The voices continued. Shortly, she understood what she heard.
Someone’s just outside these rocks! I can hear them talking! She listened intently for a moment. I can’t make out what they’re saying. Are they some of the raiders? Or did those Indians find me after all?
She scooted closer to the edge of the rocks and listened again.
“Rafe?” she muttered. Again, she listened. “Rafe! That’s Rafe out there!”
She struggled to her knees, saw her cousin and whoever was with him sitting on their horses not twenty yards away. She couldn’t make out the features of the person with Rafe, but there was no mistaking his buckskin horse and the way he set him.
“Rafe!” she tried to call. With so little moisture left in her body, she could hardly make more than a croak. Quickly, she cleared her throat, licked her lips, and tried again. “Rafe!”
This time, his head whipped around toward her. She knew then he’d heard her, and she was safe. Tess sank down to the ground again as she saw him turn his horse and walk it toward her. Relief sapped all her energy again.
“Tess?” He to her as he walked the buckskin closer. “Tess, is that you? Are you hurt?”
He swung down as he brought the horse to a stop next to her. Rafe hurried to her side and dropped to his knees beside her. She raised herself up on an elbow and grabbed his neck.
“Oh, Rafe, you don’t know how glad I am to see you. I began to think no one would ever come.” She sobbed quietly and without tears.
“I’m here now, Tess. I’m here, and I’ll get you back to your ranch.”
“How did you know? Who told you about me being taken?”
He held her back a little so he could see her face. “The Sheriff in Amarillo heard about the raid, sent a wire to the Sheriff in Ft. Worth. They’re both friends of mine, so they knew I’d want to know what happened. Once I found out, I came directly here.”
“Thank you. Thank you for coming to find me.”
“I told you I’d be here if you needed me,” he said, looking directly into her eyes. “That’s what family’s for.” He looked her over. “Are you hurt?”
“More hungry and thirsty,” she replied. “Except for the cactus spines in my feet.”
“Let me see.” Rafe lifted one of her feet and examined it. “Doesn’t look as bad as it must feel. Let me help.”
He spent half an hour removing cactus spines from her feet. At the end of that time, Tess could stand and walk without pain.
He helped her on the buckskin and walked them out through the cactus field. “I can’t imagine you walking through this at night and hiding from those Indians.” Pride sounded in his voice.
“It was something I had to do if I wanted to get back home,” was all she said. After a moment, she went on. “Rafe, did you go by to see Edward?”
He hesitated a moment, then replied, “Yeah, I did.”
“Why didn’t he come to find me?”
“Said he hurt his back or his leg or somethin’.”
She thought about this for a moment. “Did he send the boys out after me?”
“Did, but brought them back to finish the spring count.”
“Thought so.” She went quiet again. “When I get back, I’m telling him to leave.”
“Thought you might.”
By then, they were out of the cactus field. Rafe helped her down, brought her his canteen.
Tess drank deeply, then saw Merita for the first time up close. “Who’s this with you, Rafe? You get a partner?”
Her cousin stared at her. “You don’t know her? This is your friend, Merita.”
“I’ve never seen her before.”
Rafe swung around, his hand going for his .45. But he stopped when he saw the black maw of the business end of Merita’s pistol.
“Good thing you stopped, Rafe.” Her smile was evil itself. “I grew to like you, but I’d have shot you anyway.” The smile disappeared. “Drop your gun belt and step back.”
“Who are you, anyway? Obviously, you’ve been lying to me.”
Laughing, she then said, “Yes, I have. And you’ve believed every lie I’ve told you. I’ve enjoyed toying with you, playing you along. You’ve been so easy to manipulate. Now I’ve caught you and this woman. I’m sure Snake Eyes will reward me accordingly.”
When she heard this, Tess literally melted to the ground. After all she’d been through, all the trials, just to have this woman find her and now want to take her back to the raider she escaped from. She had no illusions about what would happen to her.
