The Beast of Nightfall Lodge

by SA Sidor

  It cocked its head.

  Lifted its blunt chin.

  Staring at something… behind us?

  “The Beast is running away!” Wu shouted. It was true. The lumbering giant crossed the path, crashing into the snow-covered terrain, and headed for a gap between the rocks and trees.

  I turned to see what it saw behind us–

  The wildcat leaped across my vision and onto Evangeline.

  Over the neck of Neptune they went together. Her horse – the poor frightened thing – reared up on his back legs and bolted away. Evangeline landed roughly. I heard the air go out of her in a rush. A crunching of snow and gravel as she somersaulted and came to rest flat on her stomach. The cat stopped its fall nimbly, landing on four large splayed paws. It loomed over her, covering her body with its own. Evangeline picked up her head in bewilderment, seeing one furry foot and then a second framing her upturned face. Snow stuck in her hair and there was a frosty pinkness on the skin of her cheek. Her mouth hung open in amazement. She looked as if she’d been pushed facedown into a whipped cream pie. Her eyes were frantic. Searching for the rifle, I realized.

  But the rifle was out of reach. The collision had launched it some distance. I only saw the imprint in a snowbank. How deeply it sank, who knew?

  This cat wasn’t a mountain lion. How remarkable, I thought. Although I had never actually seen a mountain lion in my life, I knew what they were supposed to look like. I had read about them, perused drawings, even brushed my fingers through a rug that had once been a mountain lion. Perching over my millionairess occultist librarian partner was a predator of another stripe – or spot, as was the case.

  A leopard?

  I could not say for sure. Oscar would have known in an instant. Black spots bordered golden rosettes, at times filling them, camouflaging the cat’s compact, muscular body. Many smaller dots dappled the face and neck. But this furry jigsaw puzzle was hardly an asset in New Mexico. Better suited for the jungle, which is where I suspected this animal belonged. Its underside was pale fur, like beer foam. At least two hundred pounds of menacing male feline – it just looked male, given its girth and swagger – exhaled a cloud of hot cat breath on the back of Evangeline’s head, making her face flush scarlet.

  “Hardy?” she said.

  “Do not move, Evangeline.”

  “Would you please shoot this cat?”

  “Any sudden movement may startle the creature into an attack. Besides, I don’t have any weapon–”

  “You have my pistol.”

  “I was going to say ‘weapon skills’. I am no marksman.”

  “The noise may drive away the cat,” she said.

  “Or it may cause the thing to bite you. And drag you off.”

  I carefully slid from my saddle. Jingle was quite nervous. I did not blame him.

  “Just shoot it!” Evangeline shouted.

  The wildcat nuzzled the back of Evangeline’s head. I gripped my stick and crept forward with deliberateness and caution. The jungle feline raised its head and eyed me coolly.

  “I can kill the leopard,” Wu said.

  He had his Colt out and was pointing it at the cat’s head. He had drawn his gun several times recently. None of them had ended well. I mentioned this fact.

  “So, Wu, you agree this is a leopard?” I said, hoping to divert him from shooting.

  “It looks very like a leopard to me,” Wu said.

  “But how would a leopard find its way here?”

  I took another step closer. The cat flicked its tail.

  Evangeline said, “PLEASE DO SOMETHING!”

  “I am doing something.” I waved my stick back and forth above my head. “The cat is now more concerned with me than with you. If I can draw it toward me, then Wu will shoot.”

  Wu cocked the Colt’s hammer.

  The leopard swiveled its head and fixed the boy with golden eyes.

  “Oh no oh no…” Wu’s hand started to shake.

  I shook the ape’s head of my stick near the cat’s face.

  The cat bared its teeth at me.

  “Steady, Wu,” I said. “Evangeline, carefully lace your fingers at the back of your neck to protect your spine. On the count of three I will strike at the cat’s head. The cat should charge me. Wu, please empty your revolver into it. One... two...”

  Then we heard a sound carried on the wind.

  The cat looked away from me and stared up the Copper Trail.

