Fear Weaver (10 page)

Erleen gasped. “Your middle son too?”

“It gets worse,” Philberta said. “Sully and Blayne searched and searched but couldn’t find a trace of him. Sully was heartbroken. Two of his boys, gone. He insisted Blayne stay with me at all times.”

Peter impatiently demanded, “But where are Sully and Blayne now? Don’t tell me they disappeared as well?”

“I’m coming to that.”

“Hush, Peter, and let her tell her story.”

Philberta closed her eyes, her face a portrait of sorrow. “We began to feel as if we were being watched.
Sully was convinced that something, or someone, was spying on us. Blayne said he felt the same at times. I felt it least, but I wasn’t outside as much as they were.”

“The savages, I bet,” Peter growled. “They killed Norton and Liford, and they were after the rest of you.”

“I won’t tell you again to hush.”

Philberta’s lower lip quivered. “We had no food left. It got so we were reduced to eating mushrooms and weeds—”

“How awful!” Erleen said.

“But Sully didn’t give up. He went off after another elk. Blayne stayed home. Along about the third day, he went to the stream for water and never came back.”

Peter shook a fist. “Those damned heathens! Mr. King, Mr. Ryker, we must find out which tribe is to blame.”

“Honestly, Peter.”

“Sorry, dear.”

“Go on, Philberta.”

Philberta struggled to compose herself. “When Sully came back from the elk hunt empty-handed and found that Blayne was gone, something changed inside of him. He ranted and raved about taking revenge. I tried to reason with him. I pleaded. I got down on my knees and begged. But he wouldn’t listen. He filled his powder horn and ammo pouch and went off to find the slayers of our children.”

“Good for him!” Peter declared.

A tear trickled from Philberta’s right eye. “He never came back. I waited and waited, praying hour by hour. Finally I couldn’t deny the truth any longer.
I was all alone in the middle of these vast mountains, left to fend for myself without a weapon or a mount.”

Nate couldn’t stay silent. “Wait. Where were your horses?”

“Gone. Before Norton disappeared. That’s partly why we didn’t just saddle up and leave.”

Erleen held her sister-in-law’s hand to her bosom. “The horror of it all. You have my utter sympathy my dear. But take heart. We are here now, and no further harm shall befall you.”

“I am glad you have come.”

“We will take care of you, dear,” Erleen said. “We brought two pack horses with plenty of food.”

Peter nodded. “And we have Mr. King and Mr. Ryker. They know these mountains well and will keep us well supplied with meat.”

Ryker took a swig of brandy. “Maybe Mr. High and Mighty will hunt for you. But not me. I’ve heard enough. I’m leaving.”

“What are you talking about?” Erleen asked

Upending the bottle, Ryker smacked his lips and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. “Haven’t you people been listening? Hostiles killed your precious Sully and his boys. They will kill us if we stay. The smart thing to do is pack whatever you want to take and get the hell out of here while we still have our skin.”

Erleen turned. “I am tired of asking you to watch your language around my children.”

“And I am tired of you asking.” Ryker wagged the empty bottle. “Don’t any of you have a lick of sense? Do you all want to lose your hair? Because I sure as hell don’t. I’m not staying a single night in this cabin,
or this valley. If we leave within the hour we can be shed of it by sundown.”

Aunt Aggie straightened. “You keep forgetting, Mr. Ryker. Abandon us, and I won’t pay the rest of the money.”

“Lady, at this point I don’t give a good damn about being paid. I care about my hide.”

“You are despicable,” Erleen said.

Ryker pointed the bottle at Nate. “Don’t just stand there like a lump. Tell them, damn it. You know I’m right. If they don’t leave, they’re all going to die.”

“Are you sure we can’t talk you out of this?” Peter Woodrow asked.

Edwin Ryker, astride his sorrel, shook his head. “Not a chance in hell. And before your missus starts in on me again, I have cussed since I was ten and old habits are hard to break.”

Aunt Aggie squinted up at the sun, which was well past its zenith. “At least stay the night, Mr. Ryker. I promise you there will be no hard feelings.”

“Maybe not on your part, lady, but there are on mine. It’s wrong of you not to pay me the rest of the money I’m due.”

“We have been all through that.”

Ryker swiveled in the saddle toward Nate. “The offer to ride out with me still holds.”

