Slocum 394 : Slocum and the Fool's Errand (9781101545980)

by Logan, Jake

  He stood and reflexively reached out to hold on to her as she staggered too close to the log upon which he sat. “Watch yourself,” he said. “Wouldn’t want you to get hurt.”

  Undoubtedly, she knew every inch of the camp by memory. When Slocum’s hands drifted to her waist, she allowed herself to fall another half-step toward him before placing her hands upon his chest. She lingered there, looked into his eyes, and then turned away so she could settle into a seated position. “I feel drunk. It’s been a long day.”

  “If you’d like to make it official, I think Jack was passing around a bottle of whiskey.”

  “Imala has probably taken him away. She’s had her eye on him.”

  “I suppose his tall tales have to work on someone,” Slocum said.

  “Maybe he is thanking her.”

  “For what?”

  Nitika blinked and said, “I thought you would have known already. She’s the one who found his key.”

  “What?”

  She smiled again. The expression was becoming warmer and more familiar as she spent more time with him. “Did you have any of the sausage she made?”

  “I did. It was delicious.”

  “Imala was raised on a farm by a German family before she was reunited with her tribe. It’s a long story, but she learned to cook and has brought some of her adopted mother’s teachings to our tribe, where she blends it with those of her own people. On special occasions, she makes something from her upbringing like that sausage. Do you know how sausage is made?”

  “I know it’s not pretty,” Slocum joked.

  “She uses an animal’s stomach to hold it together. Her mother used sheep’s stomach or one from a pig. Maybe also a cow.”

  “And that’s why I don’t ask about where my food comes from. Seems much better when it just shows up on my plate.” The attempt to make her laugh was a reflex, but when Slocum thought more about what she was saying, it sank in. “Wait a second. So are those sausages made from the wolves?”

  Nitika nodded. “Cha’to’s pelt will be a prize given to our tribe’s greatest hunter. The pelts of the other wolves as well as the teeth and bones will be used to make our finest weapons and aid in Ilesh’s medicines, but Imala was the first one to claim Cha’to’s innards. She cleaned out his stomach and found the key.”

  Thinking back to how the key had glistened wetly in Ilesh’s hand, Slocum couldn’t help shuddering. “Was Jack told all of that?”

  “I don’t know,” she replied while looking around at the darkened camp. “Perhaps I could ask Imala. I can’t seem to find her, though.”

  “From the way those two have been mooning over each other all night, I have a good idea what they’re doing.”

  Nitika smiled and shifted her attention back to Slocum. “I think I do, too.”

  When she lowered her face, Slocum reached out to place his finger beneath her chin so he could guide it up again. “You’re beautiful,” he told her.

  “No I’m not.”

  “Do you stare at yourself every day?”

  “No,” she replied.

  “Do you have pictures taken or get someone to draw you so you can see your face whenever you please?”

  “No!”

  “Then you don’t look at yourself enough to argue with me,” he said. “I’m looking at you right now just as I have been all night long, and I’m telling you you’re beautiful. If you want to dispute that, you’ll need to come up with something better than a shake of your head.”

  She started to shake her head anyway, but caught herself and stopped so she could look directly into his eyes and say, “Thank you.”

  “I’ve heard stories about some tribes where the hunters get their pick of any woman they want.”

  “Have you?”

  He nodded. “They get the prettiest women along with the most food and the best horses.”

  “Those sound like good tribes . . . if you are a hunter.”

  “I brought down the mighty Cha’to,” Slocum said. “Does that mean I get my pick of the prettiest woman in the tribe?”

  Leaning forward so her breath warmed his mouth when she spoke to him, Nitika whispered, “That is not our way, and if it was, you aren’t a part of the tribe.”

  “Damn,” he said while leaning in a little closer.

  “Also,” she said while angling her face just enough to brush her lips against his, “Snake Catcher was the one who killed Cha’to.”

  “I helped.”

