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Ascent to Power	By : Hot4Gerry Category: M through R > The Phantom of the Opera > Het Views: 5436 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own The Phantom of the Opera, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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A/N: Because I have been so remiss in updating I gave you two chapters today. Enjoy.

Chapter Twenty-seven
Winds of Change Winter 1872

The evenings were cold after the sun sank below the horizon. They slept on cured hides and covered with woven wool blankets. The only thing separating them from the glorious starlit sky were those warm blankets. It seemed to Katherine if she stretched out her hand she could feel the darkened sky and grab a star in her hand. This feeling she would miss on her return. This freedom of the open spaces. The calls in the late night of owls swooshing down on their prey. The howl of the lonely wolf. The whisper of long forgotten conversations in the wind. A gentle breeze swept across her face. She could not remember anything from her life before that smelled as fresh as the outdoors.

That night Katherine sang a song of spirits that rode the wind. Proud warriors killed in battle who were in the heavens in the form of stars. Her voice carried on the wind soothing even the creatures prowling the dark shrouded grasslands. Lone Wolf let her sing this night. He had seen no one within a mile of camp. Her voice soothed and calmed him. As they got further into civilization they would need to be more careful. Even fires at night would prove to be a danger. They had their hides to keep warm.

They ate the dried venison and buffalo they had brought with them. It would last perhaps a month if they were careful.

At first light they packed everything then began the trek to find Katherine's home again. Lone wolf could sense danger but could see nothing. He made more trips scouting back the way they had come. He found nothing to give him this feeling of unease.

The days journey was uneventful. Lone Wolf kept a vigilant watch over his three charges. He slept little. They ate dried meat as they rode. Lone Wolf wanted out of what the white man called the badlands. There were too many bands of renegade white raiders and outlaws. He would rest when he safely delivered Katherine to the arms of her father. With each new day his unease grew.

Lone Wolf was growing anxious. It had been almost a month. They had to go miles out of their way just to avoid running into soldiers or the hundreds of settlers traveling westward. His mind was filled with thoughts of what had happened to his people in the battle that surely had been fought by now. Who had survived? Had anyone survived?

A month after they left camp Katherine was closer to home than she had been in eight years. Within a few days they would be close to a fort Lone Wolf remembered in this area. He would take Katherine there. He would leave White Dove and Fawn in the woods to wait for his return. He could only hope the one in charge of this fort was a man of honor. He had rejected the idea of simply allowing Katherine to ride to the front gates of the fort. He would do as he promised. He would return Katherine personally to her people. If he must die then so be it.

It was a little over a month since they began their journey. The supplies they had brought ran out a few days ago. Lone Wolf and Katherine had to hunt so they could eat. This caused further delay. Just before the sun went down Lone Wolf had left Katherine, White Dove and Fawn hidden among the rocky hillside while he hunted. Katherine had wanted to hunt. Lone Wolf thought it better for her to stay with the other two women as neither one was proficient with a bow or knife.

Night was upon them again. They stopped to make camp for the night. No one had spoken much in the last few days. They all knew their thoughts were with those left behind. White Dove and Fawn prepared the meal while Lone Wolf and Katherine had checked the surrounding area. They found nothing close by. Lone Wolf would make a circuit furher out later.

After eating then helping to clear away the remains to bury to hide the evidence they had been here Katherine left Fawn and White Dove to ready their beds for the night. She was restless. Knowing she could not sleep she went to the fire where Lone Wolf was sitting deep in thought.

Lone Wolf had deemed it safe to have a fire the last few nights as the glow from campfires was a common sight this close to ranches and homesteads where people slept our in the open to tend to their herds. Especially during roundup or branding seasons. Sitting down beside Lone Wolf as he poked at the fire Katherine wondered if tomorrrow would be her last day as White Eagle. Already Lone Wolf was trying to remmeber to call her by her Christian name. He asked Fawn and White Dove to do the same. After nine years it was hard to think of her as Katherine. Lone Wolf was the only one who had ever known the name she had as a white woman.

"I am almost home Lone Wolf. Eight long years and I am finally going home. I do want to see my father as well as others I once knew. I feel frightened more in this moment than at any other time in my life. I want to go forward just as I want to get on Misty then head back to camp. I have a fear inside I have never felt before. Why is that Lone Wolf?"

