The Alchemy of Desire (8 page)

Chapter Eight

Oni stared at the moon through the small window high above her. Very clever of Hinkle, to lock her in this storehouse. Plenty of food, but nothing to keep her warm. There was plenty to burn, though, if she wanted heat. She rubbed her hand over her dagger, thankful the dumb private had overlooked it when he’d tossed her in here. Fire flowed through its veins, illuminating the orichalcum core.

Voices broke the silence of the night. She pushed a crate against the wall and climbed up to the window. A group of soldiers carried two bodies across the grounds. Her heart stuck in her throat as the moonlight illuminated the bright red hair of the larger one. Diah.

“Put them in the jail,” one of the men ordered.

Shit! What had they done now? Gotten into a fight? At least they were still alive, if they needed to be locked up.

Footsteps sounded on the other side of the storehouse door, and the lock rattled. She jumped down from the crate just before Hinkle entered the room and closed the door behind him.

“Good evening. Oni, was it?”

She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. She wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of an answer. Let him go on thinking she was little more than a “dumb Injun.”

“Don’t play games with me, girl. I know you understand what I’m saying.” He crept toward her like a wolf stalking its prey. The lantern light barely reflected off the dull metal hilt of revolver at his side.

She kept her voice steady, even though a tendril of alarm curled in her stomach. “What did you do to Diah and Cager?”

“That’s better. I’m glad to know you have such good command of the English language.”

“You didn’t answer my question, you son of a bitch.”

His eyes widened. “A very good command.” He paced the floor in front of her, inching closer each time he passed her. “It seems your former employers are going to be detained for a while. You’re going to be working for me now.”

She glanced at the door behind him and wondered if she could escape without shifting. “What makes you think I’d agree to work for you?”

Hinkle pulled out the revolver and checked the chambers. “Because if you don’t, I’ll put a bullet in Diah’s head.”

“Go ahead.” She strained to keep her face blank while her heart pounded.

He closed the chambers with a click. “Nice try, Oni, but I saw your little exchange earlier today. I think you’d be quite upset if I had to kill him.”

“What do you want from me?”

“I believe you know where to find the White Buffalo.”

Not another one.
“What is the
wasichu’s
obsession with the White Buffalo? It’s just a legend, nothing more.”

“That’s not what I’ve heard. There’s a reason why the Sioux revere it. It’s a god incarnate. And if you kill it, you gain control of its powers. Imagine what it would be like to be a god.”

Oni snorted. “It’s not all it’s cracked up to be. It makes me wonder who’s been filling your head with these lies. But I’m not surprised that you’re stupid enough to believe them.”

Hinkle cocked the gun and leveled it in front of her face. “I’d watch your tongue if I were you, you ignorant savage.”

She laughed to cover her fear. “You won’t kill me. I’m too valuable to you. After all, I know where to find it and you don’t.”

“That doesn’t mean I can’t beat it out of you.” But he lowered the revolver. Another click signaled that he had released the hammer.

She mentally breathed a sigh of relief. “You want to know what it feels like to be a Wielder, don’t you? Is that why you want the White Buffalo hide?”

“It’s more than that. The government filled us with so many dreams when they won the war. They promised that the age of technology would take us to new levels of enlightenment that would never have been achieved under the Wielders. But the Machinists let us down. They’ve proven to be no better than their predecessors. If I had the power of your Injun god at my command, all that would change.”

“No, you’re just trying to join their club. Who’s to say you’ll be any different than any other Wielder?” She glanced at the door behind him and wondered if the same blinding spell would work on him like it had on Bradley.
It’s times like these I wish I was a better Wielder.

“I could be the king of America.”

“Do you realize how insane you sound? I’m surprised they even gave you the command of this fort.” She reached for her dagger.

The crack of Hinkle’s gun shattered the silence. His hand clamped down over her right hand. “Naughty, naughty.” He waved his gun front of her like a wagging finger.

Oni looked down at the hole in the crate behind her. “You missed.”

“Consider it a warning.”

