by Tony Masero
“What are you doing?” she squeaked.
Ender said nothing, he reached over and grasped a handful of her hair and in one motion slashed free a dark lock.
“Alright,” she pleaded. “I’m getting dressed. I’ll do it, just don’t cut me.”
Carefully, Ender laid the lock of hair on her vacant pillow next to Quinlan. He reached past her and picked up a cosmetic pot from her dressing table, dipping his finger in the rouge Ender scrawled across the pillow above the hair.
“A hundred thousand dollars?” she said, tugging on a pair of riding pants. “Is that all you think I’m worth?”
“To me you’re no more than a five dollar whore,” snarled Ender. “But your sucker husband thinks you’re worth every cent. Now get a move on.”
She looked at him oddly as she sat on the edge of the bed and laced up her boots. “What are you up to?” she asked. “You could have killed us both. Is it just the money?”
Ender watched her evenly. “He owes me big,” he whispered. “He owes me for a destroyed ranch and my murdered women. He owes the Indian you’ve got nailed up out there in the courtyard. And he’s going to pay it all back in gold before I kill him.” He leant forward and took her arm, dragging her up from the bed.
Suddenly, light blossomed, filling the room with flaring orange light. There was a roaring crash and the louvered doors burst back, the muslin curtains flying in a tangled stream as two loud explosions rent the night. A blossoming bloom of flame filled the courtyard below and shot in a pillar straight up into the sky. The blast rattled everything in the room and Ender and the woman ducked instinctively.
“What was that?” she cried.
There was another explosion and Ender ran out onto the balcony to see both side of the courtyard erupt as adobe walls burst apart in clouds of fragments that left gaping holes in the structures. A firefly of light arced across the courtyard, its trail dropping down to be followed by yet another loud boom as the central well disappeared in a rising cloud of dust that shook a rain of leaves from the cottonwood growing there. A loin-clothed figure dashed across the yard, partly hidden by the billowing smoke.
Peyote! Ender shook his head in disbelief. So that’s where he was. He’d gone back to the ponies, to get the army engineer’s dynamite Ender had left in the saddlebags. Ender grinned in the light from the burning buildings. Hot damn! He thought, you’re timing couldn’t be better, my friend.
Turning to the woman, he took her by the arm and rushed her over to the bedroom door. Heavy boots were sounding coming hurriedly up the stairs outside.
“Senor! Senor Quinlan!” cried a desperate voice.
Ender drew the Colt, cocked the weapon and opened the door, pushing Caroline before him.
Two men, one behind the other, were pounding up the narrow staircase outside. Ender fired twice at the first and the man was punched backwards by the two slugs; he fell against his partner spinning the man against the bannister as he dropped in a tumble down the staircase. His partner taken by surprise tried to regain his balance, staring wildly first at the fallen man and then up at Ender. The six-gun fired again, once, twice and the man catapulted after his companion, dropping in a cartwheeling tumble down the stairs.
“Let’s go,” said Ender, pushing Caroline after the rolling bodies.
Two shots left in the chamber. He knew he would not have time to reload, as he passed the fallen men, Ender holstered his own gun and snatched up a revolver from one of the guards’ belt. They ran on down, Ender keeping a careful eye as they reached each landing but they were not troubled by any more of Quinlan’s men. It seemed everybody had rushed outside at the sound of the explosions. Ender could hear the screaming cries of distress and warning coming from the courtyard.
The main door to the tower was standing wide open and outside was a loud scene of panic as men with buckets dashed towards the glow of fire that rampaged out from the courtyard. Buildings on each side of the yard were ablaze, wounded men staggered away from the flames, their body’s dark shapes in the glaring light.
“They’re getting away!” Ender heard a cry. “Get after them!”
Ender paused, hearing the pounding of hoof beats followed by the sounds of shots fired.
The gate, he thought, he’s blown the gate. As he considered this, a man came running by them leading two ponies and Ender called out to him.
