Whispers In The Dark

Part 4

By Nesciri

Chapter 7. A Perilous Passage

"Fastest way to Ft. Kearney is through the passage at Thunder Mesa," Lou said as she held in Lightning. Noah rode up to her.

"That’s not an easy rode – there’s a lot of tricky parts along that trail where a horse can triple – or worse."

"But we’ll save at least two hours."

"It’s fine with me then." Noah shrugged. Inside he had a strange feeling that he should avoid that passage, but he couldn’t find any argument for loosing two hours. He just had this bad feeling about it. Lou nodded and turned Lightning towards a rocky landscape that emerged at the horizon. Hesitating for a second Noah then followed her as they let the horses speed towards Thunder Mesa.

The sun was beginning to set as they reached the foot of the mesa. They both knew that there was no reason to enter the rocky hillside in the dark, so they decided to make camp. Lou was frustrated that they couldn’t go on, but she knew it would be futile to try the passage in the dark. She had a feeling of uneasiness and she wished that Kid had been there with her.

They soon had a fire burning briskly and they sat in silence next to it. They had made small talk, but they soon run out of subjects and silenced settled over the scenery. Not that it mattered to them. They both needed to think. And besides they were both worried about the others. Lou thought about what had happened in town – she hadn’t known Julie Greenwald very much, but she had seen her on occasion in town. She hadn’t been one of the most popular girls in town, but she had a nice smile and looked nice. Anyway she hadn’t deserved to die. Nor her parents. Lou couldn’t believe that anybody could do that – without any reason. When she thought that Teaspoon could have been the next victim, she shivered despite the warmth from the fire. If Noah hadn’t showed up the way he did, looking for Jesse, Teaspoon might have been dead by now. And she couldn’t imagine a life without him. Not now anyway. With all the accidents that had happened lately, she had become more uncertain of all their future. Ike’s death had shaken her to her core, and she really thought that she had gotten over the horror and the grief. All of them had learned to deal with it, except for Buck. And now he was in trouble too. The thought of Buck made her wonder how he was. If what Doc had said was true, then he might be – no, she didn’t wanted to think about that. To loose Buck so soon after Ike – it just wasn’t fair. Besides he couldn’t die, she still had to find his pouch. She was interrupted in her miserable thoughts by Noah.

"There’s nothing we can do."

"What do you mean?" she replied startled. "Ho do you know what I’m---"

"Your face is like an open book when you’re worried. Besides I’m worried too."

"I know. It’s hard to be on a run and not knowing." Lou bit her lip. "I can’t help fearing that we’ll return and he’ll be – gone."

Noah didn’t reply. There was not much to say, so he changed the subject.

"Wonder where Jesse is?" he mumbled, realizing too late that it wasn’t the best subject at the time.

"I can’t understand why he took off like that – so, his fever was getting down and he was better – but---" Lou shook her head.

"Well, Jesse have always done what he wants."

"Yeah, he has. I just wished he thought before he did something – at least once."

Noah smiled vaguely at her remark and then silence settled again. Slowly they dozed off, getting the rest they would need for the rest of the journey.

Buck desperately searched for the light that would lead him back to his world and out of the dark trap in which he found himself haunted by an unknown force that seemed to hold on to several souls. He had heard them screaming and he knew that if he couldn’t find a way out he would soon be among them. And Lou. He didn’t know how he had come about the knowledge, but he knew that this force, this evil force, was after Lou. He knew that so far Lou had escaped but anything could happen while he was trapped. He had to get free, to warn her of the danger that awaited her. He wished he knew how long he’d been trapped in the darkness but time didn’t have any meaning in the spiritworld. All his strength went to evade the force that threatened to possess him and he was tired. Too tired too think about anything else than the way away from the darkness. He had to find the light.

*******

"Come on Katy, not far to go now." Kid urged his horse forward through the darkness of the night. Only the soft moonshine lit up his way but he trusted Katy to know her way home. He had never known her to stumble and he really wanted to be back home. He had this strange feeling that Lou was in danger and he really needed that to be set to rest. Lou had no rides, so she should still be at the station and he couldn’t imagine her to be in any danger there. Still he couldn’t shake off the feeling that he was about to loose her. The thought of a life without Lou by his side, if only as a friend, caused him to shiver from fear. He loved her more than he could express in any words and although he’d never admit it to her, he would never be able to love another woman the way he loved her. So it was with some relief that he saw the familiar contour of the station appear. He slowed Katy down for her to calm down some and patted her neck.

