CHAPTER SIX #2
"We begin. Quickly, as fast as you can, shoot at each man. We may not survive this, for they will know our location by the direction of our shots and some may come here to us."
"I will! I know!"
Luckily, his rifle and hers were the new 1873 Winchester Forty-four repeating rifles, while most tribes still used the muzzleloaders, requiring reloading after each shot.
Red Fox was the first to take very careful aim and shoot.
Being trained daily to the hunt, his aim was true.
With one shot after another, he took down three of the enemy almost at once, Poka'aki shooting also, and he noted she had placed her shooting arm upon an upraised rock to minimize the shaking of her arm.
As he had known it would be, as soon the gunfire started, those within the lodges awakened at once and they, too, began their own shooting at the figures outside their lodges, illuminated now by the slight light of day. One enemy after another fell.
Then from within the ranch house came two figures of men, but by the time they arrived at the lodges, the enemy had fled, even including those hostiles who had hidden in the pines and, who were now rushing toward the Marias and out of harm's way.
Red Fox's plan had worked, and he was glad: the repeating rifles had caused it to seem as if there were many warriors shooting at the attackers who had dared to try to kill his friends and family.
"Stay here!" he ordered to Poka'aki. "Wolf, come with me."
And, standing up, he began to sing the wolf song of victory, Hunts-with-the-wind adding his own howls to the melody. But, there was another voice raised in the song too, and, glancing over his shoulder, he saw Poka'aki following along behind him.
Still in the fierce emotions of the fight, Red Fox said, none too gently, "I told you to stay back there on the ledge."
He was at once calmed when he saw her smile before she said, "I did not hear you say 'please.'"
He couldn't help it. He laughed.
"Red Fox!" It was George calling his name. "You! It was you who warned us. Praise the Lord you are here! I owe my life and each of the lives of my family to you!"
"Red Fox!" His name was shouted out again by Stands Strong and First Rider, and now by their women, too.
"It was I and…"—looking behind him—"another warrior, true, though she be a girl."
"Briella! You? Briella!" George shouted, her name on his tongue. His bellows were soon followed up by Stands Strong, as well as First Rider and their wives, who cried out her name, and that of Red Fox.
As Red Fox, his wolf and Poka'aki came in closer to the lodges, they were soon surrounded by Stands Strong, First Rider, George and their wives: Czanna, Liliann and Sweetgrass Woman, respectively; even their children were singing out Red Fox's and Briella's names.
But, Red Fox had not missed that the two men who were rushing toward them with their own repeating rifles in hand were none other than József Fehér and his eldest son, Frederic.
Looking first at the dead warriors who had tried to attack the three lodges, the elder Fehér gazed at George and asked, "What has happened here?"
Shouting to be heard over the men and women who were now engaged in singing the wolf song, George said, "Red Fox and my sister Briella saved our lives tonight.
Somehow they got wind of the war party, and they came here and attacked those who had surrounded our lodges and who were in a mind to slaughter us in our sleep! "
Then George began to sing the wolf song along with the others. So pleasing was the reception for Red Fox and Poka'aki, it took several moments before Red Fox saw the poisonous glare of József Fehér directed exclusively at him.
But, the man said not a word. After all, what could he say? Had not he and Poka'aki—only two—won against a war party of fifty? Were not his younger son, George; his daughter, Czanna; their spouses and all his grandchildren now alive to tell the story?
Red Fox, however, met his new father-in-law's gaze with disinterest, refusing to meet hatred with hatred. The man was, after all, family.
It was only when the elder Fehér turned away as though in disgust, taking steps back toward his house, when Red Fox spoke up and shouted, "Do not leave yet.
We have only killed ten of the men in the war party, but I saw their party numbered fifty.
Although I think most of their war party have escaped, there may still be some here who are in a mind to steal horses.
I think we men should ensure the ranch's horses are safe. "
The words had barely left his mouth before each man, rifle in hand, began sprinting across the flat valley, making a line toward the corral on the northeast pasture.
All, that is, except József Fehér, who stared at Red Fox with a toxic, venomous glare.
He spat out, "You! Where have you been with my daughter?
I told you once to stay out of this, and I meant it. If I find you have—"
"Are you coming, Father?" Poka'aki interjected.
With another deadly look at Red Fox, Fehér said, "We will talk. Do not try to hide from me, because I will find you!"
"Father!"
And, while József Fehér turned away to stride toward the corral, Red Fox gasped in a deep breath. Apparently, the acceptance of his marriage to Poka'aki was going to be more difficult for his father-in-law to accept than he, Red Fox, had anticipated. However, what was done, was done.
I will pray to the Creator. As He knows, I love this woman and will never leave her, even into eternity.