Savage Spirit (21 page)

Half stumbling over strewn rock, she placed a hand over her eyes and shielded them from the sun in her search for the sheen of water.

When she discovered that she was close to a small stream that snaked across the land, she sighed with relief and made her way toward it.

She tried to block out all thoughts of Cloud Eagle. She could never forgive him.

And he would soon see how she got her revenge against someone who had wronged her. She would see that he was arrested and brought to trial for the disappearance, and possibly the death of, her brother.

The thought of Cloud Eagle swaying in the wind with a hangman's noose fitted around his neck made tears sting the corners of her eyes. She stubbornly brushed them away, knelt over the water, and began cupping the deliciously cold liquid into her mouth.

The sound of his Apache people leaving their tepees to begin their morning chores awakened Cloud Eagle. He rolled his blanket away and looked slowly around.

Pangs of sadness struck him when he realized   why he had chosen to sleep outside his lodge instead of inside. Since Alicia had been so withdrawn and angry the prior evening, he had decided to give her the privacy of sleeping alone, if for only one night.

Today he would somehow convince her of his innocence, even if it meant having to return to the Englishman's outpost to drag him away into the desert and force the truth from him in Alicia's presence.

There were ways to make the truth easier for a man to say than to make him suffer the pain and humiliation of being tortured.

Yes, Cloud Eagle thought. If it was required, he would take many of his warriors to the Englishman's outpost and fight for his right to have his woman with him again.

Discovering many eyes looking at him quizzically and realizing that his people knew that he only slept outside when he was unhappy with his women, Cloud Eagle rose with much dignity from the ground and went back inside his lodge.

Although the sun was pouring its mighty fire from the sky, its brilliance did not seep through the buckskin sides of the tepee.

And the lodge fire gave off no light.

It had gone completely out.

The only light inside the tepee was that which sprayed downward from the smoke hole in the ceiling. But that was enough light for him to see that something was very wrong inside his lodge.

Alicia was not on the pallet of furs beside the firespace.

His heart racing, he moved farther into the dwelling, his eyes slowly searching the dark corners.   Still he saw nothing.

He stopped and listened with his keen ears. His pulse raced and his heart began to hammer out a message inside his brain. He could not hear her breathing from somewhere in the shadows where she might be angrily hiding.

There was only one answer.

She was gone.

She had more than likely fled into the night while he had trustingly slept outside, away from her.

His morning calm turning into an angry inferno, his hands circled into tight fists at his sides. Her faith in him had been so weak that she had felt the need to flee from him? Hadn't their moments together, when they had spoken words of love to one another, meant anything to her?

How could she trust him, or his words, so little?

He would have trusted her to the ends of the earth!

Now all that he could think about was to find her and bring her back with him. He would tie her up to hold her there if required to keep her while he raided the Englishman's outpost to abduct Sandy Whiskers. Cloud Eagle would tie the Englishman to posts on the ground in the middle of the desert, then go and get Alicia. He would take her to witness how he got the truth from his enemies.

Then if she still wanted her freedom, so be it. He would place her from his mind as quickly as she had slipped into it.

He would begin his life anew without her.

But he could not leave this thing unfinished. He would prove his innocence. His honor was   of the utmost importance to him, perhaps even more than the white woman had ever been!

Cloud Eagle was an expert tracker. At a determined gait, he left his lodge and searched for Alicia's footprints.

When he found them, he smiled.

Then his eyebrows arched. There were also the prints of his coyote blending in with Alicia's. It was apparent that Gray had discovered her gone and had gone after her. This made him feel somewhat better. Gray would be of some protection to her.

He traced the footprints, thinking they would lead to the horses. He was puzzled when he discovered that Alicia had gone past the corral without getting a horse for her travels.

"She travels on foot," he said, alarm grabbing his insides. "If her destination is Fort Thomas, it will take her days, possibly weeks. She will face much danger. Perhaps more than she or Gray can handle."

Cloud Eagle bolted back to his stronghold. He gathered together a good number of his warriors.

