Bright Feather got him trembling and more than ready for what was to come next. Raising her hips as the invitation, he needed he slid deep into her eager opening. The sensations she was experiencing exploded into a higher realm of perfection as they pumped their hips together with a lusty urgency that built higher and higher until together they cried out a shared orgasm when he released his lust deep within her. The waves of pleasure roared through them until she collapsed down next to him gasping. They held each other in the afterglow that was almost as fulfilling as the act that precipitated it.
CHAPTER 31
TOWN OF HORSESHOE
Arizona Territory
All eyes on both sides of the opposing forces fell on the Chinese woman standing between the two factions who had shouted a desperate plea to wait.
“Bring him out, Ross! Chief, we have the killer of Charging Bear! There’s no reason anyone else has to die tonight!”
A murmur rumbled through the several dozen braves that stood poised on the edge of the town. Crazy Elk watched as two men forcefully manhandled a struggling man with his hands bound behind him forward until they stood with the two women. A tingle of dread coursed through the warrior at this unexpected development.
"This is the killer!" Lijuan continued. "We smoked him out, and he admitted to the deed!"
One of the men stepped forward, and he recognized him as the man who ran the hotel to which Little Flower sold her eggs.
"Chief! You know me. We've had friendly dealings before. I think you know me as a man of my word. I promise you that he will be punished under the fullest extent of the law. Re-open the way into the valley so when our lawmen return they will see that justice will be served and this man will pay the supreme penalty! There is no need to attack!"
"Yes, brother!" came a cry from Summer Flower and Crazy Elk could only glare at her in frustration as she continued, "You left me in charge, and the deal I made with them Red Wolf was they had to produce the killer, and we would not attack!"
“The deal was until sundown, woman! And they failed. Then they invaded our home!” Crazy Elk frothed, accompanied by bellows of support amongst the warriors.
“After we took their men. Would they have invaded if had we not taken them!”
“Silence all!!” the chief roared and surveyed the group in front of him before looking up at the rifles from the town trained on them, the moonlight glinting off their barrels. “I shall honor Summer Sky’s arrangement with you if you can convince me this man is the murderer of our brother, Charging Bear, and this is not another of the white man’s tricks.”
“We know you’re the killer, LaRue! You told us that! Time to ’fess up why you did it!” Lijuan said as she pushed him forward and he dropped to his knees. "I'll tell you. I'll tell you why, if you promise me that it really will be the white man's justice, and you won't turn me over to these savages! I don't want to die at their hands! At least a hanging would be quick compared to what they'd do!" the man pleaded with words that had a ring of truth to all those assembled.
Atop his mount, Crazy Elk’s body tensed. None of this was going the way that he had envisioned it. They should be in the heat of a pitched battle right now instead of parlaying with the whites who had come in and commandeered so much of their land so long ago now.
As Crazy Elk seethed, he was unaware that behind him and the pack of warriors, the lid of the coffin on the wagon outside of the cemetery slowly began to rise open. It was being thrust upward by the barrel of a rifle, and a moment later Blue River stealthily rose from the coffin. Making no sound at all, he dropped his feet down onto the soft earth of the road to Horseshoe. Crouching low and keeping the rifle trained on the backs of the warriors who were engrossed in the showdown happening in front of them, he crab walked across the dusty road and towards the town’s gallows.
“Just talk, LaRue!” Lijuan was shouting, “You won’t be going with them! Let’s hear it! Why did you do it!?”
The man was sweating profusely in the night air and breathing heavily. Crazy Elk saw the look of a defeated man with nothing else to lose. Whatever he was to say he knew would be the truth, a truth that could diffuse the entire situation if he convinced the chief. Something very likely as the chief gently lowered his spear and sat like a statue on his mount listening to what this man had to say.
