* * * *
Patti Baker was frantic. The wound in her friend’s shoulder seeped blood most of the day, and becoming inflamed. Added to the blood on bandages she removed were the grayish yellow secretions of infection. She washed the sweat from Shannon’s forehead with a cool cloth. A fever had set in.
Only moments after the tracker had fled the cabin screaming, Shannon regained consciousness and showed Patti how to bandage her wound. They two spent the morning righting the damage to the cabin and the myriad other chores that were part of everyday life. Soon after the sun reached zenith, Shannon weakened further and fainted briefly.
Her fall during the fight had caused a concussion. The disorientation it brought, added to the burning pain of the shallow stab wound and the expenditure of energy, left her weakened and caused her to stumble and fall to the pine needle-covered ground. Only a few seconds later, she was up again, unsure what she was supposed to be doing. She couldn’t remember falling.
Within the next hour, she collapsed twice more and Patti struggled to move her to the bed inside the cabin. Patti stayed beside her semi-conscious friend, doing what she could.
She wrapped Shannon tightly in the two heavy blankets she found, repacked the wound with clean cloth and rebound it tightly. There was nothing she could do for the fever without herbs from her mother’s healing pouch.
“Patti, you gotta get some help. I hurt so badly.” Shannon whispered.
“I can’t. I’d get lost and you’d die an…”
“Hush now.” She reached up and took a handful of the younger girl’s shirt. “Listen to me, Patricia Baker. You have to. You have to get on that horse and ride to the farm. Follow the lake shore west to the pass. Large diamond shaped boulders flank it, you can’t make a mistake.” She mustered all the strength she had left and raised herself up on elbows. “Do it, please. I need help. Please, Patti, go now, I’ll…”
It was too much; Shannon fainted once again. She fell back on her bedroll with a thud. The action frightened Patti more than the fight with the crazy outlaw earlier in the day. She was afraid to leave, afraid to stay and not help, she was afraid of almost everything. She laid another cool, damp cloth on Shannon’s forehead and went outside to the corral, then bridled and led the stallion to the fence.
She climbed up on the fence and slid atop the huge black horse. With a look back at the silent cabin, she put her bare heels to his ribs and rode fast and hard, keeping the lake in sight.
* * * *
Patti reined in hard when she saw the campfire on the low arm of the lake. She had to go past that spot to find the pass. She was startled when a rider appeared suddenly from her right. She hadn’t seen him. He was riding fast and directly toward her.
She kicked the stallion as hard as she could and was nearly unseated by the animal lurching forward; all its strength used to carry a rider wherever and however they demanded. His hooves beat the soft ground into deep depressions, throwing sprays of dirt with each running stride. All Patti could do was hold on and pray he didn’t trip.
A shout, barely heard over the pounding hoof beats, alerted her to another rider spurring from the camp. With one behind and one in front she would be trapped. She pulled hard on the bridle to turn the heavy stallion, to no avail. He had the bit firmly in his teeth and was set on a direct path into and through the camp. She closed her tear-filled eyes, grabbed a handful of the flying mane and held tight, making herself as small as possible.
Tucker was caught off guard by the apparent suicide run into his small camp. Whoever was on the bolting horse was small, that he could see. He turned his mount to block the expected path of the dark animal. He had his pistol in his right hand. In full mounted pursuit his rifle would be less than useless. A gentle tug on his reins angled his horse slightly as the charging mount closed the distance.
A collision was eminent. Only the slight angle of impact would keep him astride and his horse from going down under the flashing hooves of the larger animal. Suddenly, with a nightmarish scream from both rider and horse, the large horse sank from sight as he went to the ground. One blind step in his flight sunk into the soft mud of a hidden marsh. Mud, dry dirt, dust and a screaming rider were flung from his back before his rolling stopped amid still flailing hooves.
“Terry! Go backtrack that trail. See if any others are headed this way,” he ordered.
“Got it.”
