"I have the right to lay with any man of my choosing. I cannot help it if boys such as you do not stir the same desire in me."
"Then maybe it is time for me to show you that I am man enough to take what I want."
The voices were coming from just ahead, around a corner where the outward-sloping rock wall cut back and the narrow foot path Kendrick was following twisted the same way, inclining sharply as it passed between the slanted rock and a snarl of thick bushes. Kendrick hurried his step. One of the voices clearly belonged to Estraleta. The other, that of a male, he did not recognize.
The lean-to had been empty when Kendrick returned from his discussion with Doc, no sign of Estraleta anywhere in the vicinity. It didn't take long for him to notice, however, that his water bag and canteens were missing, leading him to the conclusion that she had gone to refill them from one of the seep pools in the higher reaches. Since Estraleta had shown him earlier where there was a nearby path that led to the closest of the pools, he'd started up that way with the intent of helping her carry the containers back down. He hadn't gone far before he heard the voices arguing.
Squeezing between the cliff face and the thick brush, Kendrick emerged onto the edge of a narrow clearing bordered on one side by upthrusting rock and on the other by more tangled underbrush. Estraleta stood on the far side of the clearing, burdened with the filled water vessels. Facing her, appearing to be blocking her way back down, were three young men with their backs turned partly to Kendrick. All three wore the type of pale peasant garb that was common to most of the rebels under Bradley's command. One of the young men stood two or three steps out ahead of the others and was clearly the one exchanging words with Estraleta.
"Do not talk crazy talk, Bernado," Estraleta was saying now to this individual. "Do not make threats you will only—" She stopped short, her flashing dark eyes going wide as Kendrick stepped into view.
Following the sudden shift of her gaze, all three of the young men snapped their faces around and fixed menacing glares on Kendrick as he stepped deeper into the clearing. Bodie's own eyes made a quick sweep, noting that each of the trio wore a holstered gun on his hip. Each was also lean and hard-looking, their skin burned deep brown by the sun, their mouths set in a kind of permanent grim line etched there by the steady diet of hardship and tough conditions they likely had known all their young lives. Under the circumstances, in a pack, these lads might pose a reasonably serious threat. But, despite the pistols on their hips and the fact they'd signed on as part of a rebel army, they were hardly skilled gunmen or seasoned fighting men.
"Afternoon, gents … Estraleta," Kendrick greeted in an easy drawl.
The young man standing nearest Estraleta—Bernardo, she had called him—was quick to respond. "This is none of your concern, gringo. Best find some business to attend to elsewhere."
Kendrick smiled lazily. "Hate to be disagreeable, but you just made three mistakes right there in only a handful of words. And that's givin' you a pass on the 'gringo' remark." He pointed. "For starters, those are my water containers the young lady is carryin'. That makes 'em a legitimate concern of mine. Two, having my lady friend addressed in that nasty tone you were usin' a minute ago—that causes me concern as well. Three, hearin' you threaten her the way you was startin' to do, well, that concerns me most of all. To the point of mighty near pissin' me off." Kendrick's smile was suddenly gone. "And, amigo, havin' me pissed off is something you oughta be concerned about, if you're smart enough to know what's good for you."
Bernardo jutted out his chin defiantly. "You do not intimidate me."
Kendrick sighed. "Then I guess you ain't smart enough to know what's good for you."
"Without that gun on your hip, you are nothing."
"Point is, I do have the gun on my hip. Just like you got one on yours."
Bernardo licked his lips. "I know I am not a pistolero. But that does not make me less of a man than you. I know, too, that I am man enough for Estraleta. It was always meant to be—her and I. And when this trouble is over, when we have driven back the Rurales and the gringo desperadoes … and when you also have ridden away, as you are bound to do … then there will be the chance for her and I again."
