DISCLAIMERS:See Part 1
Emmaline came to just in time to hear an argument in full force. She was leaning against a saddle with a blanket tucked round her. She sat up just in time to hear Buck's opinion.
"Neither one of ya can ride, so we stay here and JD'll go back for Nathan. They'll bring a wagon for the two of you an' one for the bodies."
"I can ride a horse, Buck."
"Well, Vin can't."
"It ain't nothin', Buck. Least I don't have no bullet still in there."
"Mr. Tanner, calling the hole through your leg nothing is similar to pontificating that Mr. Wilmington is a candidate for celibacy."
"Celi what?"
"He means a spiritual life without the pleasures of the flesh." Josiah managed to get the explanation out before JD started laughing. Even Chris and Vin had to grin at the comparison, but it didn't stop the others from harping on the fact that both men needed medical attention.
"Why don't we just bury 'em here?" JD had a good point. Vin looked up at him.
"Two of 'em I seen on wanted posters. We bring 'em in an' the Simmons' can have the rewards. They're gonna need it with him laid up right now."
Josiah had Vin's pants leg cut open just above his left knee where Charlie's last bullet had penetrated and traveled straight through the outside fleshy part of his leg. It was more of an annoyance for the tracker than anything else. That is until Josiah poured whiskey on it from one of the whiskey bottles they had confiscated from the dead men.
"Owww! I hate that! That's just as bad as that damned carbolic Nathan's always pourin' on me!"
"You shouldn't say 'damn', Mr. Vin."
Vin pinned a disgruntled glare on Emmaline. In his mind, and in Chris's, this was all her fault. If she had just stayed quiet and waited until the men were too drunk to react, they could have taken them without a shot. Now five men were dead, Chris had a bullet in his shoulder, and Vin had a hole in his leg. His left leg. Nathan was never going to let him hear the end of it. 'That little girl deserved a whippin'! Chris could have been killed! Emmaline could have been killed, and here she was tellin' him what he shouldn't be sayin!'
"Don't recollect anyone askin' yer opinion."
"Now, Mr. Tanner, one should not resort to blasphemies in front of civilized young ladies such as the one gracing us with her presence."
"What's he jawin' 'bout?" Emmaline was not impressed with Ezra. She really wasn't impressed by any of them.
"He said I shouldn't talk like I did in front of a lady. Only thing, you're not a lady, you're a brat."
"Am not!"
"Are to!"
"Enough!" Chris wasn't in the mood for any more from Emmaline. Josiah was tying off the bandage on Vin's leg. He showed his disapproval by tying the knot a little too tight.
"Josiah." Vin's voice was a low growl, but the preacher just raised an eyebrow and looked at his friend.
"If you two had waited a bit, neither one of you would have been shot."
Vin's eyes flew wide open in surprise. He couldn't believe Josiah thought he and Chris were that stupid. He was too angry to even try and defend himself. Let them all think this had been Chris and Vin's fault when it was really that girl's. His lips pressed into a thin line and he just shook his head at Josiah. Buck looked from Vin to Chris and shook his head.
"Why on earth didn't you wait until most of 'em were passed out drunk?"
It was Chris's turn to do a slow burn. Like Vin, he was now determined to let them think what they would. He was too insulted to even try and defend their actions. He had a feeling that no one would believe him or Vin any way. They just didn't know how mean that girl was. Chris didn't have to try to defend himself as Emmaline opened her mouth and showed the men her sweet and lovely disposition.
"Them? They weren't gonna do nuthin'. They were gonna let those thieves hurt Wildfire. They were just sittin' there waitin' while those men just got drunker."
Vin grinned at Josiah. The older man felt Vin should have just come out and said, 'I told you so", instead of giving him that self-righteous smirk.
"Who's JD? I'm goin' with him, an' I'm takin' my horses an' our money. Now give it to me! I wanna go now! I ain't stayin' here with any of you!"
"You'll do what you're told!" Chris's mood had not been improved by the realization that someone, more than likely Vin or Josiah, was going to have to cut the bullet out of him. Five men dead, Vin shot, he was shot, if she weren't a thirteen year old girl, Chris would shoot her himself. She was headstrong, stubborn, opinionated, a brat, rude, mean. Hell she was a lot like himself, but her actions had caused five men killed and two men injured. She needed to learn to listen.