  “And in all those stories you heard about other tribes, what did helping get those other hunters?”

  Rather than continue the banter, Slocum leaned in that extra fraction of an inch to press his lips against Nitika’s. She responded warmly and then pulled away. She didn’t cast an eye in any other direction, but was obviously more aware of her surroundings when she got to her feet. “I think I should go,” she told him.

  “Long day?”

  “Yes. Sleep well, John Slocum. I think you are a fine hunter.” With that, she turned her back to him and crossed the camp to some of the smaller tents on the outskirts.

  Slocum sat still for a few seconds as the rest of the camp continued to sing, dance, and make merry all around him. The Apache’s voices weren’t exactly loud, but were unrelenting as they were raised up to the starry sky amid the rhythmic beats of a pair of drummers as well as another old woman who shook a long stick with beads, teeth, and feathers tied to it to make an exotic rattling sound. Whenever he met another set of eyes, Slocum received a greeting and the occasional nodding wave. A few children were still running about, and he waded through them as he crossed the camp.

  Every step took Slocum farther from the fire’s warm glow. The night was crisp and the Apache songs drifted like smoke upon the cool air. Nitika was nowhere to be found, but he continued walking in the direction she’d gone. Once again allowing himself to be guided by instinct, he made his way to the camp’s perimeter. Upon hearing rustling from within one of the tents, he dropped to one knee so he could pull aside the flap to get a quick look inside. That was all he needed to see Nitika lying beneath a furry blanket made from several smaller pelts that had been stitched together. Before he could ask for permission to go any farther, she pulled aside the blanket to reveal her naked body to him.

  Slocum crawled inside, pulled his shirt off, unbuckled his pants, stripped out of the rest of his clothes, and kicked off his boots so he could join her on a woven mat covering the ground beneath the tent. She laughed softly at how quickly he’d undressed and lowered the animal skins on top of them both.

  “Maybe the hunter should get a reward,” she whispered while draping her leg over him and running a hand along his naked chest.

  “Sounds fair to me.” Sliding his leg between hers, Slocum wrapped his arms around her and pulled Nitika close while kissing her on the mouth. Their passion built its own momentum and soon their probing tongues found each other.

  Although she’d been timid earlier, Nitika was nothing of the sort any longer. Her hands pressed solidly against him to push Slocum onto his back so she could straddle him. She kissed him hungrily for another minute or two and then moved her mouth farther down. First she licked his neck, then she took gentle bites along his chest and stomach as her hands rubbed against his bare skin. Slocum leaned back and slid his fingers through her long, thick hair as she lowered her mouth onto his erect penis and began sucking him.

  When he looked down, he could just see the outline of her shoulders and bobbing head in the bit of light cast against the surface of the tent. Her mouth made wet sucking sounds as she feasted upon him, and her tongue rubbed up and down along the bottom of his shaft. When she lingered in a certain spot, Slocum held her there so she could continue to lick and tease him. Nitika brought him right to the brink and then slowed down. When his hands moved away from the back of her head, she straightened up so the blanket fell around her.

  After stroking him to keep his cock good and stiff, she crawled like a cat that was about to try
and slip beneath the bottom edge of the tent. Nitika stretched her arms forward, arched her rump into the air, and looked over her shoulder at him. Slocum got to his knees and settled in behind her, admiring the sight of her round hips and thickly muscled thighs. Her skin seemed even darker in the shadows and was smooth as silk when he took her in his hands. His cock ached to be inside her, but he took his time in guiding it between her legs. By the time the tip brushed against the wet lips of her pussy, Nitika was clawing at the ground and shifting back to feel more of him. Slocum obliged by guiding his rigid member to where it needed to be and burying it inside her.

  She moaned softly, moving her head slowly back and forth to toss her hair while he pumped into her. Outside, the pounding of the drums accompanied Slocum pounding his rigid pole between her moistened thighs. He placed one hand upon the supple curve at the base of her spine while reaching forward to place his other hand on her shoulder. That way, he could grip her tightly while he drove into her even harder. She braced herself against every impact, grunting as the pleasure mounted and grinding her hips against him whenever he took a moment to catch his breath.

