“This one means no harm to the shaman.” The hunter said, his language clearly of the People. “Have a care with her, for this party has searched for her for days.”
Her People. She’d said they’d died…
“Who takes the right to hunt for this one?” Blue’s answer rang across the clearing and, despite the softness of her tone, authority rang within it. Authority and something more he couldn’t quite put his finger on.
The word choice rankled the warrior. He straightened, his expression a mask of unfriendliness. “The encampment was burned when this party discovered the loss…” He continued, but Jimmy couldn’t follow the words he used or the speed at which he spoke.
Moving to his side, Blue stared impassively at the warrior. “This one does not recognize the claim.”
Claim? His finger itched to pull the trigger and be done. The violent need within jerked at his self-control. What damn claim? If the bastard thought he would take Blue, Jimmy would disabuse him of the notion immediately.
The other answered and swept his hand in a cutting gesture before him. The words were almost guttural, and Jimmy caught one in four. “This one…believes…belongs…white man.”
Yeah, she belonged with him until the moment she—and only she—decided otherwise.
Instead of annoyance, Blue sighed. “White Crow says he means no harm, Jimmy.”
“Then he can take a step back.” His camp, his rules. Jimmy met the other man’s gaze and the warrior inclined his head once before retreating one step precisely. Lowering his gun, Jimmy tried not to dwell on the urge to shoot him. “What does he want?”
“The fire is a welcome respite, and we have food to offer.” White Crow glanced past him to Blue once more, and the man’s attention on her continued to irk Jimmy. The admiration of the fire served as a gentle nudge for an invitation.
“This one requests a moment,” Blue said after a long pause. The light brush of her fingers along his back drew his attention. White Crow paused then inclined his head. He withdrew to the edge of the light and took his painted pony with him.
“Problem?” His world seemed to be narrowing down to challenges and obstacles. The others made no untoward moves, but having them mounted and close enough to inflict harm kept him on edge.
“They’re…the hunting party is Fevered.”
She couldn’t have stunned him further if she’d tried. The warning increased his suspicion and his concern.
“White Crow’s wife gave birth to a child, and they are trailing them by half a day. He wants a blessing of a shaman for the naming and to know if the spirits have truly abandoned them or not.” The discordant note in her voice worried him. Was she trying to tell him the request was a bad idea or did she want to help them?
“So why were they following you?” The answer to his question sat like a hard rock in his gut. Maybe they were Fevered, maybe they weren’t—there had been Fevered with the one group who came after her. Were her own hunting her as well?
“They risked locating an encampment with a shaman…and found the remnants of mine. I left a trail and White Crow followed it.” Her guarded tone pulled at him. How much of a trail could she have left in her eagle form? If he dared take his gaze off their unwelcome visitors, he’d have tried to decipher her expression.
“What do you want to do, Blue?”
“I don’t know,” she said, and the indecision echoed under her words. “To help the—Fevered was forbidden. They would know this…”
The Cursed were turned away from the tribes. To have even one, much less five, seek out a full encampment on the spare chance the shaman would grant their wish? And the wife traveled a half-day behind them?
Too many questions, not enough assurances, and Blue’s continued discomfort decided him. Raising his gun, he sighted White Crow. “This one will not share the fire. Move on.”
Shane stiffened and locked his posture next to Jimmy. He’d raised his gun as well and sighted one of the other riders. Good kid, understood the stakes and backed him. Would the five take the hint or would they press their advantage? He really didn’t want to have to dig more graves…or linger at their camp any longer. Sun up was still hours away, but if these five had others behind them, Jimmy didn’t want Blue anywhere they could locate her.
Light flared in White Crow’s eyes turning them a shimmering color. Jimmy narrowed his gaze. The land between him and the men went shimmery, as though heat boiled up from the earth itself. Blue murmured words and then she was in front of him. The shimmering surged forward then flew skyward. Not waiting, he dragged her back and fired. The others rushed forward even as White Crow fell. Too many in close quarters. Shane knocked one from his horse and Jimmy flung Blue toward the water to avoid the horse bearing down on them.
He wasn’t killing the animal.
Dodging the horse, he caught the man’s gun arm and hauled him off the animal. Two were on Shane, and he’d lost the gun. They rained blows on him, and the kid blocked one then thrust his fist at the second. A distinct crunch of bone announced the damage done. The fourth bypassed him entirely and went straight for Blue. Her knife appeared in her hand and she braced to face off with him.
Jimmy didn’t dare fire with the man between him and Blue, not when the surge inside him demanded release. The brave he’d dragged from the horse regained his feet and struck. One fist caught him in the back, then a second to his head. Whirling, he swung and his fist passed through the man.
Son of a… Another slammed into him, then another and he went down. Used to wrestling with his brothers, he didn’t hold back. Bones were broken, but the punches kept coming, raining down on him as though he were being struck by a dozen men instead of one.
Suddenly one of the men was jerked off of him and flung. Then another. Tasting blood, Jimmy got his hands on another and wrapped an arm around his neck, dragging him backward and cutting off his oxygen supply.
