by Tony Masero
‘All right then. I’ll come on over when I can slip away from that greasy sucker Kowa, then we’ll go for it.’
They were interrupted as Esacona called the band together. Nathan noted the wave of excitement running through the warriors as Esacona told them what the scout had reported. He picked out enough of the words to realize that a horse herd had been spotted, some of the ponies they had lost and now being driven by army soldiers. It was a raid worth making and risking all for, this was plainly written on Esacona’s face at thought of a wealth of horseflesh and recovering his esteem with the rest of the warriors.
The news filled Nathan with optimism. If they could make their break just before the planned raid it would mean the Comanche’s would be distracted and less likely to follow them with the prospect of such a rich prize in the offing.
That afternoon they broke off their eastward trail and turned to head back towards the southwest, making a long loop that followed the Comanche scout’s directives. On the ride, Elizabeth brought her pony up alongside Nathan.
‘Are you angry with me?’ she asked.
Nathan shook his head negatively.
‘Then what is it, have I offended you in some way?’
He noticed she had returned somewhat to her original haughty state and wondered at the cause.
‘There’s nothing you have done to offend me,’ he said.
‘Then why do you ignore me? Is it that colored girl? Is that it, I saw you talking earlier.’
‘What’s this about, Elizabeth?’ he asked, becoming irritated by her questioning.
‘She’s quite pretty for a colored, isn’t she? I know how white men go for ladies like that.’
‘That’s not the case, Elizabeth.’
Nathan was beginning to realize that she was showing signs of envy and wondered if Elizabeth was jealous of some imagined romance between himself and Jan.
‘Then why all that whispering together?’
‘Just passing the time of day, no more than that.’
‘Not making some kind of assignation?’
‘You know that’s impossible, Kowa thinks he owns her. I could not even consider it, you know that.’
‘You should pay more attention to your own kind, Nathan,’ she said, drawing herself up in a condescending manner.
‘Look, Elizabeth, cut it out, will you? Jan and I were doing no more than talking like you and I are now.’
‘Oh! It’s Jan is it? Nathan’s got himself a little colored girl, well, dear me, how fitting.’
Nathan tired of her spite and urged his pony on ahead away from her.
‘It wasn’t my choice, you know?’ Elizabeth called after him bitterly. ‘I didn’t want any of those filthy Indians touching me.’
He understood her quandary. Now she had been used in such an appalling manner she was testing to see if her fellow Americans would shun her as she expected. Nathan felt pity for her but his mind was too preoccupied with the upcoming escape attempt and the raid to spare much thought to Elizabeth’s sensibilities.
He rode up alongside Esacona at the head of the column where he found the chief chuckling softly to himself. He arched an eyebrow in Nathan’s direction.
‘Woman make trouble?’ he asked, plainly amused at Nathan’s discomfort. ‘Best to make quiet,’ he advised with a chopping motion of the hand.
How naive, Nathan thought, you have a problem then it’s a simple blow that resolves it. Although, in this instance, Nathan had to admit he held some faint approval of the notion.
Nightfall brought them within raiding distance of the horse herd and it was a dark camp that Esacona ordered. They would attack at dawn and Esacona sent Kowa out with three others to keep a check on the soldier’s camp throughout the night. All of which helped Jan and Nathan’s planned escape no end, she would be free of Kowa’s attentions and thereby leave the way open for her to join Nathan at the pony line.
He was to keep watch in company with one of the young braves and they settled down in the darkness sharing a block of pemmican together. Without a fire there would be no cooking and Nathan struggled with the sluggish taste of ground meat and tallow with only the flavor of a few berries to enliven the mixture. It was heavy going but filling and after travelling all day without stopping Nathan indulged himself fully. He did not know when he would next eat so he made the most of it and his companion complained at Nathan’s eager consumption of their emergency rations.
The moon was rising high. The ‘Comanche Moon’ the white settlers called it, as it was always by its light that the Comanche came and raided. For Nathan it was a bonus, instead of the pitch-blackness that usually filled the empty night out on the desert and made any clear vision over distance impossible now he could clearly see the rest of the sleeping camp and their hobbled ponies.