"My woman and my coyote are gone," he shouted to them. "We will search for them. Arm yourselves well. The outlaws and renegades might find her first. If so, we must find them. A battle may ensue to take her away from them."

He did not tell them of his plans to go for the Englishman. That would come laterafter he had Alicia and Gray back safe with him.

He turned and went back inside his lodge. He took his arrows from their quiver and inspected each of them. The flint arrowheads held fast and the fletching was trim.   He returned the arrows to the quiver, slipped it over his shoulder, and secured it.

Then he went to his store of weapons. When he discovered that one of his rifles was missing, a ray of hope penetrated his heart. If Alicia had taken a weapon with her for protection, surely between the rifle and Gray she would be safe enough until he found her.

He sank to one knee. From his blanket roll he removed two parts of a Sharps rifle. It was a buffalo gun capable of bringing down big game at long range. It would most certainly take two renegades or outlaws at a time.

He assembled the rifle and chose several cartridges from a leather pouch, one of which he placed in the chamber, the heavy breechlock sliding open with oiled and silent precision.

Carrying the rifle, his bow slung across his shoulder, Cloud Eagle stepped outside and gazed heavenward, where the sun flung crimson banners across the sky. He whispered a prayer to the Great Spirit, then ran to the corral, where his men were already mounted on their proud steeds, waiting for him.

A young brave had saddled Cloud Eagle's frisky roan and held out the reins to him as he approached.

His heart pounding within his chest, Cloud Eagle swung himself into the saddle. He lifted the rifle into the air and let out a loud war whoop; then he rode off, his warriors following him.

They rode at a slow pace, Cloud Eagle's eyes never leaving the tracks that led away from his village, into land that could be very unfriendly to a white woman who traveled on foot and a coyote that had chosen one master over another.   ''Keep her safe, Gray," Cloud Eagle whispered to himself. "Keep her safe."

Alicia leaned over the water and splashed it onto her face. As she wiped her eyes free of the water, she lingered a moment longer over the stream, dreading leaving it. Too often water was scarce and there was more sand than grass as one moved farther away from the mountains.

She leaned over to look at her reflection as she fussed with her hair, twining it into braids to make it easier to handle.

When another reflection appeared in the water, next to hers, she gasped, then laughed and turned to Gray and hugged him as he nudged her fondly with his nose.

"Gray," Alicia cried, now stroking his fur as she gazed into his trusting eyes. "You missed me and came for me. How sweet."

Gray whined and looked over his head in the direction of the stronghold, then back at Alicia again.

She got his message and her smile faded. "No, Gray," she murmured. "I'm not going to return to Cloud Eagle's stronghold. He proved to be someone I don't know, nor want to. He lied to me, Gray. He deceived me." She swallowed hard. "He may even have murdered my brother."

She gave Gray another fond stroke, then nodded toward the stronghold. "Go," she said, motioning with her hand. "Return to the stronghold. You belong to Cloud Eagle, not to me."

Gray refused to budge. He kept looking up at her with his trusting gray eyes.

Alicia sighed. She could tell that he was not going to leave her. He had become too devoted to   allow her to travel alone. He was a smart coyote. He had followed her trail and had found her easily enough.

Her eyes widened and a sudden panic filled her. "If Gray found me, then so can Cloud Eagle," she said, her words running together in a rush. "Lord. I mustn't allow it. I must hurry onward."

She also knew that she couldn't get much farther without food.

But she would have to take her chances. The Apache were known for their skill at tracking. Cloud Eagle was an Apache. He was more skilled than most at everything.

He could even now be on her trail!

Half stumbling in her haste, Alicia moved onward. Clouds of gnats and sand flies darted about. The wind lifted whirls of sand and rattled brittle brush and sage. It strummed a thin whine through the cottonwood's leaves beneath which Alicia sought a moment's reprieve from the scorching sun. It was intensely oppressive today and glared like a shield of red-hot brass.

