Squire's Quest (4 page)

She'd no sooner sat than the woman brought out two plates holding steaks and fried
potatoes.

"It warn't no trouble," she said when Merlin thanked her. Back into the kitchen she went
and quickly returned with bowls full of beans cooked with bacon.

He looked across the table. Cal looked about ready to cry. "Eat," he told her, gently, "but
take it slow. Gobble it down, and you're likely to lose it." How long had it been since she'd had a
decent meal? There sure wasn't much skin on her bones.

* * * *

"You can't ride a horse? I never heard the like."

"Pa's... Pa was a clerk before he went off to the War." She eyed the molly cautiously. "I
reckon I could learn. It don't look all that hard."

"I reckon you'll have to. Bul's too fractious for you, and Cap's never been trained to
saddle."

That'll slow us down some. Her arse'll be sore as a boil come evening, unless she
walks partway.

"Take the blanket off the molly. You'll need a saddle to hang on to 'til you learn how."
He removed his rifle from its scabbard and lay it aside, then hung the stirrup on the horn and
went to undoing the cinch.

I could've turned her loose. She's no responsibility of mine. God almighty, we'll be
forever, getting to Virginia City. And how do I know her pa's really there, anyhow?

When he turned back, he saw her still standing about six feet from the molly, and the
blanket still strapped on. "Oh, for the love of God!" When the animal tried to sidle away, he
wondered if the hostler had lied about her being saddle broke.

Eventually all three animals were ready. He'd double-checked the packs Cap carried,
and showed Cal how to use the bridle. The molly stood relaxed, her head down, and one rear foot
cocked, but Cal sat stiff as a board in the saddle. Holding both leadlines, Merlin mounted,
clumsily. Trouble with using a pad instead of a saddle was there was no place to tie stuff. Good
thing his rifle had a sling. "Let's go."

The look on Cal's face was almost enough to make him bust out laughing. The girl
who'd hopped freights, who'd walked a couple hundred miles, was scared to death of a scrawny
molly. He waited until they were clear of town before he rode up beside her and said, "What are
you going to name her?"

Callie's head didn't turn at all. She licked her lips, and her voice was squeaky when she
said, on her third try, "Name? Who?"

"Your molly. Seems a shame not to give her a name."

This time her head turned a little bit. He caught a brief glimpse of green in the corner of
her eye. "I thought it was Molly."

"Nope. She's a molly. That's M-O-L-L-Y. Female mule." Merlin's brother-in-law, who
bred mules, was real particularly about what his stock was called. Cap--short for Captain--was a
john, also the offspring of a jackass and a mare. Luke didn't hold with breeding stallions to asses,
because too many of the births were complicated.

"Oh." Cal didn't say anything for a while. "Ruth."

"Huh?"

"That's what her name is. Ma used to tell me a story about a woman named Ruth. She
went somewheres and settled down."

There was longing in her voice, like settling down was what she wanted more than
anything.

* * * *

By the time Merlin called a rest stop, Callie's bottom was sore as the time Pa had
whipped her for swimming in the creek after he'd told her it was running too high. She couldn't
even get her leg over the saddle, so she sat there, like a lump, until Merlin came and lifted her
down.

"Walk around a bit. You'll feel better."

If he'd laughed at her, she might have killed him. She hobbled past Ruth's head, toward
the line of willows off to the side. By the time she finished her business, her legs were working a
little better. "How much farther today?"

"Another ten miles. We'll take it easy until you're accustomed to riding."

She couldn't hold back the groan.

"Don't worry, We'll walk after we've been here long enough for the stock to graze. The
grass is about done for, and I want to use it where I can." He untied his bedroll from behind the
saddle and tossed it to the ground. "Rest yourself. Sleep if you want."

Tears threatened to clog her throat. Pa wouldn't have been so kind. He'd always been
real strict about not giving in to the body's weakness. She opened the bedroll halfway and sank
onto it gratefully. "I'm obliged," she said, and hoped he hadn't heard the sob she near choked
on.

This is plumb crazy. Nothin' that's happened to me up 'til now made me cry. He's
bein' nice, and I want to howl like a cranky babe.

