Westward Moon Page 8

  “I don’t trust myself, either. You’re right; it is more powerful, Jack.”

  “I keep asking myself what we’re waiting for,” Jack said. “On one hand, it seems silly not to be with you like that and then my conscience gets to me. Both are fighting to win and I don’t know which one is going to eventually come out on top. For right now, it’s my conscience.”

  So saying, Jack left her and went outside without dressing again. She went to the door and watched as he jumped off the porch and flopped down face first in the snow. The cold snow felt good on his heated body and he lay there for a little while. Sparrow laughed and came over to try to get him up on his feet.

  “Jack, you’re going to freeze! You do not even have a shirt on,” she said.

  “I don’t care. It feels good,” he replied. The snow was helping to cool his ardor.

  Both of them heard a twig crack somewhere in the woods ahead of them. They were instantly on the alert. Jack got up off the ground and acted as if he hadn’t heard the sound.

  He took Sparrow’s hand and said, “Ok, you win.”

  She looked up at him and smiled. Sparrow saw the guarded, fearful look on his face and began feeling afraid. They jumped up on the porch and Jack pushed her inside as quickly as possible. He slammed the door shut just as an arrow sailed through the air and sank into it. Jack locked the door and ran for his coat. He didn’t bother with his shirt.

  He hastily shrugged into his coat and ran into his bedroom. When he came out, Jack held two pistols. He pressed one into Sparrow’s hand. “You know what to do with that,” he said. When he’d first become a deputy, Jack had taught her how to shoot and she was a good shot.

  Sparrow nodded. Her dark eyes were wide with fear. Jack checked out the windows looking out the back of the house but saw no movement. He loaded his coat pockets with ammo.

  “We’re gonna make a run for the trail. Getting to the camp is going to be the best bet for us. They’re waiting out by the road that goes up to the ranch, so we can’t go that way. I don’t know if they know that Uncle Marcus had a trail from here. I hope not. We’ll go out the study door. You see any of them, you shoot. Don’t ask any questions. Don’t think about it. Just shoot, ok?”

  “Yes. I understand. I hope I get to kill one,” she said with a smile even though she was frightened.

  Jack smiled back. “Me, too. .Ok, let’s go.”

  Silently Jack opened the door in the study that led outside. He was thankful that the hinges didn’t make any noise. Cautiously they crept out into the snow. Jack was heartened by the fact that there were no tracks leading to the trail entrance or around the back of the house. Both of them had their guns at the ready as they began running for the trail. They made it into the woods, but suddenly found their way blocked by two braves.

  Jack never hesitated as he raised his pistol and shot one in the head. Sparrow’s gun went off and the other one spun around as the bullet slammed into his right shoulder. As they ran by the downed Indians, Jack put another bullet in the one that had only been injured. He was taking no chances of the brave getting up again.

  Normally Jack wasn’t so violent, but their situation was dire and he was going to do whatever he had to do to keep them alive. They ran full out. Their blood was chilled by the sound of a war trill behind them. Another one answered from the front. Jack swore as he realized the trap they’d set for him and Sparrow. Grim determination kept him from panicking. His training not only by the Lakota, but also by Mitch surfaced and he began considering their options.

  He kept Sparrow by his side as much as possible to shield her with his body. Jack wanted to try something so he let out his own war trill and waited as they kept moving. Soon he saw a brave poke his head out from behind a tree not too far from where they were. Jack shot and thought he grazed the brave’s head. As they passed the tree, Sparrow saw that the brave lay on the ground. Blood oozed from his head, seeping into the snow. Jack shot him again and then said, “Keep watch. I gotta reload.”

  Swiftly, Jack put more bullets in his gun. A barrage of arrows came from their left side and Jack forced Sparrow off the trail to the right while he shot in the direction from which they’d come. He heard one cry of pain and grinned wickedly. Then he got down on his hands and knees and began crawling through the snow. Sparrow followed suit.

  They continued this way for a little while, but when things remained quiet, Jack and Sparrow stood up when they reached a stand of trees to hide behind while they assessed the situation. Jack decided that they couldn’t stay where they were much longer.

  “On three, we’re gonna run like hell and go down through the ravine instead of back on the trail,” he whispered in her ear. “Ok?”

  Sparrow nodded and said, “Ok.”

