“I will not.”
“You’ll get in trouble with your parents.”
“It won’t be the first time.”
“I’d hate to be in your shoes when your father gets ahold of you,” Selena stated.
“Go get him.”
“I will.”
The quiet outside belied her words. Zach waited to hear hoofbeats, but there were none. He glanced at his tiny sister, peacefully sleeping on the middle of the bed, then back at the door, and as he did he glimpsed a shadow flit across the window. Crouching, he darted to the wall under the sill and warily peered out the narrow space between the leather flap and the jamb. The stallion’s head was visible, nothing else.
The next instant a tremendous crash rocked the cabin as a heavy object rammed into the door, rattling the heavy bar but otherwise doing no damage.
Shifting, Zach covered the entrance. Evelyn stirred and whined, yet amazingly didn’t wake up. That shortly changed when the door was again assaulted so hard the brackets holding the bar nearly popped off. Startled from her sleep, Evelyn let loose with a high-pitched cry.
“Hush!” Zach said sternly, although it did little good. He attempted to hear what was going on outdoors, and was foiled by the thick walls and his sister’s wailing. Moving closer to the door, he inadvertently recoiled when yet another devastating blow shook the structure. Judging by the sound, Zach guessed that Elden was using a large log to batter the barrier. Perhaps both Leonards were involved. He had to convince them to stop before the wood shattered, and he could think of only one means of doing so. Training the flintlock on a spot to the left of the latch, he held himself still until the door was struck a third time, then he rapidly cocked and squeezed the trigger, shooting right through the wood.
A startled yelp was the reaction. A loud thud was next, and Elden screamed in outrage: “The bastard shot me! Right in the arm!”
Zach reached the window in time to observe the brother and sister disappear in the trees to the east. Moving the flap a few inches, he spied a five-foot log lying in the snow just outside the door where they had dropped it.
Evelyn, frightened badly as she had been by the fearsome din, continued to cry pathetically.
“There, there, sis,” Zach said, going over. “Everything will be fine.” He stroked her cheek, wishing he felt as confident as he sounded. That a terrible fate had befallen his parents was now certain, and he pondered the frightful possibility both were dead. It was as plain as the nose on his face that the Leonards intended doing the same to Evelyn and him. But why? he asked himself. What had they done to deserve this?
Seated there on the bed, Zach fought off a dark wave of despair. He must, he noted, keep his wits about him. His pa had always taught him to face hardship head-on, to tackle any job that needed doing with all his heart and soul and mind and strength, to do that job to the best of his ability. “Be a fighter, son,” Nate had said. “Work hard at what you need to do. Don’t give up just because something might seem impossible. It’s the hard work that brings out the best in you.”
Spurred by the memory, Zachary stood and took stock of the situation. There were two enemies outside who were going to try their utmost to gain entry, and there were only two ways of doing so, through the door or the window. The door was sturdy enough to withstand an hour of steady battering, as the Leonards must know by now. Which meant they would try to get in through the window.
Setting down the rifle, Zach gently picked up his sister and lowered her, blankets and all, to the floor, where he carefully slid her under the bed, out of the way of stray balls. Then, standing, he swiftly reloaded his flintlock, a task he realized he should have done sooner.
Next Zach dragged the table to a spot directly under the window and piled all the chairs on top. As he set the last one in position, a scraping noise lured him to the door. Running over, he saw the latch wiggle. Someone was trying to force it! He pointed the rifle but froze with his thumb on the hammer. Maybe that was what they wanted him to do, he reasoned. The moment he fired, the moment his gun was empty, the other Leonard would try getting in by the window.
As if to confirm his hunch, Zach spotted another shadow pass across the pane. Only this shadow didn’t keep on going or vanish. It became larger, ever larger, until suddenly the entire window was blackened from top to bottom. This lasted several heartbeats. Sunshine burst into the cabin at the self-same second the glass burst inward, smashed by a hurled log, the same one that had been employed on the door earlier. Razor shards showered all over the table and the floor, and the leather curtain was torn off and flapped downward.