A knock sounded at the door. “Sir, we heard a gunshot. Are you all right?”

He looked over his shoulder. “I’m fine. Wait outside like I ordered.”

This was the opportunity she was waiting for. She reached across her body and drew the dagger. Hinkle’s head turned as she brought it up to slice his throat, but the blade missed, cutting his earlobe instead.

He cried out and swung his revolver at her. The barrel caught her squarely in the mouth, the force of the blow knocking her to the ground. She tasted blood, and several of her teeth felt loose. She ran her tongue over them to make sure they weren’t broken.

Hinkle cocked his gun and aimed it at her again. He never took his eyes off her as he raised his hand to the injured lobe and licked the blood off his fingers. “So, the kitten has claws.” He pressed the barrel against her temple. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t kill you and your friends right now.”

Her grip tightened on the dagger and she made another swipe at him. But this time, he easily dodged her blade and clamped his hand around her wrist, tightening his grip until the dagger fell from her hand.

He picked it up with a smug grin on his face. “We’ll see how long it takes you to learn how to play like a nice girl.” The door slammed behind him, followed the rattle of the lock

Oni waited until he was gone before she spit the blood out of her mouth. She gently pressed her fingertips against her busted lip. That was going to leave a nasty bruise in the morning. A muffled conversation filtered through. Hinkle told a soldier to store her knife in the jail with the Reynoldses’ weapons.
At least he doesn’t realize it’s a wand.

She sat up and leaned against the storeroom wall. What kind of mess had she gotten herself into now? At least Diah was still alive. Cager, too, although she wasn’t so sure she’d risk her life to save him. And then there was Hinkle. Somehow, he thought she knew where to find the White Buffalo when, in all honesty, she had only a general idea where it might be.

Her throbbing jaw made it difficult to concentrate on an escape plan. She would either have to wait until someone unlocked the door or try to squeeze through the tiny window overhead. Once she was free, then what?

The songs of the coyotes were the only sounds in the night as Oni shoved the last crate under the window.
I wish I could be out there with you.

She scrambled up the improvised staircase and looked out the window. Shadows stretched across the empty fort, and only two lights shone from the windows. One of them was the jail. Otherwise, it appeared everyone was asleep.

Here goes nothing.
She climbed down the crates and shifted. After backing up to the opposite wall, she sprinted to the crates and launched her smaller body at the window. She managed to get her head and front paws outside before she got stuck. Her back legs dangled above the top crate and she scratched the wall with her claws to try to get a foothold. Each time she exhaled, she pushed against the outside wall and moved a couple of inches closer to freedom.

Her last push sent her tumbling to the ground eight feet below. Her right paw exploded in pain. She saw stars each time she tried to put weight on it.
So much for sneaking around the fort in this form.
She shifted back into a human and stared at the deformed wrist. Broken. Oni cursed under her breath and stood.

She hugged the buildings to hide from the moonlight as she crept through the fort. Her first destination was the stable. It wouldn’t be wise to try to escape on foot. She saddled their horses and retrieved her pinto, praying no one would notice them until she freed the men.

Hearing voices, she peeked through the lit window, hoping they wouldn’t see her. Two soldiers were playing cards and drinking, and on the table beside their bottle lay her dagger. Diah and Cager weren’t in sight, but a small hallway led to more cells in the back.

She dived back into the shadows and held her injured wrist to her chest, weighing each plan that came into her mind.
Please, spirit of the Great Trickster, help me find a way to make this work.
An idea formed when she saw the open cell behind the two men.

Oni shifted and tested her paw again. It still ached, but she could limp around on it. She wondered how long it would take the guards to realize there was a coyote in the jail.

She slinked through the door and crouched close the floor, moving through the front room and under the table. A leather cord with several keys hung on a peg high overhead. If it wasn’t for her broken wrist, she’d make an attempt to jump for it and run off. But as it was, she needed to put another plan into action.

The men were too engrossed in their card game to notice her. She listened to their conversation and tried to decide which one she should attack first. The fat one slurred his speech as through he’d been sipping the half-empty bottle of brown liquor most of the night. She spied a spot just above the boot of the thin one and sank her teeth into the flesh of his thigh.

