Her Rocky Trail_Seeing Ranch series

by Florence Linnington

  “Fifteen minutes, maybe. Or twenty. We’ll wait a few more, just in case.”

  Kitty looked down at the fire’s glow. It had dimmed slightly, and several times she’d thought she heard male voices. Now all was quiet.

  Time continued to slither by, each second becoming more painful.

  “Let’s do this,” Mr. Starkey finally said. “I’ll push these big ones, and you knock over all the smaller ones. Make sure to roll them down the edge and space them out.”

  Kitty crawled forward, as close to the edge as she dared. It wasn’t that far down, but if all the rocks they had lined up were to fall, it would look like the beginning of a mudslide. Hopefully, the bandits would think of this possibility and take the bait.

  She nudged a few rocks down, and then a few more. Nearby, Mr. Starkey heaved one of the larger pieces over. It bounced against the cliff’s side, making a horrendous banging each time it struck the wall. Kitty continued to push her pile of rocks over the edge to create the appearance of a rock slide.

  There was a shout. Loud talking. Kitty pressed herself against the ground, afraid to look over lest she be spotted.

  “Did it work?” she whispered.

  The talking had stopped—or perhaps the bandits were still in the cave, and she could not hear them.

  “The big one,” Mr. Starkey hissed back. “To the left. It’ll take both of us.”

  Kitty crawled as fast as she could, going to where Mr. Starkey waited at a rock the size of a dog.

  “On three,” he instructed.

  They braced themselves against the rock, Kitty digging her heels into the dirt.

  “One… two… three.”

  Please help us.

  With all the power in her heart behind the prayer and all the strength in her body behind the rock, Kitty pushed. The rock teetered on the cliff’s edge before plummeting down and colliding with the ground.

  This time the shouts were louder. One man ran from the cave, then another. Realizing that she still stood, Kitty fell to her stomach.

  Just as her palms touched the earth, the first gunshot rang through the night. The shouts took on a more frantic air. Another gunshot, then so many they all bled together and couldn’t be counted.

  The first part of the plan had worked. What came next, only God knew.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  26. Cyrus

  Chapter twenty-six

  Cyrus had never been the best shot. He just acted like he was a real ace. A confident attitude could get a body out of most bad situations before they even started.

  Tonight, a cocky swagger and hard eye couldn’t help. It was hit the targets or risk being shot himself—a feat not made easy thanks to night’s presence.

  One bandit ran from the cave and looked up. “The cliff’s tumbling down,” he called to someone inside.

  Another man emerged. From his spot behind a rock, Cyrus tightened his hold on his pistol’s grip.

  Cyrus glanced to the left, where Domino hid in the shadows somewhere behind a patch of evergreens. They were to wait till more men emerged—at least the four Nelson had talked about—before they made a move.

  Squinting hard, Cyrus looked up at the edge of the cliff. Kitty was up there somewhere, but he couldn’t make her out. Good. If he couldn’t see her, that meant no one else could either.

  Just as he started to drag his eyes away, he saw movement near the side of the overlook. Over the edge came a rock, larger than the ones before it. It banged into the cliff’s wall and hit the ground with a sound like thunder.

  More men came from the cave. Four total. With them was a girl.

  Cyrus’ heart did a flip. Hearing and believing that they were close to Helen was one thing, but seeing her with his own eyes made a world of difference.

  “What the dadgummit?” one of the bandits cried.

  “Rockslide,” another answered.

  They scooted around the edge of the fire, and Cyrus could see the lines of two of their faces. Helen stood off to the side, eyes wide and sunken, making her look half-skeletal. She stood a good yard away from any of the men. Either her kidnappers had long let their guard down, knowing she wouldn’t risk running off into the wilderness, or the distraction of the rocks had made them forget to keep a close eye on her. Either way, it was the space Cyrus needed.

  Straightening up a few inches, he set his gaze on the outlaw closest to Helen. He’d go for the man’s torso, the easiest spot to hit.

  Before Cyrus got his chance to pull the trigger, a shot echoed through the gorge. It was Jim, of that, Cyrus was sure. That boy had trigger-happy written all over him.

  Going for it, Cyrus made his shot. Even if he missed, he’d get the fellow’s leg. As luck had it, the man grabbed his hand. Cyrus had hit his mark.

  As Helen screamed, the man darted for cover behind a tree. What he didn’t know was he was headed in Domino’s direction. More shots sounded, ringing off the rock face and making it sound like a hundred men were battling.

  Cyrus glanced to his right just in time to see one of the bandits spot him. He went to fire, but just as he did so, something grazed the side of his arm. His skin burned like fire, but there was no time to think about the pain. Cyrus shot, but the man was fast. He was able to duck behind a boulder for cover.

  And then he wasn’t. Down he went, a victim of either Domino or Jim’s bullet.

