Winchester West
Disclaimer: I have no claims to the show Supernatural, the characters or themes. I also mean no insult to any and all Indian tribes, people etc. I just like to play with the characters, tease, torture, caress and the rest!!
CHAPTER 35Previously: The ones who stayed for the rest of the hunt, marveled at Black Wolf's sharp hearing and quick mind. Several times they where surprised when suddenly he would appear out of the trees ahead of them, telling them to be quiet, and yet then when they turned back to look at him, he had melted into the woods. But on the last day of the hunt when they could hold off returning no longer, there was still no way for him to warn others and then one young warrior, not much older then Black Wolf himself, heard a eagle's shrill call and was reminded of something he had heard while watching a white man hunting party. On his return to the camp, he saw that the warriors where unhappy, and he watched as Black Wolf draw White Stag's attention and smiled. It was then that this warrior tried to copy what he had heard and even though he did not do it well, in fact he did it very badly, all attention focused on him. Black Wolf smiled, cocked his head and tried to remember how it was done and then he whistled. For you do not need a voice to whistle.
Yes, it is true you do not need a voice to whistle, and soon during the remaining hours of dismantling the camp and returning to the village with the pray they had caught, Black Wolf found that with practice he could change the shrill or the tone or the length of the whistle, thus warning of any dangers and in what form the danger may take. The warriors smiled at this for while some of them where packing the horses, others where learning what each call meant, by the drawings that Black Wolf drew in the ground. They watched and White Stag mimicked the calls, deciding on which call was the easiest to remember for each drawing made, whether it was bear, Short and shrill representing danger and urgency, or a longer and far less shrill whistle to represent deer which hopefully would not scare the pray away. Then White Stag asked what sound would mean a group of white soldiers, and when Black Wolf could not think of one, one of the other warriors whistled bear, quickly followed by another call of bear, and everyone laughed. The signal was immediately agreed upon, white men soldiers where signaled by bear twice i.e. two short but very shrill whistles quickly following one another. It was in this way that Black Wolf learned over the coming months to talk to others, with a mixture of hand signals at the village and whistles while on the hunt. There where only a few warriors at camp who where unhappy with the situation and among them was White Feather, for he had been very unhappy to find on the hunting party's return, that Black Wolf had found this method of speaking. He was among a number of warriors who watched as White Stag and Black Wolf became closer. Now many among the village had to admit, what before was never admitted, that White Stag and Black Wolf worked together as brothers would. Each one knew what the other was thinking and the camp saw that the two seemed to talk without words, sometimes it was as if they knew what the other was about to do, or about to say. The medicine man also saw that they spoke to each other with their eyes, as only close brothers where known to speak. The medicine man saw this as a gift and a blessing to White Stag, for it meant that as long as Black Wolf was alive, White Stag had a warrior to guard his back, but the chief saw it another way. In his eyes Black Wolf sort to become not only a warrior, but in some future time a chief and in the now, he was quickly being recognized as a equal to the son of chief, and that could not be allowed.
White Feather looked for, and took every chance in the next year and more, to put obstacles in Black Wolf's path. It started with unending chores that left him tired. Then he would send him on hunts dictating the length of time given for the hunt and punishing him if he came back late or with nothing. And yet he survived and with each obstacle, with each short hunt, his stature grew in the hearts of the tribe. With every move his master tried, the tribe looked on Black Wolf with growing respect. It was not until two years later when the white man had chased the Indians into smaller and smaller areas, when the wandering tribes where pushed on and on with less and less that a chance truly came for the chief to finally rid himself of Black Wolf.
