As the Eagle Flies

by J. D. Oliver

  “Do you know what he was talking about?” Faith asked me.

  “No, not all of it. I have heard of the Ancient Ones, but the Other Ones? As far as being descendants of them, I wouldn’t know. But like I’ve said before about the two girls being Espiritu Jinete or Spirit Riders. We sort of knew that.”

  Rosie cleared her throat, “Dad, it’s full dark, I think we had better hit the trail.”

  That we did. Clancy jumped up behind Alita, with his paws on her shoulders. I came up beside them.

  “Clancy, why are there patrols out in this wilderness, what are they looking for?”

  “Looking for? Basically you. But they’ll devil anybody they come across.”

  “Why are they looking for us?” I said.

  “You guys are like a small sliver in the Evil ones foot, hurts just enough to be annoying. He’ll swat you like a fly, if he gets the chance.”

  It was about an hour before dawn when we came to that small stream Gabe told us to camp by. It was a good spot, with plenty of good grass for the stock as well as plenty of tree cover for us to spread our bedrolls under.

  We ate a cold breakfast, or was it Supper? It didn’t matter, we were plenty pooped. Rosie, Alita and Poppy spread theirs close to each other under a big fir tree that spread its lower branches out like a mother hen spreads its wings for her chicks.

  Hank spread his under another tree, but close enough to the girls. He was in those teenage years where he wanted to be tough and independent, but not that much, to get out of sight of the girls.

  Now Harry and Patty spread theirs about a hundred yards away from the rest of us. Which I was glad of, I didn’t want to hear any of their nonsense. Faith and I, we stayed close to the kids. We didn’t feel very amorous anyway. I don’t know where Clancy went, some secret mission I suppose.

  I never sleep that hard, especially when danger might be near. About an hour after we went to sleep, Faith and I were awakened by noise coming from Harry and Patty’s sleeping area. “What the hell is that?” Faith said.

  “Go back to sleep, Patty was always a screamer, as I remember from High School.” Faith punched me. “How do you know that?” Faith said.

  “That’s what my buddies told me, so don’t hit me. I never messed around with her. I hope it didn’t wake the kids up.” I lifted up a bit and looked at the kids, Rosie was looking at me. I signaled her to go back to sleep, she smiled and nodded.

  We woke up about two that afternoon. The kids were already in the swimming hole. Faith and I joined them. Harry and Patty were still asleep. As we had spent time in Viking Valley running around naked, it didn’t bother any of us to skinny dip. That is as long as Harry and Patty were still asleep.

  Faith had crawled out and was standing in a shaft of sunlight drying herself, she said. “What are we going to do about those two, I don’t trust them.” She was turning slowing, letting the sun reach every drop of water. I was floating on my back watching her. She was sure a sight. I glanced over at the kids, they were diving for a colored rock or something, paying no attention to us oldsters.

  “What do you mean you don’t trust them?”

  “Just that, something just doesn’t ring true.” She made a few more turns, then said, “Do you think I’m getting fat?” I let myself slowly sink to the bottom.

  After we got dressed, I went over to where Harry and Patty were, they were still asleep, spread out over each other, naked of course. I sat down on a rock and watched them sleep. Funny thing, staring at a sleeping person can wake them faster then kicking them in the ribs. Harry opened his eyes and looked at me.

  “You had quite a time, didn’t you Harry?” I said. I looked around their clothes were scattered all over. They must have been in a hurry when they got undressed, cause some of Harry’s buttons were torn off of his shirt. I picked the shirt up, one button was just hanging by a thread. I looked at it.

  “Well Harry, either you’re as dumb as a tick on a fence post, or you’re soon going to be dead.” I said.

  “What? What’s wrong, what did I do?” I plucked the button off of his shirt. Patty had woken up. “Patty let go of his tally-whacker and go take a bath in the stream.” She hopped up and ran for the creek. She heard the tone in my voice and knew when to shut up and run.

  I flipped the button to Harry, he caught it. Looking at it, his face turned ashen. “Clay, I didn’t know it was there, I swear.” He started to get dressed.

