Except the tempest was gone. Somehow, miraculously, the storm had passed them by. She could hear a rumble of thunder in the distance, but above her was blue sky.
She lay on the ground, panting. Her hair was matted and she shivered from the cold of the river. She felt exhausted.
“Are you okay?” Miranda said, as she ran up.
Jules didn’t have the strength to say anything, but nodded in response. She clung to one of the rocks as if it was the only thing holding her, though the river was five feet behind her.
“I saw you go under,” Miranda said. “I didn’t think— I’m glad you’re all right.”
Onyx. She wanted nothing more than to keep her head down and rest, possibly forever, but she needed to see to her horse. Actually, they needed to get the hell out of there. If she was right and that storm really had turned to follow them, there was no reason it couldn’t come back this way. She heard another rumble of thunder and flinched.
She lifted her head off the dirty sand and looked around. She didn’t see her horse, but ten feet past her, she spotted a man lying on the bank of the river. Will. She tried to get up, but Miranda patted her.
“You wait here,” she said. “I’ll see to him.”
Jules gratefully laid her head back down in the sand. She couldn’t just lie there. She had to get Onyx, see how Will was, she…
Jules fell unconscious.
*****
When she awoke again, half of her body felt warm. Everything was dark. She was alarmed until she realized it was nighttime. She could see a swatch of bright stars above her.
She heard a crack and realized it was the sound of a fire. Will sat on a log, holding his hands out to the warm flame. Miranda was putting more sticks on the fire and Jules could make out the silhouette of another person further down on the rocks. He appeared to be searching for something.
Jules sat up and immediately wished she hadn’t. She felt nauseated, and fought down an urge to throw up.
“Jules!” Miranda said, and rushed over to her. Will perked up too, looking at her with concern.
Jules lay back down in the sand, content to let her sister check her over. Her clothes were still wet and she shivered with cold, but the fire was pleasant.
“How’d you make a fire?” she asked.
They had no supplies of any kind, and what they did have on their person was wet.
“I’d be a pretty sorry excuse for an Oglala if I couldn’t build a fire,” Miranda said with a grin.
Jules looked around the campfire to see if anyone else was present. With relief, she saw two horses nearby, feeding off some grasses by the river. Onyx and Conchita. She had no idea how the horses had survived both the fall and the river’s rapids, but then again, she didn’t know how she herself had made it this far. She should have drowned.
“Where’s everyone else?” she asked.
“Luke is searching for more survivors,” Miranda said. “But we haven’t found anyone else. All we found was a boot that belonged to one of Will’s men.”
Jules looked past Miranda at Will, who appeared stricken at the mention of members of his command.
“He was out searching until five minutes ago,” Miranda said, almost defensively as if Jules had questioned this. “I finally convinced him to take a spell sitting while Luke went instead. But, Jules, I don’t think there’s anybody left but us.”
“Rezzor?” Jules asked.
And almost as soon as she asked, she remembered. She had a vision of those Vipers appearing out of the sky, seizing Rezzor and his horse. He was worse than dead now.
Miranda shrugged. “Never saw him,” she said. “If he’s dead, he’s the only one I don’t mourn.”
Jules reached her hand to her face, which was throbbing. When she pulled it away, she saw dried blood.
“It’s not too serious,” Miranda said. “You got banged up pretty good, but you’re lucky to be alive.”
She didn’t feel particularly lucky, though she supposed she should.
“The storm?” Jules asked.
“Long gone,” Miranda said. “I worried it would come back this way, but we were all pulled a ways downstream.”
“Mira, did the storm turn? Did I imagine that?”
The look on her sister’s face indicated she hadn’t.
“How is that possible?”
Miranda shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“Then why didn’t it follow us down here?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe it’s difficult to move. It’s one thing to follow us when we go slightly astray, another thing to turn around entirely. But that’s just a guess, Jules.”
Jules nodded. It was as good an explanation as any. She thought of Miranda’s voice when she’d said, “We see you.” Why the hell had the storm come after them? Did the Vipers know what she was planning?
That idea was absurd. If they did know, they should wait for her to come to them, not seek to punish her this far away. The whole notion of them as thinking entities was still a bit bizarre.
“Help me to my feet,” Jules said.
“Are you sure? You just—”
Jules started to pick herself up, and Miranda helped. Everything ached, but she was relieved to find nothing was broken. She still felt slightly dizzy and was grateful they didn’t have any food. She didn’t think she could hold any of it down.
She walked stiffly over to Will, and sat down on a rock beside him.
“I’m sorry about your men,” she said.
Jules sagged against Will as Miranda hovered. Apparently deciding Jules was okay for the moment, she turned away, looking for more fuel for the fire.
Jules expected protests from Will, maybe an insistence that his men could still be alive, but instead he only nodded grimly. “They were good men,” Will said. “They died doing their duty.”
