Of course. Tenoch relished the opportunity for another showdown with Preacher . . . especially since the mountain man wasn’t in top fighting form. Tenoch figured it would go quickly and be a savage pleasure for him.
Preacher would just have to show him that he was wrong about that.
With a laugh, Tenoch charged him, powerful hands reaching out with the desire to smash and crush.
CHAPTER 29
The stars and a quarter moon cast enough light for Audie, Nighthawk, Boone, Zyanya, and their companions to see where they were going. Seeing the cliffs looming to the east, Audie and Nighthawk could have led the others in that direction, but Zyanya was more familiar with the Aztec city than any of them, so Audie was perfectly content to let her take the lead. She held Boone’s hand and tugged the young trapper along beside her as the group of fugitives hurried through the streets.
Audie gave thought to what he knew about the Aztec empire. It was very old, the settlement one of the final remnants. It had flourished when many European civilizations were just beginning. But it had developed in a different place, under different conditions, with a different culture and traditions. Aztec cities had no walls around them, no stockades with a castle looming in the center as many European fiefdoms did. The outskirts of the city were open, gradually turning into cultivated fields.
This is good for us, Audie mused. We won’t have to make it past any gates or guards.
If they could leave the city behind them without being discovered, they stood a good chance of getting away.
There was still one possible obstacle. The craggy peaks and the sheer cliffs served as a natural barrier around the valley, protecting it the way stone walls and moats did in those European settlements Audie had been thinking about. If Tenoch was any sort of tactician at all—and since he was the war chief, he had to have at least some cunning—he would have posted guards at the newly reopened passage through the cliffs.
Quietly, Nighthawk said, “Umm.”
“I was just thinking the same thing, old friend,” Audie said. “You and I are living proof of the old adage about great minds working alike.”
Zyanya suddenly stopped and pulled Boone into the dark mouth of an alley with one hand as she waved the other at the rest of the trappers, motioning for them to follow. They all retreated quickly into the shadows. Boone put his mouth next to Zyanya’s ear and whispered, “What is it?”
“Warriors,” she whispered back, nodding toward the street they had just abandoned.
For the next minute or so, the trappers all held their breath as several buckskin-clad Aztec warriors walked by in the street, carrying spears and war clubs.
Audie couldn’t detect any urgency in their attitude. They were talking quietly among themselves, and the few words he could make out sounded innocuous. They were either going somewhere to take up guard duties, or else they were some sort of night watch, patrolling the streets.
In a couple minutes, the warriors were gone, and the desperate men hiding in the shadows were able to heave sighs of relief.
They resumed their flight, with Zyanya leading the way.
A short time later, they left the city behind without encountering any more warriors. Zyanya kept them moving at a fast pace. Audie struggled to keep up.
After a while, Nighthawk picked him up to carry him. Normally, Audie would have protested, but under the circumstances it was imperative that they not waste any time. He knew his pride and dignity were less important than escaping from the Aztec city.
Since it was the middle of the night, the fields were empty. The fugitives used the main trail leading to the cliffs without having to worry about someone seeing them. The farther behind the city fell, the better Audie felt about their chances.
He just wished that he knew how Preacher was doing.
If there was anybody in the world capable of attempting something as daring as invading Tenoch’s inner sanctum and slaying the brutal high priest, it was the big mountain man called Preacher. Audie had absolutely no doubt about that.
The closer they came to the cliffs, the taller those dizzying heights soared, blocking out more of the stars. Audie began to hope they would reach the passage to Shadow Valley—the Path of the War God, old Nazar had called it—without incident.
Zyanya suddenly hissed and darted off the trail into the trees, taking Boone Halliday with her. Audie, Nighthawk, and the others followed without wasting any time. Crouched in the shadows under the spreading limbs of the pines, Nighthawk lowered Audie to the ground. The former professor rested a hand on the rough trunk of a tree and peered intently back toward the trail.