  “No, don’t put those on, gather all of your clothes and Patty’s and go toss them in the fire, everything that you brought with you, everything.” He scrambled around on his knees, with his naked butt in the air, gathering stuff up, then he ran for the fire.

  Watching him, he reminded me of that character Ichabod Crane from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, with the Headless Horseman chasing him. Everyone of us stopped to stare at him.

  I walked over and tossed Faith the so called button. She caught it, looking up at me with a question in her eyes. “It’s a tracking device.” I said, as I took it from her and dropped it on the ground and crushed it under my boot heel. “Faith, give Patty something to wear. I had Harry burn all of their clothes. Will any of mine fit Ichabod?”

  “Ichabod? Who’s he?”

  “Harry, I gave him a new nickname.”

  “Oh, I get it, Ichabod Crane. Cute. And I suppose you’re the headless horseman?”

  “Well sometimes I feel that way, headless that is.” I turned to Hank, “Hank, would you go over all of the tack that we took from the Ranch last night, look for anything unusual. We’re looking for bugs, electronic bugs. And Oh yes, check all of the horses hoofs, even the horse shoe nails.” I might as well be headless, for not thinking of the obvious.

  “Uh, Faith, when Patty gets out of the pool, check her breasts for lumps, will you?” I said. Then I went to help Hank. It took us about two hours, we came back with thirty of them. When I got back to where Faith was setting with Patty, Faith tossed me one, just about the same size as the button on Ichabods’ shirt.

  “It was under her left breast, it didn’t bleed very much, I only had to put two stitches in it. What about down below, should we check that?” Faith said.

  “No, if she had one there, old Ichabod would of found that last night.” I said, Faith giggled, “That or broken it, for sure.” Faith said.

  “Patty, what’s the story, did you know that you had that bug in your breast?”

  “No, I swear, I had a boob job six months ago, it was free, a guy I was banging paid for them. Then he dumped me, I never knew why he would pay thousands of dollars and then never stick around to enjoy them.”

  Faith started to laugh and fell off of the rock she was setting on. I looked at her, “That’s not funny.” I said.

  “Yes, it was. Didn’t you see, she said that with a straight face, she has a better delivery than Joan Rivers, even better than Gracie Allen. Maybe as good as Jack Benny.”

  Rosie was standing there listening, “Who’s Joan Rivers, Gracie Allen and Jack Benny?” She said.

  “They were comedians, famous for their laid back style.” I said. “They lived in the twentieth century. Rivers might have lived on into the twenty first, I don’t know for sure.”

  Alita spoke up, “Why are we setting here discussing dead people, when they might be closing in on us as we speak?” I looked at her, out of the mouth of babes, comes common sense.

  “You’re right sweetheart,” I said. “We should be moving. Come on everyone, let’s pack up, we’ll be moving, come the twilight of dusk.”

  Rosie fell back beside me, “What I don’t understand, is, why did they put those bugs on those two and on all of the tack?” She said.

  “Well,” I stopped and thought for a few hoof beats, “that is something that I haven’t given much thought to, I see what you mean though. As far as everyone knew, we had dropped off the face of the earth, so were they put there on account of us? Maybe not. Doesn’t really matter, cause maybe they were just covering all of their bases. It c
ould be they just wanted to keep track of Harry.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense Dad. They already had him by his short hairs. No, I think it was still us they were after. I think the God of this system of things, Satan, knew we were still alive. And I think he knows right where we are anyway. But his dumb servants, don’t. That’s the reason for the bugs.”

  “Do you mean to say that he can’t communicate directly with his servants?” I said.

  “Yes, that’s what I think. I think the Great Spirit is going to give us a fighting chance. I think the Evil One, is going to have to work through his earthly servants. Even his Demons, can’t interfere with us.” Rosie said.

  “Do you mean to say that, the playing field is more or less even?” I asked Rosie.

  “No, of course not. It’s the fight between good and evil. You know in the end, good always wins.” Rosie said, then kicked her horse up to go scout ahead. I thought a minute about her last statement. I certainly hoped that was true. But I knew evil sure had won a lot of battles, but the war was yet to be fought.