“Bring them here! The senora must be taken to safety.”
The man faltered only a moment then as he saw Caroline in the doorway, he hurried over.
“What is happening?” he called out, not recognizing Ender.
“We are under attack, the prisoner has escaped,” said Ender grasping the reins. “Go! Fetch more ponies.”
With a quick glance at Caroline’s pale face, the man nodded and hurried back the way he had come.
“Mount up!” ordered Ender, climbing into the saddle of one of the ponies.
After a moment’s hesitation, Caroline obeyed and got into the saddle.
With a whoop, Ender smacked her pony on the rump and following behind urged both ponies through the shattered ranch gates. The heavy gates hung to one side, torn from their hinges and the wood blackened with blast. The courtyard was a heaving mass of men running in every direction as they tried to quench the blazing buildings with a bucket chain leading from the shattered wellhead. A few watched the speedy departure but paid it little attention as they knew the prisoner was on the run and it looked as if a pursuit was in progress.
Taking the lead, Ender followed the forest path until out of sight of the ranch, and then he turned and crossed the stream and headed back down towards the ranch. Heading around the base of the high ridge overhang he had snipered from earlier he headed into the wild chaparral country that lay beyond
Chapter Eight
They rode until daybreak, forging a path through the rough country and climbing higher into the desolate landscape. Only when they reached a high bare plateau enclosed by distorted cliffs carved from red sandstone did Ender pull to a halt.
“Okay,” he said to Caroline. “You can get down now.”
“About time,” she complained. “That was hard riding, I’m sore all over.”
Ender ignored her and quickly circled the plateau checking visibility and the security of the place. It seemed fitting; he had a clear view of the way they had come and the surrounding countryside for miles. They were protected by the weirdly shaped sandstone behind and had no need of water as he had noted that the canteens on the ponies were both full.
“We’ll be alright here,” he said, returning to her and taking her reins. He unsaddled the ponies and hobbled them before letting them drink from his water filled hat.
Caroline flounced down and sat with her arms about her knees and watched him with pouting lips.
“Just how long do you plan to keep me here?” she asked.
“Until your husband comes up with the dough, then you can go on back to him.”
“So I can watch you kill him?” she sneered.
“Maybe I’ll kill you too,” he snapped back coldly.
“Why on earth would you do that?” she asked. “It wasn’t me that burnt down your ranch and murdered your women. Although, Lord knows why you’d want to have dirty Indians squaws around you anyway, I guess your sort will settle for anything when it comes right down to it.”
“Whilst you are such a classy act,” he sneered back at her. “Perhaps you’re forgetting that it was me you had tied to that tree whilst your old man whipped my hide. Didn’t seem so disinterested then as I recall.”
She shrugged and looked away into the distance. “That’s just the way I am,” she said quietly.
“What?” he laughed. “Getting all excited over pain? Lady, you are one twisted piece of work and you don’t come within a hairsbreadth of those Indian squaws you so readily deride.”
“I can’t help it,” she said airily. “I’m a passionate creature. Always have been. I find I need a real man to satisfy me
and a little bit of anguish on the side to add spice is perfectly alright as far as I’m concerned.”
Ender shook his head in disgust as he took the bridles from the ponies. “You’re just so wrapped up in yourself you can’t even tell right from wrong any more. What about the poor souls you dole out that pain to?”
She looked at him angrily, “There are differences in this world, Mister Smith. There are those that take what they can and those that suffer as a result. I’m a taker.”
“Uhuh,” he nodded. “The old wolf and sheep syndrome. But underneath all your wolfish ways, ma’am, I reckon you’re one little lamb just like the rest of us.”
“Try me,” she flashed at him. She could not see his face as he was bent over the bridles and did not notice the stony look that entered Ender’s eyes.
“It may just come to that, honeybun,” he muttered.
