Three nights and four days he had waited for a vision. Clad in nothing but a clout and moccasins, he had stood on the blanket his mother had made for him, his arms raised, his head thrown back as he gazed up at the sun. The sky had been blue and clear, the air warm. It had been Wazustecasa wi, The Moon When Strawberries Are Ripe. Even now, eleven summers later, he could remember that day. He had been fourteen at the time and earnestly seeking a medicine dream to guide him on the road to becoming a warrior. It was here he had first seen the Spirit Woman. Shadow Hawk drew Ohitika to a halt at the crest of a tree-studded rise. Shadow Hawk would go to the Cave of the Spirit Path when the time was right and look into the future, but it was not the future that haunted him, it was the woman in his vision. What Heart-of-the-Wolf asked of him might not be easy but it was a great honor, and a sign of the old shaman’s faith in him, that he would trust such a momentous responsibility to another. Shadow Hawk put the medicine man’s question from his mind. Shadow Hawk gave the horse its head, and Ohitika, the brave one, ran effortlessly, its long legs eating up the miles as it climbed higher and higher, gliding over the low, grassy hills like an eagle skimming the sky. Leaving the medicine man’s lodge, Shadow Hawk caught his big calico stallion and rode into the hills. “What I ask is not easy, but remember, I do not ask it for myself, but for the People.” “You need not answer now,” Heart-of-the-Wolf remarked softly. Did he possess the kind of courage required to follow the Spirit Path, to face the unknown? The proud words he had spoken earlier tasted like ashes in his mouth. Shadow Hawk lifted a hand to the necklace of bear claws at his throat. That is how you knew the wasichu were coming last fall.” “You have been to the Sacred Cave! That is how you knew we were in danger two summers ago. Its legend was woven deep into the fabric of his people’s history, but he knew of no one who had entered the Sacred Cave and returned to tell the tale… Had the small fire crackling in the center of the lodge lost its warmth, or was it the medicine man’s words that had turned his blood to ice? Shadow Hawk gazed at Heart-of-the-Wolf, wondering at the sudden chill in the lodge. And so I ask you once again, Shadow Hawk, how brave are you? Do you possess the courage to travel the Spirit Path and see what the future holds? Are you strong enough to make the journey? Are you brave enough to enter the Sacred Cave and seek the vision that lies within?” Our People look to you to be their next holy man. I fear the wasichu will soon cover the land of the spotted eagle like the prairie grasses in the summer. The strength is going from my legs, my eyes grow dim. “I have been the eyes and ears to the future of our people for more than forty years, Cetán, but each day it grows more difficult for me to guide the Lakota.
When he spoke, he chose his words carefully. Heart-of-the-Wolf took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Heart-of-the-Wolf nodded, unruffled by the younger man’s outburst, and after a moment Shadow Hawk sat down again. I have taken the scalps of our enemies, the Crow and the Pawnee. I have proven my courage at the Sun Dance Pole. “I do not understand your answers or your questions.” He thumped his chest with his fist. In a movement uncharacteristically graceful for such a tall man, Shadow Hawk rose to his feet, his hands curling into angry fists as he glared down at the medicine man. But I ask you again, Shadow Hawk, how brave are you?” You have killed matohota and sacrificed your blood and your pain to Wakán Tanka. Then, with a hint of a smile, he lifted a hand to the necklace of bear claws at his throat, then dragged a well-callused thumb across the ragged Sun Dance scars that adorned his chest. Shadow Hawk cocked his head to one side, puzzled by the question. What did it mean?īut before he could put the question to Heart-of-the-Wolf, the wizened old medicine man leaned forward and gazed intently at Shadow Hawk, his dark eyes probing deep into the younger man’s soul. Shadow Hawk frowned at the aged medicine man sitting across from him.
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