"Thanks, girl," he whispered as he rode in to the station. There was no lights but he hadn’t expected it. The others should be asleep by now. He quickly took care of Katy and then he silently walked over to the bunkhouse. Tip-toeing, he stepped in and looked around. It was too dark for him to see much and he was tempted to light a candle but thought better of it. Silently he walked over to Lou’s bunk, intent on giving her a kiss. But there was no one in the bunk. Taken aback with the realization that Lou was not there, he gave up all ideas of not wakening anybody up. He lighted a candle, spreading light over the room. He saw Rachel dozing by Buck’s bunk, her arms covered in bandages. Buck was still sleeping apparently. But there was no one else in the bunkhouse. He just stood there, stunned by the fact when Rachel stirred in her sleep and slowly opened her eyes.

"Kid! What are you doing back so soon?"

"I was worried – what’s happened here?"

Rachel sighed.

"Too much," she replied. "You better sit down and I’ll tell you. I’ll just check on Buck first." She turned to Buck and Kid, unable to sit, joined her.

"How is he?" he asked.

"We’re not sure. Doc fear that he might be – " Rachel sighed deeply, "might be loosing his strength."

"What?" Kid looked at the pale face and suddenly it dawned on him.

"You mean that he might---" he whispered. Rachel nodded.

"But ---" he begun, at a loss of what to say. "You better tell me what’s been going on," he said finally in a strained voice.

"So Lou and Noah are on their way to Ft. Kearney to get Teaspoon’s friend?"

"Yes, they left yesterday. They should be half way there by now."

Kid sighed.

"What’s wrong?" Rachel asked as she poured him some coffee.

"I don’t know. I have this strange feeling that she’s in danger."

"Noah’s with her, Kid. He won’t let anything happen to her. Besides you know she can take care of herself."

"I know. But I can’t help it – something’s wrong, Rachel, terribly wrong. And Lou’s right in the middle of it."

***********

The first rays of sun slowly wandered up over the hill, touching Lou’s face, slowly warming it. Lou blinked at the sun and yawned. When she was accustomed to the light she saw that Noah was already up and had started to prepare the horses.

"Morning." Noah smiled at her. "I thought you’d never wake up."

"You could have waken me up," Lou objected as she stood up and folded her blanket.

"Hadn’t the heart too," Noah confessed. "You’re ready?"

"As ready as I’ll ever be. Besides the sooner we get to Ft. Kearney, the sooner we can get back."

"I couldn’t agree more."

They mounted and prepared to continue through the passage of Thunder Mesa, a passage that was no more than a narrow trail on the mountain. They both knew that although they saved a lot of time by using the passage, they would not reach Ft. Kearney before dark. Their first aim was to get off the mesa before nightfall, something that wasn’t certain as the trail was pretty steep. It would take some time to climb it before they reached the plateau and could start the descend.

They made slow progress uphill and Lou was frustrated as their pace. Occasionally she felt as if it was Noah that slowed them down, but she tried to get rid of that feeling. Noah was as eager as her to get to Ft. Kearney. Lou sighed and concentrated on getting Lightning pass a narrow passage of the trail. She would be pleased when they reached the plateau.

Barak smiled to himself. So far the girl had not suspected anything and he had managed to slow down the progress quite easily. If he could continue slowing them down they wouldn’t get off the plateau before darkness.

*****

Jimmy sighed with relief. Finally he was on his way back to the station after helping out Teaspoon's friend. It had been a nice change from the runs, especially since he had not been forced to shoot at anyone. He suspected that Teaspoon had had an idea about sending him out there. Teaspoon’s friend had turned out to be an old man with a self-assurance and confidence that seemed to catch more thieves and troublemakers than a sheriff who relayed on his weapons. Jimmy knew that Teaspoon meant well, but he felt that he could choose for himself. Besides, Jimmy didn’t feel like thinking about his future just yet. The Express was everything he needed and if it would end he would take care of that problem when it arose. But he was grateful for Teaspoon’s concern – nobody had gone through that much trouble for him, not as he remembered anyway.

