Whispering Spirits (12 page)

“It’s similar to the
napi’kwan
treaty,
then. Even in these modern times, they’ve found a way to cheat the
Indian out of the land of his ancestors. I can see why
Nah’ah
became so angry. Why do they care what she says?”

“I’m guessing the tribal leaders don’t
understand the true meaning of the sale, but
Nah’ah
does. If
that’s true and it can be proved in a court of law, then the land
will return to the Blackfeet. If
Nah’a
h is silenced, and
enough times elapses before the others realize what happened, the
land will belong to the Landscape Mining Company. Done deal, as
Worthington said.”

“Where would they have taken her? We have to
find her, Running Crane. We can’t let them get away with hurting
Nah’ah.
”

“Spread that towel on the grass and lie down
and try to get some sleep. I’ll keep watch for a while longer
before joining you.” He let go of her hand and watched as she
settled down. He hoped she’d sleep. No doubt she was as exhausted
as he.

Running Crane looked through his backpack,
taking note they had two days-worth of power bars and water. They
had matches, a pup tent, one blanket, and a towel. For protection
they had two knives and a bow with six arrows. It could be worse.
He nestled the bag against Summer’s back.

He added more sticks to the fire, then moved
to the shadows of the large cottonwood. After listening to silence
for several minutes, he slid the bow over his shoulder and pulled
himself up into the crotch of the tree. Settling himself in he
surveyed the area before allowing his lids to close. A subtle snap
jerked his senses to alert.

Chapter Six

Summer woke, startled. She noticed the fire
had burned down to low embers. Early morning light allowed her to
see beyond the shadows of night. She glanced around, looking for
Running Crane. Fear filled her as she realized she was alone. Had
he left her or had something happened to him?

Easing herself up, she slowly grasped the
towel, then noticed Running Crane’s backpack. Had he left it for
her? A meadowlark’s thrill broke the silence. She grabbed the bag
and eased to the protection of the nearest cottonwood.

“Look up,” Running Crane whispered.

She glanced through the leaves and spotted
him. “Something woke me…he’s out there,” she whispered up to
him.

“I’m coming down. Don’t move.”

Summer took the bow he lowered. It surprised
her how heavy it was. Within seconds he dropped down beside her. “I
hope my absence didn’t alarm you,” he whispered. “I needed an
advantage in case he moved in on you.”

“I was bait? Nice. What do we do now?” Summer
handed the pack to him and he slid it onto his back. He took the
bow. She wrapped the towel around her shoulders in an attempt to
escape the chilly morning air. “Did anyone approach the area during
the night?”

“We’ll talk later. Right now we need to put
as much quiet distance between us and this camp site as we can. Be
careful not to snap any tree branches or leave any trail. It’s not
easy, but we need to be careful. Follow me. If you notice anything,
tap my back twice and I’ll drop immediately.”

She nodded, then followed him, keeping her
attention fixed on moving silently. A meadowlark gave two melodic,
but urgent thrills and Summer froze. Running Crane dropped and
pulled her down beside him.

“What did you see?” he whispered against her
ear.

“The meadowlark warned—”

The snap of a branch echoed across the space
as though a tree fell. They remained pressed into the tall grass
and behind scraggly, bluish sagebrush. They weren’t in the best
position, but at least they weren’t moving. He would have spotted
them immediately.

A light crack here and the rustling of leaves
there…revealed a man on the move. A spooked deer and fawn ran past
them and toward the river. The stalker wasn’t exactly good at
moving without revealing his progress.

She spotted him coming over the hill just
down from them. He coughed several times into his sleeve. He must
have realized they weren’t at their camp; now he tracked them. She
tried to see his face…the light permitted only a vague shadow of
the man. Was there anything about him that seemed familiar? No, she
just couldn’t see him well enough.

“Run all you want!” the man shouted. “Neither
one of you will leave here alive. I’m a regular Rambo. Just saying
so you know what you’re up against.”

He seemed to be looking up the ravine right
at them. She waited to see if Running Crane would respond. His
silence answered. Shouldn’t they try to talk to the man and ask him
what he wanted? Her breathing increased as she watched him. He
jerked his attention downhill toward the river, then ran off in
that direction.

