With things still not quite yet back to normal between them, she had trod lightly fearing that Katie would become upset when she told her that they couldn’t yet leave the town of Córdoba. Naturally, Katie had wanted to know why immediately, but she had not asked in a hostile or sarcastic way as she would have when they had first started their journey. Honor knew that the younger woman was still blaming herself for insisting that they hook up with Marquita and Valencia in the first place, allowing them to fall into their trap.
In a calm voice, she had asked why not, and Honor had explained the great unknown was Marquita. The woman had escaped and though there was no indication that there were more members of Fernando’s gang beyond the men who had met their end at the mesa, for all they knew the evil woman could be out corralling other ne’er-do-wells in an attempt to free Fernando. They simply could not leave the town in case they were needed to pick up arms once more and stand with the greenhorn deputy if Marquita arrived with backup. Honor Elizabeth had been immensely relieved when Katie acknowledged that she understood, and it was the right thing to do.
So, it had come to pass that they took turns throughout the day sitting with the deputy awaiting the sheriff's return. When one needed to go to the privy or to take a meal, the other would be left behind.It had been a long, tedious wait. To pass time Honor practiced twirling her knife, happy that she had been able to retrieve it from the body of the man she had slain with it the night before. She had feared it had become lost to her when the man tumbled down the edge of the mesa he had been climbing to ambush her when she had caught him and delivered the knife directly to his heart. As for Katie, at one point she had gone off to buy a holster for a gun they had captured from one of the bandits. Katie said she would feel much better with one on her hip after what they had just survived. It made sense to Honor because a six-shooter at one's side was better any day of the week then the single shot derringer Katie had initially brought along for protection.
Finally, two hours ago the sheriff had at last returned from the El Parque Del Diablo prison. Unfortunately, the man spoke even less English than the deputy. Honor Elizabeth, of course, couldn't blame either of the lawmen; this was their country, after all, Spanish the language. Still, she was frustrated because her limited Spanish skills that she had picked up from Catalina were going to be of no help. In the end, the pair had been forced to enlist the aid of a soiled dove from the local whorehouse that was fluent in both languages depending on where her johns hailed from.
It had taken a lot of translating, but at last, the women from Arizona had been able to get across the gravity of the situation. The sheriff's features had taken on a hard look as he gazed at the prisoner slumped in the corner of his cell. Honor knew precisely how he felt recalling the revulsion she had experienced when Marquita and Valencia had first revealed their scheme. The pair had bragged and boasted about it and took delight at not only the prospect of the two colored women being raped when their brother’s gang arrived but then being shipped off to South America, a trip ending in some dirty, lice-ridden brothel. The sheriff of Córdoba vowed to them he would do everything in his power to see justice served and learn as much as he could about the trafficked women and children.
Now Honor Elizabeth turned her face up towards the low sun for a moment and basked in its rays. It was time for them to be on their way. As much as the option of staying in town for the night tantalized her with the idea of sleeping on a bed, she knew it was best to ride until nightfall and then set up camp. They had lost a lot of time, so they needed to make up for it. They still had enough days to get the coach and return it to Godspell and Quillan before the Jackson Run would commence. However, if she had learned anything from her adventures with her sisters these last few years was that the unexpected could arise at any moment, and any further delays could threaten the plan to get the new stage back to the Arizona territory on time.
Katie, she could tell, was thinking the same thing and eager to be on their way. After a brief stop at the general store to pick up some extra provisions to eat, they made a direct line for the livery where Nina and Katie's horse Ginger was being cared for. As they drew closer, an unusual sight caught Honor Elizabeth's attention.
Outside the livery stood a hulking white woman with drab brown hair the color of dirty dishwater, clad in a pair of dungarees and a checkered blouse. To Honor it looked like the seams of attire were about to burst from what could only be well-muscled arms beneath the fabric of her shirt. Before her was a young Mexican girl with the same coppery skin and ebony locks as her beloved little Cattie. She looked to be around thirteen or fourteen if Honor Elizabeth had to guess. Other people strolling by swung their heads to look at the woman and child who were deep in some type of conversation.
