“You sound like you know a lot about it.”
“I grew up as a minister’s daughter,” she said. “I had to know my Testaments. I’m also very fond of Mr. Shakespeare’s writing.”
“I’d like to hear what happened back there,” I said. “Why don’t I make some breakfast, and you can explain while we eat.”
“I…I’ll try,” She replied. “In the meanwhile I’m going down to the stream. I’ll feel safer sitting by a fire if I wash the last of this coal oil out of my dress.”
I gave her some of my clothes to change into. She made me promise not to steal a look at her bathing. She was so intense about it that it seemed more than a matter of a lady’s decency. She studied my face carefully as I promised, then nodded with satisfaction.
“I believe you’re a gentleman, Mr. Mather. You won’t break your word.”
When she was gone I took out my letter and looked it over again. Joshua Thorne’s Starry Wisdom Church was made up of what the people of Poker Flats would call “witches.” They worshipped terrible beings that had been around since long before humans. These beings weren’t evil in the sense of wanting to cause harm to humanity. To them we were no more than an irritation, and maybe a lot less. They wanted to enter our world and gave their followers great powers to speed up the time when that would happen. If they ever succeeded it would be the end of humanity.
I took my Winchester from its scabbard. It was loaded with the silver .44-40 cartridges that Crenshaw had sent along with the letter. People like the Starry Wisdom followers have ways to protect themselves from normal weapons but a silver bullet can usually get through their defenses.
Things would have been easier if I’d let the good folk of Poker Flats have their little party. I’d thought about letting them but I couldn’t. Something in me can’t abide that. If she had to die it should at least be merciful.
I moved quietly into the cottonwoods. After a bit I caught sight of Sarah. She had draped her dress across a bush to dry and the clothes I had given her were piled nearby. She stood waist-deep in the creek with her back to me, her fair skin seeming almost to glow against the shadowed water.
I raised the rifle and aimed it at the base of her skull. Her hair was down, making the target a bit more difficult to judge. Its gentle shade of orange matched the brightening sky to the east. It would be an easy shot, almost instantly fatal.
I didn’t want to shoot her.
I closed my eyes for an instant, remembering what she was. If I didn’t shoot now she would likely kill me and would certainly kill others.
When I looked again she had turned her head. She didn’t seem aware of me. I shifted my aim slightly; a temple shot would be better. There was nothing obscuring the target. I held my breath and willed my finger to squeeze the trigger. I tried not to think of the bullet piercing her soft flesh, or of the light dying in those brown eyes. I remembered another woman I’d killed years ago. I hadn’t loved Catherine, but she had been special to me. I shot her to save my own life. I’d cursed myself many times since for doing it. Now, I discovered, I couldn’t do it again. Not even if my choice killed me.
I lowered the barrel of the Winchester. It made a noise as it brushed the rushes at my feet. Sarah turned, slender arms rose to cover her breasts. Her eyes met mine and I saw terror there. She shrank into a frightened crouch and began to sob. I laid the rifle aside and went to her.
“You’re going to kill me,” she said between sobs.
“No,” I replied. “I was going to, but I can’t.”
“You should.”
I didn’t know what to say to that so I just put my arm around her shoulders and guided her to the bank. She was trembling so badly that her legs could barely hold her. She clutched me for support; my arms automatically went around her as she buried her face in my chest and sobbed. I stroked her hair, making comforting sounds and trying to forget how close I’d just come to killing her.
After a time the shaking subsided and she drew back to look me in the face. There was something about her expression, so vulnerable and so sad. Without stopping to think about it, I leaned forward to kiss her.
“No!” she cried as our lips touched. She pushed away and stumbled backward with a look of horror on her face. The next instant a noise like thunder rent the quiet morning. The air and water seemed to tear open, making an aperture to some other kind of place. I caught a glimpse of impossible angles and indescribable colors before something leaped through the tear. The creature was as big as a horse and almost skeletally lean. Beyond that, I was mostly aware of the teeth and claws as they reached for me.
“No!” Sarah screamed again.
I drew my pistol and put four rounds into the thing’s body. I heard two of them ricochet and the others might as well have for all the good they did. The thing collided with me, bearing me to the ground, its jaws snapping at my face. I lashed the barrel of my Colt across its muzzle and got a response. The thing howled, a mind-rending cacophony but it gave me the chance to fire my last shot straight down its gullet.
The monster drew back in pain and I rolled free. Our struggle had brought us to the section of the bank where I had left my Winchester. I raised the weapon to my shoulder and began to fire round after round into it. The silver punched holes in the thing’s tough hide where soft lead had been ineffective. It pained the monster, causing it to snap ineffectively at its wounds.
I concentrated my fire at the center of its torso. I hoped the thing’s vital organs—if it had any—were clustered there. The monster howled again and slashed at me with a clawed limb. I managed to block it with the Winchester. The rifle shattered and I felt a sharp pain as the claws caught the side of my head. As my senses slipped away I could hear Sarah calling out words in a language I didn’t understand.
I tried to open my eyes but the sunlight was too intense. Soft hands caressed my face. They didn’t take away the pain but they were comforting.
