Chapter 12

The townsfolk had long forgotten about Catherine when the aftermath of her presence still affected the relationship between their doctor and the mountain man. Not that anyone noticed.

While Michaela had settled in them being friends again, Sully still wanted more. His patience was faltering though. Usually he found her stubbornness appealing but not this time. In his opinion she should have recognized by now that she could trust him; he had done everything in his power to make her see that.

However, his decision to join his Cheyenne family had proved itself being a good one. Talking with Cloud Dancing and roaming the woods made him find his center again. Dr. Mike was a part of his life and always would be; for now this was enough. At least it was that what he told himself. He would never force her to do anything she didn't want. The Indians still saw him as a member of their community and didn't question him in any way. It was nice to not feel judged for a change. He shared their joy of simple competitions as much as their secrets they kept from the white man like being host to a group of dog soldiers. Thus, bit by bit without even noticing it himself, Sully returned to his habits of staying away from town more often until he was back to his old rhythm. Since everyone, including the Cooper siblings, was used to it, things looked normal from the outside.

As far as Michaela was concerned, she felt a strange restlessness. Not wanting to explore the reason for it because she had a faint idea where it came from, she buried herself in work. Every room at the clinic was as clean as it could be, and all patient files were updated and sorted. When the army wagon train with the supplies for the Cheyenne came earlier than anticipated, she took the opportunity to do something useful and talked two soldiers into accompanying her to the Indian village so she could bring the food there right away. It turned out to be one of the greatest mistakes she'd ever made.

Of course she had known that dog soldiers took shelter in regular Indian villages but for some reason she hadn't expected them at Black Kettle's place. She was horrified watching the two army soldiers being killed before her eyes but even worse was that she wasn't able to read Cloud Dancing's reaction. He either agreed with what the renegades had done or was frightened to interfere with them. Both prospects utterly unnerved her; even the more when Sully asked her to forget the entire incident.

Michaela had always made a strict distinction between the Cheyenne in the village and the dog soldiers. What was she to think now?

However, she first complied with Sully and the medicine man's wish and didn't tell anybody about what she'd seen. When asked by Custer of his men's whereabouts, she replied in a way so that she didn't have to lie but neither told the entire truth. Yet her conscience was put to a hard test at Grace's Café later when the wife of one of the dead soldiers desperately begged her for information. Watching how the woman was led away from her table by the sergeant, she made up her mind.

Looking at Sully who sat across from her she informed him, "When they will ask me again about what happened, I won't lie."

Having feared that all the time, Sully grew agitated and tried to make her see the consequences. "Do you know what that'll do?"

But Michaela felt incredibly guilty because if she hadn't persuaded Mrs. Cottle's husband to go with her in order to deliver the supplies, he wouldn't have been killed. Knowing she had to take responsibility she contradicted Sully, "But those men had families. They…"
Sully cut her off, impatience audible in his tone now, "Those men are soldiers! There's a war goin' on here. Any fool can see that."

Yet Michaela's mind was set, "They ask me again – I'm not lying."

Knowing that it would be useless to discuss further, Sully exhaled exasperatedly. Rising to his feet, he reached for his tomahawk next to his plate in a way that showed his frustration. He went away without looking at her again. At this moment he didn't feel any connection between him and the doctor and thought her stubbornness not endearing at all. Apart from that, he needed to warn Cloud Dancing that Custer might know about the shooting very soon.

When Sully didn't show up for the next few days, Michaela didn't know what to think of it. The continual Indian attacks so close to town worried her and she wondered whether Black Kettle's village was still at the same place. Maybe Sully had left with the tribe…

Of course she didn't desire for innocent people to get hurt, no matter if they were Indians or whites. But for that, the dog soldiers had to be stopped. She knew though that it wouldn't be done by simply chasing them because the reason for their existing wouldn't vanish this way. Having experienced first-handed how the Indians' hopes had been dashed more than once, she was aware that her own government's politics were the reason for the miserable situation at the reservations. That was why she still hesitated to give her knowledge about what had happened to the two soldiers away.

However, when Custer came back to ask her again she didn't have much of a choice but report what she had seen. After all, not many people around would miss a stethoscope. Since the captive dog soldier not only rode a stolen army horse but wore her medical instrument as a trophy, it was obvious that she had been a witness.

Sully, who had appeared behind her out of the blue couldn't stop her once Custer asked her directly for what had happened. Although she emphasized that it had been dog soldiers that had done the killing, the general announced that he and his men would go back to the Cheyenne village as soon as the reinforcement arrived.

Knowing she was responsible for this development, Michaela insisted on going with Sully in order to inform Cloud Dancing. She was in shock for what her going out to the reservation one day early had put into motion. Sully's openly displayed and the medicine man's silent reproaching her for telling Custer about the incident made her feel even more miserable and guilty.

