Claimed

by Lindsay Buroker

  He set the kid down, expecting her to sprint off, but she only backed out of reach, then gazed toward the creek, toward the bicycle.

  “Maybe she would like a ride,” Kali said. “If it’s all right with her parents.” She waved in the direction where they had left the couple with the mules.

  Cedar doubted many sane parents would let their daughter go traipsing off on some unfamiliar steam contraption—especially if they’d been watching when it had almost pitched him into the creek—but it turned out to be a moot point.

  “Those aren’t my parents,” the girl said. “I’m out here with my sister and brothers. We’re working a claim up that-a-way.”

  “What’s your name?” Kali asked.

  “You wander about in the woods alone often?” Cedar asked, not certain he believed the girl’s story. He had met a lot of kids who would lie like hardened criminals to get out of trouble.

  The girl scowled at the hint of disapproval in his tone. “I’m Mary, and I was checking my traps. I get us squirrel and rabbit and sometimes beaver for the stewpot. I’m not big enough to help much with the digging.”

  “Cedar,” Kali said, giving him a move-back-a-little hand wave, “it’s easier to establish a rapport with people if you’re not towering over them, being disapproving and intimidating.”

  He took a single step back, crossed his arms over his chest, and shut his mouth.

  “That’s more intimidating, not less,” Kali whispered.

  The girl smiled for the first time. Cedar kept his mouth shut. He would let Kali try whatever she had in mind without interference, though he was inclined to ask this Mary to show them to her supposed trapline to verify her story.

  “I’m Kali, and we’re up here seeing if folks want to order goods from Seattle for the winter.” Kali sat on a stump, so her head was lower than the girl’s. “Are you and your family going to be up here for long?”

  “I guess so,” Mary said.

  “You haven’t had any visitors, have you? People trying to get your kin to sell their claim and head back to Dawson?”

  “If I answer your questions, do I get that ride on your... uhm... what d’you call it?”

  “A self-automated bicycle, and, yes, you can have a ride. If Cedar there doesn’t mind running along behind again.” Kali wriggled her eyebrows at him.

  Mary studied Cedar for a moment, then whispered to Kali, “He looks like he minds a lot of things.”

  “Nah, he was just born with a grumpy face.”

  Cedar thought about telling her he had a get-to-the-point face rather than a grumpy one, but he simply turned his attention to their surroundings, watching the trees and listening for sounds of other people while Kali continued talking. Mary demanded a description of the SAB’s attributes, including an answer to “How fast does it go?” before letting Kali direct the conversation back to talk of visitors.

  “There were some people,” the girl admitted. “And there were... things that happened. Some said ghosts of dead prospectors were haunting the creek.”

  “Oh?” Kali said. “What happened to make them think that?”

  “People’s chutes broke in the middle of the night, and equipment started disappearing. At first, neighbors were blaming neighbors, but then these eerie silver lights started appearing in the hills at night. Some people disappeared, too, went crazy, they said, and run off. Nobody saw them again. When someone checked in town to see if they’d come back, nobody there had seen them, either.”

  “Interesting,” Kali said thoughtfully.

  Interesting? It sounded like a tall tale to Cedar. Though he supposed someone who wanted to convince people to sell their claims cheaply might come up with some outlandish methods for scaring them.

  “After that, the strangers came through,” Mary said, “asking if anyone was interested in selling their land.”

  “Can you tell us what they looked like? Anyone dressed all in white?” Kali glanced at Cedar.

  He almost snorted. She oughtn’t to ask leading questions like that, especially to a kid. Besides, Cudgel wasn’t the sort to do the trivial work of an operation himself.

  “Oh sure,” Mary said, “I remember the fellow. He had those funny shoes.”

  Cedar’s skepticism dropped like a mallet. “Funny shoes?”

  The girl nodded. “Like they weren’t made out of leather, but some kind of shiny, no scaly, hide. Almost like a snake or something.”