He heard footsteps and voices, then saw half a dozen warriors troop past, heading toward the city. Boone leaned down and whispered in Audie’s ear, “They must’ve been out at the cliffs. No other place for them to be around here.”
Just as quietly, Audie said, “Ask Zyanya if the passage is guarded.”
Boone consulted with the young woman, then returned to Audie’s side. “She doesn’t know. She worked in the fields or in the city and never had anything to do with that.”
“It’s the only thing that makes sense. Those men must have been posted there for the first half of the night. Judging by the stars the last time I looked at them, we’re about halfway to dawn. Just the right time for guard shifts to be changing. That was probably what was going on with those warriors back in the city.”
“And the fellas who just went past us are the ones who got relieved to go back to the city.”
“That’s the way I figure it,” Audie said grimly. “I’m open to any other explanation you care to come up with.”
Boone sighed and shook his head. “Nope, that’s the only thing that makes any sense. It means when we get there, we’re gonna run right into half a dozen warriors who were put there to stop anybody from going through.”
The men they had hidden from were gone.
Audie stepped to the edge of the trees and looked back at the city. He didn’t see any lights or hear any outcry. They had hoped that their escape wouldn’t be discovered until morning, and so far that seemed to be the case.
He returned to the others. “At least we’ll have surprise on our side. The guards won’t expect anyone to try getting out of the valley tonight. We can’t just walk up to them openly, though. Now that we have a strong indication that the path is guarded, we need a plan to deal with them.”
“It’d help if we all had pistols and rifles,” Boone said.
“Umm,” Nighthawk said.
Audie chuckled. “Yes, if wishes were horses, indeed, old friend.” He looked around at the other fugitives. The group numbered eleven, counting himself. “At least the odds are on our side, if not the weaponry. I believe that here is what we should do . . .”
A single tall figure approached the head of the trail, where it ended at the passage through the cliffs. In the faint light, the bulkiness of that figure was barely noticeable.
Audie was counting on that as he clung to Nighthawk’s broad back. They had pulled this trick before, but usually it was easier because Nighthawk slung a blanket over his shoulders and let it hang down to conceal Audie. They didn’t have a blanket, so Audie had to hang on to Nighthawk’s buckskins and press himself as close to his friend’s powerful form as he could.
The extra weight was nothing to the big Crow. He walked as tall and straight as ever. His stride was bold as brass as he approached the opening in the cliffs.
Three warriors suddenly appeared, emerging from the shadows to confront Nighthawk with leveled spears. Nighthawk stopped, crossed his arms over his broad chest, and regarded the Aztecs with complete disdain.
One of the guards spewed words at him. Audie understood enough to know that the man was demanding to be told where Nighthawk thought he was going. Nighthawk must have gotten the gist of the question, too, because he leveled an arm at the dark passage and declared, “Umm.”
That brought laughter from the guards. One of them spoke over
his shoulder, and the other three warriors came out of the passage to join them. That had been one of the goals of the ploy, to draw all six guards out into the open, and that had been accomplished. They just needed to get a little closer . . .
One of the warriors who seemed particularly amused by the confrontation stepped in front of Nighthawk and lowered his spear, jabbing a hand against the big Crow’s chest as if to shove him back toward the city.
That was the moment, and Audie and Nighthawk knew it. Nighthawk’s hand flashed up, grabbed the guard’s outstretched arm, and jerked him closer.
At the same instant, Audie let go of Nighthawk’s buckskins and dropped to the ground. Rushing nimbly around his friend’s tree-trunk-like legs, he clubbed his hands together and brought them up with crushing force into the groin of the nearest guard, who howled in pain and doubled over as he dropped his spear.
Instantly, the trail was a whirlwind of action.
CHAPTER 30
As soon as Nighthawk had the guard within reach, he grabbed the man’s clothes at the waist and lifted him by that grip and the one he had on the man’s arm. The guard was too shocked to do anything, and by the time he tried to fight back, it was too late.
