Westward Moon (9 page)

              Black Fox and his men followed Sparrow’s tracks through the ravine.  He didn’t like being at the bottom of it because if Two Dog’s men were positioned up the sides of it, they would have a great vantage point from which to shoot down at them.  He motioned for the group to fan out to make it harder for the enemy to hit their targets. 

              He didn’t like how silent the woods around them were.  No winter birdsong was heard as they moved forward.  He Who Runs was also uncomfortable.  They had no idea how many of the enemy there were and they could be outnumbered.  They came across the place where Jack and Sparrow had hit the ravine floor.  Blood had soaked the snow in places. 

              Black Fox frowned at the idea that his nephew was wounded somewhere.  Reckless began looking around, but found no other tracks than the ones they’d followed.  He knew there must be something and began going back the other direction again.  Jack had to be somewhere close by.  He crouched as he moved very slowly along.  His keen eyes scanned every inch of the area around him. 

              He smiled as he saw the place low to the ground where a branch had been broken off a pine tree.  Jack had covered his tracks very well indeed and had it not been for Reckless’ careful investigating, it would have gone unnoticed.  Cautiously, he crept towards where he thought Jack would be hiding.  If it were him, Reckless would have found somewhere to crawl into where he couldn’t be readily seen.  As he got closer to a pile of branches and ground, Reckless saw a couple drops of blood. 

              “Jack,” he whispered.  “Jack.”

              There was no response.

              “Jack, it’s Reckless,” he said.  Still nothing.

              Reckless slowly began parting the branches until he had a good sized hole made.  Peering down into it, he saw Jack lying face down in the snow.  He called to Jack again, but his cousin never moved.  Jack was either dead or unconscious.  He swallowed as he hoped it wasn’t the former. 

              Jack was no lightweight and while Reckless was strong, he wasn’t going to be able to move Jack by himself.  He found the branch Jack had used to cover his tracks and used it to cover his own as he backed back out to the ravine floor to go get help. 

              Sparrow had given Wind Spirit a brief rundown of what had happened and why she was back in their camp.  Wind Spirit had listened with sympathy and hoped that Jack was safely found.  She felt badly for Sparrow’s predicament and was shocked by Two Dogs’ behavior.  The rule about divorce was clear.  Even she had the right to divorce Black Fox if she ever wanted to despite the fact that he was chief.

              That Sparrow had been denied that right and forced to endure a physically abusive husband filled her heart with fury.  She watched Sparrow pace as the young woman waited for word of her fiancé. 

              Sparrow wanted to go looking for Black Fox’s braves to see where Jack was, but knew that it would only cause more problems.  If anyone else was hurt because of her, she wouldn’t be able to stand it.  She was already swamped with guilt because Jack had been injured.  She tried to take comfort in the knowledge that he was resilient and smart.

              Against large numbers, however, he wasn’t going to survive.  Sparrow had no idea how many men they had been up against.  Something suddenly occurred to her.  Jack’s place wasn’t very far from the ranch.  His family needed to be warned of possible danger.  Raven had been instructed to stay in camp to help protect it. 

              Sparrow ran until she found him.

              “Raven!  You have to go warn Jack’s family that they could be in danger.  Father’s men came after us at Silver Ghost’s old place.  Jack is living there now.  It is not far from their ranch,” she said.

              Like his father, Raven didn’t waste time talking.  He raced through the camp and onto a different trail that would lead to his destination.  Silently he moved forward over the snow.  His long legs were perfectly suited for running and anyone trying to follow him would have been sorely pressed to keep up.  When he came upon the ranch, he saw the twins and J.R. playing out in the snow.  He guided them towards Dean and Tessa’s house as fast as possible.

              When the kitchen door slammed open and Raven rushed in with the children, Tessa jumped.  She’d been watching them out the window off and on while she washed dishes.

              “Keep them inside!” Raven shouted and ran from the house without giving Tessa an explanation.

              The urgent expression on Raven’s face told Tessa that this wasn’t some sort of game.  She had no idea what was happening, but she watched Raven run for the barn with a sense of foreboding.

              Seth saw Raven running past his and Maddie’s house as if the hounds of hell were chasing him and came out on their porch.  “Raven!  Raven!”

              Raven slid to a stop, almost fell and righted himself.  “Uncle Seth, J.R. is with Aunt Tessa.  Get your guns!  You and Aunt Maddie go over there.  Where’s Uncle Dean?”

              “In the barn.  What the hell’s going on?” Seth demanded.

              “Sparrow’s husband’s men are here.  They cornered Jack and Sparrow at Jack’s place.  They made a run for it to our village.  Sparrow made it, but Jack is hurt.  Father and his men went to get him and to fight the others.  Hurry!”  Raven sprinted on to the barn.

              “Aww, hell,” Seth said and went to get his wife and his guns.

              Raven gave Dean a brief rundown of what had transpired and he and Dean ran to their house.  Raven played with the children so that the adults could go upstairs to talk.  He hoped they wouldn’t take too long because he needed to get back to camp.  He smiled and laughed so he didn’t upset them, but inside he was impatient.

             
Mike should be here helping.  Where is he?
Raven thought.

              “You guys stay right here,” Raven told the three children.  “I mean it.”

              “Ok,” the twins said.

              J.R. asked, “Where ya goin’?”

              “Just stay here,” Raven said again. 

              He bounded up the stairs and knocked on Mike’s door.  “Hey, Mike?  Are you in there?”  When there was no answer, Raven opened the door and saw that the room was empty.

              The five adults came out of the room in which Sasha was staying.

              “Where’s Mike?” Raven asked them.  “He wasn’t in the barn and he’s not in camp.”

