"Like hell."
She snickered at him as she rode past, heading in the preacher's direction. Jem raced to catch up with her, "Hey! This is an invitation only event, and you weren't asked, lady. Turn around and get goin'."
"Who do you think you are to talk to me this way? I should cut your tongue out of your jaw and feed it to my destrier."
"I'd like to see you try."
"Fine. After we are finished with Keewassee, you and I will spend some time alone together and find out!"
"Fine!" Jem shouted, having to kick his destrier in the sides to keep up with her. "I'm starting to think I should have spanked you a lot harder."
One of the scouts sprinted up the overgrown steps toward the dwelling, barely making it inside before she announced, "Men are coming!"
Hehewuti stabbed a crooked finger at Thathanka-Ska and said, "If you have led them to us, you will be the first to die, boy."
A dozen women and children of the Hopituh Shi-nu-mu crowded inside the ancient room, the same as the next two beside them. The clay roofs were so short few of them could stand straight inside them. "We will leave then, grandmother," Lakhpia-Sha said. "We will lead the men away from you."
"Too late," she hissed. "They might see where you ran from. Everyone be quiet and do not make a sound. If these men want to fight, they will find that there are still warriors of the Hopituh Shi-nu-mu who will oblige them."
"Here they come," one of the women said. Each of them covered their children's mouths and bent low to the ground, trying to stay away from the windows. Some of them whispered songs to content their little ones. Some of them prayed.
One of the women crawled across the ground and grabbed Thathanka-Ska's arm. He turned to see the girl that Haienwa'tha had spent so much time staring at. It stabbed him to look at her and remember the time they'd spent together before the arrival of the snake Keewassee. "What do you want?" he whispered.
Kachina said, "Where is your brother? Why did he not come with you?"
Thathanka-Ska pushed her hand away and said, "He could not come."
"Why not? Where is he?" she said.
Tell her he's dead. Tell her he met someone else and ran off. Tell her anything but the horrible truth, he thought. He was about to speak when the woman near the window said, "There are two men. Wasichu. And a woman."
The word wasichu spread around the room quickly and Thathanka-Ska crawled to the window and slid up alongside the wall. He saw the man on the large wagon and two riders on destriers, one of them a man in a crumpled black hat that he cocked back to wipe the sweat from his face. Thathanka-Ska let out an involuntary cry of joy and said, "El-Halcon!"
Jem spun around in his saddle at the sound with both of his guns cocked and aimed at the small windows carved into the cliffs above. He watched in amazement as a young man emerged from inside the rocks and clambered down the hillside, racing toward him on foot with his arms wide shouting, "El-Halcon! El-Halcon!"
"Bug? What the hell are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere, boy?" He dropped down off his destrier and embraced the boy, stepping back to admire how tall he'd grown. "Look at you. You sprouted up like a damn weed. Where's your brother?"
Thathanka-Ska pulled him by the hand, trying to drag him up to the dwellings, chattering to him in Beothuk.
"Where's your brother? And where's Ichabod?"
Ichabod stuck his head up from the window and waved, and Jem waved back to him. He stopped moving completely as windows inside three of the dwellings suddenly filled with the silent, terrified faces of native women and children. An elderly woman came to the window beside the boy and looked down at Jem with disdain, muttering something in a creaking, raspy voice.
"She says that she prayed to her ancestors for deliverance, and that she does not know what she could have done to anger them to cause them to mock her so," Ichante said.
Jem looked back at Ichante and winked, "I guess I'm just full of disappointing women these days."
He followed the boy up the hidden steps that were carved into the rocks, trying not to slip on the vines and brush spilling over them. Thathanka-Ska waved for him to come inside the first dwelling and Jem ducked under the doorway and stopped. "I'll be damned," he whispered. He looked around the room at all of the women and children who stared at him with a mixture of terror and amazement.
"They've never seen a wasichu before," Ichante said from behind him. "All they've heard are stories of your horrors."
Jem waved slightly, "Hello everyone. No horrors to see today, sorry."
