Lauraine Snelling - [Wild West Wind 01] (2 page)

O
thello growled from the door of her tent.

A string of profanity and the thuds of a fight jerked her from a deep sleep the next morning. The degree of light coming through the tent walls told her it was time to get up. The fighting reminded her that something in their show world was indeed wrong, or going wrong, because fisticuffs were rare on the lot. A body crashed into the tent wall, setting the tent poles to screeching.

“All right, you two, break it up before you get a broken head,” someone called.

“He said—”

“I don’t care who said what. Keep it up and Talbot will dock your pay or send you down the road. You both been here too long to let some stupid little argument bring you down.”

Cassie recognized the voice. Shorty Simmons, second in command, could easily take the two miscreants and knock their heads together had he so desired. But he rarely used his superior size when common sense would do, like today. As the sounds of the three faded, Cassie threw back the covers on her cot and, sitting up, swung her feet to the rug to find her slippers. Dressed in a matter of minutes, she made her bed and neatened the already pristine area. As she inhaled, she realized the cloud of grief had again passed and she was back to being herself. She whistled for Othello and caught herself whistling a tune on the way to the cook tent. Micah would have already fed and watered her animals, along with all the others. Sometimes she wondered if he ever slept.

A cut lip on one and a swelling eye on the other told her who had been fighting without her needing to ask.

“Sorry if we woke you.” The dirtier of the two turned to her in the chow line.

“You better get cleaned up before Jason sees you.” She picked up her tray. “You gone crazy or something? You know the rules.”

“I know.” He glanced at her over his shoulder. “You heard anything? The tension around here can be cut with a sword.”

The other members of the cast thought she had an inside track to Jason Talbot, but she didn’t, and no amount of explaining had changed their minds. “Any thoughts on it?” she asked.

“Nope. Nobody has.”

Cassie filled her tray with bacon, scrambled eggs, and two biscuits, and then added a dollop of applesauce. One of the cook’s helpers would be bringing the coffeepot around to the tables. She settled down at the end of one of the tables and bowed her head for the table grace she’d learned from her Norwegian mother.

Every once in a while, she allowed herself to dream of going to Norway, the land of her mother’s birth. But more often she dreamed of the valley her father had created for her in her mind. At first the valley was his dream, but through the years it had become hers as well. They would leave the world of the Wild West shows with enough money tucked away to build a ranch in that Black Hills valley he’d discovered and raise cattle and fine horses. His big stallion, Lobos, was to have been the stud. Then Lobos had to be put down because someone fed him too much grain and he foundered. Sometime after that, her father died.

Do not think of that today
, she ordered herself as she spread butter and jam on her biscuits.
“Yesterday is gone, tomorrow not yet here, so live today the best you can”
had been one of her mother’s favorite sayings. And today was show day. She glanced around the tent, but Uncle Jason was not at his usual table. If she allowed herself to think about it, she had to admit he didn’t make it to breakfast much anymore. Rumor had it he was sleeping off the night before, but sometimes not knowing something for sure made acceptance easier.

Was it her place to confront him? She mopped up her eggs with the biscuit. Surely not.

The feeling was even stronger that afternoon, an almost palpable miasma. Something was wrong—but what? And where could she go for answers?

Wearing her red-fringed skirt and white shirt, Cassie Lockwood studied the performers of the Lockwood and Talbot Wild West Show as they lined up for the opening parade around the wide open arena. The United States flag snapped in the breeze above the uniformed riders waiting for the big wooden gates to swing open. The snorts of horses, the jingle of harnesses, the laughter of performers, and the tuning of instruments were all normal sounds. She glanced down at the scruffy dog sitting placidly by Wind Dancer’s right knee. If Othello wasn’t picking up on it, then surely the feeling was only in her head. He scented trouble faster than he did birds.

Ignore it
, her mind commanded.
Concentrate on the parade and getting through this performance.
She went through this ritual before every performance— butterflies vaulting in her middle, her mouth as dry as a desert. At least she’d progressed to the point that her hands no longer shook.
Think about something else.
Her father had said he always thought of his valley, and that calmed him down. But she’d never been there. All those years he promised they would go to the valley in the Black Hills of South Dakota. But he died before he was able to keep the promise. So she’d promised him she’d go there herself. Were deathbed promises breakable? How could she ever get there, wherever
there
was. The thought clenched her throat.
Think on something else.

The drums crashed, the trumpets blared, the gates swung open, and the performers of the internationally known company burst into the sunny outdoor arena, led by horse-mounted flag bearers. Jason Talbot, decked out in cutaway frock coat and wide-brimmed white hat, welcomed the crowd that filled not only the wooden bleachers but overflowed to line the far fences. This final afternoon performance of their stay in Dickinson, North Dakota, was off to a sparkling start. The crisp fall breeze was finally breaking the heat spell that had nearly drowned the region in stifling humidity.

As the mounted Indians nudged their horses into a gallop, Wind Dancer waited for her signal to join the racing parade. Three chuck wagons were lined up behind them, their horses tugging at their bits. The excitement was as contagious to the animals as to the human performers.