"You can't make me! Look at you!" Emmaline felt certain she could make these men let her go with JD to return the horses and money to her parents. Then her ma might not be so mad at her. She really hadn't stopped to think that she had caused all this. She just wanted what she wanted, and she knew enough about men to know that when a girl was getting snotty, most men wanted her gone and out of their hair.
The older one called Josiah was looking at her like she'd grown horns. He wouldn't be too much trouble. Her pa used that look on her a lot, and Emmaline could confuse him easy. The man in the fancy coat was staring at her like she had two heads. 'Another one bites the dust,' she thought. JD was not much older than her brother and appeared easily bullied. The man with the mustache had a sad look on his face as he shook his head at her actions. He acted like her aunt and uncle, the ones back in Kentucky with all the money and fancy airs. Emmaline knew he thought she should be acting sweet and pretty like girls were supposed to. She'd show them sweet and pretty.
Emmaline turned to light into Chris again but stopped abruptly when Chris turned an icy glare on her. She couldn't tell what he was thinking. He was as bad as that one with the long hair.
"You will stay here with us. The horses will stay here with us. I won't have you draggin' 'em about until their lame just because you don't like us. We wouldn't be in this fix if you had done what you were told the first time. Now sit down and shut up." Chris clipped his words and made sure Emmaline knew he meant business. Before she could protest, he dismissed her by talking to Buck and JD. She sat down on the ground with her mouth open. No one had ever talked to her or looked at her like she was a bug he could stomp. She didn't know whether to be mad or sacred or both. Chris Larabee had rendered Emmaline Simmons speechless. Only her mother could do that.
"Buck, you and JD go on back and get Nathan and the wagons. Vin and Josiah look like they want to cut this bullet outa me, an' if they do, I don't think I'm gonna feel like doin' much a anything, but I ain't ridin' in a wagon with dead bodies."
"He just insult us, Josiah?"
"I believe he did, Brother Tanner."
"I'll give odds 3 to 1. . . ."
"You're a gambler? Gamblers are nuthin' but liars and cheats! They ain't no better than a horse thief!" Emmaline would have continued, but Vin interrupted her.
"Well, ain't that the pot calling the kettle black. What are you if ya ain't a horse thief? JD, did Casey tell Emmaline that she could ride Lady?"
"I just borrowed her! I didn't steal her. Sides I know Casey. We're friends!"
"An' Ezra's mine." Vin looked at her the same way Chris had. She did get scared this time. One she could bluff, two? She wasn't sure if she could bluff all of them. She didn't have to. Vin dismissed her just as Chris had. She decided that while he was helping Josiah with Chris's shoulder, she'd just walk on over and saddle Lady.
"Ezra, you'd best tie up that horse thief."
"It would be my pleasure, my friend." Emmaline's protests fell on deaf ears. Ezra trussed her up making it difficult for her to run off from them, but not tight enough to hurt her. Maybe if they treated her like a thief before they got her home they could scare some sense into her. She hollered until Ezra pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and gagged her. Now they could have some peace and quiet while Vin and Josiah worked to get the bullet out of Chris's shoulder.
Well, they would have had peace and quiet if it hadn't started to rain shortly after they had removed the bullet and bandaged Chris's shoulder. Josiah and Ezra actually let Emmaline get a bit wet as they made sure Vin and Chris were sheltered in the small cave they found before they came and got her. The angry girl's muffled words didn't sound anything like what a lady should be saying. Then again this was no lady. It was a thirteen-year old girl, an entity four grown men had no idea with what to do.
They left Emmaline gagged for almost an hour and a half when Josiah decided it was time to untie the young lady and feed her. She was hungry and thirsty, she was bound and gagged (although if she tugged just a little harder the ropes would fall off), and she was beginning to think nothing or no one could be more miserable than she was. Josiah had caught and was now roasting three rabbits. Ezra had taken out more biscuits and cheese Nettie had sent with them. Coffee was brewing on the fire and Emmaline had been watching Vin and Chris for a while now. Both men were lying next to each other. Both had kept moving back and forth trying to get comfortable. She was glad they were as miserable as she was.
