CHAPTER FOUR WOUNDED KNEE
CHAPTER FOUR
WOUNDED KNEE
“Nothing lives long.
Only the earth and mountains.”
Dee Brown
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
8:30 PM
June 12th
Pine Ridge Reservation
Greyeagle leaned back in his chair and took a drink from his bottle of water.
They’d just finished their meal, and Mika had outdone himself grilling steaks.
They all had a belly full of rare bison, baked potatoes, gravy, and mixed vegetables.
Greyeagle was contentedly full, but his mind was miles away.
Sarah leaned against him, and he slipped his arm around her. He stroked her hair gently and leaned his cheek against the top of her head.
“Penny for your thoughts?” she said softly.
“You know what I’m thinking,” he replied. “I’m trying to figure out our next move. Kade won’t wait for us forever. If we don’t figure out something soon, he’ll strike again. I don’t want more deaths on my conscience.”
“You’re not responsible for his actions,” Sarah said, squeezing his hand.
“In a way, I am,” Greyeagle replied. “Had I known he was alive, I would’ve moved mountains to find him.”
“And that’s why he didn’t reveal himself until now,” Sarah said. “You can’t possibly blame yourself for something you didn’t know.”
“I should’ve known,” Greyeagle said. “He’s my twin brother. We’ve always been able to sense one another.”
“And can you sense him now?” asked Sarah.
“No,” Greyeagle admitted. “For whatever reason, we aren’t connected anymore.”
“Then there’s your answer,” Sarah said. “If you didn’t sense his death before, it was because he’d already taken this path.”
“Do you think he’s been Makhótaneo’o all this time?” Greyeagle asked.
“It would explain how he survived being shot multiple times and falling into a river,” Sarah answered.
Greyeagle frowned.
“You know I’m right,” she added.
“As much as I hate to admit it,” Greyeagle replied. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. How could I have not sensed it back then?”
“Well, for one,” Sarah said, “you didn’t even know the Makhótaneo’o existed until today. How could you have sensed it?”
Greyeagle frowned.
“Still,” he said. “He left the carving for me. That has to mean something of Kade is still in there.”
“Or he’s manipulating you,” Sarah countered. “You said it yourself. He’s a master strategist. He’s been planning this for a long time.”
“I want to believe Kade’s reaching out to me,” Greyeagle said.
“And he might be counting on exactly that,” Sarah said. “You can’t take anything at face value. What was it that guy said in that Star Trek novel you made me read?”
“The Final Reflection?” asked Greyeagle.
“Yeah, that one,” Sarah replied.
“John M. Ford,” Greyeagle said. “One of the few Star Trek novels I truly enjoyed. Probably because it was as much philosophy as it was sci-fi. Always assume the other player is an enemy and the next move is a trap.”
“That’s the line,” Sarah said, smiling. “And you thought I wasn’t paying attention.”
“Maybe I need to read that book again,” Greyeagle replied. “Thank you for the reminder. As much as I want that to be Kade, I can’t trust him. At least not yet.”
“Maybe not at all,” Sarah replied. “But you’ll never know until we find him.”
“I have to talk to him,” Greyeagle said. “If there’s a chance to save him, I have to try.”
“I know,” Sarah said. “And you should. But do it safely. Don’t go off alone and don’t trust anything he says until you verify it.”
“How did you get so smart?” asked Greyeagle, kissing her on the cheek.
“Oh, someone in this relationship has to be,” she said, giggling as he nuzzled her neck.
“MOM!” called the Greyeagle Twins.
“Duty calls,” Sarah said, slipping away from Greyeagle’s embrace to check on the children.
Greyeagle slowly removed the SIM card from his pocket and held it in his palm.
He stared at it for a long moment. He knew he had to tell Sarah and the others, but he also knew this might be his only chance to communicate with Kade without anyone else getting involved.
He got out of the chair and headed for the camper.
“Where you going, brother?” asked Mika.
“Bathroom,” Greyeagle replied. “Why? You want to watch?”
“No, thanks,” Mika said, grinning. “Bring another twelve-pack of beer back out with you.”
“Will do,” Greyeagle said as he headed inside.
Once he shut the door, he went to the small table next to his bed. He kept a couple of cellphones there, in case he broke one. They were old, but they still worked. He took one out and plugged it in to start charging. Then, he slipped in the SIM card and powered on the phone.
