Riders on the Storm

by Rob Blackwell

  “Well, will you look at that,” she said. “Out of bullets. Shame. Guess I’ll have to use yours next.”

  She leaned over, putting Rezzor’s revolver to his temple. “What do you say we end this?” she asked.

  “Jules, no!” Will said from behind her.

  She looked back at him. He’d freed his soldiers and rearmed them. None were pointing their weapons at Jules, but she didn’t doubt they would if Will ordered them.

  “Why not? You’re just going to hang him anyway.”

  Will looked exhausted, like he could barely stand. His face was grimy, though somehow he still managed to look handsome. Damn him.

  “We need him,” he said, glancing from him to her.

  Suddenly she understood. He was now convinced she wasn’t in cahoots with Rezzor, but would need the man as evidence once they made it back to Fort Curtis.

  She holstered Rezzor’s gun. “Fine,” she said.

  She turned without another word, heading back toward the carriage. “Where are you going?” Will asked.

  “You secure the prisoner,” she said. “I’m going to sit a spell over here, if you don’t mind.”

  She stalked forward, a different plan turning over in her mind. She didn’t dare look behind her like she cared, but kept her eyes ahead. She didn’t see Luke anymore, another good sign.

  When she rounded the wrecked carriage, she found Miranda holding a large box. “We still want this, right?” she asked. It looked like she could barely hold it because it was so heavy. Jules could have hugged her. Her sister had read her mind.

  “Get that out of sight,” she said, and walked toward the carriage horses that were stamping in the dirt. One had blood on its front, wounded by a bullet, but not fatally. The others appeared anxious, but hadn’t been hurt. The bandits had been aiming at the drivers, not the horses.

  Jules began to unharness them from the wagon, hoping Will would be too distracted to see what she was doing.

  She’d lost track of Onyx in the fight, but she was certain she and Conchita would find their way back to her soon. Those two horses had a knack for doing so. In the meantime, she would borrow two of these.

  She looked behind her to see Will giving orders to his men. He’d tied Rezzor’s hands behind his back and was forcing him to his feet.

  Jules hurried about her task, freeing the carriage horses and leading two back to the carriage. There were no saddles, but Jules and Miranda had learned to ride bareback when they were little.

  Wordlessly, she helped Miranda get on one of the horses and then handed the heavy box to her. Jules wanted saddlebags to help, but there wasn’t time to scrounge for any.

  She nodded to Luke, who mounted the other horse as Jules climbed onto Miranda’s mare.

  “Just what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Will asked as he rounded the carriage. She looked back at him. He had his gun out, aiming in her direction.

  But he wasn’t going to shoot. She knew him too well for that.

  “What I came here to do,” she replied. “Rob you blind.”

  She spurred her horse forward with her feet and rode off into the prairie.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Born Myra Maybelle Shirley, Belle Starr’s family moved to Texas during the Civil War, where she promptly fell in with Jesse James’ gang. She was a crack shot who liked to wear two pistols on her belt and, while riding a horse, carry extra cartridges in her lap. In 1880, she married a Cherokee named Sam Starr and quickly took charge of his gang. She often successfully relied on bribery to free herself and members of her gang when she ran into trouble.”

  — Jessie Berry, “Overlooked Women of History,” 2016

  Jules heard a shot and suddenly the horse reared up. Without a saddle to hang on to, she and Miranda fell off. For the second time in under an hour, Jules found herself lying on her back in the grass.

  He’d shot the horse. The bastard had shot the damn horse. She couldn’t believe it. She watched it ride off into the prairie, blood streaming from its haunches. Will hadn’t killed it, but scared it into heading off God knew where. She tried to struggle to her feet, but Will was on top of her a moment later, his hands pressed against her shoulders.

  “Stop this right now!” he said. “For God’s sake, Jules, I was going to recommend a full pardon after what you did. But now…”

  She was looking up at him, her fingers itching to pull her gun again. But she couldn’t pretend like she was going to shoot Will, not after going to all that trouble of saving him.

