A flush of sudden anger engulfed her, and her eyes widened as she caught a better look at the lone brave still on horseback. The well-muscled torso, the log-like arms, and long flowing unbraided black hair … she would recognize this man anywhere. She had only seen him from a distance before while she waited to spring her trap to eliminate his forces, but the figure she had seen then was the same one sitting on horseback now—Stalking Wolf!
Images of Cassandra and her sisters being held hostage in a cabin waiting to be turned over to this man flooded her mind. He had planned horrible things for the quartet. Two of them were to be burned alive at the stake, and she and Lijuan were to be presented to Black Hawk. Once placed before the renegade chief, the plan was to have them fight to the death. Cassandra spat over the side of the coach. Black Hawk, Stalking Wolf, and all the Omegas would have been disappointed. One Wilde would never have killed another. It had taken all their ingenuity to escape, and in doing so, they had managed to wipe out all his men that day.
To Montana's astonishment, she rose to her knees and pulled off her hat letting her hair tumble down and then shook it freely before picking back up her rifle and training it on the group who was almost in range. Montana cried out as to what she was doing, but she didn't answer. Instead, in satisfaction, she saw her maneuver had the desired effect. Stalking Wolf suddenly jerked backward atop his mount. He recognized her now as well.
His booming voice carried through the warm breezes wafting over the river as he shouted at his men. A ripple of murmuring swept through them as they all lowered their weapons, all that is except Stalking Wolf. To his belt, he returned his raised tomahawk and reached down and snatched a long gun out of the hands of the brave standing next to him and brought it upward.
"What's going on?" Montana's strained voice sounded beside her.
"My family has got a history with that renegade leading this little barn dance. I gave him good reason to have a score to settle with me, and it's looking like he wants to make sure that he's the one to take me out. It appears that this time he's not taking any chance trying to capture me and bring me back to Black Hawk. He aims to make sure that I'm dead!" she answered, knowing he would have no idea what she was talking about.
“Are we … are we safe?” Millie’s timid voice queried from beneath them.
Sweat trickled down her forehead, and she said in a voice so soft she doubted that Millie could even hear her. "No, ma'am. We're not. Not in the least."
Her fingers tightened around the barrel of the Winchester. It was warm to touch from the rays of the sun. Her finger in the trigger guard twitched. She was determined to fire first and blast the son of a bitch to hell where he belonged. Cassandra was under no illusions knowing that she would be cut down immediately afterward by his fellows, but knowing she killed the probable architect of the reign of terror that had fallen around the relief station this day would allow her to go out with satisfaction. She could picture the mind behind those dark eyes thinking something very similar about her.
Her finger wavered on the trigger when to everyone's utter astonishment a sound as sweet as music filled the air … in fact, it was music of sorts. Bugle notes signaling the rallying cry to charge! No sooner than the notes had ceased playing the thunder of gunfire immediately replaced them as complete and utter pandemonium broke out amongst the braves on shore.
The eyes of everyone in and on the coach whipped to the right to see a squad of United States cavalrymen charging at full bore up the stage road, their guns blazing, and the Union standard being waved above the pack. The Omegas swung away from the river, ready to do battle. Cassandra got over her shock and pulled the trigger. The bullet careened through the air, but it was a second too late as angrily, Stalking Wolf dug his heels into the side of his mount and launched forward toward the attacking army soldiers. She lost sight of him as he merged into the mass of troops and braves waging a pitched battle on the road to the relief station. It was a giant cacophony now, the gunfire, the shouts of white men and the war cries of the red and as they floated away from the scene of battle. Cassandra fished out the box of ammunition in her breast pocket and set it down by the decorative railing that surrounded the roof of the stage that also helped keep luggage secure when it was tied on top. She was just about to open it and reload when she was distracted by a new sound that had joined in amidst the sounds of battle. It had been much fainter before, but now it was growing louder in all their ears.