  And before Wu could pull his trigger, the leopard leaped high, ricocheted acrobatically off the trunk of an aspen, bounded through the snow-capped outcroppings and out of sight.

  Trotting up the trail was an equally imposing and fearsome beast.

  I called out my thanks to it.

  “Orcus! I am so glad to see you!”

  16

  The Strangest Thing

  Orcus watched the leopard disappear. Wu and I went to Evangeline. She stood up and turned away from me as she brushed herself clean of the mountain trail detritus. She had a small scratch on her cheekbone.

  “That turned out better than I anticipated,” I said.

  I reached out to Evangeline, but she slid beyond my touch.

  “You should have shot the cat,” she said. “That would have saved me faster.”

  “You did not need saving,” I said. “As is often the case.”

  But here I needed to leave my old friends behind to greet my new friend. I was not prepared to talk with a dog in front of them. Part of me wondered if Orcus would talk to me, or if our previous conversation had been a one-time telepathic interspecies communion. None of the Adderlys seemed aware of Orcus’ talent for words. I began to suspect that he only talked to me. Why was I different? Perhaps my past mental connection with an Egyptian sorcerer had left certain channels open, which for others remained blocked. Then again, madness must start somewhere. The mad hear voices. Was Orcus my first step toward an asylum?

  I met the Italian mastiff up the path. He had paused to watch the gap in the scenery where the Beast and the leopard had fled; evidence of their tracks was quickly disappearing.

  “Thank you, Orcus, for saving us from that leopard.”

  “It was a jaguar,” he said.

  So, our conversations were to continue. I was pleased, if also unsettled.

  “A jaguar? I have never seen a jaguar.”

  Orcus furrowed his loose brow.

  “Well, until now. How do you know it was a jaguar?”

  “Because it was.”

  “We also encountered the Beast. It’s been a busy morning. Our bounty-hunting partner is badly injured. How did you come to look for us?” I followed this by saying, “May I pet you?”

  “You may pet me, Rom Hardy Who Smells Afraid.”

  Orcus closed his eyes and rotated his big anvil head, so I might scratch his ears.

  “I did not smell the Beast,” Orcus said. I felt the rumble of his voice through my fingertips. “I do smell your bloody friend. He has something strange in his blood that I do not know. Ashes smell this way after a very hot fire but not exactly… maybe a foreign spice is added… I was not out here looking for you. But I am happy I found you. That is enough petting.”

  I had been scratching rather vigorously. Orcus’s fur was cold and warm at the same time. Rubbing him made me feel as if I were the one being soothed. “Why were you out in this storm?” I asked.

  “The pups are missing. Oscar ordered me to retrieve them.”

  “What pups?”

  “Claude and Cassi.”

  “Oh, I see. That is concerning. Oscar expressly told Cassi to stay with her mother.”

  “Oscar is my master, but he is not his daughter’s. He is angry that she went out.”

  “You do not share his concern?”

  “Oscar coddles them. The pups take care of themselves. Your friends are coming.”

  Wu and Evangeline had remounted their horses. McTroy lay across Moonlig
ht. Jingle walked a few paces behind them.

  “Might you lead us out of this blizzard?” I asked.

  “Yes. It is easy. But the mountain grows more dangerous now.”

  “Because of the snow?”

  “Many things make this a bad place. I like my life and do not wish to end my time.”

  “Neither do I. Ah, here is the rest of my hunting party.”

  We did not look like much: a boy, a disheveled woman, a half-dead man, and me.

  Orcus ran ahead. But he stopped to check to see if we were following. His ears were pointed like stubby black horns.

  “Demon dog,” I muttered to myself, smiling.

  Wu handed me Jingle’s lead. I put my foot in the stirrup and climbed on.

  “It seems that Orcus knows the way home,” I said. “We should follow him, I think.”

  “Please give me back my pistol,” Evangeline said.

  I did as requested.

  “Were you able to recover McTroy’s rifle?” I asked.

  “Wu got it.”

  “Excellent.”

  We spoke not another word until after we had re-entered Nightfall Lodge.

  That was probably for the best.