Crazy Elk had been clutching a tomahawk in a death grip, ready to strike but he slipped it into his belt. His hand slowly reached for a satchel he had slung across his chest. Inside held a small weapon the white eyes called a derringer. It was this gun he had lifted off the corpse of a white eye he had once slain and the same one he intended to use when he would draw up next to the chief as they fought the townspeople. He would either press it in the center of the chief's back to blow his heart in two, or he would bring it up against the back of the man's head and explode his brain. Either way, he was confident he could do it in the heat of battle without being seen. When the chief fell, all anyone would see would be he that died of a gunshot—killed by one of the white eyes, and as the chief had no children as head of the tribe's warriors, he would take his rightful place as chief.
Now he was wondering if he should draw it out and shoot this man on the spot before he could reveal whatever he had to say, perhaps something that would lead the chief to call off the entire attack. Casually he flipped open the lid of the pouch and reached his hand in but suddenly froze.
No!
He had to hope that battle would still ensue if this man failed to convince the chief that he was the killer. His hooded eyes looked at the man who was now babbling.
"In my breast pocket. There is a document I was going to file with the lands office here in town. I've leased a settlement with an option to buy. I never intended to really homestead there. It's got a mother lode of silver recently unearthed! It was Charging Bear who showed me where it was for $1,000. I, I tried to double cross him, and he got mad and threatened to tell the tribe about it, and I knew if the tribe and the US Government discovered it, between those two, there was no way I was ever going to get my hands on it. So, I killed him!"
Crazy Elk looked around at the surprise that rippled not just through the warriors but from the people defending the town as well. Angrily, he saw a self-satisfied look on the oriental woman’s face.
“Well, that fits. Greed is the oldest motive for murder in this world. There you have it, chief. There’s no need to attack,” she said as she plucked the document from LaRue’s breast pocket and studied it. “This is legitimate!”
“No!!!” Crazy Elk shrieked, “We know of no silver in these mountains other than the mine you white eyes are already plundering! This man could be speaking lies hoping to save this town! This whole thing could be a trick of the white man! If we turn back and leave him with them how do we know he is not speaking lies that they wish us to hear!”
Crow Woman stepped forward, “I trust these people. They do not lie. I offer myself up as your captive. If this man does not face justice, then slay me!”
Crazy Elk’s blood was boiling as everything was spiraling out of control. It became even worse a second later when the croaking voice of the man on his knees delivered another shock to both factions.
“There was another Indian when I met Charging Bear. He can verify it. He wasn’t part of the deal, but he knows of the silver. His name was, his name was Gray Owl!”
Again, the crowd rippled in consternation, and Crazy Elk's boiling blood suddenly ran ice cold. Gray Owl was one of the warriors that had been on the Great Hunt and he was not one of his men plotting the overthrow.
"Gray Owl! Come forward!" the chief's voice bellowed through the air. Everywhere silence suddenly reigned supreme. Even the sounds of nature in the night seemed to fade away at the sound of the gently clopping of hooves could be heard. The crowd of warriors parted, and an older Mescalero man with gray strands running through his long hair rode forward until he was next to the chief as Summer Sky moved her horse out of the way. The man hung his
head.
"That's him!" LaRue snarled. "He was the other man at a dirty, run-down bar on the Mexican side of the border where I met him and Charging Bear! He'll tell you. The silver is real!"
“Speak!” the chief shouted through gritted teeth.
Slowly the man raised his head and looked at him. "Near the base of Choise Mountain. A landslide uncovered much silver. We found it while hunting. Please, Great Chief, I do not know what deal Charging Bear had with the white eyes, but I was not part of it. I was under the influence of their firewater that night. Little do I remember …"
"Enough!" the chief raised his hand, and the man fell silent. The Mescalero leader looked back over his shoulder at his men and then to Crazy Elk and Summer Sky before shifting his gaze to the group of four and their prisoner before him. He made a motion with his fingers pointing down and immediately began climbing off his horse, following his signal Summer Sky and Crazy Elk dismounted as well. Holding his chin up, the chief made a show of driving the sharp end of his spear into the ground, a signal that he decreed the war drums fall silent.
