I had no more than time to smile at Tawannears and Peter when he pulled the bow-string taut and loosed. I had braced myself for the shock, knowing the shaft at that range must go clean through me. And certes, the blow was all that I had expected. I staggered before it. Had it not been for the warriors who held my arms I must have fallen backward.
Involuntarily I had shut my eyes. I opened them again, expecting to be in another world, marveling that the pain of an arrow in my vitals was no worse than a smart rap upon the chest. Around me I heard a gusty sigh, the sound made by many people expelling their breath. I looked down, wondering if I could still see myself, if the blood would be spurting or trickling.
But I could find no wound. There was no arrow, no mark, no blood. I felt the savage holding my left arm sag strangely and turned to him. His face was gray, his eyes glazing. The arrow which had struck me was projecting from his side, buried half-way to the head. He collapsed as I looked at him.
There was an audible gasp from the ranks of horsemen. I found Awa's face in the throng, and noted that it was almost as ashen as that of the dying man beside me. The chief held the bow stiffly in his left band, right arm crooked as when he had loosed.
Tawannears laughed harshly.
"Strong medicine Awa has made!" he mocked. "He shot at my white brother an arm's-length away, and my brother turned the arrow against the great chief's warrior. Will Awa try again? Shall we make more medicine for him?"
Awa's arm was trembling as he returned the bow to its case.
"Your white brother has strong medicine," he admitted. "We will carry you all to our village, and our medicine-men shall try their magic upon you. Awa is a war-chief, not a maker of magic."
"We are both warriors and medicine-men!" Tawannears derided him mercilessly. "Shall we make trial of our medicine again?"
Awa abruptly reined his horse about, shouted an order and clattered off at the head of his cavalcade. Our guards first bound our arms loosely behind us, then tied strips of rawhide betwixt us and themselves, one on either side, and mounted us upon ponies. Thus each of us was tied to a pair of the Pawnee.