Then she moved onward, Gray loping trustingly at her side. She found a scarcely traveled road. It was covered with a fine and almost impalpable dust, containing an abundance of alkali. She choked and gagged as the dust blew into her mouth, nostrils, and eyes.

As she tried to travel away from the road, terrible cactus thorns and the pointed leaves of the Spanish bayonet soon covered her legs with blood. She regretted not having put on the high-top moccasins instead of the ones that she had chosen to wear.

A red racer scooted across the ground and caused Alicia to emit a sudden, sharp scream.   Then, remembering her father's teachings, she stopped dead in her tracks.

"Snakes do not strike in anger," he had told her. "They strike at movement. Be still and they will go away."

She scarcely breathed as she watched the snake slither away across the dusty land.

Then she moved onward, especially when she noticed how nervous Gray had become. He would stop and gaze over his shoulder, then speed up and romp at her side again, his ears stiff, his tail between his legs.

"What is it, boy?" Alicia asked, stopping to kneel down beside him.

She gazed into the distance, then on all sides of her. She was near a canyon where anyone might be lurking and waiting for innocent passersby.

She stared at it for a moment, then something else caught her eye.

A fringe-toed lizard's tail protruded between rocks close beside her. Something else scurried under the stone.

Curious, she knelt beside the stone. She laid her rifle aside and placed a cheek on the ground and poked a stick under the stone.

A startled grasshopper mouse made a terrified dash into the open, causing Alicia to start, then giggle.

"Gray, it was only a mouse," she said, tossing the stick over her shoulder.

She started to push herself up from the ground but stopped when Gray turned and began to snarl and show his fangs, then pounced away barking and yelping.

Alicia froze on the spot. She was afraid to move or look to see what was causing Gray's sudden   change in mood. If it was Cloud Eagle approaching, Gray would not have become antagonized.

That had to mean that it was someone Gray did not know, or welcome. . . .

The sudden thundering of horses' hooves made Alicia's heart stop. She grabbed for her rifle, but was not quick enough. A loop from a lariat shot out and fell over her head and around her neck. The breath was knocked out of her when the rope was yanked hard, causing her to fall to the ground.

She grabbed at the rope, choking and fighting as she was dragged across the ground. She could hear much mocking laughter. She looked through the dust and discovered that she had been lassoed by an outlaw; other renegades and outlaws rode alongside the one who was dragging her.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Gray lying still on the ground. He looked dead. When she was dragged past him, a sob lodged in her throat.

"Gray," she cried. "Sweet, innocent Gray."  

Alicia's whole body ached. Feeling bruised all over, her moccasins having fallen from her feet as she was being dragged, Alicia held back from screaming for the outlaw to stop. She would not give those who were laughing boisterously at her the satisfaction of hearing her beg for mercy. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, then went limp when the horse finally stopped.

Everything became suddenly quiet. The men were no longer laughing. As Alicia lay on the ground, one massive throbbing pain, all that she could hear was the harsh breathing of the horsesand perhaps her heart thudding wildly within her chest.

Slowly she opened her eyes. She achingly drew herself into a fetal position when she found one of the men kneeling down beside her, staring at her.

The man gathered her hair in one of his hands   and gave it a hard yank, positioning her face so that she had no choice but to look up at him.

"You are the white woman who came to Sandy Whiskers's outpost with the Injun, eh?" he growled out, his thick mustache bobbing above his lips as he spoke.

Afraid, yet too stubborn to act upon such fear, Alicia spat into the man's face. Rage filled the man's dark eyes. He drew his free hand back and slapped Alicia hard across the face. "You whore!" he hissed, then wiped the spittle from his face and mustache with a handkerchief that he yanked from his back breeches pocket. "I should kill you for that. But Sandy Whiskers has other plans for you."

"Sandy Whiskers?" Alicia gasped, her insides turning cold.

"Yeah, Sandy Whiskers," the man said. He dropped his hands from her hair, then grabbed her by a wrist and jerked her to her feet. "Come now, whore. Sandy Whiskers is waiting."

"What does he want with me?" Alicia asked, fearing the answer.