She woke up when he nudged her with his foot.

"Time to go."

The sun was halfway down the sky, a bright shape behind thin clouds. Back home she'd
be thinking snow was on its way. A shiver made its way down her backbone. What was it going
to be like when it did snow, with no roof over them?
I could've stayed with Uncle Walt and
Aunt Sadie.
They would have worked her hard for her keep, but wasn't walkin' miles and
miles a day work? Wasn't sittin' on a horse until your backside hurt so bad you wanted to
cry?

She helped him load their gear. When he took hold of his horse's halter and started
walking, she fell in behind him. What a strange man. So far he hadn't asked anything of her but
that she tell him the truth.

They camped that night in a willow thicket beside a narrow creek. Merlin had been
picking up wood as they walked, loading it into a gunnysack attached to Cap's packsaddle. He
used it to build a small fire, just big enough to heat water in a small pail. Once it was boiling, he
put a square of something brown and crumbly into it, then shaved a chunk of dried meat into
small strips and added them. From his coat pocket, he pulled an oilskin packet and added its
contents--chunks of carrots and what looked like either parsnips or potatoes.

When she saw him watching, he said, "Soup. There's bread in my saddlebag. We'll use it
while it's fresh."

It was full dark when they finished eating. She took the plate and cup they'd taken turns
eating from to the creek and scoured them both with sand. For a while he read from the same
book as the night before. Callie wished he'd go back to the beginning so she'd know what had
already gone on, but she didn't want to ask. In her experience, menfolks did what they pleased
and didn't like women pecking at them to do different.

When she came back from the bushes, ready to sleep the night through, Merlin was just
coming back from the creek, leading all three horses...mules...animals. She staggered a little on
the rocky ground, but kept herself upright until she reached the bedroll. With a sigh of relief, she
collapsed on it and reached to unlace her boots.

"The other side's yours. I want you between me and the stock."

"Other side?"

"Of the bed. Scooch over."

"You're going to sleep here? But--"

"Well consarn it, Cal, where'd you figure I'd sleep? I wasn't able to buy another
tarpaulin. That blanket won't do you a lot of good all by itself."

Hands shaking, she finished removing her boots. She'd planned to use her coat for a
pillow, but instead she left it on. It wasn't exactly armor, but she felt safer fully clothed. Boots in
hand, she crawled across the tarpaulin, but couldn't bring herself to crawl under it.

Merlin sat where she'd been and removed his moccasins, tucking them under the top
edge of the canvas. Next he took off the heavy canvas coat and rolled it into a pillow shape.

"Use your coat for a pillow. That way if you get cold and need to put it on, it'll be
warm." He didn't turn around, even when he eased himself under the layers of wool and canvas,
to lie on his side, his back to her. "Good night."

Cautiously she worked her way into the very edge of the bedroll. The wool blanket he'd
bought for her was folded in half, with the fold to the inside. She wrapped it around herself and
tried not to listen to him breathing.

Her ma had cautioned her against immodest behavior and misplaced trust. Men, Ma had
said, were slaves to their urges and a good woman had to be ever vigilant.

She wasn't sure what she was supposed to be vigilant against, but the hunger she'd seen
in the eyes of one of the tramps who'd chased her had scared her silly.

She hadn't seen that hunger in Merlin. But she still couldn't relax, even though she did
sleep.

Merlin was relieved to see Cal riding easier the second day. He still limited her time in
the saddle to two hours in the morning, but after their nooning, he put her back on Ruth for an
hour. That evening she dismounted all by herself, even though she fell in a heap when her feet hit
the ground.

She got right up, though, and went to work, helping set up camp.

She's every bit as tough as Katie and Reggie. No wonder she made it this far on her
own.

After supper he pulled out his book and read a few pages, but soon sighed and put it
back into the saddlebag. Reading by firelight was just too much work.

"Do you know lots of stories? The way you read and all?"

"A fair number, I guess?"

Cal tucked the plate and cup into the pack and sat down next to him. Not too close, but
not as far away as yesterday. "Can you tell me one? A real exciting one?"

