Cowgirl Thrillers

by Barbara Neville

I wake up, and realize I’ve fallen asleep in the tub. Luckily, I haven’t drowned. Can that happen? Bound to be possible.

  I pull myself out, dry off, hit the sheets and luxuriate in one of Sir Jacob’s fine, comfy beds.

  After a late breakfast in the morning, I head down to find the early rising doctors bending over their patients.

  “How they doing?” I ask.

  “Resting from breakfast,” says Michael.

  “Shit, this clinic of yores looks mighty fancy,” I say after looking around at a few gleaming stainless steel medical thingamajigs. “I grew up in the boonies, never been to a real hospital.”

  “Not actually that sophisticated. However, it does come in handy at times like this,” says Sir Jacob.

  “No Spud or Wolf?” I ask.

  “Nary a sign of them,” he says.

  “Guess I will ride down to Spud’s and see if they are there.”

  “You sure?” asks Michael.

  “They gotta be somewhere. I need to at least ride to where the trail forks to see if there is sign of them passin’ in case they went to Spud’s place. If they haven’t been through, maybe they need help.”

  Sir Jacob says, “It would be prudent for you to wait here until someone can accompany you to watch your back.”

  “I’ll be okay.”

  “Annie, please wait,” says Michael, sweetly concerned for his cowgirl partner. “Maybe we will get something out of one of these guys. We could use your help.”

  “Nice of you to care,” I say and smile. I know they means they don’t want me out on the trails alone, but won’t bruise my pride by saying so. It is dangerous out there.

  “Okay,” says Michael. “Are we finished here?”

  “Yes, let us adjourn to the map table and get our bearings.”

  We walk through the tapestry-hung tunnels of the fortress to a familiar room.

  “Must be nice, havin’ yore own personal underground castle,” I comment.

  “Rather. Although it was a long time in the making. We do indeed have some small comforts now,” says Sir Jacob. “If you could tell us what occurred after we split up?” He points at the table.

  The map is spread out on the table. I go over and start putting our travels mentally into focus in order to point out our route on the map.

  “How much did Spud tell you?”

  “Very little, there was a bit of a rush,” says Sir Jacob. “If you could start at the beginning? To be sure that we know all.”

  “Okay,” I say and tell them the whole shebang. Pointing out our route in the map. “See, we went down through here, then Wolf went over and saw the Spirit deer about here…”

  “Wait. Is that it?” says a new voice.

  We look up to see Zeb, leaning on a stick and hobbling over toward us to look at the map.

  “It is. This is our map. Newzona,” he exclaims.

  “Your map?” asks Sir Jacob. “Please reiterate. Explain your provenance.”

  “We came, wait, let me start again. I am part of an expedition from the planet Terrania. We were run off the planet by the veggers. We like meat. We feel it is a superior food which promotes health and longevity. We started spreading the word, helping others understand the strength of a well-rounded diet. The Centrist authorities didn’t like that. They decided they couldn’t have us among them, They said we were a bad influence on their children. Turning them into meat lovers. They gave us thirty days to leave or face imprisonment,” says Zeb. “They believe that cows are evil methane producers.”

  “We were lost at first, didn’t know where to turn. Then providence stepped in. A man came and told us of the Rock. He said it was a place of freedom. Where people could follow their own rules. He said he knew a man who would sell us what we needed.

  “His friend sold us a trunk of maps and papers. It was very expensive, but we had no alternative, no time. We scraped together what monies we could, having sold our homes, to finance the trip.

  We picked up the trunk. When we got it home and opened, we found that the map on top looked okay, but the rest were old and fragmented. We could make neither heads nor tails of them. But this seems to be a true map. We have the key.”

  “The key?” I ask.

  “Yes, the other part, it is some sort of code. We don’t know, but they work together the map and key. One part is labeled NEW the other ZONA. So we call it Newzona.”

  “An expedition?” I ask. “How many?”

  “Forty souls, all dedicated to the belief that meat is central to health and eternal life,” says Zeb. “When we arrived here we bought supplies and started east, but bandits came one night and took the contents of the trunk. By chance, I had the other part of the map in a separate place. Thankfully, I hadn’t put it back in the trunk that night. The two parts together show where our sacred settlement will be.

  Zeb falters, then continues, “Crystal said they have it and that we would have to pay a huge ransom for its return.”

  “Come,” says Michael. “You need rest. We will not lose the map. It is safe here. You go back and sleep.”

  “But…” says Zeb.

  Sir Jacob adds, “You had surgery and a long trying journey just yesterday. Look here, you are bleeding again. You must gain back your strength. Go.”

  “I’ll go with him and fix that,” says Michael. He takes Zeb’s elbow and helps him down the hall.