“I’m staying,” Nate said.

“What for? To be turned into worm food like Sullivan and his boys? Whether it’s the Utes or some other tribe, they’ve made it plain they regard this valley as theirs and they don’t like trespassers.”

Erleen tried a last appeal. “Give us a week, Mr. Ryker. A week to search for Sully and the others. Then we can all leave together. Is that too much to ask?”

“It is for me.” Ryker scratched the scar on the side of his head. “I’ve been Injun shy ever since I lost my ear.”

Tyne put a hand on Ryker’s stirrup. “Please don’t go. We don’t want anything to happen to you.”

For a moment it looked to Nate as if Ryker was about to change his mind. Not that Nate blamed him for wanting to fan the breeze. Four people had disappeared without a trace. That usually meant they were worm food.

“That’s sweet of you, girl. But my ma didn’t raise lunkheads. I am doing what I think is best for me.”

“Keep your eyes peeled for those Blackfeet,” Nate cautioned. If the warriors were still there. Finding Black Elk’s horse had given him grave doubts.

“Don’t you think I won’t,” Ryker assured him. “I’ll be damned if I’ll fall into their infernal hands twice.” He gigged the sorrel, and without a back-ward glance or a wave, trotted across the clearing. Soon he was lost to view around a bend in the trail.

“I wish he hadn’t done that,” Peter remarked.

So did Nate. Although they didn’t see eye to eye on a lot of things, Ryker was a good shot and handy in a scrape.

“Well,” Erleen said, as if that summed up the state of affairs.

Aunt Aggie cleared her throat. “Anora, Tyne and I will work on supper while you tend to your sister-in-law.”

“And the boys and I will strip the horses and put them in the corral out back,” Peter said.

Nate didn’t offer to help. Someone had to keep an eye on the woods.

Cradling the Hawken in the crook of his elbow, he began a circuit of the clearing. He noticed how rapidly
the shadows were lengthening. Thanks to the high cliffs, dark would fall sooner than normal. And with the night would come—what?

Edwin Ryker was annoyed. Annoyed at the Wood-rows and annoyed at himself. But he hadn’t exaggerated when he said he made it a point to fight shy of any and all redskins.

Years ago, before he lost his ear, he had traipsed all over creation, not caring one whit about hostiles. Like a lot of whites, he tended to look down his nose at them, to regard them as little better than animals. His attitude had been let them try to harm him and he would show them what white men were made of.

Then a strange thing happened.

Ryker met a Crow girl. He liked her and she liked him, and the next thing he knew, they shared a lodge. The Crows were friendly to him. Maybe not as friendly as the Shoshones, but since he had taken one of their own as his woman, they treated him as a brother.

Four winters Ryker spent with the Crows. The best four years of his life. He cared for that Crow girl as he had never cared about anyone, and when she was slain, he was crushed.

It happened in the fall. The Crows went on the last buffalo surround of the season. Scores of the great shaggy brutes were slain, and afterward, as they always did, the women went in among the fallen buffs to skin and butcher them. But one of the bulls wasn’t dead. It reared and plunged a horn into the belly of his woman, ripping her open from hip to hip.

She was a long time dying.

Ryker sat with her hand in his and comforted her
the best he could, which, under the circumstances, wasn’t much comfort at all. When she died, so did something inside of him. He was never the same again.

The years drifted by. Ryker met and loved other women, but it was never the same. When the trapping trade dwindled, he took to serving as a guide and scout. He would never get rich at it, but the work agreed with him, and between jobs he drank. And drank. And drank.

Then came the fateful day Ryker was riding along the Missouri River, on his way back to the mountains after a visit to some Mandan friends. He blundered into a Blackfoot war party and paid for his blunder with his ear. Ever since, Ryker spent many a night tossing and turning and sweating. He lost his ear not once but a thousand times.

No one ever guessed his secret: that when it came to Indians, he had lost some of his courage, as well. To one and all he put on a brave front. The mention of hostiles made him scoff. The mention of the Black-feet made him laugh with scorn. He hid his secret so well that no one ever suspected.

And now he had gone and run out on those damnable Woodrows and Nate King.

Ryker sighed. They should have paid him. Whatever befell them now was on their shoulders. He had done his part. “If they die it’s their own fault,” he said to the dense greenery.

