Deadlands Hunt (7 page)

"I should've seen...I didn't understand how Pearl felt. I didn't try hard enough to change her mind about leaving." Biting her lip, Amethyst paused.

More quietly, she began again. "You see, I'm the younger, so I was a bit more spoiled than she was. I never knew, until she mentioned she was going to marry Devon, that Pearl felt…oh, I don't know, inferior to me? That sounds arrogant to say aloud. I was surprised when she told me, you see, and she had this spiteful look while saying that there were men who weren't interested in pretty faces."

Amethyst looked up. "I wasn't surprised because of the difference in our looks, but because she hadn't said anything to me about his proposal before then."

Seeing her bottom lip tremble and eyes beginning to flood, Chase eased closer to offer a hug. He was surprised when she stepped into the embrace. It was enough to cause the dam to burst. Amethyst began incoherently sobbing out words.

Whining faintly, the Weren gently cuddled her, head bowing as he lifted one hand to stroke her hair. She cried for a while, but he caught enough of what she said to gain a better understanding of things.

Neither was sure how much time passed before Amethyst's sobs trailed off. She sniffled quietly against his shirt while Chase continued to stroke her hair. The Weren didn't say anything, since he didn't know what to say.

Amethyst was feeling strangely better after unburdening herself without being chastised for unseemly behavior. It was soothing, his hand ceaselessly stroking down her hair while she leaned against him. Everything was actually fine until she noticed there was warm skin under one hand resting upon his chest and became embarrassed.

"I seem to have soaked your shirt," she mumbled, pulling away. Chase let his hand slide over her silky hair one last time before dropping his arms and stepping back. "I'm sorry."

“Don’t worry, it’ll dry." Tilting his head, he tried to see her face. "Do you feel a little better now?"

"Actually, yes," Amethyst admitted, feeling a bit shy and peeking from under her lashes. "Thank you. You're very kind, Chase."

"You're welcome." The Weren felt ridiculous, taking thanks for doing what was natural and trying to comfort her. Deciding she looked tired, he suggested, "Maybe you should try to sleep again?"

"That's a good idea," the red head agreed. "We will be rising quite early after all."

"Yeah." Chase licked the corner of his lips before saying, "If you ever need to talk, just let me know. I'm willing to listen, Amethyst."

She met his eyes and quietly replied, "Thank you for that."

A moment later, she'd risen on her toes to deliver a soft kiss to his cheek and was hurriedly exiting the room, tossing a 'good night' over one shoulder. Chase gave her a minute before following, barely aware of his fingers touching the spot her lips had.

*

The maid yawned while traversing the hallway, knocking on doors to awaken the sleepers within well before dawn.

"Amy, there's no light," Sally complained. "People don't really rise before the sun, do they?"

"We're awake." Amethyst found matches by feel and struck one to light the candle on the wash table. "Come on, get up! We've our new things to figure out."

"Ooh, yes, now I remember." Sally bounced out of her bed with a smile of excitement.

Next door, Peter stretched, yawned, and self-consciously smoothed the spiky mass of his hair down. It sprang back up when he lowered his hand. "I say, it's still night out there."

"Rrrr." Brian buried his head under his pillow.

Farther down the hallway, Kyle opened his eyes in time to see water descending to douse his face. A flurry of sputtering action resulted. In the next room, Chase thumped the wall with an open palm. "Quiet in there."

Everything went silent. Satisfied, the Weren stretched, sat up, and stretched again. "Up, Curtis."

"I'm up."

Chase glanced over and observed, "You're not moving."

"Eyelids," the other assured him.

"You can't ride with your eyelids. Up, man."

Curtis obediently sat up and stretched. "There. Up."

"Don't make me come over there, smartass," Chase warned, throwing the quilt off to rise, hand already reaching for his jeans. Mimicking his actions promptly, Curtis had the final word.

"Wouldn't dream of it."

*

"Well," Amethyst doubtfully remarked as they stared at each other. "I suppose we look a bit silly."