There was a separate pot boiling on the fire. Josiah had been putting what looked like pieces of bark in it. He had just poured the hot liquid into two cups when he decided it was time to see if Emmaline had learned anything from her experience. He handed the cups to Ezra who took them over to Vin and Chris. Then he took some rabbit off of the spit, a biscuit and a large slab of cheese, and a canteen full of water and steeled himself for the verbal assault he knew was waiting for him. He'd seen some stubborn young ladies in his life, but Emmaline had the makings of a real bitch. He listened to Ezra speak to Vin and Chris as he walked towards the angry Emmaline.
"Gentlemen, Mr. Sanchez insists that you two partake of this herbal concoction. I believe he referred to it as willow bark tea."
Vin pulled himself into a sitting position and took one of the cups from Ezra. "Thanks. Chris?"
"I will help Mr. Larabee." Ezra handed Vin the second cup. Vin held it while Ezra helped Chris sit up. Both men had their lips pressed tightly together against the pain, but Chris was the paler of the two.
"What is it?"
"It's a tea made from willow bark. Helps with pain and fever."
Chris looked at it for almost a minute before he took the cup. If Vin was feeling bad enough to drink it, then Chris might as well drink, too. Chris knew he felt damned bad right now. He was getting too old for this crap. He looked up at two men grinning at him.
"Say it an' I'll have to shoot both of you."
"What?" Ezra had his most innocent look on his face.
Vin, well Vin looked like he was enjoying himself.
"What's so damned amusing?"
"Nathan. He's gonna be real pissed you got shot. Now he's got to find a way to keep us both down." Vin was enjoying this now that he had company in the injury department.
The bullet hadn't been as deeply imbedded in Chris's shoulder as the one in Matthew Simmons, so Vin wasn't really worried. Chris had bled some, but Vin and Josiah had managed to get the bullet out with no problems and had thoroughly cleaned the wound with whiskey. Ezra, who always managed to carry several pristine handkerchiefs with him wherever he ventured, had supplied the clean bandages. Pain was the only thing that Vin worried about at the moment. His leg was really throbbing, so he knew Chris had to hurt like hell. That's why he and Josiah had decided to brew the willow bark tea. He turned and grinned at Chris.
"Yer gitten too old to be stoppin' bullets, cowboy." His drawl was more pronounced as he voiced exactly what Chris had been thinking. Ezra ducked his head and pretended to cough, but Chris had heard the burst of laughter from the gambler. He pushed at Ezra with his booted foot, but the gambler managed to keep his balance.
He'd done it again. Just when Chris was feeling his worst, Vin Tanner managed to get a laugh out of him. Chris shook his head as he grinned at both of the men.
"I really am going to shoot you one day, Tanner."
"Yes, you will, Mr. Larabee, but I predict the odds are more favorable that you will shoot Miss Emmaline first."
Vin grinned, then started laughing. That started Ezra, which in turn caused Chris to laugh. He clutched his shoulder to keep the laughter from causing any more pain. They were right. He'd been so angry with the girl that if she had been a man, he would have shot her. He wouldn't' have killed her, just nicked her enough to make her realize that she was not bullet proof. He couldn't believe they had actually had to resort to tying her up and gagging her.
"Well, I thought that for a moment you were gonna hang her for stealin' Lady."
Vin actually blushed. "I just wanted to scare some sense into her. Damn girl damn near got us killed, too."
"I would like to hear how this occurred. Five inebriated cowboys should not have been able to perpetrate this much damage on both of you."
"Ya got to watch her like a hawk, Ezra. She sits there real quiet, and ya think she's actually gonna do what she's told. She did that to us earlier."
Ezra had thought she had gotten too quiet because she had stopped trying to make any comments with the gag in her mouth. Now she was sitting there glaring at all of them. Ezra didn't trust her for a moment. He turned back as Vin continued.
"She was sittin' there all quiet when she heard one of those cowboys make that filly of hers mad. Then she jumps up yellin' and storms right down into the camp. We had to follow her just to keep her alive."