  This time when Kali met his eyes, Cedar returned the look and nodded once. For a moment, he could scarcely breathe. This girl had seen Cudgel’s alligator-hide boots. What would he have been doing out here?

  “When was this?” Cedar asked.

  “Couple of weeks ago,” Mary said, “and I reckon he’s gone now, but those two men are still about, trying to scare people off. Maybe I could take you to them.”

  “You’re not scared of them?” Kali asked.

  The girl propped a foot on a log and jammed a fist against her hip. “No, ’course not.” When Cedar and Kali exchanged looks again, the girl lowered her fist. “Well, maybe a little bit. But I really want to ride your bicycle, and I figure if the men saw you big people coming up on them, they’d be more worried about you than me.”

  “How far away is their camp?” Cedar asked.

  “Not far. Upriver a mile, maybe. I don’t think they know anyone knows where they’re staying, but I saw them walking around when I was out checking on my traps and followed them. They didn’t see me. I’m quick and quiet.”

  Cedar decided not to mention that he’d had little trouble spotting her. Kali was already getting to her feet and waving for the girl to follow her back to the creek. “Let’s take a ride, and maybe you can point us toward this hideout.”

  Cedar told himself that nothing would likely come of this side trip—even if the girl had chanced across a hideout being used by some of Cudgel’s men, it wasn’t likely the men were still there—but he couldn’t help but think of the what-ifs. What if the men were there? What if they could be convinced to lead him to Cudgel? What if Cudgel himself was out here on Bonanza Creek? Could that explain why he hadn’t been able to find him in town?

  “Easy, fella,” he muttered to himself. “Don’t get distracted or excited. One thing at a time.”

  Mary trotted up to tug at Kali’s sleeve. “That man is talking to himself,” she whispered.

  “Yes, he talks to his weapons too. It’s part of his charm.”

  Part III

  The SAB rolled to a stop at the base of a slope so steep that only the stunted trees growing out of cracks in the rocks made Cedar hesitate to call it a cliff. Water trickled down the mossy incline and formed a clear pool beneath it. The bicycle had been following a faint trail through the woods, but it ended at the watering hole.

  “That’s as far as we can go without defying gravity,” Kali announced.

  Mary was hanging on behind her, while Cedar had been relegated to jogging after the vehicle and inhaling its sooty exhaust. He was about to check for tracks on either side of the pool, but the girl pointed up the rocky hillside.

  “That’s where they’re staying.”

  “In bedrolls dangling from those trees?” Kali asked.

  “No, see that crack up there? They disappeared into it. It must be a cave because both of them went up there and didn’t come out again.”

  Cedar decided to check for tracks anyway. He wanted evidence to validate this story before he clambered up a cliff.

  Mary slid off the SAB and peered into the woods around them, then up at the crack. “Is it all right if I go now? I’m not sure if... I mean, I’m not afraid of them, but I wouldn’t want them to hurt my brothers or sister if they found out I’d helped you. That’s all.”

  This was the first instance of tentativeness from the girl, and Cedar eyed her again, still suspicious that this might all be some tall tale. Maybe she wanted to run off so he and Kali couldn’t catch up with her after slipping off the steep slope and falling onto their butt
s. He reminded himself that she had known about Cudgel’s distinctive boots. That wasn’t something someone could have guessed to embellish on. It hinted to truth about the rest of her story as well.

  Kali raised her eyebrows at him before responding to the girl.

  “There are some recent boot prints here.” Cedar pointed to the leaf litter around the pool. “We’ll check it out.”

  “You can go.” Kali patted Mary on the back. “Thanks for the help.”

  The girl darted down the path, her hand to her head to keep the cap from flying off.

  “Let’s be careful,” Kali said when they were alone.

  “That’s always my aim.” Cedar knelt to examine the prints more closely, trying to determine if people had climbed the rocks or if there might be another route they had taken after reaching the pool. “Any particular reason you’re concerned?”

  “Her hands were digging into my hips like crab pincers,” Kali said. “She was scared on my bicycle, and did you see her face when we approached it? She looked like she thought it would bite her.”

