Other eyes had been watching them play from the woods that day – concealed strangers that had evil intentions. Hiding in the woods were the spies – Black Scorpion and Raven. They had learned enough that day to know the identity of Wolf Eyes and Waving Willow. They would make their plan to eliminate Wolf Eyes, and then start to cause all kinds of problems for the village. When it was dark, they went into the cornfield and helped themselves to some corn.
That night they made their plans. Their plan was to isolate Wolf Eyes from the rest of the village and take him, by ambush, in the woods.
“If we can get Waving Willow in the cornfield alone we can frighten her. Wolf Eyes will come out to look for the one who scared her, and we will be waiting for him,” said Black Scorpion. “I will scare her, and when he comes, I will make sure he follows me into the woods. I will lead him by you. The three of you and I can kill him, easily.” He said this to Raven, Long Fang and The Fox.
The next morning Wolf Eyes and Waving Willow were awakened to the sound of the strong lungs of a new baby.
“That is a birth cry,” said Waving Willow. “I must go and see.”
“I’m surprised that you are not there already,” said Wolf Eyes.
“I was being a good wife to you,” she said. “Anyway, she had enough help, and they knew I was here, just in case.”
“Well, you have been a good wife to me, so go and see, like I know you are dying to do.”
With that she crawled out from under the cover. They were sleeping in the summer shelter. She had to crawl over him to get off the couch where they were sleeping. He could not help himself but to grab her, as she struggled to get off the couch, for one last hug. He was still entranced by her beauty as she readied herself to go. To him, she was so perfect, graceful as a young deer. He watched her long, slender body as she wrapped her skirt around herself. She was bare above the waist. She picked up the baby boy and took him along, not worrying with the cradleboard, because it was time for feeding anyway.
By the time she came into the menstrual house Three Baskets had the baby by her side.
“We need a rug of mink fur for this one,” Three Baskets said, smiling.
White Flower, the old midwife and Jiuha, her trainee, were smiling, too.
“She has a new little girl. I never get tired of them,” said White Flower.
The new baby lay nestled close to her mother, as White Flower and Jiuha prepared to leave. Waving Willow stayed for a long time, sitting with Three Baskets.
Wolf Eyes had gotten up and had his swim. Then he hunted around the house for something to eat. Now he was starting to build a new bow. He had cut a young ash tree, about two inches in diameter. Then he started to shave it down, working with a scraper that was made from a muscle shell. He was well occupied by the time Waving Willow came out.
She saw him working on his project and checked with him. Then she got the children ready to go to the field. Having done that, she ate a piece of cornbread and put the baby in the cradleboard. Then she headed out for the field. It was just she and the children today. But that was fine. She would pick several baskets of corn. She felt invigorated by the new baby.
In the field, she started at the end closest to the village. The rows of corn were long and stretched away to the woods at the end of the field. Waving Willow was working between the high rows of corn. She would feel the ears corn to make sure they were full. If it felt full and had the silk turning brown, she would pull the ear.
Her basket was half full, when she heard the child whimper. She looked up into the mask of Black Scorpion. She let out a scream and threw the basket at him. She grabbed the baby and ran toward the village, calling for help. The other children were running behind her.
Wolf Eyes heard the scream and was already coming out the gate of the palisade when he saw her running.
When they met, she told him, “I saw a devil man. He was there.”
“Go back to the village and stay there,” he said.
Wolf Eyes only had the piece of ash that was going to be his bow, but he gave chase, anyway. He ran through the cornfield and could see the figure as it went into the woods. He felt unarmed as he proceeded toward the wood. “Was this wise?” he asked himself. No, no harm has come to Waving Willow. His experience told him this was an ambush. He turned and went back to the village. I will get my weapons, he thought, and talk to Waving Willow to learn more.
“It was a man dressed in buzzard feathers,” she said. “He had a mask of a devil. He startled me so, my heart jumped.”
“I know who this devil was,” said Wolf Eyes. “It is the old aliktce of the Creek village at the Yellow Leaf. I knew he would come.”
“What are you going to do?” she asked.
“I’m not going to run out into those woods, unarmed, like I almost did. That is what he wanted. It was most certainly an ambush. It might have worked had he not been wearing the devil mask. That made me think about what I was doing.”
“Get some help to go with you,” she begged.
He got Wounded Eagle, Giant Owl and Deer that Stares to go with him. They were all armed with bows, war clubs and spears. They saw to it that a double guard was put on the entrances of the palisade. They got four more braves to go with them.
This time they left by the other gate. Four braves were stationed in the forest, to the north of the village. These were placed there as a trap. Wolf Eyes took the others with him. They would try to make a wide loop around to the west of the intruders and come in behind them. Wolf Eyes would try to drive them toward the others. It was an old hunting trick. To the south, there was a creek, and to the east, was the village. The trap might work.
Wolf Eyes, Wounded Eagle, Giant Owl and Deer that Stares thought they had gotten behind the intruders. They spread out and moved through the forest like a comb. They worked eastward. The air was still, and the forest was unusually quiet. They looked far ahead, looking for anything that moved.