“Sarah?” I managed to say.
“Hush.” Her voice was as gentle as her hands. “You’re going to be alright. Just lie still.”
I opened my eyes again, forcing myself to endure the pain as the world came into focus. We were still by the stream. Sarah was wearing the shirt and trousers I had given her. Her face was streaked with tears.
“Take this,” she said and passed me a tin cup filled with cool water. It helped me some. I tried to rise but that set my head throbbing again.
“What happened?” I asked.
“The watcher’s claws caught you in the head. They tore your scalp open but I don’t think it caused any real damage. I managed to bandage you. If it hadn’t been for your rifle you would have died.”
I saw the crushed weapon lying nearby. The creature must have been stronger than a grizzly to mangle it like that. Much stronger…
“What happened?”
“I think your bullets must have weakened it somehow,” Sarah said. “The words I used wouldn’t have sent it back otherwise.”
“Why did you save me?”
I could see in her eyes that the question surprised her…hurt her.
“You must think I am a witch, like the men in Poker Flats. Maybe they were right.”
I drew my knife and held the point to Sarah’s throat.
“I know you’re a witch,” I said. “You couldn’t have sent that thing away otherwise. For that matter, you couldn’t have summoned it. I know about the Starry Wisdom Church.”
“You know about Joshua? Who…who are you?”
“Who are you, Sarah?” I said. “It’s important that I know everything.”
“My father was the pastor of the Congregational church in Arkham,” Sarah said. “Young ladies are all raised to be proper but a minister’s daughter is held to a higher standard. As much as I loved my father, I resented people’s narrow expectations.
“While I was at the woman’s college in Boston I met a man who told me that he could open my mind to infinite possibilities. He was a minister himself, he said. He
had been ordained in the Starry Wisdom Church. Father had warned me about them. He said they had dangerous ideas, but I thought he was just being parochial. So much of what Joshua taught me seemed true. Besides, he was so compelling that I wanted to believe him.”
That fit with what I remembered of Thorne. I could see him taking real pleasure in bringing out the worst in an innocent girl. That was what he’d done with Catherine.
“I joined Joshua’s church, against my father’s wishes,” Sarah continued. “I was happy at first. Then Joshua soon forbade me to see Father, or any of my relatives. He said that the Starry Wisdom members were my true family. He wanted me to cut off all ties with my former life and marry him.
“I refused to do that without Father’s blessing. That made Joshua furious. He threatened me and showed me things that he could do. He knew how to call up monstrosities, like the watchers. He told me that he would send them to kill me if I left him.”
“A watcher,” I said. “That was that thing I fought?”
She nodded.
“I’m guessing you left anyway.”
“I couldn’t stay when I saw what he was,” she said. “I kept expecting to die, but the watcher never came. After a few months I convinced myself that it had all been some sort of deception on Joshua’s part. He had shown me a conjurer’s trick to frighten me into staying with him.
“I decided to put away all thoughts of him. I fell in love with a young lawyer named Roger Martinson and we were engaged. On our wedding night Roger came to me, but as we embraced, one of the watchers appeared. It tore him to pieces while I watched.”
By the pain in her voice I judged she was telling the truth. I wanted to reach out and comfort her but held myself back. I needed to hear the rest of this.
“I received a letter from Joshua,” she continued. “He told me that I was meant to be his. He had set the watchers over me and commanded them to kill any man who touched me with strong desire. That was why…”
“That was why it came for me,” I said.
She nodded. “I forgot for a moment when I let you kiss me. I’m so sorry.”
“What did you do when you read the letter?”
“I wanted to kill myself,” she said, “but that would have been too much like giving into him. I decided that it was best to leave Massachusetts. I saw an advertisement in the newspaper for a teacher willing to come to New Mexico. I didn’t believe that Joshua could find me here.”
“What happened in Poker Flats?”
“There was a man named Frank Jessup,” she said. “I told him I wasn’t interested but he kept trying to court me. Yesterday he came to my home before the sun was up. He had a friend with him and they had been drinking. I tried to send them away but they forced their way in.
“Frank said that I was cruel being so cold to him. He tried to force himself on me. That was when…”
“When the watcher came again,” I finished for her.
She nodded, tears running down her cheeks. I almost reached out to her this time but the thought of the watcher stopped me.
“I wouldn’t waste too many tears over the likes of Frank Jessup,” I said.
“You don’t understand.” She replied. “I’m responsible for three deaths; one of them was the man I loved. You almost died last night and that was because of me too.”
“No,” I said. “That was because I was a fool, and because I broke my promise to you. As for the others, that was all Thorne’s fault. You couldn’t have saved your husband. As for Jessup and his friend—they deserved what happened.”
“I don’t know what to do,” she said. “Sometimes I think if I go back to Joshua, everything will be better.”
“He’s dead,” I replied.
She stared at me for a moment with a mix of horror and relief on her face. “But it’s not over, is it?” she finally said. “Even with Joshua dead, the watcher still came.”
“Maybe I killed it,” I said, though there was no conviction in my words.
“Maybe,” she said. “I can worry about that another time. Right now we have to get you some help.”