How strange it was that men saw this as a source of comfort. What did duty matter when you were dead? It seemed like an ancient idea, the kind Viking warriors had so they could enter Valhalla or some such. Men who could build railroads and steam engines surely shouldn’t cling to outdated notions like this. Yet they did. It was the kind of thing her father would laugh about, though he’d freely believed in such ideas himself until he’d been “shown the light.”
Normally, she’d be inclined to debate Will on the point, but she would leave him in peace today. They had more important things to discuss. She didn’t want to admit what came next, but it needed to be said. He was likely angry at her, and it would do no good if that was allowed to fester.
“This is my fault,” she said.
He gave her a puzzled look. “Why do you say that?”
“It was my plan to rob the stage coach,” she said. “If I hadn’t done that…”
She let her words trail off. She didn’t feel particularly guilty. She hadn’t intended for the soldiers to die, though she’d known all along that was a possibility. But she wanted the blame out in the open.
“If you hadn’t robbed the coach, Rezzor would have done it,” he said. “Then my men would have died on the trail, instead of in this ravine. And I’d be dead too. No, the fault lies with me. I convinced my superiors to take this risk, hoping to draw you out. Apparently my lure caught more fish than I’d intended.”
“What’ll happen to you when you go back?”
“Demotion, probably. Transfer to some backwoods somewhere, if I’m lucky. The Army doesn’t take kindly to this kind of failure.”
He said it without emotion, though she knew his Army career was everything to him. He’d spoken so proudly of it when they met, and of the other cadets at West Point.
“Can’t be as bad as that,” she said. “Your father has enough connections that—”
“My father is dead,” Will said.
“Oh,” Jules said, startled. Will’s father had been a loud braggart who spoke constantly of the important friends he’d had. Jules had never liked him much, but he’d loved his son. He spoke of him to
everyone they met. “I’m sorry. What happened?”
“Dropped dead last fall,” Will replied, still with that matter of fact tone of voice. “Heart trouble, the doctor said.”
She reflexively put her hand on his and held it, surprised by how warm it felt. For a moment, they could have been the couple that had courted three years earlier. But he pulled away after a few seconds.
Luke walked up to the fire. “I’m sorry, Colonel,” he said. “I found a few scraps of clothing, but no sign of anyone else.”
Will nodded as if this was what he’d expected. “Frankly, it’s a miracle this many of us survived. That storm…”
At least no one was blaming her for riding off the cliff. Maybe they, too, had caught glimpses of what lay in that dark cloud.
Luke met Jules’ eyes.
“You all right?” Luke asked.
She nodded. “I’ll live. I’m a damn sight better than I deserve to be.”
Luke turned and started to walk away. “You came back to warn us,” Jules said. “Why?”
Luke stopped in his tracks and looked back at her calmly. “I was still on the job,” he said. “I was scouting ahead for a spot where I could take you back before you reached the fort. But when I saw that cloud coming, I circled back. Figured the Colonel could use the warning.”
“I’m right grateful for it,” Will said, giving him an invisible tip of his hat, even though the hat itself was a washed-up mess lying on the ground.
“Why do that at all?” Jules said. “Why not just ride away?”
He stared at her, his eyes reflecting the firelight. “Didn’t have anything better to do,” he said.
Will snorted, but Jules held his gaze. “Colonel Starling here says you rode with the Kid. That true?”
Luke gave Will a surprised look. “I didn’t realize the Army cared so much about my past.”
“You’re avoiding the question,” Jules said.
“I rode with the Kid,” he said. “That was a long time ago.”
“So you knew my father?”
He gave a small nod.
“And you never thought it important to mention that?” Jules asked.
“You never asked.”
“It’s not generally the first question on my lips,” she said. “’Oh, by the way, did you know my father?’”
Luke started to walk away again.
“Can I ask you another question?” she said.
“Something tells me I can’t stop you.”
“When Gilroy hired you to find me, did you know you were hunting Trent Castle’s daughter? Is that why you took the job in the first place?”
He met her eyes, but didn’t immediately respond. It was the only reason she could think of, based on what Will had told her. If he was as good a bounty hunter as his reputation, Gilroy’s offer was likely beneath his going rate. There was no reason for him to take the job, unless he had an ulterior motive.
But what was it? Was he trying to protect Trent’s daughter, or use her for some other end?
Luke sighed. “I got lucky,” he said finally. “I was coming to find you anyway, but met Gilroy along the way. I figured it was best to play along with him to sort out what kind of trouble you were in. I didn’t expect you’d hire me, but once the offer was made, I couldn’t turn it down.”
“And why were you coming to find me?” she asked, though she suspected she knew the answer.
“Because there was word out that you were looking to find your father,” he said. “And if that was your aim, I wanted to be a part of it.”
“Why?”
“I owe him a debt,” he said. “If he’s alive, I will help you find him.”
Will looked from Luke to Jules. “Wait a second. Your father’s alive? The Army says he died three years ago.”
Jules kept her eyes on Luke. There was more going on here, she was sure of it. “What debt do you owe?”
He looked away into the night, which was uncommonly still. After the tempest had passed them by, it was as if the land itself were recovering. The only sound was the rushing of the river nearby.