The littles--his younger brother and sister and Micah King--had always liked the stories
he told them. "I supposed I could. You want a love story or a fight story?"

"Can it be both?"

"I reckon." He sat back and thought a bit. "A long time ago there was a great king
named Arthur. He believed right was worth fighting for, so he called together the bravest men in
the world and made them knights."

"Knights? You mean he turned them into something like stars?"

"No. A knight is a special kind of soldier. A good man who defends the innocent,
protects the helpless, fights injustice. And he goes on a quest to prove his bravery."

"Ohh. Like you."

"No, not like me. I'm no knight."

"You defended me, and you protected me. That makes you a knight."

Shaking his head, he sought the words to explain the difference between him and a true
knight. He'd got as far as "...proving his strength and purity," when she giggled.

"Well, maybe you're not a knight yet, but I'll bet you will be someday. 'Less you turn
bad."

"Perhaps you're right. I'm going to try." The thought appealed to him. "I guess you'd call
me sort of a squire now. That's somebody who's learning to be a knight." Leaning forward, he
pushed a long stick farther into the fire. "And I guess I am on a quest. I'll have to think about
it."

"While you're thinking, will you tell me that story now?"

He sat back against his saddle and spun a tale of valiant men who performed brave
deeds. After a while he noticed her head drooping. He spoke her name in the same tone he'd been
using for his tale. When she didn't stir, he fell silent.

He didn't have a knight to learn from and to serve, but that didn't mean he couldn't teach
himself what he needed to know. The important thing was to follow the ideals of Arthur's
knights.

* * * *

Merlin kept an eye on the sky. He could smell the snow, but so far he hadn't seen it, save
on the higher hills. That was fine with him. The longer it held off, the sooner they'd catch up
with the freighters.

Cal was up to two hours on horseback morning and afternoon. She still moved real slow
when she dismounted, but at least now she could walk at the end of the day.

I must be plumb crazy, setting out on a strange trail with a tenderfoot. A girl
tenderfoot, at that. But what else was I to do? I couldn't leave her in Eagle Rock, and I wasn't
gonna take her home to Ma.

He eyed the sky again. Time to start looking for a campsite, one the freighters used
regularly, if he had his druthers. They usually left some firewood behind and nearly always a
source of fresh water was nearby. He was starting to wish he'd brought a tent, though. He'd slept
in snow more times than he'd liked, but Cal... She was a tough little thing, but she was still not
used to living rough.

The sun was already behind the hills when the ruts they'd been following split, with
some leading off to the left. A few hundred yards from the trail, he found just what he was
looking for. There was even a rude shed, open on two sides, but with a good roof, big enough to
hold their bedroll and the stock.

He unsaddled Ruth and Cap, removed the pad from Bul's back. Because he had only one
brush, Cal did the grooming while he got a fire started and set up for cooking. She seemed to
have got over her fear of the stock, although he'd noticed she still moved real careful around Bul.
And well she should. He was a temperamental sort, inclined to bite when a body wasn't
watching.

She hummed while she groomed, something she'd only started doing the last couple of
days. The sound of it was comforting, and he found himself trying to put a name to the tune.
Maybe he'd been listening too hard, because a clatter of rock against rock was the first he knew
they had company. He reached for his rifle, never far from his hand.

"Hello the camp."

Slowly Merlin stood and turned. His pa had taught him a man was safer to act deliberate
than to let himself be hurried.

One man on horseback. That's all he saw, but there could be a dozen just out of sight. He
stood still, waiting.

"I'm peaceful," the fellow said, "and alone. Trying to catch up with a string of freighters.
I didn't figure you were them, unless they ran into trouble. But this is our regular camp. "

Merlin knew he had no choice but to invite the fellow to share their camp. "Come on in,
then. I was just about to put on the coffee."

"I've got provisions, glad to share." He dismounted and led his horse, a handsome pinto,
toward the shelter. "Mind if I put Boo-koo inside?"

"We were planning to spread our beds there," Merlin said. He looked upwards. The sky
was still overcast, and the air was almost comfortable. "Let's move all the stock out and hobble
them. We might as well sleep warm."