“I think they’re traders,” Shane explained, looking excited. “Let’s go say hi.”
Before Selena could protest, Shane went cantering off after them so, against her better judgment, she fol owed a little way behind.
“Hel o!”
Shane’s cal echoed just a bit, making Selena cringe. The wagon slowed down as Shane trotted past and turned his mount around to face them. She held her breath and braced herself for a possible attack, but none came and when she caught up with Shane, they were only ten feet from the strangers.
“Mornin’.” he nodded with a ready smile.
Selena had almost forgotten his talent for putting people at ease. She remained silent and tried to keep her face blank, watching the pair in front.
“Good morning,” the driver answered with an equal y
“Good morning,” the driver answered with an equal y friendly mien.
He wore a cream-colored cowboy hat and sandy blond hair spil ed from beneath it to his shoulders. His bright blue eyes were alert and Selena instantly sensed a mischievous air about him. He wasn’t a big man, nor a smal one, but wel built. She gauged his height at just under six feet.
“That’s an amazing rig,” Shane chuckled. “I want to ask about a mil ion questions about it, but I should introduce us first. I’m Shane and this is Selena. We were just out hunting and heard you coming by.”
“Ma’am,” the man answered, tipping his hat to her.
Selena felt instantly disarmed by his polite deference. It was strange to be addressed so formal y and she felt like a barbarian. Inevitably, she blushed with embarrassment, making herself even more uncomfortable.
“I’m Jack,” he told them before gesturing to the figure sitting next to him. “This is Loraine.”
Selena real y looked at the woman for the first time and heard Shane suck in a breath. She wore a shapeless coat and a ragged knit cap, but her face was stunning. Her streamlined eyes were blue like his and framed under elegant brows. Her lips were ful and pink, with a lovely shape. Selena was floored and she had to work hard not to stare. When it was clear their meeting was a friendly one, Loraine shrugged off the warm coat and cap, revealing her curvaceous figure. A cascade of golden waves fel around her shoulders, hanging to the middle of her back.
“She’s my sister,” Jack continued. “So is Amy, here.”
Just then, another young woman popped her head out from the inside of the wagon to eye them languidly.
When he nodded in the other girl’s direction, Selena wasn’t surprised to see that while she was not quite as striking as her sister, she was also lovely. Her eyes were rounder, as were her lips and her face. This gave her a softer and more innocent look.
Amy was clearly younger and also seemed more open than the others at first glance. When both the girls smiled, Selena thought that Loraine seemed less genuine, as though she thought the gesture was generous. This put Selena off, but she did her best to smile back nonetheless.
“So what brings you through these parts?” Shane asked, leaning forward comfortably on his saddle horn.
“Nothing in particular,” Jack answered pleasantly. “We wander around looking for new settlements to trade with.”
“Ah. That’s what the wagon is for,” Shane affirmed.
“What do you trade?”
“Al kinds of things,” Amy told them casual y. “We’ve got a lot of musical instruments but plenty of other stuff too.”
She spoke in a low voice, and there was something in it that said she’d discussed these things a mil ion times before.
Jack nodded, tossing the reins to Loraine and hopping down to walk around the back of the wagon.
“You’re free to see if there’s something you like,” he offered as they fol owed.
Selena sat a bit higher in her saddle and peeked into the back to see a myriad of dazzling little items. There were mobiles made from CDs, beads and other shiny things hanging from the canvas inside. There were closed compartments built into the wagon and the musical instruments they’d mentioned were mostly swaddled with sheets. Parts of them poked out in odd places. Most she couldn’t name, but she did recognize a guitar or two and many flutes. There were little stacks of books lashed together here and there. They looked worn.
“How do you protect yourself?” Selena blurted after prying her eyes from the treasures to Jack. She saw that he had been watching her intently before she spoke and was glad it was his turn.
“Most people don’t want a fight. It’s only a matter of avoiding the ones that do. Those that stay in one place are usual y the most peaceable,” he explained. “It’s the roving bands that are up to no good. There are some exceptions.”
Selena frowned. Jack seemed distracted with his last statement. She wondered what the significance was, but wasn’t going to pry.