He was in no hurry on his way. Teaspoon would not expect him back yet and he could use some time off. He enjoyed the warmth of the sun when a dust cloud caught his attention. He rose in his stirrups and tried to get a closer look. It appeared to be a rider, and in a hurry too. As he watched him, the horse stumbled and both rider and horse fell to the ground in a dust cloud. Without hesitation he urged his horse over to where the horse slowly got to its feet.

As Jimmy dismounted and rushed over to where the rider was lying motionless, he couldn’t help feeling that the rider had looked familiar in some way. When he turned the unconscious rider round he knew why.

"Jesse," he mumbled as he saw the boy’s pale face. "What on earth are you doing out here?" He reached for the water canteen and tried to revive the boy by splashing some of its content in his face. It took a few minutes before Jesse responded, during which time Jimmy imagined all kind of catastrophes to have happened at the station.

"Jimmy?" Jesse moaned and tried to open his eyes more than to a squint.

"Take it easy Jesse, you had a nasty fall," Jimmy replied as he got the boy to drink some water.

A few minutes later, Jesse was feeling better and was sitting under a tree to get some shadow. Jimmy sat down opposite him and watched as Jesse greedingly drank from the water canteen. When the boy was finished he handed the canteen back to Jimmy who looked at him with a questionable face.

"Now tell me what you’re doing here," he demanded. Jesse looked foolishly at him. His errand felt strange and he wasn’t sure Jimmy would believe him – after all nobody else had.

"There’s something wrong at the station," he started hesitantly.

"What?"

Jesse took a deep breath.

"Noah tried to kill me."

Jimmy looked at him incredulously.

"What are you talking ‘bout?"

"It’s the truth I tell you! He did something to Buck and I saw it and now he’s gonna kill me!"

Jimmy looked into Jesse’s eyes. Jesse was well known for his exaggerations but there was s something in his voice that told Jimmy that this time Jesse was genuinely scared.

"Noah couldn’t kill you."

"Yeah, but I didn’t think he could hurt Buck either," Jesse mumbled.

"Hurt Buck? How?"

"I don’t really know – he just did something---" Jesse hesitated knowing how silly he sounded.

"Did what?" Jimmy asked somewhat impatiently.

"You gotta believe me," Jesse pleaded. "All I know is that they were fixing the wall on the barn, you know the one facing the bunkhouse, and suddenly Noah sort of touched Buck and in the next second Buck was on the ground, squirming in pain."

Jimmy shook his head.

"So Noah just touched him?"

"Well there was this red light too---"

Jimmy interrupted him.

"You were probably dreaming."

"How to you explain Buck being ill then? Doc came out but he couldn’t tell what was wrong with him!"

Jimmy looked troubled at the news.

"Buck’s seriously ill?" he asked.

"Yeah, think so. He didn’t look so well when I left."

"After Noah had tried to kill you," Jimmy added sarcastically.

"If you’re not gonna believe me, I’ll just as well leave!" Jesse exclaimed and tried to get to his feet.

"Hold on – I ain’t said I ain’t believing you. But you have to admit it’s a pretty steep story you’re telling me."

"But it’s the truth!"

Jimmy sighed and rose. What Jesse had told him was too farfetched for him to believe it, but something must be wrong at the station. He’d never seen Jesse this upset before, so maybe there was some truth to his stories. He looked at the boy, who seemed to have recovered from his fall. A quick examination of the horse told him that the animal was fit for travel.

"Come on," he said to the boy. "We better get moving before it get dark."

"Where to?"

"Home, of course."

"I ain’t going back there."

"Don’t be stupid, Jesse. Where else would we be going?"

"Anywhere," Jesse mumbled.

It took Jimmy a good five minutes to convince Jesse that they at least should return to Rock Creek and at let Teaspoon have a chance to hear the story. They were still some hours away from Rock Creek when a familiar rider appeared in front of them. When he saw them he changed his course and headed up to them.

"Thank God I found you," Cody exclaimed as he reached them.

Jimmy noticed the deputy badge on his chest and a feeling of uneasiness got hold of him.

"What’s wrong?" he asked. "Where’s Teaspoon?"

"Somebody tried to kill him yesterday. He deputized me and asked me to find Jesse – but I guess I don’t have to look anymore." Cody wiped the dirt from the hard ride from his forehead. He looked tired and Jimmy looked carefully at him.

