“He could have left him.”
Caleb shifted uncomfortably.
“He did not.”
Takakota continued.
“He put aside his rifle.
He gave water.
He gave his coat.
He put his own blood against the iron.”
Several people murmured.
Caleb wanted the ground to open.
Praise had always made him more uneasy than threats.
Takakota looked directly at him.
“Your blood is connected to ours now.”
Caleb frowned.
“That’s not necessary.”
Takakota ignored him.
“A debt that large cannot remain open.”
“I don’t want payment.”
The chief’s eyes hardened.
“This is not about what you want.”
That sounded dangerous.
Takakota turned.
Toward his daughter.
The young woman’s expression changed before a single word was spoken.
“Father.”
“To settle the debt,” Takakota said, “you will take Aayita as your wife.”
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Caleb waited for someone to laugh.
Nobody did.
He looked at Aayita.
She looked as though she had just been informed she would be required to marry a rattlesnake.
“No,” she said.
Caleb nodded quickly.
“Excellent.
Glad we agree.”
Several warriors muttered.
Takakota remained motionless.
Aayita stepped closer.
“You would give me to a stranger?”
Takakota’s jaw tightened.
Caleb raised both hands.
“Chief, whatever you think I did for your son, this isn’t—”
Takakota looked at him.
“You refuse my family?”
“That is definitely not the part I am trying to emphasize.”
A few younger men almost smiled.
Aayita did not.
Takakota spoke quietly.
“This is my decision.”
Aayita’s face flushed with rage.
“This is not our way.”
That sentence struck Caleb harder than anything else.
Even members of the camp looked uncertain.
Takakota answered just as quietly.
“No.
It is mine.”
Caleb studied him.
Something was wrong.
The chief was not behaving like a grateful father.
He was behaving like a man moving pieces across a board.
“I will not force her,” Caleb said.
Takakota looked at him sharply.
“I mean it.
Whatever debt you think exists, she isn’t payment.”
Aayita’s eyes moved toward him.
For the first time, the anger inside them changed.
Only slightly.
Takakota nodded.
“Then perhaps you are worth what I think you are.”
Caleb felt a coldness that had nothing to do with the weather.
“What exactly do you think I am?”
The chief smiled without warmth.
“We will see.”
Caleb slept alone that night.
Aayita insisted on it.
Caleb insisted even harder.
Takakota gave them a small shelter near the western edge of camp and announced that the marriage would be recognized after four nights.
Until then, Caleb was expected to remain.
The mountain passes had begun closing beneath snow anyway.
Leaving with an injured shoulder and worsening weather would have been difficult.
Still, Caleb suspected
the snow was not the true reason Takakota believed he would stay.
On the second morning, he went to see Nantan.
The warrior was awake.
Pale.
Sweating.
But alive.
He grinned when Caleb entered.
“You.”
“You.”
Nantan pointed toward his leg.
Then toward Caleb.
“Strong.”
Caleb laughed.
“Stupid.”
Nantan considered this.
Then nodded solemnly.
“Stupid.”
They both laughed.
Aayita appeared behind Caleb.
Her presence killed the sound immediately.
She carried a bowl of steaming water and herbs.
Nantan said something to her.
