Six
Do we need to take things slow?”
Nate’s voice and challenging stare jarred Laura back to the present. She hadn’t answered his question, only stared like a person who’d lost her wits.
She couldn’t help a grin, the kind Will had always been able to pull from her. “Not on my account.” She nudged her mare and the horse broke into a jolting trot.
Nate pulled alongside, and she kicked Nugget a little harder. Finally the horse began to canter, and Laura settled into the rocking gait. Other than the kidnapping, she’d not had much chance to ride since she left the farm, but this mare kept an easy rhythm as comfortable and familiar as breathing.
She inhaled the fresh air. The crisp scent of autumn in the mountain country brought all her senses to life. This jaunt might possibly be even better than those long-ago rides.
When they reached the stony ground where the land rose toward the rocky crag of the mountain, Laura eased back on her reins, and Nate slowed his horse beside her. As the animals settled to a walk, she let out a long breath. “I needed that.”
He gave her another one-dimple, crooked smile. Maybe he needed these moments of freedom as much as she did after all his backbreaking work in the mine.
The horses breathed easier by the time they reached the base of the cliff. Laura dismounted and unfastened the satchel from behind her saddle.
“I brought two lanterns and plenty of rope. I think that’s all we’ll need.” Nate stepped up beside her, his arms laden with supplies. “Shall we hobble the horses so they can graze while we explore?”
Laura gave a nod.
They made quick work of the job, then climbed up to the rocky ledge. Nate motioned for her to lead the way around the mountain, and she stepped forward boldly. Not too boldly, though. She already had a weak ankle; she didn’t need any other injuries to waylay her.
When they reached the cave opening, the hole yawned black against the bright daylight. Even after they lit both lanterns, part of her hesitated to duck low and step inside. Where had her thirst for adventure fled to?
“I’ll go in first.” Nate studied her as though he could read her mind.
“No, I want to.” She didn’t need to be babied. She’d already been in the space and knew there was nothing to fear.
Bending low, she held the lantern out and followed its light through the dark hole. Once through the archway, she straightened and lifted the light higher to scan the interior. The hanging rock formations and narrow columns were there, as she’d first seen them in the light of her match, but she’d forgotten how numerous they were.
As she shifted the lantern so she could see from one side of the cavern to the other, her gaze caught on something. Was that a darker-colored rock at the base of the wall on the far left? It almost looked like fur. An animal?
Nate had just ducked into the cave and now straightened, the motion of his lantern sending the shadows jumping and dancing. She reached for his arm and grasped it, stilling him with her touch.
“Look.” She kept her voice low and pointed to the spot. “What is that?” Had a bear already come to hibernate? The nights had turned cold enough to indicate that winter would soon be upon them.
He took a step nearer, raising his lantern as he peered at the spot. She dropped her hand from his arm but moved in close behind him.
The creature against the wall shifted. Just barely, but she was almost positive it hadn’t been a shadow flickering from the light. “It’s alive.” Her chest tightened so much the words barely came out loud enough for him to hear.
Nate slipped the coil of rope from his shoulder and dropped it to the floor, then glanced back at her. “Stay here. I’ll see if it’s dangerous.” She couldn’t see more than shadows in his eyes, but the strength of his frame beside her bespoke protection. Even against a raging grizzly, this man would do everything he could to keep her safe.
Still, the last thing they needed was for him to be mauled by a bear. “Do you need my pistol?” She reached for the satchel hanging at her side. The small gun may only infuriate a grizzly. She’d heard stories of these beasts being shot five or six times with a rifle without dying.
He nudged aside his jacket and pulled out his own pistol. “I have this, but I won’t get close enough to stir up whatever that is, especially if it’s dangerous.”
As he turned toward the creature, she forced herself to take in steady breaths. Nate crept forward, the lantern in one hand, pistol in the other. His boots scuffed a little on the stone floor, especially as he moved down the slope where she’d twisted her ankle. When the rock leveled out again, he stilled. Every part of him seemed trained on whatever lay tucked at the base of the wall. From what she could tell, the creature had a dark, curly coat, almost the color and texture of a buffalo, but smaller and long, like a bear’s carcass.
In an instant, Nate’s bearing changed. He straightened, raised his handgun to level the barrel at the animal, and cocked the action. He sent a glance around him, as though he expected something else to jump out, but then returned his full focus to the animal.
“Show yourself.” His voice came out low and hard. Lethal.
The sound sent a chill down her arms despite the thickness of her woolen coat.
Then his words sank through her. Did he think it was a man? With new eyes, she studied the figure. Yes, that may well be a man stretched out under a buffalo skin.
As quietly as she could manage, she reached into her satchel and felt around until her hand brushed her pistol. She pulled out the gun and scanned the cavern, peering as far into the shadowy depths as she could. While Nate focused on whatever threat hid under the fur, she would protect them from anything that lurked outside the light.
She took a few steps closer to him.
“Don’t, Laura. There’s a man under there.” Nate never took his eyes off the figure, but his voice still held that hard edge. She’d never heard that tone from him, and it made him seem more the seasoned criminal and less the man she’d come to know these past months. And the sound of her given name in that tone sent a swirl of confused emotions through her chest.