  I sort of let Brutus do his own thing, as I sat a looked at the stars. They had been up there for God only knows how long. Yep, God only knew. I got to thinking about his patience with us. Then this thought popped to mind: Could Patience be only a mild form of Despair, disguised as a Virtue?

  Well one thing I did know, was that expectation postponed makes the heart sick. I think that is in the Bible. So I suppose that if patience was long in drought, then it could be a form of despair. I don’t know, a Philosopher I ain’t. But I do hope that God doesn’t despair over us too long, he might get tired and lose his temper.

  Faith dropped back beside me, “What are you day dreaming about?”

  “Oh, I don’t know, snakes and spiders and puppy dog tails, I guess.”

  “Posh! I don’t believe that, you’re probably thinking about sex, isn’t that what men usually dream about?” Faith said.

  “Yeah, you’re right sweetheart. But why dream about it, when you’re setting not two feet from me?” I said, as I leaned over and picked her out of her saddle and sat her down facing me across my lap. Ah, expectation fulfilled!

  Well not quite, cause Rosie came riding back. She reined up beside us, “What are you two doing? Never mind, I seen a campfire up ahead, do you want to go around it or what?”

  I sat Faith back in her own saddle, “Yeah, I want you all to give it a wide berth, I’m going to Injun up on it and see who it is.”

  “Do you really think that you should, sweetheart?” Faith said, as she adjusted her clothing. Rosie had watched me as I sat her Mother back in her saddle.

  “I didn’t realize that you were that strong Dad. Mom must weigh a hundred and twenty and you lifted her like she was the same weight as Alita.”

  “Yeah, I do seem to be able to do certain things, that I didn’t use to.” I said.

  “A hundred and twenty, my goodness! Rosie, I bet I don’t weigh over a hundred and fifteen.” Faith said. I left them debating the five pounds. As I left the group, Clancy fell in behind me.

  “I know who they are.” He said.

  “I know you do, but I want to see them for myself. Nothing like eyeballing them to get the sense of their intentions.”

  “I can also tell you what their intentions are, but you go ahead and look for yourself, you know curiosity killed the cat?”

  “Well only one thing wrong about that old saying, I ain’t no cat.” I said, as we slowed to a walk. I dismounted, taking my boots off, I fished my moccasins out of my saddle bags, tying my bootstraps together, I hung them over the saddle horn.

  As I slipped my moccasins on, years of the white man’s ways fell off of my shoulders. I became what I truly was. I took my 30-30 out of its scabbard. I loosened my knife in its sheath. My senses sharpened. I could smell every little whisp, even a dung beetle as it did it’s work on a pile of horse manure, breaking it down to nourish the plants of the earth.

  The stars seemed like flood lights to my eyes. Of course they weren’t, they were normal, but my vision was as sharp as my hearing and smell was.

  Clancy and I, made our way towards the raucous sounds coming from their camp. We made sure we didn’t starlight ourselves. The moon was just hanging over the horizon. Sort of like it didn’t want to be there at all. I couldn’t blame him any, it must have been a long time since I seen him smile.

  We stood in the dark shadows of the timber. There must have been thirty of them. Dressed in combat fatigues. They were getting liquored up. Some of the revelers were women, dressed as the men were and acting much the same. We, Clancy and I, stood there as if we were invisible, which to them we were.

  At the edge of their firelight we could see five or six, I couldn’t quite tell, trussed captives. They had their hands and feet tied. We were only about fifty yards away, just a good stones throw. I reached in my pocket and got my sling out. I squatted down and picked up some suitable stones, six in number. Looking at them, I kept thinking 666. The Devils spawn, they surely were.

  I looked around for Horses, there were none. But there were five Military type Hummers, parked haphazardly. They had Wyoming National Guard stenciled on their sides. But I bet they used to belong to the Guard, but now?

  I really couldn’t tell the sex of the captives, since they were lying on the ground, dressed much alike they were, jeans and such. I looked at Clancy, “Well, what should I do? Kill the lot of them, or just walk away?”

  “Have you ever thought of a course in-between those two alternatives?”