Lakhpia-Sha came around his side and hugged Jem briefly and spoke his name. Jem patted the boy on the back and looked around the room. "Where's Squawk?" He looked at Ichante and put his hand on Thathanka-Ska's head, "This one has a brother. Ask him where he is."
She and the boy spoke back and forth rapidly, and Bug's voice grew soft and forced as he said his father's name. Ichante nodded gently and said, "Their father crossed over and sent them here to find their new Chief. Something went wrong, but he won't say what."
Jem cocked his head back at Bug, "Thasuka Witko is dead?"
Father Charles was shouting something from below, loud enough and urgent enough that Jem let go of the boy and stuck his head out the window, "What the hell are you yelling about?"
"We've got company!" The old man pointed at the end of the trail at the cliffs fluvial slope where a large group of Beothuk warriors were crossing the stream and coming right for them.
Jem cursed and withdrew from the window, looking around in a panic, suddenly realizing they were trapped. "What weapons do you all have?"
Ichante chatted with the women and said, "They have bows and arrows. No rifles. Some oil to set the arrows on fire or pour on their enemies if they try to come up the steps."
"No fire!" Jem said. "Not with all these kids in here." He looked back through the window and saw that the Beothuk had held up a hundred yards away at the sight of Father Charles and his wagon. The old man was sitting in the driver's seat watching them. The Beothuk warriors were carrying heavy weapons. "Damn. Damn, damn, damn," Jem whispered. His hands were slick with sweat and he wiped them on his pants and said, "Everybody listen up. Nobody makes a sound. I'm going to go down there and tell them to beat it, but if they figure out you're up here, it's all over."
Ichante explained to the others quickly, pressing her finger to her lips to tell the children to all stay quiet. Jem swallowed hard and said, "Okay. Here goes nothing."
"Wasichu?" Ichante said.
Jem stopped at the door, "What?"
"You know this will not work."
"I know," he said.
"But you'll still try it?"
He smiled stupidly at her and said, "Yeah. At least until the shooting starts."
Ichante slapped him across the rear end so hard that it stung her hand and said, "Good luck."
Jem hustled down the steps and ran to his destrier. The Beothuk advanced slowly, held back by their leader's raised hand. Jem took measure of the man, seeing his bald head and long curving braid like the tail of a snake dangling to his chest. "Toquame Keewassee," Jem said. He rode up next to the preacher, "All right, listen, old timer. Here's the plan."
"No, you listen," Father Charles said. "I'm gonna do all the talking, and you just stay behind me."
"This is no time for craziness, padre. I'm not letting you commit suicide just because you're looking for revenge. You'll take the rest of us with you."
Father Charles looked back at him, his thin eyes mere slits in the sun, and said, "Have faith, Jem Clayton. I didn't come alone. I brought the power of God with me."
"Oh, well, why didn't you say so before…" Jem's voice fell silent as Father Charles reached under his seat and started pressing buttons. He watched the old man's seat spring up hydraulically from the carriage.
"You better back up, son," the preacher said.
Gas hissed from the wagon as the hinges popped open and the wooden frame began to come apart. The side panels flew
off to reveal a massive construct of gears and cylinders inside. The center cylinder extended upwards almost fifty feet and whined as it rotated down, forming a long, wide-mouthed canon aimed straight at the Beothuk warriors.
The words Power of God were painted along the barrel.
A control panel raised up from the floorboards to Father Charles and he keyed in a sequence that made the entire machine sparkle with energy. Raindrops sizzled on the barrel, creating ripples of purple light. Jem felt the hair on his body stand up and shouted, "What the hell is that thing?"
"It's an air-to-ground electronic defense system! Meant to shoot ships out of the sky!" He put on a pair of protective goggles and cupped his hands around his mouth, "That's close enough, Keewassee, you gutless son of a bitch! Come one step closer and I'll send you and your whole wretched bunch to hell with one blast!"
Toquame Keewassee stopped and looked at the weapon and the man sitting at the controls. He raised his head and yelled, "Your one gun is no match for our might, wasichu. Who are you to speak my name?"
"Just an old man," the preacher said, "looking for his little girl."
Keewassee nodded and said, "We have no little girls and we have no quarrel with you. Stand aside so that we may proceed."
