“I’m going to talk with him now.”
He left Elise with Mrs. Winters and went off to find Martin. He needed to tell the wagon train leader what was happening and that they were falling behind.
Chapter 15
Elise watched as the last wagon from the wagon train disappeared around the bend. They were alone, in the middle of nowhere, with Indians nearby in the west. It was not the situation she’d imagined she would be in when she’d first set out with Ronan. She didn’t like the feeling of being vulnerable and alone. She forced herself back to helping Ronan.
He’d unhooked both of the horses, putting them to rest and graze nearby. Meanwhile, he was unloading the wagon.
Elise walked over to the stack of things that were hers. She chose a spare dress, her grandmother’s journal, and her father’s watch. She put the watch on her wrist, and touched the necklace around her neck that had belonged to her mother.
She still had something from everyone in her life that mattered to her. That was a luxury she knew she was lucky to have. She hated to leave behind the rest of her belongings, but it was necessary.
“I think I’ve gotten everything down, but I don’t think we can take the wagon. There is no point anyway in taking an empty wagon. And I need to take care of the horse. If we were back in town, he might be able to recover with the proper care and rest.” Ronan looked conflicted.
“What if we just leave him loose? Maybe the Indians will take him.” Elise glanced toward the woods, where she had seen more Indians since they had left the wagon train.
She was increasingly worried about them, and despite what Ronan said to put her mind at ease, she was growing more concerned with their presence. Why hadn’t the Indians followed the wagon train?
“Maybe, we could leave him loose. We should finish getting a few things on the other horse and try to catch up to the wagon train. Being out here alone is not a good idea.” Ronan’s worried gaze followed the empty space left behind by the wagon train.
Elise didn’t miss the longing and worry that lingered in his gaze.
“Ronan? The Indians, they’re getting closer.” Elise looked back at the horizon by the tree line. Where the Indians had stayed in the woods to observe before, they had now left the cover of the trees and were a small group of four on their horses, clearly watching her and Ronan.
“Come on; we need to go.” Ronan grabbed two small sacks, which Elise figured had their supplies and slung them over the saddle, tying them on quite quickly. He then mounted and reached down to give Elise a hand up.
She didn’t hesitate to give it to him, and then the two were off.
“Ronan? They’re following us.” Elise felt the fear in her heart grow, leaping into her throat and threatening to choke her. The Indians were indeed following them. The four that she had originally seen had grown to six, and they were definitely following.
“Don’t worry. If we can catch up to the wagon train, they will leave us alone. They may be friendly, but I don’t want to stick around to find out. Maybe they will be distracted by the things we left behind. Don’t look at them, or they will sense our fear.”
Elise clutched her satchel that held her dress and her grandmother’s journal. She didn’t want to lose it, but it was hard to hang on to Ronan as they galloped toward the place the wagon train had been just a short while ago.
It had only been about a half-hour since she had last seen the comforting sight of the wagons.
She felt Ronan tense in front of her as he glanced behind them. As she followed his gaze, she realized why. The Indians were gaining on them. The six Indians had feathers in their hair and rode flat on their horses’ necks. Their skin was bronze- colored like they lived under the sun.
“We need to get away from them.” Ronan turned their horse sharply toward the woods.
“What are you doing?” Elise could hardly hear her voice over the rushing wind against her face.
“We need to hide. We can’t outrun them. I don’t want to have a confrontation. They don’t look friendly.” The worry and a twinge of fear were apparent in Ronan’s voice.
Elise had heard enough terrifying stories about the Indians to know that she didn’t want to meet an unfriendly one.
As they rushed into the woods, small branches from the surrounding trees whipped against their faces. Elise bit her teeth together and closed her eyes, trying her best not to protest, even though she’d not been so uncomfortable or afraid in a long time.
Ronan led the horse, weaving in and out of trees. Elise could hear the Indians coming into the trees behind them. Whatever they had done before to maintain a distance and secrecy about their presence, they had abandoned.
An Indian on top of his horse appeared almost in front of them. Elise screamed. How had they managed to get in front so quickly? She could still hear more behind them.
Ronan pulled the horse’s reins, and they managed to evade the Indian, still racing through the forest at breakneck speeds. Elise was starting to think that going into the woods was a bad idea.