  “Guess we got the right ones tied up,” I say to His Lordship.

  Turning to me, Sir Jacob says, “So it would seem. They were fighting?”

  “Yep, Crystal and Zeb. Tooth and nail. Each claims the other started it, of course.”

  “Yes, I suppose it is the only way one can live with oneself,” Sir Jacob is saying. “In order to justify the morality of one’s actions, one must point the finger elsewhere.”

  He heads over to the sideboard for a refill.

  Meanwhile, I have gotten distracted by the books.

  “Sir Jacob?” I ask shyly. “Are, um, can I look at your, um, books?”

  “Oh, my dear girl, of course. Help yourself. Be very careful, however, they are rare and fragile. Many are one of a kind.”

  “Is there, like, a place to start?”

  “Oh, of course, here,” he walks over to a wall of books and looks about. “Here, come, walk over and I will help you pick one. Pictures or words?”

  “I don’t, well, Wolf mentioned one with birds and another with animals?”

  “Ah, how about this one? Horses.”

  “Wow.”

  He pulls it out and carries it to the table.

  “Sit,” he says.

  He sits next to me and opens the book. It has thin papers inside that have…

  “Holy cow!” I point at a picture of a buckskin horse. “That looks just like Joe!”

  Sir Jacob admonishes me to turn the pages carefully.

  “Wow,” I say. “I have never seen such high-toned fancy writing, all written so each letter is just the same size and shape as the last. And photos too. Heard of it, of course, I ain’t totally a hick. Made some printing blocks myself once as a kid, dipped ‘em in plant dyed water and made letters on our home made paper. I have seen hand written tied together books too, but never nothin’ so fancy as these.”

  Sir Jacob smiles.

  I pore over the pages. Horses, horses and more horses. All kinds of horses. After having been transfixed by the book for a time, I look up and realize that I am alone. I carefully close the book and slide it back in its spot. Then I wander down the tunnel.

  Trixie is up and walking slowly around the room. Aptly named, she is not much bigger than an elf.

  “Good, you are up and about. I am Annie, in case you didn’t hear me introduce myself before. How are you feeling?”

  “I am Trixie. I hear that I have you and your friends to thank for saving me. I do feel a little better. But, I am so stiff and sore. Sir Jacob says I have a few broken ribs and lots of stitches.”

  “Do you feel good enough t
o head up to join the others?”

  “No, I need more sleep. I am sore and stiff. I was just trying to walk out a few kinks, but I think I overdid. Everything hurts,” she says. She shuffles back to her bed and crawls under the covers.

  I check everyone’s water supply, then continue looking for the boys. I find them in the kitchen. Buzz is with them.

  “Hey, Buzz, welcome back. You missed all the excitement,” I say.

  “Maybe yours. I, however, enjoyed a bit of my own,” says Buzz.

  Sir Jacob fills glasses and passes them around.

  His Lordship raises his glass In a toast.

  “Skoal,” he says.

  “Skoal,” we echo and drink.

  “Good. We need to depart,” says Buzz, setting his glass on the counter. “Spud and Wolf need us.”

  “Why didn’t you say this earlier?” I ask, upset.

  “Earlier, I felt they might need us. Now, I know they do.”

  “What? How?”

  “Powers. The true test of a Bãngh,” says Sir Jacob.

  “We need to go. Now,” says Wolf as he comes running into the room. He is out of breath and very agitated, nothing like his usual calm, Zen self. He looks around and spots Buzz.

  “Bãngh get here fast,” he says.

  “Long story,” says Buzz.

  “I shall grab food for us,” says Sir Jacob.

  As we hurry out of the room, I look at Buzz and ask, “You heard him coming?”

  “Yes, it was in the air waves as he approached along the tunnel.”

  “I didn’t hear a thing.”

  “Nor did I,” says Buzz. “More of a feeling or a vision.”

  As we are saddling up, Sir Jacob arrives with bags of trail food and passes them to each of us.

  “I briefed Michael. We shall leave him here, if that is okay with you, Wolf,” he says. “We can’t take the chance on any of the crew escaping or discovering the location of my place. We don’t know enough about their allegiances.”

  “Michael choice. In this tribe everyone Injin, no chiefs.”

  “Shit, I wanted to be a chief,” I say.

  They all stop what they are doing and look at me. ‘Skeptical’ says the look on their faces. Then they laugh.

  Michael assists us as we lead our mounts down the tunnel and out into the night. We have brought two spare horses for each rider.

  “I’ll flash a signal to Sky. With luck, he will see it,” he says.

  “Flash?” I ask.

  “Mirrors,” explains Sir Jacob. “I showed Michael what to do.”

  “White man smoke signal,” says Wolf.

  42 Outlaw Trail