Ezra looked over Josiah and silently wished the big man luck. Ezra had no desire to spend any time with that little hellcat. He turned back to look at Vin and Chris. Both were sipping the hot tea and making faces at the bitter taste. Vin looked up.
"She's a hellcat, ain't she?"
Ezra stopped and looked at Chris, then Vin, then back at Chris. "How does the man do that?"
"Spooky, ain't it?" Chris agreed with him.
"What?" Vin frowned at both of them. He didn't read people's minds; he was just good at reading people. Any other comment he might have had was drowned out by a piercing scream.
Vin reached for his mare's leg lying beside him and Chris went for his gun with his good hand. Ezra popped is derringer out and all three turned to face the enemy. The sound reverberated off of the cave walls and the horses stomped and whinnied near the entrance.
There was nothing there and no one but Josiah and Emmaline. She was still gagged, but she was huddled right up against Josiah with her eyes wide as saucers. Josiah had his arm around Emmaline, ready to move between any danger and the young girl. He had his gun drawn and was staring at the cave entrance where the horses were reacting nervously to the scream. Then it happened again, this time from the rear of the cave. Everyone turned in that direction. Nothing, no one was there. They waited a few more minutes, Ezra having walked over and pulled the one knot on Emmaline's ropes. The men would have laughed at the look on Emmaline's face when she found out all she'd had to do to free herself was to pull on one knot, but they still hadn't identified the source of the screams or the reason for them. For once, Emmaline was scared speechless.
Then, there was another scream, this time outside of the cave. Josiah looked over at Ezra and indicated he was going outside to look around. Ezra pushed Emmaline, who still hadn't pulled the gag from her mouth, towards Chris and Vin, but she wouldn't let go of the gambler's arm.
"Emmaline, come over here."
Emmaline removed the gag, looked over at Chris, and started to obey as Josiah neared the cave's entrance. Instead, she jumped and hugged Ezra from behind as a fire sprang up inches from the entrance right in front of Josiah. The big man shielded his eyes and started beating at the flames with his coat. Ezra rushed over to help, and Emmaline found her feet. She grabbed the blankets that Chris and Vin had been struggling to their feet with to help and ran to join the two men in beating out the flames. The three beat at them for several minutes when the fire abruptly stopped. There was no smoke nor any seared rock or ash showing that a raging inferno had blocked the entrance. They all looked at one another.
The men were disturbed and on guard, but Emmaline sensed a calmness about them. It was a deadly calm as they waited for the next attack. She started to move over near the two wounded men when there was a loud crack of thunder, and the once beautiful moonlit night erupted in a downpour of rain, thunder, and lightning. She stood motionless in the middle of the cave. Emmaline had never seen things like these before. Josiah was trying to calm the horses and look around, as was Ezra, when a particularly loud clap of thunder caused one frightened horse to rear on its hindquarters. The panicked animal bumped into another and knocked Ezra down. Before the hooves could strike him, however, a big hand grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into the cave to safety as the horses thundered off into the canyon. They would look for them in the morning. The horse wouldn't get very far in the area they were in.
"Thank you, my friend." Ezra was brushing the dirt off of his coat when he saw it.
At first Ezra thought it was a shadow from the campfire on the cavern wall, but it wasn't. It wasn't smoke either. It was a dark cloud that grew and grew as everyone watched in amazement. Then it began to take a shape. To Emmaline it appeared to shape itself into a woman. To Josiah, the shape began to form a warrior. Ezra thought it looked like two people fighting. Vin didn't see anything, but the sense of foreboding that crept up his spine made him try to get up and move away from the cloud. The bullet wound in his leg made standing difficult. The ominous cloud was beginning to move towards the two wounded men. Vin looked at Chris when he felt a hand on his elbow. One look was all he needed to know that Chris also felt the evil reaching out to both of them.
Ezra had pulled Emmaline by the arm and put her between himself and Josiah. He was on his way to help Vin and Chris move away from the cloud when it fluctuated a bit and then with a speed none had seen before, the evil looking cloud enveloped Vin and Chris. They started choking as if all air had been sucked out of their lungs into the cloud. Josiah and Emmaline pulled Ezra back when he went toward his struggling friends.