  Viv wheeled her chair to the edge of the bed where Hodgson the coach driver and I had set a limp McTroy. She looked drawn but otherwise fully recovered from her possession.

  McTroy gave no indication of pain, or anything else. If he had not been breathing I would have thought he was a corpse.

  “This is terrible… just terrible. How did it happen?” she said.

  “He fell,” Evangeline said before I could answer.

  Her eyes flashed at me to keep silent.

  Vivienne’s face twisted in anguish. She knew the changes a fall could bring. Involuntarily she brushed the engravings of her leg braces. Then she grazed her fingers over McTroy’s blood-soaked clothes.

  Oscar rushed into the bedroom.

  “Good God, he looks awful. Do you know Cassi is missing as well?”

  “Is she?” I could not let on what Orcus had told me.

  “Ran out looking for my team, I suppose. Claude never caught up with us. But he is gone too. The morning has been a disaster all around. Did you manage to spot the Silver Team while you were out?”

  “No,” Evangeline said.

  I gathered that she had decided we would not share the truth. Details of our run-in with Gavin Earl and his men might derail the entire hunt. And McTroy’s humiliation was best kept as private as possible. I quietly agreed with my sponsor on that point.

  “Evangeline said he fell.” Vivienne gripped her husband’s hand and brought it to her cheek, then kissed his knuckles.

  “He’s been shot in the hand,” Oscar said.

  “His gun went off,” Evangeline said.

  Oscar opened McTroy’s shirt, checking underneath the bloodstain. “This blood is fresh, but these wounds look weeks old. They are already healing.”

  “McTroy is a scarred man,” I offered from my position in the hallway. “He is as tough as they come.”

  Oscar nodded, but his face remained perplexed. “I’ll call for a doctor as soon as this storm ends. We’ll make sure he is patched and able to travel before we deliver you to your train.”

  “Train?” Evangeline said. “We aren’t leaving.”

  “What?” three people said at the same time.

  My shock was greater than Oscar’s or Viv’s.

  Evangeline went on. “Accidents happen. McTroy will recover here in your wonderful home much better than he can on a jostling train. Or even in Yuma. If you’ll allow us to continue the hunt…”

  “Certainly, you are welcome to stay for as long as you like,” Oscar said.

  Viv agreed. “That is a wise decision. Hodgson will help me clean him up. Then we’ll move him to the room adjoining mine. I always put Claude and Cassi there when they are sick. You may be surprised, but I am a good nurse. There are remedies beyond scientific medicine.”

  “Thank you both,” Evangeline said.

  Then, changing the subject, she asked, “Who fired the three shots?”

  “The Silvers,” Oscar said angrily. “I think they used the signal falsely. Although I’m glad Orcus found you, it was not his mission. He was supposed to locate my children. I’ve sent him out again. But the weather is making things difficult.”

  The main door to Nightfall banged shut and echoed down the hall.

  I was the first to arrive in the vestibule.

  Cassi was placing her Remington rifle in a cabinet beside the door. She unwound a long maroon woolen scarf from her face and startled when she saw me, half-hidden in the shadows.

  “Rom!”

  Her father stormed past me. “Where were you? You left your mother alone.”

  “Is she well?” Cassi said.

  “Yes, but that is not the issue.”

  “I stayed with her until she appeared herself again.”

  Oscar huffed in frustration. “Did you not recognize the three-shot signal to return?”

  Viv and Evangeline joined us to hear Cassi’s response.

  “Hello, Mother. It is quite a crowd in here,” she said. “To answer your question, Father, I did make note of the signal. But I stayed out on the mountain.”

  “Why?” he asked.

  “As you may have guessed, I didn’t follow the Gold Trail. Instead, I went looking–”

  “Why weren’t you on the trail assigned to you?” Oscar said.

  “Father, if you stop interrupting me, I will explain everything.” Cassi then paused to see if he would break in again.

  Oscar folded his arms across his chest.

  “Very well,” Cassi continued. “Father, you and your guide friend, Mr Smoke Eel, rode to the Gold Trail as I expected. I was going to do my best to catch up with you. Really, I was. But I spotted Claude riding higher up the mountain! Not at all where he belonged. He was following none of the trails. Now that shouldn’t surprise anyone who knows Claude. He is his own compass. But given Claude’s illness and injury from last night, I was worried about him. I felt it was my sisterly duty to chase him down if I could.”