“He must have heard that deer and her fawn.
We’ll have to be careful not to move too quickly. It’ll be easy to
spot motion uphill. If we hurry we’ll get into dense woods before
he makes his way back here.” Running Crane stood and offered his
hand to her.

Summer grasped it and stood, leaning into
him. “I couldn’t see him…it was too dark. I don’t know the voice.
He said we wouldn’t leave here alive. He plans on killing us. Why?
Why both of us? If he’s after me, why kill you?”

“I don’t know. What I do know is we’re going
to get out of here alive…both of us. I was planning on heading for
Babb, about four miles south of us, but I think that’s what he’d
expect. Instead we’re going to go see an old friend of mine,
Montana songwriter, David Walburn.”

“I once heard him perform at the Many Glacier
Hotel. I actually like his stuff. Doesn’t he rent out a property
called StoneHouse at Duck Lake?”

“That’s exactly where we’re going. It’s about
two or so miles southeast of here. From the house you can see
panoramic views of Glacier National Park and Chief Mountain. It
actually stands at an elevation of nine thousand feet across the
Cut Bank Plains. If we go into Babb our whereabouts won’t stay
secret for long.”

“Something tells me that man chasing us isn’t
as skilled as he wants us to think.” She followed Running Crane up
the hill, wondering who wanted to kill her. How dare they kidnap
Nah’ah.
Nothing made sense, and stress caused her head to
pound.

They crested the hill and Summer gasped for
air. They were nowhere near the elevation of StoneHouse and already
she felt the toll on her body. If only the pounding in her head
would stop.

“Let’s take a short rest here. I know we
should take it slow, but we don’t have much choice.” Running Crane
sat down on a rock and slipped his backpack to the ground.

She dropped next to him. “All we need to do
is find someone camping or get to a road and we can walk ourselves
out of here. All this wilderness hiking makes no sense to me.”

“The best way to get caught is to be
predictable. I’m not willing to involve some innocent couple or
camping family in this predicament of ours. We have no idea what
that loon is capable of. I know it seems easy in the movies, but in
real life it’s not.”

Summer hadn’t thought about that…and it
worried her even more. “I can’t stop thinking about
Nah’ah
.
I keep wondering if those two left us a ransom note, and she’s
waiting for us to come rescue her.” Summer wiped a tear from the
corner of her eye.

“It won’t do us any good to speculate. We
have to deal with this situation right now and make sure we
survive. If we don’t…who will know
Nah’ah
was taken?” He
handed her a water canteen.

She took it and drank the warm water,
grateful they had it. “I’ve been so self-absorbed in my studies.
I…wish I’d have been more aware.
Nah’ah
needed me and I
wasn’t there for her. I thought I’d get involved in life once I
graduated. How could I have been so blind?”

“I think we’ve all been there a time or two…I
know I have. Come, we have to keep pushing. We want to get there
before dark.”

Summer eased off the rock and waited while
Running Crane slipped the backpack on and grabbed the bow. She
hoped they’d eat something soon. Neither of them had anything since
Nah’ah’s
duck eggs.

It seemed like hours since they took a break.
Sweat rolled down her back and even her forehead and upper lip were
wet. She pushed on, going over and over in her mind things Jordan
had done or said. There had to be something she’d missed, some
clue, that might reveal who had
Nah’ah
.

A cool breeze brushed past her…and warned her
to stop. A meadowlark released a thrill with urgency. “Stop,
they’re warning—”

Cracking sticks and the loud, anguishing moan
from Running Crane told her she’d warned him too late. Rushing to
the edge of a rocky crevice, he lay. It wasn’t all that deep, but
just enough to wedge a row of stick spikes between the bottom
rocks. The area had been cleverly camouflaged with thin sticks,
then layers of gravel and grass. A single wooden spike stabbed
Running Crane’s leg, just above the ankle. Another just grazed the
left side of his hip. He’d been lucky.

“How can I help,” she asked, hoping to keep
her voice low and level.