"It'll get us, too, Ezra! We've got to keep Emmaline safe!"
Ezra knew that, and he knew that Josiah considered the men enveloped and struggling in the cloud to breathe were like brothers to both of them. He just felt so damned helpless. Turning to Josiah, Ezra said the only thing that came to his mind, "What do we do?"
Josiah had no answer. As he pushed Emmaline completely behind him to shield her, he started to pray. He had no idea he was praying out loud until he heard Ezra and Emmaline reciting the prayer with him. He knew they should try and get Emmaline out of there and find safety, but he really didn't think leaving the cave would help. Plus, he just couldn't seem to make his feet move and leave two members of his family to the unknown entity that was the cloud.
Josiah racked his brain trying to remember anything he had learned in his studies with the Indians to tell him what was happening. The only other man who might have the knowledge to help them out of this fix was being slowly suffocated in front of them. Vin fell to the ground and Chris with him as their struggle to breathe sapped them of any remaining strength.
"Sorrow Canyon!" The cloud shimmered a bit.
"What?" Ezra looked at Josiah.
"Sorrow Canyon! This is Sorrow Canyon!" The cloud wavered again; and then, just as quickly as it had pounced on Chris and Vin, it disappeared. Both men lay unmoving on the cave floor. Their two friends and Emmaline rushed over to them.
Emmaline stood over all four men as Josiah and Ezra turned over first Chris and then Vin. She shivered as a blast of icy air swept past her. It was almost as if it had decided to hang in the air above the five people. Josiah ignored it as they checked for pulses on the fallen men. Ezra hadn't felt one on Vin, but he took a deep breath and concentrated. Vin was cold to the touch. Finally, Ezra found Vin's pulse; it was faint but there. Ezra looked to Josiah and almost missed the slight nod indicating that he, too, had found a pulse. Josiah felt Chris's forehead and then Vin's. Both men were ice cold, turning an unhealthy shade of blue in the decidedly cooler cave.
"Emmaline, hand me those blankets." The girl hesitated a moment, but then she looked at the two men on the ground. She ran over and grabbed the blankets from the entrance. Ezra noted that the girl had moved almost as fast that cloud had. Earlier, he would have laughed at the spectacle of the now frightened girl who had been silenced by fright. Ezra knew Vin would have appreciated that the fact that Emmaline Simmons could be scared; but, since Ezra was feeling a bit frightened himself, he kept quiet. He said nothing as he accepted the blankets from Emmaline and helped Josiah spread them over the two men. She hovered over them, watching.
Emmaline wanted Vin to wake up and scowl at her. She wanted to hear him growl at her, pick at her, fight with her. She wanted Chris to glare at her and fuss at her. She wanted them awake because then she would feel safe again. These men were close friends, she could tell that. And, even though she would never have admitted it out loud, she really had grown quite fond of them. They weren't like her pa or her uncles. They hadn't flinched a bit when they'd followed her down into the camp. She knew now how stupid that had been. When they had bound and gagged her, she had had plenty of time to think about her actions. Ma was right. She needed to think more before she just plunged ahead. Casey was going to be mad at her if she couldn't find Lady. She shivered again, and Ezra rose and put his coat about her shoulders.
"Miss Emmaline, would it be to much to request your assistance in creating some much needed warmth in this hellacious cavern we are presently occupying?"
"Huh?"
"Let's restart the fire." Emmaline looked at the two men on the ground once more. Then she shook her head yes and went with Ezra to put more of the wood they had drug into the cave earlier on the fire. She kept taking furtive glances over her shoulder. Ezra did, too. He patted the floor beside him, and Emmaline sat between Ezra and the other men. She even allowed him to put his arm around her. She scooted in closer as she began to warm up. Her eyes wanted to close, but she refused to let them. Ezra had to admire her spunk. He turned his attention back to Josiah.
Josiah was tapping Chris on the face trying to make the man open his eyes.
"Chris! Chris! Wake up! C'mon now, open your eyes!" There was a fluttering of the eyes, but nothing after that. Then all three nearly jumped out of their skins when a low and hideous laugh interrupted their fragile quiet.