He kept to a perimeter watch, strolling over the low sandy dunes surrounding the ponies and keeping his eye on the young brave that kept guard across from him on the opposite side. He thought of finding a rock to use as a weapon against the Indian but search as he did he could find nothing large or heavy enough to fulfill the role.
He was getting desperate as the moon moved across the sky, wondering how he was to do away with his fellow guard and also wondering where Jan was as the hour was getting late.
A movement caught his eye. A small flash of lightness under the moonlight and he saw Jan stepping up to stand before the young Indian guard. She was smiling at him, her teeth bright in the harsh light. Slowly she opened the fold of her blanket and Nathan saw the swell of her naked breasts exposed invitingly.
The brave gaped, he started to say something but Jan held a finger to his lips. The young Indian knew that Kowa was away and the temptation was proving to be too great for him. He was not much younger than Nathan and obviously bubbling over with urgent pubescent desire.
Jan crooked a teasing finger and led him away from the sleeping camp and deeper into the shadowed dunes. The young man went willingly, not even bothering to glance in Nathan’s direction.
It was time for Nathan to make his move and he crossed over to the ponies, beginning to unfasten their hobbles.
With a rush, Jan was suddenly beside him, ‘You ready?’ she whispered.
‘Just getting them undone,’ he replied.
‘Did you run chicken out there?’ asked Jan in a hushed voice. ‘I thought you’d never finish that boy off.’
‘I was waiting for you,’ Nathan complained.
‘Right,’ said Jan with dry dismissiveness. ‘Well, its done now. Amazing what a boy will do for a titty show.’
‘Is he dead?’
She smiled wryly, ‘Won’t be troubling nobody no more. Found me a little cooking knife and that did the job just fine.’
Momentarily, Nathan was sorry for the young man who had only shown him humor and friendliness during their time together.
‘Don’t think on it,’ advised Jan. ‘He would have gutted you right off he was given the word. These people don’t think like you, Nathan. They only got cold ice water where the heart lives.’
‘There,’ said Nathan, the last hobble falling away.
He walked a pony over towards Jan and was ushering the rest away from the camp with soft urging.
‘I knew it!’
The sharp cry broke the night’s stillness and Both Nathan and Jan whirled around to see Elizabeth standing facing them. Proudly upright, she had her blanket drawn about her in a queenly and reprimanding fashion.
‘You’ve been at it, haven’t you?’ she cried.
‘Hush, Elizabeth,’ pleaded Nathan. ‘Be quiet.’
‘You fancy her over me?’ accused Elizabeth, taking no notice of Nathan’s request. ‘What’s the attraction, Nathan? She’s just a nappy half-caste. Why her and not me?’
Nathan glanced over at the camp and could see shapes stirring on the ground.
‘She’ll give us away,’ said Jan and strode off in Elizabeth’s direction. ‘Will you shut your mouth, you stupid bitch?’
/> ‘Why should I?’ snapped Elizabeth. ‘Who do you think you are? Why, my family would be using you as a house slave if we were back home.’
The punch that Jan delivered was heart felt. It came from low down and was delivered with all the impact that a strong man might make. Her fist caught Elizabeth smartly under the jaw with a sharp crack and snapped her head back, without a sound Elizabeth’s legs gave from under her and she slid sideways falling stunned to the ground.
There was an angry call from the camp.
‘Let’s go now!’ cried Jan, running back to Nathan.
They both leapt aboard their ponies and with loud halloo’s urged the rest of the ponies around them away. The animal’s left at the run and as alarm sounds came from the camp both Nathan and Jan crouched low over their pony’s necks and rode fast into the night.
Above the shouted angry cries behind, Nathan heard Elizabeth’s keening call rise above the other sounds.
‘Nathan! Don’t leave me!’
They rode flat out for the best part of an hour.
The ponies with them had separated and faltered to a slow trot before they left them far behind. Only their moonlit shadows followed them across the desert, the black shapes long and low, rippling across the dunes as the moon began to set.
‘Rest up!’ called Jan, dragging her pony to a standstill. ‘They need a break.’