In an awesome display of strength, Nighthawk lifted the man over his head and pitched him at the other guards.
They went down like ninepins, except for the man who had already collapsed from Audie’s blow.
Audie snatched up that man’s spear and thrust it into him—nothing diminutive about the strength in the little man’s arms and shoulders. He buried the spear point deep in the guard’s chest.
Nighthawk bounded among the fallen guards. He reached down, grabbed two by the neck, and slammed their heads together. The crunch of bone at the impact meant they wouldn’t be getting up any time soon—if ever.
In a matter of seconds, three of the guards were out of the fight. The violence had been that swift and brutal.
The remaining three guards shrieked in rage as they scrambled to their feet to put up a fight. One of them thrust a spear at Nighthawk, who twisted out of the way just in time.
Before that guard could strike again, Boone came flying out of the night and tackled him from behind. As they went down, two more trappers joined the fight, swarming over the warrior and wrenching the spear away from him. He made a choking sound as one of the trappers drove the point through his neck.
Several more trappers joined the melee, jumping another guard, dragging him down, and bludgeoning him with rocks they had picked up.
The third guard swung a war club at Audie’s head, but Audie dived out of the way. A couple trappers hit the guard from behind. Already off balance from the missed swing, he couldn’t stop himself from falling. Once he had, he didn’t have a chance. Still holding one of the spears, Audie rolled over and skewered it through the man’s guts.
That finished off the last of the guards.
As Audie climbed to his feet, he saw that all of his companions were breathing hard, except for Nighthawk. Audie was pretty winded, himself. All of them were in bad shape from their captivity, except the indomitable Crow. He seemed to be made of iron, as always.
Zyanya ran out of the trees and threw her arms around Boone’s neck, hugging him tightly.
He returned the embrace for a second, then asked, “Is everybody all right?”
One of the men said, “Looks like Rankin’s hurt pretty bad.”
Audie stepped over to the wounded trapper, who was sitting on the ground with his back propped up by a man who knelt behind him. Even in the bad light, Audie could see the dark stain at Rankin’s midsection. “What happened?”
“One o’them . . . damn warriors . . . got me with a spear while we were scufflin’,” Rankin gasped. “Felt like it . . . went pretty deep.”
“I’m sorry, my friend,” Audie murmured. “I fear your judgment is accurate.”
“I’ll be . . . goin’under . . . won’t I?”
Gently, Audie probed the injury with one hand. Rankin’s breath hissed between his teeth as he took a sharply indrawn breath.
“Your vitals have been pierced,” Audie said. “I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do.” Nothing except hope that death comes quickly, rather than lingering, he thought.
“You reckon you could maybe . . . say somethin’ purty? I’ve always . . . plumb admired . . . the way you talk, Audie.”
“Of course. I’m sure there are some Scriptures that would be of comfort—”
“Naw, I never was . . . much of a churchgoer. . . . Don’t know if . . . the Lord’ll have me . . . or not.”
“The immortal Bard of Avon, then,” Audie said as he gripped Rankin’s shoulder. “From Julius Caesar, I quote: ‘Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.’ You’re a valiant man, my friend.”
“Yeah . . .” Rankin breathed. “That’s more . . . like it.”
Audie had to swallow hard before he could go on. “‘We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; for he today that sheds his blood with me . . .’”
Rankin’s last breath went out of him with a sigh.
“‘. . . shall be my brother,’” Audie finished in a whisper.
A respectful silence followed the words, but everyone knew they couldn’t afford to delay too long.
After a moment Boone said, “We’d better get going.”
“Damn it,” one of the trappers rasped. “Ain’t we even gonna bury him?”
“There’s no time—”
“Nighthawk and I will do it,” Audie said.
Boone looked at him. “Wait a minute. You’re not coming with us?”
“Umm,” Nighthawk said.