It made the hair on the back of Josiah's neck stand on end. Emmaline tried to curl into a little ball and crawl into Ezra's side. Ezra hugged her close, eyes darting about looking for the source of the noise. Then, someone moaned.
This time, they identified the man making the noise. It was Vin. He was shivering; neither the blankets nor the fire seemed to help. Emmaline started to shrug out of Ezra's coat. When Ezra tried to stop her, she shook her head no. She spread it over the blanket covering Vin and tucked it around him.
The demonic laughter sounded again. Emmaline shrunk between Vin and Chris. It would have been amusing if Josiah and Ezra hadn't felt the same desire to do the same thing. They moved closer to the girl and the two unconscious men. The laughter began again, but this time it was cut short by the flames that erupted up towards the ceiling of the cave from the fire. There was a burst of warmth that cut the laughter and the cold completely from the cave. It illuminated the entire cave with light, and then disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. Only the breathing of the people in the cave could now be heard. The rain still fell persistently outside. Ezra was grateful for the respite, but he needed to know what Josiah knew.
"What's happening here, Josiah?"
"I believe we are experiencing the legend of Sorrow Canyon."
"What's that?" Emmaline was sitting up between Chris and Vin with one hand placed on each man. Josiah looked at Ezra and winked. Their hellcat was being downright protective of the two men, or was it covetous? Either way they knew Vin and Chris would wonder what they had done wrong to get Emmaline to like them.
"Well, I don't know for certain, but I have heard tales of an ancient Anasazi legend."
"Anna who?" Emmaline was just as much at a loss as Ezra, and she had grown up around these parts.
"Anasazi, Indians who people said lived in these parts long before the Navaho or the Hopi Indians. They were an ancient people who disappeared without a trace, but there are legends about them. One is Sorrow Canyon." Josiah paused and a soft breeze swept across the group.
Ezra looked in the direction of the entrance. He had chosen a place, as did Josiah, where he could easily keep an eye on the cave entrance, the fire, Emmaline, and his wounded friends. It was still raining outside, and no one was near the entrance. Ezra looked to Josiah to continue.
"Vin's probably heard this legend, maybe not, but the Indians all know about it. I heard the tale once before years ago, and then Kojay mentioned it some time back. Seems there was once a thriving village near here. The chief had a beautiful daughter and no sons. There were two brothers, fine warriors, who both fell in love with her."
"Don't tell me. She refused the one her father deemed the best successor to become chief?"
"As a matter of fact, no she didn't. She married the one her father chose and the other brother supported the marriage. All were happy until a renegade returned from exile with his followers. He took the woman while his men fought the villagers. The brothers were the only two who could still give chase when the fighting was over."
Ezra looked over at Chris and Vin. Then he looked back at Josiah. "Why do I have the impression that not only did the brothers fail in retrieving the young wife, but that somehow they were killed in this quest?"
Emmaline's mouth dropped open. They were saying that there were ghosts here. 'If I ever get home in one piece, Lord, I promise I will be the nicest, most well-behaved young woman in the whole territory!' The soft breeze swept past them again. Emmaline wanted to know what happened.
"What happened to them, Mr. Josiah?"
"The older brother, the husband, had been badly wounded during the battle, but he rode out to save his wife anyway. The younger brother helped him in every way he could, but he couldn't stop the bleeding. Legend has it that the older brother collapsed right at the opening of the canyon." A low moaning stopped Josiah. It wasn't Vin or Chris. It sounded more like a woman in the throes of grief. It continued for a while and then stopped again. Josiah continued.
"He fell from his horse, and he made the younger brother promise to save his wife. The younger brother was trying to help him when they were attacked by the renegade and the only two men left with him. They killed the older brother, and the younger one managed to kill one before he was badly wounded. The wife was able to escape and hid in one of the caves, but she was forced to listen while the two men tortured the younger one to death. Legend has it that it took three days for the younger one to die."
Josiah had to stop again when Emmaline squeaked out, "Look over there!" The cloud was back. It was forming in the corner by the entrance. A cold wind swept over them.
