permanently pressed repressed and depressed
I hear the horses winny outside and get suspicious. I grabbed the pearl handled colt from the mantle in the drawing room and slip out from under Gram's watchful eye... I was right in my thinking. Wrong to act. The side door was adjacent to the corral, and I was seen. They were after the horses. One had roped Storm. I pulled the hammer on the revolver and aimed at the thief. No good. I was nabbed. A squaw they call 'Cotton' has a fistful of my hair and is dragging me backward toward the Hickorys...but as she pulled at me, the gun fell and misfired, drawing attention back to the house. Fights broke out. Gunshots and arrows in the dark... Jim was pierced in the thigh with a stray arrow, but he's gonna be fine. Just tender for a while. Nicky'll tend to him... There were losses on both sides, but more of them than us. Meanwhile, I'm wishing for about a million of Gram's 'I told you so's' and a healthy swat with a switch... I shoulda listened. I knew it too, but it wasn't about Owen knowing what he was doin'...I'd already figured as much.
Last edited by wylde on Fri Nov 23, 2007 7:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
We head south... some of the mustangs were freed in the confusion, but the tribe had secured for themselves about four of them, one was Storm. They let me walk unbound, figuring I wouldn't get far, so I behaved and kept pace...but while we went I buried my hands in the pockets of Owen's coat to keep warm. I feel a kerchief in the left and a pocketknife in the right... there is hope.
Last edited by wylde on Fri Nov 23, 2007 8:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I was awakened by the gentle nudge of Storm...he was rigged with a bridle and reins. I lean up my elbow and realize all is quiet. I see a couple of the men by the fire smoking a pipe, their backs turned to me. A couple of dogs sniffing around looking for leftover bones. Everyone else was asleep. I look at the guards, who still think I'm asleep, then to Storm...
Storm raced into the darkness with me in tow until the sun's rays broke on the horizon. It was also then, Storm and I broke company. He lost his footing on some rocks and threw me. When I didn't budge, he wandered off into the prarie. He was found at the south end of the ranch... so at least he had us headed back north. I wasn't far off...
My fall disturbed a snake's nest which irritated the mother... I was too groggy to see this, and was bit. I travelled in and out of consciousness, crawled when I could... pain spiked with fever, and I blackedout. In truth, I was fortunate. The snake had to bit through the leather of my boot, and so I didn't get the full injection of the bite. I might have died...but awoke once more in that charming little bedroom at the ranch. This time with Owen at my side...it was now December.
He'd been talking to me in my fever and in my sleep, and trying to keep me cool. I heard his voice a number of times throughout, and heard him now in my waking smile... He says to me, "Don't wander off...," grinning as stepped out of the room.
Last edited by wylde on Sat Nov 24, 2007 12:13 am, edited 1 time in total.