"What’s going on?"

"There been more murders in town. Teaspoon stumbled in on one murder and was about to be the next victim, when Noah found him. He’s resting at the station right now with two knife wounds in his stomach. He’s gonna be all right though."

"Jesse told me about Buck?"

Cody shook his head.

"How is he?" Jimmy asked not liking the look on his friend’s face.

"He was alive when I left," Cody replied grimly.

"Told you Noah tried to kill him," Jesse interrupted. Cody turned to him.

"What’s he talking about? Noah?"

"Never mind him," Jimmy said. "Where’s the others?"

"Teaspoon sent Lou and Noah to ft. Kearney. I guess Kid’s back at the station by now."

"Lou’s with Noah?" Jesse looked upset at Cody before turning to Jimmy. "You’ve gotta do something – she might be in danger!"

"Hey, listen here, Jesse. Noah ain’t gonna hurt anybody – for one, he’s the one that saved Teaspoon’s life!" Cody frowned at the excited boy.

"You’re sure ‘bout that?" Jesse sneered back.

Jimmy looked at him. He suddenly had a bad feeling about it all, and the feeling that Lou might be in trouble after all was enough for him not to take any chances.

"All right, I better head out after them."

"You’ll never catch up with’em," Cody stated.

Jimmy shrugged.

"Not if anything’s all right. If something’s wrong then I might be of some help."

"You sound as if you expect something to be wrong," Cody said suspiciously.

"Well, there’s something that ain’t right, that I know. And standing here ain’t gonna help me found out what it is. Figured I start with seeing to Lou and Noah."

"You want me to come with you?"

"Teaspoon deputized you, so you better stay. Besides, somebody have to see that Jesse gets home."

"If you say so. You’re gonna head out after them right away?"

"I better if I’m gonna have a chance of catching up with’em."

Cody simply nodded and Jimmy went back to his horse and mounted.

******

Lou couldn’t believe it. They had just reached the plateau and she realized that they wouldn’t get off it before nightfall. Something was wrong. They should have been further than this. Now she wasn’t even sure that the way over the mesa would be a shortcut. Deeply disappointed she turned to Noah and explained her worries to him. He just shrugged and said that they better spend the night on the plateau. Lou felt a twinge of fear as if somebody had walked over her grave. She didn’t like the idea of spending the night on the plateau and she tried to tell herself to stop being foolish. She’d spent nights in the open on many occasions and besides, she wasn’t even alone. Noah was with her. So why did she have this strange feeling that something was wrong? Oh, how she wished that Kid had been with them.

"We better try and find a campsite," Noah interrupted her thoughts.

"S’pose."

"You’re in a bad mood?"

"Aren’t you? Nothing has been going our way lately."

"I have a feeling that will change. I’ll see if I can find any shelter up ahead."

Before Lou had a chance to reply he was gone. Lou looked bewildered after him. He had almost sounded happy and there was something in his voice that she didn’t recognized – something that sent a chill down her spine. She sighed and urged Lightning forward, following Noah.

An hour later they were seated around a small fire just below a small hill, which could serve as cover in case of a hard wind. The plateau was a plateau in the true meaning of the word and at any other time Lou would have enjoyed the view as the sun set. Not far from them the plateau ended in a steep slope and behind a small rock formation there was a sheer drop of ten meters unto another slope, filled with rocks. As they sat in silence Lou glanced over at Noah. He was sitting with his eyes half closed and with a faint smile on his lips. Somehow this made her uneasy and for a second she had to fight an urge to jump onto Lightning and head out of there as soon as she could. But something kept her by the fire. She had almost dozed off when something made her look up. Noah was still sitting as he had when she dozed off, but something was different. When she first had looked up she could have sworn she had seen a soft red light around Noah. Now it was gone, but there was something else. She couldn’t see his face as it was turned down.

"Noah?" she asked vaguely.

Noah slowly rose his head and looked at her.

"Yes?" he asked but Lou didn’t recognized the voice. Suddenly she felt scared as two dark eyes stared coldly at her.

"Something wrong?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly.

Suddenly everything changed and Lou found herself staring into the somber eyes of somebody or something else, eyes that filled her with fear and caused her to tremble.