  He silently counted it off and they started running through the trees. More arrows came their way. Jack didn’t slow down as the ravine edge loomed. He took Sparrow’s hand to make sure she didn’t either. Right before they went over the edge, Jack felt something sink into his left calf and knew that he’d been hit.

  Sparrow started sliding down, but Jack couldn’t keep his balance and began tumbling down the steep embankment. Sparrow was powerless to help him as he went rolling past her. She didn’t cry out because she didn’t want to give away their location. She looked back at the top of the ravine but it was blocked from her view by dense trees and undergrowth. If she couldn’t see them, she hoped that they couldn’t see her and Jack, either.

  She looked back down the ravine to see Jack bounce off a boulder and roll even faster down towards the bottom. Sparrow began crying silently and moving as fast as she safely could to reach Jack as he hit the bottom and lay still. She skidded to a stop and then ran to Jack. He lay face up. Sparrow saw the arrow that had gone through Jack’s calf and wanted to weep even more.

  Instead of giving in to the tears, however, Sparrow jammed her gun into her coat pocket and started looking Jack over more thoroughly. There was a gash on his forehead and some scratches. She picked up some snow and began rubbing it on his face and slapping him lightly.

  “Jack!” she whispered urgently. “Jack! Wake up!”

  Jack heard her voice from somewhere far away and started to respond. When he opened his eyes, he saw her tear-streaked face. Her midnight eyes gazed at him fearfully. His head felt like someone kept thumping it with a club and his left lower leg burned and throbbed like nothing he’d ever experienced before. His ribs protested when he tried to move.

  “Jack! You have to get up. We have to get to camp!” she whispered at him.

  He looked down at his leg and saw the arrow sticking out on both sides of it. He swore loudly.

  “Shh!” Sparrow said and started pulling him into a sitting position. “I’ll help you.”

  Jack couldn’t get over on his knees because the arrow was too long. He knew it would be too dangerous to remove the arrow because he could bleed to death. Bending painfully at the waist, Jack broke off first one side of the arrow and then the other. Then with Sparrow’s help, he was able to get up. He tried to walk on it just a little bit and almost went down again because it wouldn’t hold him.

  He didn’t see his gun lying anywhere on the ground around them. He must have lost it during his fall down the side of the ravine. “Sparrow, you’re going to have to make a run for camp. I’m going to follow you as fast as I can, but I need your gun. I lost mine. Go get help.”

  She nodded, handed him her gun, and began running. There were some women who might have argued with Jack, but Sparrow knew that Jack was right and arguing would only waste valuable time. She was a fast runner and Sparrow jumped over fallen trees and dodged branches as she ran. Soon she started recognizing the woods around her. She smiled as she came out onto the trail a short distance from the village. Her old hoot owl call sounded and it was answered. She then whistled the melody warning the sentry of danger.

  Immediately the sentry sent out his own alarm. Sparrow ran onward and into the camp. People pointed and ex
claimed about her as they recognized her, but Sparrow never slowed as she raced to Black Fox’s tipi. He had heard the alarm and was already outside. His eyes grew big when he saw Sparrow.

  She ran to him and grasped his arm. “No time to explain, great chief,” she said as she panted. “Jack is back there in the ravine. He is injured. Arrow to the leg. Follow my tracks. Father’s braves came after me.”

  Black Fox didn’t respond. Instead he began barking orders as Wind Spirit handed him his weapons. Then he led a large group of braves while giving instructions about how he wanted the village protected until they returned.

  Jack had crawled into a thick mass of brush because his leg and ribs kept him from moving very far. He’d used a large pine branch to sweep snow over his tracks as well as he could. As he lay panting, he hoped that Sparrow had made it to the village safely. The thought of her being hurt or killed after he’d just gotten her back was unbearable. He could deal with anything else as long as she was all right.

  His position was tenuous because if he had to shoot, they would know exactly where he was and then not even his gun was going to save him. Jack knew his only hope of survival rested with his Lakota family arriving in time. Until then, Jack worked on quieting his breathing. He could smell his sweat and the faint odor of blood from where it still seeped from his leg.

  Knowing he needed to keep hydrated, Jack ate snow until his head began to throb worse from the cold stuff. He wiped sweat from his forehead and then lay still. Jack’s eyes began to close as shock started setting in. He fought it valiantly. Jack knew that if he fell asleep, he would die one way or another. Either Two Dog’s men would get him or the elements would. He picked up more snow and scrubbed his face with it to keep alert. Jack prayed that his family would show up soon.

  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.