Cassandra spun around and looked ahead, there was a bend in the river, but beyond that, she had little doubt laid The Chute. She looked wildly at Montana, but there was a strange expression on his face, and she gave him a questioning look.
“What?” it was now her turn to be issuing questions.
“As loud as that it, the noise from the gorge should be much louder, I can’t imagine why it isn’t.”
Cassandra couldn't really process what he was saying at the moment. Instead, her thoughts were filled with how they were going to get off before the stage got ground to bits being swept into the gorge. She threw down the rifle and snatched up the rope again. Their only chance would be to try to snag something else on the shore.
“You two down there! Get up on top! You need to be ready to move!”
The hatch flipped open from the inside, and Millie's head popped out and looked up. "You'll get no argument from either one of us! I don't fancy being trapped inside this thing."
She handed Cassie her gun and then took Montana's hand, and he pulled her up. Quickly, she was followed by Theodore, who also gave Cassandra her weapon back. She slipped them both in her holsters and then ordered everyone to stay in the middle to keep the coach better balanced.
A terrifying minute or two ticked by, and at last, the stagecoach was swept around the bend, and then they were met by a sight almost as astounding as the sudden arrival of the cavalry. A quarter mile ahead of them rose two rocky outcroppings that marked the beginning of “The Chute.” The river began to narrow dramatically to the point where Cassandra could only liken it to the shape of a giant bottle on its side with the narrowing of the river being equivalent to the neck of the bottle tapering long and thin as it rose from the glass body. Where the cork would be was the start of the gorge, and like any bottle, some severe bottlenecking was underway, but with what was both dumbfounding and horrifying. So much so that Millie turned away with a terrifying yelp. The others continued to look on in their astonishment.
Water was beginning to back up and jump the banks of the river because of the massive clog at the mouth of the gorge. A tall tree she immediately guessed had been swept down the river in the storm Montana had mentioned lay horizontally across the mouth of The Chute with the bodies of slain horses having jammed up against it when they had floated there in a mass earlier. Only a few complete horses could be seen. The majority lay snarled under the water in the branches of the trees, though a few hooves rose forlornly above be river's surface. Through the limbs and the bodies, the flow into The Chute had been severely curtailed. Angry and horrified, Montana called out they must have come from the corrals behind the relief station and the captured wagons, and he turned the air blue as he cursed the slaughter of many of the horses he had known and served him well as a driver.
Cassandra was sickened too, but there was no time to grieve for the animals. Instead, her eyes flitted about the shore, looking for anything that she might loop the lasso around. Suddenly she spied a dead tree jutting out along the bank. Once it appeared to have had a second trunk spitting off from it, but apparently, it had long since broken off and had been swept into the gorge, leaving behind a jagged looking stump!
“We’re slowing down everyone!” Endicott cried out in happiness. Luck had favored them as the water backing up behind the gorge had lessened the current and had indeed slowed them down. Cassandra looked ahead at the macabre sight of the dam of horses. She was sure the force of the water could and would eventually dislodge the horse’s bodies and sweep them away at any time, and o
nce it did the rush of backed up water into the gorge would propel them along like a Fourth of July rocket to their deaths. It was high time to get off this stage.
Once more, she steadied herself, and as their unlikely watercraft drew near the stump, she twirled the lasso and let it fly. As the loop dropped around the stump, cheers went up in the air that replaced the stunted sound of what water was fighting to flow past and through the congested spillway into the canyon. Cassandra was having none of it. Celebration could come later when they were all safe. Dropping to her knees, she secured the rope to the small raised metal railing that rose from the square of the stage's roof. The line played out, and when it reached its end, the coach jerked to a stop causing everyone to sway about.
“Into the water! You first, Millie,” she shouted, giving her a gentle push, “Hand over hand on that rope until you are across. Go!”
The woman looked uncertain for a moment, but then a grim determination came over her face, and she plunged into the water. Coming to the surface, she grabbed the rope and began to do as she had been instructed. Her husband quickly followed, and each grasp pulled them closer and closer to their salvation on the opposite shore.