  “Remember the last time we found ourselves in this position?” Jules asked. “That was a lot more pleasant.”

  Will scowled and knelt back, grabbing her gun from its holster as he did so. He was shaking his head.

  “I just don’t understand you,” he said.

  Jules looked over to check if Miranda was all right. Her sister was sprawled next to her, but was already rolling over to get to her feet. Luke was nowhere to be found. Will hadn’t shot his horse. He must have gotten away in the scuffle.

  Jules sat up and looked at Will, holding out her hands.

  “Going to take me back for my hanging?” she asked. “You could have just let me go, you know. The soldiers wouldn’t have questioned it. I saved their lives too.”

  His expression darkened. “And lose my honor?” he said. “Never. This pay doesn’t belong to you.”

  “I. Saved. Your. Lives,” Jules said. “Consider it payment for services rendered.”

  “That’s not how the world works, Sally—dammit—Jules!”

  “Oh, my! That’s the first time you’ve sworn in front of me, Will. You best be careful. It offends my delicate sensibilities.”

  “I’ll put in a good word for you at the fort,” Will said. “There’ll be a military tribunal. Given the testimony of me and my men, they won’t hang you. Hell, if the press caught wind that we were hanging a woman who rescued trained soldiers, the public would never allow it. You’d be famous. But we can’t forgive what happened on the train, Jules. Those women and—”

  “I didn’t kill them, Will. I know you don’t believe a word I say anymore, but I didn’t,” she said. “It was the Vipers.”

  He looked at her sharply. “How do you know about—”

  One of his men came running up behind him.

  “The gang leader is secured, sir,” Private Jenkins said. His face was dirty and his uniform torn in several places, but otherwise he looked okay. He stared down at Jules, still in the grass. “What do you want done with her?”

  “Tie her hands behind her back,” he said. “Tightly, even if she complains.”

  “So we’re progressing to tying me up, are we, husband? My nether regions are positively afire.”

  She wasn’t sure why she enjoyed the horrified expression on his face quite so much, but she did. For several months in Chicago, she’d been the ideal woman in his eyes. He’d put her on the highest pedestal, and it was fun to knock it down and let him see the real woman.

  “Tie up her sister as well,” Will continued after he regained his composure. “And get scouts out there to find the bounty hunter. He won’t be far.”

  “Luke is long gone,” Jules said. “He has no loyalty to me, particularly if I’m about to be thrown in prison.”

  “You don’t know the man, Jules. I do. I don’t know for sure what he was doing with you, but his line about being in it for the money wasn’t true.”

  “What the hell does that mean?” she asked.

  Will didn’t respond. He got to his feet as Private Jenkins helped Jules up. She obligingly put her hands behind her back so he could tie them up and resisted making any more charged remarks.

  Will stepped away from Jules and toward Miranda. Jules’ sister looked pale, and seemed to be almost swaying on her feet.

  “You okay, Mira?” Jules asked as Jenkins tied her up.

  Miranda looked back with a faraway expression, making Jules wonder if she’d taken a blow to the head. Will stood next
to Miranda, looking at her with concern.

  “We see you,” Miranda replied. It wasn’t her voice anymore, but the strange collection of them. Jules felt the hairs on her arms and neck stand up. “We see you very well.”

  Miranda’s eyes once again turned solid black. Will stepped back from her in alarm. Jules tried to run to her sister, but Jenkins held her in place.

  “What’s going on?” Will asked, eying Miranda uncertainly and looking to Jules. “Is this another one of your tricks?”

  “We are coming,” Miranda said.

  Her eyes faded back to brown and Miranda collapsed to the ground. Jules pulled away from Jenkins and knelt by her side, feeling useless because her hands were tied up. Will knelt beside Jules, checking Miranda. She was unconscious, but breathing.

  “What was that?” he asked. “Was it because of the fall?”

  Jules looked to the sky, which was still a cloudless blue. She wondered how long it would stay that way.