"The unknown. Time and distance change things. Once you belonged here but now you are unsure of your place. I felt the same in my mothers world as well as my father's. I did not belong in either world until I made a place for me. It will take time. The old feelings will return. Soon life with us will be your faded memory and this will be your new life. I am sure you will be welcomed back with loving arms. Your father will be glad for the return of his daughter. Perhaps while I am in this white world I will seek out my mother. It has been too long to hold old grudges and resentment."

"Lone Wolf you have never spoken of your mother. I have never asked about that part of your life. Would you tell me now?"

"My mother Charlotte Armbruster is the daughter of a wealthy family in Virginia. I do not know where her sense of service to those who have less came from, but she came west one year to vistit her friend who's husband ran a trading post. My father had gone to trade some furs for supplies. That was a time when we still traded in friendly terms with the white man."

"My mother was never one to sit back waiting to be noticed. She had been working with several Christian groups to bring the teaching of books as well as her faith to the so called savages of the plains. She had made many trips out west. She took an instant liking to my father."

"He would have nothing to do with her at first. She was persistant. They fell in love. They married in both a white man's ceremony as well as as Apache ceremony. Neither marriage was recognized by the white men or the Apache. In their hearts they were married. They lived separately from the rest of the tribe. Back then it was Raging Bears father who was chief. He thought it best if my father and mother did not live among the tribe. That way did seem to work best."

"When more hostilities broke out it was decided my mother would take me back east for a time. I was three at that time. I was less than welcomed into her family. They had not even known she had gotten married let alone had a child. My father and mother had a strange relationship. She had returned to her family many times but still had not informed them of my father or me."

"After almost two years we moved back with my father. The skirmishes between the white man and Indian were escalating."

"When I turned five my mother and father knew it was not safe for her or me to be with him. We left him one day never returning. I did not see my father again until I ran away from my mother's home the summer I turned twelve. My mother tried to teach me how to fit in. If it were only the children I could have made my way happily for many years. Unfortunately the elders filled the heads of the children with prejudices. I do not think I spent one day without fighting someone from the time I was five and started school until I ran away at twelve to return to my father. I just did not think I could spend one more day defending who I am. If I had been older maybe things would have been different. Maybe they would have been worse. I killed my first white man in battle when I was fifteen.".

"My father said I must have the instincts of the wolf to return to where it is born. He named me Lone Wolf. I found my tribe within a month of leaving my had seven years together before he was killed in battle. He had taken another woman as his wife during the time I was gone. Fawn was five by the time I returned to my father. Her mother had been killed when she was only a year old. The year I turned nineteen our father was killed. Two years later you joined us."

"What is your Christian name? I don't think you have every said nor have I heard Fawn refer to you as anything other than Lone Wolf."

"I was sure you would ask that question. All the years my father and mother were together she insisted I have an English name. He loved her enough that he allowed her this request. My mother named me Matthew Stephen Armbruster. That is the name she wrote in her bible and the name the doctor wrote on the paper confirming by birth. I was born in the back of the trading post where my mother and father met. No one has called me by my Christian name in over seventeen years. That is how long it has been since I have seen my mother."

"It must have been hard for you at times with both Fawn and I. Especially when I was less than pleased to be here. Is that why you never took a wife? I know you have had women." She shoved her shoulder against his as she contuned in a teasing manner. "Fawn and I both know you have had women. You just never kept one for long. Never brought one into your teepee. We used to spy on you when you went into the bushes guiding a young woman behind you."

As she saw his look of shock battling with embarrassment she laughed softly as she said, "Do not worry we never went all the way to the spot you ended up with whoever you were planning to bed. We were afraid to go too far. If you had not been so intent on having whatever young woman you were with we were sure you would have discovered us. I do believe at those times we could have slipped up behind you, took your scalp, then returned to bed without you being any the wiser."

"Lone Wolf how will it be for me? What will other's say? I have been gone so long. Sometimes I feel more squaw than I do the girl I once was."

Lone Wolf winced when he heard her refer to herself as a squaw. That word was an insult to the women of his tribe. To any Indian woman. White Eagle did not know this. She only knew it was how white men referred to Indian women. "Things will not be easy. White women who have been taken then returned are sometimes mistreated. There have been a few that have returned to their captors. You should not worry. This is a case of a father welcoming back his only daugther. What father would do anything other than welcome you with a loving embrace?"