"I feel rather silly," the blond agreed. "I hope no one says anything. I shall be mortified."

Doors opened and shut outside; footsteps and greetings producing a low rumble of noise as the men of their party headed downstairs. Amethyst drew in a deep breath and squared her shoulders after the sounds faded. "Right, then. We should join them."

"Must we?" Sally looked horrified by the idea.

"Of course. Let's take our coats and packs. Did you lock your trunk?" the red head asked, folding her new duster over one arm before bending to pick up her saddlebags.

"Yes, I oooh," Sally squeaked. "I'm not sure you should do that, Amy."

"Do what?" Amethyst straightened, settling the leather bags over her forearm.

Sally waved a hand. "That. You shouldn't do that. I mean, oh, watch!"

Turning, she bent to pick up her saddlebags and duster. Glancing over her shoulder, Sally turned bright pink when Amethyst's eyes met hers after rising from the unfamiliar view.

"Oh, my," Amethyst murmured, also blushing. "Well, I...that is to say, I...we'll just pretend we're not aware of that, shall we?"

They stared at each other for a long moment. Amethyst nodded firmly, stomach beginning to flutter with rising nervousness. "That's exactly what we shall do. Let's go, Sally dear."

"I don't know if I can..." the words trailed off into a soft moan as Amethyst grabbed her hand and Sally found herself dragged out of the room.

*

Downstairs, breakfast was already on the table. Bran finally asked, "What's taking them so long?"

"Probably primping," Brian snorted, nose buried in his coffee." Ladies spend an inordinate amount of time primping."

"I wish they'd hurry up," Kyle groused while staring at the platters of food. No one had made a move to start serving themselves, the Weren following Peter's lead in politely waiting.

"I think I like their idea of primping," Curtis informed them, having caught a glimpse of the ladies beginning to descend the stairs. "Yeah, I'm sure I do."

Other eyes followed his gaze, and their looks became stares. Chase in particular found his eyes refusing to detach from the vision of supple buckskin encasing well-curved hips and much longer legs than he'd unconsciously given Amethyst credit for having.

The buckskins were tucked into high, glossy black riding boots. Cream-colored shirts fit snugly into the buckskins, and gun belts hugged each tiny waist. Both young women wore dark brown cowboy hats.

As one, the men stood as they approached the table. Brian found his voice first. "What the hell are you wearing, Amy?"

"Much more sensible attire for the matter at hand," she replied, placing her burden of duster and saddlebags on the bench between them, grateful for the distraction. She wasn't quite ready to meet Chase's eyes after the night before, regretting her show of weakness. "I doubt silk skirts would stand up to the task, so men's attire seemed the more suitable choice."

"I think they look wonderful," Peter gallantly remarked, earning a grateful smile from a pink-cheeked Sally.

"I've damn sure never seen men look that good in buckskins." Kyle grinned at Amethyst. "What do you think, Chase?"

Chase didn't get a chance to answer as Brian exploded. "They look ridiculous. Scandalous! Go upstairs and change this instant!"

"We will not!" Amethyst flared, flipping the braid she'd woven her hair into over a shoulder. "Do be quiet, Brian."

"Yes, do be quiet," Sally echoed, leaning forward to look at him. "You're being quite the rotter, you know."

"No one was speaking to you," Brian snapped, causing the blond to gasp in outrage. "Amy, this won't do. Not at all. You cannot go about dressed like this in public."

"I don't mind," Curtis broke in. "Don't mind at all."

"No one asked you, Weren," the human snarled, his blue eyes narrowing.

"How rude," Bran spoke placidly while serving himself from the nearest platters. "No one's called you 'human'. Would you like some eggs, Amethyst?"

"Yes, thank you." She smiled then glared at Brian. "Sit down, close your mouth, and eat your breakfast, Brian. If you're not pleased, may I remind you that you still have the opportunity to refrain from continuing this journey?"

"I think you require my presence even more if you're going to insist on dressing in such an inappropriate manner. I gave you credit for more intelligence than you've been displaying of late, Amy."