Audie came to his feet. “Yes, I’ve been thinking about it a great deal, too. We’ll give poor Rankin a proper burial, or at least build a cairn over him, and if Preacher hasn’t shown up by then, we’re going back to find him.”
“Are you . . . ? That’s crazy, Audie! We just got out of that city, and now you want to go back?”
“We’re not going to abandon our friend. We’ve been through too much with Preacher, Nighthawk and I have. He would never abandon us, and we can’t do that to him.”
“He told us all to go on and get out of this damn valley,” Boone pointed out.
“I’m aware of that. Still, the duty of friendship remains.”
“I consider Preacher a friend, too, you know.”
“But you haven’t known him as long as we have,” Audie said with a smile.
“I can’t talk the two of you out of this?”
Audie shook his head. “No.”
Zyanya was tugging impatiently on Boone’s arm. He glanced down at her, then looked again at Audie and Nighthawk and nodded. “I think I understand. At any rate, all I can do is wish you good luck.”
“Umm,” the big Crow said.
“Nighthawk speaks for me in wishing you the same,” Audie added.
With that, Boone turned toward the passage through the cliffs and put his arm around Zyanya’s shoulders as she fell in beside him. Several of the other trappers said so long to Audie and Nighthawk, then they followed the young couple.
Within minutes, all of them had disappeared, swallowed up by the utter darkness inside the crack in the earth that led to Shadow Valley.
Audie picked up one of the spears and told Nighthawk, “I’ll see if I can scoop out a shallow grave with this. You find some rocks that we can put on top of it to form a cairn.”
Audie knew that with Nighthawk’s great strength, the Crow would find rocks big enough that no scavengers would be able to budge them once they were in place. Rankin’s body would not be disturbed.
Audie picked a place well off the trail, and the two of them set to work.
Digging a grave with a spear was a difficult task, especially when the ground was as rocky as it was. Audie kept at it, though, as the stars wheeled through the ebony sky overhead. After a while, having piled some suitable rocks nearby, Nighthawk took over the
digging.
When they had a hole a couple feet deep and big enough for Rankin’s body, they lowered the man into it gently. They had no blanket or any other sort of shroud to wrap around him, but that couldn’t be helped. They scraped the dirt back into the crude grave, then Nighthawk placed the rocks on top of it, building a low mound.
Both men stepped back.
Audie said, “Even though Rankin claimed not to be a churchgoing man, I don’t think he would object to us saying a brief prayer for his immortal soul.”
Nighthawk nodded solemnly. “Umm.”
“As usual, you’re more eloquent than I, my friend. Thus we commend his spirit to the Creator of us all.”
They left the grave behind and returned to the trail. There had been no sign of Preacher while they were working, and they thought that the mountain man should have shown up already—if he was able to.
Audie peered toward the distant city. “I suppose we should head back to the city. Are you sure this is what you want to do?”
“Umm.”
“Yes, I feel the same way. Preacher would do the same for us, no doubt about that.” Audie shouldered one of the spears and picked up a war club with his other hand. A reckless smile spread across his face. “Let’s go find that big galoot.”
CHAPTER 31
As Tenoch charged at him, Preacher summoned up all the speed he could and darted to the side. He pivoted, grabbed one of Tenoch’s outstretched arms, and heaved, using the high priest’s weight and momentum against him.
Off balance and unable to stop himself, Tenoch flew forward and crashed into Nazar and Eztli, who had gotten to their feet but were still struggling. The collision sent all three of them sprawling haphazardly on the floor.
Still holding the broken spear shaft, Preacher bounded after Tenoch. The end of it was jagged. He might be able to use it as a weapon. As Tenoch pushed himself onto his knees, Preacher tried to ram the broken shaft into the man’s back.
Tenoch twisted and the jagged wood ripped a long gash across his bare back. He bellowed in pain and outrage and swung a muscular arm into Preacher’s midsection. The mountain man doubled over from the blow. Tenoch grabbed him around the knees and jerked his legs out from under him.
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