"Like hell," Father Charles growled. "There won't be any standing aside and there won't be any proceeding, Keewassee. I'm gonna give you one chance to tell me where Gentleman Jim is. You don't do that, I'm gonna shove a gigajoule of lighting straight up your backsides!"
"I don't know this man you speak of," Toquame Keewassee said.
Father Charles touched a button and the side of the cliffs over Keewassee's men burst apart in a sizzling arc of electricity from the cannon. The Beothuk's destriers scattered from the falling debris and the preacher waited for them to stop moving. He moved the cannon down to face them directly and said, "One more time, you son of a bitch, and then it's off to meet your maker."
Toquame Keewassee turned to look at Comee and said, "Get your men ready to assault. I will hang this wasichu's skin from that weapon like a flag." He looked at Father Charles and said, "You are looking for the masked one?"
"Yes. Where is he?"
"I will send him to meet you…in hell!" Keewassee charged forward and raised his rifle to fire. He pulled the trigger and the gun powered up to unleash its round when the digital screen blinked red and whined. He shook the gun but all the screen would display was a silhouette of the old man and an unreadable message.
Father Charles shook his head, "You dumb bastards." He pressed the fire button and Comee and the entire left flank and their destriers exploded into red mist. Chunks of meat splattered the rock walls. It was too much for the men who remained. They stopped charging and spun around, racing to get away.
All except Keewassee.
Keewassee charged with his useless weapon, pulling the trigger over and over in hopes that it would fire. All the weapon would do is beep uselessly and show the image of the old man. He roared in anger and aimed at the cannon. It blinked green as it fixed on the mouth of the barrel, but when he pulled the trigger, nothing. He turned the gun toward the dwellings and suddenly saw the imprint of multiple figures all marked green. He squeezed the trigger and the rifle erupted, sending a barrage of intense gunfire through the walls. Screams erupted from within and Toquame Keewassee cried out in victory.
Jem pulled his guns and took off straight for him, firing both Defeaters as his destrier galloped through the mud. The two of them were only twenty feet away and closing on one another. Keewassee raised his gun in the air like a club, ready to swing at Jem's head, when Jem twisted aside and fired a bullet into the Beothuk's side.
The impact sent Keewassee flying off his destrier on the opposite side of Jem. Jem stopped his mount and slid down, shouting for both of the animals to get out of the way. He cocked his Defeater and said, "Where's Gentleman Jim?"
"Go to hell, wasichu!" Keewassee spat. He groaned as he clutched his side. Black blood spilled through his fingers as he twisted and turned in the dirt.
"It hurt?" Jem said. "Good, you son of a bitch. Tell me where he's at and I won't shoot you between the legs." He looked up just in time to see another Beothuk riding hard in his direction and leap from the back of the destrier straight at him. Jem's guns flew out of his hands as he sprawled across the ground with the other warrior, turning over one another in the mud as they struggled. The warrior was shouting something at Jem, repeating the same thing, but Jem swung as hard as he could, slamming his fists into the Beothuk's side until he felt ribs crack.
Haienwa'tha gasped in pain as he collapsed onto Jem, but he would not let go. "You cannot kill him!"
Jem shoved the boy off of him and screamed, "What the hell are you doing!"
Haienwa'tha rolled over, clutching his side, "He is our new Chief. I cannot let you kill him."
He looked up to see Toquame Keewassee limping for his destrier. "He's getting away!" Jem scurried around the ground for his guns and waved his hands frantically at Father Charles, "Shoot! Shoot!"
The old man did not move except to stare at the smoking red puddle on the ground of the men he'd fired on and killed. He lowered his head and closed his eyes.
Jem saw one of his guns and dove for it. Just as he turned around to fire, Keewassee was riding away, already too far out of range. Jem smacked his hand against his head and cursed.
Haienwa'tha struggled to his feet and looked up at the dwellings high above, searching for signs of his brother or Lakhpia-Sha. He saw the bullet holes in the walls of the first structure and heard screams inside. A strange yellow light reflected from the clay borders of the window, flickering like a lamp from within the dwelling itself.
