Kickers Anthology are available on Amazon under the name Regina Shelley. So if you hate waiting for chapter posts and/or want a more polished read, the finished product is available now.

NOTE: In traditional Plains culture, grown siblings didn't speak directly to each other. They would speak through an intermediary, and if that wasn't convenient, they would speak to the fire.  I have a lot of fun writing dialog between Eagle Bone and Still Water Woman for this reason. I have to remember that they aren't supposed to actually address one another.

Runs Laughing leaned forward, fascinated. The man had eyes the color of the sky on a clear day. How is this possible? Did the river do wash the color even from his eyes? They were strange and beautiful and frightening, and Runs Laughing was not pleased that they were also full of fear. She did not want him to be afraid. She wanted him to know he was safe here.

Behind her in the shadows of the lodge, she heard Eagle Bone grunt disapprovingly. She glanced at him. He was leaning with his shoulder against a lodge pole, glaring at the three of them. She shrugged and turned back to their patient, snugging the furs closer around his shivering body and sweeping the damp yellow hair back from his brow. "Quiet, now," she whispered, touching his lips. "My sister and I will take care of you."

"My sisters keep a snake in the lodge," Eagle Bone growled into the fire. "He is an enemy. They should at least let me bind him before he wakes up."

Still Water Woman huffed, exasperated, and turned to face the fire. "My brother is afraid of a naked, half-dead wasichu. His sisters tire of listening to him."

The man in the furs moaned, closing his eyes as his teeth chattered. Still Water Woman set more sage to curl and darken at the edge of the fire, fanning the pale, fragrant smoke so that it curled and dispersed throughout the lodge. "He's coming back to this world," she said into the fire. "Runs Laughing will keep her captive."

"What if he comes back and..."

"These women do not fear a man so weak he cannot keep his eyelids open." A wicked smile tugged at the corner of Still Water Woman's lips. "How unfortunate for me that my twin is so irritating to my senses."

Runs Laughing stifled a giggle. She knew Eagle Bone was worried. He was brave and protective, and he did not trust this wasichu. She knew he had reason not to. Still, it was good to see her older sister coming back to herself after the loss of her husband, to see her fire and spirit return.Still Water Woman's heart had been bad for a long time, and that pain had spread to Runs Laughing's own heart and that of her brother. Hearing her siblings bicker made things seem like they were going back to normal. Still Water Woman's hair now reached her shoulders. She'd cut it off above her ears. It was good to see fight return to her heart.

Eagle Bone ignored the dig. "We are trying to get back to the People. I do not want our travels interrupted. We are not safe here."

"Since our captive can't ride or walk, I wonder why my brother stands idle around my lodge while there is a travois to be built," Still Water Woman speculated, cocking her head. "The behavior of warriors is hard to understand."

The yellow-haired man opened his eyes again, mumbling something. He shook his head as if protesting.

"What?" Runs Laughing said, frowning and watching his pale face. "What did you say?"

Still Water Woman leaned forwards, trying to catch the jumbled syllables that slurred from the man's lips. "Rest," she soothed him. "Sssh."

Runs Laughing thought hard, her brow furrowed. Did he understand what Still Water Woman just said to Eagle Bone? Why would he... "I wonder why..." she said slowly, deliberately. "Why my brother stands idle in my lodge while..." She watched him for a reaction. "There is a travois..."

"No." The white man's voice, deeper than they might have expected, was scratchy and nearly a whisper. His eyes were bright, desperate.

Eagle Bone stepped over and leaned forward, his sour mood forgotten for the moment. "He knows that word. Travois..." He signed as he said it, and then made the sign for horse and rider. "Travel."

"No," the man whispered, shaking his head, mumbling a string of sounds she didn't understand.

Still Water Woman exchanged a look with Runs Laughing and sat back on her knees. "Does he understand us? Is he saying he doesn't want to go with us?"

Eagle Bone crossed his arms, an amused look on his face as he turned his gaze back onto the hearth. "This captive of a little girl- child does not have have much choice in the matter."

"He is going to have to come with us," Still Water Woman said. "We can't leave him to die here."

"We would not have this problem if my sister would let me..."

"My brother is very close to being turned out of my lodge."

Eagle Bone sighed through his teeth, holding his anger in check. Runs Laughing watched him straighten up, his jaw set. She wondered if Still Water Woman had pushed him too far.

"I do not want to pay a price for the kind hearts of my sisters," he said softly, staring into the fire.

"Tell Eagle Bone..." Still Water Woman frowned, leaning forward into the glowing light of the hearth and speaking to the orange flames dancing within. Her voice grew serious. "That if there is one to be paid...I will take his scalp for my lodge pole myself."

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