Page 69 of The Spirit of the Wolf

Grey Coyote had been at his task for a while now, his care obvious. After a time, it caused her to ask, “My husband, does disguising oneself always take this long to do?”

“Hiya, no. It is only because I am being extremely careful as I do this, for there should be light and shadow on your body, and my work must match the earth exactly. It is also required for there to be tufts of grass placed on you at intermittent spots, so your disguise alone will keep you invisible. I know it is not easy to stand still for a long period of time, for you are unaccustomed to it, but these details are vitally important.”

“But why are they important?”

“It is because I have not yet taught you how to travel like a scout. Nor do I have the time to do so. So understand, if I do not paint you well, others might see you. And if this were to happen, it would not be your fault. It would be mine. It would also be an error I would regret always. But come, I am almost done. I have left your face and hair for last.”

Rising onto his feet, he came to his full height and stared down into her eyes. Bringing up a hand, he ran his fingers gently through her hair, causing her to sway slightly toward him.

“Hmm...feels so good,” she said.

“Hau, hau, it does. But alas, we have not the leisure to do more.”

She turned her face into his touch, sighing.

“I have observed,” he said, “the scars you have on one of your arms, and your leg. How did you come about them?”

“Do you think they are ugly?”

“Not at all. Such beautiful perfection should have a little fault.” He smiled. “But it appears to me as though you were at some point in your past hurt in a bad way.”

“And so I was. I was thrown from a carriage…it was long ago, and for a while, I couldn’t walk. But I recovered.”

He bobbed his head. “But it has also left a scar on your spirit, as well as your body, has it not?”

She bit down hard on her lip. Darn the man. He was so observant. Indeed, she could not even hide her body or soul from him.

She said, “My uncle sold me into the service of another.”

“Like a slave?”

“Hmmm, somewhat, but not quite a slave. However, I have wondered why he would do this to me, and the only reason I could imagine is that my uncle feared I would be a difficulty to him all my life.”

Again, Grey Coyote nodded. “Is this one of the reasons why you are so intent to rush to England?”

She didn’t even ask how he had put this all together. The man was perceptive, indeed.

“It is,” she said. “Among others.”

He shook his head. “I understand. I do understand. But come, we have work to do.”

“Yes,” she said. “Let us rescue Yellow Swan from a similar fate.”

He grinned. “And so we shall. Now, I have only your face and hair left to paint, and while I do this, let us discuss what will take place tonight, and the rules you must follow, the rules which guide the scout. They are few, but are themselves important, so much so, I must obtain your promise you will obey them.”

“Yes, very well. What are they?”

“The first is this: You must not let others see you; you must do all in your power to avoid this. Next, at all times while we are scouting, you must do exactly as I say. There will be no allowance for argument, and in truth, a disagreement might cause us to be discovered by the enemy. Do you grasp this?”

“Yes.”

“You must also say nothing. Scouts communicate through the use of signals and the gestures of sign. Since you do not know these, you must resign yourself to the fact that you will have to keep quiet, unless you are giving me a warning. But we will say more about how you are to alert me in a moment. But most of all, once I have placed you into position, you are not to move. As long as you stay still, it will be almost impossible to see you or detect you because you will look exactly like the landscape.”

She nodded.

“Waśté, good. Now, the last rule of the scout is that, unless absolutely necessary, we kill no one. We can embarrass the enemy, we can cause them to look silly and stupid, but a scout does not harm those people on whom he spies.”

“Really?” This seemed odd to her, and at variance with rumor. “But I thought Indians⁠—”