It all started due to the white men, and it did not even start with the tribe itself, the trouble started with the Apache far away from where the tribe now pitched their tents. The trouble actually started in the area around of Fort Hill which as you re-call was very near to New Stand, (Where this story started). So you could say that everything was about to come full circle. The trouble started with one or two cows going missing and some horses. Of course people around town blamed the near-by Apache camp, stating that it was them who where stealing the cattle and yes when a few soldiers from the Fort, went to ask, the Indians did indeed have one or two of them but they said that they had found them wondering the range, not stolen them from the passing herds or the ranchers or farmers. Since there was no proof as to whether or not it was the Indians, everyone begrudgingly settled back to normal life. Unfortunately missing cattle began to become a regular occurrence, so much so that several herd drivers did not want to drive their herds by the town and this of course impacted on the town. This went on for months. Every month or so, five to twenty cattle would go missing. One or two of them would be found wandering the valley or at the Indian camp, but there was never any proof about who or what was doing it, and people where getting annoyed. In fact, that was where the trouble really started with a bunch of young men who after getting drunk over the latest theft, decided to go teach the Indians a lesson. A lesson they would never forget.
Now we all know how young men are when they are drunk, but one usually hopes that when morning comes they think better of it, but unfortunately for the Indians, this group was lead by two tough guys who had bad feelings for anyone other then themselves. Real bullies! One was called Jack and the other Gregory, (though he liked to be called Greg), and when morning came, they made sure the group was still riled up and angry and half drunk. All of the boys came from farms that had lost cattle or horses in the past months, and they all wanted to have some sort of pay-back. It was while they where watching the camp in the late evening that a rider came up to join them, Greg was happy until the rider (his brother), made known that he did not agree with this and wanted them all to go home. Now Billy was Greg's older brother and usually he could talk sense to him but now with Greg backed up by the others and all wanting revenge, Billy had trouble. So much trouble that it led to a difference of opinion with Greg. Billy tried to fight his way out but being so outnumbered, he stood little chance. He ended up, literally tied up, watching as the others mounted their horses as evening fell, and descended on the camp, shouting as they went.
Now Greg had only wanted to scare them, by riding through the camp and scaring off the horses, maybe burning a tent or two. But that was it. Unfortunately one or two of the other boys had different ideas and shots where heard. Greg thinking that some Indians where shooting at them (instead of the boys themselves shooting), saw red and seeing a female running out of a tent chased after her and pulled her onto his horse. He proceeded to trample the tent, ignoring her screams, and then rode off into the night with her. Billy straggled to get free as he watched, as one shot fired by a excited teenager led to others shooting (thinking they where under attack), then one of the boys was hit in the shoulder (we call it friendly fire) and all hell broke lose. Tents where burned, women and children shot or trampled. Billy was disgusted, and on freeing himself, he rode down trying to stop the carnage that was going on, only to be hit and left for dead, because his friends (if this where friends), did not recognize him in the melee. That night there where few men at the camp, for most of the hunters had gone hunting, leaving just the old, and some young warriors to guard and watch. They feared no attack for was this not a place of peace, and trade known by all. It was when morning came and the hunting party returned, that they saw how wrong they where, the camp was unrecognizable. Women cried for their dead children, children cried for their missing mothers, fathers just returned from hunting cried for the wives and sons now dead, killed by the white man. The few men who had been there where also dead or badly wounded. At first they had tried to get women and children to safety but after hearing the first shot, they had started to fight back instead. Now seeing the destruction around them, the Indians wanted revenge against who had done this. The women left alive said it was not the soldiers but men, regular men, meaning the townsfolk. They did not know their names though, until the Indian girl taken by Greg walked back into the village. Her dress was torn and her body bruised, but most dreaded of all, he had taken her innocence. To her brother and others of the camp, this meant war, but first things first. They would give the whiteman a chance to prove his type of justice actually worked for them also. They would try the white man and seek justice. They would clear the burned tents and remake the camp. It was at this point while clearing away the burnt tents that they found their first victim, (or should that be prisoner), Billy knocked unconscious and then covered when a tent fell. It was lucky that he did not get trampled well maybe that is not the right thing to say about the situation he found himself in i.e. tied to a pole facing a Indian chief who wished to know just one thing, the names of the people who did this. Then he promised Billy would have a quick and merciful death, unfortunately for Billy he was not about to say anything. He knew he would be sentencing the others to death. Each time he said no or motioned no, the chief would cut into him. Small cuts, what we call paper cuts, small but very painful and still Billy would not say a word. If it had been under other circumstances, he might have been admired but now he was just hated, all the more.