“A story for another time,” Luke said, and walked off.
She wanted to ask more, but she thought it likely she wasn’t going to get anywhere. If his story was true, why hadn’t he mentioned it earlier? It made her suspicious. Of course, everything made her suspicious.
Will was looking at her strangely.
“Where is your father?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Try me,” he said.
“Not tonight, Will,” she said, knowing it would be another argument. “I’d like to get some more shuteye, if you have no objection.”
Miranda returned with an assortment of sticks and dead logs, flotsam from the river’s current. She piled some on the fire, putting the rest to the side.
“Just one more question, then,” Will said. “What happens tomorrow?”
Jules cocked an eyebrow at him. “You’re not going to insist we go to the fort?”
He looked around them. “I’m not a fool, Jules. I’m outnumbered three to one. I think pretending you’re still my prisoner would be a might bit stupid.”
“Not going to argue with you there.”
“So what happens?”
“We go back to Stanton,” she said.
“That’s it? Just going to go back to your home base empty-handed? The Army is apt to send someone there once I don’t show back up.”
“First of all, I won’t go back empty-handed,” she said. “Secondly, why won’t you be showing up at the fort?”
“Oh no,” he said. “My job was to bring you in, but failing that, I’m to find out what you’re up to. I figure the best way to determine that is to stay by your side. If you’re after your father, all the better. I’d dearly love some words with him myself.”
Wouldn’t that be a sight? She’d almost like to see it. She was tempted to argue with him, but was too tired tonight. He’d likely change his mind once he found out what her plan was anyway. But instead of protesting, she stuck out her hand.
“Well, if that’s the case—welcome to my gang, Colonel Starling,” she said.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“There was a small expedition of troops launched in April. Their orders were to scout the Maelstrom and to report back. We had it assigned to one of our best units. They sent back messengers with regular reports, but two weeks in, those reports stopped. We never heard from them again, and no trace of them could be found.”
— Second Congressional report on “Happenings in the Dakota Territory,” dated 1883. Stamped SECRET.
They found the ruined stagecoach by noon, most of it smashed up against a canyon wall.
The paymaster’s box took more scouting, but Luke finally found it, still blessedly intact, lodged underneath a large rock. Jules didn’t want to think what kind of wind had managed to pick up a box filled with gold and silver coins.
She’d worried the whole way there that one of Rezzor’s men had escaped and retrieved it or even that a random passerby might have discovered it, but thankfully, only the storm appeared to have disturbed it.
She waited for a protest from Will when they seized it, but none came. He was staring at the wreckage of the carriage. Eventually, Fort Lincoln or Fort Curtis would send out riders to discover what happened, and God knew what they would conclude. No gang of bandits could have done this.
They’d also found Jules’ two revolvers and a replacement for Luke’s rifle. The weapons had been tucked away inside the back end of the stagecoach, and though it had been smashed against rocks and drowned in water, they appeared to work just fine.
The lock box was unsurprisingly heavy, but Jules managed to prop it in front of her, Onyx complaining just a bit in the process. She couldn’t ride as fast, and they made camp in the grasslands.
It was their second night without food at the ready. The storm had destroyed whatever stores the stagecoach still had on it, and the
river had swept away Jules’ saddlebags.
Luke managed to shoot several prairie dogs, which they skinned and then roasted over a makeshift spit by the fire. Jules was so hungry that it tasted good.
She devoured the first eagerly, licking the juice from her fingers when she was finished. She did the same to a second and third.
She kept the paymaster’s lockbox with her at all times, worried that Will might try to run off with it, but he seemed resigned to coming with her. Or maybe he truly wanted to come.
She couldn’t help but notice that when he’d laid down the night before to go to sleep, he’d been some distance away from her. But when she woke up, he’d been so close he could have reached out and touched her. She wasn’t sure what to make of that, but romance was the furthest from her mind.
Still, she was glad he was there. He was a good shot and aside from wanting to take her to jail, he was trustworthy. At the very least, he wouldn’t betray her to a rival gang.
“Can I ask a question?” Will said as they ate the remainder of the prairie dogs.
“Fire away,” Jules replied.
The ache in her stomach had passed, though she was still tired from the ride and sore from her impromptu swim in the river the day before.
“I could have sworn I saw you driving that coach at the end there, when Rezzor’s men were firing at you,” Will said. “I was a bit busy at the time, but how in the world did they manage to miss you?”
“Terrible shots, I suppose.”
Miranda grunted and threw something in the fire, making it spark up. Jules sighed.
“You have something to say, Mira?” she asked.
“They weren’t poor shots, and you know it,” Miranda said.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Jules said sarcastically. “Yes, they aimed right at me and I dodged the bullets. I’m amazing.”
“What are you suggesting?” Luke asked.
Even in the few days since she’d known him, it was rare that Luke broke into a conversation. He seldom seemed to even be listening, though she suspected he always was.
Riders on the Storm Page 16