"Do not be a fool, Bernardo," Estraleta said plaintively. "I am sorry. But, no matter what is in your heart, I never shared those same kinds of feelings for you. I never gave you cause to believe otherwise. To challenge this man over a hopeless notion of what never will be is even more foolish than—"
"I refuse to give up hope of someday winning your love," said Bernardo, cutting her off. He began to unbuckle his gun belt. "I will fight for that victory. And if that means I have to start by fighting this big, ugly Americano who has clouded your head with romantic fantasies, then I will do that, too."
"Now you're plumb hurtin' my feelings," Kendrick muttered.
Bernardo's gun belt dropped to the ground. "The only question," he said, raising balled fists, "is whether or not this gringo is willing to fight for you in return, and does he have the courage to lay down his own guns and fight me like a man?"
"Son, I got thirty pounds on you," Kendrick growled. "Guns or no, you tangle with me you're gonna come away hurt."
"Then what are you afraid of?" Bernardo taunted.
"Not you, that's for sure. But Colonel Bradley needs whatever fight we got in us for the Rurales, not each other. Our personal quarrel can wait."
"No. The time is now. Take off your gun and show how muy macho you still are without it."
"Bernardo this is loco!" Estraleta wailed.
Kendrick appealed to Bernardo's two companions. "You don't call your amigo off, I'm warnin' you he's gonna get serious—"
Before Kendrick could finish, Bernardo exploded into motion. He bolted straight toward Kendrick and launched into a running dive that hurled his whole body forward like a spear. Bodie braced for the impact and tried to smother it, but had only a fraction of a second to react and there was no way to effectively check the momentum of the dive. Bernardo's shoulder slammed like a sledgehammer into his midsection, simultaneously driving him backward, driving a huge rush of air out of his lungs, and driving the back of his head hard against the unyielding cliff face.
Kendrick felt his knees sag. Gasping, trying to suck back in some of the breath that had been knocked out of him, he had to choke down a surge of bile threatening to bubble up on a reverse course. At the same time he was dazed, his vision blurred, by the blow to the head. Bernardo continued to bull into him, feet digging frantically in the dirt as he rammed his shoulder repeatedly into Kendrick's stomach and ribs.
Finally, desperately, Kendrick got his body turned and was able to block this tactic with his shoulder. He gave a backward elbow slash, halting Bernardo momentarily. But Bernardo charged forward again, almost without hesitation, this time throwing hard, bony fists. He caught Kendrick with a left to the jaw and then drilled a right low into his gut. When he tried to follow up with another right, this one aimed again for the head, Kendrick managed to turn his face away, slipping the punch. This pulled Bernardo off balance and caused him to lean in close enough and long enough for Kendrick to throw his arms around the young man and seize him in a crushing grip.
As Bernardo struggled wildly, trying to break the hold, Kendrick hung on with increased intensity, knowing that he badly needed some time to try and clear his head and catch his breath. He attempted to twist Bernardo around and slam him back against the cliff, but his legs were still too spongy and Bernardo was too nimble on his own feet to get caught that way. So, instead, Kendrick shoved away from the cliff and used his greater weight to drive Bernardo back, trying to wrestle him to the ground. Once more, however, Bernardo managed to keep his footing—until his heel caught on the rugged, uneven ground, tripping him. Locked together, the two men went crashing through the fringe of tangled underbrush that rimmed one side of the narrow clearing and tumbled down a short, rocky incline to spill out onto the edge of the larger camp clearing below.
Desp
ite his best effort to hang on, Kendrick lost his grip during the tumble. Oddly, though, the fall seemed to somehow jar him out of his dazed condition. Scrambling to get back on his feet, still a bit short-winded, he was nevertheless clear-headed and anxious to re-engage Bernardo so he could start getting in some licks of his own. His gun belt was still around his waist, the Colt still secure in its holster, but there was no thought of bringing that into play. Bernardo had called the tune: This was a fist fight, a brawl, and that's the way Kendrick full intended to keep it.
