Chapter 46

“What was Jack like as child?” Nora asked Running Bull as they rode along. Jack had gone ahead a bit to scout, entrusting his blood brother with Nora’s protection while he looked for signs of another ambush.

“Quiet,” Running Bull replied. “Your Jack is always watching, always thinking. He is not usually a man of many words. He is able to spend hours, days, weeks, entirely on his own with no other human interaction. I have often envied him his quiet world.”

“And he never seemed lonely?”

Running Bull shrugged. “I think he often preferred the solitude. He is loved in our tribe by his parents, myself, others. But there are those, mostly elders, who fear his position with us. They fear his loyalties would be split if it came to war here.”

“You don’t believe that, do you?” Nora asked. “Jack seems very loyal.”

“He would protect those he loved,” Running Bull replied, “but at what cost to himself? He is loved by us, yes. But his loyalties will always be uncertain to some. He is white, and so he will always struggle with his place with us, but neither does he feel truly comfortable in the white world. He fears leaving the country with you. If he sets foot on that ship, he leaves the familiar, the comforting. If he ever returned, we would not be where he’d left us. We’ll have moved on, many times, I am sure. He knows that if he leaves with you, he will have to fully embrace the white world and find his place in it.”

“Do you think he should go?” Nora asked. “Do you want him to stay?”

“I always want him to stay,” Running Bull said. “And I will miss him like a lost arm when he is gone. But I believe his destiny is with you.”

“Because of the dream?”

“He told you?” Running Bull seemed surprised. This confirmed Nora’s theory that there was much more to these dreams than Jack had let on. He talked about one dream only, but she knew he had more.

“He told me about one where he thought he saw my death. He seemed shaken by it. He sees the future.”

“And you weren’t surprised by this?” Running Bull asked. “It didn’t strike you as strange?”

“I think,” Nora began hesitantly, “that if he stays with me, he will see that that his talent isn’t so strange.”

“You are wise, Nora,” Running Bull said, “and you have magic. You will need to tell him about it if he is to join you.”

Nora tensed up. He couldn’t mean…no. It was impossible. How could this man know of her eternal life? She had said nothing to either him or Jack. She had guarded that secret well.

“I have no idea what you mean,” she said, tearing her gaze from him and looking straight ahead. She wondered if Running Bull had noticed how her breathing had sped up or if he could hear her heart race.

“I think that you do,” Running Bull said. “I know your arm is healed, yet you hide that from Jack. Have no fear, I will not say anything to him. Secrets are to be revealed by their keeper at the right time, but he needs to know yours, Nora.”

“You are correct, Running Bull,” Nora said with a sigh. “Jack’s destiny lays with me on a very dangerous quest. He was sent to me by something even I don’t fully understand. He is the Warrior I have been waiting for.”

“Then it is time to stop guarding your secrets.”