Jimmy glanced at Lou for the briefest of seconds to gauge how she was reacting. Her eyes were nearly wild in fear and he could see her trembling. Tears glistened on her eyelashes.

Slowly, hoping Lou would follow his lead and attempt to remain calm, Jimmy stood up. He held his hand out to her. She remained where she was, frozen. He couldn't blame her for being in shock. The fear was paralyzing.

He put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it quite hard to get her attention. When she didn't respond he grabbed her under her arm and dragged her to her feet. He knew he had to hurt her arm, but she didn't flinch.

Once on her feet she looked him straight in the eye. Jimmy knew then that he had her attention.

The braves were creeping closer to them, surrounding them carefully.

Jimmy knew at any minute both he and Lou could be killed.

"Stand behind me Lou. Whatever happens to me, stay calm and don't panic, all right?"

Lou looked as if she might protest, then set her mouth in a straight line and moved behind him, "Oh God," She breathed as the Indians stopped.

"We're pony express riders," Jimmy began, "We mean you no harm!"

The braves murmured, obviously not comprehending his words.

Suddenly an older man that Jimmy took to be the leader rode into the circle and came to stand in front of Jimmy.

Jimmy wondered if they could hear the wild thumping of his heart. He didn't want to die. Not like this. And God forbid something happen to Lou. He'd gladly give his own life to spare hers.

She was standing close behind him, and Jimmy was very much aware of her even with everything else. His primary concern was her life, then his own.

The man on horseback suddenly raised his spear.

"This is it," Jimmy thought, and raised his chin to die like a man.

"NO!" Lou screamed at the top of her lungs, piercing the night air. She darted from her assigned place behind Jimmy and threw herself in front of him, spreading her arms, "No!" She growled again, looking straight into the leader's eyes.

"What the hell?" Jimmy croaked out and grabbed Lou hard for the second time, jerking her back behind him, "Damn you, stay there!" He growled, and seeing the look in his eyes caused Lou to fear him almost as much as the Indians.

The leader had not moved, and still sat with his spear raised. Jimmy looked him in the eye. The moonlight cast a bright silver glow on everything and bounced off the water.

Slowly, and for reasons neither Jimmy nor Lou could understand, the chief changed his mind and lowered the spear. He motioned to three braves and spoke to them in a sharp voice.

Lou braced herself as they approached, sure she was going to be scalped.

Jimmy was more hopeful. The chief, if that's what he was, had apparently decided to spare them…for now.

Jimmy and Lou both had their hands bound tightly. Jimmy noticed Lou's hands were tied much more viciously. He spotted the blood running onto her palms, but if she felt anything she didn't show it. They were thrown onto the back of a horse, with Jimmy behind Lou, and led off into the night.

Where they were going they couldn't even guess, and what would happen to them when they got there they didn't want to imagine. *

"We could make a run for it," Lou suddenly said out-of-the-blue over her shoulder.

"I don't think we need any more of your acts of bravery," Jimmy muttered.

Lou turned around in the saddle, and under the watchful eyes of their captors snapped, "And what is that supposed to mean?"

Jimmy knew he was about to start something he couldn't finish, but replied angrily, "You know damn well what it means. I told you to stay behind me!"

Lou would have hit him if her hands hadn't been tied, "And you are a fool! You would have done the same thing if you were me, and you know it! So don't get all noble on me right now Jimmy! It's my fault we're in this mess!"

"No it is not, Lou," Jimmy said more calmly, then thought angrily its Kid's fault! But he shook that notion too. It wasn't anyone's fault. They just happened to be unlucky.

Lou sighed, thinking that the argument was over.

Jimmy opened his mouth to say more and then realized how pointless it was. It was over with, and they were on borrowed time. They couldn't fight each other.

"Next time, stay behind me," He said quietly, and added, "Please."

"I'm not ever going to just stand there when someone I care about is in danger. I'm disappointed that you'd think I would."

Jimmy smiled wryly, "And I'm disappointed that you'd think I wouldn't try to stop you! What, you don't think I'm a gentleman?"

"You've always been the only one convinced I could take care of myself," Lou pointed out.

"That was when I thought you had some sense. After that incident, I'm not so sure."

He was trying to get a smile from her, but it was useless. Her eyes were wide in fear still when she turned to him, "What are we going to do?"