Cassandra turned and faced Montana.
“Your uninjured arm … is it strong?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
"I need you to do something for me then," she said as she yanked her twin Colts out of the duel holster and handed it to him. "These mean more to me than I can even begin to explain. I'd hate to lose them. Came close a couple of times, but I haven't yet. Do you think you can toss them to the bank?"
He smiled and gripped the barrel of the first one. "You can count on it."
Good to his word, he launched the first one through the air. It flew over the heads of the Endicotts and landed in the brush beyond the dead tree. The second throw came up a little short, and the gun bounced off a boulder on the river's edge but managed not to ricochet back into the water. With a pleased look, she thanked him and now told him it was his turn.
"Whoa now! This thing may be the most glorified canoe that ever was, but I'm still the driver. I stay until my passengers are all safe, and that includes you."
There was something endearing about the male machismo and quite frankly sexy to her. As capable as she was, now and then she enjoyed when a man wanted to play her knight in shining armor. However, he was injured, and this was no time for that, but she didn't want to argue. A compromise would be easier and made sense.
"We go together. You don't want to put too much strain on that arm, so wrap your good arm around me, and I will pull us both to shore."
There was a moment where he looked like he was going to protest, but not having a valid reason to, he seemed to accept it. Having no sentimentality to his six-shooter, he left it on the roof and slipped down into the water quickly followed by Cassandra. Once she felt his arms around her waist, she began to pull their weight. Ahead of them, he saw both Endicotts had regained solid ground and were fighting to catch their breath.
Suddenly something struck the water in front of them and then right next to them. Turning towards the shore, they looked on incredulously at the sight of Stalking Wolf running along the shore firing arrows at them as he ran, his borrowed rifle seemingly having been lost in the battle.
“Exactly what did you do to piss this guy off so much, eh?”
There was no time to answer, as she pushed Montana below the surface as an arrow lanced the air where their heads had been. When they resurfaced, it was to the sound of gunfire. The Endicotts had both retrieved her guns and were shooting at Stalking Wolf who took shelter behind a boulder. When their hammers fell on empty chambers, he reemerged. Cassandra saw him pluck a final arrow from his quiver and readied it to fire. An instant later, it flew so close to her head that she felt it pass through the stands of her hair.
Stalking Wolf stood there for a moment glowering at having not made the kill shot with his last arrow. She watched as his head pivoted back and forth as he sought some plan of action. The brave froze for a moment and then jerked his tomahawk from his belt and began to run again, heading for one side of the entrance to The Chute. Cassandra swallowed hard, knowing what he was going to do. He would use the downed tree to bridge the gap to reach the other side, and once he did, the Endicotts would be dead and Stalking Wolf would cut the rope.
Frantically she launched herself into the only course of action she could think of. She surprised Montana by suddenly coiling the rope tightly around the wrist of his uninjured arm, securing him.
“What are you-?”
"Pull now!!!" she ordered the Endicotts. For several long seconds, they hesitated before they understood what she wanted, and then they reached for the rope. Even as they were doing that, she reached down through the water and once more plucked her little knife from her boot. A couple of quick slashes with it and to Montana's horror the line behind him was cut as he was being reeled in towards shore. Cassandra watched him go for a moment and begin to pull herself back on the rope still attached to the drifting stagecoach as it headed straight for the jammed-up entrance to the gorge.
Her mind raced through the pitfalls and possibilities of anything she might try as she watched Stalking Wolf running closer with each passing second. All she had was the rifle and the six-gun that lay atop the stage, but how many bullets did Montana's gun have left? At least the rifle still had its box of cartridges lying next to it where she had left them. If she could get to them at least, she wouldn't be defenseless when the number two man of all the Omegas arrived to exact his vengeance.
With a far gentler impact than she had expected, the stage came to a halt bumping against the tree and the cadre of dead horses. Cassandra scrambled back up on the stage. Damn, I'm sick of this thing. I just want to be back in my own saddle on Lily! she thought as she allowed herself to look past the branches of the tree and caught a fleeting sight of the foreboding view of the rocky walls of the gorge beyond.
