Lone Star 04 (22 page)

“I—” Torgler bit his lip. “The—the creatures were after me. They got on my trail as soon as I left, and I couldn't shake them off. That's the truth!”

Ki started for him. Feodor held him back and shot him a look. “We are wasting time. If the man does not wish to answer questions, he does not have to.”

“Now look!” shouted Ki. Relief flooded Torgler's features.

Feodor jerked him out of the chair by the collar. “Get out. Now.”

“What?” Torgler's mouth fell open. “I don‘t—”

“There is nothing to discuss here. You are free. Get out of the village.” Feodor dragged him to the door and opened it. Torgler suddenly understood what was happening to him.

“Nooooo!”
he shrieked, writhing against Feodor's grip. “You—you
can‘t!”
He glanced fearfully at Jessie. “Don't let him do this. Please!”

Jessie shrugged. “I don't think it's legal,” she said soberly, “but he's the elder here. Nothing much I can do.” She gave Torgler a reassuring smile. “I
will
ride into town in the morning and see if I can get you a good lawyer.”

“A—” Torgler paled. Feodor let him go and he sank feebly back in the chair. His shoulders sagged and he buried his face in his hands.

“All right,” he muttered, “I knew about it—”

“No!”
bellowed Feodor. He jerked the man up again and slammed him down hard. “Tell it, all of it, you bastard, or by God you go out there!”

Torgler shrank away from him, and gripped the arm of his chair to keep from shaking. “All right. I-I hired Zascha. He—worked for me—”

“He brought the wolves in when you told him to,” Jessie finished. “You ordered him to kill here at the settlement, so you could scare these folks off their land. And you used the animals again to get rid of Gaiter.”

“Yes—
yes!”
moaned Torgler.

“Great Jesus Christ! A man could do this thing?” Gustolf came at him, his face twisted in rage. It was all Ki could do to hold him back.

“Go on,” Feodor prompted. “The rest of it. You are not finished yet.”

“That other man out there,” Ki demanded sharply. “Who is he? I saw his tracks.”

Jessie looked up, startled. “What are you talking about, Ki?”

“He knows. He'll tell us.”

Torgler bit his lip and looked away. “Zascha didn't train the wolves—or control them. God, no one could do that...no one who wasn't...” He stopped and let out a breath. “Some of my people found him. In the Nebraska hills, I think. He's a mountain man, wild as an animal. The wolves belong to him. He's an enormous hulk of a man—a giant. Only he has the mind of a child—never lived with another human. Just his wolves—they're bigger than any I've ever seen...”

Ki glanced quickly at Jessie, and she knew who she'd seen, stalking out under the moon.

“Only Zascha could get near him,” Torgler went on. “He could talk to him somehow—make him understand. We had him tell the man that if he‘d”—Torgler caught Gustolf's eyes and looked away—“that if he'd help drive your people off the land, we'd give him a place of his own. Somewhere no one would bother him and his damn wolves ...” Torgler paused. “I—don't know. There's nothing more...”

Ki stepped up, reached out, and forced Torgler to look at him. “What happened out there tonight? Why did this maniac turn his wolves on you and Zascha?”

“We promised none of the animals would be harmed,” sighed Torgler.

“And one of them was,” said Ki. “When Lucy killed it, the man went berserk, right?”

“Yes—that's what happened. He has six of the animals. Five now.” Torgler squeezed to his eyes shut. “He—set the things on us. I was supposed to leave here and meet Zascha later...” He seemed reluctant to go on, and Ki knew why.

“Before you left town, you sent word to Zascha to be sure Lucy didn't get away alive.”

“Or Ki either, if he was around,” added Jessie.

Torgler nodded. “Lucy knew the old stage stop. So did Zascha. We met there sometimes. The crazy old man keeps his wolves about six miles up in the hills from there.”

We don't need to ask why you and Zascha were meeting,“ Feodor said darkly. ”When I wouldn't sell today, you planned to send them in again. Tonight.“

Torgler wouldn't look at him. “He won't send in just one—not now. He'll bring all of them. And this time, he'll come with them.”

Chapter 17

“This time we will be ready for them,” Feodor said through gritted teeth. “This time—” He stopped and glanced savagely at Gustolf. “Do you see what we are? What they think of us? This man who would steal our land knew we would not even try to kill the beasts! We were too frightened, too sure of our ways. They had nothing but contempt for us, Gustolf. And by the living saints, they were right!”

Gustolf colored, but his anger was directed at Torgler now, not at Feodor. “This is so, eh? You answer!”

“Yes—
yes!”
Torgler flinched and shrank back in his chair. “I‘ve—told you the whole thing, damn it!”

“You got Zascha to work for you? Zascha? Why does he do this? Tell me that!”

For a moment it was the haughty, self-assured man Jessie remembered who spoke to Gustolf. “Same reason as all the others,” he said wryly. “Money. Power. And not a lot, at that.” Torgler almost smiled. “Men know their worth, sir. And they place damn little value on themselves.”

“Shut up!” Feodor shook a big fist in Torgler's face. “I have heard all I care to hear from your mouth.” He lifted the man up, threw him against the door, and turned to Gustolf. “Will you help me? Go with me to tell the others what we know?”

Gustolf closed his eyes, then opened them again and faced the younger man. “Yes.” He said finally. “I will. I will go, and we will take this thing that calls itself a man along with us.”

Feodor grinned. “I would not let him out of my sight. Not for a moment.” He gripped Torgler's arm so hard the man paled. “Come, my friend. Our people were greatly impressed with you this morning. I would have them see you again.”