Prophet jumped from his mount and ran to the downed rider. His surprise was complete when he found that it was a dark-haired young woman. He knelt and leaned to check her condition. As if spring loaded, she came up from the ground flailing her small fists at him. The fear and desperation gave her a strength that he had seldom seen in one so young. He dropped the pistol. Using both hands, he pinned first one wrist, then the other.
He finally got the kicking girl pinned completely and the color drained from her face as fear contorted her features. Her body was shaking and her breathing increased to hyperventilation.
“Hey, settle down,” Prophet shouted. “Nobody will hurt you here. Quit kicking, dammit. Just lie still a bit. I’m not going to hurt you.”
Maryanne pulled hard and her gelding slid to a stop a few yards away. She watched the incident from the camp and saw rider and horse go down. Recognizing the black stallion, she immediately mounted and rode to aid the rider, thinking it was her daughter.
Clearing leather in a jump from her saddle, she ran to where Prophet held the prone figure down. Seeing it was Patricia Baker instead of Shannon, a flood of questions filled her mind. She knelt in the mud beside the frightened girl.
“Move, Tucker, I have her now. Patti? Patti, can you understand me? It’s Maryanne Hill. Come on, relax, you’re all right now, you’re safe.”
“Miss Mary! Oh God…” Tears sprang from her eyes and coursed down her face.
She buried her face in Maryanne’s bosom and felt relief wash over her. She was safe. She suddenly sat up and pointed.
“Shannon! You have to help Shannon. She’s hurt and sick with the fever. Please I have to get back to her. Please! Oh God, please help her.”
“I’ll go. Follow when you’re able,” Prophet said.
He looked the direction the girl was pointing. He saw Terry riding back, hell for leather. Without another thought he ran to his horse, mounted quickly and put his heels in the animal’s flanks. He reined in briefly to see what Terry had discovered.
“What did you see?”
“There’s a cabin half a mile up the valley; no more than that. Cap’n, Maryanne’s girl is there. She’s hurt bad. Stabbed, fever, God knows what all. I’m gonna get her mother and the others.”
“Okay, go. I’ll get there and see what I can do and stay with her until you all arrive. Send Maryanne ahead first. You three can make short work of breaking camp. Come in and keep an eye out for trouble.”
“Yes, sir, Captain.”
If Prophet heard, it was hard to tell. He was forcing the piebald stallion into a faster and faster run. Terry watched, then grinned and heeled his mare toward the camp.
* * * *
It wasn’t long until the Farren gang neared the ridge overlooking Still Lake. Gunner stood with his fists balled on his hips.
“Fred, get down there and snoop around a little. All them riders goin’ to that cabin don’t make a bit of sense. Y’all set up a camp back in those trees where we can’t be seen.” He said to his other men.
Zimmer walked off into the fading light. A well-worn deer trail with spatters of blood was clear and led directly to the lake. It would be a long night.
Chapter Six
Sunlight streamed through open shutters. Shannon opened her eyes and raised her hand to shield them from the intense brightness. She rolled onto her back and sat up. She fell back. That was too fast. Her head throbbed with the rapid motion.
“Take it easy, baby.” Maryanne soothed. “You’ve had a rough time. Move if you have to, but do it slowly. You hit your head in that fall yesterday. Oh Shannon, I’m so glad you came back to us.” She broke into tears.
Terry laid a hand on the sobbing mother’s shoulder. “She’s all right now, Mary, don’t fret so.”
“Terry, she was so sick last night. Oh God, I was afraid I would lose her too.”
“I know, love, but you didn’t.”
“Mama? Oh, Mama.” Shannon held out her one good arm to her mother.
Maryanne leaned over the low bed and entered that embrace crying. Both women wept tears of joy, of overcoming a brush with death; tears to wash away the fear of nearly losing everything to injury and infection.
“Mama, hush now, I’m all right.” She smiled.
“See, Mary?” Terry smiled down at the weeping women.
“Shannon, oh my God, I was so scared.” Patti rushed to the other side of the bed and flung herself into the tangle of arms and tears.