“I wonder how she like it, Honor Elizabeth?” Katie snickered, causing Honor’s eyes to narrow as she asked her companion what she meant.
“The white woman being the one who stands out. That’s why I stick close to Godspell. Cuts down on the stares.”
Honor chuckled at this knowing Katie was talking about the sizeable colored population in Godspell, probably the biggest in all of Arizona. Once you ventured out of that to other places, one could always expect stares from the white citizenry. Being the subject of curiosity was something Honor Elizabeth knew a thing or two about. When all four of the sisters traveled together, one could lose count of all the eyes that swung towards her blended family.
In a heartbeat, their good humor evaporated when abruptly the formidable looking woman stopped talking and instead cuffed the Mexican teen in the side of her head with her right hand. An instant later her left hand came up and slapped the other side of the girl's head. Even as the girl was bursting into tears, Katie had dropped her sack of food stores and was charging towards them so fast Honor's attempt to reach out and restrain her shoulder was doomed even before her arm started to raise. By the time Katie had reached the pair, with Honor double-timing to catch up, the woman had grabbed the girl by the shoulders and was shaking her.
“Let go of her!”
The woman had a momentarily look of surprise that quickly gave way to disdain from where she towered over both the girl and Katie.
"This don't concern you, pikininny! Be on your way before I give you a dose of the same!" she snarled as Honor Elizabeth drew up behind Katie. All the Wildes gave off an aura of confidence, and she could see the woman hesitate for a moment as she shifted her gaze to Honor. Locking her hazel eyes with the brutish woman she didn't like what she saw. Tiny, furtive orbs gleamed angrily back at her from the angry, red, swollen face and the woman's jowls were pockmarked and pitted.
“That goes for you too. Where I come from folks mind their own business, especially nigrahs. You savvy, girl?”
"Actually," Honor began, setting her jaw and putting her balled fists to her hips, "The question here is not whether I ‘savvy' but rather if you understand that where we hail from adults do not unduly lay hands on children in the manner of which we just witnessed. Raise a hand to this defenseless girl a third time, and I shall show you why."
She held her steely gaze on her for a full ten seconds as the woman's mind clearly was trying to reconcile Honor's refined manner of speaking. Honor's voice was a curious mixture that was one part her original Southwestern twang and the part a slight accent of a Southern belle that Honor had long ago picked up from her beloved teacher at finishing school back East. Despite her puzzlement, the woman shook it off and pushed the girl away from her. Katie reacted immediately and caught the girl in her arms and pulled her close. The girl wrapped a death grip around Katie as soon as she was in her arms and looked back at the big woman terrified.
With curse words flowing out of the woman's mouth like a geyser she leaped into action. Honor reacted to the threat by drawing back, but the speed of the woman was surprisingly swift for a woman of her size. A hard left from the woman's fist belted her across her jaw before she could get clear. Pain shot through her, and she tasted her o
wn blood as she accidentally bit her tongue.
Instinctively her hand began to move for the Bowie knife she had forever at her side, but she was too late. The woman’s left struck her driving the wind right out of her lungs as the blow impacted with her stomach. Teetering back, she slammed against a horse-trough outside the livery. Now people had stopped to watch the altercation, but none made any effort to intervene.
Honor, like the rest of the Wildes, had taken her fair share of blows over the years and she quickly recovered. Vaulting forward and to the right, she managed this time to evade a roundhouse right from the woman. Balling up her own right fist she returned the favor by pile driving it into her stomach.
Grunting the woman charged back in, her fists jabbing through the air at her, only now Honor Elizabeth was ready for her. Skillfully she bobbed and weaved to avoid the incoming blows, and rightfully angry, she smashed a hard right and left combination into the bulky woman that stopped her in her tracks. Honor Elizabeth didn’t give the woman a moment to regroup but instead pressed her attack. The woman’s size easily outmatched Honor’s, but she reasonably assumed the woman was used to opponents that were vulnerable like the girl and not a fighter like the Wilde sisters were.