Gustolf stopped to gather up a lantern, and instructed Sonia to fill the others as quickly as she could, as many as she could find. Sonia protested, but Gustolf insisted she stay in the cabin until he returned. Feodor opened the door and shoved Torgler out into the night. Jessie and Ki joined him, and Gustolf followed. After a few steps, Jessie held back and stopped Ki.

“I think we ought to let them handle this,” she told him. “You and I haven't done all that well convincing people lately.”

“Yes, I can't argue with that.”

Jessie looked at him. “You had kind of a tough time out there, didn't you? I'm sorry, Ki. And I don't mind telling you I was worried.”

Ki grinned wearily. “Thank you, Jessie. And yes. There were—difficulties.”

“Oh, well, if that's all ...” She raised one eyebrow and made a noise. “Difficulties, huh? You look like someone put you through a wringer.”

“Someday you will spoil me with your flattery.”

“Yeah, but you'll get over it.” She studied him a minute and decided what was wrong. “Your hat. You don't have it on.”

“I lost it. Out there somewhere.”

“Oh,” she said solemnly, “I'm sorry to hear that. It was a real fine hat. Couldn't have been more than ten or fifteen years old.”

“Not quite. It was well broken in, though. I doubt I'll find another half as good.”

“That sure would take some doing,” Jessie agreed. She started to speak again, but something told her to keep her silence. There'd been something in his eyes when he spoke. Lucy Jordan? she wondered, and instantly knew she was right. Ki and Lucy. Something had happened out there. It was more than Lucy's dying, though that was certainly a part of it. Ki would keep his pain to himself, she knew, and lick his own wounds. That had always been his way.

Ki stopped suddenly and listened. “Ah, there!” He motioned toward the fields. “They are here now, Jessie.”

“Did you hear them?”

“No,” he said evenly. “There is a light wind, and I can smell them: I have learned more than I care to about wolves. Feodor—” Ki glanced once more into the darkness and trotted toward the open door of a cottage. Several men were clustered around Gustolf in a pool of yellow light. Feodor turned at Ki's voice, and Ki pulled him aside. “They're here,” he announced. “Not far, either. Out in the wheat. Probably coming in from the creek side, too. I don't know how much control this wild man has over his creatures.”

“Enough, I'm sure.” Feodor made a face and nodded over his shoulder. “I was too optimistic. Even Gustolf can't convince them, though Torgler is cooperating nicely. He's more frightened of the old man than he is of me or the wolves.”

“That old man can be rather frightening,” said Ki. He stepped into the light next to Gustolf.

“Here—ask this man!” Gustolf said expansively. He pounded Ki on the shoulder. “He has seen the wolf die. He knows!”

One of the men studied Ki suspiciously and rattled off a long garble of speech. Gustolf curled his lip in contempt. “Bah!” He spat at the man's feet and made him jump. “He says that is all very well, but he does not know you and therefore cannot know exactly what you have seen.”

“A nice way of saying I'm lying.”

Gustolf forced a grin. “It is. We are a very tactful people. Stubborn sometimes, but nearly always polite.”

“Fine,” said Ki. “That won't help much if we—”

His words were lost as a terrible cry cut through the darkness—the deep, resonant howl of a wolf. Almost immediately, another took up the call, then another and another, until the summer night was filled with the chilling sound.

The settlers who were gathered about Gustolf went rigid. “He is here!” one gasped. “The man-wolf has come!”

“No!” blurted Ki. “They're
wolves,
damn it! That's
all
they are. You shoot them and they die like anything else!”

The settlers looked at Ki as if he were crazy. One broke and ran for his cottage. It was all the others needed. Gustolf threatened and shook his fist. Feodor stood his ground and cursed them, but the men tore past him and disappeared.

“Stay together,” Ki shouted. He pulled Jessie to him and swept his eyes over the darkness. “Gustolf—take the lantern and hold it up high. We've got to have light!”

Feodor levered a shell into his rifle and backed up against Ki. “We can't stay out here. We can stop one, perhaps, but if they come at us in a pack—”

“I don't think we've got much choice,” said Jessie. “We're not going to make it to your place, Gustolf. And no one's going to open a door to us now. Ki, can you—” Jessie stopped as someone screamed, slammed her to the ground, and rushed past her.

“Torgler!”
Ki shouted. “Get back here!”

Torgler couldn't hear him. He ran a few yards, jerked to a stop, and started aimlessly in another direction.

“Oh, no!” Jessie pulled herself to her feet as the man circled wildly about the common, shouting something she couldn't understand.

“Goddamn fool!” snorted Gustolf. “Doesn't know what he‘s—”

“Torgler
—
lookout!”
Feodor dropped to his knees and fired into the darkness. The flash from his muzzle threw the wolf's shadow against a cabin wall. Torgler turned, too late—Feodor emptied his rifle into the night and came to his feet.

“Damn! There's nothing there—nothing!”

“There was,” Jessie assured him. “You hit him—just not good enough.”

A snarl of anger came from the hollow, and turned them all around. Something moved quickly past one of the dying fires, and Jessie caught a glimpse of red eyes and flashing teeth.

“There!” Ki pointed just behind the animal. “Another one. There are two of them now.”

Feodor cursed and slid new shells into his Winchester, spilling half of them on the ground. Jessie leveled her Colt and fired twice. One of the beasts yelped and both disappeared.

“You are right,” said Gustolf. “We cannot stay out here, Feodor. They are clever—and too fast!”

Ki caught the tremor in the old man's voice. “We'll be all right if we stick together,” he said calmly. “Keep against the wall and keep moving. At least we don't have to cover our backs.”

“Lafka—damn your soul—open!” Gustolf beat his fists on the door of the house whose wall they were hugging, his face purple with rage. “This is on my head,” he said tightly. “Mine, no one else's. I have brought us all to this!”