“Lord help the common man. My turn at guard. Mary, y’all do your catching up. Remember to smile.”
Turning to him, Mary said, “All right, my love. Be careful, please?”
Mary turned back and all three women began to giggle over the affectionate phrase she’d used. Terry rolled his eyes to the ceiling, turned and walked out into the morning sun.
* * * *
“How is she?” Tucker asked.
“She’s awake, Captain. Go see her. Boss, can I say something without you getting mad?”
“Sure, Terry.”
“Well, sir, you been kind of, shall I say, moonstruck since you laid eyes on that gal. You rode here last night with only her on your mind. Please go see her. Tell her how…well, how it seems to me at least, you feel about her.”
Prophet sat on the boulder with his eyes cast down at the rocky ground. One of his oldest friends had just stated out loud what he was thinking and feeling.
Is it that obvious? Damn.
Looking up, he saw his friend grinning.
“What?” he smiled. “Okay, I’m going. I’m going! Relieve Lou at guard, would you?”
“Yes, Sir!” Terry saluted and walked away, laughing.
Steeling himself, Tucker turned and walked to the cabin. He arrived at the door and was met by Mary and the young brunette. They took one look at him and started whispering and giggling. He blushed.
“Tucker, this is Patricia Baker,” Mary said. “She was one of the two girls taken by the outlaw gang in the valley. You ran off for Shannon so fast you didn’t get an introduction.” In a more serious tone; she added, “Go on in, hun, she’s awake and resting.” The women locked arms again and moved away toward the corral.
He pushed the makeshift curtain aside. “May I come in?”
“Yes, please do, Mister Prophet.”
“Can you call me Tucker? Mister Prophet sounds so formal.”
“If you prefer; Tucker. I’m Shannon; not Miss Hill or Miss Shannon.”
“Shannon, I like that. What happened to the angry young woman I first met?”
“Oh, I think she’s still around.” She smiled. “I’m not certain any more. Tucker?”
“Yeah.”
“I was so angry, filled with so much hate. I’m sorry.”
“For what, Shannon?”
“For running away to still that anger my way. For leaving my mother for you to take care of, and for becoming my worst nightmare. I’ve failed everyone around me.”
Tears formed at the corners of her green eyes, though never leaving his. He could see the pain of all the recent events fighting to take control.
“Shannon, don’t cry. You’ve done nothing wrong. You felt you had to do something; you went and did it. Don’t fault yourself for that. Please. I know those feelings very well. They’re like old friends.”
He moved to one knee beside the low bed without realizing it. He reached out and gently smoothed the tears from her cheek. That small touch was like a catalyst. He leaned forward and kissed her.
She didn’t pull back. Instead, her hand found the side of his neck and she drew him closer, deepening the kiss and returning her own.
After what seemed an interminable time, they broke contact. Both were smiling, both tried to speak at the same time. Shannon won out.
“Tucker? I think I’ve fallen in love with you. I have thought of you throughout each and every day since I left. There were times I wanted to turn back and rush to you. Don’t ask me to explain it, I can’t. I just know that’s how I feel. Does that make any sense?”
“To me, yes. When I had the guard at the farm, I found myself watching the direction you rode away. I’m drawn to you in a way I have never known. I can’t explain it either. Yesterday, after your horse fell and Patti told of your injuries, I couldn’t stop myself from rushing here to take care of you. I was frantic. My heart was in my throat until I got here. It was then that I realized how much I needed you. Oh God, and after I saw how badly you were hurt, I was nearly blind with worry. Then your mother told me you would pull through and I couldn’t think of anything except how near I was to losing you without you ever knowing how I felt. Yes, I love you too.”
“Mother thinks you are strong, brave and compares you to my father. She adores you for that. I think you are the most fantastic, caring man I have ever known. Please hold me.”
Stan rushed through the curtain. “Tucker, ah…you gotta see this!”
“What?”
“I found it. I found the reason Farren is here.”
Prophet jumped to his feet. He hesitated.