Jimmy wished he had an elaborate plan to explain to her and comfort her.

"We're going to survive, that's what," Jimmy said as convincingly as he could, but his voice wavered.

Lou turned back around wordlessly.

They seemed to ride forever. Lou's head throbbed with every hoof beat, and her hands had been numb for quite awhile.

At first she was petrified, sure that at any moment they would be killed, but as the hours passed, she realized that they would be kept alive until they reached where ever it was they were going.

Her eyes closed slowly and her head bobbed. Jimmy was surprised when suddenly her head eased back to rest on his chest. She turned her face sideways and the slowly setting moon revealed bright traces of tears. She had cried herself to sleep.

He didn't blame her. Every settler in the West had at one time or another contemplated the danger of capture by Indians. It was the singular reason some stayed in the East. Horrible, unthinkable things happened to white men and women captured by Indians. Not many lived to tell of those things…

Jimmy leaned his forehead down to rest on hers for a minute.

It was the only way to hide the tear that escaped from his own eye. *

Lou grimaced and opened her eyes slowly. She was in the daze of someone who had gone through something traumatic and didn't wish to confront it. But she had never been one to avoid trouble. Slowly she opened her eyes and discovered it morning. She was lying on the ground, bound tightly at the hands and ankles.

She wondered how she had gotten there. She didn't remember getting off the horse, and couldn't believe that she wouldn't have stirred when strange hands pulled her down and tied her up…but that seemed to be what had happened.

All thought and reason fled her mind because as she looked around she discovered Jimmy was no where in sight.

"Jimmy?" She called at first, very softly. She studied the surroundings. Apparently they were back at the village of the Sioux. Tee-pees were set up in a flat, grassy valley with a wide stream curving through it. Mountains encased them.

"Jimmy!" She called louder when she realized he wasn't going to answer.

"No," She murmured softly to herself. Visions of the Indians killing Jimmy ran through her mind. She envisioned a thousand different deaths, all of them equally torturous. And she had slept through them!

Against her better judgement but unable to control the wild, horrible panic that came over her Lou began screaming and fighting the ropes, "JIMMY!"

Over and over again she cried his name, while sobs racked her. The ropes chafed her already cut and bruised legs and arms even worse. She was aware of two braves running toward her, one man and one woman.

With a burst of strength she was able to free her ankles. It was instinct and not reason that caused her to get up and run. But instead of running away from the village she ran directly to the heart of it to find out, for better or worse, what had happened to Jimmy.

She heard shouts and exclamations in the strange Lakota tongue, but didn't slow down. She was being pursued closely now by three more Indians.

She screamed again when she felt one of them grab her arm, and she tripped. She and the Indian crashed to the ground.

Lou wrenched herself to face the Indian who now pinned her with his weight, but her hands were still tied and it wasn't long before he subdued her.

"Where's my friend? Where is he?" She demanded defiantly, as if she had the upper hand. He didn't understand her. His black eyes were stormy.

Without saying a word to her he climbed to his feet and reached for her. Lou shrank from his hands, but he grabbed her and slung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

Lou kicked and twisted, but he held her securely.

She saw the surprised faces of the Indians as she was carried past them, deeper into the village. Young and old faces, women and men, all of them with eyes that had seen too much…

"Put me down!" Lou demanded again and used her bound fists to slam them into the Indian's back, "Jimmy!" She screamed, not even realizing she was sobbing.

She was quite surprised when she heard his voice from very near ask quietly, "What?"

About that time the brave dumped her onto the ground in an undignified heap at the feet of Jimmy, a young Sioux brave, and the oldest man Lou had ever seen.

Jimmy sighed, wanted to kill Lou. Of course, he couldn't really blame her for panicking, he would have done the same thing if she had been gone. Last night they'd been tied up and left on the ground, and Jimmy had not slept at all. Instead he had watched Lou sleep fitfully. She had cried out softly several times.

She cried for Kid.

His eyes looked over her now in the daylight. She looked awful. Her clothes were caked in mud from the fall off the horse. Her forehead was bruised badly. Her pants were torn up to the knee on both legs from the ride and run through the underbrush. He suspected the blood he saw on her legs was a result of not only briars but the ropes the Indians used.