She threw a commanding left to the woman's heart and then a superb right cross that smashed across the woman's jaw, knocking out a rotting black tooth and snapping her head to one side jarring her to her core. Her foe staggered for a moment before slumping to the dusty main street of Córdoba. The curls that dangled down to Honor's shoulders bobbed as she shook her head in satisfaction. For all the woman's strength, she appeared to have a glass jaw.
Honor took a moment to stare down at her with contempt etched across her face as the woman lay on her back wheezing. Those little eyes of hers blinked madly as she reeled from the astonishment of having been bested by a smaller opponent. Looking up from her she turned to face Katie who still held the child in her arms.
“Thank you,” The girl said in a small voice.
“Oh, wonderful, you speak English. Sweetheart, may I inquire as to what is your name?” Honor asked as she drew close to the duo, aware that with the show over, the crowds had begun dispersing, going back about their business.
She found it interesting that the girl looked at Katie, almost as if for approval before she said in the same quiet voice. “Marisol.”
Honor Elizabeth clapped her hands together, “Oh, how delightful. My daddy has a good friend named Marisol who has recently moved to our town in Arizona from right here in Mexico. It is for sure a lovely name.”
Smiling at the compliment, the young teenager tentatively moved to be released from Katie's embrace, and Katie let her arms fall to her side. "Thank you." She said for a second time that afternoon.
"Now listen, honey. I sincerely believe that she will not be endeavoring to lay a hand upon you again anytime soon. The humbling I just heaped on her should indeed teach her a lesson." The sweetness melted from her voice like a phantom as she once more regarded the woman lying prostrate on the ground. "I hope the message got through loud and clear." The woman said nothing but looked away.
Honor Elizabeth squeezed her on her shoulder and then turned to Katie. "Say your goodbyes, Katie."
Obeying Katie gave the girl a quick hug and flashed her a smile. Turning away the pair walked around back of the livery to the corral where they saw both their horses drinking from a trough. The pair of women leaned on the wooden fence and then Honor Elizabeth slowly turned her head and looked at Katie, with a raise of an eyebrow.
“I know what you want me to say! I’m sorry for charging off towards that woman. It be my fault that she knocked you about before you took her down. But, Honor Elizabeth, I couldn’t just stand there and watch that! I used to get beaten like that when I was younger than her by a piece of shit overseer back on the plantation if I didn’t get to picking cotton quick enough for him.”
Honor wasn't mad at her, and she certainly could understand Katie's motivations. The young woman had spent most of her childhood under the lash. It was understandable that she saw something of herself in Marisol, but Honor also knew charging into a situation without thinking first could be a recipe for disaster.
“Do not worry about me, Katie. But you must stop and think before you put yourself in the middle of something.What if she had a gun? I do not have to tell you that to some whites the life of a negro has the grand total value of zero and that girl’s mother could have just as easily shot you.”
Contritely, Katie could only nod, and when at last she spoke she said, “So you think she’s that girl’s mama? Sure don’t look like she could be.”
Honor gave her a wink, “Look at my sisters and I. Cassie’s as white as they come, and yet the same blood flows through her as it does in me.”
“You’re right. I don’t know what I be thinking. Still, mama or not, there is a part of me that hates to leave her with that bully.”
Honor slid her arm around Katie's shoulder, "You have a big heart. It is only natural you would not wish to. I understand your feelings. Unfortunately, some things are beyond our control. All we can hope is that my win from our fight gives her pause, lest she ever raises her hand against Marisol again."
A warm silence passed between them. Honor felt they were so close to mending their once tight relationship and she vowed before the trip was over she was going to make sure that a reconciliation would come to pass.
After paying the liveryman and securing their supplies, the duo mounted up. As the setting sun touched the valley's rim, side by side they rode past a dilapidated church that marked the edge of Córdoba heading in the direction of the valley wall that separated the Canebraro from the Verde Abundante.