“Which ones are you?” Jack asked them, eyeing her playful y.
“Oh we’re definitely the peaceful kind,” Shane assured him. He hadn’t taken his eyes from the contents of the wagon.
“I figured,” Jack smiled. “Do you wander or stick to one place?”
Selena cast a nervous glance at Shane to no avail.
“Oh we live in a nice little spot some miles from here. There’re quite a few of us. We keep to ourselves mostly, protecting what we’ve got.”
“Good thing. We were up North and had a run-in with a nasty posse some months back. They seemed to be drifting South in this direction. Keep an eye out for ‘em.”
“I sure hope you’re talking about Jake,” Shane smirked with a smug glance at Selena.
“That’s the one,” Jack answered as his eyes flicked between them.
“Don’t need to worry about him anymore, or his posse,” Shane informed him reassuringly.
Jack seemed to be absorbing that and waited quietly for any explanation that might fol ow. Selena read subtle disappointment on his face when Shane didn’t offer any more information, but this was something she could final y approve of. The less they knew, the better. Al in al , they seemed like nice people, but taking any chances was a dumb notion.
Shane turned back to the wagon’s contents just before the silence was al owed to make things uncomfortable.
“You got anything in here that a trapper could use?”
“Might have a few things you’d like,” Jack said, climbing into the back graceful y.
He shuffled around a bit before reaching out to hand Shane something smal , round and bronze.
“Compass,” Jack said as he continued to dig.
“Always amazes me how rare those things are. I’d bet none of your people have found one.”
“You are correct there, sir,” Shane said cheerful y, cradling it in his hands.
“Magnifying glass,” Jack added, scooting over from the back of the wagon and handing it over. “That’l get a blaze going so much faster than a lens from glasses; it’l make your head spin.”
Shane took it and handed Selena the compass to inspect. She turned it in her hands and watched the arrow spin smoothly towards the north. Its bronze casing was crafted with beautiful detail and it hung from a sturdy chain.
It was smal enough to hang from the neck comfortably.
Even out in the hil y forests, she wouldn’t get lost if she had this. She wanted it terribly.
Shane was admiring the craftsmanship of the magnifying glass. It too was smal enough to be convenient to carry in a pack.
“Here,” the girl Amy said, tossing Shane a bundle of rope from the back of the wagon. “That’s climbing rope.
You can’t find anything tougher.”
“Good thinking,” Jack smiled approvingly. She didn’t seem to notice.
“And,” Amy drawled, tossing a bundle to Shane.
“Camouflage netting.”
“Yes!” Shane laughed with delight. “Oh man. This right
“Yes!” Shane laughed with delight. “Oh man. This right here is what it’s about!”
“Damn right,” Amy said with a self-satisfied grin. “None of those lame ass home-made substitutes.”
Shane laughed again, looking embarrassed in a way that said she’d hit the nail on the head.
“Language, Amy,” Loraine’s voice issued cool y from the front of the wagon where she stil sat.
“Whatever,” her sister muttered, rol ing her eyes.
“What do you want in trade?” Selena asked.
Jack sat himself comfortably on the back of the wagon, brushed off his hands and pointed at her.
Three
Selena flushed deeply.
“Did you make those clothes?” Jack asked her with a sly smile.
“Yes I did,” Selena answered quickly of her leather ensemble. He’d done it on purpose, she realized, feeling flustered. He’d given her just enough silence to assume a different meaning, without alerting Shane who was stil poring over the things they handed him. The fol owing look in Jack’s eyes wasn’t just unapologetic. It was downright daring.
“Uh huh,” he nodded, taking al the time he wanted now, looking her up and down thoroughly with a genuine smile. “Beautiful.”
Selena turned her mount to face him in the hopes that she would be obscured behind the animal’s head and neck. It was becoming increasingly difficult to deny that he was good-looking, which made everything vastly worse.
She wished fervently that this wasn’t so.
A quick glance at Amy revealed an unmasked expression of suicidal impatience with her brother’s behavior. She sighed and busied herself poking around the contents of the wagon, perhaps to find other things they might be interested in.
“We’ve got our fair share of pre-Crash clothes, and they’re great and al , but they don’t last too long,” Jack said.
