“A basket of eggs? So, what?”
Purposely she strode over to the counter and snatched the handle of the basket with one hand and scooped up the bills that had been laying on the counter when the murder had occurred.
“I noticed the basket was still here and the money! That’s when I went searching for Little Flower! She left without it, and I’ve searched everywhere but can’t find her!”
Irritation swept over Ross’s face as he swatted at the air in a dismissive gesture. Lijuan didn’t know what this was about, but if it had Blue River concerned as well, it had to be important, perhaps even dire.
“I think it’s wonderful that you want to see Little Flower get her basket back and the money, but we’ve had a murder here! We have more important things than worrying about our supplier for fresh eggs for breakfast!”
"Land of Goshen, Ross! You can be most thick-skulled upon occasion! That's not what I'm worried about. If Little Flower left her money and everything else behind it can only mean she's fled to The Settlement!"
Her statement seemed to hit home with her brother as his face noticeably paled. Speaking for the first time since their arrival, the Indian woman nodded.
“Once she’s there she will tell what she bore witness to. The murder of one our people will be seen as breaking the truce like no other means.”
Lijuan put her hands on her hips, and her jaw jutted out as she cocked her head to one side, not liking the grave sound in the woman's voice. "Truce? I think it is about time that I was spoon-fed a helping of some of your local history!"
CHAPTER 8
“Lijuan, this is Crow Woman. She works for the Tatums in the kitchen since leaving her tribe several years ago. She told me about this truce as I helped them search for Little Flower. Tensions have run high between the Mescaleros in the years since they were restricted to what everyone around here calls The Settlement. There have been a few outbreaks of minor violence between the townspeople and the tribe. A truce has been in effect the last year or so in the aftermath of the last incident."
“Which was?”
Ross cleared his throat. "It, it seems a cowboy from the Winding Brooke ranch came upon a teenage Indian girl. I don't know—thirteen or fourteen—while she was gathering berries. Had his way with her he did." His eyes lowered before he looked up. "A war party came swooping into town. Arrows flying and our guns blasting away. The sheriff was able to stop the violence when he turned over the cowboy to the tribe."
Having no sympathy for a rapist, but out of curiosity rather than concern Lijuan asked. “I assume it didn’t end well for him, did it?”
“It is not the sort of thing I care to speak of in front of a pair of ladies.”
"I can't speak for your sister, but there is nothing about me that needs sheltering. If you knew me, Ross, you'd know full well."
“He was publicly castrated by the Indians right out there in the street.”
Lijuan didn't blink, but she saw Rosalee recoiling.
“I didn’t watch, of course, but it was barbaric,” she said through gritted teeth.
“Yeah, well so is raping someone who is little more than a child,” Lijuan said perhaps a bit more forcefully than intended. “About this truce.”
"The score was settled, and a truce was called between the Mescaleros and us. I helped negotiate it with the chief. We respected each other and found that we could work together to bring about peace. The chief's sister warned that if there was another incident of violence involving her people the full weight of the tribe could be brought down upon the town of Horseshoe, and here we are," he concluded grimly.
Outside Lijuan could still hear the raised voices of depositors from the bank concerned about their lost money. Apprehensively, she thought that was going to be the least of their worries if what the Tatums were saying had merit. Then something he had said that struck her as odd registered with her.
“The chief’s sister was making declarations?”
"Well, through the chief. The truth is she holds a great deal of power within the tribe as she is his closest advisor. As said I have met and worked with the chief, and by nature, he's a peaceful man but his sister, Summer Sky, is another story. A hot-blooded type that one!"
As he spoke, she couldn't help but notice that for the first time Crow Woman had dropped the unflappable look on her face and had replaced it with a scowl. Now, what was that about? She thought, but suddenly Blue River said something that surprised her in a big way.
"Even as a child Sky was formidable. She quite handily bloodied my nose once." Three very shocked people turned to face Blue River, and Lijuan's mouth fell open in surprise. Crow Woman alone seemed to have no reaction.
“You know her?”
"As I told you before, Miss Lijuan, our tribe traded with them. We spent a long time here once working out the trade when I was just a boy. Bright Feather and I played with the chief's children Red Wolf and Summer Sky. I was too young at the time to even know what being smitten was all about, but I was. Like any boy, I showed it by teasing her. The long and short of it is she challenged me to a fight. I refused, and she sprang at me knocking me to the ground and got in a few good blows before her brother pulled her off me. Left me with a bloody nose and a good bit of awe."
“And now this firebrand has great sway over her brother?”
Crow Woman straightened her dress as she spoke. “Were she not a woman she would be the one running tribe. At this moment she very likely is in charge upon the chief’s order that the tribe obey her as they would him while he is away. At this time every year, a Great Hunt takes places as the chief, and many of his braves venture into the mountains that surround this valley to slay much game for our people. This is something I know has not changed since my brother was exiled from our tribe and I followed."
Lijuan waited for a moment to see if the woman was going to elaborate on her brother having been exiled but instead, the woman issued a warning.