Zach spun, swinging the flintlock. A bulky form blocked out the light, and there was Elden Leonard perched on the sill. Leonard tried to jump down onto the table, but the log, which lay across the sill, and the stacked chairs combined to prevent him from doing so.
Thwarted, Elden gave up trying to break inside. In his left hand he clutched a rifle, which he now tried to bring to bear.
Zach was quicker. Too quick, since his rushed shot smacked into the jamb near Elden’s fingers instead of hitting Elden’s shoulder. A flying wood chip must have sliced into the man’s hand because Elden cried out, let go of the sill, and toppled backward.
Swift strides brought Zach to the window in time to catch sight of Elden scurrying around the northwest corner. He leaned out, eager for a shot, forgetting about Selena, a mistake he paid for when rigid claws dug into his hair and he was viciously yanked partway over the sill.
“Defy us, you little bastard!” she hissed. “I’ll cut off your manhood with my own two hands!”
Zach tried to pull free; she had better leverage. He lanced an elbow backward, hoping to hit her in the stomach, but only fanned air. In desperation he reached behind him and seized her hand. She resisted him easily, laughing all the while as she continued to pull him bit by bit out of the cabin. To stop her he must release his rifle, which he was reluctant to do.
Around the corner came Elden Leonard, his features set in an arrogant sneer. He had his flintlock, and raising it, he took confident aim.
The end was seconds away. Zach couldn’t hope to tear loose from Selena by relying on his strength alone before Elden fired. So acting impulsively, he dropped his rifle, drew his butcher knife, and dived. Not back in, but outward, adding his weight and momentum to the force of Selena’s pull, in effect catapulting himself out the window at her very feet. She doubled over, trying to retain her hold, and their faces nearly touched.
Zach struck. With the speed of a striking ferret, he slashed his knife at Selena’s throat, and had her hand not slipped from his hair, causing her to stumble backwards, he would have opened her neck wide. As it was, the blade did slit the skin, and Selena hurled herself from him, her eyes wide in shock.
“He cut me!”
Elden went rigid on seeing the blood flow down her throat. His mouth worked like that of a fish out of water. Then, recovering, he shrieked in rage and ran forward.
Shoving off the ground with his left hand, Zach leaped upward. Elden’s rifle roared, lead tore into the cabin, and Zach sailed over the windowsill onto the table, colliding with the chairs he had stacked. Some crashed over the side. So did Zach. Landing on his right shoulder, he rolled against the wall and seized hold of his discarded flintlock.
Hysterical screams, fainter by the moment, pierced the air.
Taking no needless risks, Zach rose, his back to the wall, and glanced out. The Leonards were gone again, their trail easy to spot thanks not only to their tracks in the snow but also to the drops of fresh blood leading into the pines to the northeast.
For the time being, at least, Zach was safe. He sighed n relief and sank to his knees. From under the bed bubbled playful cooing and gurgling, soothing any fears he had about Evelyn.
What would the Leonards try next? That was upper-most in Zach’s mind. Selena would be after him with a vengeance, so whatever they tried was bound to be swift and deadly. He could expect no mercy whatsoever.
Keeping low, Zach went to the counter and checked he bucket. It was two-thirds full. After transferring the water to a pot, he carried the pot to the fireplace and set it up on the tripod, over the flames.
Casting about for other ideas, Nate spied a coiled rope tanging on a peg. He took it down and proceeded to lay out a large loop on the floor next to the table. By positioning the piled chairs so there was a narrow gap it one side, he invited whoever entered to step off the table right into the loop.
These and additional arrangements Zachary King made over the next several hours as they occurred to him, as he waited for the killers to return.
~*~
“That damned urchin is mine!” Selena Leonard raged. ‘Do you hear me, Elden? Mine! If you touch him, I swear to God I’ll kill you!”
“Will you calm down?” her brother requested. “You’re too agitated to think straight.”