And someone snickered.

Ryker drew rein. It came from his left, so low as to make him wonder if he’d heard it. But he was sure he had. He trained his rifle on the trees. A minute went by, but no one appeared. Since he was only half a mile from the cabin, he wondered if Fitch or Harper,
or both, had followed him. “I am not amused,” he said, hoping to draw them out.

There was no reply.

Puzzled, Ryker tapped his heels against the sorrel. The sun was low in the west, about to dip below a sandstone cliff. Already, an early twilight was creeping across the valley floor.

Determined to put the valley behind him by nightfall, Ryker brought the sorrel to a gallop. He was too savvy to ride it to exhaustion; he went another mile, then slowed to a walk again.

The sun was almost gone when Ryker came to the bottom of the mountain crowned by the high pass that would take him over the divide. He dared not risk the long climb in the dark. He would have to wait until morning.

Ryker climbed a few hundred yards, just to be out of the valley. A ridge afforded an ideal spot to camp. He could see in all directions. Off in the distance gray tendrils of smoke rose from the cabin chimney. He stripped the sorrel, gathered firewood, and kindled a fire. Then he spread out his blankets, sat propped on his saddle, and munched on pemmican. Around him, night descended.

Ryker was troubled. A tiny voice pricked him, warning he had made a mistake. He refused to listen. All that talk about Sully and his sons who vanished was to blame. He shut them from his mind.

The soothing crackle of the fire and the peaceful quiet of the mountain helped Ryker to relax. He thought of Bent’s Fort, his first stop on his way east. He would stock up on the few provisions he needed and maybe strike out for St. Louis to treat himself to a week of tawdry delights.

His eyelids grew heavy. His chin dipped, but he
raised it again. He wasn’t quite ready to sleep yet. He stuck a piece of pemmican in his mouth and was chewing contentedly when it hit him that it was
too
quiet. By now the meat-eaters should be abroad. By now the night should be alive with howls and yips and screeches. But there was nothing, nothing at all.

Ryker shifted and gazed out over the valley. It was black as pitch. A yellow point of light was visible when the wind stirred the trees. Light from the cabin window, he reckoned. It was comforting to think other people were there but not so comforting to realize it would take hours to reach them if he had to get to them in a hurry.

Ryker cursed. He hadn’t put coffee on to brew because he did not want to stay up late. Now he reconsidered. Maybe it would be best to keep watch all night, catch a few hours sleep early in the morning, then strike out for the high pass. He was trying to make up his mind when the sorrel whinnied.

Instantly, Ryker was alert. He put a hand on the pistol at his waist. The sorrel had its head up and its ears pricked and was staring down the slope. Ryker looked and listened, but if something was there it was too far off for him to hear. Or—and the thought chilled him—it was moving too silently for him to hear.

Ryker cursed again. “I am turning into an old woman,” he scolded himself, and forced a chuckle.

The flames weren’t as high as he wanted, so he added a log. He added another. And yet a third. The circle of firelight grew until a good twenty feet of rosy light kept the black of night at bay.

“That’s better,” Ryker said to the sorrel. He shifted to make himself more comfortable, and crossed his legs.

Ryker stared at the distant light from the cabin
window and thought of Nate King. They argued a lot, but King was one of the few people he respected. Not because King always tried to do right by others. That amused Ryker. The way he saw it, every man should look out for himself, and the rest of the world be damned.

No, Ryker respected Nate King because King was tough. As tough as they came. How someone could be considerate
and
tough at the same time was a puzzle Ryker had yet to unravel. He would never come right out and bring the subject up because King would—

A twig snapped.

And the sorrel was staring down the slope again.

Taking his rifle, Ryker rose and moved to the edge of the firelight. He stood for a long while without hearing anything. But twigs didn’t snap on their own.

The sorrel had lowered its head, so Ryker went back to the fire and added another branch. He told himself a deer or an elk was to blame. Or maybe a bear or a mountain lion. But they rarely ventured close to a fire.

Ryker wondered if the hostiles were stalking him. Few Indians attacked at night, though. Not because they deemed it bad medicine, as some whites believed, but because they didn’t have the eyes of cats, as some whites also believed, and couldn’t see in the dark any better than whites could.