This Fierce Splendor (50 page)

Rising Star began to hemorrhage an hour later. They all worked frantically to staunch the flow, but the bleeding would not stop. By nightfall even Patrick realized they couldn’t save her. All he could do was hold her hand and stare desperately at her still face.

She woke only once. Her lids opened heavily and her great dark eyes searched Patrick’s face above her. “So White Buffalo was right.” Her voice was a mere breath of sound. “There is no choice.” Her gaze
wandered down to where the baby girl had slept within the curve of her arm. “Ko-Do?”

Patrick opened his lips to speak but couldn’t force the words through the tightness of his throat.

He didn’t have to speak. He could see by her expression that she knew. “Poor little Firefly.” She shook her head. “And poor Patrick.” Her lids shut again. “Don’t be sad. Maybe I’ll be able to find my shadow … and Ko-Do. It won’t be so lonely with Ko-Do there.” She was silent and at first he thought she was unconscious. “Silver … help her, Patrick.”

“I will. I promise you.”

“And my son. Don’t let them steal his shadow.… Don’t let them.…”

The words drifted away, and a few minutes later Patrick knew that Rising Star was no longer with them.

Dominic and Patrick built a coffin large enough to accommodate both Rising Star and Ko-Do. The two were wrapped securely in Elspeth’s plaid and buried that night in a grassy glade several yards from the lake. There were no words spoken over the grave. None were needed. Their silence as they stood there was eloquent with sorrow.

Patrick turned away and stalked back to the camp-fire. Dominic and Elspeth followed more slowly.

Patrick was already saddling his horse when they came into the circle of the campfire. “The baby has to be fed,” he said jerkily. “He’ll die if he doesn’t get milk. He’s
not
going to die. Where’s the nearest village?”

“No village. Probably Indino’s camp is the closest thing to it. It’s about a day’s hard ride into the hills.” Dominic knelt and drew a rough map in the dirt with a stick. “Tell him I sent you.”

“I’ll fill a canteen with broth.” Elspeth ran her fingers wearily through her hair as she turned away. “I hope it won’t make him sick. It’s the only thing I can think to do. I only wish I knew more about babies.”

Ten minutes later Patrick swung up into the saddle and Elspeth handed him the canteen and the small bundle containing Rising Star’s son. Patrick scarcely looked at Elspeth and Dominic as he wheeled and rode out.

Elspeth shivered and drew a step nearer to Dominic, her gaze following Patrick’s rapidly moving figure. “He looks ten years older.”

“And probably feels over a hundred.”

“What do we do now?” Elspeth felt empty.

“We try to sleep for a few hours and then we break camp and start for Killara.” He rubbed the back of his neck to ease the tension knotting it.

“Rising Star …” She could feel the tears rise to her eyes. “Patrick is right. Its not
fair
.”

“No.” His arms went around her and he held her tight, pressing her cheek to his chest. “No, it’s not fair.”

“She was so beautiful and gentle.” The tears were running down her cheeks, dampening his shirt. “She was—”

“Shh, I know.” His voice was husky, and Elspeth suddenly felt a warm dampness on her temple. He stood there rocking her, sharing her pain and his own, until the fire burned low and the darkness began to be lightened by the first streaks of dawn.

A
fter several hours’ sleep, Dominic and Elspeth started their journey back to Killara. The pace was slower due to the heavily burdened pack animals, and the mood was subdued and dispirited. Dominic deliberately kept them on the trail until well after dark to make sure they would both be too weary to think of anything but sleep.

But sleep didn’t come to either of them. They lay together watching the fire, wide awake, thinking.

“Do you suppose it was my fault?” Elspeth asked. “If I hadn’t insisted on going to Kantalan, none of this would have happened. Rising Star wouldn’t have died.”

“How can you ask that? She could have taken a fall anywhere and she might have gone to Kantalan regardless. Patrick said she wanted the treasure for the child.” Dominic’s lips brushed her temple. “Rising Star blamed no one.”