They had managed to buy themselves some time, but it seemed like the Indians knew the terrain well and had no problem finding them.
Elise suddenly felt strong arms wrap around her waist, tugging her backward. She clutched Ronan with both of her arms, letting her satchel fall to the ground as she tried her best not to let the Indian that had appeared out of nowhere rip her from the horse.
Her strength gave way, and she felt herself being taken away from Ronan.
“Ronan!” she called.
He turned, his eyes reflecting every emotion she was feeling. For a second, she thought he would ride away. He could, now that he was the only one on the horse. Escape was a possibility on his own. But instead of trying to leave, Ronan turned the horse and barreled toward Elise and her Indian captor. Before he could reach them, they were surrounded by more Indians.
Elise wasn’t sure how many, but she would guess eight or nine.
Ronan looked like he had reached the same conclusion. There was no use fighting or fleeing anymore. These Indians had captured them. Whatever they planned to do with them, there was nothing Elise or Ronan could do to stop it.
***
Elise felt like she was in a nightmare. The Indians had not hurt them yet. In fact, they had only detained them. Elise was tied with a rope around her waist, holding her arms to her sides. Ronan was secured similarly, though she could see they had also fastened his arms behind his back and tied a rope to both of his feet to give him less range should he decide to run.
“Why did you capture us? What do you want from us?” Ronan was doing his best to question the Indians.
But none of them seemed interested in answering his questions or paying attention to either him or Elise.
“What are they going to do with us?” Elise asked. She was glad that the Indians had let her stay close to Ronan. She felt safer being close to Ronan, even though in their current position, there was little he could do to help her.
“I don’t know. We need to wait and see what they want. When we find out what that is, we need to cooperate as much as we can until we find the opportunity to escape.”
“But what if we can’t escape? Will they kill us?” Elise felt her heart fluttering against her ribcage. She didn’t want to die. The thought made her want to panic. Her life was starting. How could she die so young? The one benefit of dying would be that she would finally be reunited with her parents.
“We are not going to die. You need to know; it is possible that something will happen to us, maybe even death, but I am going to do everything I can to make sure that you get out alive.”
“What about you?” Elise asked. She could hear the unsaid words in his statement. He was worried that he wouldn’t be making it out alive.
“I don’t know. But don’t worry. I will protect you if I can.” Ronan’s eyes were filled with genuine worry and protectiveness.
“I hope that it doesn’t come to that.”
“Stop talking!” The words were heavy, said with an accent that made them hard to understand.
Elise redirected her attention to the Indian standing in front of them. He was tall with broad shoulders. But despite his size, he was still smaller than Ronan. Elise imagined that if Ronan and this Indian fought against each other, Ronan would win. But it wasn’t just them against this one Indian. There were at least a dozen Indians in the woods now. Some had taken their horse and their things.
“What do you want from us?” Ronan’s voice was even and certain, but Elise suspected that he was frightened just like she was on the inside.
“You know how to heal?” The Indian directed his gaze at Elise.
Elise exchanged looks with Ronan. When he nodded slightly, signaling that she should answer, she nodded reluctantly. “Maybe. I don’t know what you mean.” Elise wasn’t sure what the Indian wanted. Did he want to know if she was a doctor?
“Can you make sick better?” The man’s words were broken as if he struggled with speaking English.
“I can help sick people, but I am not a doctor.” Elise wasn’t sure if her words were the right ones to help them or not.
It appeared that what she’d said was similar to what they were looking for because the Indian nodded to the others, and the next thing Elise knew, they were thrown onto horses, and they started riding.
Elise was once again grateful that hers and Ronan’s horses were near each other.
“Where are they taking us?” she asked. She had no idea how to tell the direction of where they were going or where they were in relation to Richwater, Texas, or to California.
“They’re taking us back in the direction we came from. Just a little north of the trail, but pretty close. I would guess they are taking us back to their tribe.” Ronan did not look happy about the revelation. His lips were pressed into a tight line. Even though they had undone the ropes holding his feet so that he could ride the horse, his hands were still tied as well as his arms.
Elise was similarly placed on a horse. It was strange to be riding a horse without the use of her hands. She was actually grateful that the Indians had taken the time to secure her to the saddle, or she was certain she would have fallen off.
“Are they taking us to kill us?” Elise whispered, keeping her eyes on the Indian in front of them, hoping there would be no issue with her talking.