She scrambled to her feet as quickly as she could with her hands bound and darted to stand beside Jimmy. Her eyes sought his, but he didn't meet them. Instead he was looking at the chief and the young brave standing beside him.

Lou jumped in surprise as she studied the younger Indian. Instantly there was something very familiar about him. His hair was a lighter brown than the raven-haired Sioux, as were his eyes, but his bone structure was strikingly Indian.

"Curly!" She finally said softly.

His eyes met hers and for a moment there was no recognition. He remembered Jimmy easily, but it took him longer to realize the young girl standing at his side was actually the young boy (or so he thought) who with his blood brother Kid, had saved his life.

Lou knew how surprised Curly must have been to discover who she really was once she could see the memory of her in his eyes. He'd seen her only as Lou, the pony express rider. She wrinkled her brow in confusion. Curly had not been Sioux.

Jimmy glared at her and shook his head slightly, warning her to stay quiet.

The chief, who had been interrupted by Lou's arrival, looked at her steadily, then turned back to Jimmy and spoke to him in Lakota.

Jimmy met his eyes calmly, then when he paused shifted his eyes to Curly for the translation.

Curly spoke in his beautifully clipped accent, "Running Horse does not wish you to be killed. I have told him how you saved my life, and helped the People and he honors that."

"So we can go?" Jimmy asked quickly, before Lou could. He believed her right to be independent as much as she did, but now was not the time nor place.

Curly turned to Running Horse and asked the white-haired Indian the question. Running Horse calmly listened and considered.

Jimmy and Lou held their breath.

Curly turned back to them, "Running Horse will keep you here. He cannot risk having the camp discovered by the army. We sought revenge on a singular express rider, who got away. He raped one of our women. We do not wish to start a war, but it is too late. The army will look for us now."

"I give you my word that we will not tell where the camp is. You have been merciful, we don't wish you harm. You know that Curly," Jimmy pleaded.

Curly again consulted Running Horse. There was a brief argument between them as Curly did his best to convince the chief that, in fact, the two riders would keep their word.

Jimmy sighed, knowing there was no reason for Running Horse to trust any white man's word.

Curly again turned to Jimmy, "Running Horse has decided. You will be treated as guests because of your honorable deeds. You and your woman will be given a tee pee. You will not be tied up. You will be accepted in the tribe."

Lou's eyes had gotten big.

Jimmy pointed out quickly, "Uh, Curly, she's not my woman."

Curly looked at them both hard, "I would suggest you keep that to yourselves. If she is a lone woman, any brave in the tribe can claim her as his own."

Lou and Jimmy looked at each other. Lou's cheeks turned a fiery red. Jimmy nodded quickly. "All right."

Running Horse snorted. Curly heard the amusement in his voice but Jimmy nor Lou recognized it when he said, "Tell him to control his woman."

Curly repeated the message to him and Jimmy's mouth twitched. He could sooner control the weather, and he suspected both the chief and Curly knew that.

Lou huffed indignantly, but kept her mouth closed.

"Why were we brought here?" Jimmy wondered.

Curly did not ask the chief. He explained quickly, "The pony rider who dishonored our woman got away. We were determined to find him. The braves were scouting the area. When they spotted you they thought that you were him, and that Lou was another woman taken. They would have killed you when they caught you, but when the girl jumped in front of you, they knew you had not hurt her. We brought you here to let the woman who was raped make sure it was not you. It was not."

Jimmy felt shaky. By jumping out in front of him, Lou had indeed saved both of them.

"How long do we have to stay here?" Lou blurted out.

Curly obliged her by asking the question.

Running Horse murmured a response then walked away.

"Well?" Lou demanded.

Curly was looking at Jimmy when he answered, "Until the Spirits have told him it is safe to let you go."

Lou's jaw dropped incredulously. Jimmy wondered, "And how long will that take?"

Curly shrugged, "I don't know. It could be weeks, months, or years. But he has made up his mind. I cannot question him. I'd suggest you grow used to the idea. Don't try to escape. You will not make it out of the village, and they will kill you."

"We have friends who will look for us, who won't stop until we are found," Jimmy said.

"Then I would pray that they do not find you. It would cost them their lives. Even my blood brother, Kid." Curly had a hard edge to his voice.

Jimmy and Lou stared at each other. Running Horse could call them "guests" all he wanted, and give them all the freedom within the village he could.