As the two figures receded, growing ever smaller from the main street of town a third rider jammed her foot into a stirrup and swung her body up into a saddle. She was on the trail of Honor Elizabeth and Katie, and nothing was going to stand in her way.
CHAPTER 2
The Arizonans had managed to put a good ten miles distance between themselves and Córdoba before the shadowy twilight had nearly finished morphing into the blackness of night. In the fading light, Honor Elizabeth had spied a long dried up river bed that looked like an ideal place for them to set up for the night.
Gathering rocks, she made a ring and scrounged up a variety of twigs and branches and soon had a roaring fire going. Katie's contribution was to prepare them a meal of bacon and sourdough biscuits. Once the food was cooked, Quillan's sister had fixed them a pot of strong black coffee to wash it down with. Over the meal, looking for a subject that didn't touch on Quillan himself, though she had already heard, she had asked again about the coach they were picking up.With great interest, she listened to all the specs that Katie was rattling off. She was very impressed that her former lover was sparing no expense when it came to the transportation to get the well-to-do folks of the Southwest to Jackson Peak.
Later Honor Elizabeth had excused herself and armed with her pistol and her knife she had walked up the other side of the river bank and out onto the open plain beyond. Purposely she walked far enough away until the faint glow of the campfire rising above the banks of the former river was swallowed up into the night. A brilliant full moon shown from where it had risen a short time ago and somewhere a coyote howled. Honor swung her head around, so the moon was behind her and looked up into the blackness of space.
Astronomy had long been one of her many interests and one of the few that she had stuck with. Back in her room was a magnificent telescope purchased all the way from Great Britain that she used nightly to peruse the skies. She, of course, didn’t have it this night but it was no matter. Her eyesight was exceptional, and she could easily make out the constellations that she sought.
Her mind felt free, and tranquility settled over her. The desperate fight to stay alive that had occurred exactly twenty-four hours earlier seemed like it was something that happened to another person. Stargazing had a way of taking her beyond h
er body, beyond this world as she thought about what might lay … out there. To her eyes, she could see there were millions of stars, many that had to be just like their own sun. What if every one of them had people just like this world? Would they be similar, or would they be entirely different? Would their histories be ones of peace or eternal bloodshed? Would people out there have owned or even now own other people as they had done on her world?
Such thoughts led her to think of her mother who had been enslaved and probably would have remained so until the end of the war but for the fact that she had the good fortune to cross paths with a young naval lieutenant on an assignment to the South. This man had helped her gain her freedom, and though not immediate, the day would come when they would find love. Honor's gaze fell from the stars, and she held up her arms before her in the moonlight.From that love would come these arms, these legs … everything that was her. It saddened Honor so that she had never known Miss Lizzie, but she would be eternally grateful that she had brought her into this world filled with her father, sisters, and brothers she loved so.
With a sigh she sat down on a nearby boulder she spied out of the corner of her eye and intended to simply enjoy the peace and the quiet. Both she and Katie had been in the constant presence of each other since they left Godspell, and she hoped Katie too was enjoying having a little time to herself. Still looking out into the blackness her mind turned to their mission. Quillan was back in Godspell recovering from a robbery attempt on his stage that he had been lucky to survive. The new woman in his life, Bessie, was tending to him while she and Katie went to Mexico to retrieve the stage.
She now thought of another stage, the beat up old one that she had ridden on the bench seat next to Quillan on their last "date."Theirs had been an off and on relationship for some time. After their initial breakup, it seemed whenever they were in the same room together, they would without fail wind up making love but only if neither of them was in a current relationship. That was always easy on Honor's part. She and her sisters were free spirits that had no problem bedding whoever caught their fancy. They just weren't ones to be tied down. Any of their relationships that had gone beyond sex rarely lasted very long by their own choice.
The Town 0f No Return: Special Edition (Half Breed Haven Book 11) Page 2