"I think I shall slap you again if you don't stop speaking this instant." Amethyst locked eyes with him; the Weren watched in fascination, never having seen a human female and male involved in a mental dominance battle before. "I'm serious, Brian. Sit down and eat your breakfast."

A minute dragged by, then he obeyed, eyes leaving hers to settle on his plate. Chase noted she didn't give the man a smile or a 'thank you' like the ones he'd gotten when giving into her demands. Not that graciousness was required after she'd so handily proven herself the more dominant of the two. It was a nicety that the man certainly didn't deserve at the moment.

"My goodness, I hope all our meal times aren't as loud," Sally said, accepting the platter of eggs when it passed down the table.

*

An hour and a half later, all eight mounted up, ready to ride out with Bran in charge of the packhorse.

"By the time we're actually in the Deadlands, the sun will be up," Chase told them. "I want you four to stay in the middle of the group."

Amethyst nodded, urging her leggy, blaze-faced bay alongside his black horse. The fact the Weren hadn't referred, by look or word, to the night before had lessened the embarrassment she'd been feeling. Sally followed, her smaller bay easing between Amethyst and Kyle's mounts. Peter exchanged a grin with Bran as the latter moved to flank him. Curtis gave a bland look in return of Brian's scowl.

Glancing around, a satisfied Chase nodded. "Let's ride."

Amethyst adjusted the strap to the bag that held the bolts for her crossbow, the small weapon dangling from her saddle horn and lightly bouncing with each step her horse took. Chase watched it from the corner of his eye. Unable to stand it any longer as they cleared the edge of town, he asked, "That's not going to go off, is it?"

"Oh, no, the safety's on," she blithely assured him, patting the stock. "It's never gone off, even at a gallop. Unless I meant for it to. It's my preferred hunting weapon, you see."

"Do you hunt a lot?" The Weren didn't see why any of them would, living in a city.

"Usually once or twice a week. The wilds around Taryton are fairly teeming with game. Runebok, mottled elk, boar, and even the odd mountain bear shows from time to time." She shrugged. "There’s also a good variety of fowl and smaller grazers. They're quite the pest to the farmers, you know, so it's sort of a civic duty to keep their numbers down."

"Amy's a top arbalest," Sally remarked, swinging the booted foot of the leg she'd hooked around her saddle horn. "She took a simply enormous mountain bear two years ago. It's made a lovely bedroom rug, all gold, and red."

"Two shots with that little bow of hers," Peter added from behind them. "Through the eyes, into the brain. It came rushing out while we were loading a couple of runeboks on the cart."

Amethyst shrugged, her tone self-deprecating. "I just happened to be closest."

"What do you do with all the meat?" Bran asked, trying to compute how much game such hunts would result in. Chase was struggling to imagine the little red head facing off with one of the giant bears, which were usually well over nine feet in height.

"Oh, it's distributed to the poor, unless we want to keep some," Amethyst said, glancing over her shoulder. "Taryton doesn't have any citizens starving within its walls."

No, Chase thought, she wouldn't freeze up. He was worried that Sally would and reserved judgment on Peter. Brian, he was partially convinced was all bluster and the most likely to freeze when something happened. Which something would, more than once, that was the nature of the land they were riding into.

However, his pack worked well together, even though Bran had only joined them a couple of months before. The Weren knew they would make it back out, barring running into an entire horde of either trolls or orcs. He'd make sure that both women also made it out. Not that he intended to leave the two men on their own, but they were men, so they'd have to take care of themselves as much as possible.

"I might put you on meat duty," he said, glancing at Amethyst. "A bow's quieter, and we don't want to draw attention to where we're camping."

"I'll keep my eyes open for game then," she replied with a smile.

*

There wasn't a clear divider between the settled territories and the Deadlands. The land didn't change dramatically or give any other indication that one was now in a more dangerous area. As the sun rose to shine down upon them, it did so over much the same landscape that had edged the farms that lay outside Taryton. It was the same view the four travelers had seen daily from the stagecoach's windows. Amethyst said as much.