Page 62 of The Spirit of the Wolf

“We will hide in the bushes.” He pointed toward them.

She looked. “Are you crazy?” she whispered, turning her attention back to him. “Those are wild rose bushes. They are full of thorns and stickers.”

“Exactly,” he said. “We will be well hidden.”

“Exactly? But⁠—”

“You must take off your dress now, quickly, for it is too full. I will not be able to prod you into and out of those bushes easily while you are wearing this. Worse, you might get stuck. Hurry.”

“Prod me?”

“You will not be hurt.”

She didn’t think to contradict him. As rapidly as possible, she reached her arms around behind her to undo the buttons, but the clasps were small, material-covered, and difficult even under the best of circumstances. Her fingers fumbled over the tiny objects, and she was almost crying when she said, “I can’t do it.”

“Hokahe,” he said. “I remember these well. It would take more time than we have to undo them. Therefore I am going to have to cut the dress off you. Do you understand?”

“Rip it. Just rip the thing off me. I’ll repair it later.”

“Hiya, I cannot. The air around you is much like water—it carries waves. If I rip this dress, it will send out swells, much like the circles you see in the water, but these are in the air, and if this party has a scout within it who is alert, he will sense it. Hold still, it is not a difficult task to cut it.”

She held still, and he cut it away, peeling the garment from her and leaving her standing in only her chemise, corset, drawers, hose and slippers. The chemise came off next, though more easily, and soon it too fell away. Without a word, he wadded up both dress and chemise in his hands.

“Quickly,” he said, “follow me.”

She did so, and they crept toward the bushes as fast as possible, half running in squats, half crawling. All the way there, Marietta eyed those bushes. Yes, they were beautiful. True, they smelled sweet…but she feared them. She wondered which was worse—to die by getting scratched to death by thorns, or to meet the war party?

Clearly, Grey Coyote considered the former the better alternative. But did she?

However, it didn’t appear she had a choice.

Having reached the bushes, Grey Coyote turned to her, and beneath his breath, said, “I chose this particular spot for our training because we can hide in these bushes. They will conceal us.”

Bending down, he pulled up the branches of the rose bushes: Good Lord, there was room beneath those branches, enough to hide. Odd that she had never realized this about the rose bush. It would be a tight squeeze, true, but both she and Grey Coyote would fit.

Grey Coyote had shoved his robe up under those bushes, and pulling it out now, he opened it. For a moment, she stared at him aghast.

In anticipation of such an event, he had planned an escape route ahead of time. Her fear of these bushes had been groundless.

However, Grey Coyote was in motion, and pushing her cut-up dress and chemise into the top of the robe first, he turned to her. “You must crawl within the buffalo robe and pull it around you like a cocoon. Come, lie down on it, and make sure it is wrapped around you firmly.”

“But—”

He interrupted her. “You will then scoot up under the bush with all your might while I will push you. Do you understand?”

She nodded and did as he instructed.

“One moment.” He bent forward to pull the robe up over an exposed spot. “Now go, scoot up as far as you can.”

Without another thought, she did it, using her forearms and every muscle available to her to push herself under that bush. Meanwhile, Grey Coyote assisted by shoving at her.

Fragrances of rawhide, all mixed up with roses, dirt and the woodsy scent of bark assailed her, and, combined with the scent of her own fear, the smell was distinct. But the one fear she had dreaded most didn’t happen. She wasn’t pricked. The robe had cushioned her against it.

At last it was done, but she was yet again surprised when Grey Coyote didn’t follow her.

Indeed, she heard him moving away. Instinctively, she called out in a whisper, “Aren’t you coming in here with me?”

“I will be back. But first I must erase our tracks from the earth. If I do not return, you are to stay here and keep silent. No matter what happens, you are not to say a word or indicate in any way you are here. Do you understand?”