  “You have to free me,” she said.

  “I told you, I can’t do that.”

  “They’re coming,” Jules said. “The Vipers.”

  There was a wary look in his eye. “I’m not falling for another one of your schemes.”

  She couldn’t blame him for thinking that way. It certainly felt like she was trying to fool him, even though she wasn’t.

  “You know about them,” she said. It wasn’t a question.

  He held her gaze. “It’s supposed to be secret. I’m not sure how you even—”

  “Because I’ve seen them, Will. I’ve fought them. They’re the things that attacked the train while I was robbing it.”

  He shook his head. “That can’t be true. The report said there were bodies.”

  “There weren’t. Somebody put that in your report because they didn’t want to admit the truth. I was there, Will. And I was a convenient scapegoat. But I didn’t do that carnage. I can shoot a man in cold blood, I don’t deny it. But I’ve never killed a woman who didn’t have it coming, and never even thought about killing a child.”

  “If that’s true, the tribunal will—”

  “Set me up to take the fall,” Jules said. “Think about it, Will. You said it yourself. The Vipers are supposed to be secret. You think the military wants to admit those creatures just wiped out a whole train? And they’ve done far worse than that. You’ve heard about Evanston? They killed everyone, Will.”

  He’d gone pale.

  “The military will kill me,” Jules continued. “Someone is going to an awful lot of trouble to cover this up. It’ll be far easier to hang a known criminal instead of admitting the truth.”

  She could see the validity of what she’d said register in his eyes.

  “So where’s your precious honor now, Will Starling?” she said. “Will you send an innocent woman to her death so that your government can keep a lid on this?”

  Her mark hit home. She could see he believed her. That was good, because if their positions were reversed, she wasn’t sure she could have done the same. She wondered how much the government knew about the Maelstrom and its inhabitants. The fact that Will knew about it was a miracle she wouldn’t have dared hope for.

  “How far to the fort, Will?”

  “Another day’s ride,” he said.

  “Then go,” she said. “Get your men and gear and get out of here. Ride as fast as you can. Because you don’t want the Vipers to catch up to you. Just believe me on that.”

  “And I’m just supposed to let you go?”

  “Yes! Take the damn lock box if you want. I’ll find another way to get the silver I need.”

  She wasn’t sure about that, certainly not in the time frame Graves had in mind. And she couldn’t ride into the Maelstrom without silver bullets. But survival was the only thing that mattered right now.

  Will looked doubtfully at Miranda and then back at her.

  “I’m sorry, Jules,” he said. “This could all be a ruse. You’ve done it to me before.”

  Jules closed her eyes. If she couldn’t persuade him, she was a dead woman.

  “Will—”

  Another man came running up.

  “We’ve got the wagon tipped up again, Colonel. There were two more soldiers inside, hurt but not too badly.”

  “Thank God for that.”

  Jules hoped he hadn’t asked who had hurt them, but she was pleased to hear they were all right.

  “You sure the wagon will move?” Will asked.

  “The wheels were damaged, but Jerome managed to make some repairs to get it functional. We’re trying to round up the horses now. It’ll be slow going.”

  Will nodded. “And our other prisoner?”

  “He’s trussed up like a Sunday pig, sir,” the man responded.

  “Very good. Carry on.”

  “We can’t stay here,” Jules said.

  “Well, we wouldn’t be if someone hadn’t cut the cursed horses loose,” Will replied.

  The man ran off, and Jules could feel herself growing more anxious by the minute. Jules looked down at Miranda, who was still unconscious. What was happening to her sister? She’d had the dreams for as long as Jules had known her, but this was something new, something dangerous.

  Whatever was speaking through her, she believed its message. The Vipers were coming for them.

  She forced herself to calm down. Nothing good came from hasty action, another one of her father’s sayings. If she tried to force the situation now, she was likely to get herself hurt or killed. She would have to wait for the next opportunity.

  “Take her back to the carriage,” Will ordered Jenkins, gesturing to Jules. “I’ll deal with her sister.”