I stood. The effort made my head pound unbearably. Sarah moved to my side and held me up. She was stronger than I’d expected.
“Can you ride?” she asked.
“The horse does all the work.”
“I think we’re only a couple of hours from North Fork. There’s a doctor there.”
We made our way back to the horses. When we got there we found three men with drawn pistols waiting for us. My hand brushed my holster but I hadn’t taken the time to reload.
“Well, Mr. Famous Gunman,” one of the men said. “You didn’t reckon anyone was gonna track you this far, did you?”
He was a stocky man with a few days growth of stubble covering a moon face. I remembered him from Poker Flats. He’d been the one with the can of coal oil.
I pushed Sarah away and stood straighter; my hand hovered close to my gun.
“Do you want to die to get her?”
The man wet his lips. I was hurting so much that my vision was blurring but he didn’t know that.
“Rafe,” Sarah said, “please, don’t do this.”
“Shut up!” the man snapped. “Mister, this woman ain’t what she seems. She tempted Frank and Coot into her place, then killed them with her witchery. All we want is justice.”
I didn’t say anything. For better or worse I’d already decided what side I was on.
There was a noise behind me. I started to turn when something heavy struck my head. I caught a glimpse of a fourth man using his rifle like a club. The pain was so intense it took me a minute to realize that I had fallen. I could hear Sarah’s scream.
“What do we do with him?” someone asked.
“Get his guns,” Rafe’s voice answered. “He wants to protect this witch so much, it’s only fitting they die side-by-side.”
Rough hands stripped off my gun belt and knife. They bound my wrists in front of me and propped me against the base of a big tree. I forced my eyes open; they had thrown a pair of ropes over one of the cottonwood limbs.
“You think that’ll do Rafe?” a man asked. “Brother Murchison seemed awful set on burning being the best way.”
“I reckon hanging should do,” Rafe replied. “The Preacher can come out and burn the bodies afterwards if’n he wants.”
Sarah stepped into view. Her hands were bound and a bruise was beginning to show on her jaw. That made me angry, but I couldn’t make my body to do much about it. I could move but my arms and legs were so weak I doubted I could stand.
“Stop this Rafe,” she said. Her voice was urgent and remarkably free of fear.
“Shut up, witch!” the man answered, backhanding her across the face. She staggered back several paces and gasped with pain.
“Leave her be!” I growled.
“Lord, you are a fool,” Rafe replied. “You know what she is, don’t you?”
“Let him go, Rafe,” Sarah said. “He didn’t have anything to do with Frank’s death.”
“Hear that Rafe, one of the other men said, walking up behind Sarah. “She don’t want us to hurt him.” His tone was cruel, mocking her helplessness. I shifted a bit and my hand brushed my boot top. The little Remington Double Derringer I carry was still there. It was only two bullets for four men but it was the best chance we had.
“I heard,” Rafe said. He stepped closer to Sarah, forcing her to back into the arms of the second man. He caught her by the shoulders and held her as Rafe cupped her chin in his hand.
“Rafe, don’t do this,” she said.
“Who’s gonna stop us?” a third man said, stepping closer.
“Rafe,” she said again in a low, urgent tone. “You need to stop this, now. You don’t understand…”
“I understand, Missy,” Rafe said. “We’re gonna have our revenge for you killing our friends, but first we’re gonna have us a little fun.”
“No,” she gasped as he tried to cover her mouth with h
is. “No, you idiot.”
I shut my eyes tight as the sound came. It was the same noise I’d heard a few hours earlier: the sound of a hole being torn in the fabric of the world to let something in from outside. A moment later I heard the noise of gunfire and screaming. The screams were terrible. I’ve seen a man die by Comanche torture and never heard that kind of agony.
I must have passed out then. When I woke it was to the feeling of gentle fingers untying my bonds. I opened my eyes to see Sarah’s face streaked with tears and spattered with blood. Past her shoulder I could see Rafe’s body lying at the end of a trail of blood and intestines. The lower part of his body was missing. It looked as if the upper part had managed to drag itself some distance before dying. His three friends, pieces of them anyway, lay scattered along the riverbank.
Sarah glanced up at me as the bonds came loose. She tried to smile but her face was deathly pale. I looked her over and was relieved to see that none of the blood on her appeared to be hers. The watcher was a discriminating guardian it seemed.
I put my arms around her. She pressed close, sobbing. After a time I began to speak to her in a soothing voice.
“It’s fine now,” I murmured. “They can’t hurt you.”
“You don’t understand,” she sobbed. “I killed them!”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
“Of course it was,” her voice was bitter. “I knew exactly what was going to happen. I let that thing loose on them, just like they accused me of letting it loose on Frank.”
“There wasn’t any way you could have stopped it.”
She raised her eyes to mine. There was only pain in those lovely depths now. A moment later the expression changed to fear. She pushed away from me with all her strength.”
“Let me go!” she cried. “Please let me go!”
“Sarah, what is it?”
“You can’t hold me, the watcher will come back.”
Both Barrels of Monster Hunter Legends (Legends of the Monster Hunter Book 1) Page 33