  “Not everyone is as suitably impressed by your contraptions as I am. I thought that’s why you kept me around.”

  “It is. But if she wasn’t impressed by it, why would she have wanted a ride?”

  “I did wonder about her story myself,” Cedar said. “But her knowledge of the boots...”

  Kali nodded. “It does seem she’s seen Cudgel out here.”

  “So far, the ground backs up her claims too.” Cedar outlined the deep print of a boot’s toe with his finger. “This person climbed up. I haven’t looked far to either side yet—” he gestured to the ferns and brambles lining the base of the cliff to the east and west of the pool, “—but I don’t see any broken branches or trampled foliage that would imply people went in those directions.”

  “In other words, you’re volunteering to climb up first?” Kali asked.

  “I’m... not quite sure that’s what my words meant, but I will.”

  “Because it’s brave and proper for the man to check for danger before bringing up a woman? Or because you’ll want me to figure out a way to rescue you if you get into trouble?”

  “I’m certain I won’t need rescuing from a twenty-foot climb.”

  “I’ll get my tools out just in case.”

  Cedar grunted. He thought about removing his pack and leaving it on the ground, but he had a bundle of rope and his weapons tied to it, and he might need both items if there was indeed a cave and if it happened to be currently occupied.

  He studied the climb for a moment, choosing a route with a narrow crevice and a couple of footholds, then started up. Thanks to the moss and the water dribbling down the rocks, the going was slick, but he forged his way upward without trouble. Coming back down with someone chasing him would prove treacherous; a point he kept in mind.

  About five feet below the opening Mary had indicated, a rust-colored stain on the rock made Cedar pause. He’d moved to the side of the rivulets of water, and the stone was dry here, a dirty gray granite. He scraped at the stain. Blood. It wasn’t fresh, but it hadn’t been more than few days since the last rain, so it couldn’t have been there indefinitely, either.

  With his hands firmly planted, Cedar shifted so he could gaze out behind him. Someone might have cut themselves on the rocks, but he also wondered if he might be vulnerable to snipers at this height. He hadn’t climbed above the trees, though, and didn’t see any high points where someone might stand to target this spot.

  “Problem?” Kali asked. She spoke softly, perhaps not wanting to alert anyone who might be inside.

  Given that they had chugged right up to the base of the cliff in the SAB, it was probably too late for silence. Cedar wished their guide had alerted them earlier that they were approaching the spot so they could have stopped a ways back.

  “We’ll see,” he said and returned to the climb.

  He lifted a leg to a slender ledge and pulled himself up to the bottom of the crack. When he peered inside, he didn’t see much, as little light filtered into the dark spot. Not far back, a rock wall dropped away, descending into darkness. He had the sense it was more of a pit than a cave, but perhaps it leveled out somewhere below and extended deeper into the hillside. At least the entrance hole was larger than it had appeared from below and wide enough for a man to crawl through.

  Again aware that someone inside would have heard their approach, he turned his ear toward the cave to listen before revealing any more of his body. The trickle of water was all that he heard.

  “I’m going to check it out,” Cedar said.

  “Do you want me to come up?” Kali asked.

  “No, I’ll call if I find something you’d want to look at.”

  “Or if you need rescuing.”

  “Yes,” Cedar said dryly. “That too.”

  He crawled through the crack, slipping inside quickly so he wouldn’t be outlined in the opening. Just because he hadn’t heard anyone didn’t mean there wasn’t someone there...

  The rocky ground dropped away almost as soon as he passed through the crack, and he had to pick a careful route down a slope almost as steep as the one outside. Moisture made the cold jagged stones slick beneath his boots and hands, and he slipped, bumping his backpack against the wall. His rifle clunked, and he grimaced at the noise. Leaving his gear outside probably would have been a better idea, especially with Kali out there to watch it.