  Jules gave him a warning look, but went obligingly. She could have taken Jenkins, that was obvious. The private was still shaking from the gun fight, jumpier than a frog in hot water. But where would that get her? She couldn’t run into the open prairie with her hands and feet tied, and she wouldn’t leave her sister behind.

  She found Rezzor in the carriage, tied up like her. Unlike her own bindings, which were no more than two rounds deep, Rezzor had been tied at least a half dozen lengths. He grinned when he saw her.

  “Maybe we’ll hang together, Castle,” he said. “I’ve been telling all these fine men how you and I work together.”

  He laughed, showing her some of his crooked teeth. Jenkins apologized as he forced Jules into the coach. Another man came up and gave her a muttered thanks. Whatever Rezzor said, these men knew what she’d done for them.

  “How’s your shoulder?” she asked, wishing she could punch him in it.

  “It won’t kill me,” he replied.

  She watched as Will came walking to the carriage carrying Miranda in his arms. He carried her gently, like a child. He looked like a man in a penny dreadful, the kind with the noble hero rescuing a maiden in distress.

  Jules looked away. Will was a good man. She’d had to leave him back in Chicago, that had been inevitable from the beginning, but she wished he’d been more of a bastard. It would have made the whole situation less miserable.

  Jenkins opened the coach door and helped Will prop Miranda up on the seat. She continued to sleep, leaning against the side of the carriage.

  After what felt like an eternity, the horses were located and attached again. The carriage began moving slowly forward.

  As they rode, Jules stared out the window, watching the skies for the storm she knew was coming.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “There were more than seventy souls on that train. Our best guess is that it rode straight into a storm—and those Vipers swarmed over it within minutes. There were no survivors, absent a thief and her companion. For the time being, we’ve decided to pin the blame for the incident on her. If the public were to know about this growing threat, I fear the consequences would be disastrous.”

  — Second Congressional report on “Happenings in the Dakota Territory,” dated 1883. Stamped SECRET.

  Miranda woke up a
half hour into her ride, coming to as abruptly as she’d passed out. She looked around her in alarm.

  “Where are we?”

  Jules nodded in Rezzor’s direction. He was separated by two soldiers from Miranda, but he leaned over and smiled maliciously at her.

  “May want to get some more sleep. We’re a ways from the gallows yet,” he said.

  Miranda turned toward Jules. “Gallows?”

  “If the Vipers don’t get us first,” Jules said.

  “The Vipers…” she trailed off.

  Will, who was sitting next to Jules, leaned forward. “Do you remember what you said?”

  From Miranda’s eyes, it was clear she had some inkling. “I dreamed of a massive black cloud,” she said. “It was stretched forth like a gigantic hand over the prairie. It was coming our way.”

  Jenkins, sitting next to her, appeared visibly alarmed.

  “Well, thanks for sharing, Mira,” Jules said. “That ought to cheer everyone right up.”

  “It was just a dream,” Will said.

  Jules looked at him sharply, examining his face. Even he didn’t believe that.

  “You need to let us go, Will,” Jules said again.

  “Don’t start, Sal—Jules,” Will replied. “We’re the U.S. Army. We don’t put much stock in the dreams of Indians.”

  It probably came out harsher than he meant it, but Miranda reeled as if he’d slapped her in the face.

  “Best remember that line,” she said darkly. “I have a feeling you’ll come to regret it right soon.”

  Will had the presence of mind enough to look chagrined. Jules hated his comment, but couldn’t entirely blame him. He looked worn out, and his grief was showing. He’d lost half of his men on this trip. The only solace was that he hadn’t lost them all.

  “Sorry,” Will said. “It’s just—”

  “Never mind,” Miranda said, looking away.

  Those two had never gotten along. That was likely due to the way Will’s family had treated Miranda while she’d played the role of Jules’ servant. In earshot, they’d talk about how good it was that Jules’ family had taken in an orphaned Indian, and how everyone would be better off when they were properly civilized.