  Nitika tossed her head back and whispered in her own language. The only thing Slocum could understand was his own name. When she pressed back against him to drive his erection even deeper between her legs, Slocum grabbed her hair. Nitika pulled in a sharp, excited breath as he pulled just enough to take up the slack while pumping into her from behind. He let go only to reach around with both hands to cup her large, swaying breasts.

  Her large nipples became rigid against his fingers and palms. Slocum caressed them while slowly driving into her and then eased his hands along her sides. When the mood struck him, he pulled out of her and positioned Nitika so she was lying on her back with the thick blanket spread beneath her. She opened her legs, propped herself up using her elbows, and closed her eyes in expectation of what was about to happen. Once he guided himself into her again, she let out a trembling breath and allowed her head to swing lazily from side to side.

  Slocum knelt between her legs, reached down to cup her buttocks in his hands, and lifted her so he could bury his cock into her as deep as it could possibly go. He didn’t have to do that for long before Nitika placed her feet upon the ground and held her hips in position so he could move his hands once more along her hips and sides while sliding in and out of her.

  The lips between her legs were slick and allowed every inch of his rigid cock to glide between them. Nitika clawed at the ground and stifled the impulse to scream as her orgasm swept through her entire body. Slocum grabbed her hips and wasn’t about to let go. Her body felt warm and smooth. Her skin glistened with the sweat from their lovemaking, and her hair was a wild, tousled mess around her beautiful face. Every time he pounded into her, Nitika’s breasts shook with the impact. Her stomach rose and fell with increasingly heavy breaths, and her eyes clenched shut as she was taken once more into a powerful climax.

  When his own time came, Slocum leaned back and savored every moment. He could feel her thighs tensing around him with every one of her trembling breaths. After pulling out of her so he could collapse, Slocum swore he could feel everything from the soft fur of the blanket all the way to the subtle texture of smoke drifting on the night breeze.

  They fell asleep right there, naked and entwined in each other’s limbs. Somewhere along the line, Nitika pulled the blanket over them, but Slocum was too spent to notice.

  19

  Slocum was jostled awake by a familiar, insistent hand.

  “John, get up.”

  He recognized her voice, but it took a moment for its urgency to register.

  “John,” Nitika hissed. “Wake up. Please!”

  “Yeah. What is it?”

  But he didn’t have to hear her reply to know what had alarmed her. Outside, horses rumbled away from the camp and Apache voices were raised in alarm. Gunshots cracked in the distance, but were still much too close for comfort.

  “Who’s out there?” he asked while scrambling for his clothes, boots, and gun belt. “Are the hunters chasing someone down?”

  She was naked and too shaken up to bother with looking for her tunic. “I heard the war cries and shots. I don’t know what’s happening.”

  It wasn’t long before Slocum was dressed and pulling aside the flap of the tent. Outside, the sun had just made a dent in the thick gloom of early morning, and the air was cold enough to lance through his bones. “Is there anywhere safer you can go?” he asked.

  “My tribe will find me if I need to hide.”

  “Then sit tight and be ready to move. Promise me if any of this fighting gets closer, you get with the others as quick as you can.”

  She nodded and pulled on her clothes. If she was like many of the other women Slocum had known, he would have worried more about her. But she was Apache and her tribe had more than likely been rousted from their sleep by gunshots more than once before.

  Slocum stepped out and crossed the middle of the camp toward the sounds of battle. “Jack?”

  Hobbling in boots that still hadn’t been pulled all the way over his feet and wrapped in a shirt that was closed by buttons stuffed through the wrong holes, Jack Halsey fidgeted with the buckle of his gun belt while making his way to the corral. He glanced over with a fearful twitch at the sound of his own name. When he saw Slocum, every muscle in his face relaxed. “Oh, it’s you, John! Thank God!”