The cornfield could be seen to the south now. Wolf Eyes knew that he had to be getting close, but they had seen nothing move. They moved on, slowly, taking their time not to miss any signs.
The four crossed a path where someone had stepped. It was not anything that blared out at you, just leaves that looked like they had been moved out of position from where they had been for a long time. Giant Owl was the first to see it. He made hand signals to the rest that the trail led straight ahead. Wolf Eyes and the others nodded in recognition. They were all on the trail now.
They followed the trail for some distance. They began to hear an eerie sound, like the wind. But there was no wind in the trees. There was wind somewhere; they could all hear it. And then, for no reason at all, the trail stopped. They stood there and looked, in bewilderment. There were a lot of signs in this one spot, and then no signs anywhere around it. Had the intruders vanished into thin air?
Wolf Eyes could still hear this wind; a curious sound that appeared to be coming from the ground. They were all puzzled and stood there, not knowing what to do. The trail clearly ended here.
Wolf Eyes got closer to the ground. He could hear it better now, and it was coming from the ground, just a few feet in front of him. He was on all fours and crawled forward, listening. The others stood back and watched.
Suddenly the ground under Wolf Eyes gave way. A hole opened, and he was almost lost in it. The others watched as Wolf Eyes fought furiously for a second, trying to grab onto anything he could reach. The others were awestruck and temporarily paralyzed by what was happening.
Wolf Eyes was losing his grip on loose grass and roots that were giving way under his weight. He disappeared into the hole. The wind entering the hole was like a strong hurricane. Leaves and debris were hitting him in the face. He squinted his eyes to keep them clear. He had one last root onto which he was clinging. It was a good-sized root, and it appeared to be holding, as he hung there. His feet were dangling, and he could not tell how deep the hole was. He could hear the debris bounce off the sides of the hole somewhere
in its depths. He could see Giant Owl and Wounded Eagle, peering into the hole, about seven feet above him. They were trying to reach a spear handle down to him. He hung on to the root with all that he had. He could not reach the spear handle.
Wounded Eagle was trying desperately to reach Wolf Eyes with the spear handle. Giant Owl was looking for a long limb or piece of wood, anything to hand down. Giant Owl found a limb and got back to the hole, just in time to see the root give way and Wolf Eyes disappear into the blackness of the earth.
The wind was now rushing into the hole with great force. They called down into the hole, “Wolf Eyes, Wolf Eyes,” and listened, but there was no answer. They kept calling for a long time, with no results. They heard nothing but the wind gushing down into the hole.
They sent for torches, so that they could see down into the darkness. When they came, Wounded Eagle tried to use one to look down, but it was quickly extinguished by the wind. The spirit of the underworld had taken their friend. He would not even let them see the abyss he had fallen into.
How quickly life changes. The braves stood there, in bewilderment, and began to weep at the loss of their leader. This was hard. They hung their heads and walked back to the village, weeping as they went.
They went to Chief Silver Eagle and told him the story. Then they brought people to the hole to witness the wind. It was still gushing into the hole. The crowd milled around the hole, in a state of depression. The chief, after some time, gathered the people, and they all walked slowly back to the village. Waving Willow would not leave the hole so Wounded Eagle stayed with her, while she mourned. She would not leave until nightfall, for she still had hope that Wolf Eyes would come back.
Wolf Eyes was engulfed in total blackness. He had fallen and rolled until he was senseless. His fall had ended in a splash, and he was now being swept along by water. He watched, as the hole of light on the ceiling moved away and disappeared.
The whole thing happened so fast that he did not have a chance to get scared until now. The darkness was terribly disorienting. He fought to keep his head above water. Sometimes he could feel the floor of the stream touch his feet. The bottom was so slick that he could not slow himself down.
He would hit what felt like a big rock, once in a while, which would turn him over, and he would have to tell himself not to panic until he once again got his head above water. This was totally out of control. He took stock of his situation.
He thought, I’ve fallen into this hole, and an underground stream is sweeping me along. I feel good so far, no broken bones. I can kick my feet, and I can move my arms. As long as I’m alive, I have a chance. I still have my war club and my knife. I think my bow and my spear are broken.
He found that his spear had been broken, but he still had the half of its shaft with the point on it. He had no arrows in his quiver, so he got rid of that. His bow was broken, but he thought, I may be able to use it somehow, so I’ll keep it.
There was something ahead in the darkness. He could see a tinge of light. He was moving toward it. He could not tell what it was because he was bobbing up and down in the water. As he got closer to it he could tell it was torch light. There was more than one; there were four torches. The torches were carried by four figures. He was being swept toward them, and now he could tell more about his situation.
The figures were his enemies. It all began to make sense now. Black Scorpion and his hopayees had escaped down the hole. They were traveling on a path that was beside the stream. If he could get out of the stream, he could follow them to somehow get out of here. They knew the way out.
