Harvest Flower

1812 Arizona Territory The blue autumn skies blackened with bellows of smoke. No sounds of the birds filled the crisp air. A lonely red tail hawk flew high above the small hunting party. The smell of burned bodies, and green wood smoke hung heavy around them. The hawk's screech caught Chief Red Feather's eye. He lead the hunting party towards the clearing where a family of white people now called home. The smoke grew thicker as it spreads through the trees. They rode into the clearing to find the newly finished cabin burned to the ground. Flames still sputtered and licked towards the sky. A woman in front of the cabin lay sprawled on the ground. Her clothes ripped and bloody, her scalp missing. Red Feather rode around the burning pile to the wagon that was laying upside down. A man's body was bound to the wagon wheel, burnt arrows protruded from his chest and sides, his scalp also missing. Red Feather continued around searching for the children he knew the man and woman had. With a flick of his wrist two warriors rode out to the field and tree line. A pile of dried branches and stumps by the trees caught Red Feather's attention. He looked to the men behind him and waved his hand. The last two warriors halted their horses and waited. The family's animals two oxen lay dead and mutilated, the horse and milk cow missing. Red Feather approached the pile of branches, and he saw a small hand laying on the ground just behind it. It was a small boy around six years old. He was dead his eyes glazed over and a jagged cut split his throat. A few feet into the trees another boy of ten years lay face down in the leaves, with an arrow in his back. Red Feather's heart dropped. The little girl was missing. He turned back to the pile of dead branches and movement inside them caught his eye. A dirty blue fabric shifted and a small sniffle whispered in the still air. Red Feather dismounted and knelt closer to see more clearly. Her honey brown eyes widened when they met his. She held a long pointed stick in her hands, her knuckles white from gripping it so tight. Her flaming yellow hair fell around her shoulders in waves. She wasn't much over seven years old. Her wide eyes narrowed making tears fall down her cheeks. Her lips frowned as she reared back and thrust forward with the long stick. Red Feather grunted as the stick hit him in the shoulder pushing him slightly back. His warriors chuckled behind him, all four now gathered around watching. Red Feather reached his hand in to grab the stick, but she let it go and scrambled out of the branches. He reached for her but she ran. She ran as fast as she could. Her heart pounded as she dashed across a small creek. A scream stuck in her throat as a large sun tanned arm caught her around her waist. She held her breath as he turned her to look at him. "You are safe little one. I will not hurt you. You run like small rabbit, it's good to have spirit inside." He pulled her to his chest when tears started to fall silently down her cheeks. "I will take you as my daughter. You will live in my hut. My Moon Stream will cry no more for a daughter." Red Feather's warriors rode up leading his horse. After he mounted and the little girl secure on his lap they began the journey home. The steady beat of the horses hooves echoed in her heart, and she fell asleep no longer afraid. Moon Stream waited for her husband to return, their son, Rising Bear, waited with her. He was now old enough to start setting traps and hunting in nearby areas. Today, he waited for lessons on how to trap rabbits. Moon Stream gasped as Red Feather came into view. The little sleeping white girl on his lap. Tears welled up in her eyes, as they came closer. Red Feather dismounted in front of his wife and son cradling the girl to his chest. "The girl is ours now, her family is no more." He said as he carried her into the hut. Moon Stream dried her eyes and softly stroked the girl's hair as she lay on a bed of pelts. The strawberry blond of her hair glowed in the fire light. Moon Stream looked up to Red Feather and with a smile said. "She will be called, Harvest Flower."