For his part, there was no reluctance on Bernardo's part to get back to the fight either. He bounced to his feet like a cat and immediately tried another running dive at Kendrick. Only this time, the bigger man was ready. He planted his feet and met Bernardo's charge with a swooping uppercut that landed directly under the point of the young rebel's chin. Bernardo's head snapped back, his teeth clacking like two wooden blocks clapped together. His dive ended in mid-air, as if he'd hit a wall, and his body fell heavily to the ground. He rolled over and valiantly tried to get his feet under him again. Ribbons of blood were hanging from the corners of his mouth.
Kendrick grabbed him by the shoulders and hauled him upright. He had his fist cocked to deliver another blow, but then hesitated. Instead, shoving his face close to Bernardo's, he demanded, "You had enough? You proved your point. We can end this now."
Bernardo's eyes were glazed but, through the glaze, Kendrick could still see anger and defiance burning in them. Bernardo spat a gob of blood against Kendrick's cheek and an instant later, with a surprising surge of strength, he jerked his right arm free and immediately swung a right cross. The blow rang off the side of Kendrick's head but had little force behind it, the lad's sudden burst of strength all but used up by jerking the arm free.
Kendrick shoved Bernardo back and then swung his own right, first backhand and then forward, open-handed blows this time that cracked whip-like across each side of Bernardo's face. Bernardo staggered away and dropped to his knees.
Kendrick looked around until his eyes came to rest on Bernardo's two companions, who had scurried down off the foot path and, along with Estraleta, now stood looking on. Kendrick was also vaguely aware that others from the camp were beginning to gather, drawn by the fracas.
Still fighting to catch his breath, Kendrick jerked a thumb toward Bernardo, who was struggling to rise yet again, and said, "Somebody call him off. Convince him to call it quits so I don't have to hurt him no more."
"Indeed!" came the stern, commanding voice of Hunt Bradley. "I will call this matter quits, and that will be the end of it!"
Kendrick turned to see the colonel making his way through the crowd of onlookers. The fierce scowl on Bradley's face reminded Kendrick of a fire-and-brimstone preacher he'd listened to once up near Flagstaff and, along those same lines, the way the people spread apart before him made Bodie think of Moses parting the Red Sea.
Stepping around Bernardo, who was still trying to push himself up, Bradley strode straight to Kendrick and demanded, "What's the meaning of this?"
"Private matter, sir. Personal quarrel," Kendrick replied.
"Personal quarrel?" Bradley echoed. "In the face of what we are on the brink of?"
"Tempers flared. Wasn't exactly something we thought through real close."
"Who started it?"
"Don't rightly recall. Reckon we both jumped into it about the same time."
"I do not accept that answer!"
Eyes narrowing, Kendrick said, "Afraid you're gonna have to accept it. Leastways as far as what I've got to say."
"I would have expected better self discipline from you, Kendrick." Bradley's nostrils flared wide in the center of his gaunt, ravaged face. "You disappoint me."
Kendrick felt heat crawling up his neck, the heat of anger and humiliation at being addressed in such a manner in front of those looking on. He took that kind of thing from no man. "Well … Colonel," he said evenly, "if I'm such a disappointment then maybe the best thing would be for me to just ride on away from this little party you're throwin' here so there'll be no risk of me disappointin' you further."
"If that is your choice, then you are free to make it," Bradley responded with steel in his tone.
"Now wait a damn minute!" Doc Turpin came pushing his way through the crowd, who failed to part ahead of him the way they had done for the colonel. He marched up to Bradley and Kendrick. "What kind of fool talk is this?"
"I'm not in the habit of forcing anyone to follow me in this cause," Bradley said icily.
"And I'm not in the habit of standin' still for a dressing-down like some raw recruit who don't know a musket ball from a bull's nut," Kendrick fired back. Then he added, "Especially not in front of the whole damn outfit."
"Listen to the two of you," Doc chided. "You sound like a couple of schoolboys trading taunts on the playground … And what's worse, as Kendrick rightfully points out, you're doing it right in front of everyone. If you must continue with this, I suggest you at least take it somewhere private."
Bradley's scowl faltered a bit. He looked around, almost as if realizing for the first time that they were in front of a hushed gathering that now included most everyone in the camp.