“Summer Sky has great power yes, but so does the leader of the war council—a brave named Crazy Elk. He and a group of warriors will be there as they always stay behind from the yearly hunt to provide protection for the tribe. This man will bring great danger to this town tonight when he learns of Charging Bear’s death. Long has he wished for a war with the white man. His heart is the darkest shade of evil. This would be just the excuse he has long looked for to attack Horseshoe.”
“So, a war party could be already on their way, and there’s not a lawman in sight! We could be looking at a massacre!” Ross said his voice steeped in alarm.
Lijuan placed her hands at the side of her head and ran her fingers through her long hair and sighed. This was getting even more complicated by the minute. Part of her wanted to simply walk out the front door, get in her father's comfortable coach and ride out to cross the border and leave Horseshoe to whatever fate awaited it. Still, she stayed her hand. There were innocents on both sides, and if she could help stop this, it was her duty. Besides, she had slowly begun taking a liking to this Ross Tatum. Perhaps he would make another excellent diversion like the young man back in her bedroom at Cedar Ledge had a couple of nights ago.
“Then we’ve got to do whatever it takes to see that doesn’t happen, but in the meantime, we need to prepare for an attack! We’ve got to get everyone to get their heads out of their asses about the bank robbery and get busy setting up barricades,” she said in a rising voice, ignoring Rosalee’s shocked gasp at her salty language.
Rosalee, she thought, was just like Honor Elizabeth who would not swear unless under extreme duress. It was not something she gave the slightest thought to. Suddenly she found a hand closing around her bicep and spun around to see that it was Blue River that had a hold on her.
"Miss Lijuan, you do that, but I am going to ride to The Settlement and see if I can bring calm to the Mescaleros."
“What? You’re going out into the heart of the enemies!” Rosalee shuddered at the idea of his proposal.
"These pe
ople were not your enemies until this day. Peace was between you for some time now. When I met Little Flower earlier, she told me she had been selling you eggs regularly. And, Crow Woman, you said others from the tribe have come to town frequently to do business and trade yes?"
She silently nodded in answer to his question.
"It is a peace that must be preserved despite any risk to me," he said, filling Lijuan with pride. Her brothers were such good men, just like her sisters. Sometimes she wished she could count herself among them all, but she could never escape that darkness inside of her. After her near-fatal encounter with Lettie Bell, she had promised to try and rein it in, but it had not been easy, nor had she been entirely successful.
Suddenly it was Blue River that was being twisted around by a grip on his arm, and it was by Rosalee.
"Are you loco, Mr. Wilde? You might have known Summer Sky in the past, but they are going to be out for blood! When you show up there representing us, you could wind up their prisoner or worse!"
“Let go of him!” Lijuan shouted. “My brother will do what he’s going to do! Right now, he may be the best chance this town has to ward off bloodshed!” Blue River smiled as he gently freed himself from her grasp.
“Your concern is much appreciated, but this is a chance that I must take. Innocent blood will be spilled on both sides by the actions of one man. With this many lives on the line, I must do all that might be possible to pacify the tribe. Now I best be on my way."
“Head down to the livery and tell Charlie I said it was okay to take my mount Rainbow. Our prayers go with you, Blue River,” Ross said solemnly as Blue River nodded at the siblings and headed to the door with Lijuan at his side. Once outside she embraced him.
"You're my baby brother no matter how old you are. You damn well be careful. At the first sign of trouble, you dig dirt and get on out of there. I don't care if you have to blast your way out of there with your Colt blazing!" she said finally letting him go.
"Don't worry about me. You see to the town."
And with that, he launched into a dead run down the street in the direction of the livery, past the angry crowd still swarming outside the bank. Behind Lijuan, the Tatums and Crow Woman streamed out of the hotel at the same time two cowmen rode up and dismounted.
“Miss Wilde, Mr. Scott sent us to keep watch on the hotel,” one of them said tipping his hat to her.
“You’ve got good timing. One of you head out back. The door’s locked but it’s only two stories. Someone determined to get out might try a window. The other stay in front.”
As the two men hastened off to obey her instructions she turned to the Tatums.
“You two are with me! Let’s start with this crowd. If I know people they aren’t going to take kindly to a stranger, let alone a Chinese woman ordering them around. I’ll need your back up letting them know about the murder, and what they are now facing makes getting robbed look like a Sunday steamboat excursion!”
Expecting her commands to be followed, she strode away from the crowd heading towards the bank confident the brother and sister would be following in her wake and indeed they were.
"Listen up, everybody! All you folks are about to get awful busy and your lives may depend on it!"
CHAPTER 9
HORSESHOE VALLEY
Arizona Territory
Astride Rainbow, who turned out to be an Appaloosa with a patchwork of colors, none from the rainbow, however, Blue River made good time racing towards The Settlement. Before leaving he had hastily fashioned his previously flowing hair into two braids and discarded the dress shirt he had donned for doing business with the ranchers. It was time for the Yavapai side of him to shine through over his Anglo. There was nothing he could do, of course, about the brilliant pair of blue eyes that he shared with his father and his brother but if they remembered him, they would recall he was of two worlds.