Josiah picked up his gun as did Erza, but both men knew it was futile. Bullets wouldn't stop this threat.
"Did those bad men kill the woman, too?" Josiah and Ezra watched the cloud waver at Emmaline's question. The fire rose between them, crackling. The cave was filled with a sudden light. The cloud dissipated and the cold was replaced by warmth. One of the men moaned next to Emmaline. This time it was Chris who claimed their attention. Chris tried to force his body into a sitting position. His gaze rested on Vin for a moment, then Emmaline. He opened his eyes wider and pinned Josiah with a bright green glare. The flames were reflected in his eyes, but there was something about the look in his eyes that Josiah didn't recognize. Neither did Ezra. The man looking at them wasn't Chris Larabee.
"Help them. Help him. Help her." Then, just as a flicker of recognition formed in his eyes, Chris slumped against Emmaline and unconsciousness claimed him once more. Ezra helped Josiah settle him, pulling the blankets over him. Emmaline wasn't budging, and as long as she was behaving like a human being instead of the hellcat they had met earlier, Ezra and Josiah were content to leave her where she was.
The flames rose again, and the three conscious people in the cave watched as the cloud tried to form at the entrance again. It disappeared again as the flames once more rose to illuminate the cave. There was a crash of thunder outside and a loud cracking sound inside. Ezra was the first to see an opening in the very back of the cave. It was a small hole, large enough for a woman or large child to enter.
"I believe we must continue. I take it that whatever befell this unfortunate woman is as tragic as what happened to the brothers?"
"Don't really know what happened."
"What?" Ezra and Emmaline were amazed.
"What do you mean, the legend just ends there?"
"How did they know what happened to the brothers?"
"I don't remember all of it. Vin might being friends with Chanu and all. I can only tell you what I know. The legend says that the chief and some of the others braves who could finally ride arrived in time to find the younger brother barely alive. One of the renegades was ready to leave, had his horse and gear, but had stopped to set the wood and brush around the dying brother on fire. They tied him up, and the chief learned of his daughter's escape and the death of his son-in-law before the young brave died. There was no trace of the other renegade, the one who had caused all the misery, or the chief's daughter. The man they captured refused to tell them anything until they used the same methods of persuasion he had on the young warrior." Josiah paused for moment.
"What happened? What did the cretin reveal?" Ezra would have asked more but the cold wind swept past them again and he saw the cloud forming. The fire rose again illuminating the cave.
The wind screeched inside and out. It sounded as if the very canyon was full of screaming and yelling warriors, one louder and more ominous than the rest. Then a gut wrenching scream pierced the air, a woman's scream of pain, anger, and grief. Vin stirred and tried to move toward the rear of the cave. He had shrugged off Emmaline's hand and was crawling in the direction of the smaller cave. All the while the cloud tried to form again and again. Ezra and Josiah both tried to pull Vin back toward the fire, but he managed to throw them off and stagger to his feet. His eyes were opened wide like Chris's had been, but they weren't their normal shade of blue. They were almost black in their despair. Several rocks lying next to the smaller opening lifted off of the ground and hovered inches above it before falling down to the ground. Vin stopped and blinked, his eyes returning to their normal blue color. They were somewhat glazed over.
"Vin! Vin, Listen to me!" Ezra had taken Vin by the shoulders and was pulling the tracker back towards the fire. "Where are you trying to go?" Vin pointed to the smaller cave that had been revealed earlier. The words tumbling out of his mouth were not of any language known by either Ezra or Josiah. He kept pointing to the rear of the cave and mumbling the same phrase over and over again. Then, an icy wind swept into the cave and threatened to put out the fire. Josiah ran over to try and feed the flames, but with another crash of thunder, the flames exploded into the air again and the icy wind was once again driven from the cave. Vin collapsed against Ezra, and Josiah helped carry him back to the makeshift bed.
"Josiah, did you see his eyes, and his language?"