A shout came from the pool followed by a splash. The screams which followed jolted him from his battle and thrust another man away from him. Blue stood at the pool’s edge, her hand outstretched. The man in the pool was shrieking and beating at his skin as he thrashed around. Her expression focused, her eyes glassy and distant.
An elbow slammed into his face and he saw stars for a moment. Thrusting the man away he managed an uppercut. Shane battled with the swarm had been on him. Eye twitching from one of the hits he’d taken, Jimmy couldn’t quite reconcile what he saw with what he knew. It was one man, only he seemed to be four at the same time.
Shane’s face mottled red, and then he seized one man and slammed his forehead into him. The brave collapsed and his additional men vanished. Scanning the area, he found all their assailants down save for the one still screaming in the pool. Gun in hand, he turned and sighted the man.
“No.” Blue ceased her chanting and shook her head. “Answers.”
Clenching his jaw, he forced his finger away from the trigger. “Be quick. They wanted to take you, not kill you.” Which made it even worse. He didn’t know what the hell they were trying to take Blue for, but he knew it couldn’t be good.
The brave in the spring stopped screaming, but his whole body seemed to shake and he cast a frantic glance to his fallen comrades then back to Blue. Raising his hands, he spoke in a shaking voice. “Forgive this one, Little Mother. Our chief, White Crow, demanded we take you.”
“Why?” Jimmy asked, even as his teeth ground together. Spitting the word out past his violent need to kill the brave took every ounce of his effort. Some folks just needed killing and every instinct he possessed focused on the man spoiling the hot water spring he’d enjoyed with Blue.
The brave hesitated and Jimmy, cocked the gun. Understanding of his predicament poured fear into the other man’s eyes. “The Cold One in the east wanted her Blood.” Even his perfect grasp of English didn’t make the explanation go down any easier.
Her blood.
Blue actually recoiled from the pool, horror on her face.
> “We went to the encampment to take her…We did not kill The People. The others did because they would not reveal where she had gone…please forgive me Little Mother, White Crow said we would not give you to the cold one, only your Blood.”
Not responding, Blue turned her back to the man and walked away. The brave rushed forward, water splashing and Jimmy didn’t give him another opportunity. He squeezed the trigger and blood bloomed on the man’s buckskin as the bullet struck.
Eyes still glassy, Blue didn’t flinch at the shot. Tugging her to him, he glanced at Shane. The younger man stared at the downed men around them, then met Jimmy’s gaze. “I’ll bury them.”
“I’ll get the gear. Shallow graves. We need to go.”
Between him and Shane, they made short work of it. Jimmy checked on Blue several times, but she said nothing. Her gaze elsewhere, and whatever she saw or heard, she didn’t share. The left side of his face throbbed and his eye continued twitch, but he ignored the injury. Cody gave him worse over the years. Only when the time came to ride and he put her on his horse, did she stir.
“Stay,” he told her, and mounted behind her. “We need to talk.”
The trembling of her light form worried him more than the words the man said. He’d seen her face down a lightning Fevered and battle two men with her blade, and not once had he seen her so afraid.
The sun edged the horizon when he led their party out of the grotto. The cool air did little to ease the burn inside of him. Shane kept it together and he’d worn out some of his brute strength in the graves he’d dug. They rode in silence until the skies turned molten red and orange in the east. Following it unerringly, he said, “Talk to me Blue. I can’t kill it if I don’t know what’s scared you so badly.”
Exhaling a shuddering breath, she said, “I didn’t hear truth in White Crow’s words, but I didn’t believe he was a part of the group who attacked the camp.”
The sense of betrayal he understood. “Do you know who the Cold One is?”
She gave a quick shake of her head.
“All right.” The Cold One from the east—the only man he knew about to the east and the north was Adam MacPherson. MacPherson sent his people to attack Dorado. MacPherson raised Delilah and tried to use her to torture others. MacPherson, the man the doppelganger tried to reach. It made a sick kind of sense if he were the Cold One. Who was This Man? “Why your blood?”
Her shudder had him chewing regret for the question, but he needed to know. Shane kept pace next to him. They let the horses set a fast trot rather than a canter and Jimmy kept an eye on their back trail. The first night he’d managed to sleep in days, and it allowed the bastards to catch up to them. Not for the first time, he questioned his continued pursuit of the doppelganger.
Nothing has changed on that front. I can’t let him take what he knows back to MacPherson. Yet everything changed.
He found Blue.
“You said you were of The Blood.” He needed to jar her out of the lost place she’d gone since the man’s revelation. “Is that why?”
“I don’t know,” she said, but the half-hearted note told him she didn’t believe her own statement. “Perhaps. This one is confused. Why hunt a shaman? We were many…” Her spine stiffened against him.
“Were,” Jimmy repeated the key phrase. “You were many…You’re not anymore, are you?”
“No, we’ve lost people to the Fever, to wars with the whites, with our cousins—and even to other lives. We of The Blood who were many are now few—too few.” Her expression grew fierce. “That is why the spirits warned me. There is something to the visions they are sending…I need time, time to sort through the messages.”