“I don’t think so. If they were going to kill us, they’d have done it already. I think they need help with something, maybe with someone sick. That’s what I would guess from what they said earlier.”
“I am not a doctor.” Elise shuddered at the thought of their lives depending on her medical skills, which were almost nonexistent.
“I know. Just do your best, no matter what happens.”
“Stop talking!” The Indian who seemed to be in charge sent them a stony glare.
Elise averted her gaze down to the horse she was riding on. She didn’t want to anger the Indians or cause more trouble than they were already in. She forced herself not to ask any more questions or even look in Ronan’s direction. Whatever was happening to them was out of their control.
The Indians could do what they would to both of them, and no one was going to come and stop them. Elise wondered if those from the wagon train had realized that they didn’t catch up or if they even cared. Of course, Mrs. Winters would be worried.
Elise wondered what the chances of them finding Mrs. Winters again were. She hoped there was a chance. She would love the chance of talking with Mrs. Winters and telling her that they were all right. That was if they made it out of their current predicament.
The sun was sinking in the sky. The day had passed so quickly. She wasn’t even sure what time it was, but she did know that evening would be upon them soon. She wondered if they would stop for the night or ride through until they reached their destination.
Elise tried to breathe and think of the positive things in her life, even though despair and desperation were setting in. As she rode, she allowed herself to think back to when they were captured. Ronan could have left, he could have escaped, but he didn’t.
He had tried to rescue her, and in doing so, he’d allowed himself to be captured too. Why would he do such a selfless thing for her? She kept replaying the moment in her mind, thinking that maybe she had misunderstood or she remembered it wrong.
She allowed herself to glance in Ronan’s direction. He had been nothing but kind to her since he’d returned. He had been there for her. He had given himself and his safety up when it had been her life on the line.
She was starting to see that maybe Ronan was different than the young man who had left her and her father years ago. Maybe it was time to give him a second chance. But could she open herself up to trust him again?
Chapter 16
Ronan looked over at Elise. Her head was bobbing down against her chest. They had been riding hard and fast for most of the day. Even though the sun had gone down a few hours ago, they were still riding. Slower now but still going strong.
They had undone most of the progress that he and Elise had made with the wagon train. The direction was slightly different. He had lost track of where they were because it was dark, but he was confident that as soon as daylight was back, he would know where they were.
He forced himself not to doze off, even though that was what his body desperately wanted to do. His arms were cramping and aching from being in the same position for so long. He was exhausted from being on edge from the events of the day. If he had guessed that this would be their fate, he would have left everything and just taken their horse, never losing sight of the wagon train in the first place.
He looked over at Elise again, worry tugging at his heart. He was worried about her. He had to keep her safe. That was the whole reason he was on this journey in the first place.
He sighed. He should have done more, pushed the horse harder, or taken a different route. Deep down, he knew that the Indians had probably planned to take someone from the wagon train from the beginning, and there was little he could have done to keep it from happening.
But he still felt the blame for letting them take Elise and himself.
He tried to remember landmarks and orient himself for the rest of the night. There were stretches where the Indians kept them riding slow, and then there were other stretches where they rode fast, pushing the horses to their limits.
Even Ronan wasn’t sure how much ground they had covered when the sun started to peek over the horizon.
He watched as it filled the morning with blazing light. Elise was watching too. She had dozed off a few times during the night. Not because she was comfortable or was enjoying herself, but from sheer exhaustion and her body shutting down on itself despite what was going on around her.
Ronan felt another pang of sympathy. Elise should not have had to go through this experience.
Suddenly the leader grunted something to the others, and they stopped near a small stream under the shade of some thick trees. The men began to unroll buffalo robes and place them on the ground. They pulled Ronan and Elise from the horses, untied their hands, and allowed them to drink at the stream. Then they were led to two of the robes and retied with their hands in front of them and allowed to lay down. Their feet were tied together and tied to a tree snugly.
Ronan thought about escape but could see that at this point, it was impossible. One Indian sat cross-legged against a tree, laid a sharp spear across his lap, and stared at him and Elise. The look on his face was stern, rough. Ronan didn’t doubt that the Indians would do anything to keep them from escaping at this point.
A Long Way to Love: A Historical Western Romance Book Page 11