“Agitated!” Selena exploded, and lowered her left land to expose the thin red crease in her neck. “That son of a bitch nearly killed me! Another inch and I’d be as cold as this rotten lake!” So saying, she dipped he strip of material she had torn from the hem of her dress into the water and squeezed out the blood she had just wiped off.
“We’ll get him. Be patient.”
“Patient, hell! As soon as I stop bleeding, I’m going back up there and give that little rat a dose of his own medicine.”
“And walk right into his sights?”
“We’ll trick the upstart like we did before. Only this time you’ll distract him by fiddling at the door and I’ll sneak to the window,” Selena proposed, grimacing as she dabbed the wound.
“He’s not stupid, dear. The same ruse won’t work twice.”
“What do you suggest we do then?” Selena barked. “Stay out here and slowly freeze to death?”
“Nothing so drastic,” Elden stated, taking a seat on a nearby log. “All we have to do is wait until dark. He won’t be able to shoot what he can’t see, and it should be simplicity itself for us to get close enough to pick him off.”
“Except for one minor detail.”
“Which is?”
“If he can’t see us, we can’t see him. Unless you expect him to be dumb enough to let the fire go on burning.” Selena scowled in disgust. “For someone who likes to use all the big words you do, you never have been worth a damn at planning. At strategy, as you’d call it.” She touched the cloth to the cut. “If it wasn’t for me you would have been filling a coffin years ago.”
“I know you’re extremely upset over the boy, but that isn’t adequate justification for venting your frustrations on me,” Elden responded testily. “I’ve contributed m> fair share to our enterprise.”
“But I was the one who took most of the risks,” Selena countered. “I was the one who went out in public with those men, who let myself be seen with them. What if someone who knew them had seen me and later reported my description to the authorities?”
“And what if one of our victims had been smart tough to have lawmen waiting at the delivery points?”
Elden refused to be cowed. “Don’t talk to me of risks! I took as many as you did.”
Selena dipped the material into the water again, the corners of her mouth twitching downward. “At least you don’t have to go to bed with men old enough to be your father.”
“Please don’t remind me.”
“What’s wrong? I thought you had it as hard as I did,” Selena shot back. “Never forget, little brother, that I was e one who duped those fools into liking me. I was a candy for their sweet tooths, the one who entangled ’em in adultery. Your part in our fine scheme, the actual blackmailing, was easy by comparison.”
“Perhaps in that respect you’re right,” Elden conceded, his face flushing pink. “Frankly, I never have understood how you could allow others to put their hands on you, to stroke you, to do—”
“Enough!”
Elden abruptly fell silent and gazed off at the cabin, barely visible through the trees. “Agreed. Let’s never bring up New York City again. Right now we have a more crucial problem, namely how to dispose of the brat and his sister so we can take possession of the cabin.” He rested his rifle across his legs. “I still think we’ll be able to kill him handily once the sun goes down. He’s only a kid. He’s bound to make a mistake.”
“You had better be right,” Selena said. Standing, she moved to the horses. “Mount up.”
“Where are we going?”
“Back.” Pressing a hand to her throat, Selena climbed into the stirrups. “Unless you want the boy to sneak off with his sister. If you’ll recall, the Kings kindly revealed they have friends living north of here. The McNairs, I think they’re called. If the boy should reach then we’ll have every trapper in these mountains down c our heads.”
Sighing deeply, Elden stood and walked to his horse “All this activity is sorely vexing. I’m about worn out,
“Be careful, darling,” Selena said, at last relaxing enough to crack a grin. “The next thing you know you’ll grow a muscle.”
~*~
Twilight gripped the Rockies when Zachary Kin detected a hint of movement in the forest bordering the homestead. He was crouched at a corner of the window, the rifle and a loaded pistol at his side, a knife and a tomahawk under his belt. Quickly he turned, dashed to the fireplace, and using a cup of water sparingly, extinguished the last of the embers, plunging the interior into inky darkness.
