People of the Morning Star(23)
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Pursing his lips, Seven Skull Shield leaned his head back and blew perfect smoke rings toward Wooden Doll’s high roof. He was reclined, naked, one knee up, on her lavishly comfortable bed. Built into the dwelling’s back wall, it was thick with wolf, buffalo, and fox hides.
In the light of the central fire, Wooden Doll bent over the woodpile by the doorway and plucked up another piece. Seven Skull Shield admired the view. Maybe thirty summers old, she had long legs, very round buttocks, and a delicious back. A tall woman given Cahokian standards, she turned, flipped her thick black hair over her shoulder and tossed the firewood into the flames as she sauntered back to the bed.
She’d made a practice of how to walk, giving just the right sway to her hips, placing one foot ahead of the other to achieve a graceful balance. Fully erect, head held high, her shoulders back and square to emphasize her high breasts, each stride proclaimed that she was all woman, and more than any man could handle.
“You’re smiling,” she told him as she seated herself on the edge of her bed and reached for the stone pipe he smoked. Taking it, she raised it to her full lips, and drew. Her eyes slitted in pleasure, her cheeks hollowed to accent her perfect facial bones and the triangular set of her delicate jaw.
She held the smoke and then, tilting her head back, blew it skyward before handing the pipe back.
Seven Skull Shield drew as the tobacco burned out and reveled in the tingling Power as Sister Tobacco’s spirit ran through his body.
Wooden Doll had fixed her gaze on the little black statuette of Old-Woman-Who-Never-Dies. Her gaze was thoughtful, then she glanced back at him. “So, old friend. You offer a statue in Trade for my services, but what, exactly, are you expecting in return? Just to share my bed on occasion? A night here and there? Or are you looking for more?”
Seven Skull Shield fingered the pipe, a beautiful thing made from a red mudstone quarried a moon’s journey to the southeast. The craftsman who carved it had fashioned the front into an eagle’s head, the bird’s folded wings were engraved along the sides.
“What if I told you I wanted more?” He accented that with a leer that he knew would bait her.
She took the pipe from his thick fingers and knocked it against the bed frame to free the dottle. “I’d say you were a fool.”
“Living with me wouldn’t be so bad, would it?” He emphasized his point with a forefinger. “We have a history. We helped to make each other. We’re alike, you and I. We’ve known that from the very beginning.”
Wooden Doll’s lips bent in a crooked smile. “The very beginning? That day I first laid eyes on you? I saw you standing there, that basket over your shoulder, one leg forward. I knew right then that any man with that much insolent challenge behind his eyes would end badly.”
“End badly? It’s been how many years? And here I am, still filling your bed with bliss and entertainment. What would your life have been like married to old Stone Throw? I remember that first moment, all right. When I looked at you, you looked right back, practically tingling with excitement. No one, before or since, did the things to your body that I did. Still do.”
“Don’t brag.” Her smile mocked him. “We taught each other in those early explorations. Tricks and talents have to be learned.”
“And it worked out well in the end.” He shook his head, remembering her excitement each time he’d sneak into her bed. And, oh yes, she’d definitely taught him a thing or two. When Stone Throw threw her out in disgrace, Seven Skull Shield had figured that she’d be his. But no. She’d struck out on her own, sensing correctly that a good life could be made in Cahokia trading her body and skills for wealth.
Still, on lonely nights, he often lost himself in dreams of what it would have been like to have lived a normal life with Wooden Doll. Dreams and other fantasies, unfortunately, had little to do with life’s realities.
She placed a slim hand on his raised knee and squeezed. “You know I can read your souls, Skull. I wouldn’t be your woman then, and I won’t be now.”
She was the only person who just called him Skull. “That’s my entire point. We know each other inside and out. You’re the only woman I’ve ever known who was a fit match for my many skills. We’re a team, you and me. We have been ever since that first moment when you peeled my breechcloth off my hips and gasped in delight. I think I’m the only man you ever loved.”
She studied him through half-lidded eyes. “I don’t dare love you, Skull. No woman with the sense Power gave a rock would. And the one thing I have is an abundance of sense.”