“What the hell?” he screamed.

Two pairs of eyes stared at her and she ran out from under the table, ignoring her pain. “How did a coyote get in here?” the fat one asked.

“How should I know? But it fucking bit me.”

She stopped in front of the open cell and yipped at them. Would they be as stupid as she hoped they’d be?

The fat one fell for her trap and stumbled after her. He dived for her but was too drunk to make a coordinated effort to catch her and landed face-first on the dirt floor of the cell.

It was almost comical to watch until a bullet kicked up the dust in front of her.
Shit!
She’d forgotten about guns.

The thin one stood behind the table and reloaded his rifle. The barrel followed her while she ran for cover behind the cast-iron stove. Another shot pinged off the metal. Before he could load the next shot, she bit him again. This time, she didn’t let go. The rifle clattered to the ground, and she tugged on the material of his pants, pulling him closer to the cell. “Help me! This coyote is crazy.”

The fat one struggled to his feet and Oni released the other guard. She didn’t want him getting out of the cell. She pounced on him and knocked him back down, baring her teeth with a growl.

“Get it off me, O’Conner.”

“Distract it while I load my rifle.”

“Don’t shoot me, you idiot!” The fat one lifted his arms, earning a nip along his jaw for it. “Shit, it just bit me too.”

“Now you know how I felt.” O’Conner laid his rifle on the table and limped toward her. A dark stain spread along the side of his blue pants. The two bites had disabled him enough to where they were on a somewhat even playing field, even though there were two humans against a maimed coyote. But she had the spirit of the Trickster behind her.

Tears rolled down the plump cheeks of the guard under her. “Don’t let it eat me.”

“You’re a pathetic drunk, Wilkes.” He waited just inside the cell, his hands poised to catch her. “Just hold still.”

As soon as he moved forward, she rolled to her side. His fingers ruffled her fur, but that was as close as he got. Wilkes gasped when O’Conner’s elbow rammed into his gut.

Oni rushed out of the cell and pushed the door closed with her nose. A loud clang resounded through the jail, followed by the click.

Both guards looked up surprise. “Did that coyote just lock us up?” O’Conner asked.

Knowing she didn’t dare reveal what she was in front of them, she ran out of the jail and shifted in the safety of the shadows. A few voices called out in the darkness, no doubt awakened by the sounds from the jail. She needed to get the Reynolds brothers out of there before the others showed up.

She ignored the pleas of the two guards as she snatched her dagger off the table, grabbed the keys from the peg and ran down the hall. “Diah, Cager?”

“Over here,” Cager replied from the last cell on her left.

“Oni?” Diah grasped the metal bars in front of him with a glazed expression in his normally bright blue eyes. “Is that you?”

She slid the key into the lock and turned it. “What happened to him?”

“Don’t pay any mind to him. Diah got his bell rung earlier.” Cager threw the door open and looked down the hallway. “Be careful—sounds like there was a rabid coyote in here earlier.”

“I know.” She wrapped her good arm around Diah to steady him.

His thumb grazed her busted lip. “You’re hurt.”

“Will you two shut up and get moving? I’m surprised no one is here right now, investigating those gunshots.” Cager rummaged through the drawers in the front room. He pulled out a gun with golden veins of orichalcum sparkling though it and kissed it. “I’m not leaving without you, baby.”

Oni paused to readjust her grip on Diah. “Nice to know you love your gun more than your brother, Cager.”

“You nag just like every other woman I know.” He tucked the gun into his holster and grabbed the loaded rifle on the table. “No wonder Diah likes you—he’s whipped.”

The insult revived Diah enough to allow him to catch the rifle when it was thrown to him. “If we get out of here, I owe you a black eye.”

“Hush.” Cager shoved the last bullet into an extra revolver and peeked around the corner of the door. “People are coming.”

“I have the horses waiting in the stable if we can get there without getting caught.”

Cager raised one brow. “You planned this out, huh? Coyote and everything?”