Sanctuary (21 page)

Crack!
The whip cut into Mordecai's face, and another trickle of blood coursed down his cheek.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
And above even the rattle of the wagon and the rumble of the storm came the sound of Jasper's laughter. Judd cringed, but he forced himself to run toward the sound, tears hiding the path from his feet.

A lone cottonwood, as big around at the base as a bar table, stood on the hill overlooking the river bottom. The wagon bounced to a stop below that tree and even in the darkness settling over the land, Judd could see the rope sailing over a limb pointing like an accusing finger toward the mountains to the west.

Two men climbed into the wagon box to jerk Mordecai to his feet. Mordecai stood, feet spread wide to balance himself, one man holding the preacher's arm while the other snatched like a kitten playing with a string at the rope dancing in the rising wind.

Then the noose began taking shape: first one loop, then another, the short end of the rope coiling around the loops to set the knot like fate. Too short! The hangman opened the loop, giving himself more working room, pulling the knot tight, but not too tight. He twisted the knot straight and stood there for a moment, admiring his work.

A roar rose from the mob, only to be lost in the scream of the wind. Judd found himself screaming, too, as he ran toward the wagon, ran toward this death in the making.

The two men climbed out of the wagon, and the Reverend Eli had his Bible out, and was shouting Revelations into the wind.

“And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”

“And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.”

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”

“Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.”

Judd could feel the rage the Reverend was kindling in the mob, even before he reached the men farthest from the wagon. They stared, eyes glazed, and Judd sprinted past them, leaping before any arm could reach out to stop him.

He climbed to the seat of the wagon, swaying there from the wind and exhaustion.

“See me!” Judd pleaded. “Please see me now. I am of
the people,
a heathen and a sinner, and of no worth.

“But, please hear me!”

“Hear me. I will bark like a dog for you. I will catch raw meat in my mouth, if only you will hear me now.”

Judd shuffled into some dance steps on the wagon box. Sometimes dancing made him visible to the people of Sanctuary.

“The preacher is a good man. For a while, I thought that was not so. But I know it now. I know it deep in my soul. I have a soul. The preacher told me that. He told me, too, that God would listen to me if I spoke to him.”

“If God will listen, can you not hear me once?”

“If you must hang someone today, please hang me and let the preacher go.”

“I will go gladly to the spirit world the preacher has told me about. I will not struggle. I will place the noose around my own neck.”

“Hang me, please.”

The boy's words shamed the mob, and it began to break up, the fringes carried away in the high wind like leaves in fall.

Judd, tears streaking his face, turned toward the preacher. Mordecai was smiling; his blood-streaked face seemed to glow in the growing darkness of the storm.

“You made them see you, Judd. Remember, I told you it is harder to be seen than to be invisible. They will never forget you now.”

“Talk to Doc about practicing medicine. I think you will be a fine doctor. Pay attention to Mary. Her heart's big enough for the two of you. And listen to your grandmother. She knows more than she admits.”

“You and Jack will have to keep the garden going, keep the people together. Tell them that I love them.”

“Aren't you going to stay with us, then?” Judd asked, pleading.

A frown crossed the preacher's face like a shade. He shook his head, and at that moment the Reverend Eli's voice split the winds.

“Did I not tell you he is the great deceiver? Did I not tell you that he would play tricks on your minds to steal your souls?”

The Reverend's voice cracked through the howl of the wind and the rumble of distant thunder. The crowd had hearkened to the Reverend Eli too long to ignore him now. The trickle of men from the mob slowed and faces, stark white in the wind and the flash of lightning, turned one more time to face their accuser.

The Reverend's eyes were wide and wild, the wind tugged at his coat and sleeves and he seemed wraith-like, black-against-black.

“Gaze upon me,” the Reverend screamed into the wind. “Know that you are looking upon the face of the son of God. I am Jesus Christ come to deliver the world of sin.”

The townspeople stood transfixed in horror. In the wind and the darkness and the flashes of lightning, they saw the Reverend Eli Timpkins—and themselves—clearly for the first time. They were terrified by that vision.

The mob shattered, carried away by the wind and the realization of what they had almost done. One man broke from the others and stepped toward the wagon, his knife blade gleaming as he held it up to Judd to cut the noose from Mordecai's neck.

“No!” the Reverend Eli shouted.

Eli grabbed the whip from Jasper's hands and sent the tip curling toward the nearest horse. The crack of the whip against the horse's side was lost in the
crack
of a bolt of lightning that flashed bright as the sun.

Judd was thrown to the bed of the wagon as the horses bolted. He looked back to see Mordecai swinging in the wind. The rain came then, drops stinging as they fell, mixing with his tears and blotting out his vision.

About the Author

Gary D. Svee grew up along the banks of the Yellowstone, Stillwater, and Rosebud Rivers in Montana. His novels include
Spirit Wolf
,
Showdown at Buffalo Jump
,
The Peacemaker's Vengeance
, and the Spur Award winner
Sanctuary
. Svee lives in Billings, Montana.

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 1990 by Gary D. Svee

Cover design by Connie Gabbert

ISBN: 978-1-4804-8703-1

This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

345 Hudson Street

New York, NY 10014

www.openroadmedia.com

FROM OPEN ROAD MEDIA