  “Well, you’re the smart one, but yes. It’s not going to take long for that bunch to get so drunk, they won’t be able to function, let’s hope so anyway. When they do I’ll just walk in and release those yahoo’s that are tied up over there.”

  “Good plan, but what if they don’t all get soused?”

  “Well then, I’ll just have to deal with that, won’t I?” I said.

  “Yes, well, let’s just wait a spell and see, you might just as well set down.” Clancy said, as he made the canines usual circle turns to pick just the right spot to lie down.

  “Why do you do that? I’ve often wanted to know. Why don’t you just lie down?”

  “Well, when you make your bed, you have to lie in it. So therefore I want to be comfortable.” He said, finally settling down to earth.

  One by one, they were passing out. All except two of them, that I had noticed were not drinking as hard as the rest, one of them was a woman. At least I think she is a woman, looked like one of those Russian wrestlers. Built like a brick shit house, literally.

  When all except those two were conked out. They both got up and headed for the captives. I woke Clancy. “Look there, I think they’re up to no good, wouldn’t you say?”

  “Yes. I know what they are thinking. You have my permission to take them out, that is if you can do so without waking the whole bunch of them.”

  “Oh, I have your permission, do I? What makes you think I need your permission?”

  “Quit being childish, look!” Clancy said, indicating the Cossack’s. They had reached the captives. The big woman, bent over and picked up one of captives, when she did, I could see that this captive was a young girl.

  She had put her hand over the girl’s mouth, and with the other one was tearing her clothes off. I fitted a stone into my sling. I got her right between the eyes. Goliath went down with a hiss. The same thing was happening to a young boy, the man had put his hand over his mouth and was trying to undo the boy’s belt. My stone caught him in the back of his head. I looked around, no one had noticed.

  I put my sling and extra stones in my pocket and picking up my 30-30, Clancy and I walked over. I hated perverts. Just to make sure, I slit both of their throats, then I took their belts off and hung them upside down from a low tree branch. Clancy was watching me. “What? You think I shouldn’t of done that?”

  “No, you’re supposed to bleed dumb animals, when you kill them, and they’re the dumbest of
the lot. But I’m not the only one watching, those children seen also.”

  I looked at them, there were six of them, those two children and four young women in their twenties. I went over, “Who belongs to those two children?” I asked the prone women.

  Of course they couldn’t answer, they were gagged. I pulled their gags out. They still couldn’t talk, they had been gagged for I don’t know how long. I went over and found a canteen, I smelled it to make sure it was water. Then I gave each of them a drink.

  One of the women, the oldest looking one said, “Their mine, Jessica and Peter. Thank you so much, I thought we would all be raped and killed, which we would of if you hadn’t of come along. They picked us up early yesterday morning. They killed my husband and oldest son. They already had these other four, but I suppose their story is about the same as mine. My name is Seven Tosh.” She looked at me as if expecting me to answer. I did,

  “My name is Clay, Clay Bronson, we have a Ranch a few days south of here, well did anyway. Can you move? Good, if all of you would get ready we have to leave here before they wake up.” Clancy got a few strange looks from them. I said, “That’s Clancy, he’s a friend of mine. Well I guess more than a friend, he’s over three hundred years old. And yes he’s supernatural.”

  “How are we going to go, walk?” Seven said. I looked at Clancy, he said, “The horses are waiting over in the timber, Gabe sent them.”

  Seven sucked her breath in, “What? He talks?”

  “I told you he was supernatural.”

  “Yes, but I thought you were kidding.” She said, then helping her children put their clothes back together, she got ready. I checked on the other four. They were in sad shape. Most had their clothes in disarray. And they were in a little bit of shock, not at what I did, but what happened to them and their families.

  I poured some water on a rag and cleaned them up as best as I could. One of the women had most of her blouse torn off. I tried to fix it, stuffing her breast back in, but it kept falling out. So I went over to one of the Hummers and found a suit case, I took out some fatigue shirts, five of them, one for each of the grown women. At least it would cover them up. I didn’t try to get their names, I figured Faith could do that when we caught up with them.