CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The early morning was announced with many streaks of red and pink in the eastern sky. A pleasant scent of moisture hung in the air as Briella awakened. Ah, it was a good sign.
Pulling on a dress, she crawled to the tepee flap of their lodge, and, looking outward, she saw the brightest stars in the sky were still shining.
Already there was a scent of smoke filling the camp as many a lodge fire was stoked up and brought back to life.
Soon, the fragrance of broiling buffalo ribs filled the air throughout the entire camp, its savory scent awakening even Red Fox and Yellow Sun, both of whom had been up much too late the previous evening.
As Briella and Pretty Moon set about fixing the first meal of the day, Red Fox, Yellow Sun and his son, Running Bear, stood up, pulled their blankets around their shoulders and left the lodge to attend to their morning bath.
Soon, Pretty Moon's two-year-old daughter awakened and crawled up next to her mother, seeking the nourishment only a mother can give.
The camp criers, who had last night announced the happenings to take place this day, came striding into camp, and without looking in, lifted the flaps of each lodge to briefly inform the residents inside of the day's events.
The counting of each man's coup was to be first on the agenda for the day and would likely take up the entire day.
Also, the first coup to be enacted was to be the Long Knives' attack upon a sleeping Lakota village.
Although Briella knew Red Fox's fight against the attack of the Long Knives had colored his decision to marry her, she hadn't been curious about the details of what he had experienced…
especially since, after being two years apart, his decision had changed the moment they had fallen into each other's arms.
Today, however, she would discover what had happened.
Red Fox was quiet, distracted it seemed, as they all sat around the fire, partaking of the first meal of the day.
Yellow Sun seemed to be in much the same mood as Red Fox, and neither man said a word throughout their meal.
Likewise was Pretty Moon silent and seemingly preoccupied; she was also to take part in the enactment, as was their son, Running Bear.
And, then it was time for them to ready themselves for the event to come: the counting of the coup. They all left the lodge, Pretty Moon taking even her young daughter with her.
Briella busied herself with the cleanup after the morning meal, and then, dressing in her best clothing—the white dress and moccasins she had made so studiously—she, too, left her lodge to seek out Czanna and Stands Strong, as well as George and Sweetgrass Woman.
Briella helped Czanna clean up after their breakfast meal, and was delighted when her former nanny, Liliann, and Liliann's husband, First Rider, joined them.
At last, they were ready to leave camp. First Rider and Stands Strong had brought horses into camp for them all to ride the short distance to the arbor which had been set up to accommodate thousands of people.
As they approached the structure, Briella could clearly see several cottonwood poles had been set out to mark the enormous circle where the performance of each coup would take place.
There were even lodge skins put up around the poles to protect the audience from the elements.
Already there were people there, many sitting on the ground or upon blankets.
Most of the men, however, were standing in the back.
Nearly all of the people were happily speaking to one another while awaiting the start of the event.
Briella, Czanna and Liliann set out their blankets close to the front row of the circle.
They were soon joined there by their aunties: Laylah; Laylah's younger sister, Amelia; and Amelia's dear friend, Sharon; as well as many others of their Pikuni friends and sisters.
All things considered, they made up a group of about twenty to twenty-five.
Indeed, they were laughing gaily when Red Fox entered into the circle, and, as he came to stand in its center, he waited a moment for the people to cease speaking.
Then, he said in Blackfeet, as well as sign so that everyone could understand, "The time was two snows ago when I ventured to the Lakota and found friends amongst the Hunkpapa Lakota.
I stayed with them. I made friends with them.
I learned about their trials and their wars against those white men they call the Long Knives.
Today we will perform what happened toward the end of my stay with my friends. "
As he spoke, the Lakota people were stepping into the large open-air circle.
They immediately set about erecting small tepees to represent their encampment.
In one of these open lodges, Red Fox sat down with Yellow Sun and Pretty Moon—who was holding her young baby in her arms—and their son, who had been four years old at the time of this fight.
