The Black Book

by George Shadow

  Chapter 15: Sitting Bull

  “MATTHEW, we...we have to leave right now,” Nora stuttered beside her foster brother. “We cannot wait for the battle to begin.”

  “But we cannot leave without Stephanie,” Matthew objected. “We must find a way to bring her here! Sniper likes you! Make him do it.”

  “You know I can’t! Tom’s always watching.”

  She was right. Matthew turned to peep through the bars of their cell at the big fellow, who raised his gun towards him and mouthed the word ‘bam’ with a smile. “He intends to kill us all even if they find his daughter,” the boy interpreted. “We know they’ll never find her ‘cause she’s Mary Ann and she’s gone back home.”

  Nora sighed. This was her foster brother’s entire fault and she was still angry with him for what he had done back at the fort. Now they would all get killed in that Sioux massacre of Custer’s three hundred. How horrible!

  “How come we’re in this story when we never played a part in the original?” Matthew suddenly asked her. “It’s like the book is rewriting history.”

  “‘Cause you helped it to,” she snapped. “A true Quentin will never do what you did with that book.”

  “Hey, I’m sorry,” he pleaded, feeling the pinch of her biting words.

  “That won’t do and you know it,” she bitterly added, making the horse rider turn back towards them.

  “Hey,” the man said in their tongue. “Quiet back there.”

  They both fell silent, each person with his or her own thoughts.

  “Why do you hate me?” Matthew asked Nora and she looked away. His voice was tearful.

  “Halt,” Tom shouted behind them. “There she is. The Yellowstone.”

  “The river,” Nora explained when she noticed Matthew’s inquisitive stare. “It is . . . here we start walking.” There was no bite like she’d previously mustered towards him in these words.

  Conrad alighted from behind Stephanie and unlocked the cage to bring them both down. Matthew thought he helped Nora down a bit more gently, but shrugged off the thought. The book in his shirt was becoming warm again and he prayed it wouldn’t catch fire there. That would surely be catastrophic!

  “You can turn back now,” Tom told the cart driver. “We don’t need you anymore.”

  “And since when did you take charge, Tom?” Conrad asked. “He’ll leave when I say so.”

  “I leave now,” the Indian insisted. “If you still need cage, I take horse.”

  “Alright,” the private agreed, motioning to Eagle Eye to alight from his horse and take over the cart.

  “Untie us,” Nora told the sharpshooter. “Please?”

  “I cannot, Kora,” he said. “Show us your camp and I’ll let you go.”

  “Far from it,” Tom opposed. “I’ve got a private’s badge as well, Shooter, and I say no way.”

  Conrad’s face was strained, and before they could all blink again, he had drawn his pistol and shot off the rifle from Tom’s hand! “Untie them,” he simply said and the frightened man ran to obey before he lost his hands as well.

  Nora was impressed.

  “I’ll kill you if you try to run, understand?” Conrad told her, and she nodded.

  “What of me?” Stephanie asked from his horse and he understood her, slitting her ropes with his knife.

  “Why cover face?” Nora asked him, thanking him with her eyes. “Why hide from us?”

  “He’s a shooter, bitch,” Tom snarled. “His death will be the death of us all.”

  The sniper ignored this flattering remark. “Let’s do this,” he said and jumped onto his horse behind Stephanie.

  Nora didn’t move. She didn’t know where to go, but her adopted brother did. He moved. “Where’re you going?” she asked him, bewildered.

  “To the camp?” he replied. “You said we know where it is although we haven’t seen it before, remember? Let’s hope there are better people there.”

  He was insane, but there were no other options except death, and Nora wasn’t ready to face that one yet. The scouts followed behind them and the cart took up the rear.

  And they marched for hours.

  “Sure you know where you’re going?”

  “Nope.”

  “Matthew, he’ll kill us if we don’t deliver.”

  “Thought you said he won’t.”

  “That’s not the point.”

  “I’m hungry,” Stephanie cried behind them. “Food.”

  “Will you shut up?” Tom growled. “Your people will feed you when we meet ‘em.” His horse suddenly buckled under him and he lost his balance. A thin arrow quivering on her chest told him the full story. His prediction had been instantly granted!

  “We’re under attack!” Conrad cried, trying to know where the arrow had come from. Two more hit Silent One and Eagle Eye!

  “Nora, down!” Matthew warned his sister, but she couldn’t move a muscle. An arrow swished past her head as he pulled her down. The sniper saw the attacker’s tomahawk flash in the sunlight and downed him. More Indians took his place.

  “Stephanie!” Matthew cried and went for her. He got her off the horse before Conrad toppled to the floor with it. Tom wanted to flee, but his path was blocked by the Sioux. Conrad killed another.

  Nora screamed when she saw the arrow pointed his way. She quickly covered him and Tom crawled in behind them, shaking all over and begging God for his mercies.

  They were surrounded.

  “Drop your gun,” a fearsome-looking fellow shouted at Conrad and he obeyed.

  “They have rifles,” Matthew whispered, drawing Stephanie behind him.

  The fearsome-looking fellow stepped forward and slapped Nora hard across the face. “You shame us, Kora,” he snapped. Big feathers decorated his headwear and he wore attire very similar to theirs. His head filled the mouth of a wild animal’s skull, which was complete with fangs and a mandible, and his bow had claws decorating its ends. “Take away the soldiers,” he ordered his men in their language. “Kill the Crow.”

  Tomahawks sliced across Eagle Eye’s neck and divided Silent One’s head into two. Conrad was pushed away with Tom.

  Nora fainted.