Evelyn whined and stirred in her sanctuary under the bed. She was hungry, had been for quite a while. With each passing minute she became increasingly fussier.
Zach was unable to help her even had he been free to do so. There was no milk in the cabin, nothing at all to feed her. Denied the nourishment their mother supplied the baby would slowly starve. He shut the thought from his mind and hastened to the window.
Night was swooping down on the mountains like great black bird of prey. Already the lake resembled bottomless pit. The pines had changed color from green to ebony. Distant peaks, once a brilliant white, were not a ghostly gray.
Doubt set in. Zach debated for the dozenth time whether he should have tried to escape, to reach Shakespeare McNair’s. He’d wanted to, even plotted how to do it but at the moment of truth he had balked, fearing for the baby’s safety in the icy wasteland he must cover.
Again something moved in the woods. Zach tried to pinpoint it without success. He tucked the pistol under his belt next to his tomahawk, then propped the rifle barrel on the windowsill and molded the stock to his shoulder. The way he figured, Elden and Selena would come at him so fast he would barely, have time to think, which was just how they wanted it.
Zach heard Evelyn crying softly. Filled with concern, he shifted to stare at the bed, longing for his mother so intensely his eyes brimmed with moisture. He opened his mouth to speak to the baby, to tell it everything would be fine. Then he stiffened. Footsteps thudded on the earth right outside the window, and he heard the rustle of clothing.
Appalled that he had let his guard down, Zach faced front, saw a flitting figure, and snapped off a shot. Before he could determine if he had hit his target, the rifle barrel was seized and torn from his grasp. Backing away, he grabbed for his pistol, but in his haste he forgot about the pot of scalding water he had left on the floor. His left foot made contact. Down he went.
A deafening crash drowned out Evelyn as the chairs were sent toppling to the floor. One slammed into Zach as he was rising, throwing him off balance. He lost sight of the rope and the knives he had set out. Panicking, he drew the pistol and turned toward the table. Too late he saw a streaking form almost upon him. A knee drove into his chest with stunning force, driving him onto his back, the air whooshing from his chest. Sinewy fingers snatched his wrist and shook his right arm until the pistol flew off. Feebly he resisted, unable to accept that he had been beaten so completely, so rapidly. “No!” he cried, swinging punches that had no effect.
“Yes!” Selena Leonard screeched, h
er knee finding his groin. The boy went limp and groaned. Elated, Selena shook him violently, tilted back her head, then crowed, “You’re mine, brat! All mine!”
Chapter Twelve
A gnawing pain in Winona King’s chest was the first sensation she became aware of as consciousness sluggishly returned. The second was of excruciating throbbing in her temple. Third was a sore spot on her neck. And last, but by far the oddest, was the rubbing of a soft clammy object across her face.
Belatedly, in a rush of horror, the mental images of being attacked caused Winona to open her eyes and fling her arms out to ward off more blows. But instead of seeing the demented features of Selena Leonard, she saw he somewhat sad countenance of a great wolf sporting a white mark on its chest. “Blaze?” she said softly, and was licked on the face again.
Propping an elbow on the ground, Winona weakly bushed up. The wolf whimpered and nudged her with its moist nose. “Where did you come from?” she absently asked while looking down at herself. The large bloody stain on her dress made her shiver as she recalled being stabbed close to the heart and in the neck.
In the final, terrifying moments of Selena’s unexpected onslaught, Winona had believed she was going to die, and she could hardly believe she had been miraculously spared. Gingerly, she eased out of her robe. Touching her neck she discovered the tip of the knife had merely nicked her throat; the thick robe had saved her from more severe injury. But what about the stab wound in the chest? Her fingers trembling, heedless of the biting wind, Winona lowered the top of her dress as she had done to feed the baby.
The knife had been aimed directly at her heart. Had she not been turning as the blow was delivered, and had the blade not been partially deflected by the heavy folds of her robe, she would have died on the spot. But the knife had penetrated at an angle above her left breast, slicing deep into the flesh but missing her heart and sparing her life.
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