“All right,” Merita said, waving them to the buckskin. “Mount up. We’ve got to find Snake Eyes.”
Chapter Thirty-eight
Once mounted, they turned their horses southward, Rafe and Tess riding double ahead of Merita. The young woman held her rifle loosely across her saddle bow, ready to use it if Rafe should decide to spur the buckskin and try to outrun her. But he knew he couldn’t outrun her bullet.
“I’m sorry it turned out like this, Tess,” Rafe said softly over his shoulder. “She completely fooled me. I never thought to question her about being your best friend.”
“That’s all right, Rafe.” She squeezed her arms around his middle, laid her head on his broad back. “She must’ve been very persuasive.”
With a short, derisive snort, he replied, “Yeah. Persuasive, pretty, and I’ve never been much of a hand with women.”
“I remember.” She squeezed him again. “Even at the family reunions when we were youngsters, you didn’t have anything to do with us girls. Always out climbing a tree or looking in the creek for crawdads.”
“Well, I ain’t changed much.” Silence settled down between them then, broken only by the sound of the constant wind and the soft clopping of the walking horses’ hooves on the prairie. Then, “I’ll think of somethin’, Tess. I promise you that.”
Another squeeze from her, and then hot tears soaking his shirt.
“Why do you think she didn’t tie us up?” Tess raised her chin to his strong shoulder and asked softly in his ear.
“Prob’ly figgered we weren’t goin’ anywhere. An’ her with that rifle to pick us off if we tried.”
Quiet again for several minutes. Both Tess and Rafe searched the land for something, anything, that might give them a way out of this. Neither saw anything that gave them any ideas. Then Rafe saw a few trees in the near distance that might signal water.
“I’m gonna see if she’ll let us stop up ahead and get some water.” This was spoken quietly so only Tess could hear. “Maybe she’ll get careless, and I can jump her.”
He raised his voice to Merita. “All right if we stop up here and get some fresh water? My canteen’s almost dry, an’ Tess needs more to drink.”
After a pause while the young woman thought about the request, she replied, “All right. Go in slow and keep your hands where I can see them.”
Rafe guided the buckskin to the screen of trees, helped Tess down, then dismounted. Merita held back a little way, her rifle now covering them. They walked to the edge of the pool of water, knelt down to scoop up a drink.
Tess glanced back over her shoulder at Merita. The young woman had her head turned slightly away from them, looking into the distance. She had not searched Tess and thus hadn’t found the Indian boy’s knife. Tess pulled it from her belt and slipped it into Rafe’s boot. Neither of them gave any indication that anything had happened.
“All right, that’s enough!” Merita said. “Move back out here in the open. We’ve got company coming.”
When Tess and Rafe stood in the open they saw a dust cloud approaching. It hovered above four riders, Snake Eyes in the lead.
Tess’s knees nearly buckled, but Rafe grabbed her and held her up. “Stay alert,” he said. “Don’t give up hope. Maybe we can figger somethin’ to do.”
The four riders pulled their horses to a stop a few feet in front of Rafe and Tess. The three riders with Snake Eyes rested their hands on their pistols. Merita di
smounted, and Snake Eyes jumped down from his horse and strode over to her. The two of them embraced like long-lost lovers. The lengthy, deep kiss that followed showed that to be exactly what they were.
“Ah, My Love, it’s been too long this time.” Snake Eyes pulled back just enough to say this, then kissed Merita again.
“It has been too long, Love,” Merita said when they separated again. “But this time, I brought you something. A man to kill, and the woman who must’ve escaped from you.”
Snake Eyes looked over at Rafe and Tess without releasing Merita. “Ah, yes. Thank you. I’ll enjoy punishing the woman.” He gazed into the young woman’s eyes again. “Did you know she’s the first to successfully get away from me? That will require some unique kind of punishment, don’t you think?”
“I’m certain you can think of something, Snake Eyes.” Merita directed her gaze to Rafe and Merita as she said this, an expression of desire on her face. “I can hardly wait to watch.”
