Dorothy Garlock - [Annie Lash 03] (18 page)

“I won’t go. We stay t’gether, Light.” Seldom did Maggie insist on having her way, but she did so now. Her face was set in stubborn lines; her hand clutched his arm. She did not beg; she merely stated what she intended to do.

“I want you safe, my treasure.”

“Give me a gun. I will shoot it.”

“You cannot fire a gun,” Light said firmly. For the first time since leaving St. Charles, he was impatient with her.

“Why can’t she?” Eli asked, moving away from the tree trunk where he had been leaning and listening. “MacMillan’s girls shoot.”

Light turned to the Swede with a look of such intense rage that a lesser man would have cringed and stepped back. Eli refused to lower his gaze.

“The rifle comes near to equaling half of her weight. There is a chance it would break her shoulder should she fire it, that is if she could lift it and hold it steady.” Light’s lips scarcely moved as he spoke. “I tell you this even though it is no business of yours.”

“I’ll give her a pistol.”

“You will give her nothing,
m’sieur.
This is between me and my wife.” Light’s words were as cold as a frozen pond.

“That is a thing we need to discuss.”

Light’s arm swept Maggie behind him. His hand went to the knife in his belt. His body was rigidly alert. His crisp words fell into a deathly quiet.

“Not now. Not ever. We go our own way from here when this is over.”

“We’ll see about that.”

Paul thought it time to interfere. He wedged himself between Eli and Light.

“Eli,
mon ami,
come. The man is right. This is not your concern, eh? Mademoiselle Aee is pouring lead. She needs our help to make the bullets.”

The Swede yanked his elbow from Paul’s hand, and his eyes sent sparks of venom toward the scout. Slowly he followed Paul to the fire where Aee squatted beside the small blaze. When she looked up at him, her lips curled in sneering contempt. She rose, turned her back to him, and waved to her mother and sisters as they rode away in the ox cart led by Linus.
The fool was lusting after another man’s woman.
How stupid she had been to have fancied him.

Aee continued to ladle the silver liquid into the bullet mold, her thoughts well concealed. She couldn’t blame the Swede, she conceded. Any man would adore Maggie and want to protect her. She was as small and as perfect as a doll.

Aee had always been proud of her size and her strength, but beside Maggie she felt big and clumsy and . . . ugly.

“What needs to be done,
chérie?”
Paul asked.

With her foot she nudged a bucket half-filled with rough bullets.

“Do ya reckon he’s got gumption enough t’ smooth them bullets with his knife?” Her voice was loaded with sarcasm. “Ya don’t have t’ be very smart t’ do it.”

“You’re a flitter-headed, loose-mouthed woman!” Eli snarled, flopping down on the ground and digging into the bucket. He was as limp as a wet rag and glad to sit down, but he would never admit it to this smart-mouthed female.

“Yo’re full a sass now that ya don’t need tendin’ to no more. I don’t give a dram a powder or lead what ya think I am.”

“It ain’t much,” he retorted, hoping to shut her up.

Aee saw him glance at Light and Maggie standing a distance away. Light was talking earnestly to Maggie. Then with an arm around her he led her into the woods.

“If ya had any sense ya’d stop makin’ them cow-eyes at Miz Lightbody. Her man’ll cut yore throat a’fore ya can say pee-doodle-dee-squat.”

“I guess you think I’d just lay back and let him. I’ll tell you one thing, Miss Smart-mouth MacMillan, I’ll not be sitting on my hands if he jumps me.”

“I heared tell he ain’t got no quit a’tall once he’s riled and don’t hold with no rules ’bout what’s fair in a fight neither if a man needs killin’.” Aee felt a surge of glee when she saw Eli’s face redden with anger. She gave him a sassy grin. “Reckon I’d back off if I was you.”

“Well, you’re not me, so
you
back off and mind your own dad-blasted business.” Eli clenched his teeth and spoke through them in a flat monotone.

“Ain’t ya got enough smarts to know she ain’t wantin’ ya? She ain’t needin’ ya t’ butt in. It jist riles her man.”

“Haven’t you been taught any manners? Hasn’t anyone ever told you a
lady
keeps her opinions to herself unless she’s asked for them?” Eli murmured, after glancing up to see that Paul had moved out of earshot.

“Fiddle-faddle! I ain’t knowin’ nothin’ ’bout
ladies
and ain’t wantin’ to. I’m thinkin’ the closest ya ever got t’ one was in a picture book.”

“You need the flat of my hand on your behind.”

