The Five Dollar Mail Book 3: The Road Home

17: Common Ground

Cover painting by Angela Taratuta. Chapter artwork of Jesse by Diego Candia. 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.

Jesse was glad to be inside Still Water Woman's lodge, away from curious stares and disapproving scowls, and the pinchings and grabbings of children. His yellow hair seemed to be an endless source of attention, and his scalp ached from having his hair pulled. As Still Water Woman's family had helped erect her lodge, he had endured being what he could only assume was the best and only entertainment the band had enjoyed in quite some time. One particularly bold older woman had walked right up to him, grabbed his face in her hands, and stared unflinchingly at his blue eyes, evidently amazed at their pale color.

Runs Laughing had undone the knotted rawhide that bound his wrists and Still Water Woman had given him some pemmican and water. She then slid a backrest behind him and bound his hands to the lodgepoles holding up the side of the tent. He'd been shoved, poked, grabbed, pinched, and in one case, jabbed hard in the ribs with a pronghorn antler. He was exhausted; the strength he'd regained since nearly dying of exposure had quickly drained away with the stress of traveling and arriving here in the Lakota village, and he settled against the backrest, trying to relax in spite of his captive state.

"Ma'am..." he said to the back of Still Water Woman's head, across the fire on the other side of the lodge. He watched the firelight gleam across the quillwork on the back of her dress, glinting in her cropped black hair as she worked. "Still Water Woman...I don't understand why you have to tie me to the lodge like this...It ain't like..."

The tent flap opened, and the colorful figure of the limping old man that had greeted them entered. Jesse didn't know who he was or what significance he held here, and he didn't know whether he should be afraid or relieved. His complaints trailed off and he took a deep breath, determined to hide his fear and weakness. He knew from some of the stories he'd heard Storm tell that revealing either could make his situation worse.

Although I don't know how it could be any worse. I know what can happen to captives. I don't know if I'm going to get out of this one. He watched the elder walk with a hitching step towards him. The man's lip tugged upwards in amusement. "It 'ain't like' what?" the old man said, standing over Jesse and crossing his arms. "It 'ain't like' you are a captive?"

Jesse recoiled in stunned shock and his mouth dropped open.

"Yes, I, Two Elk, speak forked," the man said, dropping himself clumsily to sit on the floor facing Jesse.

It took some effort for Jesse to collect enough of his wits to speak. He speaks English. Someone here speaks English!

The flap opened again, and Runs Laughing entered, struggling under the weight of a filled waterskin. A scowl darkened her face when she saw Jesse and she quickly handed her sister the waterskin. Jesse didn't understand the question she asked, but he strongly suspected it involved him. The elder gave her a stern but gentle answer and then turned his attention back to Jesse.

"She does not like that you're bound," he said.

"I don't like it, either," Jesse blurted when he'd found his voice. "Why am I?"

"Because you are a captive." The traces of amusement had faded from the man's face. "Be thankful you're not tied up outside, being used to teach young boys how to shoot straight. Because Eagle Bone is angry that you are in here instead. You're only alive because he would do anything for his sisters."

His arms had started to go a little numb and he clenched his fists in an attempt to get the blood moving. "Why's he so angry? What are you plannin' on doing with me?"

"Well." The man's brown eyes grew stern. "We are all angry. We have had enough of lying white men. And you don't want to know what some of the People want to do with you."

Jesse felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. He kept his face impassive. "Why? I haven't done anything."

Still Water Woman walked around the fire and handed Two Elk a bowl. He thanked her, nodding, and took a sip. She gestured at Jesse, asking a question. His ears perked up when he recognized part of what she said. Richard Galloway.

"No," Jesse blurted, knowing what she'd asked before Two Elk had a chance to translate it. "No, I am not Richard Galloway's friend. We were both in the river because we were tryin' to kill each other. Neither of us succeeded. I reckon one of your people did, from the look of it." It felt good to speak, knowing someone understood him. As he talked, Two Elk translated back what he said to his rescuers. "He wasn't a good person."

"No," Two Elk said. "He wasn't. You were his captive?"

Jesse paused, considering if he should tell the truth, then nodded slowly. I dunno if that's the right answer, but suggesting we were anything but bitter enemies is definitely the wrong one... "He was a lying cheat trying to steal our land, and he tried to kill both me and a friend of mine. And he put his hands on my sister."

Two Elk's eyebrows shot upwards and a look Jesse couldn't read crossed his face. Jesse felt panic flare in the pit of his stomach. Oh, dear Lord, if I've said the wrong thing...

His captors exchanged glances, muttering. Two Elk turned his attention back to Jesse as if seeing him for the first time. He cocked his head, thinking. "You and Eagle Bone share something other than mutual dislike," he said, amusement wrinkling his weathered face. "It was Eagle Bone that took Richard Galloway's scalp."

"Why didn't he take mine?"

Two Elk grinned broadly. "Because Runs Laughing is the one that captured you, and Eagle Bone loves her too much to upset her by harming her captive. You're alive right now because you belong to a little girl."

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