But she had yet to experience the worst. Not only did Cloud Dancing's son leave his family to join the dog soldiers as a result of her acting, but with the renegades on the loose more innocent people were killed. It all culminated in a nightly attack against the town with several buildings being in danger of burning down. Fortunately Sully was back to prevent the clinic from being destroyed. After he had put out the fire on the second story porch, he looked down at Dr. Mike. Although he was still angry with her for betraying his Cheyenne family, her terrified expression softened him somewhat.

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Since Cloud Dancing had thought it better when he left the tribe, Sully was back in town the next morning. He wanted to do as much as he could in order to avoid things getting more out of hand than they already were. He wasn't sure whether the people in town would listen to him, but at least he could try and so he did.

To his astonishment, he saw Michaela prepare the wagon which could only mean she wanted to leave town. Matthew was by her side, and it gave him a little pang that she rather relied on her older son than asked him for his help. Thinking about it, he couldn't blame her though. He hadn't held back from showing his disapproval of her latest actions and never tried to see her point of view. In addition, he wasn't exactly available for her lately.

However, he didn't want her to leave town yet as he'd anticipated, she didn't listen to him. Knowing that a patient waited for her was all she needed to forget questions about her own safety.

Without a moment's hesitation Sully jumped onto the wagon taking Matthew's seat whilst exchanging a knowing glance with the oldest Cooper kid. Sometimes you had to just give in to her.

They didn't talk on their way yet there wasn't any tension between them. Thus Sully allowed himself to relax a bit. Bending his neck he tilted his face so the sunbeams could warm it. For a minute a sense of peace washed over him yet suddenly something disturbed the silence. Straightening on his seat, he looked around searching for the cause of the still faint noise. And then he saw the first dog soldier appear on the crest of the hill, followed by some more Indians.

Having noticed them as well, Michaela had pulled the horse to halt. There was no discussion now, knowing that he was the better driver she willingly gave him the reins so they could reach Mrs. Caraway's cabin sooner.

It was obvious that the war party wasn't here by chance. They had waited for the right opportunity to make their move so they could get to her. Michaela was convinced of that. And she also knew what that meant. She didn't take the time to think about the fact that her patient wasn't in the small cabin, but as soon as Sully shut the door behind them in order to keep the Indians away, Michaela pleaded with him, "Sully, you've got to go."

"No!" How could she think he would even consider that? He closed the distance between them, facing her now. He had watched the dog soldiers through the gap between two boards of the door, hoping to be able to guess their plan. Were they here to kill or to make a captive? He couldn't tell yet but it was out of the question that he would stay.

Yet Michaela, knowing that the Indians were after her since she had told Cloud Dancing that it had been her who revealed the truth to Custer, refused to allow Sully to get hurt because he wanted to protect her. They gazed at each other, both grasping the other one's upper arms when she tried again with her voice growing unsteady, "You can get away; you know you can."

"I won't leave you," he yelled at her with his heart thumping wildly against his ribs, sensing he would lose her any moment, either one way or another.

When they heard steps on the roof, they both glanced at the ceiling seeing that it too consisted of only simple boards with wide gaps between them. Realizing that this would never be enough to shield them from the bunch of bloodthirsty renegades, Michaela felt her knees weaken. As mortal fear squeezed her heart, making it hard to breath, she still managed to give him an imploring look, her voice barely a whisper now, "Go!"

Yet it was too late; the door flew open. One Indian instantly swung his knife against Sully whilst two others grabbed Michaela, dragging her out of the room despite her resisting the best she could. She didn't have a chance.

Knowing this was a matter of life and death, Sully fought back mercilessly. Although he concentrated on his attacker, he wasn't able to blend out Michaela's horrified gasps and desperate cries, "No… no… no!"

As he had finally knocked out his assailant, he jumped to the entrance but he couldn't leave the cabin because the dog soldiers instantly fired at him. Yet peering out into the dust the many hooves had whirled up, he spotted her perched on a horse in front of the leader of the group – the one who had threatened her with his knife a few days ago. The brief relief about the fact that they hadn't killed her yet, which meant they wanted her to be their captive rather than dead, was instantly replaced by new horror upon this realization.

Sully knew that it was useless to follow the dog soldiers right away but he sent Wolf in his place, knowing his faithful companion would lead him to them later. As he helplessly watched how Michaela was taken away from him, his mind went blank. He was reduced to the soul that cried out for its mate and when he screamed after her, he didn't even notice that he yelled his first words in Cheyenne. But they came from his innermost being as her name did, too. For the first time it burst over his lips, and he put all his power in his voice, wanting her to hear him when he continued shouting, "See you!"

As they rounded the corner, vanishing from his sight behind some trees he took several deep breaths, mustering all his might so he could scream again, "Michaela, I… I'll find you!"

Then she was gone and he fell on his knees, desperate for he knew what things might happen to her, and his soul was stripped naked. Unprotected, it was exposed to the unbearable possibility of losing her for good.

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