              They all exchanged startled looks.  Raven could tell that none of them knew Mike’s location.  “I’ll find him.  I know the places he goes.”

              Dean grabbed Raven’s arm.  “What do you mean the places he goes?”

              Raven looked at Dean and said, “He has places where he likes to go to think about stuff.  I know where they are.”

              “I’ll go with you,” Dean said.

              “No.  You’d better stay here in case they come here.  I’ll find Mike and bring him home,” Raven insisted.  “He might be in town.”

              Tessa said, “I didn’t know he’d left.  I never heard him come down the stairs.  I never saw him go up the lane or anything.”

              Raven said, “He must not have wanted you to.  And we hardly ever use the road to get to town.  I’ll bring him home.  Uncle Dean, please let my arm go?”

              Dean released him and Raven was out the door in seconds.  Dean looked around at the others and said, “Why do I suddenly feel like we don’t know Mike at all?”

              Tessa said, “Because we don’t.”

              Sparrow saw Reckless and another brave helping Jack into the camp.  She ran to him but didn’t impede their progress. 

              “Jack!  You’re alive!” she said.  “I was so scared for you.”

              “I’ll be all right.  Gotta get this damn arrow out of my leg,” he said as he hopped on his good leg.  “Are you ok?” he said as he looked at her critically.

              “I’m fine.  Don’t worry about me,” Sparrow said.

              Reckless said, “We’ll take you to Silver Ghost’s tipi.”

              Jack asked, “Is he here?”

              “No, but that way you’ll be there when we can get him here.  We won’t have to move you again,” Reckless said.  “You weigh a ton.  It’s all that food you eat.”

              Jack laughed even as he felt dizzy.  He sagged as his vision darkened for a moment.  Reckless and the other brave took on his weight again and dragged him to Marcus’ tipi.  They laid him down gently.  Sparrow began building a fire.  Once it was going, she covered Jack with blankets. 

              She looked around at all of Marcus’ medicine bags and containers, but had no idea what they contained.  Jack was in no condition to help her, either.  Reckless was working on cutting away the pant leg from Jack’s injured leg.  The section of the arrow that remained stuck out about two inches on either side of the calf.

              Jack came to and saw Reckless looking at it.  “Don’t pull it out.  Whatever you do, don’t pull it out.  Not until Uncle Marcus or Ben gets here.”

              “Ok,” Reckless said.  With his eyes, he indicated that Sparrow should follow him outside.

              “I’ll be right back, Jack.  I’m going to get some snow to melt for water,” she said with a smile at him.

              Jack returned her smile.  “Ok, honey,” he said and closed his eyes.

              Sparrow joined Reckless and said, “What’s wrong?”

              “Father says that it’s not safe for anyone to come in or go out of the camp right at the moment.  He said they’re going to wait until dark comes to scout out the trails or find an alternate way around them,” Reckless said.  “We can’t get Uncle Marcus or Ben here.”

              Sparrow said, “Jack needs help now.  We have to get him help.  I can make some willow bark tea to help with the pain, but that arrow has to come out of his leg soon.”

              “I know.  Make the tea for now.  I’ll let you know what’s going on when I have more information,” Reckless said.

              Sparrow nodded as she sensed a presence behind her.  She turned to see Black Fox looking down at her.  “Yes, make the tea, Sparrow and then come to my tipi so you can tell me how it is you brought this trouble to us.”

              Sparrow lowered her eyes and nodded.  She walked away as her eyes flooded with tears. 

              Reckless looked squarely at his uncle and said, “Uncle, was it necessary for you to be so harsh on her?  Sparrow would never put us in harm’s way on purpose.”

              Black Fox stepped nearer to Reckless and said, “And yet she has, nephew.”  He stared back at Reckless until the younger man lowered his gaze.  Then he walked on to his tipi.

              Raven found Mike walking on a frozen stream that he liked to fish from.  The ice was thick at that time of year and it was safe to travel on.  Mike would run a ways and then stop and slide as long as he could.  Raven smiled as he followed Mike onto the ice. 

              “Hey, cousin, that was a pretty good slide,” he said.

              “I had a longer one last week,” Mike said. 

              “Mike, can you come to your house with me?  There’s an emergency,” Raven said.

              Mike stopped and looked at Raven. “What happened?”

              Raven was always direct with Mike about things.  “Two Dogs’ men came after Sparrow.  She and Jack got ambushed.  She’s ok, but Jack is hurt.  They went to go get him, so I’m sure he’s fine and in camp by now.  Will you come back home to help your parents with the kids?  I have to go back to camp.”

              Mike asked, “Where is Jack hurt?”

              “He was shot in the leg by an arrow.  Some of it’s still stuck in it.  They’re gonna get our uncle to come help with it,” Raven said.

              Mike said, “We’re closer to camp.  We’d be safer trying to get there.  We can just follow the stream right in.”

              “But your family needs you at home,” Raven said.

              “No, they
want
me there, but they don’t
need
me there.  Pa’s never going to let me shoot at someone, so what help will I be if Indians show up there?  I’ll be more of a liability than anything else.  I can be of help in camp, though,” Mike said.

              “How?” Raven asked.

              “I can take that arrow out of Jack’s leg,” Mike said and set off running along the ice again.

              Raven ran after him.  “You don’t know how to do that.”

              “Wanna bet?” Mike said.

              “I’m not going to bet on something like that.  You don’t just gamble on someone’s injured leg, Mike,” Raven said.

              “I’m not gambling and I’m not kidding.  I can do it,” Mike said and ran faster.  Jack needed him and he wanted to get there as quickly as possible.