But he was only trying to protect her.
She held her ground and didn’t move any closer. Still, she raised her lantern higher and kept her focus on searching the cavern.
Nate stepped toward the stranger hiding under the pelt, and she couldn’t help but split her attention between the pair and her efforts to scan the rest of the room for any new threats.
“Show yourself now, or I’ll send a bullet through you.”
She pressed her mouth shut to hold in a gasp. Would he really shoot a stranger when they didn’t even know if the man presented a threat? But if the person wouldn’t show himself, he must have some nefarious motive. Right?
How did Nate even know for sure this was a human and not a sleeping bear?
She crept forward, keeping quiet enough that Nate shouldn’t hear her move. He might notice the flickering of her lantern light on the walls around them, but his focus seemed intent on the figure he was moving toward. Only three or four strides separated him from his target now. The thing still hadn’t moved much. Maybe it was dead or nearly so.
“This is your last warning.” His voice still held that hard, icy chill, but he hadn’t fired his gun. Maybe he didn’t intend to until he knew more.
God, help him. Help us.
Nate closed the last strides between him and the covered figure. Then he planted a boot in the fur. Hard apparently, for the man underneath grunted.
Whoever was under there was alive.
With a swift motion, Nate set the lantern down, then jerked the covering away, stepped back, and aimed. The motion was so swift, the stranger likely wouldn’t have gotten the draw on him if he’d tried.
Still, she kept her pistol pointed at the threat from where she stood, back by the incline where she’d twisted her ankle.
As her eyes adjusted to the figure, she sucked in a gasp. Lying on the cave floor
was a man. An Indian, from the look of his tawny skin and sharp cheekbones. His gray hair lay in loose strands over his face but didn’t conceal his rounded eyes.
There was no fear in his gaze. In fact, she couldn’t name exactly what emotion was there. He was simply . . . staring.
Nate seemed to gather himself. “Who are you?” His voice wasn’t as hard as before. It sounded to Laura like there was still a bit of lingering surprise in his tone.
The old man didn’t answer. Only stared. Was that a look of resignation on his face? He must not have a weapon.
Why hadn’t he moved farther into the cavern when he heard them coming? Maybe he was too old or injured. The shadows lining the deep grooves on his face made it hard to tell his age. But the long strands of salt-and-pepper hair showed he’d likely been an elder for a number of years.
At last, the man made a sound. A grunt that changed in pitch just enough that it might be a word. Perhaps in his native tongue, anyway. Not English that she could tell. He shifted, and a grimace crossed his face. He seemed to be working his hands out from under the fur.
She tensed, and she could see Nate readjust the angle of his gun. To be safe, she glanced around the perimeter of the room. No one else seemed to be there. Had the old man’s companions left him here to rest? Or was he injured?
The moment he extracted his right arm from under the fur, his situation became all too clear. His buckskin tunic had been sliced open and peeled back, revealing a nasty wound on his forearm. The bright red of raw flesh glared up at her, extending almost from his wrist to elbow.
She was already moving toward him before she realized what she was doing. That injury needed tending right away, or the infection that would overtake him would be his demise. No doubt about it.
“Laura.” Nate’s sharp bark was a warning, but she only let it slow her for a moment.
She started forward again, although she kept a keen eye on the man. She still gripped her pistol, but kept the barrel pointed at the floor. If he pulled out a knife or some other weapon, she could easily protect herself.
“Laura, stop. We don’t know if he’s dangerous.” A tinge of fear edged Nate’s voice, and from the nearing tone, he’d shifted close behind her.
“He’s hurt, Nate. Besides, if he wanted to hurt us, he would have tried already.”
“We don’t know that.”
She dropped to her knees beside the older man, and Nate hovered just behind her. He would protect her. She had no doubt of it.
She sent the older fellow a smile to show she meant no harm, then turned her attention to his arm. The flesh appeared raw and exposed, with pale striations of muscle or tendon showing through in some places. She couldn’t see any sign of scrapes or lacerations that would give a hint of what had caused this. Maybe a burn?
If so, the water must have been scalding. The arm looked as though the skin and top layers of flesh had simply dissolved. Bile churned in her gut, rising into her throat. She had to look away and inhale a deep breath through her nose to force her gorge back down.
To cover her upheaval, she focused on the man’s face. “What happened to you?”
A flash of confusion touched his eyes. Maybe he didn’t understand English.
“He bested a wildcat.” The voice from behind made her spin. She almost fell over from the shot of pain through her weak ankle, but she pressed a hand to the stone floor to keep herself upright.
A figure stood across the cave, just inside the circle of lamplight but still a dozen strides away. A child, maybe seven or eight years old, her raven hair pulled back from her tawny face.
But it was the regal glare she sent them that was the girl’s most striking feature. As though she had the upper hand and barely deigned to appear before such common visitors. “He fought off the cougar with only his hands. Now he rests to prepare for his next victory.”
The girl spoke with an accent, but she pronounced each word distinctly. Was she here alone with this man . . . maybe her grandfather?