“Look,” she said trying a different tack and modifying her tone to a warmer one. “Why don’t we try to be friends? I can understand your desire for some restitution for your property. A hundred thousand dollars sounds fine to me, and Able can easily afford it. Why not take the money and disappear, I’m sure you can do that well enough.”
He turned to look at her, his eyes narrowed. “It’s not about the money,” he said. “That’s just show. That’s the kind of thing your husband understands, he can see the logic of that. That’s why he’ll come out with it and be where I want him.”
She got up and ambled towards him, a slow smile spreading across her lips. “Don’t be such a hard man, Ender. Do you mind if I call you that? No? Good. We’re in an awkward predicament here together and I think we should try to get along,” she drew up close to him, the elegantly manicured fingers of one hand teasing the cloth on the arm of his shirt. “Don’t you think so?” She arched an eyebrow full of meaning. “I’ve always liked a vigorous man.”
“I’ll bet,” said Ender pulling away. “Get over there and sit your overworked ass down.”
“Why?” she wheedled. “Am I getting to you?”
“Honey, you ain’t even close.”
“I think I am,” she teased.
For just a minute Ender was tempted. She was a stunning looking woman and he could see why Quinlan doted on her licentious ways but he remembered Catowitch and the natural pride and grace she had worn without the slightest pretention and the moment of carnality disappeared as if a steel door had been slammed shut.
He bunched her shirtfront in his fist and pulled her over to the rock she had been sitting on and shoved her down unceremoniously.
“Sit still and keep it shut,” he ordered brusquely.
“My!” she said. “I do believe I have touched a raw nerve. Almost had you there, didn’t I, Ender?”
He strode away to the far end of the plateau and looked out over the rolling hills trying to forget the guilt of the momentary urge that had risen in him.
“When do we eat?” she called across to him. “I’m starving. I didn’t get breakfast, remember?”
He ignored her and kept his eyes fixed on the horizon.
Then he saw movement.
A flutter of white threading through the chaparral. It was indistinct but definitely coming their way. He was not sure if it was man or beast that prowled out there and his hand automatically went to his revolver. Then he remembered the guard’s pistol still stuck in his belt and checked its load before taking out his own gun and reloading the spent shells.
“You’ve seen something?” she asked, noticing his stiffened movement. “They’re coming after you aren’t they?”
“Better pray they’re not.”
She sniggered, “They’ll cut you to pieces, you damn fool. Did you really think you could get away with it? Able loves me too much to let you go free after what you did. He’ll move heaven and earth to get me back. I treat him too nice in every department for him to ever part with me.”
“Spoken like a real whore,” snorted Ender.
“More woman than you’ve ever known,” she spat back spitefully.
“Funny, ain’t it,” Ender said over his shoulder. “You think you’re such a righteous woman and all you really are is someone who gets by, laid on her back with her legs in the air. Hell, I’ve known yellow dogs do that better.”
She eyed him malevolently. “You think you know it all, don’t you?” she growled. “If you knew where I came from you wouldn’t take on with such a virtuous attitude.”
“So you’ve had it tougher than the rest of us. Well, that’s too bad but however you started, missy, it don’t justify causing others grief. That’s just plain meanness, taking it out on folk for the suffering you’ve faced.”
“I learnt living the hard way, and it seems like you need telling,” she said bitterly, her pretty face twisting at the thought. “I didn’t have the easy life to start with. No plantation home or cozy settlers homestead for me. I was born a foundling child back in Virginia and I never knew my mother. Whoever she was, all I know about her is that she left me early at a damned orphanage door. They had you working in their rope factory the minute you could walk in that place. But they fostered me out eventually to some real nice folk. On the face of it they seemed a good God-fearing couple and they were travelling west with a wagon train to Santa Fe and took me with them. Daddy and Mummy had a liking for me, I was a pretty child even then and Daddy use to come visit me every night on a regular basis in the wagon, if someone even as dumb as you can get my meaning? I was six years old, Mister Smith, and Mummy watched the whole thing and seemed to enjoy it too.”