Time was a luxury they didn’t possess. If he could, he’d send her south with Shane and the only thing holding him back was the degree of attacks. They’d grown worse. It took all three of them to fend off the last two large-scale incursions. How many more were on their trail?
Glancing behind, he scanned the landscape. They couldn’t afford to be caught unaware again. Blue woke him when she’d heard the approach, but much too late to let him prepare for them ahead of time.
“What is of the Blood? What does it mean?” If only Quanto reached out in his dreams, or Buck—he could have asked one of them. His father had been silent since sending him to meet Blue and, without a doubt, she was whom his father meant. His task was far from complete.
“The line of my father and his father and his mother and her mother and her father before—the line unbroken. We are of The Blood. Blessed with the abilities to see the spirits, to commune with them, and to weave their will.” Her explanation didn’t help.
“You have powers,” he said, having seen them in action. “You can become an eagle, you can call a spirit to pull the Fevered’s spirit away and geld their ability. What did you do to the man in the water?”
“I showed him his own evil, a mirror chant. To face oneself, to see oneself as you have truly become. It is a gift for the vision quest, meant to help guide young warriors and maidens to the choices they must make in maturity. I did not know what else to do when I lost the knife.” The hint of ferociousness in her tone warmed him. There she was. His girl was fierce and she’d handled herself well.
“You did good.” Pressing a kiss to the back of her temple, he ran through her description. “So of The Blood means you’re Fevered without being Fevered.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m blessed and bound to my course. I have trained to be who I am meant to be from the day I was born. My grandfather and father tutored me in the ways of The Blood—it has power. Power I can call upon to bind spirits, to call them back, to communicate with them.”
Jimmy went still as two thoughts collided and understanding seared in his mind as though branded. Glancing at Shane, he said. “What do you think?”
“About what?” Shane frowned. “I don’t speak Cheyenne.”
He hadn’t been speaking Cheyenne. “You didn’t hear any of what we just discussed?”
“I heard it,” the younger man said, then glanced behind them. He, like Jimmy, didn’t seem to want the surprise. “But I don’t speak whatever language you two are using.”
What language had they spoken? At the spring, he hadn’t understood the others well. He understood Blue fine now—and he didn’t have to try to translate her words in his head. The first time he’d met her, she’d had some blood on her fingers from cutting her hand. Later she cut herself again, but she’d wanted to get the blood off of him. “Blue, how can I understand you so clearly?”
“What do you mean?” She frowned, coming back from whatever dark direction her thoughts took her.
“I thought you were doing better with English or I was with the language of the People. But at the spring, I had trouble understanding them, and Shane can’t understand us now.”
Her eyes widened a fraction, and the tight line between her eyes deepened. “Can you understand me now?”
“Yes.” Clear as day. Even his earlier struggles over looking for the right word were gone.
Blue closed her eyes and muttered something under her breath.
If he didn’t know any better, he would have sworn she’d cursed. “Talk to me, pretty girl.”
“The blood,” she whispered. “You had my blood on you, and you wanted to understand me, and I wanted to understand you.”
His head ached from the hits, his eyes burned with swelling, and his mind whirled with the information. Too many pieces and not enough wood to finish the puzzle. “That’s why you wanted me to wash up.”
“I am sorry, Jimmy.” Her apology shocked him. “I never meant to bind you in any way.”
The thought hadn’t occurred to him. “Hey, it’s all right. I can talk to you and that’s a good thing, but we need to include Shane in these discussions. He needs to know what we’re getting into.”
She nodded slowly. “I will not mark him with my blood.”
Laughter cracked the dam of his reserve, and he pr
essed another kiss to her forehead. “I meant you need to learn English and he needs to learn Cheyenne.”
“Yes,” she agreed.
One obstacle addressed. He took a moment to fill Shane in, and the younger man nodded. “We can’t split up. You need someone to watch your back and if she goes off on her own, we won’t be there to look after her.” His swift grasp of the situation impressed Jimmy. “Do we risk letting the doppelganger go to get her to the ranch?”
No. They couldn’t risk it. Frustration swelled in his chest. He wanted Blue safe, but if the doppelganger made it to MacPherson, his whole family was in danger. “We deal with him first. After we get him, we go south.”
“What about the other guy?”
“If we get a chance, we take it, but we have too many pursuers. If there are anymore.” Somehow, he suspected there would be. Whoever the Cold One was, they’d sent more than a dozen men to bring her to him. Even if Jimmy didn’t care about her, he’d do what he could to keep her from the other.
Switching his attention back to the woman in his arms, he said, “I need you to tell me everything about being of the Blood and what it can do.” He could handle Fevered, understood the inherent dangers in their different abilities. They wanted her for a reason, and he had to know the reason so he could keep her safe.
Staying the course, he kept their horses pointed east. She said they were a day or two behind the doppelganger, his quarry continued to move slow. That was all the invitation he needed to keep on his chosen path.
“The Blood…is a secret and even sharing as much as I have with you is forbidden. Only those of The Blood should know, it’s…”
The Quick and the Fevered Page 22