“Oh, I know.” Elspeth was silent a long time, gazing into the fire. “Do you suppose she’s happy now? Everyone is supposed to be happy in heaven, aren’t they?”

“So the priests say. I guess I’ve never thought much about it.”

“Neither have I.” She was silent again. “I think Sayan and Dalkar must be happy, but they’re together. Rising Star was so alone.”

“Perhaps that was why she was given Ko-Do.”

“Yes.”

Elspeth was quiet so long that Dominic thought she had fallen asleep. “We’re so lucky to be alive, Dominic. I don’t want to be in heaven with you yet. There’s so much I want to do on earth. I want to see you build your kingdom of Killara. I want to have your children and watch them grow up.” Her cheek nestled in the hollow of his shoulder. “I won’t let you die, Dominic. I couldn’t bear it.”

“I’d have a little trouble adjusting to it myself.” For the first time since they had left Kantalan there was a note of dry humor in his voice. “Particularly since I’m not sure I’ll qualify for pearly gates and streets of gold. Well, with the Kantalan treasure maybe we can pave our own streets with gold.”

“I guess I haven’t thought much about the treasure. I was so concerned with proving my theory about Atlantis and then when Rising Star died …”

Elspeth’s voice was becoming husky and Dominic quickly sought a subject to distract her. “We could form an expedition and go back to Kantalan.”

She shook her head. “It would take years to excavate the ruins.”

“We could still try to do it.” He paused. “If that’s what you want. I’ve got what I came to Kantalan for. I’d like you to find your treasure too.”

“I have found it,” she said softly. “I saw it. I know it exists. I’d rather remember Kantalan as I first caught sight of it than as it is now.”

“Then what about those mounds in, Wisconsin or Illinois you told me about?” Dominic asked. “Maybe the mound where they found the statue of the elephant. We could go there and see if it has any link with Atlantis.” He frowned thoughtfully. “We could drop off some of the treasure at the Wells Fargo office in Tucson and let Da take care of the rest. He could pay off the mortgage and start expanding our holdings.”

“The Cahokia mound would be more likely. Its shaped like a truncated pyramid.” Her eagerness faded and anxiety clouded her face. “Now? You’re
talking about going to Illinois immediately? What about Killara?”

“I’ve been away from Killara for a long time.”

“But not because you wanted to be. Are you still trying to protect your family?”

“Nothing has changed to make my being there any safer for them. I guess you know I’m going to surround you with a small army of Pinkerton men while we’re in Illinois.” His arms tightened around her. “Nothing is going to happen to you.”

“Pinkerton men?”

“A company that provides guards for hire among other services.”

“But Killara—”

“Illinois will be safer for both of us.” He hesitated before adding haltingly. “And I want our time together to be happy.”

His words sounded frighteningly temporary, she thought. He wanted to make these moments as happy as possible because he feared they would not have a lifetime together. She started to protest, then thought better of it.

There had to be something they could do. She would not accept the fate of Sayan, Dalkar, and Rising Star. She would find a way. “Very well, we’ll go to Illinois,” she said as she relaxed against him and closed her eyes. “It would probably be better to go before I’m with child. A dig can be very strenuous, and besides, I think you’d like your son to be born at Killara.”

His child, Elspeth, their life together. Dominic lay there thinking about them long after Elspeth had fallen asleep. God, how he wanted to be able to hope again. Yet how could he hope for anything when he knew men like Torres were constantly on his trail?

Torres. He was close. Dominic could feel it. They were probably moving toward Torres now that they were on their homeward journey. Torres could pounce tomorrow, or the next day, or the day after. He stiffened as he realized he was thinking like a goat staked out for a tiger. Hell, he might just as well
meekly bare his chest for Torres’s bullet. And if he waited for Torres’s attack, Elspeth might be caught in the crossfire.

He carefully released Elspeth, rolled away from her, and quickly put on his boots. He bent swiftly and kissed her lightly on the temple before reaching for his guns. He hesitated, looking down at her. Dammit, he didn’t want to leave her. Then he stood up and moved silently from the fire to where the animals were tethered.