The applause swelled when Cassie passed through the gates. Some called her the Darling of the West and others the greatest sharpshooter since Annie Oakley, but her official title was the Shooting Princess, since her mother had been a member of the Norwegian royal family. Whatever the name, people flocked to watch her perform. Between trick riding and sharpshooting, she always fulfilled their high expectations. She circled the arena, waved to the crowds, and then exited the gates to wait for the pioneer and Wild West scenes to be presented.

Knowing it would be about an hour before her turn in the ring, Cassie dismounted in front of her tent and tied her pinto to the hitching post. She leaned against his shoulder, waiting for her heart to return to normal. Giving him a good brushing would soothe both of them. She pulled off Wind Dancer’s saddle and breast collar, setting them on the other end of the rail, and went for a brush and currycomb.

Othello flopped down in the shade of the tent after scratching one ear with a long hind leg. He was not the most handsome dog around, but he more than made up for his looks in the brain department. He often knew what she was going to do next before she did. Between Wind Dancer and Othello, Cassie knew she had the most stalwart and faithful friends anyone could have. And George, of course. Wouldn’t that be a lark if she let him in the arena to follow her around like he did in the corral? The big bad bull buffalo. Her smile at the thought released some of the tension in her neck.

After a brushing, a wipe-down with a cloth, and a nuzzle from her horse, she checked her guns and ammunition. When she heard the applause after the attack on the settlers’ cabin, she replaced her tack and mounted to head back to the arena, her heart rate kicking up again, no matter how many deep breaths she sucked in to try to keep it from happening.

“You have everything?” Micah asked, picking up the leather satchels that contained her guns. Though Micah spent most of his time caring for the animals, he made it a point to recheck Cassie’s gear and make sure it was where it was supposed to be at showtime.

“Thanks, Micah. Don’t know what I’d do without you.”

As a matter of habit, and to help her calm down, she let her gaze rove over the performers and back-lot hands as they went about their assigned duties. The performance was proceeding as normal, but something was wrong—she was sure of it. If only her father were there to talk this over with. After her mother died, her father often said he didn’t see how he could live without the wife he adored, so it wasn’t entirely unexpected when he had an attack of pneumonia while they were touring in England and soon died. Cassie had stayed with the Lockwood and Talbot Show because she knew no other life, and Uncle Jason had pleaded with her to stay and promised he would always watch out for her, just as he’d promised her father.

The exit gate swung open, and the performers poured out.

“Easy, boy.” Cassie tightened the reins as she and Wind Dancer waited for their signal to enter. Never sure who was more impatient, she or her mount, she swallowed again, counting the beats of the fife and drum so they’d enter at exactly the right moment. “Six, five, four, three, two, one. Go!”

Wind Dancer leaped forward and hit his stride as they breezed through their mounted shooting act. Wrapping the reins around the saddle horn, she drew her revolvers and nailed the targets as they galloped by. Then, coming around the far side of the arena, she swung down to the side and shot from under the pinto’s neck, setting a line of bells ringing. Horse and rider slid to a stop in the center of the ring, and slipping her pistols back into her holsters, she waved to the crowd, turned, and did the same again.

As the horse kept his hindquarters in one spot and spun around with his front legs, she pulled the rifle from the scabbard at her left knee and downed each of the clay pigeons that shot into the air, then nudged Wind Dancer into a lope and blew the heads off three puppets as they popped up from behind a wooden wall. Had her equine partner been off even a whisker, she’d have failed. Cassie hated failure worse than anything, fighting anger if she missed a shot and spending hours practicing so it wouldn’t happen again.

Cassie absolutely forbade any trickery in her act. No one was ringing the bells if she missed or breaking the glass balls if her shots were off. She had a reputation to uphold, much like her hero, Annie Oakley. Cassie started trick riding at the age of six on the back of her pony with her trick-riding father and mother as her coaches. The three of them had been billed as the Dashing Lockwoods after they introduced her into their act when she was seven. She’d been the darling of the Wild West Show ever since.

Growing up in a world-renowned show gave Cassie a different kind of education than most young people received. Her father insisted she learn reading and arithmetic, but touring the great shrines of Europe also gave her an up-close view of history, art, and geography.

Wind Dancer again slid to a stop in the center of the arena, and both of them bowed after she dismounted. She gave him a pat on the rump and waved him toward the exit, through which he galloped, applause following him. Cassie continued her act by shooting an apple off her dog’s head and the ashes off a cigarette smoked by her current assistant, Joe Bingham. After reloading her six-shooters, she split plates and performed a variety of other shooting feats before the black-and-white pinto tore back into the arena. She caught the saddle horn to swing aboard and executed several more riding tricks while galloping around the arena, waving her hat before once again bowing in the center. This time as her horse raced toward the exit gate, she stayed mounted and rode out to thunderous applause.

“And that, ladies and gentlemen, is our final act for today,” Jason Talbot shouted over the cheers.

Three chuck wagons suddenly burst into the arena.

“Pardon me, folks, but those cowboys insist on a chuck-wagon race, so hang on to your hats.”

Cassie barely heard Uncle Jason’s voice, but she well knew what he was saying. She dismounted by her tent and let Wind Dancer rub his forehead against her shoulder, all the while telling him what a good horse he was and inhaling deep breaths to calm herself.