“We withdraw. Crow Woman, we take you with us until we learn this man has met his justice.”
Crazy Elk’s head was whirling madly now. Everything he had planned, everything he had worked for, was now undone! This feeble chief would never harm the woman he once loved; still loved, Crazy Elk suspected. He was capitulating to these white men as only a weak chieftain would! He was not the man to lead the tribe—he was!
Now there was only one way he would ever be chief, and that was to take the tribe by force! He had enough men backing him he could do it.He looked at his men thinking of the time they had once discussed such an option but dismissed it as an extreme last resort to wrest control of the tribe. The only way to free it from a weak man who more often than not was guided by the consul of a woman, even if she was the woman Crazy Elk loved, desired, and sometimes hated at the same time!
If he thought about it another second more he might not do it, so he thrust one of his hands up in the air and made a circular motion, the signal for his men to stand ready for anything, and then he struck. Amid shouts of confusion and anger, Crazy Elk leaped at the chief, and even as one muscled arm looped itself around the man’s neck, the hand on Crazy Horse’s other arm was yanking the derringer out into the open. He watched as the Asian woman and the others jerked the prisoner to his feet and fell back towards the gap in the wagon.
"So! At last, the snake sheds his skin of innocence!" Summer Sky growled; spit flying from her mouth in her fury.
“This chief and his family have led our entire tribe to ruin! His father allowed our lands seized and plundered of the white man’s riches, leaving us to live where they said we should live! It is time to reclaim these lands! We are at their very gates! The Great Spirit placed me in this world so that I might restore our glory. This chief must die so that our tribe may live again as we were always meant to!”
As the chief struggled in the crook of his arm, Crazy Elk swung the derringer upward and placed it against the Chief's temple. The crack of a single shot overshadowed Summer Sky's cry of fear and protest.
CHAPTER 32
Rooted to the ground, Lijuan stared, her mouth running dry, as blood splattered all over the Mescalero chief's face as the vice-like hand that had been holding him eased. The body of the hulking Crazy Elk lurched towards the ground, as the man clamped his paw-like hand over the jagged bullet hole in his shoulder, blood oozing between his large fingers.
Lijuan didn’t see him hit as her head spun towards the crowd of warriors. Braves that she would later learn were loyal to Crazy Elk, swung their bows around in the direction from which the shot had come and let their arrows fly.
As the swarm of razor-sharp projectiles raced through the air towards the top of the gallows from which Blue River had taken his sniper shot, he barely had time to toss the rifle over the side and kick the lever on top of the platform. As its design called for, the trap door swung open beneath his feet and Blue River dropped. In the first time since its construction, the door saved a life instead of taking it.
The barrage of arrows passed through empty air, but a few that fell short and struck the legs of the gallows, and one even grazed dangerously close to one of his biceps. Blue River hit the ground and did a barrel roll, and when he came to a stop, he was shouting towards the multitude by the barrier.
“Stop those men now, Summer Sky, before they can shoot more arrows!”
Summer Sky didn’t have to be told twice and began shouting to the bulk of the warriors! “Stop those braves! They are with Crazy Elk who just tried to murder our chief!”
Immediately the warriors' bows were trained on the men belonging to Crazy Elk's faction. All but one realized they were outnumbered and any action would be futile. The lone brave who attempted to pluck another arrow from his quiver quickly found someone else's arrow buried in his hand as he shrieked in agony from his wound.The man who fired the arrow lowered his bow. It was Gray Owl who hoped this would earn him some redemption in the eyes of the tribe for keeping the discovery of the silver secret.
Lijuan muscled her way past Ross Tatum who was still holding a squirming LaRue, who perhaps hoped to try and make an attempt to escape in the chaos, but he wasn’t going anywhere. She helped the chief to his feet as he regained the breath Crazy Elk had been choking out of him. He gave her a nod that signaled not only his thanks but his respect. She watched as the chief turned and accepted the embrace of Summer Sky who was blinking back tears of joy.When at last he let go, Lijuan felt the gentle breeze made by Crow Woman’s body as she passed her to step forward and stand before the chief.