  Cyrus looked back at where he’d last seen Helen, but found nothing but shadows and tree trunks. She’d disappeared.

  What if she’d run into the woods? For all she knew, the posse was another group of outlaws looking to steal her for themselves.

  The shots were still ringing out, but Cyrus knew he had to take a risk and find Helen. She could get lost in the woods, meet her demise there in any number of ways, and then this whole mission would be for nothing.

  Crouching, Cyrus ran as fast as he could along the outskirts of the campfire. Going behind the tree where Domino was sheltered, he saw a form that could only belong to a woman. Helen was headed pell-mell into the thick of the forest, just as he’d suspected.

  Far enough from the shoot-out that a bullet hitting him again would be unlikely, Cyrus darted between trees and caught up with the girl. “Helen!”

  She started to scream, but Cyrus clamped his hand over her mouth, using his other arm to pull her in tight so she couldn’t run away. “Don’t yell,” he instructed. “I’m Cyrus Ross, and I’m here with your sister.”

  At his words, the stiffness in her body vanished. Cyrus removed his hands from her, and Helen turned around.

  “Where is she?” she asked with a trembling voice.

  “Close.”

  The shooting had finally stopped, and now he could hear calling. The voices were ones he knew well. Domino and Dan, responding from up on the cliff.

  “I need to see her!” Helen grabbed Cyrus’ wounded arm, and he winced in pain.

  “All right.” He gently lowered her hand from his shirt. “Stay behind me.”

  Just in case any of the bandits had gotten away and were hiding behind a tree, Cyrus proceeded with his gun drawn.

  No one jumped them, and they made it back to the fire alive. Several bodies littered the ground, and Helen made a strangled noise at the sight.

  “That’s all of them,” Domino said, emerging from the cave. “Four. Just like Nelson said.”

  Jim emerged into the firelight. “We got em all, Mr. Ross.”

  Cyrus could only nod. We got em all. Could it really be that simple? After all the days and nights searching, Kitty falling into the river, Nelson turning on them… all they had to do was trick a few bandits, and the ordeal was over?

  Crashing sounded from down the cliff’s way, and Cyrus aimed his gun, ready just in case the newcomers weren’t who he wanted them to be…

  As hoped, Dan appeared, chest heaving and eyes wild with excitement. Right behind him came Kitty, looking just as safe and sound as she had when Cyrus left her.

  “Helen!” Kitty cried as she
entered the firelight’s circle.

  The two women rushed toward each other and fell into an embrace so tight it looked like they’d been melted together. All the other men averted their eyes, respecting the private moment, but Cyrus couldn’t help but stare. The sisters hugged tightly for the longest time, and then Kitty pulled back, running her hands over Helen’s face and hair.

  “I cannot believe it is you,” she gasped. “Are you all right? Did they do anything to you? Oh, Helen!”

  Not giving the other girl a chance to respond, Kitty pulled her into another tight hug. Helen didn’t resist, and instead nestled her face into Kitty’s neck and sobbed deep and loud.

  Cyrus eyed the body laying close to him. “You’re sure that’s all?” he asked, addressing anyone who could answer.

  Domino sauntered up. “Helen? How many men took you?”

  Helen pulled her face out of Kitty’s hair with a harsh gasp. “I—I do not know. There were so many at first, and then they separated…”

  “How many were in this cave with you?”

  “Four,” she confirmed, tears still running down her cheeks. “The last couple days, there have been four.”

  “And do you know where the others went?”

  She shook her head. “I only overheard them talking about them going west and south. You… you are the man from the train. Mr. Guthrie, yes? Oh, goodness!” Leaving Kitty, Helen rushed forward and clasped Domino’s hand. “What are you doing here? How did you find me?”

  Kitty stepped forward and took her sister’s other hand. “These are all some very fine men, Helen. Men who have risked everything to come and find you.”

  Helen’s lips trembled, and fresh tears came. A burning itch climbed up Cyrus’ throat, and his chest swelled. He could feel his own eyes growing wet, but he blinked the tears back.

  “Oh!” Kitty gasped and came to him. “You are bleeding!”

  He looked down at the arm. It had started throbbing something awful, but turning it toward the firelight, he saw that it didn’t look so bad as it felt. “I don’t think the bullet is in there. Looks like it just grazed me.”

  Kitty worriedly pressed her fingers to her lips. “Oh, Cyrus.”

  “Kitty, now, don’t worry.”

  Lifting her skirt, she tore off a big hunk of fabric. It took her some real effort, but once she had a nice swatch, she tied it tightly around his wound.

  “That’s not much of a dress anymore,” he commented.

  Kitty looked up from where she double knotted the bandage. “And to think, I saved for so long in order to purchase the fabric roll.” Her lips twisted wryly. “I was so excited for you to see me in it. I imagined you would think me the finest woman in Pathways.”