  “What did you do?”

  “Huh?”

  “What the hell is happening out here? Did you try to make off with that key?”

  “Now there’s a fine how-do-you-do!” Behind Jack, Imala pulled on some clothes to cover her ample bosom as she emerged from another one of the tents on the periphery of the camp.

  “So where is the key?” Slocum asked.

  “I don’t know, but—”

  “Ilesh,” Imala said. She emerged from the tent a little farther, but pulled her head back in when another wave of gunshots crackled outside of camp. “Ilesh has your key, but I think Chief Gopan can get it for you.”

  “If that’s the case, you should be able to get ahold of it,” Slocum said. “Hand it over to Jack and we’ll be on our way.”

  “To Jack?” she asked.

  Slocum nodded. “That’s right. It’s his key. Cha’to took it from him when he took his fingers.”

  Despite the growing amount of chaos inside and away from the camp, Imala’s face beamed with admiration. “So what you told me was true? You rode after Cha’to to reclaim your prize?”

  “Of course it’s true!” Jack said. “Why does everyone think I’m some kind of damn liar?”

  Rather than point out a few obvious reasons, Slocum allowed the other man to play his part so Imala could follow through with hers. Slocum couldn’t blame the other man for bending the truth to impress a woman. If Jack was going to be held accountable for something like that, then damn near every man on earth would have some explaining to do. “Just go get that key,” he said. “I’ll help with whatever’s going on out there.”

  Jack blinked as if in a daze when he asked, “You’d do that for me?”

  “It’s what you’re paying me for, isn’t it? Just keep this gratefulness in mind when we’re splitting up that money you aim to dig up.”

  “You can count on it, John! Jack Halsey is a man who repays his debts. You’ll get a portion of my uncle’s fortune! I can guarantee it!”

  “Just shut your damn mouth and get moving!”

  Jack nodded fiercely and surprised Slocum again by rushing over to Imala to shield her with his body as he escorted her to the largest teepee in the camp.

  From there, Slocum hurried to the space roped off as a corral. Although his horse and gear were right where he’d left them, the saddle was still on the ground, where it would do him the least amount of good. At least his Winchester was still lying beneath the rest of his rig. He grabbed the rifle, checked to make sure it was loaded, and then decided to run toward the commotion on foot i
nstead of taking the time to mount his horse. The gunshots were closer than he’d guessed, which meant the shooters were closing in on the camp.

  Slocum headed for a ridge of rock on the northern border of the camp and scrambled for higher ground. He made it less than halfway before a sharp voice made his trigger finger twitch.

  “Are these the men Jack Halsey spoke about?” Snake Catcher asked from atop the ridge. Even though Slocum had been looking up there to see where he’d wanted to go and had glanced up several times while making his ascent, he’d completely missed the Apache, who lay like just another stone overlooking the camp.

  “Don’t know yet,” Slocum said.

  The Apache stretched his arm down to offer Slocum a hand in climbing the rest of the way up. The ridge wasn’t very tall, but allowed them to gaze down at the gulley sloping away from them. As soon as he was up there, Slocum could see the men who had taken position behind some trees about sixty yards away. After all that had happened in the time since they’d left Rocas Rojas, Slocum had nearly forgotten the faces of the men who’d come into town in search of him and Jack. Seeing them again, however, brought those memories rushing back. “Yep,” he said. “That’s them.”

  “Our scouts found them just before sunrise,” Snake Catcher explained. “One of those men started shooting and they’ve been drawing in like a noose. They killed one of my warriors and wounded another.” His mouth curled into a scowl that was filled with equal parts anger and disgust. “Shot the first one in the back and wounded the other for no reason.”

  “They got reason, all right. How many men do you have left?”

  “Flying Spear and one other are the only ones other than me that are able-bodied. The wounded braves remain behind to protect the elders, women, and children.”