He got the half spear from his back. He was approaching the four too fast. Getting out of the water was impossible before he got to them. He could not let them see him. He would float on past them and then get out somewhere downstream. Then he would find a place out of sight and wait for them to pass. This would be tricky. His best hiding place was in the water. Now he was glad for the darkness.
As he went by them, he ducked under, just enough, so they would not notice. He stayed under for a while and then surfaced. The light was just a tinge of light again now. He was in front of them, in the direction they were traveling.
His half spear would really come in handy now. He took it in both hands and stuck the point into the slimy bank. He used it to pull himself out of the water. He felt around and found a big boulder by the side of the stream. He knelt behind it and peered out. The torches were coming closer. He wondered, am I concealed enough so that I won’t be discovered? There was little time. He did not know where the path ran, but he was sure it did not run on his side of the boulder.
The men came by, as Wolf Eyes remained crouched. The torch lights went from one side of the boulder to the other, as the men passed. His plan had worked. Now he would let them get a little more ahead of him, and he would follow them on the path. It felt good to be out of the water. It felt good to be alive.
The men were not moving fast because they had to watch their steps. The path was rugged with rocks and boulders. There were also stalactites and stalagmites that had to be maneuvered around. Wolf Eyes had to be careful because he had almost no light. He did not want to make any sound that might give him away.
He kept following at a safe distance, and the hours past. The immenseness of the labyrinths was amazing to him. Now they had come to a larger opening. He could see that the little stream had opened into a large, underground lake. The light from the men's torches did not shine on any wall to the left, but was lost in the spaciousness of the caverns.
Occasionally, he would cross other small streams that emptied into the lake. The four were able to move faster now, because the condition of the path was better. Wolf Eyes had to work hard to keep up. He still had to feel his way, as he had little help from the light of their torches.
He could see now that they were coming to the end of this lake. The walls were narrowing. They now entered a smaller passageway. He would have to stay a little closer, because the narrow, quick turns would cause the torch light to disappear. This was still a wider stream than that before the lake. Now it was a good size creek that flowed. In the distance he could hear the sound of rushing water, like that of a waterfall.
They now entered a larger room, and the sound of the water was deafening. The creek had emptied into a larger river; the water rushed as a torrent. The men paused for a minute, for some reason, and Wolf Eyes stopped as well. They looked at something on the ground. Then he saw Black Scorpion wave the men on. The four took a passageway that left the river. It followed a small stream. The path was ascending. Now they were going up. Wolf Eyes had hope that he would soon be out of this cave. He had all he wanted of the underworld. Later he would think about this and shiver, but now he had to keep up and get out.
Wolf Eyes knew that they would come to the surface soon. He thought about what his next move would be. Up ahead, leading the group was a man he had been hunting for years. Black Scorpion had killed his Uncle Night Walker. He did not know about the rest of the men. It could be that they had powerful medicine also.
Wolf Eyes’ adrenalin flowed hot, as they traveled up the pathway, closer and closer to the surface. He could see now that the torches showed the entrance to a larger room. He could hear voices - angry voices, cursing. He moved closer. He now could see that they were at the mouth of the cave. It was daylight outside, late afternoon. Just inside the mouth of the cave were people sitting at a fire. He stayed back in the darkness of the cave, out of sight. He would have to make his plan. He thought; there are too many people here to stay and fight. When I make a break, I might kill one or two on the way out, but after that, I must flee and live to fight another day.
He stayed there and watched. He learned from watching that most of the people were sick and invalid. It was obvious that they did not like Black Scorpion. He thought, the only ones I will have to fight are the four I’ve been following. From the little patch of sky that I can see, I know that it is almost dark in the forest. I think
now is as good a time as any to make my escape.
Wolf Eyes only had his war club and hunting knife left. He had been carrying the war club in his hand now for some time, not knowing when he might have to use it. He paused there and prayed to the Great Spirit to give him strength to defeat his enemy. It was time.
Wolf Eyes charged by the people inside the mouth of the cave. The people were so surprised that they could only gasp. Then they were relieved when the frightful warrior went on by them. Once out of the cave, Black Scorpion and Raven were not to be seen. The other two rose to the attack. They had little time and were surprised at what they saw. Wolf Eyes hit The Fox with a glancing blow because the man managed to dodge. He went rolling away. The second man, Long Fang, was not so lucky; the blow hit him square in the left temple. His skull burst at the impact.
Wolf Eyes did not stop, but kept running. He could tell he was traveling south. Black Scorpion and Raven had heard the fight and were quickly in pursuit of Wolf Eyes. Wolf Eyes had a good start on them, and dark was coming, as the sun set behind the mountain, in the west.
Suddenly, the wolf pack appeared in front of Black Scorpion and Raven. The wolf pack had their attention on Wolf Eyes. It mattered not to them that darkness was falling, for they hunted even better then.
Black Scorpion and Raven stopped and watched, as the wolf pack followed the trail where Wolf Eyes had run.
Black Scorpion said, “They will take care of him before much longer. They will be gnawing his bones before morning.”