“I’m guessing yours hold up pretty wel ?”
Selena nodded.
“Oh yeah, she makes great stuff,” Shane chimed in.
“Durable, wel -made, and looks good too.”
“Wel ! I’ve a proposition for you,” Jack said. “A pair of leather pants for each of us would compensate us for those four items. We don’t need food. We’re wel -
provisioned. And we’d love to come visit you, see if anyone else wants to trade, play some music, and I can give you the latest news from around these parts. Even got a nice stash of wine I’d be wil ing to crack open.”
Selena watched Shane, who was looking optimistic about this idea.
“It sure would be an interesting change for everyone back home. Can’t remember the last time we heard anyone play music. I know some of ‘em would give their right arm for a good drink –”
“We need a minute to talk in private,” Selena broke in. She handed Jack the items in question and reined Star around urgently. The pair of them trotted out of earshot.
“Bad idea, Shane,” she warned when they were far enough away.
“Oh, I don’t know. They seem like decent people.
Maybe a bit feisty but I couldn’t see ‘em doing anything to hurt us. Hel , they warned us about Jake!”
“I don’t trust them,” she whispered, even though they were much too far to hear. A glance back at them revealed that they were discussing amongst themselves as wel .
Jack had returned to his driver’s seat, holding the reins while they talked. Her stomach tensed at the thought of riding with him for days on end. Who knew how long it might take with the wagon?
“Wel , the way I see it, we tore that posse to pieces and there were more than twenty of them. I’m not saying I’m looking for trouble, but there can only be so many renegades, right? They’d run into each other and either merge or kil each other off. I doubt there’s anyone nearby they could tel about us.”
“Okay, so maybe they don’t bring trouble to our doorstep, but… what if they’re thieves?” Selena cast desperately.
“Now don’t you think they’d want to move faster if they were in the business of upsetting people?”
Selena wrung her hands. Shane was right. A few moments passed before she figured out a compromise.
“How about this? We bring them close, maybe a half a day’s ride from the Crater and one of us goes home early and brings the others to meet up.”
“Wel , we don’t want to insult them, bein’ too cautious do we? He’s offering to be hospitable. Shouldn’t we try to do the same?”
“We decide as a group when everyone’s met them.
If they al think it’s okay to bring them in, then fine,” Selena told them with resignation. “It’s going to take me some time to make those clothes.”
“Sounds like a plan!”
Shane wheeled and rode back and Selena fol owed slowly. She knew that most of her discomfort with the situation had to do with Jack’s brazen flirtation, but she liked to think that there were legitimate reasons to be cautious outside of her own comfort.
“We’ve got some rules we gotta stick to, but here’s what we decided,” Shane cal ed to them when he got close.
“If you’re wil ing to ride back with us, we’l take you somewhere nearby and give the others a chance to get to know you. We can do some trading and Selena’s agreed to work on those pants. If everyone is comfortable with you coming to our humble residence, you’l be welcome to stay a while.”
“That’s just fine,” Jack said with an enthusiastic smile and a glance at Selena.
Navigating the hil s with the wagon wasn’t quite as difficult as they expected, despite the forest. Jack was very practiced and seemed to know just what angles were safest without sacrificing too much speed.
Shane had forgotten al about the hunt and Selena couldn’t blame him. These new developments were much too distracting. They wouldn’t be catching anything with al the noise from their company anyway. The girls chatted a lot and although Selena didn’t bother to listen too closely, she could tel that they were often in disagreement. Amy had perked up at the notion that they were coming for a visit, but Loraine appeared detached from it al .
Jack ignored his sisters for the most part, and was even behaving himself toward Selena, at least for the moment.
Shane had explained that home was three days’
ride on horseback at a walking pace, so they estimated the return trip to take an extra day with the wagon.
When the first evening fel , Selena made sure to stick close to Shane. She didn’t want to give Jack any opportunities to embarrass her. Unfortunately, they didn’t have to be alone for that to happen.
have to be alone for that to happen.
The five of them sat in a loose circle over their dinner, which was simple that night. They al had their own supply of dried meats, but Shane was feeling generous. He tossed each of them a plum.