"I've never heard that language before." Ezra raised an eyebrow, but Josiah couldn't help the gambler. He made no more sense of it than he could of the man who spoke to them earlier using Chris Larabee's voice. He could only voice his suspicions to the only people who could hear. "The captive revealed that the renegade tracked the woman down, but she was ready for him. She had found a stone she had fashioned into a weapon. She fought him. She wounded him, cut him across the neck and that's when it happened. Wounded herself, she crawled off the renegade after her." He stopped all of a sudden.
Ezra followed his gaze. Chris's eyes were open and he was looking right at them. He didn't say anything; and, when Josiah leaned over and touched his arm, he blinked. He looked around the cave. He saw Emmaline, Ezra, but he kept searching until he found Vin. Chris clutched at Josiah's arm and whispered to the older man.
"Don't let them have him. You have to keep him safe. They want him."
"Who wants him, Chris?"
Ezra and Emmaline moved closer in order to hear. "He wants him. He wants to leave here. Don't let him have him."
"The cloud? Are you talking about the cloud, Chris?"
"It's him. He's evil. You can't let him leave the cave. You can't let him in." With that, Chris collapsed against Josiah. Vin moaned moving about until Ezra put his hand on his shoulder.
"Vin, calm down. We're here." Ezra's voice quieted the tracker, and the moaning and movement stopped. "Josiah, what did he mean?"
"The evil wants to leave here?" Josiah was just as puzzled, but he figured it was all tied into the legend. He'd witnessed strange things before, not as strange as this, but he'd seen good fight many a battle with evil. Evil wasn't going to win and wasn't going to take any of his friends. "It must have to do with the rest of the legend. The prisoner said that he saw his leader follow the woman into the cave, but at the entrance there was a cave in, completely covering over the entrance to the cave. The chief and his men tried to dig an opening, but they couldn't get very far. They made certain the brothers had the proper burial ceremony and tried for several days to uncover the cave opening, but they never could. Debris kept falling, the rocks were too large and most of the men were already wounded. They said the chief finally put the remaining renegade to death and cursed the renegade who took so many good people from his village."
"You think this might be the cave where they died, Mr. Josiah?" Josiah looked at Ezra for help. He didn't relish frightening the girl any more than she already was.
"Yes, Emmaline, Mr. Josiah and I believe this must be the same cave."
"Then what do we do? We can't let them have Mr. Vin! Mr. Larabee'll be real mad an' he'll say it's all my fault, an' Mr. Vin didn't like me much any ways an' if that cloud thing there gets 'm I'm in a heap a trouble!" Emmaline finally paused to take a breath. Ezra and Josiah were still sorting out her rapid-fire speech. They knew their two friends would be pleased to learn that their hellion was scared enough of them enough not to want them angry with her, well angrier with her. They exchanged a knowing look. Vin would have seen the humor in this situation. They wanted him awake to enjoy this, but since he wasn't, he'd just have to enjoy it in the morning.
"Mr. Ezra????" Emmaline wanted to be reassured that Vin and Chris weren't going to be angrier in the morning.
"I don't think anyone is going to hold this against you, Emmaline." Josiah's voice was soothing and Ezra shook his head in agreement. "We won't let them have Vin."
"But what do we do?" Her voice rose in fear, and the two men on the ground moaned in response. The wind turned colder again, and the two unconscious men began to move, but it was nothing they were doing. They were being lifted off of the ground like the rocks had earlier. There was nothing around them, no one to carry them, but they were being shifted closer to the fire, closer to Josiah and Ezra.
Ezra thought Emmaline would jump up and move away from Vin and Chris, but she didn't. She moved with them, somehow sensing they were safer together, and maybe that was part of the puzzle. The two brothers from the legend had always been successful until they had been separated by one's death. Maybe they all needed to stay together. It didn't matter if they were conscious or not, Ezra knew the men felt their presence. It was only when they had been separated from one another that the cloud had attacked their wounded friends. Could it be as simple as that?
Vin and Chris were fine until the fire had started at the entrance to the cave. When the others moved away from them to fight the fire, that's when the cloud formed and enveloped the two wounded men. It was almost as if the evil entity wanted the weakened men separated from the others. Ezra felt he was on to something here, and the sudden howling of the wind and rain starting all over again confirmed that in his mind. He had to tell Josiah and see what he thought.
Continued in Part Three
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