"The gringo was at no fault for what happened," spoke up Bernardo. His two friends had lifted him upright. He seemed to sag momentarily in their grasp before steadying himself and then pulling free and taking a step forward. "The matter is, as he said, a personal quarrel. But it was I who forced it. I put my hands on him and he had no choice but to fight back."
"I suggest," Bradley said in a tight voice, "that we take this matter to my quarters and finish discussing it there. I very much want to hear what was so important about this personal quarrel that it came to a head on the eve of our scheduled battle against the enemy."
"Ain't really nothing more to discuss," insisted Kendrick. "With all due respect, Colonel, personal means personal. Let it drop. Me and the boy showed poor judgment in allowin' things to get out of hand, we'll make sure it don't happen again."
Bradley's nostrils flared anew and he looked ready to respond hotly.
"I think that's a good idea, Hunt," Doc interjected in a low, calming voice. "Just let it drop, like he says. All things considered, this is pretty insignificant right now. We have something much bigger looming before us in only a matter of hours."
Bradley exhaled a slow, ragged breath and some of the rigidity went out of his posture. "Very well, Doc," he said measuredly. "I will bow to your wisdom and we will consider this matter closed." He took time to rake both Kendrick and Bernardo with a quick, hard glare before turning his attention to the larger gathering of followers who continued to look on in eerie silence.
"If it's a fight you're interested in seeing," he announced to them, "you all know by now that there is a mighty important one coming up very shortly … I therefore suggest that each of you get on back to whatever you were doing to prepare for same. I assure you, before it is over you will have seen your fill of fighting and will not come away anxious to ever witness more."
Chapter Twenty-Four
"When I heard you threaten to ride away before," Estraleta murmured, "my heart sank."
She was wrapped in Kendrick's arms and the two of them lay deep in the recess of their lean-to. Outside, the darkness of evening had descended early, hurried by the gloom of the approaching storm nearly upon the camp now. Horizontal lightning skittered back and forth in the sky and gusts of cool wind blew hard ahead of the rain.
They had just finished making love, their intensity driven by the pulse of the thunderclaps rolling out of the turbulent sky.
Following the fight with Bernardo and the confrontation with Bradley, Kendrick had returned to the lean-to where, somewhat surprisingly, he'd been able to at last fall asleep. Estraleta had lain with him for a time but he'd been aware of her restless tossing before he nodded off. When he woke, she was no longer beside him. It was late afternoon by then and before he had time to wonder much about
the girl's absence he'd been summoned for an "officers call" at Hunt Bradley's meeting table.
When he got there, Estraleta and Doc were already present. So were a half dozen other rebel fighters—including a sober-faced Bernardo, exhibiting some fresh bruising around his mouth—who apparently comprised Bradley's "officers". Bradley's manner was terse and all-business, but he seemed to harbor no leftover rancor from the earlier incident. The meeting was short, extended only by a couple of prolonged coughing fits from Bradley. The plan he presented was straightforward and basic, assigning the roles of key individuals and calling for using the cover of the storm to move up during the overnight hours in order to be in position for striking the village just before dawn. When he was done, there were no questions. The colonel wrapped up with a short prayer asking God's hand to guide their mission and then advised everyone to be ready to move out at midnight and use the interim hours to worthwhile advantage.
Once the meeting broke up, Kendrick and Estraleta had started to walk away together. They'd gone only a few steps, however, before being halted by someone calling their names. Looking around, they saw Bernardo approaching.
As he reached them, the young man's gaze was direct although his head seemed to hang somewhat. "If you will allow me," he said quickly, as if in a hurry to get the words out, "I want to extend my apologies to both of you for my words and actions earlier." Focusing on Estraleta, he added, "I never made a secret of my feelings for you. But the coarseness with which I attempted to force myself upon you was … unforgivable."
"It is done and past. I am willing to accept your apology," Estraleta replied somewhat stiffly.
Bernardo shifted to Kendrick. "And you, senor, are clearly a man of bravery and honor. For me to have implied otherwise with both my words and actions was equally—"
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