"Long ago should I have listened to your brother, my oldest friend and you—the woman that I love. Instead, I was deceived by this dog," His eyes fell on Crazy Elk who lay on the ground, grimacing in pain. "Perhaps in a way he was right. I am not worthy to be our chief."
Crow Woman laid her hand on his cheek, "You may be chief, but you are a man, and all men can be led down paths they would not seek when dark hearts like Crazy Elk's work their evil. The spirit of Ka-e-te-nay watches over you now that you know the truth and let his memory guide you to be a great chief. Now I come with you as your prisoner."
“It would shame me to do that now.”
“No shame when I am asking you to. Let us honor our deal with the white men and see this through as agreed, and at long last, I will have come home.”
“Where you belong,” the chief said, his hand falling to hers and giving it a gentle squeeze.
Lijuan gave thanks that Honor Elizabeth wasn't with her, as she would be all teary-eyed at the reunion she had just witnessed. Still, she couldn't help the corners of her mouth turning upward, even if was ever so slightly. Her attention was suddenly diverted as the crowd of warriors as suddenly parted to allow Blue River to pass through them. He didn't stop until he had swept Summer Sky up in his arms.
“I believe I made you a promise? One that has now been kept, yes?” he said mirthfully.
"Did I ever doubt you?" she said, her face deadpan before a broad grin swept over it and they both laughed. It was laughter quickly cut short as Blue River moved in for a long lingering kiss as Crazy Elk stared at them balefully as he lay on the ground with clenched teeth.
Lijuan moved towards Crow Woman, taking a moment to kick dirt in the warrior’s face as she passed by him. Her moment of satisfaction over, she held out her hand to Crow Woman.
“Again, thank you for everything you did. Without you in the mix, this town would be running red with the blood of Arizonans and Indians alike.”
"I honor my brother. He was a warrior, but he was also a man who knew the value of peace, and he would not have wished to see these lands awash in needless bloodshed. We go now. See that LaRue gets what is coming to him," she said as the pair watched two braves binding Crazy Elk and placing him upon his horse.
"I can assure that," Lijuan said as Crow Woman took her hand and shook it. She turned away from
her but then turned back and looked over her shoulder. "That was quite a performance—the Sacred Herb blooming only once a century in some shadowy gully since the dawn of time."
“Did I lay it on a bit too much?”
Crow Woman laughed as the chief helped her up onto her horse, “I almost believed it, Miss Wilde.”
Lijuan watched as the chief yanked his spear from the ground and gave it to Crow Woman to hold. He looked questioningly at Summer Sky.
“Sister?”
“Later will I return. There is much to be discussed when the sun rises, I know. Much I must tell you of Crazy Elk and his plans,” she said as the braves finished encircling Crazy Elk’s men and their horses to escort them back to whatever fate awaited them.
“As you wish!”
With that, the chief raised his hand, signaled his forces, and he kicked his horse into a gallop as Crow Woman clung to him tightly and headed back toward The Settlement in the darkened hills beyond, the war party in tow. As they receded into the night, a great cheer rose from all of Horseshoe as the threat of a massacre and a battle to the death melted into the night.
Lijuan turned around from watching the Mescaleros vanish in time to see Ross Tatum surrender his hold on LaRue to Blue River, who with Summer Sky right behind him, helped Lane Scott hustle their prisoner through the barrier of wagons that were even now being flipped back upright and being rolled away by the jubilant defenders. Standing alone the pair faced each other and Lijuan brought her hands up to his chest, a seductive smile on her face.
“It has been a very long day, hasn’t it?”
“Indeed, it has.”
Coyly she said, “I very badly need to unwind now that all this is over with. Perhaps you would care to help me, Ross?”
The Town 0f No Return: Special Edition (Half Breed Haven Book 11) Page 20