"Of course you are right. I am just letting my fears grow putting ideas in my head. I suppose my father will be glad to see his only child alive and well. You promise to stay with me until I feel as if I have a place here? You won't leave? I am so different than when he last saw me. He must be different as well. Promise to stay until I am sure I am welcome. Then if you wish to see your mother I will even go with you if you wish.”

"It is late we should get some rest. Tomorrow perhaps we will return you to your family. Rest tonight. At first light we will head for the fort."

"Give me your promise first Lone Wolf."

Lone Wolf sighed in resignation. So much for his intention to leave her at the fort. "I promise I will stay with you until you need me no longer."

Smiling in satisfaction she went to bed content that he would not be leaving her any time soon, if ever.

After bedding down Katherine nor the other two women could sleep. Lone Wolf was hidden somewhere keeping watch. They had nothing to fear. Before anything could reach them Lone Wolf would remove the threat before the women heard even a leaf rustle.

"White Eagle I shall miss you when we part tomorrow. Will we ever meet again do you think? You have been my sister for the last nine summers and winters. I do not know if I can bear to leave you behind." Fawn felt the tears trailing down her cheeks. She tried to cry quietly. She knew Katherine had to feel just as badly as she did.

White Dove rolled to her side to face the other two women. She spoke softly so she did not disturb any of the night creatures roaming around in the tall grass or perched on the branches of the surrounding trees. "I shall miss you as well White Eagle. If not for you my father would be mourning the loss of his only child. His daughter he has loved since the day my mother placed me in his arms he has loved me. When my mother died one year after my birth many thought his grief would take him into the land of the spirits with my mother. Luckily for me my father was stronger than that. I know it saddens you that your father seemed to stop looking for you. Perhaps he looked by himself and that is why we did not hear of anyone searching for you. I am sorry to bring up something that hurts you."

As much as Katherine wanted to believe White Dove it was hard to hold onto her beliefs now that she was on the verge of reuniting with her father.

"It does not hurt as much as it did at first. I long ago accepted he no longer searched for me. I can only think some illness or some other horrible tragedy had kept him from coming to find me in the beginning. Sometimes it is hard to make myself believe this anymore. If I was taken from you and Lone Wolf, I know he would not rest until I was safely returned. Only death would end his search for me if I were not found."

White Dove rose up onto her elbow propping herself up so she could see White Eagle's face better. She opened her mouth to tell White Eagle that if it were her father he would have searched until he took his last breath. Her eyes met Fawn's over the top of Katherine's prone body. Fawn guessing what White Dove might say shook her head. The words would only hurt White Eagle.

Changing her words White Dove said, "Yes something must have kept him from coming for you. Tomorrow you can be together again or soon after. I would like for you to know I am sorry you were taken from your people. I am not sorry to have known you."

"I have not regretted any day we have been friends either White Dove. Fawn you and Lone Wolf are like my brother and sister. If I can arrange it I wish for you all to stay with me. We can continue as a family."

They all knew this was not a certainty as many Whitemen would hate them just because of who they were. It was just the same with many of their own people.

They had not heard Lone Wolf come into camp. He was dousing the fire as he spoke, "Enough talk. Go to sleep. I can hear you half a mile away. Tomorrow you may speak as much as you wish. For tonight be quiet. There is a small detachment of soldiers about a mile south of us. If we are lucky they did not see our fire. I will spend the night scouting around to make sure no one comes to investigate. I don't think they are watching this far out but just in case be quiet. I will keep watch all night."

With nothing more to say they remained silent until sleep claimed them. For the first time in many years silent tears slide down Katherine's cheeks. She made no sound. The tears she could not stop but the pain she felt over her father's seeming abandonment she wished desperately to keep private.

Why had she not heard of any search for her. In the past years word had gotten to the tribe of others who had people searching for them. In nine years nothing. Not even a rumor. Not since the first two or three months had any mention been made of anyone enquiring about an eleven year old taken in the Arizona Territory.

One way or the other tomorrow would be their last day searching for Katherine's home. Could she fit into that life again? Could she live in a house again? So many things would have changed. Nothing would be the same. Not even Katherine had remained as she had been.
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