It powered up and spent a couple of minutes updating before it became fully operational. When it came online, he found a text message waiting for him. It was from an unknown number and had been sent about an hour ago.
It read, “1890-4.”
He tried texting the number back.
He texted, “Kade?”
The response was, “This number is no longer available.”
“Damn,” Greyeagle said softly.
He thought about the text, trying to think of anything significant about those numbers. Then it struck him. The massacre at Wounded Knee happened in 1890. Kade was telling him to meet him at the Wounded Knee Memorial at 4.
“That sounds like Kade,” whispered Greyeagle.
Greyeagle took out the SIM card and snapped it in half, then powered off the phone.
He put it back in the drawer and went into the kitchen.
He picked up two twelve-packs of beer and took them back out to the firepit.
He handed them to Mika and went back to his seat.
With a subtle flick of his finger, he tossed the SIM into the fire, and it vanished in an instant in the glowing embers.
Mika put the beer in the cooler and then picked up his guitar.
He started strumming a few chords, not really playing any particular song.
Greyeagle wasn’t paying attention to the music, anyway.
He was already thinking about how he could slip away from the others.
The Wounded Knee memorial was only about an hour’s drive from here.
If Kade wanted to meet, Greyeagle knew he had to take the chance.
Greyeagle thought back to the book “Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee.” He’d read it years ago but hadn’t thought about it in a long time.
Jay Matoskah had given him and Kade a copy when they turned ten.
It was a book that was brutally honest, and it shook people’s beliefs about the “Manifest Destiny” of the Old West and the way that Native Americans were treated.
It didn’t paint the US Government in a very good light, either.
A fact that caused no small amount of controversy when it was released.
Greyeagle remembered the book made him angry when he read it, but it made Kade furious.
So much so that Jay Matoskah had sat them down and talked about the book.
He’d skirted around saying how much he really knew.
Years later, Greyeagle would learn that Jay Matoskah had been there in the 1890s.
He’d fought at the Battle of Greasy Grass, or what the white men called “Custer’s Last Stand. ”
He wondered if Jay Matoskah had told them the truth back then, if it might have changed Kade’s path.
That he’d not only been there, but he’d been a member of the Dog Soldiers since they were first created.
He danced with Wavoka in the Great Ghost Dance.
Maybe Kade would’ve listened, or maybe he would’ve turned to the darkness then.
That thought hurt Greyeagle deeply. He had to believe that there was still some good in Kade. Had to hold onto the hope that his brother still might come back to him.
“Kade,” Greyeagle whispered. “Come home, brother.”
Greyeagle leaned back and took another drink from his water.
He was thinking about Wounded Knee now. He remembered the first time he’d gone there as a boy.
His parents had taken him and Kade there to tell them the history of the place.
Tell them of the tragedy and the horrors brought upon a group of unarmed women and children.
Greyeagle remembered both Kade and Black Fox were angry as Macha, Greyeagle’s mother, told the story.
If he’d only paid more attention, he might have seen the darkness then, in both Kade and Black Fox.
It made perfect sense to him now, but Greyeagle was only a child then.
He didn’t have the experience or the knowledge that he did as an adult.
Then he remembered the part of the story where the US Cavalry had attacked just at dawn. Macha had said that people still claimed to hear the gunshots, horses whinnying, and the screams of the dying just at dawn at the Wounded Knee Memorial.
Their childhood house on the Rez was only a few miles from the Memorial.
One morning, Greyeagle and Kade snuck out of the house before dawn and walked to the memorial.
While they hadn’t heard the ghosts that they’d expected, they did feel the profound sense of loss and sadness as the sun crept over the eastern horizon.
Somewhere in the distance, they could hear someone singing a Wó?hekiye Olowan, or Lakota Prayer song.
Both of the boys had fallen to their knees and sang along, moved beyond words at the power of the land where the massacre had taken place, especially at dawn.
It was a moment they both would carry with them forever.
That’s when it struck Greyeagle. Kade’s message didn’t mean four in the afternoon.
It meant four in the morning, just like when they were kids.
To Greyeagle, that meant that Kade was still in there.
He remembered something that they hadn’t even told their parents.
He was asking to meet at one of the most sacred places on the Rez.
A place where they’d shared a defining moment in their lives.
Sarah slipped into the chair next to him and leaned against his chest. Greyeagle pulled her close and kissed her, feeling the warmth of her touch.
“Are you alright?” asked Sarah.
“I’m okay,” Greyeagle answered. “Just thinking.”