And, then it began. Red Fox and Yellow Sun sat within the tiny lodge and were speaking softly to one another, when unexpectedly, a loud boom of a cannon, represented by several drums along with the splintering of several logs, caused panic in the camp.
People were suddenly running out of their lodges, the men armed with rifles, guns and bow and arrows.
The women began screaming, and all started running in different directions seeking shelter.
More booms came, followed by more screams from the women and children, who were running about as they tried to find a place to hide.
The audience went wild, they, too, screaming.
Then, amid the shouts from the Lakota and the audience as well, men dressed up in blue coats (these were several of the Lakota and Pikuni pretending to be the cavalry) came rushing in, they bearing rifles and swords.
In the midst of this chaos were Red Fox and Yellow Sun, both of whom were already fighting the Long Knives personally in hand-to-hand combat.
They repelled several of the Long Knives, but they had no more than fought with those men than several others ran toward them, guns drawn and swords unleashed.
One of these men grabbed Yellow Sun's boy, Running Bear, but Yellow Sun was engaged in a death struggle with a Blue Coat and could not help him.
Red Fox, however, witnessed the Blue Coat's attempt to kill Running Bear, and, putting a quick end to the man he was fighting, he ran as fast as he could toward Running Bear.
Red Fox leapt onto the Blue Coat and put an end to the man with his knife.
Then, taking hold of Running Bear's hand, he ran with the child until the two of them had left the circle while other men were still engaged in fighting.
But, Red Fox soon ran back into the circle toward Yellow Sun, who was still fighting off the Blue Coat, and Red Fox, aiming a quick shot, sent the Blue Coat to his Maker.
Quickly then, amid more booms from the Blue Coat's cannon and the gunfire from the overwhelming numbers of the cavalry, both Yellow Sun and Red Fox ran from the encampment.
Briella sat stunned. Tears were running down her cheeks.
This was what Red Fox had been forced to face, to endure, to fight against? What if she had lost him in this war? And, hadn't he gone to the Lakota to determine the truth or lies of the Blue Coat wars because of her? Was she to blame?
No longer did she wonder why Red Fox had thought to bring an end to any love they had shared with one another, and certainly here was the cause of him rethinking his desire to marry her.
But, the crowd was stunned, too. And, after all the shouting and yelling, an uneasy quiet hung over all those present.
Perhaps the Baker Massacre at the Marias was still too fresh in their minds.
Quickly, the Lakota people took down the small tepees they had set up in the middle of the circle, and they left the stage while Red Fox and Yellow Sun returned to its center.
It was Yellow Sun who spoke, and he said, "I tell you now for all to hear: this is a true account of what happened on that early morning two winters ago.
This Pikuni man and I forged a bond between us that will last us both until eternity.
Again, I say this to you: this, as we have shown you this day, is a true account of that morning.
I, a medicine man of the Hunkpapa tribe, attest this is true. "
And, as both Yellow Sun and Red Fox walked out of the circle, Briella jumped up and edged through the crowd until she was free of the people gathered around, and, seeing Red Fox with Yellow Sun, she ran toward them and threw herself into Red Fox's arms. She was crying as she kissed his neck, his ears, his face, his lips, all the while whispering to him, "I did not know.
I did not know you'd had to endure this.
I am yours, my husband. Never would I have wished this to happen to you.
Somehow we must endure what we must to be together. I cannot bear it to be different."
"Nor I," he said, tears in his eyes, too. "Nor I."
****
Together, holding hands, they strode through the encampment and back to their lodge. As soon as they entered their tepee, Red Fox took Briella into his arms, and, bending his head, he kissed her.
He whispered, "We are alone and will be, I think, for the rest of the day. Yellow Sun and his family will wish to see the rest of the enactments. And, we have not lain together for many moons, the night of the dance being the last time we were together in love. And, here we are, alone."