“Try it an’ yo’re sartain t’ get a hole right a’tween yore eyes.” She threw a leather pouch that hit him in the chest. “Put the finished bullets in that—that’s if ya finish any.”

*  *  *

“Are ya mad at me ’cause I didn’t go, Light?” Maggie asked the question as soon as they were alone.

“You promised to obey me.”

“I did promise. But if somebody’s tryin’ to hurt ya I can’t stand off an’ wait t’ see it. I got t’ be with ya, Light. If ya die, I want t’ die too.”

Light leaned his rifle against a tree, grabbed her hand and pulled her to him.

“Do not forget this,
chérie.
There are worse things than dying one time. If you were captured and taken from me, I would die a thousand times.”

“I won’t get taken from ya. I don’t want ya to be sad,” she said quickly, moving her hands up and down his arms. “Don’t be thinkin’ we’ll die. We won’t for a long time after we get to our mountain.”

“Ah . . .
mon trésor,
how can you be so sure?”

“I just know. We got to have our babies yet, Light,” she said so earnestly that he had to smile.

“You will listen and obey me?”

“Yes, Light.”

“You will not butt into my fight?”

“No, Light.”

“You will stay where I can see you?”

“Yes, Light.”

Above them a blue jay chattered angrily. A crow, daring in his hunger, landed on a nearby bush and added his croaking comments to those of the blue jay before flying away to a more productive bush.

Maggie was so intent on what Light was saying that she was oblivious to these sounds she loved. She stared into his dark eyes.

“Why didn’t ya let Eli give me a pistol?”

“If you have a pistol, it will be one that I provide for you.” His hands closed on her shoulders. “I don’t want you to take anything from him.”

“Why? He likes you. He likes me.”

“He does
not
like me, Maggie. He’d like nothing better than for me to be out of the way so he could have you.”

“No, Light.” Maggie shook her head. “He’s not like other men.”

“I suppose you just
know
that too.”

“Yes, Light.”

Light shrugged off his backpack, placed it on the ground and opened it. He took out two knives. He stuck one of them in a pocket on the side of his knee-high moccasins. The other he showed to Maggie.

“You need an extra weapon. Carry this knife in the back of your belt.” He turned her around and fitted it so that it lay with the tip resting on her hip. “See if you can get it out quickly and easily.”

After several attempts she was able to draw the knife in one swift motion.

MacMillan came through the trees, followed by Paul carrying two extra rifles.

“It’s my thought that Vega’ll let part of his crew off downriver t’ come through the woods.”

“It’d be a foolish move,” Light said.

“How so?”

“A couple of bowman could pick them off one by one.”

MacMillan scratched his head, then laughed. “Many Spots will be back in a few hours.”

“Any news of Kruger?”

“Vega took him aboard. He’ll wring ever’thin’ the German knows ’bout this place out a him.”

“Did Zee tell ya?” Maggie asked. “Aee said not t’ worry. Someone called Zee’d watch.”

“Yes, ma’am. I got his signal ’bout a hour ago.”

“Is Zee one of yore younguns, Mr. Mac?” Maggie asked in her wide-eyed, unabashed fashion.

“No, ma’am. I named him that ’cause I didn’t think I’d live to get enough younguns to get through the alphabet. Zee forgot what his name was long ago an’ it ain’t no wonder a’tall. He don’t take to folks right away. He’ll show hisself when he’s ready.”

“What’s the . . . alphabet?”

“Wal . . . now.” MacMillan took off his hat and scratched his wooly head again while he tried to figure out a way to explain the alphabet. He looked first to Light for help. Light said nothing and his dark eyes were alight with amusement. Paul lifted his hands palms up in a futile gesture. Finally MacMillan said, “It’s the letters ya read by. A, b, c, d, e, an’ f an’ lots more.”

Maggie clapped her hands. “I heard of them. Ya named yore younguns for readin’ letters. They ought t’ be right proud.”

“Yes’m. Miz Mac was learnin’ them t’ me when Aee was born. We thought it fittin’.”

“I never learned readin’. But Light has. He can read ever’thin’.” Maggie gazed up at her husband with fierce pride.

“That’s mighty . . . fine.” MacMillan couldn’t think of anything else to say.

Light took a dozen arrow shafts from his pack, along with an equal number of metal tips and a ball of strong cord.

“
Chérie,
put the tips on the split end of the shaft in the way I showed you. We will need many more arrows than we have.” He left Maggie sitting on a log and walked a distance away. Paul and MacMillan followed. “
M’sieurs,
I do not like to sit like a waiting duck.”

