Elek

Deciding she'll never get a better chance, Ehawee clings to the wall with three of her limbs and takes careful aim with the pistol. Waiting for a moment when the boy's hands are full with the desk and his back is to the window, she fires, hitting the floor between his legs. She immediately follows up by ordering, "Do not move!" in as authoritative a voice as she can. "I do not want to kill you, but I will if I have to."

The boy jumps, but freezes when he lands with both hands still on the desk and the gun in his mouth. Satisfied that he understood her, Ehawee continues, "Now, keeping your hands where they are, I want you to carefully lower that gun in your mouth to the desk, then raise both of your arms up and away from your body and take four steps back away from the desk. Keep in mind that I can see you just fine, so don't count on the darkness concealing what you do."

The boy does exactly as he was told. She waits until he's moved away from the desk, then asks, "Now, who are you and why are you here?"

"M...m' name is Elek. I...I shoe horses. I not soldier," he says in a heavy accent.

That causes Ehawee's tone to lighten a bit. "Can you tell me what happened here?" she asks, curious to know how he survived when the two men did not.

"I...I know not. Deh Captain, he let me sleep here, for I take gut care of horses. I...I wake up to hear men chokingk. I...I could not help. Den I hear sometink in bedroom, so I hide. Dey are all dead now, aren't dey? I am next, am I not?"

"All of the soldiers are dead, yes, but you won't be if you behave. I'm coming in now, OK? So don't be startled by the noise. How did you come to be with the army? Have you no family?"

As she talks to him, she opens the window and climbs in, doing her best not to take her eyes off the boy for long. He does not move. "No. No family," he answers. "Dey died on boat to Ameerica, along with little sister and brodter. I am alone now, but my fadter, he taught me to shoe horses. So I do. Cavalry good place to shoe horses."

Finally inside the cabin, Ehawee moves over to the closest body, checking to see if she recognizes who it is, and if they have any keys on them. She quickly recognizes him as the white chief who tried to cut her down the day before. Best of all, he has the keys she's looking for.

"How old are you?" she asks Elek as she pockets the keys and moves on to the second body, wanting to keep him talking. "And where did you come from?"

"I haf fifteen years. I come from Hungary to New York, and from New York to Dakota Territory."

Her eyes widen a bit as she checks the second man and recognizes the lieutenant. His eyes are wide and staring, and he isn't breathing. Part of her hopes he really is dead, since then she wouldn't have to leave her people, but she knows better. She doesn't know how he did it, but she's convinced he can't be dead. After all, who could have killed him?

"Why come out here?" she asks, curious to know what motivates all of these people to invade her people's lands. As he begins answering, she quietly moves close enough to lift the gun off the desk, careful to remain out of the boy's reach. Then she moves back over by the lieutenant again.

"Is goot work shoeing horses for cafalry," Elek responds. "Goot money." The boy doesn't appear to have noticed her movement, and his breathing is slowing. Whatever his fate, he seems to be coming to terms with it.

Ehawee hesitates, then searches the lieutenant's body too. She doesn't believe it, but there's a small chance that he might actually be dead. Or that the body might not be his. He did imply that he could make himself look like others, after all. But, as she pretty much expected, she finds nothing of interest. She is briefly silent after completing her search, then asks the boy, "Where will you go when you leave here?"

"If I lif, and the Indians to do not kill me, den I will go back to closest settlement and look for anoder job. I tink my days with cafalry ofer now. Is much too exciting."

Ehawee realizes that, in the low light, the boy does not realize she is an Indian. This surprises her at first, then she reasons that he wouldn't expect an Indian to speak his language. The army jacket probably helps too. He has to realize that she's female, though. There's no disguising her voice.

"I think that would be wise," she responds, then is silent again, trying to determine what to do with him. Given his age, and the fact that he isn't a soldier, she has no desire to kill him. That would make her no better than the soldiers who fired on the women and children in her tribe. But she fears that he may spread word of the attack sooner than it would be discovered otherwise. It's hard for her to know if he will be able to reach a settlement on foot faster than the soldiers will be noticed missing. Still, it occurs to her that she might be able to use his survival to her advantage. An attack on an army outpost by Indians is one thing. The mysterious death of everyone at that outpost by forces unknown is another.

"It seems you were spared by the forces at work this night because you were not part of the army, and you did not act against their children," she finally observes. "They have no quarrel with you yet. If that is so, then they may allow you to leave."

"What will you do? How will you get away?" he asks.

"I'll simply leave. I've never done anything against the Indians. The spirits will let me go. You should be able to do the same." She pauses, as a terrible thought occurs to her. What if he was among those who were raping the women in her tribe? Boy or no boy, she resolves, if he has done that, she will kill him. "Unless you touched any of their women," she finally continues. "Then, you might have a problem."

"No, no. Dat not a right ting to do. I...I would nefer do such a ting. What are 'spirits'? I not understand."

"Spirits are...guardians, in a sense. They are beings more powerful than humans, who watch over this land and her people. I think they are angry now at the way the army has been treating the Indians, so they killed the army soldiers here."

"I nefer hear of no such tings. I tink Indians got loose and kilt eferyone."

"If that was true, then why don't you hear them? All those Indians, men, women, children, they'd be making some noise, wouldn't they? The men, especially. Do you think they would kill 100 men and not make a sound? Or kill the men in this room but leave you? And certainly now, with everyone dead, they'd have no reason to be quiet. No, the Indians didn't do this. And I think you know that. It's just not something you want to admit, because the Indians getting loose is an easier thing to believe."

"Is it safe to hide here until light?" Elek asks.

"Hard to say. The Indians will probably be free by then. I'm not sure if they'll come in here or not, but chances are good they will, if only to make sure no army men are hiding in here. They might not kill you, you being so young and all, but they might decide to take you with them. Do you really want to take that chance?"

"I will not get far in the dark, but I suppose I will hafe to take my chances. Tank you for not shootingk me. You going to trafel in dark as well?"

"I expect so. Which way will you go? I'll make sure to go in a different direction."

"Sowd, den est, I tink."

"All right, you get going, then." She moves silently back to the desk and places the pistol where he left it, then moves back to her original position. "Take your gun with you. You may need it. There's more than Indians out there to worry about."

"Tank you. I get after you go. Are you sure you be all right? A woman has more to fear in deh dark dan a man."

There is real concern in the boy's voice, the first such concern that she has ever heard from a white man. This surprises her, and reaffirms in her mind her decision to let him go. "Do not worry, Elek," she assures him, "I am in less danger right now than you are. You...you are a good man. I hope your journey is a safe one."

She exits through the door, since that's faster than going back out the window. Since Elek is still facing away from her, he won't see her anyway. Then she finds a place to conceal herself where she can watch the cabin, to make sure Elek leaves and doesn't linger in the area. She wants to be sure he's gone before she frees the men. To her relief, it doesn't take Elek long to exit the cabin. He heads off as quickly as he can in the dark, in the direction he told her he would, leaving the camp empty of all but her people.

"Deadwood"
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All text on this page is © 2001 by Kris Fazzari.

Last modified on June 15, 2001 by Kris Fazzari.