Ignoring the frightening sight, she dropped down on her knees and reached for the box of ammo and the gun, both of which had slid up next to the small, inch high decorative railing. At that moment, unseen below her the current pushed on one of the dead horses, dislodging it from its entanglement in the branches, as it snapped off the thick branch, and the body and the branch shot upward bumping one of the stage wheels with some force.
Pain mushroomed through Cassie's back, and she shrieked as she slammed down on the roof of the stage, having its sudden rocking motion sweep her directly off her feet. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the box of ammunition and Montana’s gun flip over the little railing and disappear into the water. The noise of its soft plop was lost in the frothing noise from the water that was making its way into The Chute, but at least the rifle remained wedged against the small railing. The river had taken, but it also surrendered as well, as the body of a horse and a large branch bobbed to the surface next to the one-time stagecoach.
Shaking her head, she rolled over, her large breasts plastered against the roof of the coach and she looked up as the sound of gunfire once more filled the air. At first, she thought the Endicotts were trying to shoot at Stalking Wolf, but then she remembered they had no ammunition left, it was all on her useless gun belt. In fact, things didn't look good at all on shore. Endicott lay clutching his ankle, somehow having been injured and Millie was still struggling to pull Montana to shore as he flailed around with his one good arm. The gunfire was coming from elsewhere.
She swung her eyes back to the side of the river with the stage road and saw a lone cavalryman was firing at Stalking Wolf who was firing back with some sort of pistol he possessed that she had not seen earlier because of the distance. The two had taken positions behind two large boulders whose freshness told her they had been unearthed in the recent flash flood. Both men were firing, but neither was having any luck. Grimacing to herself, she was going to give the trooper some aid while Stalking Wolf was distracted. She reached for the rifle and scooped it up
in her hands. Dismay washed over her as she checked the chamber. She had not reloaded it after firing on Stalking Wolf earlier, distracted by the coach being swept around the bend and towards The Chute.
Later she could be mad at herself, she thought. Right now, she had to come up with a new plan. The rifle was useless, and maybe her knife might have done good in the hands of Honor Elizabeth, who was highly skilled at knife fighting, but it wouldn't stop Stalking Wolf. She needed some way to put him out of commission. Her eyes were darting about frantically looking for anything she could use, then they fell on the horse that had surfaced and was floating nearby, but it was not alone. She also saw the branch that had bobbed up below as well. An idea formed in her mind like a bolt from the blue, would it work? Maybe, just maybe.
CHAPTER 21
For what would prove to be the final time that day, Stalking Wolf felt joy swell within his breast as he watched the impact of his last shot smash into the shoulder of the young cavalryman he had been trading shots with. He would have preferred a kill shot, but all that mattered now was that he was free to go after Cassandra Wilde.
His world and all his carefully crafted plans had plunged into anarchy from the moment he saw the she-devil on top of that stage. Stalking Wolf’s mind had reeled at how she could possibly be there at this time and place. Then he realized perhaps there was a Great Spirit after all, that he had delivered him an opportunity to kill the woman who had foiled him on Topaz Peak, and who along with her motley band of sisters had managed to kill all his men including one of his best friends.
He had snatched a rifle out of the hands of Stalks at Night and had just been ready to rid the troubled land of his forefathers of the blond white eyes woman when out of nowhere the cavalry had come charging at them. There had been no choice but to table his vengeance and launch into the fight against them. Arrows flew, and service revolvers blasted all around the road turned into a field of battle. As he fought grimly on, he tried to reason how the troops could have shown up. There had only been one answer, and it had angered him beyond reason. One of the captured Omegas must have talked … and yet how could the man have? None of those braves had been given knowledge of the full extent of their mission to have been able to reveal his plan.
River 0f Death: Cassandra Wilde Adult Western (Half Breed Haven Book 13) Page 16