It was the girl, who gave them a name when she had stopped crying, for she recognized two of them. Billy drew in a sharp breath as his brother's name was mentioned as her attacker and then another name he did not know personally but he knew that the person was there. It was the sharp intake of breath that told the Indians they had the right people. A fact Billy regretted deeply. First they would talk to the white sheriff, then they would move the camp and send messengers to their brother tribes for aid. Billy thought his time had come when the chief approached him with a knife, but instead he was cut down and though he fought to get away, the small cuts had taken their toll and he was tied and dumped in a Travis, gagged and helpless. He realized whatever the Indians had in mind for him, it was not a quick death. He did not know how right he was.
It took about a month for the messengers to reach the Sioux and the Blackfoot tribes and for answers to be sent back. Both where on their way. In that month the Apache captured the second name they had and moved further away from the town, where the tribe could better protect itself against possible attacks. The second name turned out to be a kid really just sixteen and scared to death. Billy was dragged out and tied up again, but this time he was gagged and the chief did not ask any questions. He just cut into him. Billy understood what was happening even if the scared boy tied up next to him didn't. The apache knew Billy would not talk but they rightly figured that a young boy, on seeing another tortured, would tell all he knew not to suffer the same fate, and they where right. Billy hung his head as he listened to the boy spill his guts hoping not to get tortured. He didn't. At most he suffered three or four cuts, just done to make sure the information was correct. Billy knew it was and he knew that when the chief approached the kid with the knife, it was the end for him. For the information told, he was given a quick and merciful death in the apache way of thinking, a knife straight to the heart. Now the Apache knew all they needed too and over time, one by one the people where captured. Some while fixing fences, others while hunting, suddenly found themselves hunted. Some disappeared on the way to another town or to church. All in all, twelve men and boys from the ages of sixteen to twenty-four vanished over the course of two months. The two months it took for the messengers to reach the tribes, return with answers and for the tribes to reach the area themselves.
As for Billy, he thought those where the worst two months of his life. For you see, every time someone was brought into the camp confused, dazed, sometimes fighting or begging for mercy, he was brought out and forced to watch as they where either burned or knifed to death. One of the older ones died a slow death by being pierced with arrows. Another was chased into a wolves lair and ripped apart by them. All this he watched and cried over. But the two facts, he cried most over, weren't the deaths of his friends. One was that the girl who Greg (his brother) had taken away that night was with child and two, his brother had not been dragged in yet. You see the apache are hunters and they like sometimes for their pray to know that the hunt is on, and Greg knew and so did Jack. They had led the attack and therefore where taking precautions over their safety. They never strayed out of town alone or left anywhere without others round them. They watched as all the others vanished and they where terrified. Greg knew from the morning after the attack that something was wrong, for his brother who he figured had got loose and gone home, wasn't at home. So when people started to vanish, and his brother was not found, he and Jack put together quickly what was going on. But they didn't warn anyone, how could they without telling why it happened. Parents throughout the area where starting to ask questions and even though the apaches had left, they worried about possible raids and their children going missing. That was how they really discovered who was stealing the cattle. A farmer sent his son out to fix a fence but worried and followed him. His son laughed until he saw a dust cloud in the distance and the rapid approach of men on horseback. They fought back the attack and luckily some soldiers where passing from the Fort and heard the fighting. That was how the bandits that had been hiding in the hills where found out and captured, and why the town breathed a collective sigh of relief, for now they thought it over and done with. But the children still went missing and no evidence of who had done this was found. Only the bodies where found. All left where nature would disguise how they died.
Next: - The tribes join together. Greg and Jack are captured. Punishment is Declared. Black Wolf meets Billy and is tested for Loyalty to his master and tribe. I.E. Pain, suffering, torture and blood abound.