  “And did you?” Oscar asked.

  Cassi hung her coat on a wall peg. She removed her boots. The cold had added the most attractive rosiness to her complexion. The red of her lips, the brassiness of her curls, all her coloring and everything else about her seemed to pop and crackle with renewed energy.

  “No. My horse was too slow. Or I do not possess the recklessness of Claude when it comes to driving an animal up a slippery slope of ankle-breaking holes. I lost him. Then, in quick order, the snow began to fall, the wind to gust, and I lost myself. Oh, I knew where I was in general terms. I had not strayed far from Nightfall. Direction wasn’t the problem. But I had trouble finding a safe track down. When I finally came to the road, I must have been confused because I crossed it without realizing that I had. Then I saw the strangest thing.”

  “A jaguar?” I said.

  Cassi looked a bit horrified.

  “Nooo… I saw Gavin Earl and his team in pursuit of a rather large and unusual quarry…”

  “The Beast!” Oscar clapped his hands, causing us to jump.

  Cassi smiled. “I can only assume that’s what it was. They were very excited and did not notice me. Though the fat man’s bear raised its nose in my vicinity. I’m wearing vanilla and musk perfume, with a hint of cashmere.” She held out her wrist to me and I sniffed it.

  “Warm and inviting,” I said.

  Smiling, she closed her eyes, opening them slowly like a cat.

  “What happened with the Beast?” Evangeline asked. “Did they capture it?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  Cassi failed to elaborate further.

  “Is that it? You don’t think so?” Evangeline took a step closer to us. “What happened?”

  “Oh, I realized I was lower than the road, so I b
acktracked and sure enough there it was–”

  “With the Silver Team and the Beast?” Evangeline asked. “Did you see where they went?”

  I thought Evangeline might throttle Cassi if she did not give a suitable answer.

  “The men grew angry. The quarry had slipped through their net. There was shouting and cussing. Words I’ve never heard before. I will have to ask you about those, Rom. The Silvers went down toward the creek. They weren’t in the Silver Trail area at all, I should mention. It was on your patch, Evangeline and Rom. Copper Trail. But I didn’t see you anywhere.”

  “I’m just glad you are home,” Oscar said.

  “It was brown,” Cassi said.

  “Pardon me?”

  “The Beast. I saw it sort of sneak around the Silvers. It hid behind a rock pile. I got a good look. It was brown. Like a cross between a buffalo and a buck. It had buck antlers and a big buffalo head. It was a tall fellow. I didn’t have the heart to shoot at him. He seemed almost frightened.”

  “Most unusual,” Oscar said. “I wouldn’t think the Beast is afraid of anything.”

  “I thought so too. That’s why I left it alone. Storms do confound things. I only wish Claude wasn’t still out there in this blizzard.”

  But then the door opened again.

  A flurry of snowflakes blew in like confetti.

  Claude stomped his boots and brushed the gathered snow from his shoulders.

  “What? Is it a party? Am I late for the festivities?” Claude stepped to the side to let Orcus in. “Get this dog a meaty bone. He practically dragged me home.”

  Cassi hugged her brother more emphatically than I would have expected for so short a separation. He seemed embarrassed by her enthusiasm. “Did you presume me dead? I was only losing myself in nature. Storms are exciting. It’s a waste not to enjoy them.”

  I found Orcus and gave him a good scratch.

  “You seem to have made a new friend,” Cassi said.

  “I hope I have,” I replied.

  McTroy had torn away his shirt and left it in the bedroom, so he was bare-chested when he walked among us. His torso was stained red but the bruising of his face and limbs had faded to ugly dark yellows and winey purples. His eyes were cold, glittery. He was barefoot. His hair stuck out at strange angles, glued in place by his own gummy, red-black blood. His mangled right hand was empty and twisted out of shape like a tree root, but his left hand held a Colt Army pistol, with the hammer cocked.