“That damn spike is wedged too tight for me
to break loose. I think you should forge ahead and bring back
help—”

“Like hell I will. There has to be a way I
can either break or cut that spike.” She worked her way down to
him. “You have any ideas?” She noticed he’d lost some blood, but at
least it hadn’t severed an artery.

“Take the knife from my pack, it’s in the
small zippered pocket outside on the bottom. It has a seriated
edge. Maybe if you’re able to saw through the stick on both sides,
leaving the stick in.”

“Why don’t I slide your foot back up over the
point?”

“I don’t think we should take the stick out
of my leg. Splinters might do more damage than if we leave it in
and let the professionals remove it. We could poke an artery, we
mess around with it and we’d be asking for trouble.”

Summer found the knife. She positioned
herself down, with her back against the slanted rock and inched the
knife blade against the spike. She drew it steady, pushing the
other side, hoping not to put pressure on the wound. She didn’t
bother looking at him. She worked the wood over and over. Half-way
through, she made the cut on the other side, slicing through until
it finally snapped free. Without hesitating, she sawed through the
stick on the other side, leaving several inches of stick protruding
on both sides of skin.

She shuddered, inwardly imagining how much
pain Running Crane must be in. She looked at him and found he’d
clenched his jaw and squeezed his eyes shut. “Take some deep
breaths until the pain subsides. You sure we shouldn’t pull it out?
How will you ever step down with a stick stabbed through your
leg?”

“I’ve heard of such things and most times if
they’d have left the object in, they’d have survived. That’s what
we’re going to do, Summer, we’re going to survive. Help me get out
of this pit.”

Summer worked her way out of the rocky pit,
looked around, then leaned back toward him. “Hand up your bow and
then the pack.” She took each and laid them on the ground. She ran
back to where Running Crane leaned against the bottom rock. “It’s
really not that hard to get out, since the sides taper up, you can
walk right out like I did. Let me help you up.”

“Why don’t you let me handle that? See if you
can wiggle any of those other spikes free, maybe I can use them for
crutches.” He’d already managed to get up, balancing on one
foot.

Impressed, Summer wiggled first one then
another tall spike, managing to break two free. “Let’s strap two
together, giving you stability and more surface for your armpits.
We can use my dress to cut several strips of material for tying the
sticks together, then what’s left we’ll use for padding.”

“Let’s work as fast as we can. Sitting here
only allows him to get closer. I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t
hear me howl when I fell.” He hobbled to a rock and sat down,
gingerly resting the injured leg in front of him.

She handed over the knife and her eyelet
dress. “Start working on these while I get that small first aid kit
I spotted in the front pocket of the pack.”

“Really, I didn’t see it.”

Summer pulled the red kit out and quickly
opened it. “We have one tube of triple antibiotic, two packets of
Tylenol, four sterile gauze pads, tape, and six Band-Aids. That’s
certainly better than nothing.” She hurried back to Running Crane.
He’d worked wonders with the towel and sticks.

“You sure about not pulling that stick out of
your leg? Damn, it just looks wicked sticking out both sides like
that.”

“I’m sure. Hurry with your doctoring, we need
to get moving.”

“You have to know in advance, nursing isn’t
my forte. Don’t hit me if I hurt you.” She dropped to the ground
and looked over the damage created by the stick.

“I couldn’t hit you, so do your damage. Don’t
fault me if a few cuss words slip out.”

Summer laughed. She squeezed an ample amount
of antibiotic on two gauze pads and set them aside. She took the
canteen and a strip of blanket. “Now would be a good time to grit
your teeth. I’ll pour water to wash any dirt and blood from the
skin.”

“Use as little water as possible, we need it
for drinking.”

She ignored his comment and flushed both
sides of the wound. She wiped excess blood away and once both sides
appeared clean, she pressed the antibiotic into the wound edges
around the stick on both sides. Covering the skin, she added
another gauze pad and crisscross taped them in place.

“That’s the best I can do. I see you have the
crutch ready. Be sure to set it solid before relying on it. I’m
serious. We can’t afford you to lose footing and roll down…you get
the picture. Be careful. I’m not leaving you behind so safe and
steady is how we’re going to have to proceed.”