Laura turned back to the man and offered a respectful smile before sneaking another glance at the arm. “I can tell he is brave.” That wasn’t a lie. The man was incredibly brave to have faced them and their weapons without a flinch.
And the girl needed to know they weren’t a threat.
From her glimpse of the wound, she still couldn’t reconcile it with an animal attack. There weren’t clean lines that would have come from claw marks. Something more must have happened.
She inhaled, but only a faint wisp of body odor drifted to her. Not as much as she would expect from an elderly man who was injured enough to make washing hard, even if he could get to a source of water.
Had the injury just happened, then? A wound this open would fester quickly, especially with the contagion from a mountain lion’s claws. Maybe the cat had surprised him during a bathing. There must be more to this story. There had to be.
She turned back to the girl. “I’m not a doctor, but I’ve spent the past few months working alongside one. May I see if I can help his injuries?”
The girl still stood across the cavern, and she seemed to be trying to keep a stoic expression. But the way her fingers twitched at her sides spoke of her nervousness. Trying to decide if she could trust them, no doubt.
“I’ll only work on his arm. If there’s anything you’re not comfortable with, I’ll stop if you ask me to.” She offered a smile. “My name is Laura, and this is Nate.” She nodded toward the man standing guard behind her. She glanced up at him, just to make sure he wasn’t still pointing his gun on either of these vulnerable strangers.
The weapon hung at his side, although she had no doubt he could raise the pistol, aim, and shoot before she could draw breath to scream. He would probably hit whatever he aimed at, too. Not accidently shoot the man who was coming to his defense, shattering that person’s thighbone in so many pieces he might never walk again. Aaron had to walk. He simply had to.
She forced the memories aside. She couldn’t let her focus shift from these people who needed help.
The girl stepped toward them, and the shadows flickered across her face as she wove her way around the hanging rock formations. Surely the child feared facing two strangers with guns, but the nearer she came, the braver she looked. At last she reached them, stopping only a pace away from the older man’s head.
Her gaze met Laura’s with a solidness that many adults couldn’t muster. “Help him if you can.”
A burn sprang to Laura’s eyes, and a knot clogged her throat. She could remember being like this brave girl. Standing up to strangers when her father was too ill from drink to do what his children needed of him, which was more often than not in the early days after Mum had passed. Then again near the end.
She’d learned how to read people. How to judge whether they could be trusted. Women were usually easier to see through than men. And more kind, generally. This girl probably knew that fact well.
Laura smiled at her again. “I’ll do everything I can.”
Seven
Laura turned her focus to the wound, keeping an ear tuned to what Nate or the child would do or say.
This injury would require a great deal of attention. Although, as she studied it, there didn’t seem to be any pus or signs of festering. Only a few bits of hair and dirt that may have come from the buffalo hide the man had covered himself with. How had the wound stayed so clean?
She turned back to the girl, who’d been glaring at Nate. The child’s attention jerked to Laura the moment she turned.
Laura bit back a smile. “Have you cleaned this in water?”
The girl nodded, but a flash of fear passed over her features. “The water burned him. It ate the skin away before we could get him out.”
Laura returned her focus to his arm. “Water did this? Boiling water?”
“The hot spring in the cave.”
Nate stiffened beside her. “In this cave? Where at?”
The child raised her chin as she sent Nate another
glare. “In this cave.”
Laura had to fight to keep her smile hidden. She could understand why the child didn’t trust a man, but this pair was safe with Nate. Should she tell the girl so?
Before she could speak, Nate took the task into his own hands. He dropped to his haunches, rendering his size not so formidable. “I won’t hurt you. I want to help, too.” The earnestness in his voice would win anyone over. He nodded toward the older man. “Is this your grandfather?”
The child looked wary.
Don’t ask personal questions. Talk about something inconsequential. Or share about yourself. She could tell Nate exactly what would break through the girl’s barriers, but perhaps it would be best for him to work through this on his own.
“I had a grandfather once.” His voice was gentle. “We lived with him for a couple years when I was a boy, after my ma died.”
Her heart caught, both at the tenderness in his tone and at the picture he painted. Just like her, he’d lost his mother as a young child. And so had Aaron.
She pushed away the thoughts. She had to stop comparing Aaron’s situation to what her younger brother had gone through. Robbie had lost his leg, but Aaron wouldn’t. Aaron wouldn’t give up the way Robbie had. She would make sure of it.
She forced her focus back on the girl to see the child’s reaction to Nate’s words. Her posture had softened a little.
Nate nodded toward the older man, who was watching them with intense regard, not showing whether he understood anything they said or not. “It’s good you and your grandfather can help each other. Miss Hannon is good at healing. She’ll be able to make your grandfather’s arm better. You can help by telling her what you’ve done for it so far.”
Heavens, he was good. She gave the girl another gentle smile. “Can you tell me more about the hot spring?” She could get some burn salve from Doc Micah and bandages to keep the wound clean. She was fairly certain she wouldn’t be able to talk this pair into coming to the clinic, but maybe the doctor would come tend the wound up here. He usually spent afternoons making house calls, after all.
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