“Go on, we can talk later. Go!” Shannon smiled.
Both men rushed out of the cabin.
* * * *
Half an hour later, the four men, Maryanne, and Patti were standing beside a six foot wide, eight foot long hole in the ground that was close to two feet deep at the deepest point. When Stan Rosenthal had discovered the spot, only one corner of a trap door was exposed.
“You say it’s all in there?” Prophet asked.
“Yes, along with the tools needed for mining.”
“Well, blast everything, who put it there? Maryanne said that it wasn’t her husband. That leaves only the other two farm owners and neither one of them can tell us. Just who has been mining that ridge if it wasn’t them? If that blood trail is as clear on the other side of the ridge as it was here, it won’t be long until Farren and his men will be here.”
“I put it there!” Shannon stated as she walked up to the group.
“Damn, you shouldn’t be up.” Tucker rushed to her side.
“I’m fine, honestly. Don’t fuss so. I’m just a little shaky. If I move slowly it’s okay.” She sat on a large tree stump. “Want to know what you found?”
“If you don’t mind. There’s gold hidden in there and I believe that’s why the other valley was attacked.”
“All right, you found the Still Water Mine. Or rather, the gold my Papa, Red Baker, and Shorty Hobbs dug from it. They have been coming up here for two years. Mama didn’t know.” She cast a tearful look to Maryanne Hill. “I told Papa that someone was watching the valley. Remember? He knew which valley I was talking about and he guessed what they were looking for. I moved his share of the gold here two months ago so there wouldn’t be a reason for trouble at the farm. I was wrong; trouble came anyway and Papa was killed because of that gold.
“Mama, I begged Papa not to use gold to buy our winter supplies last fall, but he wouldn’t listen. He said that with the price of prime pelts and farm goods down, there was no other way to feed us and have the seed for spring if he didn’t use the gold. I’m sorry, Mama.”
“That’s all right, baby. Your father and I didn’t have many secrets. If he was the man I always believed
him to be, it would be just like him to keep it from me to protect me. I did know he and the others were prospecting in their spare time. I didn’t know they had found anything.” The two women embraced, tears flowed from their eyes as they faced the truth.
Shannon raised her hand to an aching head and Tucker saw the pain flash in her eyes.
“Here, let me help you back to the cabin.” He offered his hand.
“Thank you, it’s probably best I go back for a while.” She smiled.
She leaned into his shoulder as the two neared the cabin; the dizziness returned. She cast a sad eye on the temporary curtain one of the men hung on her door.
“I wish it had been me that shot that son-of-a-bitch. I would have killed him just for the extra work he has caused me. Look at the damage in here.”
Tucker grinned. “Yeah, you’ll be all right.”
She punched him half-heartedly and they both started laughing. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she cast her eyes at the floor.
“Please forgive me for not telling you about the gold. I’ve grown so used to hiding it that it didn’t become obvious why this trouble started until I had my face rubbed in it out there just now.” Tears dripped from her face to the cabin floor.
He reached down and took her hand. Shannon raised her head and he leaned down and kissed her tenderly.
“Why all this started doesn’t matter much. These men would kill for the price of a bottle of whiskey. Now I know why Gunner Farren is here and I know what he’s looking for. He will come to us.”
“Hmmm? I’ll kill him if he comes here!” Shannon declared.
“For the gold?”
“No, not for the gold; I’ll have his blood for killing my Papa, Caleb, and the others and for leading a gang of rapists and murderers.” Fatigue was showing in her voice.
* * * *
Gunner tried for the fifth time to focus his eyes. One drink too many the night before left him hung-over and in a sour mood. He counted four men and one woman near what he thought was a storm or root cellar. He simply couldn’t see that well.
One arm of the dual ridge line faded to a rocky ledge forty yards from the rear of a copse of trees around the cabin itself. The cellar was near the corral outside the trees, and there were six horses in the corral. He raised his hand to shield the sun from his eyes and looked again, trying to see the sixth rider.
Prophet's Rest Page 6