  “You’re the finest woman in the whole world,” Cyrus said softly, so no one else could hear. “Doesn’t matter what you’re wearing.”

  Kitty ducked her face in pleasure, a giant smile pulling at her lips. Again, Cyrus felt so darn happy he thought he might cry. Instead, he forced his eyes to stay dry. Cry in front of other men, and he’d probably never hear the end of it.

  “That’s good,” he told her as she continued to fiddle with the fabric. “It’ll hold up until we get into town.”

  “I must make sure,” she protested, still messing with it.

  Behind her, the other men had gathered around Helen. Jim offered her a canteen to drink from, and Domino had taken off his coat and draped it over her shoulders.

  “You did a good job,” he said quietly.

  Kitty’s frantic fingers stilled. “I did not do very much.”

  Cyrus cupped her chin. “You used your smarts. Because of that, we got Helen back.”

  She smiled. “And you used your bravery. We did it together. All of us.”

  A deep love and pride like none Cyrus had ever felt swelled in him. This time he didn’t resist what he felt. He let the sensation take him over till it seemed he was drowning in appreciation for the woman in front of him.

  “We did,” he agreed. “Now let’s all of us together get on out of here. That house of ours is likely collecting a good deal of dust.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  27. Kitty

  Chapter twenty-seven

  “It is right up here,” Kitty said, looking up the stream that John Thunder’s cabin sat next to.

  Cyrus reluctantly followed her gaze. “I’m going with you.”

  “No,” she answered quickly. “I do not think that is a good idea. Mr. Thunder is… I did not gather the impression that he likes company. He asked me to not involve him in anything that was happening.”

  Cyrus’ dark brows pushed together. Dappled sunlight danced across his face, and the birds sang loud and clear all around them.

  It was the most perfect spring day — fitting, considering they had retrieved Helen the night before. With the sun’s rising, a new life had begun, a grand age of hope and opportunities.

  “Who is this man living all by himself?” Cyrus demanded. “How do you know he won’t harm you?”

  “Because he did not before. He helped me. He gave me this.” She lifted her skirt and showed him the pistol tucked into her boot.

  Cyrus scrunched his lips, but didn’t say anything.

  “Please, remain here.” She looked over his shoulder. The others sat on their horses by the river, Helen perched in Thunder’s saddle and Nelson sitting on a rock with his hands tied in front of him.

  Cyrus sighed. “Fine. But if you’re not back soon...”

  “That is agreeable.”

  “Good.”

  Turning, Kitty followed the stream up the mountainside.

  At John Thunder’s house, the door was propped open with a log. The man who lived there sat on a stool in a patch of sun, whittling on something.

  As Kitty walked up, he gazed at her evenly. It was likely he had heard her coming.

  “You’re alive,” he said once she stopped a few feet away. He smiled slightly.

  “Yes, and so is my sister. I came to thank you.”

  Mr. Thunder nodded his head in acknowledgment.

  “If it were not for you, I do not know that we would have found her.” Kitty felt the tears coming on, and she quickly brushed them away. “I am indebted to you for the rest of my life.”

  “Your sister is well?”

  Kitty sighed. “She is alive. Whatever state she is in can be managed.”

  He nodded solemnly.

  “Mr. Thunder, please, allow me to do something for you as payment. Whatever you ask, assuming I can provide it.”

  “There is nothing I need, Kitty Byrum.”

  “There must be something.”

  He smiled and held up the piece of wood he’d been whittling. It was rough, unfinished — but clearly a horse.

  “That is beautiful,” Kitty commented.

  He put the horse down on the ground. “There is nothing I need.”

  “I cannot bring you something out here?” she asked, knowing how difficult of a task it would be to return to him, but also knowing that she would fetch him the sun and the moon if he requested them.

  “No. What I did was nothing compared to the kindness many others have shown me. What you can do, if you feel you must repay me, is to go forward in your life always being kind.”

  He paused and looked up at the trees thoughtfully. “To help others is a gift. It is a blessing to be put in a position to be someone’s sun.”

  “Yes,” Kitty agreed. “It is.”

  A sweet silence followed, broken only by the babbling stream. Kitty thought of the people she cared for waiting for her down where the stream met the river. It was time for her to depart.

  “I would like to return this.” She went to pull the gun from her boot, but he shook his head.

  “You must keep that.”

  “I will never use it.”

  “You do not know that. Perhaps, you should learn.”

  Kitty smoothed her skirt back down. “I suppose my husband will be open to teach
ing me.”

  She cleared her throat. “Again, thank you, Mr. Thunder. I will pray for you and ask God to bless you for the rest of your days.”

  “Blessings on your family as well.”

  Kitty turned to leave but remembered one last thing. “Oh! I named my horse. His name is Thunder. Do you like it?”