Ender turned to her, his face expressionless.
“Then they heard about the gold strike up at Pike’s Peak back in ‘60 and we all went up there to prospect. Daddy never found even a pinch of gold dust the whole time and after a few months we all were nigh on starving. By then I was twelve and that’s when they decided to farm me out to the other prospectors. Mummy played Madam and Daddy counted the money. They made a lot of gold out of this poor child, believe me.”
Ender looked away to watch the nearing movements in the valley below, the shapes were lost amongst the growth but he was sure they were riders by the dust they raised behind them.
“But there was a man there who struck it rich. I mean really rich. He bought me, you get that Ender? Bought me, as if I were some goods in a hardware store. That’s when I got to see the world. The bastard dressed me up fine and fed me well and showed me all the degrading low ends of life you can imagine. Then some fool gambler shot him dead over a card game. After that I was on my own.”
“You never felt up to much after that, I guess,” observed Ender vaguely, eyes fixed on the movements through the chaparral.
“No, I never did. Used and abused by every damned man I met. But that’s the way of it out here on the frontier, isn’t Ender? A woman doesn’t have no place other than the kitchen or the bedroom.”
Ender was only half-listening to her, his attention fixed on the approaching riders.
“It took the Civil War to get me free,” she was rambling on in a low monotone now, lost in the memory of her own sad history. “I had a good war. There were a lot of men a long way from home and willing to have a good time before they went off and died. Money doesn’t have a whole lot of use to a body laid out on the battlefield and those boys couldn’t get rid of it quick enough. All they wanted was a good time before the shot and shell. I was happy to oblige.”
“That’s all very interesting but…”
“I was sitting pretty, or so I thought,” she cut in, not willing to be interrupted. “But what I hadn’t figured on was what followed after the war. There was nigh on three women to every man left after all those years of slaughter. Hard to make your way when the competition is a dime a dozen. That’s when it came over me, the spiteful side you distain so much. It seemed I needed something, something I couldn’t explain. An edge, a kind of… satisfaction, I don’t know, just more, I guess. I was working in a pleasure house in New Orleans at the time and th
e customers seemed to like my new sort of entertainment. They were queuing up, the old girl running the place had to make bookings in advance I was so popular.”
He had them now. Two riders. It was Peyote and Common Dog and they were following his trail. The best trackers in the world, he thought with pride, as he stood clear so that they could see him plainly.
“I was getting on then. The years creeping up on me and I could see the writing on the wall,” Caroline continued behind him. “And that’s when Able came along. I set my cap for him and he couldn’t resist….”
“You want to give it a rest now?” asked Ender in a bored tone.
She whirled on him angrily and then frowned as she saw him standing tall.
“What is it?” she asked.
“We’ve got company.”
“I knew it,” she grinned. “He’s come for me, hasn’t he? When somebody loves you as much as he does, there’s no stopping them. My Able, he’s so devoted…”
“It ain’t your lover boy, lady.”
“Then who? Some of his men?”
Her eyes widened as Peyote crested the rise and rode up onto the plateau followed by a bowed Common Dog crouched over and barely hanging onto the saddle with both hands.
“En-da,” greeted Peyote. “Common Dog is hurt.”
Together they helped the Indian down from the saddle and laid him out as comfortably as they could. Ender looked at the bloody wounds covering Common Dog’s body and turned to Caroline, his eyes full of malice.
“All your whining,” he spat. “And this is what it comes down to.”
Caroline looked at them all warily as they stared at her; she chewed her lower lip and said nothing.
“Get the canteen,” Ender ordered. “We need to clean him up.”
Begrudgingly, Caroline climbed to her feet and went to fetch a canteen.
“You did well to find me,” Ender said to Peyote.
Peyote shrugged. “You had that one with you,” he nodded towards the woman. “It made it easy.”