It was time the prey turned hunter.

The flames were leaping high, and delicious visions danced before Ramon Torres’s eyes. He always enjoyed this moment of meditation preceding slumber. It was almost as satisfying as dreaming of Dominic. It would be soon now. The death would come soon. He must be close and—

The flames of his campfire suddenly erupted in a series of explosions.

Torres rolled to the side, reaching for his rifle.

“Afraid, Torres?” The voice wafted out of the trees that surrounded him. “Pine nuts. A little trick my nephew, Patrick showed me. Almost as noisy as firecrackers, aren’t they?”

“Dominic?”

“You wanted me. Now come and get me.”

It wasn’t supposed to be this way, Torres thought with indignation as he cautiously crawled out of the glare of the firelight.
He
was the hunter. Dominic had no right to turn on him in this fashion.

When he reached the cover of the shrubs behind him, he balanced the rifle against the bole of a tree, his gaze anxiously searching the darkness. Nothing. Not a whisper of sound, not a stir of movement. Where had Dominic’s voice come from? Behind that big cluster of rocks? He would have to draw him out again.

“It was very stupid of you to warn me with your little joke,” he called out. “A clever man would have cut me down before I could make a move. But then,
I’ve found honorable men are seldom clever, and you’re an honorable man, Dominic.”

“Am I?” The voice was mocking.

He
was
in the cluster of rocks. Yes, now he could see the gleam of the barrel of Dominic’s rifle on the rock next to that beech tree. Torres felt a fierce rush of joy surge through him. He began to crawl carefully through the underbrush, but he couldn’t resist the opportunity to speak to Dominic—it was so rare to talk with the prey. “Oh, yes, you have a code, my friend. It is very dangerous to have a code. It makes a man vulnerable.”

“Why are you so determined to get me, Torres?”

Torres moved closer. A large boulder overlooked the cluster of rocks where Dominic had taken cover. He would circle around behind it and rush him from the rear. “Because I have a fondness for you.” It was the truth. His powerful passion for Dominic was coursing through every vein as he thought of the pleasure his prey was going to give him. “Because you deserve to be killed by a great hunter, Dominic. You deserve to be killed by me.”

“Torres, you aren’t a great hunter.”

Anger sparked through Ramon. It was unfair of Dominic to insult him when he had only kind thoughts for his prey. “I will show you soon, my friend.” It was time to be silent as he circled the rocks. He mustn’t give his position away because of vanity.

“Did you hear me, Torres? A great hunter wouldn’t have missed that shot at the church.”

Sorrow rushed through Torres. How sad that Dominic was fighting against the knowledge of the greatness of Ramon Torres. It would diminish the glory of Dominic’s death.

It was time. He cocked the rifle. He couldn’t see Dominic, but he knew he was there in front of the huge boulder. He drew a deep breath and then dashed from behind the boulder, his rifle pumping shots at Dominic in a deadly battery of bullets.

But it wasn’t Dominic! It was only Dominic’s rifle propped on the rocks.

“Torres.”

He whirled to see Dominic sitting on the lowest branch of the beech tree smiling down at him. The colt forty five in his hand was leveled directly at Torres’s chest.

A thrill of terror shot through Torres. Cornered. Helpless. Prey. He frantically lifted his rifle.

The bullet tore through Torres’s chest, knocking him to the ground. He tried to lift his rifle but he couldn’t move. Cold. Why was he so cold? He dimly saw Dominic climb down from the tree and come to stand over him. Dominic’s expression was grim and his face pale in the moonlight. It was all wrong, Torres thought. He should be standing over Dominic, watching the life flutter from behind his eyes. That was the way it should be. Dominic was the prey. He, Torres, was the one who was the hunter. It was all wrong.…

Dawn was breaking and Elspeth was awake when Dominic returned to camp. She took one look at his face, and her worried frown faded to be replaced by understanding. “Torres?”

Dominic nodded as he unsaddled Blanco. “He won’t bother us anymore.”