Soon he was drawing near the two forested hills that were the gateway to the Mescalero’s' reservation. Earlier, he had told Lijuan that it was unusual, and it was. Unlike other reservations that were strictly monitored and controlled by the government, this was not the case here.
Under the agreement with the tribe for peacefully moving off the lands the government wished to claim to secretly get their hands on the silver deposit, if the tribe could live peacefully no longer having free range of their lands, the government would, after one year of monitoring, leave them be. All that was in jeopardy now. If the tribe launched a massacre against the town, troops would be called in, and when the dust settled, and the fighting stopped, these people that survived would never enjoy any freedoms again. There was so much at stake here on both sides, and he was feeling the pressure.
As he passed between the hills that would take him to a large clearing where the encampment was before him loomed the only remnant of the military's one-year occupation, a sturdy fence, made of logs with their tops cut into menacing-looking points stretched across the narrowest distance between the two hills. The massive gates were wide open, and he could see figures moving about but what really made his pulse quicken was the chants they were making—war cries. Clearly, things were unfolding as the hotel proprietors had feared.
As he passed through the gates, he took stock of the surroundings, and he realized that the wooden fence encircled the entire encampment. The lodges he saw before him were well constructed and suggested they had been built to last with an air of permanence about them.
It quickly dawned on him that no men were to be seen, all the people that were now looking at him were women and children. Off to his far left along the wall, he saw a familiar face. Little Flower stood next to what he presumed to be her lodge. Next to it was a wooden structure that he quickly realized was some type of chicken coop where she collected the eggs from the poultry to sell to folks in Horseshoe. A tree on the other side of the wall had branches that were drooping so low they practically touched the roof of the large coop, but it looked sturdy enough to withstand any falling branches. Everything about The Settlement had impressed him. This tribe had made the most of what they were given when they had initially been confined to this area. Still, he felt a pang of sadness. When he had met the tribe as a boy, their camp had been elsewhere deep in the woods, and they had no limitations in those days.
Snapping out of his memories he looked again at Little Flower. She had seen him now and began shouting that he was foolish to come there and that he should turn back before it was too late. He nodded at her appreciating her concern, but it was already too late the moment he had galloped out of town on Rainbow.
Blue River emerged into a circular area at the center of The Settlement where all the men had assembled. They were practicing with their weapons, inspecting them. Some were cutting loose with the war chants he had heard before. All activity ceased the moment one of the braves noticed him and began shouting. Countless bows, with their arrows at the ready, turned in his direction. Taking a moment to draw in a deep breath he let his mind recollect the Mescalero’s language that he had used earlier with Little Flower, and at last, he spoke.
“I am a friend. A friend that means no harm. I am going to lay down my weapon.”
Slowly his hand moved towards the butt of his gun and the crowd of warriors seemed to tense as one. “It’s okay. I will pull it out slowly with just these two fingers!” he held out his thumb and index finger and slowly began bringing them down. He kept his holster on his right side, but he could just as easily have worn one on his left as the one quirk that all the Wilde children shared amongst themselves was being ambidextrous.
"Make any sudden moves, stranger, and you will not see the sunrise," A warrior threatened.
“You have my word.”
As promised he slowly drew the Colt .45 held it at arm’s length and let it fall. A young brave quickly dashed forward and snatched it up and retreated with the rest of the braves.
A silence hung in the air save for the sound of bird calls in the nearby tree. The tribe was glaring
at him stonily, their poised bows unwavering.
“My name is Blue River. Long ago I befriended your tribe when my people traded with you and your chief High Eagle. Long did we trade after that with a great friendship between my people, the Yavapai, and your great tribe.”
One of the braves shifted on his feet and threw his head back, “It is the half breed!”
“What do you mean?” another called out to the man. “He has the look of a Yavapai.”
“Look closer! He carries the blue eyes of the white man from which he springs.”
Again, as one the men that were encircling him drew closer, some stares held curiosity and others clear disdain. Blue River was used to it and ignored it when suddenly the circle began to part, and two figures began drawing near. One was a hulking figure of a man. Wearing only a loincloth his body rippled with solid muscles, his long black hair flowing behind him. His face appeared to be of chiseled stone. It was a handsome face, yet brutal at the same time.
Beside him walked a woman whose buckskin dress failed miserably at hiding the curves on her ample bosoms and her pleasing hips. Her braided hair hung in twin rows that reached all the way to her stomach. To Blue River he found her walk almost regal. He could sense an aura of self-confidence just by the way she carried herself. When she was two feet from his horse, she stopped and looked at him appraisingly. Finally, she turned to the brave next to her.
“Get him down, Crazy Elk.”
To Blue River, it felt as if not even a split second had passed from her command to the time the man's large hands were latching onto his arm. His heart skipped a beat and the next moment an ache spread through his body as he landed on his back slamming into the hard dirt.
Again, no time at all passed after she ordered, “Get him on his feet,” and he was pulled back to a standing position.
The Town 0f No Return: Special Edition (Half Breed Haven Book 11) Page 7