“Tell me, My Love,” Snake Eyes went on. “Did you enjoy your time with this hombre?”
“Oh, yes. He was easy to fool. He never had an idea that I worked with you.” She stared at Tess. “And I don’t think this one ever knew I’d followed her from Amarillo out to that isolated ranch. I’m glad you got my message about her. She should bring a good price in Mexico.” She turned to Snake Eyes again. “And then we can get out of this business and go away to California or Oregon.”
“That’s exactly right, Love.” Snake Eyes let go of her and strode over to stand in front of
Rafe. “And we could have already done that if not for your interfering ways.” With that, he knocked Rafe to the ground.
Rafe struggled to his knees, feigning more injury than he actually felt. Snake Eyes took another step toward him, setting himself to hit Rafe again.
As soon as the raider was directly in front of him again, Rafe pulled the knife Tess had given him from his boot and launched himself upward from his knees. He buried the knife to the hilt in Snake Eyes’ throat, slanting upward into his brain. At the same time, he grabbed the raider’s pistol from its holster. Holding Snake Eyes up in front of him, he fired three quick shots, hitting the other three riders. Only Whitehorse got his .45 out and fired once, hitting Snake Eyes’ body.
Rafe dropped Snake Eyes and whirled around toward Merita. The young woman was on the ground, eyes wide to the sun. Tess stood over her, clutching a rock slightly larger than her fist. The same kind of rock she’d used to kill the Indian boy.
As Rafe watched, Tess slumped to the ground. He hurried over to her.
“Are you all right?” Quickly, he searched her for blood, found none.
“I, I think I’m all done in,” she replied.
Rafe held her close and shaded her face from the sun. “I would think so. But you did good, Tess. You did good.”
He picked his cousin up and carried her to the shade of the trees near the water. Then he went back out to make sure the raiders were all dead. He caught up two of their horses. They stayed there at the seep for a couple of hours while Tess recovered and Rafe buried the dead raiders.
“We need to go back and see about the other women,” Tess said once she’d slept for the two hours.
“Don’t you want to rest longer?” Rafe planned to rescue the others, but his concern for Tess was strong.
She stood from the blanket he’d laid out for her. “I’m all right. I’ll be better once those other women are safe. There can’t be more than two or three men left to watch them.”
He marveled at her strength and determination. “All right. I’ll bring the horses around. We won’t have any problem backtracking them to the wagons. I don’t figger it’s very far.”
And it wasn’t far. It only took a few minutes short of an hour to find the wagons. Rafe had Tess wait behind a small rise while he scouted out the camp. Once he came back, he said, “I only saw three men. None of ‘em real watchful. Th’ women are all huddled together under some trees. We’ll need some way to distract th’ men and get ‘em all together.” He stopped then, looking at the extra horses they brought with them. “Don’t know if this’ll work, but it’s the best I can come up with right now.” He explained what he had in mind.
A few minutes later, Tess drove the extra horses in front of her right into the camp. The first man she saw was the cook. The two younger men left to guard the women turned at the sound of the hooves and walked over toward the horses. They were astonished to see Tess riding alone behind them. For a minute, they just stood there with their eyes wide and mouths open, their pistols forgotten in their holsters.
That was all the time Rafe needed. He galloped the buckskin into the camp only seconds behind Tess. His first shot took out the cook. Two quick shots hit the first guard, then the second went down with the next two shots.
Tess had already jumped down from the horse she brought to a sliding stop beside the women. Hearing the horses, then the shots, all the women had stood to see what was happening. At first, they just stood and stared at her, not realizing what had taken place.
“Tess?” The one called Sarah took a hesitant step forward as if afraid this was a trick of some kind.
“Yes, Sarah, it’s me.” Tess rushed to the women who all began talking at once.
As Rafe walked up, they squealed and started to cower.
“It’s all right, it’s all right. He’s my cousin,” Tess reassured them. “Rafe came, found me, and now has rescued us all.”