  He descended ten or twelve feet with the light seeping through the crack illuminating less and less as he dropped. Having anticipated a night away from town, he did have a lantern and tinder in his pack, but he wanted to reach a flat spot before trying to extricate the items. His foot slipped again, with tiny shards of rocks bouncing free. Yes, definitely a flat spot.

  It would have been wiser to climb down facing the wall, but he wasn’t ready to put his back to the interior yet. Musty dampness permeated the air, and the scents of sweat and urine lingered as well. A hint of rotting meat reached his nose too. He sensed it was farther away than the other scents, but had a feeling he would find one of the missing prospectors the girl had mentioned. His lip curled at the notion that the men she had seen might be using the front half of the cave as their hideout... and storing corpses in the back.

  The slope flattened out fifteen feet below the crack. He fancied he could knock on the wall and Kali, only a few feet lower on the other side, might hear it. First thing’s first—he wanted to get that light out and have a look around.

  As he wiggled to pull off his rucksack, his boot landed on something loose. It shifted beneath his weight, but he caught his balance. He nudged it to the side, finding it lighter than a rock. He decided not to investigate until he had his lantern out, though an uneasy inkling of what it might be nestled in the pit of his stomach.

  Cedar didn’t carry anything so fancy—and likely to get wet—as matches, so it took him a minute to light tinder with his flint and knife, but he soon had the lantern wick burning. The first thing he noticed was gnawed bones littering the stone floor. Human bones. Femurs, tibias, scapulas, and he spotted a skull with a bullet hole in it too. All of the bones had been chewed clean of every strip of meat, so he doubted they accounted for the rotting smell, but there might be more remains farther back. He was glad Kali wasn’t with him. She had never proven to be the squeamish sort—the time she had screamed when she stumbled across his sack of severed heads had been perfectly understandable—but there were some places one just didn’t take a woman courting.

  As he had suspected, the cave did stretch back into the hillside, though it didn’t appear natural down here the way it had up there. The walls had been chiseled with pickaxes, and sagging timbers supported a rough ceiling approximately five feet high. Cedar would have to stoop low to advance down the passage.

  He shrugged his backpack on again and walked forward with the lantern in one hand and his katana in the other. He wanted a weapon close at hand, and it would make more sense to use a blade tha
n to shoot in a confined space where the shells might ricochet off rock walls.

  A few more bones littered the floor as he ducked his head to continue deeper, but they tapered off. The scents of rotting meat and urine grew stronger as he walked. More and more, he doubted that anyone would choose this as a hideout. Perhaps the girl had seen men using the hole but had not realized they were dumping bodies instead of camping in it.

  Cedar passed a broken pickaxe and a rusty shovel. The tools and the support timbers seemed older than anything being used out on the creek claims. People had been exploring out here longer than the year since the Yukon made the newspapers back East, he reminded himself.

  He stepped around a bend, and his light bounced off a rubble pile that stretched to the ceiling. Soot smeared the cave-in rocks, especially near the top. The ceiling was covered with it too. Someone had passed a storm, or maybe an entire winter, back here once, though he didn’t see a natural hollow that might have been used as a fire pit or any soot or charred remains of wood on the floor. Perhaps the area had been flooded in a storm at one point. Although...

  He spun a slow circle. There weren’t any bones or anything else on the floor back here, nothing to justify the smell of the rotting meat. There had to be more to the place, unless the cave-in had been recent and hid part of the passage. But, no. He touched the caked-on soot. It had been there a long time. He poked about near the top of the pile, wondering if some of the rocks might have been moved recently.

  Scrapes and clacks came from the direction of the entrance. Rocks bounced free as someone else scrambled down that slope. It was probably Kali—he winced at the notion of her landing amongst those bones—but if it wasn’t...

  He thought about cutting off the lantern. Instead he jogged a few steps back toward the entrance and set it on the floor. Then he retreated into the dark dead-end, his back to the rubble wall. He rested the katana beside him and pulled out the Winchester, ready to fire if an enemy stepped into the ring of light instead of a friend.