Black smoke curled out of the roof of the dwelling and rose toward the sky like an offering to the Great Spirit. It smelled like burning hair and meat. Haienwa'tha cried out and raced for the stairs.
Chapter 19: Aquayanderen
Fire is silent. Even as it creeps toward living flesh like a predator, gnawing on everything it touches, it moves without sound. What it touches is a different story.
Toquame Keewassee's bullets struck the archers poised by the windows with arrows notched in their bows and sent the women's bloody bodies to the ground where they twitched until they finally expired. The bullets also struck the jars of oil near the women, shattering them and sending their liquid contents across the floor. Keewassee's torrent of gunfire punched holes in the walls and roof and rained sparks on the group clustered together at the farthest wall. Sparks that fell like stars from the roof all the way down to the floor, straight into the pool of oil.
Haienwa'tha hollered from the doorway for the women to follow his voice, but they could not hear him over their own screams. He ducked down but saw nothing except black smoke and raised his hands over his face and ran into the flames, feeling them sear his stomach and feet as they touched the fiery oil. Something grabbed him as he ran and he scooped up a young, shrieking child in one arm and reached out to grab the closest person to him. She slapped at his hands in panic and he grabbed a handful of her long hair and yanked her toward the door.
Jem was coming up the steps just as Haienwa'tha emerged. "There are more!" he gasped, trying to breathe through the snarl of black soot choking his lungs.
Jem tore off his shirt and beat back the flames from the doorway with it enough to see that there were four more adults holding children huddled at the furthest corner where the oil had not reached them yet, pressing themselves to the wall. Jem lifted Haienwa'tha in one arm and carried him across the pool of oil, feeling the flames melt the soles of his boots. They made it to the others and Jem blinked back the sweat stinging his eyes. There was no air to breathe. The fire consumed everything around them.
There was nothing to use, nothing inside the dwelling except for the remaining Beothuk and the bodies of those who'd perished. The doorway was now fully engulfed. The only thing not consumed by flames was the window directly ahead of them. In a panic, Jem grabb
ed the ankles of one of the nearest dead women and pushed her onto the floor in front of the window. He walked across her back and had to reach into the flames to grab another and pull her by the arm. He found two more and built a narrow bridge of bodies that kept them away from the flames. The sight of her burning flesh was horrific and smell spooled up his nose and took root.
Father Charles looked up at the window as Jem leaned out, finally able to take in enough air to scream for help.
The preacher flew out of his seat in terror, about to jump down and run for the steps, but Jem waved him off and said, "You'll never make it in time. We need to come out the window!"
Father Charles frantically punched keys on his control panel and the cannon's turret began to move. He groaned as it inched turned toward the window and began to lift excruciatingly slow.
Jem crossed back to the others then pointed at the women and said, "Get out that window and find a way to hold onto the cannon."
Haienwa'tha translated and the women grabbed their children and forced them forward. "No!" Jem shouted. "You need to be out there to catch the kids so they don't fall!"
Haienwa'tha forced the women to follow him over the backs of the dead women and ordered them to get out the window. The first one screamed in terror as she lowered herself, reaching for the cannon with her feet. She let go of the window frame and missed her mark, about to tumble down to the hard ground below when Haienwa'tha's hand shot out and snatched her by the arm.
He passed the women through the window as quick as he could, watching as they sat lined up along the cannon's shaft, sliding down farther and father as they looked up and plead to him to get their children. The rest of the Hopituh Shi-nu-mu women were filing out of the other dwellings, and they'd begun to climb the old man's humongous weapon, filing up the barrel to help the other women get down.
"Haienwa'tha!" someone shouted.
He looked down and saw Thathanka-Ska. Their eyes locked for one brief moment before he turned back into the burning building. Jem Clayton was already standing at the first dead woman's feet with four Beothuk children in his arms. "Nobody wiggle, okay? And hold on tight!" Jem said. Haienwa'tha barked at the children and they wrapped themselves around Jem's neck and arms with their hands and feet so tightly his face turned purple.
Guns of Seneca 6 Box Set Collected Saga (Chambers 1-4) Page 36