“What about Snake Eyes and the others?” Sarah asked.
“Dead. All of them.” Tess’s words were flat, emotionless. “Along with a woman who was the one who scouted out our ranches and told Snake Eyes where he could find us.”
“What about Bessie and the other woman? They killed them and just left their bodies.” This came from one of the other women.
“We found them,” Rafe explained. “Buried them until their families can come back and get them to give them a decent funeral. I can find the places where they are.”
There were tears then, of happiness and grief. Rafe left the women alone and dragged the bodies of the three raiders off to one side. Then he put together a good meal for them all. After they ate, the women mounted horses, wanting nothing to do with any of the wagons.
Rafe looked in the wagon with the tightly covered canvas and found a lot of items from several of the ranches. The women agreed some of the things belonged to them, others they didn’t know about.
Rafe drove the wagon filled with loot after loading food and cooking supplies from the chuck wagon in it. They started the slow journey to take the surviving women back home. Tess insisted on getting the other women home before she and Rafe went back to her ranch.
Chapter Thirty-nine
Five days later, Tess and Rafe approached her ranch. They’d spent those days getting the women they rescued back to their families and visiting the families of the two who were killed. Rafe didn’t think he’d ever gone through such an emotional time.
Before they got to the ranch, he asked her, “How does it feel to get back home after what you’ve been through?”
Tess thought about that before answering. “I really don’t know. Maybe if I knew there was someone there who really wanted me back, it would be different. But I’ve got conflicting feelings about it.” She took a great breath, let it out like a sigh. “I want to be back home, but I don’t want Edward to be there.” She turned to meet his eyes as he rode beside her. “Does that make me terrible?”
“Nope. I understand why you feel that way.” He smiled, a grim showing of his teeth that had no humor in it. “I wanted to take him out behind the barn in a real bad way when I found out he wasn’t even looking for you.”
She reached over and grasped his hand in a tight embrace.
When they came in sight of the ranch, Tess stopped her horse. There were buggies and wagons in the ranch yard and horses tied under the cottonwood trees behind the barn.
“Did all these peopl
e come to see me?” She stared at the gathering around the front porch. “Did you let everybody know I was coming home?” She started patting at her hair and smoothing down the front of her dress.
“Nope, wasn’t me.” Rafe shook his head, also staring at the people. “Don’t know why there’s so many there.”
They touched their heels to the horses, walked them on to the ranch. The closer they got to the main house, the less Tess thought the people were there to welcome her home. People were walking into the house and barn, carrying things out in their hands.
“What’s going on here?” she asked Rafe, without turning her head from watching the people.
“Don’t know,” he replied. “But it don’t look right.”
Before they could go any farther, a man dressed in black from head to toe stepped to the road in front of them. He stopped in the middle of the road they traveled, the one that ran right in front of the main house. His posture shouted ‘gunslinger’, down to the twin Colts he wore in tied-down holsters.
“Mr. McCaslin only wants those he invited to th’ sale.” The man looked them both up and down. “An’ you two don’t look like you got invited.”
Rafe recognized the man from things he’d heard about him. Rod Morgan, gun fighter. At least in his own eyes. Said to have killed seven men. He doubted that, unless the men were looking away from him.
“Mr. McCaslin said that, did he?” Rafe leaned forward, his arms crossed on the saddle horn. “You know who this is with me?”
Morgan glanced over at Tess, who wore a too-large dress she’d gotten from one of the families of the women they brought home. “What I see is a saddle tramp and some worn-out woman ridin’ with him. Prob’ly lookin’ for a hand-out.” He settled back with his hands hovering over the pistols he wore. “Now ride on back the way you came. Nobody wants you here.”
“Whether Edward wants me here or not, here I am.” With that, Tess heeled her horse
into a fast walk up to the house.
As she passed by Morgan, who had to jump to one side to get out of the way, the gunslinger said, “Why, you …” And he started to draw one pistol.
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