“I ain’t likin’ it none either,” MacMillan said. “But there ain’t much ya can do till ya know what he’s goin’ t’ do. Might be he don’t do nothin’.”

“That’s not likely,
m’sieur.
Kruger will have told him about your womenfolk and Mrs. Lightbody. If he’s what you say—” Paul left his words hanging.

“—And Caleb. Pride will goad him t’ kill ’im. Them Vegas ain’t wantin’ t’ be outdone by no slave. Caleb’s had him a taste a bein’ a free man earnin’ pay. He’ll fight till he drops ’fore he goes back to Vega.”

“Will the Negroes run off when fightin’ starts,
m’sieur?
” Paul asked.

“Stake my life on Caleb an’ Linus standin’ with us. Many Spots will bring back warriors. They be the best woods fighters I know, but they ain’t worth much with firearms. They like to shoot ’em, but don’t come in a mile a hittin’ what they shoot at. All they do is make a racket.”

“Many Spots is an old man,” Light said, thinking back to MacMillan’s saying he had no horses. “Much too old to run many miles.”

MacMillan remembered and grinned sheepishly. “Figgered ya’d catch me on that. Truth is, I got a couple a ponies hid up in the hills where the Delaware can’t find ’em. Few more up with the Osage—”

He stopped speaking, cocked his head and listened. The repeated whistle of the redbird was followed by the call of a squalling hawk. A minute later they heard the call of the hawk and then the redbird.

“That’s Zee. Got to go.” MacMillan trotted to the edge of the dense woods and disappeared.

Light was uneasy with the situation. It was not his way to wait to be attacked, nor had it been Jefferson Merrick’s, or Will Murdock’s. In his opinion it would be better to attack while all were on the boat. A barrage of flame arrows would set the craft afire and the gunpowder would do the rest.

“
M’sieur,
I would speak to you of my friend, Eli.” Paul edged close to Light and lowered his voice after glancing at Maggie.

“Cannot your friend speak for himself?”

“My friend, Eli, has a devil on his back,
m’sieur,
” Paul said, ignoring the question. “He is much, much troubled. I ask for your understandings.”

“I will kill him if he continues to come between me and my wife.” Light’s voice was clipped and hard. In his anger, his French accent was more pronounced.

“He is an honorable man.” Paul’s voice wavered. “He realizes that he owes you for saving his life. The burden is heavy.”

“He owes me nothing,” Light spat out angrily. “Had it been a dog caught in the sawyer I would have done the same.”

“He would not dishonor your wife.”

On hearing the words, Light spun around. His head was thrown back, and his lips were parted in a snarl like that of a cornered animal.

“He even thinks it . . . I will kill him!” His voice was laced with icy rage.

Paul lifted both hands, palms out. “
M’sieur
Light, please—In time all will be . . . clear.”

“Light?” Maggie was beside him, holding his arm. “Are ya and Paul fussin’, Light?”

Light put his hand behind her head. His face softened when he looked down into her anxious green eyes. She had such keen perception where he was concerned. It was as if she could read his every thought.

“No,
ma chérie.
Men can have differences without being angry.”

“Ya was angry, Light,” she insisted. “Ya was frownin’ and yore brows came down like this.” Maggie beetled her eyebrows.

Light smiled. Paul laughed.

“Don’t ya laugh at me.” Maggie turned an angry face to the Frenchman. “I don’t want ya and Light t’ be mad at each other.”

“
Madame.
” Paul’s voice was hushed, almost reverent. “I laughed only because you make such a charming face. Please forgive if I offend.”

“It’s all right.” Her frown instantly changed to smiles. She hugged Light’s arm and asked, “Where’d Mr. Mac go?”

“I’m not sure,
chérie.
” Light heard a sound and lifted his head to see MacMillan coming out of the woods.

“I ain’t sure what it means,” MacMillan said as he came toward them, “but the bastard tied up off a island a mile back. Aee calls it Berry Island cause it’s got berries all over. It’s closer to the other side than to this’n.”

Light glanced at the darkening sky. “He may have already unloaded some of his men.”

“They might a’ready got ’round Zee if they come in far enough from the river.”

“I will go see. How many game trails are there coming upriver?” Light asked.

“Two main ones. One near the river. The other’n a quarter of a mile or so north.”

Light took Maggie’s hand. “Stay with Paul,
chérie.
”