Both of them dismounted and walked alongside their mounts. The sweating ponies, still breathing heavily, snorted and shuffled their heads grateful for the respite.
‘We heading in the right direction?’ Nathan asked.
Jan was succinct in her reply, ‘Any direction is right, if we’re away from them murdering red men.’
‘I don’t think they’ll follow,’ Nathan advised her. ‘They have a raid planned and they’ll need to get those scattered ponies back before they can make it.’
‘That girl has it bad for you, doesn’t she?’ Jan asked him suddenly.
‘Elizabeth? I think she’s more concerned about how she’ll be treated if she ever gets back to her own people.’
‘Aw! She’ll get over it and so will they. Long as she ain’t got an Indian brat in her belly, she’ll be fine. Her rich folks will cover it all up and no one will be the wiser.’
Nathan shook his head, ‘How do you handle it so well, Jan? Nothing seems to faze you.’
‘I been around a while, that’s how. You think that’s the first man I’ve lain with? Hell, I’ve had my share and it don’t bother me none. Lady like your fair Elizabeth, well, it’s all a new book for her, ain’t it?’
‘For me as well, I guess,’ Nathan admitted.
‘You never partaken of some night pleasures yet, young Nathan?’
Nathan was embarrassed, ‘No, ma’am. The situation hasn’t arisen.’
‘Not even with Miss Elizabeth? You realize she’d be only too happy to oblige you right now.’
They were coming to a cleft between two high-sided dunes and as they moved into the shadowed defile, Jan pulled up and sat down. ‘Let’s set a while. If we ain’t far enough away by now we never will be.’
Nathan sat himself down beside her keeping hold of the pony by the halter rope.
‘Things change,’ Nathan mused, almost to himself. ‘Was a time I would have admired someone like Elizabeth. Set her up on a pedestal, you know? She was the sort of girl you looked at from afar at balls or the theatre. Untouchable almost.’
Jan smiled, ‘It’s all the same under the bed covers and now that little lady knows something about the facts of life she ain’t quite sure how to handle it. It’s where all that teasing society life with fancy folks comes down to brass tacks.’
‘But such a hard way for someone so gentle to learn.’
Jan sighed deeply and rested back on her elbows in the soft sand as she glanced up at the sinking moon.
‘Won’t be long before dawn,’ she said. ‘We’ll find our way then.’
‘It doesn’t trouble you?’ asked Nathan tentatively. ‘All those men?’
Jan shrugged, ‘It’s natural, ain’t it? I been screwing with menfolk since I was thirteen year old. Sometimes I done it for money and sometimes for pure pleasure. Got to admit, I fair do like it and that’s a fact.’
She looked at him from the corner of her eye and saw that he was studying the rise of her breasts beneath the blanket she held tossed lightly about her.
‘You got a hunger on you, boy?’ she asked.
Nathan swallowed, ‘I don’t know.’
‘Come here then,’ she whispered and threw aside the blanket so that he could see her spread out against the sand.
‘Oh, no, I couldn’t,’ gasped Nathan. Despite his refusal his eyes remained locked on the soft swell of her belly and the deep shadow between her thighs. The warm tones of Jan’s skin glowed in the moonlight, and a contrast of black shadow and white highlight ran down her limbs as if she were oiled. As she crooked one knee up, Nathan felt himself stiffen. He swallowed hard, ‘Really, I couldn’t.’
‘Course you can, I give permission. It would pleasure me to know a young fellow like you. Come, be about your business. Here,’ she said, taking his hand and laying across her swelling breast and the raised nipple that felt as hard as a pencil tip to Nathan’s exploring fingers. ‘Feels fine, don’t it?’
Nathan’s mouth was dry, ‘It does,’ he croaked.
‘Then kiss my lips, young Nathan,’ she whispered, pulling him to her. ‘Hold me tight and we’ll love until daylight.’
A great rush of feeling went out of Nathan as he covered her, it was a huge gush of relief as any notion of his learned and inhibiting restrictions fell away. He was invited and this was permissible, there were no patterns of behavior to restrict him in this. He was in a different country than the one he had grown up in. The two of them, alone in the wild desert with darkness all around and no one to oversee or criticize. It was an overwhelming burst of freedom that coursed through Nathan’s veins.
Jan was older than him by some years, he did not know by how many. Maybe six or seven he estimated, but it did not seem to matter and he allowed her to show him the way. Leading him gently in the direction she wanted him to go with her fingers and lips and the soft envelopment of her body, until Jan’s sobs of pleasure filled the night and his own explosion carried him away into the great universe of stars above.
‘Well, lookee here,’ the voice growled in Nathan’s ear.
He awoke suddenly to bright sunlight that dazzled him and a dark outline standing over him.
‘Wha….’ he blurred.
‘Been making hay with this young stud have you, Jan?’ asked a gravelly voice. ‘Don’t look like he’s much out of diapers yet awhile.’
‘Might be he’s got more going for him than the likes of you.’
Nathan started up to see Jan and three men looking down at him.
‘This here is Nathan Boise,’ said Jan.
‘So,’ said a tall man dressed in black. ‘You found one of them.’
‘There are three more still with the Indians,’ Jan supplied. ‘Nathan this is Captain Cromwell, the leader of your rescue party.’
Nathan quickly scrabbled to his feet, ‘A pleasure to meet you, sir.’
‘All mine, Mister Boise, all mine indeed,’ answered Cromwell taking his hand. ‘May I introduce, Raymond Kant, he’s the unsavory fellow standing over there and the gent on lookout with the long gun is Warren. So pleased that Jan Marques managed to aid your escape.’
‘Looks like she did a sight more than that,’ rumbled Kant, eyeing Nathan’s undone britches and disheveled look.
‘Now, now, Raymond, young Mister Boise will doubtless have been through a very trying time. So, Jan, what can you tell us about the Indian’s situation.’
‘We scattered their ponies when we made off but Nathan believes they are preparing for a raid and we expect they’ll be busy catching up their horse to make that raid.’
‘Hmm,’ hummed Cromwell thoughtfully. ‘What a dis
traction for them, certainly could be to our advantage. I think we had best make haste, how far off are these rascals.’
‘An hour or so east of here,’ Jan supplied.
‘Can you find your way back?’
Jan nodded, ‘I guess.’
‘Bit much, I know,’ sympathized Cromwell. ‘Just having got away from them but we have to go save those other poor children.’
He turned to Nathan, ‘Mister Boise, I can leave one of these men with you here or you may accompany us. Which would you prefer?’
Nathan was thinking of Elizabeth and the others and answered quickly, ‘I’d be obliged to come along, Captain Cromwell.’
‘You realize we are on a dangerous mission here? Things might get a little rough, I fear.’
‘Nathan’s already seen some ‘rough’,’ said Jan.
‘I’ll bet he has,’ sneered Kant his tone full of innuendo.
‘Why don’t you just shut your face,’ snapped Jan, turning on the scalp hunter.
‘Come on now, let’s make a move,’ said Cromwell. ‘We don’t have time for this. If we can strike at the Comanche camp whilst they are busy we can pick up the other children and be away.’
As they readied their horses, Jan came up alongside Nathan.
‘Don’t pay them no never mind, they are a rough crew.’
Nathan nodded in reply but made no sound.
‘Are you all right?’ she asked.
‘About last night?’ Nathan mumbled.
‘Yeah, it was good wasn’t it? Did me right proud, young man. I think you’ll end up being a regular ball of fire in time.’
Despite his embarrassment, Nathan felt his chest swell at the praise.
Chapter Thirteen
Britt was glad to find that Kilchii had advised the army men wisely whilst he was away.
It was dusk and a fire had been lit and the evening meal prepared.
They had brought the thirty head of recaptured mustangs into a broad based bowl formed by a triangle of three closely placed buttes. The five soldiers were pleased to see Britt’s return and O’Brien and the others questioned him closely on his venture. Only Kilchii, who squatted silently apart from the others, still mourned the death of his friend Niyol. He was secretly glad to hear that Britt had not managed to bring down the sniper, as he wanted that act of revenge to be carried out personally.
